It is not that I did choose thee,
Lord, O Lord, that could not be. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nider. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyberg. I've entitled the message for
this morning, The Answer. In Matthew 11, verse 25, we read,
At that time Jesus answered. Whatever nagging, doubtful question
you may have, here is the answer. I'm so thankful, he answers. He's not under obligation to
answer. His answer to us doesn't come
to us by way of entitlement. Sometimes he doesn't answer.
Remember when the Syrophoenician woman came to him and the Scripture
says he answered her, not a word? Aren't you thankful that he does
answer? That he does speak? The answer. Now, who does he
give this answer to? In Matthew, chapter 11, I see
four different crowds that he's speaking to, and he actually
gives them all the same answer. First of all, he's speaking to
a doubting disciple. John the Baptist at this time,
Matthew 11, verse 3, He said unto him, Art thou he that should
come? Or do we look for another? Now John had seen the Holy Spirit
descend like a dove upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He'd heard
and seen the heavens open and heard God's voice saying, This
is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. This man, At this
time says, he sends two people to the Lord to ask him, art thou
he that should come or look we for another? At this time, John
the Baptist, while he was in prison, began to doubt. Somebody says, how could he doubt?
Same way you or I can. He had something called the flesh.
And he was a doubting disciple. And he sends two people to the
Lord to say, are You, he that should come, or do we need to
look for somebody else? And then he's speaking to a curious
crowd. He said in verse 7, And as they
departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning
John the Baptist, What went ye out to see? What was it you were
looking for? He's speaking to a curious crowd. And then he addresses a collection
of critics. In verse 16, he says, Whereunto
shall I liken this generation? It's like unto children sitting
in the markets, and calling unto the fellows, and saying, We've
piped unto you, and you've not danced. We've mourned unto you,
and you've not lamented. For John came neither eating
nor drinking, and they say, He has a devil. The Son of Man came
eating and drinking, and they say, Behold, a man gluttonous,
a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. They criticized
whatever they saw. And then he was speaking to those
who repented not. In verse 20, then began he to
upgrade those cities wherein most of his mighty works were
done, because they repented not. And he names two or three cities
that didn't repent at his preaching. Now he answers these four people. A doubting disciple, a curious
crowd, a collection of critics, and those who refuse to repent. And He gave them all the same
answer. And here it is in verse 25, But
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 hast revealed them unto babes. I thank Thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth." The sovereign God. The Lord of creation. The Lord of providence who controls
everything. The Lord of salvation. Oh, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth. The eternal, immutable sovereign. What's He thanking for? He thanks
him that he has hid these things from the wise and the prudent
and revealed them unto babes, those who are weak and insignificant. Now, who are the wise and prudent
that he hides the things of the gospel from? The wise and prudent
are those who feel themselves wise enough and prudent enough
to set in judgment on God. Now, it's a terrible thing to
judge another human being. You don't know the facts. And
the Lord tells us not to do it. I realize there's some judgments
we have to make. We have to judge whether or not
we're hearing the truth. We have to judge whether or not
what we're hearing is from God. The scripture says try the spirits,
test them, judge them, whether they be of God. The Lord says,
cast not your pearls before swine. At that time, you have to make
a judgment concerning somebody who doesn't believe and you're
not to cast your pearls before them. This is talking about judging
in a critical, superior way. Now, it's awful for a man to
judge another man. How much more terrible is it
for man to sit in judgment on God when he hears the gospel
and says, I don't think that's fair. I don't think it's right.
I don't think it's right for God to choose some and pass by
others. I think God should have sent
Christ to save everybody. I don't think it's right that
there's a hell. I think that the law is too strict. And all the
objections men make of God, well, you know what he does? He hides
from them. He hides the gospel from them. He hides them so they can't be
found. He conceals the gospel. He keeps
it secret. 2 Thessalonians 2, we read where
He sends some strong delusion that they should believe a lie.
Now that's what God does and Christ thanks Him for it. What
things are hidden? The things of salvation. Listen
to this. Jesus answered and said unto
them, these people who said, Are thou he that should come,
or look we for another? Jesus answered and said unto
them, Go and show John again those things which you do hear
and see. John needs to hear these and see these again, just like
I need to hear the gospel again and again and again. The Lord
needs to come to me continually for me to have any hope. The blind received their sight. the lame walk, lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel
preached to them." Now, if God doesn't open my eyes, all I'm
going to see in this is physical miracles. But this gives the
state of man and what God does for them when He saves them.
