Journey Through Matthew: Cities of Death
Journey Through Matthew • Sermon • Submitted
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· 6 viewsThe wages of sin is death, whether it is a person, a city, a nation, or a whole generation. Sin is dealt with by God, wouldn't it be better if we removed it first?
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Introduction
Introduction
Good morning and welcome back!
I hope everyone has had a blessed week and weekend so far.
This morning we are going to continue with our Journey Through Matthew, and we are going to pick up right where we left off in verse 20.
If you will recall from last week we followed Jesus through his 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.
In fact, in chapter 12, Jesus continues to address this very same issue.
39 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
And then again in . . .
4 A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.
And it did not end when Jesus gave them all the signs (ie: The Resurrection) or even when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, because Paul also has to address it as well . . .
22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom,
22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
A stumbling block because . . .
25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.
And this is really what they were doing.
They were claiming that Christ and his followers were “fools” and that they were “foolish” in their behavior.
And they were demanding that if Jesus was who he said he was then “show us a sign.”
They were demanding that if John the Baptist was who he was claiming to be then “show us a sign.”
Always wanting someone to prove something to them.
To show them.
Well, if they would have just listened to the Holy Spirit convicting their soul, maybe they would have known.
If they would have heard the still, small, voice of God speaking, just maybe they would have known.
If they had really tried to understand, they may have seen the truth of things.
But they didn’t; they just continually asked for “proof.”
And if you will recall, no matter what proof Jesus or John gave them, it was never enough.
They were never satisfied, so in the end Jesus simply tells them in the end of verse 19 ...
“Wisdom is proved right by her actions.”
In other words, in the end it will all be seen.
It will all come out in the wash.
The actual reality was that . . .
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
All the proof that they are looking for in signs and wonders is all going to disappear but God’s Word will remain.
In the end the only thing they will know is what Jesus said and that what Jesus said was 100% true.
And that God doesn’t need to prove Himself at all.
Part of their problem and part of the problem we have today is that we want to look at everything from human terms.
We cannot fathom the things of God so we compare everything in our own terms.
And to be honest as humans we have lied to each other so much that our natural response is, “prove it.”
You say this is true, well “prove it to me.”
And Jesus is saying God’s ways are different.
God doesn’t have to “prove” anything.
God says it, we take it by faith, and wait for it to come to pass.
And really all they were doing was tempting God.
And for us, when we hear “tempting God,” we begin to cringe and we begin to think about people who take chances with their lives, doing dangerous things.
But tempting God is much simpler than that as well.
How many times have we prayed and asked God for things and then asked God to prove Himself by giving us things?
“God if you are real, give me a new _________.”
Or, we give God an ultimatum, “God, do this and I will believe in you forever, don’t do it and I’m done.”
That is not how God operates.
God does not respond to us based on our giving or withholding love toward God.
God responds in ways that is in our best interest in the long run because God sees the overall big picture.
And this whole thing about God proving Himself, well God already did that…Look around.
And this morning we are going to look at Jesus taking this a step further.
Jesus is going to really confront these people for their unbelief and their inconsistency.
For their tactics and their attempts to manipulate God.
For their demand for signs and wonders.
So, if you have found in your Bible, I’d invite you to stand as we begin in verse 20.
Matthew writes. . .
Scripture Focus
Scripture Focus
20 Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”
Matthew 11:20-
Woe to the Cities!
Woe to the Cities!
Now to really, really understand what Jesus is saying to these people, we need to dig a bit into history and even a bit back into the Old Testament times.
The first thing Matthew begins to tell us is . . .
20 Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent.
Matthew 11:20
We need to let that sink in for just a minute.
Jesus and his disciples had been traveling around sharing the Gospel, healing the sick, raising the dead, curing the lame and the blind and there were certain cities where more of this took place than in others.
And Matthew is telling us that in these cities where most of his miracles had been performed, Jesus began to denounce them.
And the reason he began to denounce them was because they did not repent.
We need to stop and think about that.
These people were walking and talking with Jesus.
They were witnessing first hand all the things that we can only read about.
He is calling them to repent, but yet they refused to repent.
They refused to give up their sinful lifestyle and follow God.
But before we pass judgement on them, how often have we done the same thing?
God has delivered us from certain death or some sort of hard time we were going though, but yet we did not repent.
Now, we may have done well for a while; followed God for a while, but slowly and surely went right back to the same old same old.
Well, the reason we do that is because we never truly repented.
We gave things up for a while to “pay God back” for the favor He did for us, but we never repented.
We never turned that sin over to God and allowed God to remove it from us.
We saw our change as repaying our debt and what we tend to do is sort of test the waters ,when we think the debt has been paid.
We have this great deliverance by God and we get all excited; pledge to give up everything.
