Words of Wisdom and Rebuke

Good morning. Would you all stand? Would you join me in prayer? Father, we just thank you for this opportunity this morning to come and worship you in song and study your word, Lord. By your Holy Spirit, move in this place this morning, Lord. Be glorified, we pray, Lord God. We thank you for this opportunity and we give you praise in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to welcome all of you and those

on mine. We welcome you. Join us as we come just as we are this morning. You know, the various things we bring with us from the week and the concerns and the joys, all that goes on. We pray that we can set ourselves before you, Lord, this morning and stand before you and worship you in song, Lord, knowing you are our great God. We stand and lift up our hands for the joy of the

Lord. Lord. We bow down and worship him now. How great, how awesome is he. Together we sing and sing.

How great. All may be seated. Lord, we do praise you this morning, Lord. You are a God who is in control, who is working out all things for the good, for those who love you and are the call, Lord. And we know that nothing takes you by surprise. We can trust you in every area. You're good to us, Lord. We thank you.

Worthy as we could ever be. We could ever breathe. We live for you. Jesus, the name above every other name. Jesus, the only one who could ever save. Every song we could ever sing. Jesus, the name above every other name.

Lead us by your Holy Spirit as we've gathered this morning to worship you in song and to study your word, Lord. May it be that which you use to encourage us to live for you, to walk out and be your witnesses, Lord. Because you're in control. We can trust you in everything, Lord. All that goes on, you're in control. You keep the stars. In fact, the mere universe, the sun, the moon, all of it

expresses your creation. And then your word, Lord, also speaks of your creation, who you are. It reveals your creation. And then your word, Lord, also speaks of your creation, who you are. It reveals what you want to reveal to us as we study it. And we thank you for that. Keeper of the stars, Lord, of time and space, of my life. Praise the Lord simply as what that means.

Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord Jesus. And I thank you, Lord, that our life is yours. We just praise you and thank you. And the heartbeat of my life is to worship in your light. The Jewel can trust you in every area of our life.

We'll go on this place this morning. Father, as Ryan comes up to teach your word, we ask for your anointing on him by the power of your Holy Spirit. We ask that you'd give us the listening ears, eyes to see, hearts to perceive, and that willingness to yield ourselves in obedience to you, because you love us, Lord. We love you, and we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Lord bless. Let's have a little fellowship time.

Good morning.

Gotta hurry up. If you would go ahead and locate your seat.

Grab a bulletin. We'll go over a handful of announcements.

Over on the left-hand side of your bulletin are the things going on throughout the week. Take note of those. Lots of places to get plugged into. Over in the middle section, just a reminder, these next few weeks we're doing church directory pictures. I believe that there's still going to be someone out signing people up in the lobby for the extra spaces that we have, although those spaces,

are filling up quickly. So take note of that. Also, a reminder that KidCheck, as Sandra shared last week, is coming soon. It's a way to check in kids for Sunday school and nursery without having to go through the process of going in and signing them in. There's an app that you'll get for your phone. All the information is right there. So, and then just a reminder that the new women's Bible study is starting February 24th, which is this week.

So there's a sign up in the lobby. So there's a sign up in the lobby for that. So those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 20. Psalm 20. We'll be looking at the New American Standard for that. If you don't have one, there should be one in a row.

And apparently I need to say that if you're looking it up on your phone, it's the New American Standard 1995 version. Because apparently they just came out with a 2020 version that does not read the same. As you're turning to Psalm 20 in the New American Standard 1995 version. If you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's word. Man, life is getting complicated.

I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 20 for the choir director, a Psalm of David. May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high. May he 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 our God, we will set up banners. 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.

They have bowed down and fallen, but we have risen and stood upright. And read verse nine with me. Save, O Lord, may the king answer us in the day we call. And Lord, we do thank you that you will answer us in the day that we call. Lord, you, our king, are always available and always ready to answer. And so, Lord, I pray that as we spend time in your word this morning,

that we would see you more clearly. That we would know you better. And that this would not just be a morning, as usual, of gathering, Lord, but a morning where we meet with our Savior. We just thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the gospel of Matthew chapter 11.

Matthew chapter 11. We'll be picking up in verse 20. But just as a way of bringing some context, John the Baptist, at the beginning of chapter 11, had come with a question for Jesus. Jesus had just sent his disciples out on their little short-term mission trip to go and preach to the cities and gave them the authority that they needed to be able to do that.

But John the Baptist, who'd been in prison for a while, sent a question to Jesus. He wanted to know if Jesus was really the Messiah or if they needed to look for someone else. So Jesus, of course, responded by saying, tell John all the things that I've been doing, all those things that are exactly what the Old Testament said that the Messiah was. And so he sent his disciples on their way.