Blind spiritually, and He gives me eyes to see. I'm lame, unable
to walk in the law of God, unable to come to Christ. He enables
me to. Lepers are cleansed. The sinful
are cleansed. The deaf hear. I can't hear the
gospel unless He gives me hearing ears. But when He does, I hear. The dead are raised. You hath
He quickened who are dead in trespasses and sins. And the
poor, those who have nothing to recommend themselves to God,
they have nothing, to them the gospel is preached. Now all the
Lord has to do is leave you alone and leave me alone, and we'll
never see that. He says, I thank you that you've hid these things,
the things of salvation, from the wise and the prudent and
revealed them unto babes, the childlike, the unsophisticated. You see, salvation does not come
by education. It comes by revelation. You've
revealed these things to babes. Now, listen to me. Listen up, you critics, you curious,
those who repent not, those who are doubting. If you continue like this, that
means God has hid salvation from you. You know, there's a time
when the lights go off on the road to hell. And if you continue
in being a critic, being a judge, sitting in judgment on God, not
believing, God's hid the gospel from you. And notice what our
Lord says. He says, I thank thee. He thanked
the Lord for this. I thank thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because you've hid these things. from
the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes, even so, Father,
for so it seemed good in thy sight." Now there's the answer
to everything. It happened because it seemed
good in God's sight. Here's the answer to every question.
Here's the ultimate reason behind everything. Even so, Father,
for so it seemed good in thy sight. Why is the gospel hidden
from the wise and prudent and revealed unto babes? Because
it seemed good in God's sight. And you know, if it's good in
His sight, it's good in mine too. Whatever the Lord does is
just right. Now he goes on to say in this
answer in verse 27, All things are delivered to me of my Father. All power is given to me in heaven
and earth. Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ
is all powerful? That means whatever He wants,
He has the power to perform. There's no lack of power with
Him. Whatever He wants, He does because He has the power to do
it. All persons are delivered to Him. In John 17, verses 2
and 3, Thou hast given Him power over all flesh that He should
give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. Everybody's
in His hand. All life is delivered to Him. The Son quickens or gives life
to whom He will. All judgment is given to Him. The Father has committed all
judgment to the Son. All the elect are given to Him.
All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me. All glory is
given to Him. God's given Him a name which
is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee is going
to bow. Of things in heaven, things in earth and things under
the earth and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ
is the Lord to the glory of God the Father. All preeminence is
given to him that in all things he might have the preeminence. Now he said all things are delivered
to me of my Father and no man knows the Son but the Father. The Lord is saying, I'm so great,
I'm so inconceivably great, the God-man, that no one can really
know me but the Father. John chapter 8, verse 43, he
said, why do you not understand my speech? Because you cannot
hear my word. You see, he that's of God, heareth
God's words. You therefore hear them not because
you're not of God. I am so great. that nobody can
know me the Lord says but the father and neither knows any
man the father save the son and he to whomsoever the son will
reveal him and then in verse 28 he goes on to say in this
answer to these four different people this is one of the sweetest
words in the Bible he says come unto me all ye that labor and
are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest." Now there are some
people who are not much interested in this, but there are some people
who labor and are heavy laden, and He says, come to Me and I
will give you rest. Now, is this something that interests
you? What a promise! Come to Me and I will give you
rest. Now, is He able to do this? Is
He able to give me rest? Is He willing to give me rest? Is He faithful to do what He
said He would do? The answer to all three of those
questions is yes, yes, and yes. Yes, He is able to give you rest. Listen to these scriptures. What He promised, He was able
also to perform. He is able to save to the uttermost
that come to God. by Him. He's able to keep you
from falling. And He's able to present us faultless
before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. Now you think
of that. He's able to take me or you as faultless as we are
and actually present us faultless before the Father. He's able. Now, he's also able to raise
our vile body to make it likened to his glorious body, according
to Philippians 3. Now, not only is he able, he's
willing. That was his purpose for coming.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I'm chief,
Paul said. He's willing. He said to that
leper, when that leper said, if you will, you can make me
clean, he said, I will, be thou clean. Oh, He is willing to give
rest to those who come to Him. And He's faithful to do exactly
what He said He would do. In John 1, 9, we read, if we
confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us of our
sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, think of
this promise. Come to Me, all ye that are weary
and are heavy laden. And I'll give you rest. He's
able to keep this promise. He's willing to keep this promise.
And he always does keep this promise to everyone who comes. To whom is he speaking? Come unto me all ye that labor
and are heavy laden And I will give you rest. Now, when he is
speaking of being weary, laboring and heavy laden, he's not really
talking simply about the sorrows of this world, because this world
is a sorrowful, wretched place. Sin has made it so. And there
are so many people that have very difficult, weary, heavy,
burden, life, all the problems that are associated with sin,
all the problems that are associated with emotional problems and mental
problems and addictions and all the wretchedness that goes on
in this life. There are a lot of people who
are just tired of life. And these people never believe
the gospel. So that's not really who he's referring to when he's
talking about those who are heavy-laden. He's talking about those people
who are burdened and heavy laden over their sin. My sin is ever
before me. And my sin is such a burden to
me. Our feeling of sin against God,
our concern for our soul's salvation, the thoughts of death and judgment,
the thoughts of where we'll spend eternity, laboring and heavy
laden under a sense of sin. Now, would that describe you?
Do you labor? And are you heavy laden and burdened
under a sense of your own personal sinfulness? Now, that's the person,
he says, come to me. Now, listen to what he says.
