Words of Wisdom and Rebuke

Yes. Good morning. Would you all stand? I want to welcome all of you here this morning to Calvary Chapel and those online. But joining us, we welcome you. Would you bow your heads and join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for this opportunity that we have to come to worship you in song to study your word, Lord. We lift our service to you, Lord. We ask that you be glorified

in all that we do. And Father, as we come with our minds working as they can, help us focus, Lord, this morning. I'd be the first one to tell you, Lord, I need your help to focus. I hear things going on around me. I'm just so easily distracted sometimes. Oh, bless, Lord, our time. We give you praise this morning, Lord. We may not even feel like it this morning, but by faith, Lord, we're going to come to you.

Because you're worthy of all of our praise, Lord. We give you thanks, Lord. Bless each year in Jesus' name. Stand and lift up a joy. Bow down and worship him now. How great, how awesome is he. Together we sing. We stand and lift up a joy. We sing. God is good. God is good. Amen. You may be seated. Oh, Father, we praise you and thank you this morning for this opportunity to worship you in

song and to study your word. As I prayed earlier, Lord, you are so faithful, Lord. You love us so much you sent your son to die on the cross for us, Lord. We give you praise. And we thank you, Lord. He's risen. Indeed, he is risen. He's up at the right hand of the Father making intercession for you and me this morning. Praise the Lord for that. Amen. And he loved us so much. He said, I'm not going to leave you

comfortless, but I'll send you the Holy Spirit. And he'll lead and guide you. In fact, he'll convince the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Yes. And so, Lord, move in our hearts. And if I hadn't said sit down, go ahead. I forget sometimes. Oh, thank you, Lord Jesus. Every song we could ever sing.

Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring.

We live for. Yes, Lord. Jesus, the name above every other name. Jesus, the only one who could ever save. Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe.

Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring. Jesus, the name. Because we necessarily feel jazzy inside, but because you're faithful, Lord. We give you praise, Lord. We thank you.

Keeper of the stars. Friend of sinful men. Holy, mighty God, the ever great I am. We praise you and thank you, Lord, that you are so good to us.

Yes, Lord, come. As we know you have. Father God, continue to bless now this service as we'll be hearing your word taught. Fellowship time. Oh, yes, Lord. We ask that you'd come. Bless, Lord. Give you thanks. You are faithful. We love you, Lord. Right now, just take a moment just to reflect on the Lord. He loves you. You'll be feeling distracted. We all do sometimes.

Let's have a little fellowship time.

Don't you want to tell us? Not today. Good morning. Glad you could be here this morning. If you would locate your seat. Grab your bulletin. We'll go over a handful of announcements.

As always, over on the left, some places to get plugged into during the week. So, take a look at those and see what's going to be good for you. One little update to make. The women's study, because they got snowed out again, because snow is not awesome. The start of the new women's study is pushed back one week. So, to the first Thursday in March. So, take note of that.

Over in the middle section of your bulletin, a reminder. I think I sent out the reminder to those that are supposed to get their pictures taken today with the church directory. So, make sure that you keep up on that. And then also, if you have not gotten signed up yet, I think there will still be some people that are supposed to get their pictures taken today.

So, I think there will still be somebody out there after your second service to get you signed up for that. A couple of other things. Well, one other thing. KidCheck is coming. And I was looking to see. I don't think Sandra's in here. All of the info about KidCheck is here. It's basically a new online way that will do the little sign-in process. That once you get registered for that, you can then just check your kid in for either nursery or Sunday school on your phone.

So, if you have questions, talk to Sandra Davis about that. So, if you have questions, talk to Sandra Davis about that. Those are the things that are going on as far as announcements are concerned. So, if you would, make sure that your mobile device is silenced. But before we do our responsive reading this morning, we've got a couple of things that we're going to do.

The first of which is a baby dedication. So, we've got Madeline and Mason. And I didn't catch middle name, but it's Felix. What's middle name? Felix Michael. Very good. Come on up. So, so, while they're working their way up here just by way of information. So, we don't, at Calvary Chapel, believe in infant baptism. We feel like that's a decision that should be made by an individual when they come to that age of accountability.

But what we do want to do is dedicate this child to the Lord. And so, we base that off of Samuel. If you remember in the book of 1 Samuel, Hannah prayed for his son and finally came to a place of surrender and said, if you give me a son, I will dedicate him to the service of you. And that's exactly what God did. So, God gave her a son and she brought him to the temple to be raised there.

And little Felix is not going to be raised here at the church, other than the fact that he's going to be here a lot because they're at all the services. So, that's a good thing. So, come here, big fella. Look at you. Look at you. Oh, are you going to stay happy for me? Yeah. Look. Can you say hi to all the people? Nope. We're not saying hi to all the people.

He already knows who he is and what he wants. So, let's pray. Father, we come before you and Lord, I just thank you for this brand new life that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt is a gift from you. Lord, we know that all life is directly because that's who you want there to be. And so, Lord, I just lift up this new little life to you right now. And Lord, I just pray, God, that you would begin to do a work by the power of your Holy Spirit in him.

Father, that you would begin laying a foundation of godliness in his life. Lord, that as he is here at the church, in the nursery, and then in Sunday school and then growing up here in the service, Lord, that you would begin to instill in him a desire to know and love you, a desire to follow you. And Lord, a desire to serve you with all of his life and all of his heart. Father, I lift up his parents to you and just pray that you would be with Madeline and Mason as they raise him, Lord, that it would not just be on Sunday mornings that they present Jesus to him, Lord, but that it would be in every aspect of his daily life.

Give them the wisdom that they need as parents to be able to do that. And Lord, and Lord, I lift up little MJ as she is an older sister to this little fellow that you would help her to love and follow you as well as they raise her. And so, Lord, I just lift this family to you and just dedicate this child to you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. Back to mom. Oh, those are always fun.

