CLICK TO LISTEN: 063 Careless Words & Carnal Hearts(Matthew 12,33-37)

Careless Words & Carnal Hearts
Matthew 12:33-37
August 28, 2011

Of course we are still in the section
Where Matthew is revealing to us the opposition that Jesus faced.

Jesus has given a wonderful invitation, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”

He offered His invitation,
But His people opposed Him.

Matthew is still detailing that opposition.

AND WE HAVE SEEN A GROWTH IN THEIR OPPOSITION.
1) Indifference
2) From Indifference to Aggression
3) From Aggression to Blasphemy

Last week we actually saw the Pharisees
Blaspheme Christ and blaspheme the Holy Spirit.

Jesus then began to confront them in regard to their blasphemy.
This morning He continues with that confrontation.

Last time Jesus confronted them in regard to the Sabbath.
He rebuked them because they didn’t understand God’s Law.
“Have you not heard…”

So last time Jesus confronted their ignorance.

BUT THIS TIME HIS REBUKE IS MUCH DIFFERENT.

This time Jesus doesn’t appeal to their lack of understanding,
This time Jesus gets to the heart of the problem.

He’s not going to reveal HOW they are misinterpreting the Law
He is going to tell them WHY they are misinterpreting the Law.

The Pharisees definitely had IGNORANCE, LEGALISM and HYPOCRISY.
But none of those things were their greatest problem.
In fact those things weren’t even the real problem.

Their real problem was they didn’t know God.
They had no relationship with the Father, they weren’t righteous.
And because of that basic problem, it led them to reject Jesus,
And uphold legalistic, ritual religion.

Jesus is going to point that very fact out to them.
He isn’t going to simply correct their misconceptions,
He is going to reveal why they have those misconceptions.

Jesus is going to reveal the lostness of the Pharisees.

As He does this, we learn something very important,

We talk a lot about examining yourself.

2 Corinthians 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you — unless indeed you fail the test?”

1 Corinthians 11:28 “But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”

But as we say that, what do we mean? How do we do that?
How do we tell if we have a good heart, or a bad heart?
How do we tell if are righteous, or if we are unrighteous?
How do we tell if Jesus has set us free from sin?

Well, that is one of the things we will study this morning.

You may not know it,
Your body is equipped with a gauge that reveals your heart.

If you want to check the oil in your car, you pull the dip-stick,
Because that is the gauge that reveals how much oil you have.

If you want to check your heart, where do you look?
THE TONGUE

Matthew 15:17-20 “Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. “These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”

TURN TO: JAMES 3:1-12
(1-2) The Tongue is Dangerous
(3-6) The Tongue is Dominating
(7-8) The Tongue is Defiant
(9-12) The Tongue is Descriptive

Adrian Rogers, “What’s down in the well, comes up in the bucket.”

Your mouth is a very accurate gauge of your heart,
And that is what Jesus will point out here to the Pharisees,
This morning we continue the confrontation of Jesus
As He exposes the Pharisees and reveals to them their true problem.

#1 THEIR PROPOSITION
Matthew 12:33

If you’ll remember the story from last week,
It all started with Jesus casting a demon out of a man.

When the demon left this man could speak and this man could see.

The crowds saw the miracle and understood the point.
(23) “All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “This man cannot be the Son of David can he?”

And of course when the Pharisees heard this,
They immediately set out to correct the crowd.

(24) “But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”

They accused Jesus of using Satan’s power to cast out demons.
And in that one statement, not only did they blaspheme Jesus,
But they also blasphemed the Holy Spirit.

Jesus revealed that their argument was CRAZY, (25-26)
Because Satan would cast out Satan,
He revealed that their argument was INCONSISTENT (27a)
Because the Pharisees accepted their pupils who cast out demons,
Jesus told them their argument was CONDEMNING, (27b-30)
Because it revealed their opposition to the work of God.

But the real key came in verse 28 in which Jesus said, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

And Jesus point was, that the Pharisees could no longer deny.
This was their time of visitation.
It was no longer an issue of understanding.

On this day, the Pharisees could clearly see who Jesus was,
And they must choose whether or not they would follow.

And to further clarify Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.”

Of course the implication is that
The Pharisees did exactly what Jesus warned them against.

He told them they could do nothing, and yet that is what they did.

By their refusal to immediately confess Him,
Jesus knew they were holding their ground in denying Him.

And that led Jesus to make this horrifying statement.
(31-32) “Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. “Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. “

So Jesus explained that their decision to refuse to confess Him,
But to stick to their accusation against Him
Is an eternally dangerous mistake.

AND HE CONTINUES HERE
Verse 33, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.”

Jesus tells them to give up this double standard,
And make a decision on Jesus and His works.

They knew sickness, disease, demonic possession, and sin came from Satan.
They knew healing, casting out demons, and forgiveness came from God.

They were in a pitiful state,

Jesus was performing good fruit,
But they were claiming that He was a bad tree,

So Jesus tells them to drop the double standard.
They either have to look at the fruit and say it’s good,
And thus admit that the tree is good also,

Or they must determine the tree is bad,
In which case they would have to say the fruit is bad also.

They were in nasty web of deception,
And Jesus says its time to make a decision.

Either I’m good and the fruit is good, or I’m bad and the fruit is bad.
You must determine.

We must all make that decision.
Either Jesus is who He claimed, or He is not.
If He is, then we must follow Him, If He’s not, then don’t worry about Him.
But one thing we can’t do is:
Say He is the Christ, and not follow,

For then we have the same hypocrisy as the Pharisees.
They couldn’t deny the fruit, but they wouldn’t accept the tree.

So Jesus proposition to the Pharisees is our proposition as well.
Determine what to do with Jesus.

Either say that Jesus is the Son of God by reason of His miracles.
Or say that Satan is actually the true god who worked in Him.

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.”

So first, the proposition.
#2 THEIR PROBLEM
Matthew 12:34-35

Jesus just told them to speak up and admit.
But still they refused to say that Jesus Christ was from God.
Even though it was obvious, they still wouldn’t admit it.

Here Jesus reveals why.

WHY WOULD THEY NOT CONFESS JESUS IN LIGHT OF SUCH CONVINCING EVIDENCE?

THEY HAD AN EVIL HEART.

Jesus starts off by calling them the same thing John called them.
“You brood of vipers…”
Young nest of vipers.
They were deadly poisonous,
Just like a baby rattlesnake.

They were promoting a false religion based on legalism and works,
And just as snake’s venom is deadly to the body,
Their religious venom was deadly to the soul.

Matthew 23:15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”

That was the Pharisees in a nutshell they were spreading deadly poison.
They were a “brood of vipers”.

Then Jesus explains their problem to them.
He tells them, and everyone listening
Why the Pharisees can’t bring themselves to confess Jesus as Lord.

And the reason is their heart is bad.

(34) “…how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out that which fills the heart.

Obviously the Pharisees should have spoken what was good
And confessed that Jesus was the Messiah.

But they couldn’t because they were “evil”.

And according to Jesus an evil heart can’t speak of good things.
Nor can a good heart speak of evil things.

It is exactly what James said:
James 3:11-12 “Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh. “

A tongue that speaks cursing, and bitterness,
Is from a heart, or thoughts are bitter and full of cursing.
A tongue that speaks hatred, or gossips,
Is from a heart or thoughts that are full of hatred and gossip.
A tongue that lies, or stretches the truth,
Is from a heart or thoughts that are deceptive.

A tongue that blesses, and loves, and encourages,
Is from a heart or thoughts that do those things.

If your mind is constantly full of adultery,
Sooner or later, that will come out your mouth.
If your mind is full of cursing, or bitterness, or hatred, or deception
Sooner or later that will come out of your mouth.

“For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.”

In other words, you can tell the condition of a person’s heart
By the substance of their speech.

Remember Simon the Magician?
• Here was a man who was said to have “believed.”
• Here was a man who was baptized.
• Here was a man who followed the apostles.

But on the day he saw the Spirit bestowed,
He opened his mouth and his heart was exposed
As he offered the apostles money to have the same ability.

Notice what Peter told him:
Acts 8:20-22 “But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! “You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. “Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you.”

Peter said, based on your words, I see your heart.
And your heart is not right before God.

His word’s revealed his heart.