And as he sent John's disciples on their way, Jesus spent some time talking to the crowds. And he said, really commended John for being such a great man of God. He said, as far as those born among women, there's been no one greater than John. But just so you know, anyone in the kingdom, the least in the kingdom is still greater than John the Baptist. And then he began to rebuke the people for the childish way that they'd been.

And he said, you guys are kind of like children. You're like children in the marketplace. Can't ever really make you happy. John the Baptist didn't make you happy. He came as one who lived an ultimate life of discipline. I came as one who lived just like one of you. And neither one of us have made you happy. You're childish in your faith. Well, that rebuking of the people

segued into this next portion that we're going to look at this morning. Because the next portion that we're going to look at this morning are words of rebuke and rest. Because what we see is this last section breaks down. These last about 10 or so verses break down two ways. The first half is words of rebuke. And then that second half are words of rest. And so he segues directly into verse 20 with this aspect of rebuke.

Notice what it says in verse 20 of chapter 11. It says, Then he began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles were done because they did not repent. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre 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 Tyre 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, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.

Now, as Jesus begins to say this, to speak these words of rebuke, I think he gives us, first of all, or Matthew gives us, first of all, kind of the heart behind the rebuke that he's about to give to these different cities. If you will, the summary statement that presupposes exactly what's coming behind it. And as he does so, we see, as he gives this heart of rebuke, we see that he rebukes the cities where most of his miracles were done. Now, we're going to find that most of the cities, these three cities that he talks about, are cities that are along the Galilean coast, right near the area where he had his headquarters for his ministry.

These were cities that he talked about, these were cities that had great light cast upon them because the Son of God had come and dwelt among them and had done all of these miracles. And you would think, as they see the miracles of Jesus Christ, the miracles of God being done before their very eyes, you would think, at that point in time, they would begin to repent. They would begin to believe that God is who he says he is. After all, when we have that one unbelieving friend, what do we always think?

If they could just see some sort of miracle, then maybe they would believe. But the problem was, as Jesus showed up to his own people, did the miracles that the Messiah was supposed to do, and they still wouldn't repent of their unbelief. And when he says, he says, these were the cities where I had done most of my miracles, and yet they did not repent. Isn't it interesting that what Jesus is about to condemn them for, what Jesus is about to pronounce a woe or a rebuke on them for, is not for violent opposition.

It wasn't that they kicked him out. The rejection is coming, mainly from the religious leaders, but the average person was not necessarily violent. They weren't violently opposed to who Jesus was. No, they just simply hadn't repented. That means that they were apathetically indifferent. And isn't it kind of interesting that that apathetic indifference, or that apathetic indecision,

ultimately leads to violent opposition? You see, often times what happens is when you begin to share the truth of the gospel with somebody, or when they begin to hear the truth of God's word, they find that, oh man, that's going to cause some sort of a change in my life that I don't want to take place. I'm going to have to, abandon some of what I would consider fun right now. I'm going to have to abandon some of my pride, some of my self-righteousness.

I'm not willing to do that, so I'm just going to set that aside for now, and we would call that apathetic indecision. In other words, I'm not really moved by it, so I'm just not going to make a decision about it. But we find that the longer you take that step of apathetic indecision, it slowly but surely grows into violent opposition. Because you know as well as I do that when you reject the gospel, over, and over, and over again, eventually you become harshly opposed to it.

Why? Because the conviction is so heavy upon you that for you to continue to fight against the convictions means you have to do just that. You have to fight, which causes that violent opposition. It's what we see in our nation right now. It started off with an apathetic indecision, did it not? We've seen over the past hundred years an apathetic indecision begin to take place within our nation.

But now what have we seen over about the last twenty to thirty years? We're starting to see more violent opposition. Because, the longer that a decision is not made, or a decision is made to oppose the gospel, the more violent it becomes. And so Jesus speaks these words of rebuke. Notice how he starts off. He starts off first of all, addressing the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida.

Notice what he says, he says, woe to you. He says, woe to you. Now that word woe can be translated a couple of different ways, and I believe both meanings are in play here. It can either be a statement of judgment, or it can be a statement of grief. It can be an exclamation of judgment, or an exclamation of grief. And actually if you look it up in its context,

you see that what this really carries with it, more than anything, is an exclamation of grief. I don't know how you, how you hear this coming out of Jesus' mouth. There's a song that I used to love to listen to when I was a teenager, by a guy named Steve Taylor. And I'm going to encourage you to go ahead and look up this. That's a line from the song, by the way.

But, but in this song, Steve Taylor, he says, but in the song, Steve Taylor yells, woe to you proud mortals. And he says it just like that. Now I don't know about you, but when I initially read this, that's the voice I hear Jesus using, right? I hear that gravelly, deep voice crying out, woe. But when you realize that not only is this an exclamation of judgment,

it's an exclamation of grief, we realize that his voice may have actually sounded much different. It may have actually said, woe to you. Because he was brokenhearted over the fact that he had done so many miracles, he had done so much work, he had invested so much time, energy, and light. He had given them so much knowledge, and yet they had refused to repent.