Each word is so important. Come to me. Not go and do. Not get better. Not improve yourself
first. You don't wait for anything.
Not wait till you know more. Come means right now. If you wait, that means you're
trying to work something and you're not really coming to Him.
That means you're trying to bring something to Him. No, come right
now just as you are. Come. Come to Me. Leave salvation by works. Leave
your own hopes of self-salvation. Leave them. Repent of that. And
come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Come to Me. Christ alone. Nowhere else. Nothing more, nothing
less, and nothing else. Come to Me. And I will give you
rest. You see, rest is His to give. And notice he says, I will give
you rest. Certain and sure. And he says,
I will give you rest. Not you'll earn it. You see,
rest is not for sale. It's the gift of God, an utterly
free gift. Come to me and I'll give you
rest. You personally. I'll give you
rest. Now what is rest? What does the
Bible mean when it speaks of rest? You know, we think of the
Sabbath day, and that was the day that everyone was to rest. You weren't to do any work. You
weren't to pick up anything. You weren't to carry burdens.
You weren't to cook. You were simply to rest. And
the Sabbath day came from Genesis chapter 1, where after God finished
all of His works of creation and He saw that it was very good,
He rested. He rested. Rest was His response
to a finished work. He didn't rest because He was
tired. He rested because there wasn't anything left to do. The work was completed. When the job is finished, you
rest. In Hebrews chapter 4 verses 9
through 11 we read, They which believe do enter into a rest. For he that has entered into
his rest, the rest of the Sabbath, the rest of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the rest of God, he hath ceased from his own works as God did
from his. Now if you and I ever see that
the work of Christ is complete. When He said it is finished,
salvation was accomplished. He said, I finished the work
Thou gavest Me to do. All that God requires of Me,
He performed, He finished. Nothing for Me to do. When I
see that, I'll rest. I'll rest. Now as long as I think
there's something left undone, I can't rest. Oh, I'm trying
to work, trying to do something, trying to earn God's favor, but
oh, when I see that He did it all, I rest. I rest from the fear of sin.
You see, it's been put away. I don't have to worry about giving
an account to God for my sin because I do not have any sin. It's been put away by the blood
of Christ. Listen to this scripture. He
was manifested to take away our sin. And in Him is no sin. If I'm in Him, I have no sin. You see, when He went into that
tomb, He went in there with something. He went in there with my sin.
But when He walked out, He walked out of there without something,
my sin, because it had been put away blotted out, erased by the
blood of Christ, it's gone. And there's nothing to fear with
regard to sin. I can simply rest. I can rest
in my trials. Now, I'm going to have trials.
But I have this assurance that everything is working together
for my good. Scripture promises that. All
things work together for good to them that love God to them
who are called according to His purpose. So I can rest regarding
everything God does, whether it seems painful or whether it
seems happy. It doesn't matter what it is.
It's under this thing of working together for my good and His
glory. So I don't have to fret. I don't
have to worry. I don't have to scheme. I don't
have to manipulate. I rest in whatever He does. I can rest with regard to the
fear of death. You see, Paul said, to die is
gain. The best day of my life is going
to be the day of my death because that's when I'm going to enter
into glory and I'm going to see the Lord Jesus Christ face to
face and He's going to embrace me and I'm going to be just like
Him. Fear death? I look forward to
death by the grace of God. I look forward to death to be
absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Oh, the
fear of death has been taken away because the sin has been
taken away. Now, if I still have sin on me, I'm scared to death
to die. But if the sin question has been taken care of, I can
look forward to death. Rest from the fear of judgment.
Romans 8, 1 says, There is therefore now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
I don't have to fear judgment. I rest. And this is a rest throughout
all eternity, they which have believed do enter into a rest. Let's go on reading. He says
in verse 29, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. Not learn about me, learn of
me. Now yoke is a coupling. Yoke
is two things together. His yoke yokes me to Himself. What a wonderful yoke this is.
Take my yoke upon you. I want to take this yoke upon
me. And learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart. He's approachable. He's humble. And you shall find rest unto
your souls. Being yoked to Him, you'll find
true rest. He says, for my yoke is easy. That same word is sometimes translated
gracious, kind, and good. Being yoked to Christ is easy,
good, gracious, and kind. The reason it's easy is because
it's all of grace. If salvation is all of grace,
that's easy. I'm not talking about easy believism.
But I'm saying, oh, His yoke is easy and His burden is light. The burden of taking up your
cross, the confession of Christ, well, it can seem difficult at
times, but it's light when we consider whose cross it is and
who we're confessing. And we can say our light affliction
was just but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory while we look. Not on things which
are seen, but things that are not seen. For the things which
are seen are temporal, temporary. But the things which are not
seen are eternal. Now this is the answer to every
question. We have this message on DVD and
CD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg, praying
that God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. That's
all for now. Amen. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com
or you may write or call the church at the information provided
on the screen.