And this is why the Pharisees wouldn’t confess Jesus.
THEY HAD A HEART PROBLEM

And this is still the main problem of humanity.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.

This is why David prayed:
Psalms 139:23 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts;”

Man’s problem isn’t
Bad influences, or Bad parents, or Too much temptation.
It isn’t Ignorance, or even Stupidity.

Man’s problem is a carnal heart
That won’t accept God, or the things of God.

Romans 1:18-23 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

The only possible way for man to confess Christ is to have his heart redeemed.
If the heart isn’t right, the confession won’t be either.

In fact, listen to what Paul said about salvation.
Romans 10:9-10 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

A person first believes in their heart,
And then the confession comes out of their mouth.

But the point is that it is the heart that must change.

Last week we read out of Hebrews
About making sure that we don’t fall away from God.

Look again at the specific warning.

Hebrews 3:12 “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”

The writer said to make sure you don’t have an “evil, unbelieving heart”

When Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, what did He pinpoint as the problem?

The heart
Matthew 5:21-22 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘ You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”

Matthew 5:27-28 “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Later in Matthew 13 Jesus will reveal the parable of the soils,
Which focuses on 4 types of hearts.

The three bad hearts won’t accept the seed of God’s word,
But the good fertile heart will.

And even later in Matthew’s gospel
When Jesus again confronts the hypocrisy of the Pharisees,
He doesn’t equate their unbelief to their culture or to their raising or even to their tradition.

Jesus says their unbelief stems from a bad heart.

Matthew 15:7-8 “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.”

People today want to blame their sin on their culture:
“He only stole because society made him poor”

People today want to blame their sin on their parents:
“Well he learned that from his dad”
And yet Jesus says that sin can only be blamed on a carnal heart.
People sin because they are sinners.

• Thieves steal because they are thieves.
• Murderers kill because they are murderers.
• Liars lie because they are liars.

And the Pharisees wouldn’t confess Christ
Because they had a wicked carnal heart,
That was not capable of doing so.

(35) “The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.”

The reason they can’t speak good of Jesus,
Is because their heart isn’t good.
The reason they can only speak evil is because their heart is evil.

Like the rest of humanity, the Pharisees needed repentance.
They didn’t need education.
They didn’t need better role models.
They didn’t need a cleaner culture.

The Pharisees needed to acknowledge that their heart was sinful
And they needed to repent of that and ask Christ for forgiveness.

But the Pharisees would not.
THAT WAS THEIR PROBLEM.

You can’t overcome a carnal heart without repentance before God.

#3 THEIR PUNISHMENT
Matthew 12:36-37

First off here we must notice the seriousness of what Jesus is saying.

(36) “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.”

No doubt there are some who think
That there are words which matter and those which do not.

Remember the Pharisees had this mindset in regard to integrity.
Matthew 5:33-37 “Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.’ “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING. “Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. “But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.”
They thought as long as they didn’t swear by certain things,
Then their speech didn’t really matter.

Jesus says, NOT SO.
Even the “careless” words will be counted.

The book of James translates that word “useless”
When talking about faith without works.

And what Jesus reveals is that there are no insignificant words.
There are no meaningless words that come out of a person’s mouth.
Everything they say matters, and everything will be judged.

You see a person can control their mouth at least part of the time,
But eventually what is in the heart will come forth,
And when it does, that person can’t claim
That it was just “careless” talk.

For even the careless words have weight and will be judged.

And that is why Jesus goes on to say:
(37) “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

He is not necessarily saying that you earn eternal life by saying so.
He is indicating is that the words are an accurate measure of the heart,
And therefore will be an accurate standard by which to judge mankind.

If a heart is righteous, it will prove it with righteous words.
If a heart is wicked, it will prove it with wicked words.
And based upon a person’s words,
Their heart is revealed and their judgment is set.

And based upon that truth, the Pharisees stood condemned.
Their words were wicked because their heart was wicked,
And Jesus lets them know that based upon their words,
Their judgment is both certain and just.

This morning we have to bring that home to our own lives.

What does my heart look like?
What does my speech sound like?
What do I focus on?

How is my heart?

If my words indicate a carnal heart, then the only option is to repent
And ask Christ to give me a new heart.
Ask Him to give me a heart that allows me to confess Him
And speak truth and righteousness.

It all starts with the heart, and only Christ can change it.

In short, I need to come to Him.

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

CLICK TO LISTEN: 062 The Unpardonable Sin (Matthew 12 ,22-32)

The Unpardonable Sin
Matthew 12:22-32
August 21, 2011

As you know we are currently in the section of Matthew’s gospel where Matthew reveals the rejection of Jesus by the Jews.

We know that the simple answer is that they rejected Him
Because He was different from what they were expecting.

These people had grown up thinking that the Pharisee and Scribe and Chief Priest were the ultimate in Godliness.

That was not the case.
Matthew 5:20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus revealed that they weren’t even close
To good enough to get to heaven.

But still this is what the average person thought Godliness looked like.

And so when Jesus came looking exactly opposite of them,
The people had difficulty believing that He was the Messiah.

That is why Matthew included that prophecy from Isaiah
That reminded us that the Messiah would indeed be
Meek and compassionate and gentle.

But Jesus was different.
And they hated Him for it.

That is what we have seen in the section on opposition.
We see people continually opposed to Him regardless of what He does.

Jesus had to be stopped.
Here, we see yet another step in their progression of hatred.

WE ALS SEE THEIR REJECTION IS GROWING IN INTENSITY.

First they were INDIFFERENT.
(Sodom was in better shape)

Then they moved from Indifference to AGGRESSION.
(Attacked Jesus credibility in regard to the Sabbath)

Being proved wrong by Jesus was more than the Pharisees could handle.

Matthew 12:14 “But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.”
Here, their rebellion even reaches greater extremes.

They go from Aggression to BLASPHEMY

Eventually they will go from Blasphemy to MURDER.

This rebellion is a tragedy.
BUT THESE MEN REFUSED TO LAY DOWN THEIR PRIDE.

Solomon was 100% correct when he said, that “Pride comes before a fall.”

That is exactly what is happening to the Pharisees,
For their pride led them to blaspheme, and seal their eternity.

So this morning, we look at the second attack of the skeptics,
We see once again that Jesus did not come to play religious games,
Or to adhere to the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.

#1 THE ACT
Matthew 12:22-23

Here we see how this whole event gets started.

Earlier the confrontation was started by the disciples
Picking heads of grain and eating it on the Sabbath.

This confrontation begins another way.

(22) “Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw.”

JESUS CASTS OUT A DEMON THAT CAUSED BLINDNESS AND MUTENESS.
THE DEMON IS GONE, THE MAN IS HEALED.

Yet again He proves that He has power over sickness,
He has power even over Satan and his supernatural demons.

It didn’t matter when, where, how many, or what they were doing,
Jesus was able to reveal His amazing total authority over the demons.

AND OBVIOUSLY THE PEOPLE WERE AMAZED.

(23) All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?”

Now of course you know, that “The Son of David” is a messianic title,
Since the future king will reign on the throne of David.

But when Jesus performs this miracle, the crowd is amazed,
And rightly so for miracles give validity.

So there is the act.
#2 THE ATTACK
Matthew 12:24

Here again the Pharisees show up.

The crowd asked, “This man cannot be the Son of David can He?”

This is really the issue here.
There is no indication that Jesus did this on a Sabbath,
And so at least for a moment the Pharisees had to leave it alone.

But the crowd attributed His power to God,
And the Pharisees couldn’t stand that.

The crowd wants to know if Jesus is the Messiah.
And the Pharisees answered with a resounding NO!

(24) “But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”

They were skeptics to the core,
But even they knew that saying no was not good enough.
There had to be an explanation of how He cast out the demon.

They couldn’t deny His power,
They wouldn’t accept its source.

So the only reasonable answer was
The demon must have been cast out by the ruler of demons.

The Pharisees knew there were two spiritual forces
With the capacity to cast out a demon.

GOD – who had authority over everything.
SATAN – who had command of his troops.

If Jesus power over demons came from God.
Then they had to submit to Him.