And so this woe that he pronounces, I think is less of an exclamation of his harsh judgment, as much as it is an exclamation of his great grief. Kind of like when he said, woe to you, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets. I wish that I could gather you under my wings as a hen gathers her chicks, and yet you've rejected me. I, I don't know what the idea that's being presented here.

Because I think that when the Lord looks at those of us that have rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ, while there is judgment in the exclamation, there is great sorrow in that exclamation. And so he says, woe to you. Now as he addresses these cities, we realize that these are two cities just a handful of miles north of Capernaum, where Jesus had set up his headquarters. We don't read in the gospel accounts of any miracles that were done in the first city, but we do understand, according to John's gospel, that if everything that Jesus had done had been written down, all of the libraries in all of the world could not contain all of the books.

So we do know that this is probably one of those cities that though the gospels don't record anything that Jesus did there, we can wholeheartedly believe that Jesus did things there. Bethsaida is the same way. I think we only read of one miracle that Jesus did there. I believe it was a blind man that he healed in Bethsaida. However, three of the apostles came from Bethsaida,

and yet in their own hometown, three of the apostles, still a rejection of Jesus because they refused to repent. And so as he puts this woe out there, he says, woe to you. If the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon, which had occurred to you, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes. So he gives this contrast of Tyre and Sidon. Now that may not mean anything to you,

but to those that knew the scripture of the Old Testament very well, they would know that that actually meant a lot, because Tyre and Sidon were places of great wickedness. As a matter of fact, there are multiple places in the Old Testament, not the least of which is Ezekiel 26, Ezekiel 28, Zachariah chapter 4, I think. All three, if not more, list God's pronouncement of judgment on the cities of Tyre and Sidon. They were cities in the land of Israel, they were cities in the land of Phoenicia, and they were not only known for their great wealth, but they were known for their great idolatry, particularly the worship of Baal.

You may have heard of one of the most famous people in the land of Israel to come from Sidon. Her name was Jezebel. Remember Ahab and Jezebel? It says that Ahab did more to invoke the wrath of God than any other king before him, and to add to that, he married Jezebel the Sidonian who introduced the worship of Baal. You see, that's who God's talking about here.

He's talking about Tyre and Sidon, places that were so known for their paganism and idolatry. And notice what he says. He says, if these works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, those folks would have repented. Their light, the light would have shined so brightly there that they would have been willing to repent. In sackcloth and ashes. I don't know if you know what sackcloth and ashes are,

but that was something that they would use at that point in time to show just how sorry they were for their sin. It would be like taking off your clothing and putting on a burlap sack and then pouring ashes on your head as a sign to everybody how repentant you were in your heart for what you'd done wrong. He says, I tell you this, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And again, if there was an organ player playing in the background, it would go, right?

Because that's basically what Jesus just told them. This is a harsh rebuke. It's a stern word from him. And he's not done yet. Because he says, and you, Capernaum. Now remember, Capernaum is the city where Jesus had set up his headquarters. That's where he did most of his miracles. As a matter of fact, I think one of the commentators said five of the last ten miracles that we just read about

Jesus did in Capernaum. That's just what's written in the book of Matthew. Great light had been shown there. He says, but listen, in Capernaum you need to understand. Capernaum will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades. Why? Because if the miracles which had occurred in Sodom, or if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you,

it would have remained to this day. Now, I do think that the word Sodom sticks out in all of our minds, does it not? We all remember the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. Well, you think you remember the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. I would venture to say that, well, when I say the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, the first thing that would come to your mind is the sin of homosexuality.

But do you know what the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah actually were? Go with me one place, real quick. Go over to Ezekiel, I believe. It's Ezekiel 16, verse 48. Excuse me, let's start in 46. God is speaking to Judah here in Ezekiel 16, verse 46. Now your older sister is Samaria, who lives in the north with her daughters, and your younger sister, who lives south of you, is Sodom with her daughters.

Yet you have not merely walked in their ways or done according to their abominations, but as if that were too little, you acted more corruptly in all your conduct than they. As I live, declares the Lord, Sodom your sister, and her daughters have not done as your daughters have done. Behold, and this is where I want you to pay attention, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom. She and her sisters had arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and the needy.

Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before me, therefore I removed them when I saw it. Do you know what that just said? Do you know what the great sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was? Pride and self-centeredness. Wait, Ryan, I know the story of Genesis. Homosexuality was involved. Yeah, it was, but do you know where it started? Pride and self-centeredness.

That's where it started. So before we get high and mighty and say the sin that they had was homosexuality, we need to realize what's at the heart of that sin, pride and self-centeredness. You see, I'm not guilty of the sin of homosexuality, so it's easier for me to condemn that, but do you know what sins I am guilty of? Pride and self-centeredness. It sounds a little different coming out of Ezekiel, doesn't it?