But we forget to allow the Holy Spirit to do the actual work in us.
We try to do it all on our own, and then sooner or later we begin to dabble in that old sin again.
We “test the waters” a bit.
You know how it goes. We let whatever that sin is, in and see what happens.
When we are not immediately struck dead, we think, “well, maybe it isn’t so bad.”
And we do it again, again, and again, and sooner or later we are right back in that same old lifestyle.
Folks, that is not who God calls us to be.
God calls us to repent and give our lives to Him.
Now, Will we be perfect? NO!
Will we struggle? YES!
But God will be there to help us.
But we have to let God in and give God the access to do those things.
But these people refused.
They would not let Jesus in.
They did not repent.
And as a result Jesus tells them . . .
Matthew 11:
21 “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.
So, Jesus here names two of these towns that had refused to repent.
The first one was Korazin, and an interesting fact about Korazin is that Korazin no longer exists.
It is a town that is in ruins.
In fact, they didn’t even know where it was until the the 1920s.
But when they did find it, all they found were ruins, but you know what was in the middle of those ruins?
A synagogue, and a large one at that.
The town itself only covers about 25 acres but it contains one of the larger of the ancient synagogues.
So, these people were very religious.
They knew the Law.
The problem was, they didn’t know Jesus.
And I point that out because we have a lot of people who crowd into a lot of churches, maybe even here this morning, who know the “rules” of the church.
They know how they are supposed to act.
But they don’t know Jesus.
They have no clue who Jesus is or what Jesus is all about.
And, even though Jesus has been showing himself to them and speaking to them; convicting their hearts for years, they refuse to repent.
And if they do not change, they will end up just like Korazin, completely destroyed.
But, Korazin is not the only town mentioned here.
Jesus also denounces Bethsaida.
And again, just like Korazin, Bethsaida is no more.
And to this day, they are not even exactly sure where it was.
They think it was on the norther shore of the Sea of Galilee, but they are not sure.
And the reason they are not sure is because it is gone.
It was completely destroyed by sin.
And this was the town where Jesus fed the 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish.
But even that could not convince them to repent of their sin.
I wonder this morning what it is going to take to convince some of us.
Because destruction is looming right around the corner.
And just like these towns, the destruction is complete.
And the difference here between Korazin, Bethsaida and the two towns Tyre and Sidon that Jesus mentions is the same thing that will help us.
A repentant heart.
It takes a repentant heart, because our actions will fail us.
Our heart has to be right with God, because that leads us to repent in sackcloth and ashes as Jesus puts it.
And when our heart is right with God, then what happens is, our actions begin to match our heart.
Remember Jesus has told us that . . .
34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
Or, what’s in our heart is what will eventually come out of us.
So, this morning we need to be examining what exactly is in our heart.
Because Jesus warned them and warns us that . . .
22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.
Matthew 11:
Now, that covers everyone didn’t have a relationship with Jesus, who refused to repent.
The rest of us are in good shape then, right?
Not so fast. Jesus goes on . . .
Matthew 11:
23 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.
Jesus now throws Capernaum in there as well.
Capernaum was a “good town.”
Remember, this is where Jesus would go to “get away” from things.
They had it going on.
They were good to go with Jesus.
After all this was the center of Jesus’ ministry.
It was home base.
How could this be?
Because even though Jesus taught routinely in their synagogue.
Even though probably more miracles than anywhere else were performed there.
Even though the Gospel was preached over and over and over.
There was one problem.
They refused to hear it.
They refused to repent.
They refused to give their heart to God.
And as a result . . .
24 But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”
Sodom, the ultimate city of sin and death.
One of the most famous cities in all of history, namely because of its sin.
There are even crimes today named after the city.
That is how vile and horrible it was.
And Jesus tells the people of Capernaum that the day of Judgement would be more bearable than Sodom than for them.
And the reason was because Capernaum had proof after proof after proof presented to them day after day about Jesus, but they refused.
Altar Call
Altar Call
What about us this morning?
How many times have we heard the Gospel?
How many times has Jesus presented himself to us?
How many times have we refused?
We need to think about that because God is no respecter of persons, meaning that he isn’t going to treat us any differently than the people of Capernaum or Korazin or Bethsaida.
If we have sin in our heart, then we will not make it.
So this morning, take a close look inside yourself.
Allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you.
See if there is anything that is separating you from God.
And if there is, do something about it.
Don’t let an opportunity pass by.
You may not get another.
These people in these towns thought that their towns would go on forever, but they didn’t.
We think that we will continue on forever, but we will not.
One day we are going to cross over from this life to the next.
That is a fact, there is nothing we can do about that.
But, we can be ready when it happens.
This morning, are you ready?
That’s the key, are you ready?