Well, I won't say what I was gonna say. I feel the same way when they make me leave the stage. Okay, now, there's one other thing that we need to do. This morning. So if I could have Tristan and Rachel and then my elders and deacons come on up here. So about four years ago, Jared took over for me as the youth leader because I had taken over as senior pastor and and he has done a phenomenal job of that filter around this way.

Guys, he has done a phenomenal job of that in the youth group has really been blessed with everything that's gone on and in God has just really built this group. And, um, however, Jared keeps having kids. Well, he doesn't keep having them. His wife does. And there's an entire set of jokes to go with that. I'm just gonna leave alone for right now. Um, but he came to me towards the end of last year and said,

Hey, listen, I need to make my family my first ministry. I feel like that's the right thing for me to do. And so I really need to pray about stepping back from youth ministry. And so we, we started praying about what that was gonna look like about who was gonna, who was gonna step into that place. Well, it just happened to be shortly before that, that Tristan and Rachel started getting together.

We started getting involved with helping out with, uh, with the youth group and it's, this is really fun for me because they came up through my youth group, uh, as a little freshman. I'll never forget the first time Tristan came to youth group. And I said, Hey Rachel, who's that? And she said, that's Tristan. I said, who's Tristan? She said, he's my friend.

And I said, you know, Aaron and I were just friends at one time too. And so, and so here we are, I got to pronounce them husband and wife. And now I get to let you know that they're going to be taking over our youth ministry. And so we want to pray for them and, uh, and pray that God would pour out, the spirit on them as they prepare to, uh, to take on this, this new aspect of, of ministry in their lives.

Um, Jared will continue leading until about the 1st of April after the silver dollar city trip. And then they'll transition into a Rachel interest in taking over, but we want to lay hands on them and pray for them. So if you would bow with me, father, we come before you Lord. And I just thank you for the work that you're doing in this young couple's life. Lord,

I thank you for the leader that you have made Tristan and the support that you have made. Rachel and Lord, I just pray that as they embark on this new adventure of leading the youth, God, that you would overflow them right now with that extra measure of your Holy spirit, Lauren, to be able to teach the truth of your word to these kids or to have the discernment to know how to handle the situations and issues that come up Lord in the love that they need to Lord, take them in and make them their own. And so father just instill that in these two kids, as they get ready, get ready to lead these kids. We pray in Jesus name.

Amen. I know.

I know you guys beat me to him. Come here, big guy, bring it in.

Oh, exciting times here at the Calvary Chapel of Ark city. Okay, Alan, you hang out up here. So for our responsive reading this morning, I'm getting bossy this morning, right? You stay here. Uh, we're going to be in, uh, Oh, am I about to run out of those? Okay. Uh, we're going to be in Psalm 20. We'll be looking at the new American standard Bible. And as I told first service,

I have learned if you're going to look up the new American standard Bible on your phone, you need to make sure it's the 1995 version because there's now a 2020 version. Uh, if you don't have those with you, then there should be one in your row as you're turning to Psalm 20. If you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's word,

I will read the odd versus if you will follow along with pastor Allen and the even versus Psalm 20 for the choir director, a Psalm of David. May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. May the God of Jacob set you securely on high. They send you help from the sanctuary and support you from Zion. May he remember all your meal offerings and find your burnt offering acceptable.

Say law. May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your counsel. We will sing for joy over your victory. And in the name of God, we will set up our banner. May the Lord fulfill all your petitions. Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed. He will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some boast in chariots and some in horses,

but we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God. Bow down and fallen, but we have risen and stood upright and read verse nine with me. Save. Oh Lord, may the King answer us in the day we call and father, we do thank you that you are the God who saves, that you are the, God that we can put our trust in. And so Lord, as we spend time in your word this morning,

Lord, we're just going to rest in the fact that you're going to speak to us by the power of your Holy spirit. Do your work in us as you see fit. We'll bring conviction where there needs conviction, comfort where we need comfort in instruction and every aspect of our lives. Lord, may we see you and meet with you today in Jesus name. Amen.

Okay. Fresh batteries. I can talk for the next two and a half hours. I think that's what that means. Okay. Uh, if you would open up in, your Bibles to the gospel of Matthew chapter 11, a couple of y'all didn't laugh. You didn't think that was funny, did you? Matthew chapter 11 to build a little bit of context. Let's remind ourselves where we've been up to this point in time.

As we started Matthew chapter 11, we saw a little word about John the Baptist. Uh, John the Baptist had been in prison and while Jesus was sending out his disciples to do the work of the ministry, to go on, if you will, a short term mission strip, John was in prison and he was starting to ask questions because though Jesus had done amazing things, he had not yet established the kingdom like John perhaps thought that he would have. And so John had some questions. And so he sent his disciples, meaning John the Baptist sent his disciples to Jesus to say, are you the Messiah or do we need to wait for someone else?

And so Jesus of course responded in a very gracious way by reminding him, first of all, of the word of God and then of the work of God that he as the Messiah was doing. And so he sent his disciples back to John with that word. And after they left, he began to commend John to the people and say, Hey, there is no one, born of women who is as amazing as John the Baptist. And yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is still greater than him because those in the kingdom of heaven have a new covenant understanding of Jesus and not the old covenant understanding that John the Baptist had.

But then Jesus began to do something interesting. He began to rebuke the people and he began to rebuke them because of their childishness, not child likeness, but childishness because they did not find themselves content with anything. He says, you didn't really like John the Baptist because he was way too disciplined of a human being. He said, you don't really like me because I live like you all.

And so no one can make you happy, but wisdom is justified by her deeds or by her, by her children. And so that sort of segues into the next thing that Jesus does, because as Jesus continues to speak, he is first of all going to speak words of rebuke, but then he's going to begin to speak words of rest. And so the title I've given this morning, because I'm overly creative like that is words of rebuke and rest. And so the first thing that we'll look at is those words of rebuke.

And so we, we pick up in verse 20 of chapter 11, and it says this, then he began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles were done because they did not repent. Woe to you, Crescent. Woe to you, best say it. For if the miracles had occurred in tire and Sidon, which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless,

I say to you, it will be more tolerable for tire and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven. Will you, you will descend to Hades for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom, which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless, I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.

