Journey Through Matthew: Rest for the Weary
Journey Through Matthew • Sermon • Submitted
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· 3 viewsThe work is hard and the road is long. The work is harder and the road longer if we try to travel it alone. However, in Christ we find the ability to "endure til the end" and find rest in Him.
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Introduction
Introduction
Good evening and welcome back!
Tonight we are continuing right on in our Journey Through Matthew, and we are going to continue on right where we left off this morning.
So, if you would like to start finding the Scripture in your Bibles, we will be in , verses 25-30 tonight.
And I have titled the message for tonight, Rest for the Weary, but actually in this passage, Matthew records Jesus actually talking about three slightly different things in this portion of this address.
And we are going to get to each one of them in a minute, but we are actually going to be talking about:
The Truth being hidden from the wise.
Chosen to know the Truth.
And, then finally Rest for the Weary.
And if you recall where we were this morning as well as where we were last Sunday morning, we have been looking at this long address that Jesus is giving to the people.
It started out with Jesus’ blistering condemnation of the hypocrisy and inconsistency of the generation of people around him.
Some of them were claiming to be his followers and others were Jews trying to stir up trouble for Jesus and his disciples.
And the main point that Jesus was trying to get across to them was that in reality he did not need to prove anything to them.
And then this morning we looked at Jesus actually giving them some examples of how God was going to show Himself and prove Himself for their sake.
And that proof was going to come through destruction.
With the reason for that destruction being their refusal to repent of their sins.
Even though Jesus had walked with them, talked with them, offered them tangible evidence and proof that He was the Messiah and that He was offering the all of the hopes of the Messiah.
They refused to believe and they refused to repent.
And tonight we are going to take it one step further and we are actually going to be looking at this idea of Truth and some of the reasons these cities refused to repent.
So, lets get right into it.
Again I will be reading from .
I’d invite you to stand with me if you are able. Matthew writes . . . .
Scripture Focus
Scripture Focus
25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. 27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No-one knows the Son except the Father, and no-one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
The Truth is Hidden From the Wise
The Truth is Hidden From the Wise
So, right after Jesus tells Capernaum that . .
24 But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”
He begins to reveal to them the extent of why their judgement will be so severe.
And remember he has already established that they had a dark and unrepentant heart.
But the real question is, why?
Why have they refused?
Why have they not seen?
Why are they doing what they are doing?
So, Jesus now says . . .
25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
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And Matthew didn’t just mishear what Jesus was saying here.
Because in , he records . . .
21 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
So Jesus is saying that God has hidden things from these people.
God did this?
Of course our question is, why? How?
Well, we need to understand what Jesus is saying here.
First, what is actually being hidden?
The truth.
And when we are talking about the truth, we are not talking about the concept of the truth.
We are talking about the ONE who IS the TRUTH.
We are talking about Jesus, as the Messiah.
Remember . . .
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.
But still, is God hiding Jesus’ true identity from these people?
What’s up with that?
Well, it actually has to do with faith.
In the end of that verse it says that the truth is revealed to little children.
And Jesus isn’t just talking about little kids here, he is talking about those who have the faith of a little child.
That innocent and complete faith.
And the faith is not in humans or themselves, but faith in God.
It is a hard thing for adults to believe a lot of things because the world has damaged us so much.
We have lived through all of the trouble, heartache, and evil in the world and it has damaged our view of things.
Our belief system is somewhat warped because of the world.
And Jesus is saying that if we want to be able to actually see the truth.
If we want to actually be able to see Him, we have to be able to sit aside the warped view that the world has instilled in us and develop that same faith that is found in a child.
We have to learn to return to babes and then grow up in Christ.
And when we can do that then . . .
32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
And that is freedom from the bondage of sin and death.
That is freedom found in Christ and only in Christ.
And it wasn’t that there were blinders put on people, but rather they refused to accept and see the truth.
The truth was right there in front of them, but their hearts had been so darkened by sin, they refused to see it and they refused to accept it.