But if they say it wasn’t from God,
Then there was only one other option – Satan

There was no denying Jesus control was there.
So the Pharisees claimed it was from Satan.
They decided to tell everyone
That Jesus was in fact a supreme servant of Satan,
And that His casting out of demons
Was just a show meant only to deceive the people.

So first we see the act, second the attack
#3 THE ARGUMENT
Matthew 12:25-30

What an argument Jesus puts up to silence the Pharisees.

He already silenced them in regard to the Sabbath,
Telling them they knew nothing about the true Law of God,
Because they valued tradition over ministry to man, and love of God.

Here Jesus again picks their attack apart
With an argument that reveals their foolishness, and their fate.

We’ll break Jesus argument down into three points.
1) Jesus shows that their accusation is CRAZY
Verses 25-26

First off Jesus says that is a stupid argument, its absurd.

Why would Satan do such a thing?
Why would he willingly give up ground he has already taken?

Do you remember the facts about him?
John 10:10a “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy”

Satan is a thief.
He has a “Take what you can, give nothing back” mentality.

Satan is also not dumb, that he would accidentally do it.
Satan also is no sentimental, that he would feel guilty and do it.

Satan is in a battle.
And you don’t win the battle by taking ground
And then giving it right back.

There is no way to win if you fight amongst yourself.

So to claim that Satan tells Me to cast out himself is ridiculous.
No one would do that, not even Satan.

So first, He says your argument is stupid, its flat out crazy.
2) Their attack was INCONSISTENT
Verse 27a

Here again Jesus shoots a hole write in their argument.
When He speaks of the Pharisees sons,

He is most likely speaking of their apprentices.
All the prophets had schools
In which they would teach younger followers,
It most likely that the Pharisees did the same thing.

You’ll remember Paul was educated as a young Pharisee under Gamaliel.

Their sons also performed some acts of casting out demons.

You’ll remember in Acts where it dealt with the Seven Sons of Sceva.

Acts 19:13-16 “But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”

Their were Jewish exorcists who practiced the art of casting out demons.
Most was a form of magic they tried to use,
And as you can see they were willing to try anything.

So they even tried to use the name of Jesus to cast out demons.
If it worked, it worked.

None the less,
Jesus has pointed out inconsistency in the Pharisees argument.

The Pharisees endorsed their sons as being from God
Based on the fact of their success.
Since they could do it, it must have been God.

The question is if you endorse your sons based upon success,
Then on what grounds do you reject Jesus?

They claimed that their follower’s power came from God.

If you say their power comes from God,
Then Mine does also, and you have just lied.

If you say My power comes from Satan,
Then theirs does also, and you have been endorsing Satan.

So which is it?
There are inconsistencies with your argument.

First their attack was crazy, second it was inconsistent.
3) Their attack was CONDEMNING
Verses 27b-30

The Pharisees had locked themselves into corner.
THEY HAD ACTED IN UNBELIEF, AND REFUSED TO REPENT.

They were condemning Jesus, and thus condemning themselves.

For that reason, their followers, “will be your judges.”

WHAT DOES HE MEAN?
The evidence Jesus just gave in regard their sons
Will be enough evidence to condemn them on the Day of Judgment.

Your endorsement of them proves you recognize God’s power,
So during the judgment you will not be able to plead ignorance.

WHAT JESUS IS SAYING IS THAT HIS ABILITY TO CAST OUT DEMONS PROVES HE IS FROM GOD.
(The crowd actually got it right)

Because no one could cast out a demon
Unless he first has the ability to overcome the demon.

Which means “the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

(29) “Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.

Jesus is obviously the Messiah.
And that means the kingdom of God is here.

HOWEVER. The Pharisees refusal to accept Jesus claims.
REVEALS THEY ARE OPPOSED TO JESUS AND HIS KINGDOM.

And that state of mind leads to a dangerous reality.

For Jesus says, “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.”

What an evident truth, that Jesus gives us here.
Doing nothing with Jesus is as good as rejecting Him.
Failure to follow Christ makes you God’s enemy.

Charles Spurgeon wrote, “To be almost persuaded is to be certainly damned.”
How much worse the Pharisees for openly rejecting Him.
Now, this is a major problem, because of what Jesus shows us next.

First the ACT, then the ATTACK, then the ARGUMENT.
#4 THE ANNOUNCEMENT
Matthew 12:31-32
Scary verses dealing with the “Unpardonable Sin”

You ask people what the unpardonable sin is and they say, “blasphemy”.
But it seems that few know what that is.
So let’s talk about it a minute,

We know that God is a forgiving God.

Psalms 103:8-14 “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.”

We also know that God will forgive anyone of anything.
God has forgiven murderers, drunkards, thieves, homosexuals,
And even politicians.

There is no amount of sin that can keep you out of God’s love.
He will forgive anyone of anything, anywhere, at anytime,
If they will turn to Him and seek forgiveness.

We know about God’s amazing love.
And Jesus even puts it like this.

“Any sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people,”

Anything will be forgiven.
If you turn to Him, He will forgive you.

YOU SHOULD ALSO KNOW THAT WE ARE ALL GUILTY OF BLASPHEMY.

• Any time we take the name of the Lord in vain.
• Any time we question God’s faithfulness, or goodness, or love, or
provision.
• Any time we give God’s glory to self, or to another.

Romans 2:23-24 “You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,” just as it is written.”

Our disobedience in the world is a form of blasphemy.
WE HAVE ALL BLASPHEMED GOD.

We are also all sinners,
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

But “any sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people,”

Jesus even says in verse 32, “Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him;”

Regardless of how the multitudes treated Jesus,
Regardless of the fact that they crucified Him,

He still said, “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.”

Many reject Christ in ignorance, but they can still be forgiven.

Paul killed Christians, but was forgiven.
1 Timothy 1:12-13 “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief;”

• That means that you can even temporarily reject Christ…
• You can even have been a blasphemer…
• You can even have opposed Christianity…
And you can still be forgiven.

So listen carefully.
The condemnation that Jesus is proclaiming against the Pharisees
Is not because they have said all sorts of evil things about Him.

You can be forgiven for blaspheming Jesus.

HOWEVER ONE SIN WON’T BE FORGIVEN.

(31) “but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven”

(32) “but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”

What does that mean?
Well, what does the Holy Spirit do?
Turn to John 16:7-15
There is your truth on the Holy Spirit.
There are three things the Holy Spirit does.
1) Convict
Verses 7-11

He will convict the world of sin
Because they need to know they missed Jesus.

He will convict the world of righteousness
Because the perfect example is in heaven, and can’t be seen anymore

He will convict the world concerning judgment
Because judgment is imminent now that the ruler of the world is
defeated.

So the Holy Spirit testifies towards sin, righteousness, and judgment.

2) Guide
Verses 12-13

What will He guide us to? TRUTH

He will make sure you know and understand the truth of God
In regard to sin, in regard to salvation, in regard to righteousness.

3) Glorify
Verses 14-15

He will glorify Jesus, and let us know He is the one we should worship.

So the Holy Spirit comes to show sinners the reality of judgment,
The truth about their sin, and that Jesus is the only Savior.

HE COMES TO RENDER PEOPLE WITHOUT EXCUSE.

BUT IF A PERSON HEARS THE WITNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT,
AND TRULY UNDERSTANDS HIS MESSAGE, AND REJECTS IT.

They have chosen to know and reject.

That is why a person who blasphemes the Holy Spirit can’t be forgiven.

It’s not that God won’t forgive them.
They have chosen not to accept God’s forgiveness.

It is to understand the message, feel the conviction, and then say no.
There is nothing you can do for that person.

Hebrews 6:4-6 “For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.”

Hebrews 10:26-29 “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?”

The Pharisees understood clearly, for the power was evident.
But their pride caused them to say NO

They understood salvation, but said “No”.
And you can’t save a person who won’t accept the Savior.

Now we have spent three weeks talking about that famous invitation of Jesus.
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Now we learn that His invitation is NOT OPTIONAL.
It isn’t for you to just do with what you want.

If you will remember God offered rest to the Israelites too.
They initially rejected the offer by not entering the Promised Land,
And that entire generation died in the wilderness.

When Jesus says “Come to Me” that is NOT a request, that is a command.
• He is commanding you to come.
• He is commanding you to take His yoke.
• He is commanding you to learn from Him.

