Matthew 11:20-30: “Jesus Pronounces ‘Woes’ On The Cities That Rejected Him, Praises The Father For Revealing The Truth To Babes, Then Appeals To All Who Are Weary And Heavy-Laden To Come To Him”
by
Jim Bomkamp
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In this next section of the book of Matthew Jesus begins
to address those who had come to Him and received His teaching as well as those
who had rejected Him and His message
1.1.1.
He pronounces ‘woes’ upon the cities and areas which
did not repent and follow Him after seeing His miracles and hearing Him preach
1.1.2.
He praises the Father for the ones who had received
and understood His teaching and ministry, and these disciples He calls ‘babes’
in their relationship to the world
1.1.3.
Jesus then cries out to all who are weary and heavy
laden to come to Him, for they shall find rest for their souls
2.
VS 11:20-22 - "20 Then He
began to reproach the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because
they did not repent. 21 "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you,
2.1.
2.1.1.
In the Old Testament we see that due to the wickedness of
2.1.2.
2.1.2.1.In Ezekiel
28:12-18, Ezekiel records a prophetic condemnation of the 'King of Tyre' and
then because the king was so evil he begins to attribute the 'King of Tyre' as
being Lucifer himself, "12 "Son of man, take up a lamentation over
the king of Tyre, and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord God,"You had the
seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 "You were in Eden, the garden of
God; Every precious stone was your
covering: The ruby, the topaz, and the
diamond; The beryl, the onyx, and the
jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise,
and the emerald; And the gold, the
workmanship of your settings and sockets, Was in you. On the day that you were created They were
prepared. 14 "You were the anointed
cherub who covers, And I placed you there.
You were on the holy
2.1.2.1.1.It could be that
Jesus was actually speaking of the demonic power that had dominion over those
particular cities, and not the king of the area himself
2.2.
Chorazin and
2.2.1.
Philip, Andrew, and Peter were from the city of
2.2.2.
2.3.
Though Chorazin and
2.4.
There are four principles that are gleaned from studying these
verses:
2.4.1.
The degree of wickedness of any people is judged by the degree of
light in which they have
2.4.2.
People will be judged in the day of judgment based upon the amount
of light that they have
2.4.3.
In the future day of judgment of the wicked people who are not
God's people there will be degrees of eternal punishment and suffereing which
will people receive
2.4.4.
People who have died in the past who are not God's people will be
resurrected to face the judgment seat of Christ (the Great White Throne
Judgment) in order to receive an eternal punishment for their sins
3.
VS 11:23-24 - "23 "And
you,
3.1.
3.1.1.
3.2.
The city of
3.3.
We see from these verses that even though the people of a city
might have been destroyed because of their wickedness, there still remains an
eternal punishment which they shall receive when they are resurrected and stand
before the Great White Throne of judgment
3.4.
The question we ought to ask ourselves is, ‘What have I done with
the light which I have received in my life?’
4.
VS 11:25-26 - "25 At that time
Jesus answered and said, "I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst
reveal them to babes. 26 "Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in
Thy sight"" - Jesus
praises the Father for His wisdom in revealing the golden gems of spiritual
truth and wisdom to those who were humble and of low esteem amongst men
4.1.
To have revealed the precious gems of truth to the elite religious
leaders in Jesus' day would have been to cast pearls before swine
4.1.1.
This is what Jesus exhorted His disciples not to do in Matt. 7:6,
"6 "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls
before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to
pieces""
4.1.2.
As I have mentioned before, if you give a pig a bath and place
expensive cloth on it and even put a golden necklace around its neck, the pig
will eventually just go right back to wallowing in the mud because it still has
the nature of a pig. This is just the
way the Pharisees and religious leaders of Jesus' day were, they had no
appreciation of the finer things of God
4.2.
God tends to always choose as His servants and ambassadors people
whom the world would least expect to be so because in this way no one can look
at what God does through their lives and attribute it to them, their
intelligence, or their ingenuity.
4.2.1.
Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 1:26-29 that there were not many of the
highly esteemed men in his day who became saved and worshipped with the body of
Christ, and this is something that has been true in every generation on earth,
"26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise
according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God has chosen
the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak
things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base
things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not,
that He might nullify the things that are, 29 that no man should boast before
God"
4.2.2.
God wants to get all of the glory for the things that He does through
His servants and thus He calls the men and women whom He calls
5.
VS 11:27 - "27 "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"" - Jesus tells them that He alone and those
to whom He reveals Him, know the Father
5.1.
Jesus knew that He was the one and only unique begotten Son of
God, and though the full revelation of it had not occurred, the Father had already
handed all authority and power in heaven and upon earth to Him
5.1.1.
Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, however He is still waiting
for that time when the Father will hand all things over to Him to reign in the fullness of His glory and power upon the
earth. This will occur during His
Millenial Reign, after the 7 year Tribulation Period of the book of Revelation
5.1.2.
In Matt. 28:18 when He spoke what has become to be known as the
Great Commission, Jesus said that all authority and power had been handed over
to Him by the Father, "18He told his disciples, "I have been given
all authority in heaven and earth""
5.1.3.