He said, back to Matthew chapter 11. I just thought that was an important point to be made there. He said, if the works that had been done in you had also occurred in Sodom, they would have repented. As a matter of fact, it's going to be easier on Sodom in the day of judgment than it's going to be on you. Can you imagine being a Jewish person who held yourself in pretty high regard

because you were the one whom the law had been given to, you were the one whom the truth had been given to, and Jesus just said, you're worse than Sodom? Yeah, it would sound a lot like if I told us that. It would sound a lot like if I told us as the church, we're as bad as San Francisco. Right? And so, as he pronounces these woes, I think that it's important for us to have a little bit

of a takeaway that goes along with this. Before we move into the words of rest, I promise we'll get to something happy in just a minute. So I started thinking about Israel of that day, versus the Western culture of today. So the Israel of that day, they had Jesus living among them, right? They had the light of the world that was living among them. He was walking amongst them,

and so the judgment was great upon them because the great light that they had brought great responsibility. I think Peter Parker from Spider-Man put it best when he said, with great knowledge, or with great power comes great responsibility, right? Same kind of idea that's given to us here. With great knowledge, with great understanding, with great light comes great responsibility.

And because they had Jesus walking among them, they were held to a higher level of accountability than all of the other nations around them because they had the very creator of the heavens and the earth walking in front of them, and they still refused to repent. They still responded with apathetic indecision, with indifference, that ended up turning into violent opposition. You say, Ryan, we're not as bad as them. Jesus doesn't dwell among us.

Doesn't he, though? You see, all of us have the truth, the truth of the word of God. In the Western culture, we are literally the least of all people to have any excuse because you literally carry a device in your pocket that has every translation of the Bible possible, including both the 2020 and the 1995 versions of the NAS Bible. And yet, how many people in our culture are still apathetically indifferent to the truth of Jesus Christ?

And let's go one step further. How many people in the church, I'm talking all of the other churches, I'm talking about this church, how many people in this church, myself included, can sometimes be a little bit apathetically indifferent to who Jesus is, even though I have more light available to me than all of the people down through the centuries with the availability I have for the study of God's word? You see, if Jesus pronounced those woes upon those cities, then how much more is there not pronounced upon the Western culture of the world today that has so much light available to them? So, how do we begin to handle the light responsibly?

Well, number one, turn from sin to Christ. As that light is revealed to us, we must turn from our sin to the truth of Jesus Christ. In other words, allow that convicting work of the Holy Spirit that comes about through the word of God to do its work in your life. Don't keep pushing it down. Don't keep pushing it back. Don't keep fighting against that conviction.

I want to turn you to the truth of Jesus Christ. Run from the things of sin and run to him. Now, that would initially sound like a salvation message, right? And I do think if you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, respond to the light today. Because if you don't, you'll continue to push it down and then you'll get a little bit harder to it

and then eventually you'll be violently opposed to it. That's not just a guess, that's a promise because that's what we see happen throughout the centuries. But I also want to speak to those of us that are Christians because you know as well as I do that we all end up falling into sin and then what does the light of Jesus Christ through the word of God reveal to us? It reveals those areas of sin and we have a choice as believers in Jesus Christ.

What will we do with the light? Well, it should continue to cause us to turn from sin to Christ, to turn from areas where we still struggle to walk in with walking in sin and cause it to turn us to Jesus Christ. You see, the gospel message is just as important for the believer as it is the unbeliever because the gospel message always tells us the same thing. Turn from your sin to Christ.

That's the first way that we handle the light responsibly. The second, we should be growing in our knowledge of the Lord. We should be growing in our knowledge of the Lord. I think the most tragic thing that we see take place in the church today is anemic Christians. Christians that only know that they've been saved and have never gone any deeper. They're still drinking milk.

They're spiritual infants. Even though they've been saved for 20, 30, 40 years. And they're still drinking the milk of God's word and never getting into the meat. And I just go, what are we doing? God has so much more for us than that and we should be growing in God's word. You see, if I am to handle the light that God has given me responsibly, if I'm to handle the fact that I have so much available to me responsibly,

then that means I'm going to be pouring my life into knowing this Savior who gave himself for me in an even greater degree, to an even greater degree. You say, Ryan, I don't understand what the word of God has to say, but that's what the Holy Spirit is for. Then you say, Lord, help me to understand. You say, Ryan, I've been trying to do this for 10 years and I still don't understand.

Welcome to the club, right? That's all of us. I still sit back and go, huh, I don't think I know what that means. This morning I sat down to prepare this study and I said, Lord, if you don't help me put this together, I'm not going to have anything to say. And you know what the Holy Spirit's always faithful to do? Reveal just a little bit more every time. Show us just a little bit more every time.