Now, the first thing that I see that Jesus does here, actually Matthew does is he gives a quick word on the heart of this rebuke that Jesus is about to give. He, if you will, gives us a summary statement, presupposing what Jesus is going to do. What Jesus is going to say. He says, first of all, that he began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles were done.

That means that these cities were cities where Jesus had done a great deal of work. A great deal of light had been cast on these cities because of the work that Jesus had done in him. The cities that he's going to mention, these three in particular were all along the coast of the sea of Galilee, all along the coast, not too far from Capernaum, where Jesus had established his headquarters, all of which had seen a great deal of destruction. A great deal of the work of Jesus.

And yet these cities all had one thing in common as a city. They had refused to repent. In other words, the bulk of the majority of the people there had refused to repent of their sin and believe in Jesus. Now this presents for us an interesting concept that what Jesus was not condemning these cities for what he was not rebuking them for was violent opposition that really had not begun to happen by the common man towards Jesus just yet.

He wasn't condemning, condemning them because they were so violently opposed to him. No. What was he condemning them for instead? The fact that they wouldn't repent. I would call that apathetic indecision. You see, it wasn't their violent opposition. It was their apathetic indecision that he was rebuking them for at this time. But you know, as well as I do,

that apathetic indecision will eventually lead to violent opposition. What do you mean by that, Ryan? Well, I'm glad you asked because that's why I'm here. You, you know, as well as I do, that, when the truth of the gospel is presented to somebody, they'll have a decision to make. Perhaps the Holy Spirit begins to work on their hearts. The Holy Spirit begins tugging them,

but they know that that's going to mean a sacrifice on their part. You and I did it in the beginning. You and I, when the Holy Spirit began working on our heart, we started fighting against it because we knew that that would mean a change in my life. It would mean I would have to give up things that up to that point in time I had considered fun. I had considered my way of life.

I would have to give those things up in order to follow Jesus. And so what happens is we end up saying, I'm just not going to make that decision today. I'm just going to put that off for a little bit longer because I'll have time in the future. Only here's the problem. The longer that we take that apathetic, apathetic indecision into our lives, the more that we say,

I'm just going to push that off a little bit longer. The harder we have to fight against it because the Holy Spirit continues to convict us because that's what he was sent into the world to do, to convict us of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. He will continue to convict us. But what you'll find is the next time around, it's not just an apathetic indecision.

You have to try a little harder to push it down. And pretty soon you're trying so hard that every time you hear the truth of the gospel, you're no longer just indifferent to it. You're opposed to it. And anytime somebody brings up the truth of Jesus to you, you say, I don't want to hear it anymore. I'm tired of hearing about the Bible. I'm tired of hearing about the gospel.

And it all started with apathetic indecision. And may I say that it's one thing when we see that from the unbelieving world, and it's absolutely true. But you know what's really unfortunate is that it can happen to us as believers as well. God will begin working on us on an area of our life that needs to change. He will begin working on us on an area of our life where there is sin that he wants to see dealt with in our lives.

And what do we do? Well, the first time we say, I'll deal with that later. And you know how I feel about later. Unfortunately, later never comes. I'll deal with that later. I'll eventually get some victory over that. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit, because that's, what he does continues to convict. But we find that we push back a little bit harder and a little bit harder and a little bit harder.

And our violent opposition as Christians becomes a complete calloused heart. And pretty soon we stop feeling the conviction at all. And we just say, oh, well, and we live our life as usual. And so Jesus begins denouncing these cities where that sort of thing is taking place because they would not repent. And the first thing that's, he's declared in verse 21 as he speaks of this city of Chorazin,

which is the first, the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida are the first two that he speaks against. Notice what he says in verse 21. He says, woe to you. Now, I don't know how you hear Jesus saying this, but I want to point out to you what this word means. Really, this word carries with it two different meanings that kind of go together. It can, first of all,

be an exclamation of judgment, but it can also be an exclamation of grief. And may I say that as Jesus, Jesus says them, I believe that those two things actually work together. Again, I don't know how you hear this coming out of Jesus's mouth. I always try to, to, to hear what I think he's trying to say, not just read it on the page. There was a, a song that I really enjoyed that no one else in my family likes,

but I think it's one of the funniest songs I know of. It's called cash cow by Steve Taylor. It's amazing. It's a rock opera in three parts. I would encourage you to go download that song and listen to it because you'll both thank me because of the conviction that it brings. And you'll thank me, because it's funny anyway. But in the middle of this song, Steve Taylor in this really gravelly voice says,

whoa, do you proud mortals? And that's kind of what he sounds like when he says it now, I don't know about you, but a lot of times when I read Jesus say, whoa, to you, that's how I hear it coming out of his mouth. Would you all agree? We picture a, a judgmental tone coming out of the mouth of Jesus. But you see, I don't think that's actually how Jesus said this,

because while it is an exclamation of judgment, we know from scripture that judgment is God's, his strange work. It's what he would rather not do. He would always rather show mercy. And so I think when Jesus says this, that exclamation of grief comes out in a stronger tone. I think it's more like, whoa, to you because it's the broken heart of a father, the broken heart of a father who sees his children not willing to follow.

I think that's, what's really coming out of the mouth of Jesus right there. And the tone that he, he uses, he says, whoa, to you, Corazon and best say it. Now let's talk about these two cities. Again, just a handful of miles north of the city of Capernaum where Jesus had set up his, his headquarters. Now in the gospels, we don't read of any of the miracles that Jesus did in the city of Corazon.

Now that doesn't mean Jesus didn't do anything there. Obviously he did. We're reminded at the end of the gospel of John John, the apostle wrote, if I were to write down everything that Jesus did, all of the books, all of the books in all of the libraries and all of the world couldn't contain it. And so we know that Jesus did things that are not put in the gospel accounts.