In 1 Cor. 15:25-28 Paul expounded some more about the exact
details of God's having put all things under Christ's authority, "25
For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26 The last
enemy that will be abolished is death. 27 For He has put all things in
subjection under His feet. But when He says, "All things are put in
subjection," it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in
subjection to Him. 28 And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son
Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that
God may be all in all"
5.1.4.
In Eph. 1:20-22, Paul related how Christ's having been given all
authority meant that He sat at the right hand of the Father, i.e. on His throne
reigning with Him, "20that raised Christ from the dead and seated him
in the place of honor at God's right hand in heaven 21 far above all rule and
authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in
this age, but also in the one to come. 22 And He put all things in subjection
under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church"
5.1.5.
In Phil. 2:10-11, Paul wrote about the fact that every tongue
would one day confess that Jesus is Lord and that every knee would one day bow
before Him, "10 that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven
and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue shall confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father"
5.1.6.
In 1 Peter 3:22, Peter relates how that even all angels and powers
had been subjected to Him when He ascended up to heaven to rule upon heaven's
throne, "22 who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven,
after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him"
5.2.
Jesus teaches here that He alone reveals the Father to men, and
thus there is only one way to the Father and that is through Jesus Christ
5.2.1.
In John 14:6, Jesus taught His disciples that He was the way, truth,
and life and that no came to the Father but through Him, "6 Jesus *said to
him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the
Father, but through Me""
6.
VS 11:28-30 - "28 "Come
to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, 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 shall find rest for your souls. 30 "For My yoke is easy,
and My load is light"" - Jesus
calls out to the weary and heavy laden to come to Him that they might find rest
6.1.
Those who come to Christ come to Him because of a need, for until
there is a real need in a person's life he will never turn to God
6.1.1.
One person once said to me that he believed that a person only
turns to the Lord when there is nowhere else that he could turn
6.2.
People have tried to determine just whom the 'weary and
heavy-laden' were whom Jesus addressed in these verses:
6.2.1.
Some have said that it was those who were under the burden of
trying to keep the law of Moses perfectly
6.2.2.
Some have said that it was those who were under the burden of
their consciences under the weight of sin which people experience
6.2.3.
Some have said that it is those who are burdened down by the
trials and tribulations of life apart from God's providential care
6.3.
I believe that the answer is all of the above and more, for Jesus
is the answer to all of man's problems I believe, and I have seen many many
things bring a person to the Lord
6.4.
Spurgeon once preached about the approachableness of the Lord and of His
many pleadings to sinners to come to Him for salvation and the healing which He
alone can bring, “If this suffice not,
let me here remind you of the language of Christ, He proclaims his
approachability in such words as these, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Ye horny-handed sons of toil, ye smiths
and carpenters, ye ploughers and diggers, come unto me, yea, come all ye that
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And again, “If any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” He invites men to come; he pleads with
them to come; and when they will not come he gently upbraids them with such
words as these, “Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life.” And, again,
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which
are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even
as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.” It is not
“I would not,” but “ye would not.” Why, the whole of Scripture in its
invitations, may be said to be the language of Christ, and therein you find
loving, pleading words of this kind, “Come now, and let us reason together:
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be
red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” “Let the wicked forsake his way, and
the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will
have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” All our
blessed Lord’s sermons were so many loving calls to poor aching hearts to come
and find what they needed in him. I pray that the Holy Spirit may give an
effectual call to many of you tonight. It would glad the heart of the Redeemer
in the skies if you would come to him for salvation, for you may come, since
there is no barrier between you and the Savior of men. What is it keeps you
back? I repeat it with tears, what is it keeps you back?”
6.4.1.
The verses
here reveal that man has a free will and choice to receive Christ as Lord and
Savior, yet many refuse to do so, but not without much pleading and tears from
the Lord
6.4.2.
Those who
refuse to receive Christ as Lord and Savior in this life will one day stand
before Christ Great White Thone of Judgment and they will only be able to blame
themselves for not responding to the message which God made abundantly
available and accessible to them, were they willing to receive it
6.5.
Jesus reveals here that salvation comes through receiving His yoke
upon yourself, and this implies allowing Him to be Lord over your life
6.5.1.
Living your life for yourself and just doing whatever you want to
do makes for a life that is a hard and difficult path
6.5.1.1.All lost people
‘weary and heavy laden’ under the tyranny of their sin
6.5.2.
However, allowing yourself to come under Christ's yoke does not
make life a burden, rather far from it, for when His yoke is upon us we cast
our burdens upon Him and He sustains us, and thus His burden becomes light and
His yoke is easy
6.6.
Salvation also involves becoming a follower of Christ after His
yoke is placed upon us, and thus Jesus invites men to salvation to come and to
'learn from Him'
6.6.1.
As we learn about the Lord and learn from the Lord about ourselves
and about life itself, it is then that we gradually become to be made
emotionally stable and whole in Christ
6.7.
There is no need to fear allowing Jesus to be Lord over your life,
for He says that He is 'gentle and humble in heart'
6.7.1.
Being the good shepherd, His desire is for the health and welfare
of His sheep, over whom He exercizes the best of care
6.8.
One of the great blessings of coming to salvation is that we come
to have 'rest for our souls'
6.8.1. Non-Christians
can't experience this, for in Isaiah 48:22, Isaiah wrote that there is no peace
for the wicked, " 22 "There is no peace for the wicked," says
the Lord"