We should be growing in our knowledge of the Lord. But the third way that we handle this light responsibly is that we take this light and we share it with the world that's around us. See, it's too easy for us to become a club that won't let anybody else in. A club that holds this light in and says, oh, I don't want to go out there because those are a bunch of sinners out there.

Those are a bunch of people I don't want to be around out there. No, we can't do that. To hold the light responsibly, we must share the light with everyone. Well, let's talk about a happier topic, shall we? As we move on from there, we come to the words of rest. Notice what Jesus says, verse 25. At that time, Jesus said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,

that you've 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. Now he moves into these words of rest. Isn't it interesting, though, that we can't come to the words of rest until we first come through the words of rebuke? Is that not actually the gospel? That I can't begin to rest in the salvation of Christ

until I first understand my need for the salvation of Christ, until I first go through the words of rebuke. My heart is not prepared for the words of rest, but after I've gone through those words of rebuke, and I understand, Lord, I'm so capable of this apathetic indifference. Father, I just want to know you with all of my heart. Jesus says, good. Now let me speak some words of rest to you.

It's beautiful the way he starts off. It says in verse 25, at that time Jesus said, I praise you, Father, the Lord of heaven and earth. We're given the indication that this is one long sentence, and that in the middle of him rebuking these cities, he actually just breaks into spontaneous prayer to the Father. As if he's just speaking to them and says, oh, Lord, thank you so much.

He uses a word here that's interesting. He says, I praise you. Perhaps some of your translations say, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. The word there could also be translated confess, which is kind of interesting, because both of those words have a singular meaning, and at the heart there's a singular meaning. When he says, I praise you, it means fully agree.

Essentially what Jesus says here, if we were to translate it very literally, he says, I fully agree with you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you've hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent. In other words, I fully agree with your plan for the way that you're doing this. Isn't it a wonderful thing when we come to a place of fully agreeing with God? You can live in disagreement with God, and he's content for you to be wrong, but isn't it so joyful when we come to a place where we fully agree with God?

First of all, about our sin. Second of all, about his plan. He says, I fully agree with you, Lord, but I want you to notice what he says. I praise you, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to the infants. You've hidden them from the wise and the intelligent. In other words, those who are wise in their own eyes

and those who are intelligent according to this world's standards, we might call them self-righteous. We might call them self-sufficient. We might call them people with degrees. We might call them average workers. We might call them just about anybody. You see, I think sometimes we read that, and we go, that's right, all those people that have spent all those years in college

that think they know everything. Listen, I know as many rednecks that think they know everything as I do really intelligent people that think that they know everything. So it really has nothing to do with what kind of a degree or job you have. It has to do with the attitude of your heart and the attitude of your mind. Because what he's saying here is you've hidden them from those

who don't think that they need them. Remember what Jesus said when he was at Matthew's house and the Pharisees were so upset that he went to eat in the home of sinners and Jesus said, hey, just remember I came for the sick people, for those who know that they're sick, not those who think that they're well. We could sort of translate those words into this context and we can say Jesus, the truth of who Jesus is, is hidden from those who think that they know everything and given to those who know that they don't. You see, the older I get, the more I realize I don't know anything.

The older I get, the more I realize that there's so few things on this earth that I truly understand, except for this one thing, Jesus is in control. I was thinking with everything going on with Ukraine and all that kind of stuff this week, I thought, well, okay, maybe I should give some sort of an update, but quite frankly, most of you read a lot anyway, so let me give you the best update that I can give you, okay? All of the players are coming into play. All of the things are moving into place.

I believe it's not gonna be very long before the Lord takes us home. Now, what does not very long mean? It could mean today. It could mean 100 years from now because there's nothing saying in Scripture that we won't have to go through another major world war. There's nothing in Scripture that says we won't have to face hard things. While I absolutely believe in a rapture,

I am not an escapist where I think, oh, God's gonna make sure that the Western culture church doesn't have to go through anything hard. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. We may have to go through some really hard things, but whether that is coming today or 100 years from now, we have to keep our focus on one thing and one thing only, and that is our Savior. Because whether Jesus comes back today or 50 years or 100 years from now, I want to be doing the exact same thing.

I want to be spending time investing in my relationship with my Savior because in the end, that's the only thing that matters because in the end, that's the only thing that will last for all of eternity is my relationship with my Savior. And so, he says, I'm so thankful that you've hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and you revealed them to infants. If you will, Jesus here just said, don't be childish because I'll rebuke you for being childish, instead you should be childlike. What does it mean to be childlike?

It means to be humbly dependent. You know what one thing I don't have to tell my girls to do? Depend on me for everything. Because you know what they do automatically? They depend on me for everything. I'm like, I have to feed you again? I just did that two hours ago. I have to buy groceries again? I just did that two hours ago, right? That's having a teenage girl in the house.