The reason people commonly misunderstand that
Is because He is so meek as we learned last week.

But after the text this week, you should know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is not OK to hear the call and reject it.

You and I must come.

Hebrews 3:7-12 “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS, WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me, AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS. “THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION, AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’; AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, ‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.'” Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”

CLICK TO LISTEN: 061 The Giver of Rest (Matthew 12 ,15-21)

The Giver of Rest
Matthew 12:15-21
August 14, 2011

In studying Matthew’s gospel we are in the middle of a section
That overwhelmingly illustrates the rejection that Jesus received
During His ministry on earth.

He went out in search of the lost sheep of the house of Israel,
Only to find that the lost sheep preferred to remain lost.

He found those lost sheep to be selfish and immature,
Like children who were unwilling to change.

But Jesus still offered them salvation.
Matthew 11:28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”

Even though Israel was stubborn and selfish,
Jesus still offered them the rest that had so long eluded them
If only they would submit to Him.

He even demonstrated His rest in the text we saw last week
As He set a man free from his withered arm, even on the Sabbath.

But even then they still hated Him.

Matthew 12:14 “But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.”

THEY HATED HIM BECAUSE HE WAS DIFFERENT
He wouldn’t dance when they played the flute
And He wouldn’t mourn when they sang a dirge.

He ate with sinners…
He fellowshipped with tax collectors…
And worst of all He exposed the hypocrisy of those in organized religion.

The Pharisees were those:
Matthew 23:4 “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.”

But Jesus was just the opposite.
They brought burdens and Jesus brought rest.

He was indeed completely opposite of them in every way.

In fact, the first thing we see is:
#1 PUBLICITY FORSAKEN
Matthew 12:15-16

We quickly recognize the omniscience of Jesus
As He once again reads the hearts and intentions of men.

The Pharisees wanted to destroy Jesus
And Matthew says that Jesus was “aware of this”

And because of this brewing hostility, Jesus “withdrew from there”.

He was not running from a fight, but we do understand
That fighting was not His main objective.

He was not about to continually cast His pearls before swine.
So Jesus left.

And as they commonly did, “the crowd followed Him”
And as is common with Jesus, “He healed them all,”

Then comes that same old peculiar statement.
(16) “and warned them not to tell who He was.”

We have seen that statement before.
After Jesus cleansed the leper in
Matthew 8:4 “And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

After Jesus restored sight to the blind man in
Matthew 9:30 “And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them: “See that no one knows about this!”

And we said on those occasions that it had to do with
The crowd missing the point.

Their selfish desires for temporal gain
Often worked against His desire to minister spiritual healing.

But in this text Matthew seems to be hinting at another reason
Why Jesus didn’t want anyone to know.

And that reason is that Jesus wasn’t trying to become famous,
Or to overly publicize Himself.

Certainly He was the Messiah.
Certainly He is the Savior of the World.
But when Jesus walked the earth it wasn’t all about publicity and fame.

This by the way was also in stark contrast to the Pharisees.
Matthew 23:5-7 “But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. “They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men.”
A Pharisee loved to be recognized.
• That is why they sounded trumpets when they gave.
• That is why they prayed on the street corners.
• That is why they neglected their appearance when they fasted.
• That is why they broadened their phylacteries and lengthened the tassels on their garments.

Jesus was exactly opposite.
He was not out for publicity, He was out to save sinners.

The problem is that because the people were so accustomed
To the religious leadership of the Pharisees,
They had difficulty seeing Jesus as legitimate.

He was not what they were expecting to say the least.
• They were looking for a bold ruler…
• They were looking for an “in your face” deliverer…

And that certainly was not Jesus.
Isaiah 53:1-3 “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.’

Jesus didn’t come craving attention, and this confused the Jews.

Because Jesus continual rejection of publicity confused the people, Matthew includes here in his gospel the explanation for that.

So first Publicity Forsaken
#2 PROPHECY FULFILLED
Matthew 12:18-21

The Jews had extreme difficulty believing Jesus could be the Messiah,
Largely in part to His extreme differences with
The dominating religious leaders they were accustomed to.

So this Jesus who showed up meek and mild,
Just couldn’t be the long awaited Messiah,
Regardless of the miraculous power He has.

That is why Matthew includes this prophecy.
It is to answer the critics who think Jesus is too mild.

Matthew is revealing an often overlooked Messianic prophecy,
But it was one that Jesus fulfilled to a “T”.

Matthew quotes from Isaiah 42:1-4
Matthew focused on Jesus willingness to forsake publicity and said, “This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:”

If you want to know why Jesus didn’t seek a crowd…
If you want to know why Jesus didn’t seek the limelight…
This is why:

1) HIS CALLING (18)
“BEHOLD, MY SERVANT WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN; MY BELOVED IN WHOM MY SOUL is WILL-PLEASED; I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT UPON HIM, AND HE SHALL PROCLAIM JUSTICE TO THE GENTILES.”

The first thing Matthew wants you to recognize is that
The man described here is in fact the chosen servant of God.

“BEHOLD, MY SERVANT WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN;”

The problem with Israel is that they were always looking for
The type of Messiah they would choose.
What they should have been looking for
Is the Messiah that God would choose.

And you understand that.
• It is not man who had to be appeased, it is God who had to be appeased.
• It is not man who requires payment, it is God who requires payment.

And man does not get to give God what they want to give Him,
They must give God what He requires.

So we are not looking for the Messiah that fits our description,
We are looking for the One who fits God’s.

Isaiah pointed to that man.

And what we learn from Isaiah is that
The “SERVANT” would be the “Son”

Not only would He be “MY SERVANT WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN;”
But He would also be “MY BELOVED IN WHOM MY SOUL IS WELL-PLEASED”

For a servant, God chose His Son.
Psalms 2:7-9 “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'”

WHY WOULD GOD CHOOSE HIS SON?

Because the Son is the only one who was pleasing to the Father.
At the Jordan:
Matthew 3:17 “and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

On the Mountain:
Matthew 17:5 “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!”

The Son was the only one pleasing to the Father,
And therefore the Father chose the Son to be the servant.

No one else could please the Father.
No one else could meet His high standards.
No one else could appease the Father’s requirements.
So the Father chose the Son.

God chose the Son to be the Servant, and God made a decision.
“I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT UPON HIM”

This is the anointing of the Father.
This is the approval.

And we saw this too didn’t we?
Matthew 3:16 “After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him,”

Jesus was God’s Son long before His baptism…
Jesus was chosen of God long before His baptism…
Jesus was filled with God’s Spirit long before His baptism…

That event was to solidify in our minds that
Jesus was the One whom God had chosen and whom God had sent.

And God sent Him for a purpose.
“AND HE SHALL PROCLAIM JUSTICE TO THE GENTILES.”

DON’T YOU LOVE THAT!

The Gospel that Jesus preached:
JUSTICE

• Jesus preached that man was sinful.
• Jesus preached that God was holy.
• Jesus preached that hell was real.
• Jesus preached that sinners went there.

He preached “JUSTICE”
He preached repentance.

Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

And by the way, this is the gospel.
So many today want to start with mercy and grace.

If you go out offering mercy to a man who doesn’t know why he needs it,
You have a terrible time getting him to accept it.

Jesus only offered mercy after He proclaimed justice.
He condemned people under the Law of God,
And then offered them forgiveness through His sacrifice.

That was His calling!

So if you were looking for someone else, then change your search,
For this is who Isaiah said we should be looking for.

His calling
2) HIS COMMUNICATION (19)
“HE WILL NOT QUARREL, NOR CRY OUT; NOR WILL ANYONE HEAR HIS VOICE IN THE STREETS.”

Here was another issue the Jews had with Jesus.
They were looking for that arrogant, loud, boisterous preacher.

WHY?
Because that is what the Pharisees were.

And because Jesus was not like them,
They didn’t think He could be the Messiah.

But Matthew says, His meekness does not exclude Him from being Messiah, on the contrary it proves it.

For Isaiah said this about the Messiah:
“HE WILL NOT QUARREL, NOR CRY OUT; NOR WILL ANYONE HEAR HIS VOICE IN THE STREETS.”