And because of that the consequences of sin, which is death would fall on them.
**Jesus is the Truth (Remember this)
We have a lot of people that want to blame a lot of things on God.
**They couldn’t see the truth because their heart had been darkened by sin.
The reality is, God’s truth is revealed to us and has been for over 2000 years.
It was hidden but it was hidden because they refused to accept it.
We just choose to ignore it.
And because of our choices, the consequences follow.
Even though God warns us of the consequences, we still choose to ignore.
We fit the bill of . . .
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
And the result of our actions . . .
:18
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is for ever praised. Amen. 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. 28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worth while to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practise them.
:23-
And it all starts with the wholesale rejection of God.
Chosen to Know the Truth
Chosen to Know the Truth
However, for those who do choose to follow God and respond to God’s calling . . .
27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No-one knows the Son except the Father, and no-one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
And what Jesus is talking about here is that intimate relationship with God.
He is meaning just what is being said here.
God the Father has given Jesus the Son the authority over all things, that means everything.
And in their day, and ours, no one really knows or can explain the true nature of the Son except God the Father.
We know Jesus.
We love Jesus.
We have a relationship with Jesus (hopefully-and if you don’t we can do something about that).
But, we do not understand Jesus’ nature as “fully man” and “fully God.”
We really cannot grasp the full nature of the Holy Trinity.
It is one of those things that we must take by faith.
Because to be honest, the more we try to understand it, the more I think we become confused.
Part of what’s wrong with humanity is the fact that we question absolutely everything.
We have tried to remove faith from everything.
We say “prove it,” or “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
And when things of God that are beyond our comprehension, like creation itself, we reject it, not because it is not true, but rather because we don’t understand it.
However, if we would just search our heart and listen to the Holy Spirit, even though we don’t understand it, we would know that it is true.
Because God reveals to the truth to us through the Spirit.
Always have and always will.
But, again, it goes back to whether or not we are willing to listen.
And when we are able and willing to listen, then as Jesus says, no one knows the Father except the Son AND those whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
And that doesn’t mean Jesus excludes people, but rather those who refuse, Jesus doesn’t force things on us.
It boils down to us being free to do as we choose.
We either choose to accept God by faith, or reject God.
Our choice and if we choose to accept, we are opened up to a whole new realm of understanding about God, and also the world around us.
Think about the world and some of the things that the world thinks.
Some of it is insane and nonsensical to us.
For instance, how the world rationalizes creation.
Instead of acknowledging God, they say an explosion of nothing created something, but it just happened.
And they try to say believing that God created doesn’t make sense.
Makes more sense than their “science.”
Another example is abortion.
All the debate about “when a human is a human.”
That is just stupid.
Justification for murder is all it is.
But our belief that life begins at conception to them doesn’t make sense.
The problem in the world is that it is blinded by sin.
And clarity is only gained when the veil is lifted off of us by God.
And it only is lifted when we are willing to allow it.
The Weary and Burdened
The Weary and Burdened
But, when the veil is lifted away, we don’t like what we see.
And as we try, and try, and try, we get tired.
We grow weary.
And some grow so weary that they give up.
We can’t blame them because I would bet that on more than one occasion many of us have thought the same thing.
Maybe you have’t, but I know that I have.
But the good thing is God never gave up on us.
God kept going.
And Jesus tells us . . .
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:
We can give it all to Jesus.
He has already paid the price, but he is saying, “I know it gets hard. I know you get tired.”
And again . . .
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:29
Altar Call
Altar Call
And that may be where you are tonight.
You are tired, you are weary.
You can find rest tonight.
And that rest is in Jesus.
And if you are looking for peace anywhere else, you will not find it.
It is found in Jesus and only in Jesus.
So tonight, we are going to open things up and give you an opportunity to pray.
To lay down all of those burdens.
To find the rest you seek.
The rest in Jesus.
So, right now lets just spend some time with Jesus.
You can come to the altar or pray where you are, but I’d encourage you to give it all to Jesus.
Right here, right now.