I can't imagine what a teenage boy is like, right? I mean, my lands. So, you know, I don't have to tell them to be humbly dependent upon me because that's their life. But as adults, what do we start being? Self-dependent. It's okay, I'm self-made now. I know how to take care of myself. You know what I've realized? I don't know how to take care of myself and I'm not very good at it, right?

I need God because he has to give me everything. Every day is more than I can handle. And so he reveals these things to those who can finally come to a place of being childlike and saying, I need you for everything. I need you to give me everything in life because I have nothing of myself. He goes on from there to say this. He said, all things have been handed to me,

verse 27, handed over to me by my Father. 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 says, all things have been handed over to me by my Father. That's not only all authority, all knowledge. It pleased God that in him, it pleased the Father that in him all the fullness of the Godhead

would dwell in bodily form. That's what we're told in Colossians, right? And so all things were given to him. And then he says this next thing. He says, and no one really knows the Son except the Father. In other words, no one really truly knows everything that there is to know about the Son of God, Jesus, not in bodily form as the Father. And no one truly knows the Father

except the Son. Now, when we read that, we go, so then how can we ever know God? How can we ever know the Father? And then Jesus gave us this next little statement right there. He says, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him. In other words, you can't just know the Father because you have willed on your own to know God. You can't just work up enough will

to know who the Father is. No, if you want to know who the Father is, Jesus has to decide. He wants to tell you about him. Oh my gosh. Isn't that God's sovereignty? Doesn't that mean Jesus decides who will and will not hear the truth? Isn't that Calvinism? Now, if you're a Calvinist, you're like, of course it is. And I agree. It's okay. We'll get the world apart in a minute.

But if you're someone who struggles with that, you're kind of like, but don't I have free will? I mean, we'll get to that. But right here it says that the only people who can know the Father are the one to whom the Son wills to reveal him. We can almost say what Jesus said in the Gospel of John. Anyone who wants to come to the Father must come through me. Right? That's what Jesus said.

Anyone who wants to come to the Father, must come through Jesus. And so what hope is there for us if we have to just sit and wait and say, so at what point in time does Jesus decide whether or not I get to know the Father? Well, that brings us to the next part. He says, come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. You mean to tell me

God just balanced out right there the battle between Calvinism and Arminianism? Darn straight. It's right there. The balance is given to us right there. God is sovereign and he will decide who he reveals the truth of the Father to. But we have free will and all we need to do to be qualified for that is to come. To come to Jesus. It's his will and it's our will working together.

You say, Ryan, that doesn't make sense. It doesn't have to. That's just what God said, so I'm going to believe it. Now let's deal with these words of rest, right? These words of rest that he gives us and we'll camp out the next few minutes on these next three verses. He says, come to me. Come to me. I believe this first statement that he makes to us speaks of

salvation. It speaks of belief. How do we come to Jesus? Well, we come to him with all of our heart and we come to him with all of our soul and we come to him with all of our faith. In the same way that I come to this cup right now and I say I believe there's water in it and I believe that it's going to quench my thirst and it does. Because what did Jesus tell us in the Gospel of John?

I love that everybody just took a drink. That was amazing. What does it tell us in the Gospel of John? He says, come to me and drink deeply of the waters. He says, take my flesh, drink my blood, which sound like really weird things until you understand that what he's saying is take in every aspect of me through faith. Make me a part of who you are through faith.

We come to God and we believe. We come to Jesus with that faith that says, Lord, I believe and I'm going to come to you. I'm going to come to you with everything. All of my weariness, all of my heavy laden, all of the burdens that I'm carrying. I'm going to come to you. You see, coming to Jesus is that first great step of faith that we take. When you come to Jesus the first time, you don't even realize

you're taking a step of faith. You just know one thing, I'm broken and he says he'll heal me. And notice who he says to come. He says, come to me weary and heavy laden. Oh, you know I'm going to define those words. The word weary literally means tired from toil. Weary to the point of exhaustion. That's the idea behind that word. He says, I want you to come to me all who are weary.

I was thinking about this as I was studying and I definitely can think of some times working construction and different things like that, you put in some really long days and it's physically taxing. So I was thinking about what some of my longest days were. And I can think of two of them in particular. One was doing snow removal, which by the way, snow, again, really? Like, what the heck?

