This morning for our Bible study,
please turn to Matthew chapter 11. Let's begin reading at verse
25 of Matthew 11. Our Lord, in praising to his
Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, says, I thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven, Lord of earth, because thou hast hid these things
from the wise and prudent, and hath revealed them unto babes,
even so, father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things
are delivered unto me and my father, and no man knoweth the
father, or 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." Now Matthew 11 verse 28 says, Come
unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, 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. Servitude
to Christ. Being in love with Christ. Believing
the gospel. He says it's easy. My yoke is
easy. My burden is light. Now let's go back this morning
and begin at verse 25 in our study. And I pray the Lord will
give us an understanding of the gospel of God's grace. The Lord
here is praising His Father. that salvation is of sovereign
mercy. You see, my friends, sovereign
mercy is the only remedy, the only hope for abounding guilt. Sovereign mercy in the Lord Jesus
Christ is the only hope for a perishing sinner. It's a good hope through
grace. And the Lord here is saying,
I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven, Lord of earth. Now, it says here in the text,
God has hid these things. The gospel is hidden from the
wise and prudent. These wise and prudent in this
day, as in our day, the wise and prudent crowd, see no need
of saving mercy, see no need of redeeming blood, see no need
of redeeming grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. The wise and prudent
crowd, the self-righteous crowd, are always going about to establish
their own righteousness, not having submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of Christ in Christ Jesus. And this gospel
of God's mercy and grace is hidden. Hidden from the wise and prudent.
It's hidden because of the blindness of their heart. It's hidden because
of the deceiving trickery of Satan himself. Paul said, if
gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost and whom the God
of this world has blinded their heart, their mind. Blinded by
sin, blinded by guilt, and blinded by self-righteousness. Our only
hope is for God to come and reveal himself to us in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is what he's saying,
I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. These things
have been hidden from some and revealed to babes, revealed unto
his children, revealed unto His church, unto those chosen in
eternal grace. Every believer can say with the
Lord Jesus Christ. Every believer can openly confess
and give thanks that salvation is of the Lord. Had not God chosen
us, had not God chosen sinners and caused them to approach unto
Christ, to cause them to see their need of salvation, we would
never have believed God. Therefore, we say with the Lord,
thank God. He's Lord of heaven and earth.
God has been pleased to hide these things of mercy, grace,
and peace to the self-righteous, to the wise and prudent, and
reveal Himself unto babe. Salvation is a revelation. A
sovereign revelation of God's mercy and grace to the guilty,
to sinners in Christ. The Lord of heaven and earth
has ordained and chosen some to be His own. He calls them
here. He revealed Himself under these bays. Now, who are these
bays? These are God's elect. These
are God's children. Paul said, we're sons of God. He said, we thank God because
God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Chosen in Christ. Chosen in that covenant of grace.
God Almighty made a choice. Way and eternity to these babes,
to these children. He calls us His own. We're called
His sheep. We're called His bride. The Lord
laid down His life for His sheep. The Lord gave himself for his
bride, his church, that he might present it to the Father without
blemish and without spot through his redeeming blood. I thank
thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have revealed
these things to my covenant people, the elect of God, sinners saved
by the grace of God. I notice verse 26. Even so, Father,
For so it seemed good in your sight." The only reason behind
salvation and the cause of salvation is not found in us. The cause
and reason and remedy of salvation is only found in God's eternal
purpose and grace. He works all things at the counsel
of His own will. That's why He says, I thank thee,
O Father. That's why He said, For so it
seemed good in your sight to reveal yourself unto your people. The only reason for our saving
mercy is found in God's eternal purpose and grace. Isn't that
exactly what the Apostle confesses in 2 Timothy 1.9, God who saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works but according to God's own purpose and grace which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. The only reason For salvation from sin is God's
purpose and grace in Christ Jesus, not in our merit, not in our
work, not even in our faith and our repentance, not at all. Believing
and repenting is the fruit of salvation. It's God who has made
us to differ. It's by the grace of God, we
say with Paul, that we are believing God, that we are repenting, that
we are coming to the Lord. Even so, Father, it seemed good
in your sight. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but it's God that would show mercy.