“QUARREL” translates EPIZO

“to strive”
It also means “to wrangle, or harass, or even to brawl”

Jesus wouldn’t do that.
• He was not argumentative.
• He didn’t relish shouting matches.
• He would have hated to be on one of today’s political shows where people try to yell over one another in order to get their voice heard.
He spoke truth, but He didn’t harass to do it.

(Mrs. Johnson in high school taught us like that)

“HE WILL NOT QUARREL, NOR CRY OUT”

“CRY OUT” translates KRAUGAZO

“to yell or scream excitedly”

It is actually used to describe how the demons yelled.
Luke 4:41 “Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But rebuking them, He would not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ.”

It is used other places to describe a dog’s bark or a raven’s squawk.

And this wasn’t Jesus either.
He wasn’t a carnival barker.

Jesus didn’t harass crowds.
• He wasn’t a bully.
• He wasn’t a motivational speaker.
• He didn’t try to intimidate people.

He simply spoke the truth in love.

Ephesians 4:15 “but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,”

Colossians 4:6 “Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.”

That was Christ.

Today there has become a fascination
With preachers using profanity in their pulpits.

I obviously can’t give you quotations.
But in the rage to be hip and relevant and trendy and cool,
Pastor’s have resorted to using language to better identify
With their congregations.

The most prominent is a man named Mark Driscoll.
His nickname is “The Cussing Pastor”.

He does it to make a point and to get people’s attention.

But Jesus never did this.
He didn’t have to yell at you or cuss at you
Or scream until a vein was about to pop in His neck.
Jesus spoke the most direct and penetrating truth
Ever to come off the lips of a human being,
And yet He did so without bantering people with it.

The Jews shouldn’t have been surprised at Jesus,
They should have seen He is exactly what Isaiah promised.

His Calling, His Communication
3) HIS COMPASSION (20)
“A BATTERED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF, AND A SMOLDERING WICK HE WILL NOT PUT OUT.”

This obviously speaks of His compassion.

“A BATTERED REED…AND A SMOLDERING WICK”
Both spoke of the outcast.

“A BATTERED REED” was a reed which had been bent or broken, and was no longer sturdy enough to be of any use to anyone.

This was like the person whose life was so broken
That they needed help, but were unable to contribute.

“A SMOLDERING WICK” referred to a match that had already been burned. It couldn’t be lit again.

This was like a person whose light was gone. They were hopeless.

These were down and outers.
They couldn’t help, they couldn’t encourage.

They are the people that most of society wants to throw away.
They have been used and abused and are now used up.

But Jesus wouldn’t discard them.
He wouldn’t “BREAK OFF” those reeds.
He wouldn’t “PUT OUT” those wicks.

• Who else talked to the woman at the well?
• Who else saw the widow putting in her two mites?
• Who else would eat with Zaccheus?
• Who else wanted Matthew to follow?
• Who else gave time to Mary Magdalene?
• Who else touched lepers?

Those were all people that the world had discarded.
Those were all people that the world had no use for.

And yet Jesus didn’t overlook them.
The point is He wasn’t like the Pharisees.

• The Pharisees used people to achieve their goals.
• They put their burdens on people to carry for them.
• They brow beat people and threatened people.
• And they did it all to promote themselves.

But that wasn’t God’s intended religion.

Jesus came just the opposite.
He was concerned about people not His own reputation.

When the woman came wetting Jesus feet with her tears
And wiping them with her hair;

The Pharisee said:
Luke 7:39 “Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.”

But Jesus wasn’t concerned about what the Pharisee thought of Him
And He defended her.

Luke 7:44-48 “Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. “You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. “You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. “For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.”

A Pharisee would have run the woman outside and said
“Get away from me” in order to save face.

Jesus wasn’t about to reject her.

And those closest to Jesus knew this about Him.

When the disciples found Jesus talking to the woman at the well?
John 4:27 “At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why do You speak with her?”

Apparently they had received the same lecture as Simon had before.

Jesus was compassionate.

And He was compassionate to a purpose.
“UNTIL HE LEADS JUSTICE TO VICTORY.”

Let me say it another way.
UNTIL JUSTICE IS SATISFIED
Jesus knew that He would one day die upon a cross
And satisfy the righteous requirement of God.

There was no way He was going to cast aside these broken people
So long as salvation was readily available.

The Messiah is not a Tyrant, the Messiah is a Savior.
But the Jews didn’t know that
And therefore they failed to recognize Jesus.

His Calling, His Communication, His Compassion
4) HIS CONSUMMATION (21)
“AND IN HIS NAME THE GENTILES WILL HOPE”

This is what He accomplished.

The Messiah came to give hope.
And hope not just to Jews, but to the entire world.

And we have seen this before.
Matthew 4:12-16 “Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “THE LAND OF ZEBULUN AND THE LAND OF NAPHTALI, BY THE WAY OF THE SEA, BEYOND THE JORDAN, GALILEE OF THE GENTILES — “THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT, AND THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH, UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED.”

More than one prophecy revealed that the Messiah would save the Gentiles, and Matthew affirms that here.

Jesus wouldn’t come to exterminate sinners,
He would come to give them hope.

And this is really what the people couldn’t grasp about Jesus.

In fact this was the main accusation the Pharisees made against Him.
Matthew 9:10-11 “Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?”

Matthew 11:19 “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

Luke 15:2 “Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

The thought of Messiah associating with the lowly was hideous to them,
And the people had sort of adopted their wrong thinking.
• Jesus came to be a friend of sinners.
• Jesus came to save sinners.
• Jesus came to live among sinners.

He came to give them “hope”

He came to show them that there was forgiveness for their sin,
And the hope of a real relationship with the Father.

In short, Jesus came to set their souls at ease and give them REST

Matthew 11:28-29 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.”

The reason the Jews continually rejected Jesus
Is because He didn’t look like what they were expecting.

But their expectation was wrong, for all they had ever seen
Was the corrupt, dominating religion of the Pharisees.

But Jesus didn’t come like them.
• They came in arrogance, He came in humility
• They came in power, He came in meekness
• They came dominating people, He came ministering to people
• They trampled on the weak, He picked them up
• They offered threats, He offered hope
• They brought a burden, He brought rest

He didn’t look like them, but that doesn’t mean He wasn’t the Messiah.

Jesus was the Messiah God had promised.
They were the imposters.

Matthew wanted them to know that,
And he wanted you to know it as well.
Jesus is THE GIVER OF REST.

He comes preaching justice and demanding repentance,
But He also comes offering forgiveness to all who will trust Him.

He doesn’t throw anyone aside, He only demands that you
Repent of your sin and submit your life to Him.

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

CLICK TO LISTEN: 060 Defending Rest (Matthew 12 ,1-14)

Defending Rest
Matthew 12:1-14
August 7, 2010

As you will recall, last week we studied one of
The most famous statements off of the mouth of Jesus.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”

We learned that salvation was both exclusive and a divine privilege.
Jesus won’t lower the Father’s standard to let people in the kingdom.
The Father won’t let anyone apart from Jesus.

Jesus said, “nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”

Then came the great part.
Jesus said no one can unless “the Son wills”
And then Jesus said, “I will”.

Jesus was offering the salvation rest
That had eluded Israel since the days of Moses.

God continually offered rest and Israel continually failed to receive it.
WHY?
Hebrews 4:1-3 “Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.”

The writer of Hebrews reveals that Israel never received rest
Because she never believed. She never placed saving faith in God.

Jesus reiterated that by revealing that
• They were self-appointed wise men who only want their way.
• He said they were like children who want everyone else to conform to their standards, but are unwilling to conform to anyone else’s.

And because they thought this way, they hated Jesus.
For He refused to play their games.

Jesus knew their rituals and traditions (games)
Were nothing but man-made burdens,
And He sought to give people rest from that.

And so Jesus confronted their sin and offered them rest.
One more time He offered the salvation of God.

It is for all who will “Come to Him” and “Take His yoke upon themselves”.
And so rest was offered.
This morning we move forward and see that rest defended.

At first reading of this text,
It can cause a person to get a bad misconception.

It can almost appear like it is the Pharisees who are concerned about maintaining God’s rest, and that it is Jesus who is attacking it.

But that is not the case at all.
In fact it is the opposite.

Jesus is defending true rest, while the Pharisees
Seek to maintain their burdening grip on the people.