It's important for us to understand that the gospels are not exhaustive accounts of the life of Jesus. They are stories that are written with a purpose. And Matthew is to specifically point out that Jesus is the king. And so Jesus probably did a great deal of miracles in this place. We just don't read about it. When it comes to Bethsaida, we do know that there was one miracle that Jesus performed.

I believe it was the healing of a blind man. We also, we also know that three of Jesus's apostles came from the city of Bethsaida. So obviously they'd seen a great light, but in general, no great, uh, place of repentance came about in the city. There was no major revival that took place in the city. So what does Jesus say? He says, woe to you. Why? For if the miracles had occurred entire in Sidon,

which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Now what Jesus said to them would have really pricked their ears. You and I don't think too much about it because we probably don't know. We don't know very much about the cities of Tyre and Sidon, but if you were to go into the old Testament and do a quick search of the names, Tyre and Sidon, you would find that the old Testament is full of proclamations of judgment against Tyre and Sidon.

Why? Because of their great idolatry in particular, their idolatry with the idol of bail. Although you've probably heard of one of the most famous Sidonians that's mentioned in the Bible. Her name is Jezebel. Remember Jezebel and Ahab. It says, Ahab had, sin greater than any other King that had come before him. And to add to his iniquity, he took for his wife,

Jezebel, the Sidonian who introduced the worship of bail. And so as he says this, this would have really gotten to them. They would have said, you mean to tell me that you just set Tyre and Sidon, two of the most pagan cities in all of history in a place where if your works had been done there, they would have repented to a greater degree than us. That's some pretty harsh language that Jesus uses there.

He says in verse 23, nevertheless, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. He then goes on to say, and you Capernaum, that's the next place that he mentions. Now we know that Capernaum was the place where Jesus had established his ministry base. It was his headquarters, if you will, of his ministry. Ten,

five of the 10 miracles that we talked about in those chapters on the miracles of Jesus took place in Capernaum. So we do see a great deal of work that Jesus did in Capernaum. Not to mention the fact that Jesus walked there every day, every day he was moving about the city. And yet with Jesus there present, performing all of the miracles that he performed, teaching in the way that he taught, there was still no major repentance that took place in the city.

Oh, handfuls, pockets of repentance, but there was no major repentance. And so he says, and you Capernaum, you will not be, you will not be exalted to heaven. Will you, you will descend to Hades for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom, which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Now, as I mentioned the name Sodom, probably all of your ears perked up a little bit.

We all know about Sodom and Gomorrah, right? And we know about the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, right? But maybe you don't. You see, I bet when I say Sodom and Gomorrah, you think of one sin. You think of homosexuality. Do you know that was not the greatest sin that Sodom and Gomorrah took part in? Go with me to the book of Ezekiel. I want you to look at Ezekiel chapter 16,

and I want you to start in verse 48.

Ezekiel 16, verse 48.

It says this, as I live, declares the Lord God, Sodom, your sisters and, and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom. She, she and her daughters had arrogance, abundance of food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and the needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before the Lord.

Therefore I removed them when I saw it. Now this is a little bit of a shock for those of us that have always thought that the greatest sin that Sodom and Gomorrah committed was homosexuality. We find here that at the heart of the sins that they committed, that had its outworking with homosexuality, which is a sin, and I don't mind calling it that, but at the heart of it was pride and self-centeredness. See, I think that's important for us to pay attention to as the Western culture church that kind of prides ourself in the fact that we think that those things are sin.

We think that sexual immorality is wrong, forgetting that God views pride and self-centeredness at the heart of every sin. You see, I'm not guilty of homosexuality. I've never had those tendencies in my life, but I do struggle with, with pride and self-centeredness. So I think it's important for us to understand that when he says you're as bad as Sodom, that he's not just talking about the gross immorality that you and I might think of.

He's talking about their depth of pride and self-centeredness. And I think especially as an American church, it's important that we understand the depth of that sin because it's easy to call the ugly sins sin, but it's a whole lot harder to call out that which is at the very core of my being, and that's pride. Back to Matthew chapter 11. So he says this, he says, and you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you?

You will descend to Hades, for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom, which had occurred to you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. So what is Jesus saying in all of this? He is saying that with great light comes great responsibility. With great understanding comes great responsibility.

We must understand that and we as the Western culture church, I think are going to be held the most responsible potentially of any era of the church age period. So I decided to do a little contrast between Israel of that day and the Western culture of today. So Israel of that day, they had Jesus living among them. Jesus was walking around every day in the streets of Israel at this point in time in history when Jesus is pronouncing these woes, this judgment, this rebuke against the people.

Jesus was walking around every day. He was teaching every day. He was performing miracles every day. People could ask him questions every day. He was there. The light was about as great as it was going to be because the light was shining directly off of the source of all life and all life. And that was Jesus Christ himself. And it's easy for us to find ourselves saying,

oh, but Ryan, Jesus isn't walking around with us today. But isn't he? You see, where is Jesus declared to us? He's declared to us. He's declared to us. He's declared to us. He's declared to us. He's declared to us. He's declared to us in the word of God. Jesus told the Pharisees, he says, you study the scriptures for in them you think you find life, but these are they which testify of me.

He wasn't talking about the New Testament there. He was talking about the Old Testament because all of the scriptures declare Jesus to us. And do you know what we have available to us every day? More opportunities to read the scriptures than anyone else in all of history. I would venture to say that every single one of you has at least one Bible app on your phone that has every translation you can imagine,

including the 1995. And the 2020 NASB. Right? It has all of those on it. And yet, what are we as a church right now? We're anemic. Why are we anemic? Because we won't get into what the Bible has to say. Oh, that's too hard for me to understand. Oh, that's a little bit too much for me to take in. No. It's because we don't have time. Because we are filled with arrogance and abundance and carelessness of ease.

Boy, those sound terrible, don't they? And yet, that's what we as the Western culture church deal with. So we must understand in that contrast that if Jesus spoke those words of rebuke to the cities of Israel, what kind of words of rebuke would he speak to the cities of the United States of America today? Who have more opportunities to take in the truth of what God's word has to say than any other culture, perhaps in all of history.