And again, four hours, that's all I really need. Luckily this time it really was warm the next day. And that stuff's disappearing fast. I didn't even have to clear the parking lot. This was amazing. So if it's going to snow, at least it's 70 the next day and that's the important thing. But one of them was a day that we'd gotten a lot of snow. And when we did snow removal

for the retirement community, we had to show up really early in the morning because the entire place was made of duplexes and fourplexes. And there was a hall that joined together all the different apartments. But when they would first get there, at about five in the morning, the paper would get delivered. And the paper would get delivered to the front porch, which was potentially slick because of whatever snow or ice was coming down. So when I worked groundskeeping, what we would do

is we would follow the paper people around. And we would take the papers and we would go in and put them inside of the house so that the elderly person doesn't have to go outside and potentially risk breaking a hip. So this one particular day, it started at 5 a.m. for me. And as it started at 5 a.m., we went the entire day. Did I forget to say this is the time that we had the ice storm

back in 2002? That was this day. And so we start that day that early with ice coming down. And then all of the power starts going out in the entire place. So we have to go through and turn all of the water off in the entire place. And then we have to make sure that the sidewalks are safe enough for people to walk on so they can get to dinner that night. So what started at 5 a.m.

ended somewhere around 8 o'clock p.m. that night. And I was so tired, not only because of just being at work that long, but all of the exhaustion of chipping ice all day long and the cold and just dealing with all of it. And I remember being so tired and all I wanted to do was go home and go to bed. The fun thing that happened that night is that my power went out and it sounded like

a war zone because all of the trees were cracking. I was so exhausted from that. I was so weary. And so as I was thinking about that word, that's what I'm thinking of. They're weary. He says, come to me all you who are weary and tired from your toil, weary to the point of exhaustion. Only it's not just physically, it's spiritually. And perhaps what I just described to you in a very

physical tone, you can appreciate in a very spiritual way. Because maybe physically, spiritually, speaking, you're not that worn out. But spiritually speaking, you are that exhausted. He says, all who are weary, and then he gives this next statement. He says, come to me all who are weary and heavy laden. The word heavy laden means tired from toil. Literally

bending beneath the weight. Bending beneath the weight. You can picture it, can't you? Somebody trying to hold up this very heavy weight and just slowly but surely it's continuing to push them down and push them down. Until they just can't go on any longer because the weight's just too heavy to carry. What is this weariness? What is this weight, this being heavy laden that he's talking about?

I think it fits into two things. Number one, it's the sin. Sin is such a heavy thing to carry, is it not? Sin is a heavy weight to carry about on us. As a matter of fact, it weighs us down so much. I believe David in Psalm 40-ish, somewhere in that general range, said, my sins are so great they're more in number than the hairs of my head so that I can no longer

look up. You see, that I think paints the perfect picture for what Jesus is saying here when he says, come to me all who are weary and heavy laden. You are so weighed down with sin that you can't even look up any longer and you've just got to get that burden off of your back. You've just got to get that burden off of you. But do you know what else I think that can indicate

for us? It can indicate all of the worries that go on in this world. Worries about our health, worries about our family's health, worries about what's going to happen with the events taking place in the world right now, worry about whether or not I'm good enough or will ever measure up. All of the burdens of the worries of this world that we constantly carry around on us that God never intended to carry on us.

Whether it be as an unbeliever because we haven't fully turned those over or because we've never turned all that stuff over to Jesus, or whether a believer who still refuses or maybe struggles to turn all that burden over to Jesus. He says, come to me all who are weary and heavy laden. And then he says, I will give you rest. Literally what he says is, I will refresh you with rest or I will cause you to rest. It

reminds me of the 23rd Psalm. Remember the 23rd Psalm? He says, He makes me to lie down in green pastures. Because we need rest so bad but we don't always realize how badly we need rest until you actually finally are forced to lay down. It reminds me of being a small child when I didn't want to take a nap and now of course I look back on that small child and go,

you were a moron. I should have napped more as a small child. Kind of like looking back to the week before my oldest daughter was born and all I can think is, I should have slept more that week. Because I've been tired ever since. And so it's like forcing that kid, and now that I've got kids of my own, you literally have to force them to take a rest. But you know what

I find as an adult? I'm really not that much different. Because I still have a hard time resting. I have a hard time getting myself to stop not only physically but mentally and emotionally and spiritually getting myself to truly rest. But you know what happens when I take all of that burden, all of that heaviness, all of that weariness, all of that toil, all of those things

that are way too much for me, when I take them and give them to Jesus, he causes me to rest. Because he says, why don't I hold on to that for you? And why don't you just lay down and rest? Take a nap. And then allow me to carry your burden for you. So, the first thing he says is, come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. That speaks of salvation.

But then notice what it says in verse 29. It says, 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. I believe this speaks of sanctification. This process of being discipled by the Lord and walking with the Lord. Notice what he says. He says, take my yoke upon you. Now, according to some Jewish

tradition, because there were so few trees in that area, a wood worker at that point in time was probably not building a bunch of tables and a bunch of furniture. He probably had one main thing that he built. You know what main thing he probably would have built? Yokes for oxen. There's every indication for us to believe that Jesus was actually employed in the business of making yoke for oxen.