And not only will we see the great defense of rest by Jesus,
But we will also get a glimpse of just how badly the enemy hates it.

5 things
#1 THE ACT
Matthew 12:1

We have talked before about
How the Pharisees had perverted the Law of the Sabbath.

They had “added to” the Scriptures.

The command was this:
Exodus 20:8-11 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

God simply said, “you shall not do any work”

The Pharisees then took it upon themselves to decide what “work” was.
They came up with some of the craziest regulations you’ve ever heard of.

William Barclay quotes from the Jewish commentary: “The Book of Jubilee”
Chapter 50 states this:
“Whoever lies with his wife, or plans to do anything on the Sabbath, or plans to set out on a journey (even the contemplation of work is forbidden), or plans to buy or sell, or draws water, or lifts a burden is condemned. Any man who does any work on the Sabbath (whether the work is in his house or in any other place), or goes a journey, or tills a farm, any man who lights a fire or rides any beast, or travels by ship at sea, any man who strikes or kills anything, any man who cathes an animal, a bird, or a fish, any man who fasts or who makes war on a Sabbath – the man who does these things shall die.” (Barclay, Matthew commentary volume 2, pg 22-23)

They had regulated every action they could think of.

The True Purpose of the Sabbath was: REST

Mark 2:27 “Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”

In its truest sense, the Sabbath was a gift from God to man.
What a great day to know you wouldn’t have to labor,
That God would take care of everything for you.

The Israelite didn’t have to worry about crops or enemies or finances. God had given him a mandate and he could rest.

It obviously became a picture of New Testament salvation.

TURN TO: HEBREWS 4:1-11

It is now a picture that we don’t have to work to earn God’s favor,
But thanks to Jesus, we rest in that regard.
He has made us pleasing to God.

The Sabbath was supposed to be anything but a burden.

However, the Pharisees had taken a day that was meant for rest,
And actually turned it into the day of the biggest burden.

And that is what starts our problem here.

(1) “At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat.”

So here on the Sabbath, Jesus and His disciples are having a meal.

DID THEY BREAK THE LAW?
Deuteronomy 23:24-25 “When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, then you may eat grapes until you are fully satisfied, but you shall not put any in your basket. “When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain.”

They weren’t doing anything that was forbidden,
God had said they could eat from their neighbors field.
(I remember studying this passage several years ago in Bible study and Leo asked if that meant it was OK to eat a grape in the grocery store?)

Exodus 34:21 “You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest.”

There God simply said you still had to rest during harvest,
But He didn’t say you couldn’t eat.
You could satisfy your hunger in your neighbor’s field
As long as you didn’t harvest it.
The disciples were not in violation of the Law.

They were however in violation of the Pharisee’s traditions.

They had said that picking wheat was HARVESTING,
Rubbing it in your hands was a form of THRESHING,
and blowing away the chaff was a form of WINNOWING.

They had turned the gift of God into a burden for the people.

And so you can see we are set up for a confrontation.

First the act.
#2 THE ATTACK
Matthew 12:2

“But when the Pharisees saw this…”

One has to wonder why the Pharisees were even in the field.

They were spying on Jesus and His disciples.

Psalms 56:1-7 “Be gracious to me, O God, for man has trampled upon me; Fighting all day long he oppresses me. My foes have trampled upon me all day long, For they are many who fight proudly against me. When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. In God, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me? All day long they distort my words; All their thoughts are against me for evil. They attack, they lurk, They watch my steps, As they have waited to take my life. Because of wickedness, cast them forth, In anger put down the peoples, O God!”

That sounds just like the Pharisees doesn’t it?
They were hiding out just waiting for Jesus to mess up so they could jump out and say, “AHA!”

This is yet another proof of what kind of men they actually are.
They were not seeking redemption, they were seeking condemnation.

It was not their goal to unite men with God,
But to separate men from God.

And yet at times we can act the same way in Church.

If the Pharisees were truly concerned about the person.
They would have warned them before the sin.
Instead they waited until they had good evidence, and then condemned.

How many times are we like that in church?
The Bible says if your brother sins, to confront him…

The purpose of that is redemptive.
The aim is to save his soul.

However, we seldom do that in church today.
We see a brother sinning, but don’t confront him.
Instead we get on the telephone and spread it.

That is just like the Pharisees.
They weren’t redemptive, they were destructive.

First the act, second the attack.
#3 THE ARGUMENT
Matthew 12:3-5

You have to love what Jesus does here.
He gives them an argument that they cannot handle.

I love what He says first, “Have you not read…”

What a great question. I can imagine they all clutched their chests,
And took big whiffs of air, and acted astonished.

Sure they had read, but that didn’t make them wise.
Remember, “wisdom is vindicated by her deeds”

These men had read the Law, but they did not understand it.

Two important truths they failed to understand.

1) The Sabbath does not restrict Deeds of Necessity (3-4)

“But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone?”

David proved that the Sabbath didn’t restrict human necessit.

They weren’t working, they weren’t harvesting grain,
They weren’t doing any sort of labor,
They were merely satisfying their physical need.
It is lawful to eat on the Sabbath.

God never intended to make the Sabbath so burdensome
That man couldn’t even meet his basic physical needs.

Jesus points out the foolishness of the Pharisees
Because they had elevated their traditions over the needs of humanity.

That is a tragedy we see in many religions.

Buddhists are taught not to help a man in poverty,
Because you would be hurting his eternal reward for living in poverty.

Hindus will starve to death rather than eat a cow,
Which is a very sacred supposed reincarnated animal.

The Pharisees had elevated their traditions above the needs of humanity,
And God never intended that.

2) The Sabbath doesn’t restrict Service to God (5)

“Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent?”

Certainly they lifted more weight than was allowed by the Pharisees,
But yet they accepted it because it was service to God.

The Pharisees had gotten their traditions out of wack.

Their traditions had become more important
Than ministering to people, or worshiping God.

How easy it is to get our focus off.
When we are more concerned with doing things our way
(i.e. playing our flute or playing our dirge)
Than we are about the needs of others, or about worship to God.
Then we have a problem.

We have slipped into the ritualism of the Pharisees.

That is what the Pharisees had done,
And Jesus reveals they are foolish because of it.

The Act, The Attack, The Argument.
#4 THE ANNOUNCEMENT
Matthew 12:6-8

And this is vitally important.
It is yet another announcement by Jesus about Himself as to who He was.

Some today have made the assertion that Jesus never claimed to be God.
That is foolish, for that is precisely what He is doing here.

Notice the statement, “But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here.”

That is a claim to deity.
And if that didn’t do it, then notice the second claim.

(8) “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath”

This was an absolute claim to deity and authority.
Jesus is letting it be known that their rules meant nothing.
He is Lord of the Sabbath and He can do whatever He wants on it.

Who were they to question what God did on the Sabbath?
Who are we to question what God wants to do either?

If Jesus demanded hard labor, that was fine, because He is Lord.

However Jesus doesn’t want hard labor.
Nor does Jesus want strict burdens.

WHAT DOES THE LORD OF THE SABBATH REQUIRE?
‘I desire compassion and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.”

The point is that the Pharisees went around promoting their religion
Like they really cared so much about God.

Yet in the exercise of their religion,
They had failed to do what mattered most to God.

WHAT WAS THE GREATEST COMMAND?
WHAT WAS THE SECOND GREATEST?

God desired love.
God desired compassion.
And the Pharisees had neither.

All they cared about was their own tradition.
All they cared about was their rituals.
They just wanted people to dance when they placed the flute
And mourn when they played the dirge.

It wasn’t about setting people free,
It was about keeping the people under their thumb.

That was the problem of the Pharisee,
And Jesus says they are ridiculous.

#5 THE APPLICATION
Matthew 12:9-14

“Departing from there, He went into their Synagogue.”

The harmony of the gospels suggests that this wasn’t as immediate as it seems,
But certainly Matthew places it here to make a point.

We find Jesus in the Synagogue and it is time to present Him with a test.

(10) “A man was there whose hand was withered. And the questioned Jesus, asking, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

Now stop for a moment and picture this scene.
Ever seen a man with a withered hand?

Well here is a man who has all sorts of hardships in life to endure
And now he gets used as a pawn in their game.