I think it's something that we need to pay attention to. So what are our takeaways from this before we move on to something perhaps a little bit happier? Well, I think there's three. How do we handle the light responsibly? Number one, we must turn from sin to Christ. We must turn from sin to Christ. And I think that this, first of all, speaks to the unbeliever.

And if you're here this morning and you've never come to Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then I want to give you a warning right now. Today should be the day for you for salvation for you. It should be the day that you decide I'm going to forsake my sin. I'm going to confess my sin and I'm going to come to Jesus. This is my Lord and Savior because he loves you more than you can ever imagine.

He showed it with three nails and a spear by giving his life on a cross. And if you will simply give your heart to Jesus, he will not only come in, make his home inside of you, but he will make you a brand new person. And you will have turned from sin to Christ and you've handled the light responsibly. But you know, I think there's a word for believers here too.

We must handle the light responsibly by also turning from our sin to Christ. Again, like we talked about earlier, the more that we suppress that truth, the more that as the Holy Spirit convicts us of areas in our lives of sin, the more that we push that back and don't submit to his work in our lives, the harder it gets. And the more that we are held responsible for the light that we are not responding to. Number two, we must grow in our knowledge of the Lord.

We must grow in our knowledge of who he is, right? God has given us the twin sufficiencies, everything that we need to know God. We need to know who he is. He has given us first of all, the inerrant word of God and he's given us the power of the Holy Spirit. The inerrant word of God declares the truth of who he is. The power of the Holy Spirit makes it understandable to us.

Again, I hear the same thing all the time. I don't understand what the Bible has to say. Welcome to the club, right? I don't always understand what the Bible has to say either. Matter of fact, I have to pour over it over and over and over again because I don't understand a whole lot of things this morning. I got up to put my outline together for this. All I need to do is sit down on my couch in my office and say,

Holy Spirit, you're going to have to show up because I don't know how to put this business together because I don't always understand what God's word has to say, but not understanding is not an excuse for getting into it because we've got to be able to get into God's word because his Holy Spirit is longing to pour out to us the truth of who God is in our lives. And if we're going to respond to the light that we have all of the opportunity that we have in a responsible way, it means that that should take priority and precedence in our lives. The inerrancy of God. Of God's word and the power of the Holy Spirit working together to bring us into deeper relationship with him to conform us into his image.

And then number three, if we're to handle the light responsibly, I think it means that we need to share the light with the people that are around us, right? We have this treasure in an earthen vessel and this earthen vessel with the treasure in it needs to be taken to the world that's around us because not everybody has the same understanding that you do of what God's word has to say. Not everybody. Has the same access to the understanding of God's word that you do and you need to take that truth and share it with the world that's around you.

And as I've always said, the greatest most powerful defense for the truth of God's word, the greatest most powerful presentation of the truth of God's word is what it's done in your life. So we must handle that light responsibly. Now after he has spoken these words of rebuke, he goes on in the same sentence to speak words of rest. Notice what it says in verse 25.

At that time, Jesus said, 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. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in your sight. 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. And anyone to whom the son wills to reveal him.

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. As we move into verse 25, it's kind of interesting because Matthew points out, he says, at that time, Jesus said we're given the indication that this is one long sentence.

And in the process of this long sentence, Jesus basically breaks out into spontaneous prayer. You know what I appreciate about the fact that Jesus spoke out into spontaneous prayer. He's as distractible as I am, right? I appreciate that about him. It's like he's talking about these things and he's rebuking these cities and he says, Father, I praise you that you've hidden these things from some.

That word praise there is kind of an interesting word. The word praise, which perhaps in some of your translations is translated. I thank you, but the idea is the same. It could also be translated. I confess as in confessing sins, but the Greek word there actually means to fully agree. So what he says is Father, I fully agree with you that you have chosen to hide these things from the wise and intelligent and reveal them to infants.

It's an interesting statement that Jesus makes because as he's looking at these cities who were well-schooled in their understanding of the law, people that were well-schooled in their understanding of the Messiah, and yet the Messiah that the law spoke of was standing right in front of them and they completely missed it and were unwilling to repent. Why? Because knowing a lot doesn't make you that smart. Knowing a lot of information doesn't make you that wise.

He says you've hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent. We would put it this way. You've hidden. These things from those who are wise in their own eyes and intelligent. As far as this world is concerned, you've hidden them from them. You've hidden these things from them. In other words, you can be the smartest person on the face of the earth. You can be have more degrees than a thermometer and you could still have missed the point of everything.

If you've missed Jesus because it's not about who knows everything. It's not about those who think that they know everything and may I say having a degree doesn't mean that you think you know everything because I know as many rednecks that think that they know everything. As I do really intelligent people that think that they know everything, right? It's not about what kind of degree you have.

It's about the attitude of your heart. It's about the attitude of your mind and in the attitude of your heart and mind. If we find ourselves saying, hey, I've got this thing figured out. I know everything science can solve it, right? We've heard a lot about following the science here lately. The science can solve it. And yet what we find is that what science constantly thinks that they can solve.

They can't because there's a God behind all of it who supersedes everything. He says you've hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent. Isn't it amazing that a person can be the most studious individual on the face of the earth and completely miss Jesus? And then some knucklehead like me who didn't really like school and didn't really like to study.

Here I am. Because he hides them from the wise and the intelligent. You know what Paul said to the Corinthians? He said, and we know this that not many. Wise not many intelligent. Not many of those type of people are called God calls the foolish of things of this world to confound the wise. And so he says, I'm glad that you've I agree with you that that's the path that you chose to hide them from those who think that they know everything.

Those who are wise in their own eyes and intelligent only about the things of the world and who's he chosen to reveal them to infants. Here. Jesus says the best thing you can do is to be. Childlike now, I want to point something out to you. We are not to be childish. Remember Jesus rebuked being childish. We are to be childlike. What does that mean? It means to be completely and totally humbly dependent upon the Lord.