You see again here that salvation is of the Lord. Now notice verse
27. In Matthew chapter 11, verse
27, the Lord declares, All things are delivered unto me of my Father. Our great and wise God has put
the whole scheme, the whole of salvation in the hands of a competent,
fit, appropriate, appointed, wise mediator, the surety of
the covenant. All things are delivered into
my hand." Our salvation was given to Christ to accomplish and in
time, in the fullness of time. God sent forth His Son, made
of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under
the law. All things are delivered unto
me. Now if God He has all things. All things belong to Him. But
as the Mediator, God the Father gave Him a people. God the Father
gave Him. He is anointed with all power
and unction of God. He was blessed of God, anointed
with the Spirit of God beyond measure. All things are delivered
unto His hand. All power, He said, all power
is given unto me in heaven and earth. All preeminence, all the
fullness of God dwells in Christ Jesus and it is only in Him that
we stand complete. All blessings of grace are delivered
into His hand. All of salvation, All of salvation
is vested in Christ, dependent, determined, and accomplished
by our servitude, the Lord Jesus Christ. One God, one Mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, the God-man. All
things, he says, are delivered unto me of my Father. As the only appointed, authorized,
advocate, Savior, Mediator, and High Priest, He's the only one
appointed of God. There's no other way of salvation
but in Him, through Him, and because of Him. He clearly says
in John 14, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. No man
comes unto the Father but by and through me. All things are
delivered of God in the hands of a fit advocate mediator, the
Lord Jesus Christ. No other Savior, no other foundation,
no other hope but Christ only. Now he gives us here in verse
28 and following, Seeing all things are given into His hands. Seeing He accomplished all salvation. Seeing all blessings, spiritual
blessings, are found in Christ. Our Lord here gives us some very
wise instruction. He said, come unto Me. Come unto
Me. He didn't say, go to the law. Go to the front. Go to the mortar's
bench. Go to the altar. Our Lord clearly
says, and this is a message of all Scripture, He said, Come
unto Me. Look unto Me. In Isaiah 45, All
ye ends of the earth, I am God, a just God and Savior. Beside
Me there is no other. Come unto Me, all ye that labor,
and are heavy laden. And the promise is, I will give
you rest. good instruction from our wise
Master, our wise Savior. He says, come to me, come to
me. And every God-called preacher
points sinners not to the church, rather to Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ. This coming to Christ is the
same as trusting Him. Trusting Him. Trust in the Lord
with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. This coming to Christ is the
same as looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
This coming to Christ is the same as believing Him. It's coming
to Him by faith. It's looking to Him in your heart.
This coming to Him is a fruit and an effect and an evidence
of His drawing us to Him. Now He says over in John chapter
6, now listen carefully, He said, No man can come to Me except
the Father which sent me, draw him." Left to ourselves, we'll
never come to Christ. Because of the ignorance that's
blinded our heart, because of the depravity and sin of our
own wicked heart, we'll never come to Christ. Our coming to
Him is a fruit and effect of His drawing us to Himself. It's the evidence of being drawn
to Him. We read in Jeremiah 31, He said
to His people, I've loved you with an everlasting love, therefore
with loving kindness will I draw you unto Myself. Come unto Me. That's the words
of the Master. Come to Christ. Who are to come? He says here in this text, all
you that are laboring, all you that are laboring and heavy laden. He's saying this, all you who
are in need. Now the wise and prudent don't
see their need of Christ, but guilty sinners do. Those who
are laden with sin and feel the weight of their sin and the burden
of their soul. I tell you, friend, do you need
forgiveness? It's in Christ. Look to Him. In Christ we have redemption.
Do you need righteousness? Yes, I do. I'm a sinner. I've
sinned against God. We've come short of the glory
of God. Do you need righteousness? Do you need forgiveness? Righteousness
is found in Christ. The believer's not going about
to establish the righteousness. He's resting in Christ who is
His righteousness. Do you need salvation? Yes, I
do. I need salvation. I need redemption from sin. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the only Savior of sinners. And here's
the encouragement in Scripture. He said, Come to Me. All that
are laboring, all that are guilty, come. And here's the promise
He gives. I'll give you rest. I'll give
you salvation. I'll give you rest. You see,
salvation is a gift of God. Faith is a gift of God. Unrest
is a character of this godless world, but rest in Christ. Rest in Christ is the gift of
God. We are at peace with God in Christ. He reconciled us to God through
His own blood sacrifice. He said, come to me and I'll
give you rest. The law is satisfied. God's justice has been honored.
And we rest in Christ. He is our wisdom. He is our righteousness. He is our sanctification. He
said, come unto Me, I'll give you rest. And then He says, take
My yoke upon you. Take My word. Now believers,
because they love the Lord Jesus Christ, and we love Him because
He first loved us, we gladly give our heart, our life, are
all. We take His yoke. We wear His
name. We live under His dominion. We
live under His rule, His reign. He is our Lord and we serve Him. We take that yoke and wear His
name and honor God. And not only that, but He says
we're not only servants, but we're students. We learn of Christ. We learn of Him. It is true we
learn from Him. He is our teacher. But we also
learn of Him. He is teacher and lesson. The right motive for worship
and study is to learn more of His glorious person. God manifest
in the flesh, to learn more of His satisfying atonement when
He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand
of God, to learn more of His perfect obedience unto death.
Here's the instruction. Come unto Me. I'll give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Serve Me with gladness and love
in your heart. And then learn of Me. Learn of
Christ. He said, I am meek and lowly
in heart. He said, My yoke is easy. The Gospel is glorious. He gives
us liberty in Christ Jesus. And He said, My burden is light. We've been redeemed from the
curse of the law because Christ was made a curse for us. I pray
the Lord will give you grace to study those Scriptures again
this morning from Matthew 11, verse 25 through verse 30. And
consider in your heart coming to Christ by faith and
believing Him. And the promise is, God said,
I'll give you rest.