Only the belief is that if Jesus heals Him,
Then they think Jesus is breaking God’s Law.

That means the message they were sending to this man is that
God doesn’t want you to have any relief.

That is just a synagogue filled with love isn’t it.

The Law never said a person couldn’t be helped on the Sabbath,
But their tradition did.

THEIR TRADITION SAID,
“you could give enough medicine to keep a person alive, but you could not cause him to get better.”

(11) “And He said to them, “What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out?”
And of course they all would.

(12) “How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep!”

Do you hear what Jesus is saying?
“You value sheep more than man.”

You care more about your animals (because of the money involved)
Than you do about another human being.

Beyond that, if it is ok to help a sheep on the Sabbath,
Then certainly it is ok to help a man.
“It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

They wanted to know if it was lawful, Jesus said it is.

Romans 13:8-10 “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

Matthew 7:12 “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

(13) “Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand!” he stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other.”

THAT IS THE SORT OF THING GOD WOULD DO.
THAT IS THE SORT OF THING RELIGION WON’T DO.

Jesus came to offer man rest from his burdens,
It was the religion of the Pharisees that wanted him enslaved.

So Jesus sets him free, even on the Sabbath.

His mission must be our mission as well.

It is too easy to just play church.

NOT FOCUSED ON MINISTERING TO ONE ANOTHER
NOT FOCUSED ON WORSHIPING GOD.
Just going through our little routine.

We have to make sure our focus is on worship, not routine.

The things the Pharisees were doing weren’t wrong.

Its ok not to carry food on the Sabbath. Its ok not to light a candle.
There is nothing wrong with that.

The problem is, that was more important to them than worship.

It leads us to ask a question of ourselves?

Why did I come to church this morning?
Did I come out of habit?
Did I come so other people would see that I was here?
Did I come to make sure everything was done correctly?
Did I come to make sure the preacher didn’t say anything wrong?

Or did I come to worship?
Did I come to lay all on the altar before God?
Did I come to look for a way to minister to my fellow brethren?

In short did I come offering rest
Or did I come increasing other people’s burdens?

See the Pharisees wanted their rituals.
They wanted to keep playing the flute and making people dance.

But Jesus refused.
He came offering rest.

And because of this they hated Him.

(14) “But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.”

There will always be enemies of true salvation.
There will always be those
Who would rather yoke you to some sort of religious burden.

But Jesus says no.
Jesus offers rest to all who will come to Him
And take His yoke upon themselves and let Him have control.
This morning let me encourage you to embrace His rest.

Find it for yourselves and offer it to others.

Let us make sure that what we are about here
Is true worship saturated with true compassion.

 

Experience rest and offer it.

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

 

CLICK TO LISTEN: 059 Finding Rest (Matthew 11 ,25-30)

Finding Rest
Matthew 11:25-30
July 31, 2011

When we read that text you are instantly familiar with what Jesus says.
Especially the “Come to Me” part.

After all, it hangs on a banner at the front of our church as a constant reminder
That Jesus is above all things a Savior.
And you are aware of this.

What you may not be aware of is that
This invitation is an extremely Jewish invitation.

And why wouldn’t it be?
• After all, Jesus is preaching in the towns of Israel.
• Jesus is searching for the lost sheep of Israel.
• Jesus just condemned three towns in Israel for their hardness of heart.

So obviously any invitation that Jesus gives here, must be a Jewish one.
And in understanding that, it helps us to better understand the passage.

And the main thing you need to see in this text is what exactly
That Jesus is offering.

He says, “I will give you rest”

And in verse 29 He quotes Jeremiah 6 in offering “rest for your souls”

And this notion of rest is important to understand.
It runs back all the way to the days of Moses and really even before.

You will recall that it was Joseph
Who was first sold into slavery in the land of Egypt.

And because of God’s favor upon him
Joseph ascended to the second most powerful man in Egypt,
And during a time of famine, Joseph brought his entire family into that land.

Exodus 1:8-14 “Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we. “Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land.” So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel. The Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel to labor rigorously; and they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously imposed on them.”

Israel was forced into hard labor, and you are familiar with the story.

However, after 450 years in the land of Egypt,
God raised up a deliverer named Moses.

Moses would lead the children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt
And to the new Promised Land of God.
God promised to give them a resting place.

Deuteronomy 12:8-9 “You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes; for you have not as yet come to the resting place and the inheritance which the LORD your God is giving you.”

In Deuteronomy 12:10 Moses called it “rest from all your enemies”

And so God had a place of rest for His chosen people.
• A place that was their own.
• A place where they could worship Him.
• A place where they would no longer be oppressed by their enemies.

But again, you remember the story.
• Israel wouldn’t enter the promised land.
• They grumbled continuously

Scripture says they tested Him, and it angered God.

Psalms 95:8-11 “Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, “When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. “For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. “Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”

These people grumbled against God, and God said, “No rest for you”
And that generation died in the wilderness having never achieved it.

40 years later the Israelites did enter, but again they were unfaithful.
Instead of wiping out all the inhabitants of the land,
They made treaties and allowed some to remain.

Numbers 33:55 “’But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live.”

And that is precisely what happened.
The inhabitants of the land not only warred against Israel,
But also tempted her to worship pagan gods.

In short, they entered the land, but they had anything but rest.
All through the Judges we get battles with the Moabites and the Amonites and the Philistines and many other pagan nations.

These battles continued into the days of the Kings, until ultimately Assyria and Babylon would come and wipe Israel out enslaving her all over again.
The point is that Israel never really received the rest
That God intended for her to have.

And even the prophets knew that.
It was Jeremiah who first spoke the words that Jesus quotes here.

Jeremiah 6:16-17 “Thus says the LORD, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ “And I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’”

Israel never would receive the rest God intended.
They remained stubborn.
They remained blind.
They remained deaf.
They remained hard-hearted

And that is what Jesus has been saying in Matthew 11 thus far.

Matthew 11:16-19 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children, and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

Beyond that we heard Jesus tell them that their judgment
Would be more severe than even Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom.

Israel continually refused God, and never received the rest God intended.
(Even now they were under Roman rule)

Certainly it was her own fault, but still suffering was all she knew.

And now, here comes Jesus, offering that rest one more time.
One more time He comes and offers the “rest”
That has eluded her for so many years.

3 things
#1 THE EXALTATION
Matthew 11:25-26

I really find this to be somewhat of a surprising response from Jesus.
It is obviously a praise, but look at WHEN and look at WHY.

“At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth…”

“At that time” indicates that no sooner did Jesus pronounce certain judgment upon Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum,
Than did He immediately break out in praise to God.
That is not a time that you and I would typically think a praise song is due.

If that is not surprising enough, then certainly the reason for His praise is.

“I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.”

So not only is Jesus praising God at a seemingly strange time,
But He is also praising Him for a seemingly strange thing.

“these things” are obviously truths about the kingdom of God
And salvation, and Jesus is praising the Father
That they have been hidden to some and revealed to others.

WHAT ARE WE TO MAKE OF THAT?
Is Jesus actually happy about their impending doom?
Is Jesus rejoicing that these people are lost?

Certainly not!

Matthew 23:37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.”

Jesus did not rejoice in their judgment.

We have too many statements throughout the Scriptures that see Jesus
Grieved over unbelief, pleading with sinners, and even reminding us
That His purpose was to save men’s lives, not destroy them.

So we cannot deduce that Jesus is happy about their doom.

WHY IS JESUS PRAISING?

Jesus isn’t praising because of the response of the people,
Jesus is praising because of the sovereignty of the Father.

He is praising God for keeping salvation exclusive.
He is praising God for keeping salvation precious.

You remember what Israel was doing to the kingdom of God.
Matthew 11:12 “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.”

And you remember that this meant they were trying to
Malign the kingdom and manipulate the standards in order to enter.

They were trying to force God’s gate wider and lower God’s standards
to accommodate their desires.
The reason of course is because they thought themselves
So wise and deserving.

Of course Jesus told us last week that
“wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

What we mean is that the Jews of Jesus day would have destroyed God’s kingdom in order to allow themselves to enter.

And while Jesus does desire sinners to be saved,
He does not desire them to be saved at the cost of the kingdom.

Jesus never intended for God to have to change
In order for men to go to heaven,
Jesus always intended for the sinners to do the changing.