Having been in the process of raising kids of my own. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt what Jesus meant when he said childlike because you know what I do not have to convince my girls to do to depend on me for everything. I don't they show up every day. And they're like, hey, where's the food? And I'm like, what I just gave you food two hours ago. Why do you need more food?

Dad? We're out of snacks. Well, I just bought groceries two hours ago. How are we already out of snacks? By the way, having been being in the process of raising a teenage girl makes me go. I can't imagine what it would be like raising a teenage boy because whoa, the grocery bill like God bless you all get a second job. So I don't have to convince him to be humbly dependent upon me because they know.

I'm going to be the one that takes care of them. And that's what God wants from us. He says I'm glad that you've chosen. I fully agree that you've chosen that the ones who would receive the truth would be those who are infants. Those who are childlike who have the distinct understanding that they don't know anything who have the distinct understanding that they need you for everything.

Right? I think it's an unfortunate place. That we've come to in society when we think we only need God for some things and not everything when we think our intelligence is greater than that of God and that's exactly what's been taking place. He says I'm glad that that's the way that you've chosen to do things in verse 26. He confirms. He says yes father for that was well pleasing in your sight.

He goes on from there in verse 27 to say 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. And anyone to whom the son wills to reveal him. He said all things have been handed over to me by my father Paul in the book of Colossians puts it like this. He said it pleased God that in him meaning Jesus all the fullness of the Godhead bodily would dwell in other words in human form.

God Jesus possessed all of the fullness of God while he was also completely man. He said all things have been given to me by my father all of the authority all of the power all of the everything. Was given to Jesus and he said you know what else no one really knows the son except the father. In other words their knowledge of Jesus was still limited because in his bodily form.

He was still known best by the father and he goes and no one knows the father except the son. You see that was the kind of relationship that the father son those two pieces of the Holy of the Holy Trinity knew each other so well. And then he gives this next line which is mildly disheartening to me. He says. No one knows the father except the son in the verse twenty seven and anyone to whom the son wills to reveal him.

Do you know what that means. That means that God is sovereign. And you cannot know the father unless Jesus decides that he wants to reveal the father to you. If you're a Calvinist here this morning you probably just said darn it. I'll deal with you in a minute. But isn't it amazing. That Jesus is in control like that. It's a little disheartening is it. Well what if Jesus chooses not to reveal the father to me.

I want to know the father. What if Jesus decides I'm not the one to whom he wants to reveal the father to. But let's throw that out for just a second and think about the fact that it all is up to Jesus. Him revealing everything to us. But lest we get too discouraged and think what if he chooses not to reveal the father to me. He gives us the balance. Verse twenty eight.

Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. It's almost like he just balanced out the whole argument right there isn't it. It's almost like God is sovereign but man has free will. Wow. Biblical concepts that work together. Because God is sovereign in the fact that he will reveal himself to whoever he chooses to reveal himself to. But I want Jesus to reveal the father to me.

Then come. Because anyone who comes he will in no wise cast out. That's what it says in the book of John. And right here he says come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Come to Jesus. I want to know who the father is. Well then you better go to Jesus. The gospel of John in one of the I am statements puts it this way. He says no one.

I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. But now comes what I think is one of the most refreshing sections of scripture perhaps in all of the Bible. He says come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. I believe that this first statement that he makes is a statement of coming to Jesus for salvation.

Come to me speaks of salvation. But it also speaks of belief. You see it's kind of interesting. The first time that you came to Jesus you probably didn't realize you were taking a massive step of faith. The first time that you came to Jesus you didn't realize that you were stepping outside of the boat. And the biggest step of faith you would ever take. You probably only knew one thing just like me.

You just knew that you were a sinner and you were broken. And that there was only one place that you heard of that there was any kind of healing and any kind of hope. And that was in Jesus. And all you knew to do was probably cry a lot. And just say Jesus help. You probably had tears flowing because you were so broken by what you had done wrong. By all of the sin that the Holy Spirit had been revealing to you in your life.

And all you knew to do was just to cry out Jesus help me. Just like Peter when he was sinking down in the water. As he was walking on the water he started looking at the wind and the waves around him. And he started sinking so he looked at him and he says Jesus help. Jesus reached down and pulled him up out of the water. Because that was what happened the day that you got saved.

And if you're here this morning right now. Perhaps you can relate more with the statement of drowning than you are with the statement of being saved. Because that's exactly what Jesus points out. He says come to me. It's as simple as that. But then he defines who should come to Jesus. Who is worthy of coming to Jesus? Well the weary and the heavy laden. The word weary means tired from toil.

Weary to the point of exhaustion. Having done manual labor for a good portion of my life. In my twenties. I can tell you I understand exactly what it means. When it says tired from toil. I shared one story about grounds keeping in snow during the first service. I'll share a story about working construction in snow here in the second service. I'm not a fan as I've pointed out to you before.

Unless it does what it did this time. Like if it snows one day and the sun comes out enough and melts it the next day. Sweet action. I'm happy with that. Anyway. We were building a building called Engineered Air up in DeSoto, Kansas. And they poured a huge pad. Probably the size of this building. A huge pad of concrete. Maybe even twice the size of this building.

It was huge. It took us forever to cover it. But as they were pouring it. There was snow that was supposed to come in the next day. So I'd gone in at 7 that morning to work. And they finished up the pour around 11 o'clock that night. And we couldn't leave until we'd covered all of the concrete. Because concrete produces its own heat for the first 12 to 24 hours I think.

But after that you have to keep it covered. Otherwise it won't cure properly. And so they have these thick blankets. It's like we put a little blanket on the concrete. And so we just tucked it in for the night. And so we showed up and worked until about midnight. Covering everything with the blankets. But then if concrete isn't saw cut fast enough. Then it will begin to crack.