Can you imagine the sign on the door of Jesus' yoke for oxen shop? Buy a yoke here, it fits just right. Right? I mean, I feel like that's what it would say. Right? My yoke is easy. He says, take my yoke upon you. But do you know what this speaks to us of? It speaks to us of this aspect of sanctification that's so important, because what does sanctification really

mean in our lives? Sanctification really means, uh oh, a hard word, submission. You see, what they would do at this point in time is they would yoke together an older animal with a younger animal. Not only because the younger ox was not quite strong enough to pull the yoke on his own, or to pull the plow on his own, but because the younger animal had not learned submission yet, and still had a tendency to want to do its own thing. So what would they do?

They would yoke it with an older ox that knew what he was supposed to do, because he was submitted to his master. And so, the older would teach the younger what it meant to be submitted to the master. What do we know about Jesus according to the Gospels? He was submitted to the Father. And so what does Jesus say? He says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. In

other words, submit to the yoke, but you won't have to do it alone because you'll be with me. Yoke up with me. I'll be the stronger oxen that not only pulls, because I have more strength than you, but I will also teach you what it's like to be submitted to the master. And in this case, the master is the Father. He says, take my yoke upon you. Do you know what we do not like to do in the 21st century?

We do not want to submit. We do not want to submit to anything, especially the authority of God, or any other authority. For that matter, because by God nobody's going to tell me what to do. Meanwhile, Jesus is saying, the only way to rest is through submission. The only way to rest is through, I'll use another word, surrender. He says, take my yoke upon you. Submit yourself

to me. Paul tells us the same thing in Romans 12, 1 and 2. Right? He says, to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. And so, as we submit to them, he gives us that next word, which is to learn from me. In other words, as I am walking with Jesus, allow him to teach me. To teach me everything that he knows. This is exactly what he was

doing with the disciples at this point in time. As they were walking with him, they were, if you will, yoked with him. And as he was submitting to the Father, he was teaching them the importance of submitting to the Father. As he was serving instead of being served, he was teaching them to serve. As he was empowered by the Holy Spirit, he was teaching them to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.

And he wants to do the same thing with us. You say, Ryan, I can't see Jesus. Can't you though? Can't you see Jesus? Because he's given us these twin sufficiencies. The inerrancy of God's word and the power of the Holy Spirit through which we can see Jesus. He says, take my yoke upon you and learn me. Why? He says, because I'm gentle and humble in heart. I'm reminded

of the words of the book of Philippians when it says this, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who though being in the form of God, did not 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. We're to have that same mind in us. Isn't it great that Jesus led by example and he did it first. He said, I'm gentle and humble in heart and now I can teach you how to be the same way if you simply submit yourself to me and walk with me on a daily basis. He says,

I am gentle and humble in heart. He says, and you will find rest for your souls. It just sounds great, doesn't it? Just those words right there, you will find rest for your soul. He says, because my yoke is easy and my burden is light. I don't know what burdens you're carrying with you today. I don't know what kind of things you're wearing on you today. What kind of things are weighing

you down. Perhaps you feel weary. You're just tired from the toil. You're at the point of exhaustion because you just can't do it anymore. You're carrying the burden of sin or you're carrying the burdens of the world. You're carrying those burdens maybe because you've never come to know Jesus. You're Lord and Savior and because of that you're just carrying a burden that just doesn't

seem to go anywhere. Maybe you just feel so weighed down. So weighed down with the cares of this life. So weighed down with the worries of this life. So weighed down physically because of the illnesses you're dealing with. Spiritually because of the struggles that you're dealing with, with all of the worry. Maybe you just feel weighed down this morning. I want to tell you something. Jesus,

has a word for you and it's this. Come to me. Come to me. Come to him and just pour all of those things out to him. Come to him and just give him all of those things. And you'll find rest for your soul. And then submit yourself to him. Put yourself right next to him and say let's walk through this thing together. And you will. It's a promise. You will find rest for your souls. Amen.

Let's all stand. As the worship team comes up, I want to do something just a little bit different this morning. I just want everybody to bow your heads and close your eyes. And I want to ask you a question because I want to pray for those that need it. If you can relate to that statement about being weary and burdened, if you just feel like things are heavy on you right now,

I just want you to put your hand up because I just want to pray for you. If you feel like things are just more than you can bear, if you feel like you're just so weary, thank you. Lots of hands shooting up. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Father, we come before you and I just thank you for these folks that are so willing to say man, it's heavy right now and I just can't seem to get out from underneath

the burden. Lord, with those hands being up, I know that that is their statement of saying I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you for rest. I'm coming to you for help. I'm coming to you to be set free so that I can find that rest for my soul. Lord, I just ask that your Holy Spirit would do that work in their hearts today. Lord, that you would cause them to rest.

That they would truly be able to one by one lay those burdens on you. That they would truly be able to give those things to you and Lord, by your grace, not pick them up again. Lord, I pray that the power of your Holy Spirit would be at work in their hearts and in their lives and in their souls. Father, I thank you for the truth of your word and I just ask that it would continue to do its work in our hearts today. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Be blessed.