And while it is disheartening that they would not repent,
Jesus still praises the Father for holding His ground.

You see today we take the gospel out to the world and we ask men to leave their sin and surrender their lives to Christ.
• Obviously all men don’t want to do that.
• Some desperately cling to their sin.
• They reject the claims of the gospel.

HOW IS A CHRISTIAN TO RESPOND TO THAT?

Well many have faulted the gospel.
Many have faulted the fact that God is too rigid.

And this is obvious because so many have perverted the gospel
To make a salvation apart from repentance or commitment.

In many areas the gospel has been dumbed down
to just a simple one-time agreement to go to heaven.

In short sinners have refused to repent and it is as though
Men have blamed their failure to be saved on God.

Jesus did no such thing!
While He was grieved that Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum would not be exalted to heaven, His grief was not aimed at God.

These cities were lost, but it wasn’t God’s fault
Jesus makes that clear by praising God for sticking to His guns.

God refused to let the arrogant force their way into the kingdom.
God only allowed the humble and meek to enter.
That is what Jesus meant by “You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.”

Those who remained arrogant and wise in their own estimation
Were not granted access into the kingdom.
God would not allow them to get it.

God reserved the precious truth of the kingdom for the humble, and the frail, and helpless; for the “infants”.

This was (26) “well-pleasing in [God’s] sight”

And Jesus praises God for that.

What Jesus is doing is sending a signal to the Jews of that day
And to all who would read His words later
That entrance into the kingdom requires you to change, not God.

• God is sovereign.
• He is “Lord of heaven and earth”
• He does what is “well-pleasing” in His sight.

Don’t think for one second that after these people walked away from Jesus that He instantly turned to the Father and said,
“See, You’re just making this too hard!”

After these sinners walked away, Jesus turned and praised the Father,
Because He knew the one at fault was the sinner, not the Father.

So Jesus starts here with praise.

The Exaltation
#2 THE EXPLANATION
Matthew 11:27

Now Jesus has just revealed that because of the arrogance of man,
They have not been allowed to enter the kingdom.

The truths of the kingdom has been hidden from them.
They thought they deserved it, but they would not be getting it.

Jesus builds on that thought here.
Namely that they all understand something.

SALVATION IS NOT A RIGHT, SALVATION IS A PRIVILEGE.

If you think God is wrong to hide truth from some while revealing it to others is just wrong, then you need to change your thinking.

Romans 9:19-21 “You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?”

They cry out, “That’s not fair!”
Paul’s response? “Who are you..?”

Who do you think you are to question anything that the sovereign God desires to do?

Do you suppose God owes you salvation?
Do you suppose it is your birth right?
Do you suppose God must answer to your expectation?
Do you suppose God must submit to your judgments?

And the answer is no.
He is God, you are not.
He is “Lord of heaven and earth” you are not.

Salvation is not a right, it is a privilege,
And that is what Jesus builds on here.

“All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son…”

Now let me explain to you what Jesus just said.

He just said that a relationship with the Father is exclusive.
Not just anyone can enter into a relationship with God or His Son.

And do not suppose that anyone else has a right
Into that exclusive relationship.

But we read, “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father”

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

It means that while the relationship between the Father and the Son is exclusive, the Father has given the Son authority to make a decision.

WHAT DECISION IS THAT?

The Son has been given authority to decide
If anyone else gets to partake in this special relationship.

“no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son will to reveal Him.”
The Son has the right to reveal men to the Father.
The Son has the right to take men to the Father.

And of course now we know why it is important for Jesus to know you.

Remember Matthew 7?
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

You may know all about the Son, but that doesn’t matter.
The Son has to know you.

Because you can’t go and introduce yourself to the Father,
Only the Son can do that.

It’s like trying to enter a White house party and your name isn’t on the list.
You can’t force your way into the kingdom, the Son has to let you in.

Now let me just recap what is happening.
• Jesus is preaching in their cities, but the people won’t listen to Him.
• They accuse Him of being “a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”

• And because of their rejection of Him Jesus tells them that there is no way they will enter the kingdom of heaven.

• They can’t enter on their own, the Son has to introduce them.

• And Jesus praises the Father for maintaining this.

You see earlier we said Jesus could have gotten mad at the Father
For making the standard too high, but He didn’t.

Here we learn that the Father could have decided
To let people in apart from an introduction by the Son,
But He wouldn’t.

God’s way of salvation is concrete.
God’s way of salvation is absolute.

God won’t let anyone in, whom the Son doesn’t introduce
The Son won’t offer any standard except what the Father desires.
That means that salvation is extremely exclusive.

The only way you get in is if you demonstrate the frailty that the Father demands and come to the Son that He may introduce you to the Father.
You can’t force your way in.
You can’t lower the standard.
You can’t sneak in apart from Jesus.

You must do it His way.

In a Jewish sense, you don’t get to enter the Promised Land
Unless you do it God’s way.

And every time Israel tried to do it her own way,
She failed to achieve the rest God wanted her to have.

Jeremiah 6:16-17 “Thus says the LORD, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ “And I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’”

They wouldn’t do it God’s way so they never received rest.

And Jesus is reminding them that salvation is only possible
Through the Son, the Son they have thus far rejected.

Exaltation, Explanation
#3 THE INVITATION
Matthew 11:28-30

And here is the tremendous grace of our Savior.
They have rejected Him continually,
Yet He continues to give them opportunity.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”

Israel’s entire history is nothing but “weary and heavy-laden”

Why shouldn’t it be?
All they have ever done is exactly the opposite of what God commanded.

So it is even today.
People continually make decisions outside of God’s revealed truth
And then wonder why their lives are falling apart.

We live lives of coveting and adultery and deception and idolatry and drunkenness and gossip…

And then wonder why life is so hard.
Ask Israel.

It is hard to achieve God’s blessings
When you are continually disobeying every command He gives.

They were “weary and heavy-laden”
However, Jesus was still willing to fix their problem.

First they have to “Come to Me”
Rejecting the Son won’t do them any good.

It is time to quit rejecting Him as a drunkard
And start recognizing Him as the Son of God.

But that is not all.
(29) “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in hear, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

If they wanted rest, it was time they come to Jesus and submit to Him.

WHAT DO YOU THINK “Take My yoke upon you” MEANS?

A yoke was a device meant to tie two oxen together
So that moved in unison and always went the same direction.

Jesus was saying,
• You’ve been walking your own way too long.
• You’ve been going in your own direction too long.
• It is time you let me drive the car.

Come put your neck under My yoke and walk with me for a while.

And this is the beauty of that.
Jesus isn’t the farmer with the reigns and the whip.
Jesus is the other ox.

That is why “you will find rest”.
He wants to pull for you.
He wants to deliver you.
He wants to help you.

He doesn’t ask you to come to Him to help Him pull His load.
He asks you to come to Him so He can pull for you.
“For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Jesus is returning to that same offer that God had given under Moses.
Come to Me, do things My way, and let Me give you a land of rest
Where I will meet all your needs.

Jesus is offering the same.
• Come rest from your labors of trying to make yourself pleasing to God.
• Come rest from your efforts of trying to make life work by your logic.
• Come rest from your striving to make everything come together.
Jesus already has life figured out.
He just wants you to submit to Him and let Him do it.

• He is offering you access into God’s promised land.
• He is offering access into that exclusive relationship with the Father.
• He is offering you what He most certainly is not required to give.

He can give it to those He “wills” and yet He says “I will”.

That means it is time to let go of control of your life
And submit your life to Jesus.

You won’t ever meet the Father any other way,
But honestly you won’t ever even find relief any other way.

The path to rest runs through Jesus.
Don’t just recognize Him.
Don’t just acknowledge Him.
Put your neck under His yoke and follow Him.

But above all, do not do what Israel has continually done and reject the rest of God simply because she did not want to submit.

Hebrews 3:7-12 “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS, WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me, AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS. “THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION, AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’; AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, ‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.'” Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.

Hebrews 4:1 “Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.”

Hebrews 4:11 “Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.”

The message is clear.
Salvation is exclusive.

God isn’t lowering His standard,
And Jesus won’t introduce anyone who tries to.
The only way to find rest is to submit your life to Jesus Christ.

So do it and find rest for your soul.