All concrete cracks. You just try to determine where it cracks by putting saw cuts in it. So we had to show up at 7 o'clock the next morning. With snow all over the blankets. Pull the blankets back. They saw cut. We put them all back on there. So we worked all the next day on just a handful of hours of sleep. And by the time that day was done. I was spent. I had nothing left in my body.

I was exhausted. All I could do was make it home. I didn't even want to eat. I just laid down and slept. Because I was so tired. That's what he means when he says weary. Come to me all of you who are weary. Tired from toil to the point of exhaustion. Now as I present that to you. It's probably not how you are physically. But I would venture to say that as I look at this group of people.

That's sitting here this morning. Some of you are that tired spiritually. And some of you are that tired emotionally. Well he goes on to say. You have one more qualification. You have to be the weary. But you also must be the heavy laden. The word heavy laden means. Bending beneath the weight. Bending beneath the weight. That's the idea that's given to us by that word.

You can picture it can't you? Someone who's trying to hold up something really heavy. But slowly but surely. Your legs are given out. Your body is given out. Because you just can't hold the weight up any longer. If you've read the book Pilgrim's Progress. It gives a apt description of what it's like to carry this weight. Because remember Pilgrim has the burden on his back.

He's carrying this heavy backpack that he carries with him everywhere. And it's weighing him down. It causes his journey to be very difficult. Because it continues to weigh him down. Well what is this weariness? What is this heaviness that he's talking about? Well I think it fits into two categories. First of all I think it fits into the category of sin. Brothers and sisters.

Sin is a heavy burden to carry. And sin will cause exhaustion like nothing else. Because you know as well as I do. That running from conviction. Running from consequences. Running from what the Holy Spirit wants to pull you out of. Is the most exhausting thing that you'll ever do. But you also know that that thing that's weighing you down. That thing that's making it to where it feels like you can't even stand up straight.

Or look forward any longer. It's sin. The Psalmist David said my sins are so great they're more than the hairs of my head. And I can't even look up. Did I just describe you this morning? You know I think the other category that it fits into is the burdens of the world. The cares of this world. Perhaps some of you are dealing with health issues in your life.

Or you have a loved one that's dealing with health issues in their life. Or you don't know how this economy is going to be. Because who knows gas could be $25 a gallon next week. Right? Cast your votes now. We did that already. Anyway. Long story.

Oh man. That's how I get shut down. Right? I have so many other funny things I want to say right now. But I'm just going to keep them all to myself. Ask me later. Now I'm distracted. Okay. What was I talking about? Oh yeah. The burdens of the world. Right? Like what's gas going to do? What's going to happen with Ukraine? What's going to happen with Russia? I kind of thought this morning.

Well okay. Maybe I should give some sort of an end times update on what's going on. But you know how I feel about doing those kinds of things. I can't tell you what's going to happen. I would love to stand up here and be like well you see. Ezekiel 38 and 39 are coming together. Jesus will be here Tuesday. So we should be ready. But I'm not CNN. I can't do things like that.

Right? I can't just tell you when it's going to happen. So I don't know. Here's what I do know. All of the pieces are coming into place. We were talking about this last night. Probably what's happening in Ukraine is really just sleight of hand for what's really going on in Syria. All of it is leading to an attack that's coming towards Israel. We know that Ezekiel 38 and 39 says that China, Russia, the area where all of the stands are.

Right? That's all going to come together against Israel. We know that. Well what has just happened in the last year? China and Russia and all of the stands are all buddies now. And they're all formed an alliance against who? Us. And Israel. Only what's going to happen with us now because I don't know that we have strong enough leadership and that's not me trying to make a joke.

That's just me being honest. I don't know that we have strong enough leadership to stand against this. So what's going to happen to us? Well we're not seen in the end times. The United States of America isn't seen in end times prophecy. So what happens to us? I don't know. I don't know. What I do know is this. That's not a burden I need to carry. And I need to keep my eyes focused on Jesus.

And so my end times update for you is this. Keep your eyes focused on Jesus. Because I think Jesus is probably coming back any time now. To take us home to be with him. Now what does that mean? I can't put a time parameter on that. It could be today. He could decide to catch up the church today. Or he could decide that in another hundred years that's when he's going to catch up the church.

It's up to him. It's not for us to know the times or the seasons that the Father has put into motion. It's our responsibility. It's our job to seek the power of the Holy Spirit. Keep our eyes on Jesus. And occupy until he comes. That's what our job is. To keep your eyes focused on Jesus. Because perhaps it's not just the burden of sin that's weighing you down.

It's the burden of the worries of all of this world that are weighing you down. And you know what Jesus says to you? He says, come to me. Come to me all you who are so tired from your toil. All of you who are exhausted. All of you who are burdened beyond belief. Come to me. And then notice what he promises. He says, I will give you rest. I will give you rest.

You know that's a, it's written in a way like this. Let me just tell you how we could translate that. He says, I will cause you to rest. Reminds me of the 23rd Psalm. When he says, the Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. I remember when I was a little kid, I didn't like to take naps. And now 41-year-old Ryan is always angry with 5-year-old Ryan.

I'm like, dude, you had a chance to nap. It's kind of like thinking about back to the week before my oldest daughter was born. And always regretting I didn't sleep more that week. Right? Because I've been tired ever since. Like, man, I should have taken more advantage of that. Sometimes that's what God has to do. He has to cause us to rest. But he can only do that when we come to him and begin throwing all of those burdens,

all of those cares, and all of that exhaustion on him. And then he goes on from there to speak what I think is a word about sanctification. He says in verse 29, 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. That aspect of taking my yoke upon you I think speaks of sanctification. But do you know what other word I would throw in there besides sanctification?

It speaks of submission. And surrender. Because that's what goes on there. Now, a couple of things to point out for information's sake. The first is that many commentators and historians say that Jesus, as a carpenter, probably did not make tables and chairs like what you and I would think of. He probably didn't make cabinets. There was not a great deal of extra lumber laying around in the nation of Israel.

I've not been to Israel, but I have been to Southern California, which is much like that. There's just not a great deal of extra trees laying around. Do you know what he probably made? Yoke for oxen. Because they had to have that for the oxen to pull in order to plow up their fields. Every indication is given to us that Jesus made oxen. Can you imagine Jesus' slogan?

Come to Jesus for yoke. Mine always fit right. Anyway, that's what I would do if I was his campaign manager or if I was his PR person for his company. Anyway, but the idea is this. When they would begin to train a younger oxen, they would yoke him together with an older oxen for two reasons. Number one, because the older oxen is stronger than the younger, it would bear the brunt of the work until the younger oxen was strong enough to handle it.

But do you know what the second thing that it would have to learn was? Submission. Because it doesn't come natural to the oxen to pull in the direction that the master wants him to pull. What comes natural to the young oxen? To go where he wants to go. And so they would yoke him together with an older oxen who had learned that the most important thing he could do is be about his master's business.

To do what his master tells him to do. And he would learn the process of submission. You see, I think what Jesus is saying here when he says, take my yoke upon you, is he's saying, yoke up with me. Because not only is he strong enough to bear the brunt of the work that you and I are not strong enough for, in this process of sanctification, but he also teaches us what it is to be submitted.

Because though Jesus is the creator of the heavens and the earth, when he lived here in his human form, who did he say he always submitted to? His master. Who was his master? The Father. And so from him we learn, not only that he is our strength, but he teaches us about submission. He says, take my yoke upon you. And then he says, learn from me. That's the aspect of discipleship.

You know, the greatest thing is that Jesus wants to just teach us everything that he has to know. We're given the perfect picture of what Jesus means by this when we look at Jesus and his twelve disciples. What was Jesus always doing with his twelve disciples? He was always teaching them. Sometimes he was teaching them by his actions. Sometimes he was teaching them by his words.

Sometimes he was speaking directly out of the Torah. Sometimes he was speaking to them out of prophetic books. Sometimes he was just simply teaching what the Father had given him to teach, but he was always teaching them. He was always showing them what it was like to be submitted because they were constantly learning from him. You say, Ryan, I don't have Jesus with me.

I don't know how to learn submission from him. Don't we though? We've got those twin sufficiencies. We've got the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. The word of God that teaches us everything that Jesus is. Everything that Jesus wants us to learn and the power of the Holy Spirit that makes it understandable to us. He says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me.

Why? For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Again, Paul in the book of Philippians says this, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, didn't consider equality with God something to be grasped, but instead made himself of no reputation and took on the form of a servant and became obedient even to the point of death. You see, Jesus was gentle and humble.

Gentle and humble in heart. And he wants us to learn the same thing. Not only about who he is to us, but how he wants us to be in this world that we live in. And I love that at the end of his statement about salvation and the end of his statement about sanctification, he says the same thing. And you will find rest for your souls. Isn't that a beautiful statement?

Isn't it a beautiful statement that's what God says? Why? Because my yoke is easy and my burden is light. As we wrap up here this morning, I would like for you to start to think about something. If I could go and have the worship team come on up for this last song. Matter of fact, let's all stand. As we gather here this morning and we've heard the truth of who God is,

that he is the God who wants us to come to him with all of our burdens, all of our weariness, all of the things that are too much for us to hold, all of the things that we tend to bend under the weight of, I have a question for you. What's weighing you down this morning? Perhaps you're here this morning and you've never come to Jesus as your Lord and Savior and God's been working on your heart. He's been telling you, hey, it's time for you to get this right because if you keep pushing this back, if you keep pushing this down, if you keep saying I'll do it later, then eventually it's going to be too late.

Eventually that time's not going to be there any longer and you'll have missed the bus. Then that's the burden you're carrying. And I have to be honest with you, you've got to be tired of carrying that sin by now. You've got to be worn out because sleeping with the next girl won't do it. Smoking another joint won't do it. Getting drunk won't do it. Doing better in your job won't do it.

Hoping that your team does a little bit better this time around, that won't do it. None of those things will do it. They won't take the burden off of you. The only one that can is Jesus. And he wants you to come to him to have that burden relieved. But you know what? I also know that there's a lot of believers who love Jesus and who are carrying some burdens this morning.

Maybe for you it's that burden of sin still. Maybe you're still battling with some sins that the Lord wants to release you from. Or maybe all the things of the world are weighing you down. All these cares are weighing you down. And so this morning I want to ask for a response. So let's all bow our heads and close our eyes. And so as I've said those things to you, I just want to ask you a question.

Because I want to pray for you. Who feels like you're carrying a burden that you need to let go of? Carrying a burden that you need to move past. I just want you to put your hand up. Carrying those burdens that are weighing you down. They're robbing you of your joy. They're robbing you of your peace. And they're just too much for you to hold. Praise the Lord.

Hands going up everywhere. Brothers and sisters, it's what we deal with. Let's not pretend we're okay when we're not. If you would just put your hands back up, I'd like to pray for you. Father, I come before you and I just lift up all these folks that have their hands up right now. Lord, I know that there's burdens people are carrying that you want them to let go of.

There's burdens that they're carrying that you want them to be free from. And so Lord, I just want to pray that you would do that work by the power of your Holy Spirit. Lord, if it's sin that needs confessed, then during this last song may it be a sin that they confess to you. That they repent of and they leave here changed because they've dealt with that sin.

And they can walk in freedom and newness of life. Lord, if it's that they don't know you, then may this song be the time when they cry out and say, Lord, I'm a sinner. I need you to be my Savior. And they can be a part of the family of God. And they can know what it's like to walk in freedom and newness of life. If it's those burdens of the world, those things that are weighing down, then Lord, I pray that you would help them to release them.

And know that you are God. You are in charge. And none of this is taking you by surprise. And so, Lord, I thank you that you have given us this truth of your word. I thank you that you've given us these promises. And Lord, I pray that you would be with us today. Father, as we leave this place, as we go out from here, may we do so changed by the power of your Spirit.

I thank you and praise you for who you are, Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed. The Lord bless you.