Rest in the King

First, you stir us to praise.

God is the one who initiates the renewal of our relationship with him. He is the one who initiates and brings about the beginning of a new worship. This is why we begin our worship service with a call to worship. God begins the call of worship. Notice that there's two reasons that we praise him to bring us joy, because he made us and draws us to himself.

God created us and designed us to know him and to be known by him, to be in a right relationship with him. It's according to his design that we would be with him and know him. In that last statement, we are restless until we find our rest in you. God, our perfect and true creator, designed us so that we would find joy in him, have our rest in him, but we've sinned. We've rebelled against him.

Let's actually start at the beginning of that. Our hearts are restless. This is something we would know without scripture telling us our hearts are restless. Something we've experienced this past week, maybe even this morning, maybe even right now, the restlessness, the burdens, the pain, the fear, the worry, the anxiety. There's a restlessness about our condition. And it should feel foreign because we're not designed to be restless.

We're designed to rest in God. But we are because we've run away from God and sinned against him. We all do experience what scripture calls and what Augustine calls an internal restlessness. Praise be to God, he stirs us back up into knowing him and praising him and finding rest in him and finding joy in him.

This morning, Jesus is going to address the problem of sin and how it will bring judgment. how we can know him, and the invitation to rest in him. Jesus warns us of the danger of not repenting, assures us that we can know him, and invites us into his rest.

Warning for not repenting

There are three different sections here. The first is verses 20 to 24, and we see there it begins with Matthew's own narrative introduction. This is falling out of what Jesus has already said. The point here, if you're taking notes, warning for not repenting. There's a warning for not repenting. Here, Matthew's narrative connection.

Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done because they did not repent.

Because they did not repent. Significant, we have just left Jesus saying, what will I describe this generation to? They call John the Baptist a demon because he doesn't eat. They call me a sinner because I do eat. The whole idea is that this generation just doesn't understand what righteousness is.

Those who are against God are going to be against those who, his prophet and his son. Here, he turns now and denounces very specific cities. Now, to denounce is to revile. We know what denouncing is. The news has basically just been a long recording of different people denouncing other people recently, maybe for a long time. It's a stern, clear message of reviling. He denounces these cities, and it's significant we see why. And again, this is Matthew connecting with us and interpreting. Most of his mighty work's been done there. and they did not repent. These cities have had a front row seat to seeing and hearing the Son of God, and they did not repent.

This is a stern rebuke. Jesus has come to call God's people back to himself. He has called so they would be able to repent, which is a turning away from sin and turning to him. He denounces them. Now this is connected again with 10, 14 to 15. We saw Jesus, he sent his disciples out to the lost sheep of Israel. And most of what we heard there in that discourse was warning after warning of how they're gonna reject you, reject you, punish you, seek to kill you and hate you. Here he is now giving a judgment for those who are rejecting him.

Still there in verse 20, notice that it is the word repent. This is the key word in Matthew. This is the good news that Jesus Christ is that you do not have to remain in your sin, in your hopelessness, in death, in despair, in restlessness. You can turn away from sin and you can turn to God, we're just saying this.

Jesus, I come to you out of myself and out of my sin, I come to you.

That is a way of singing repentance. So the denouncing is they've had a front row seat and they have not repented. Now here, 21 to 24, he says the same thing twice.

Woe to you, Chorazin. Woe to you, Besaida.

So he's named cities.

For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

Now he says the same thing again.

And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable in the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you."

We need to work through this and recognize what he's saying. And he is saying the same thing in two different ways, 21 to 22, 23 to 24. He names Jewish cities where he did mighty works And he holds out that hypothetical, if the same works would have been done in a Gentile city, they would have repented, but you have not repented. Now, it's also important, we might not recognize or be familiar with Tyre and Sodom. We might know Sodom. Tyre and Sodom are Gentile cities. And they're kind of the epitome of those who are opposed to Israel.

They're known for their sin and for their godlessness. Here he's making it clear, the worst cities you think of here and now, if they would have had the opportunity to see what you've seen, they would have repented long ago. They would have repented quickly. They would have turned away from their sin quickly.

If you think about another Bible story that would go with this, it would be Jonah and Nineveh. He went to Nineveh and proclaimed the good news of God and they repented and God relented of his judgment. But here the denouncing is that you Israel, these Jewish cities who not only have had the front row seat to have most of his works, they also have the very word of God. They have the interpretation to know what they should be looking for. They did not recognize him. They did not repent. And so again, verse 22,

I tell you, it'd be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sodom than for you.

Okay, there's something to wrestle with there.

There's true just judgment, but there is going to be different kind of judgment based upon what was revealed. Let's look at that second round. Capernaum, where we know Peter lived and we know Jesus made that kind of a base at some level.

Will you be exalted to heaven?

Or are you lifted up because you've had more blessing? No, you'll be brought down. Again, that hypothetical.

Only now it's not two current cities, it's one of the cities known to be associated with gross sin that brought fierce judgment of God down upon them.

If the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

The implication there, if Sodom would have seen the Son of God, if I came and did in Sodom, the city just known for their despicable sin and their absolute rebellion against God and treatment of other humans, if they would have seen it, they would have repented. They would not have been judged. The implication of what great judgment Capernaum will have.

But I tell you, it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.

Well, see, there's the, if they would have known, if they would have had this revealed to them, they would have repented, and then it will be. The hypothetical language, Jesus speaking as the omniscient God, if they would have seen, they would have repented, but the surety, it will be more bearable. It will be more tolerable for those cities because they did not have the revelation of Jesus Christ or the call to repentance.

There's a great responsibility that God gives to those who have access to His truth. That greater responsibility to the truth will bring a greater judgment. That should be a warning for us. If we're regularly hearing and understanding and receiving the Word of God and rejecting Him, there is a greater judgment. A few applications here. Ignorance is not an excuse.

Tyre, Sodom, Sodom, they will be judged by God. The point here is they will be judged, but it's going to be more tolerable, more bearable, but even though they were ignorant of the ways of God, even if they never heard of Yahweh or Jesus Christ, There's a judgment that will come upon all human beings. According to general revelation, God has made himself known to all people and we suppress that truth and that leaves us without excuse. Question, this is why we go out and proclaim the gospel to everyone. Ignorance is not an excuse.

Second, knowledge is not enough. Understanding the gospel is not enough. Memorizing the Bible would not be enough. Hearing and understanding and gaining some intellectual grasp of who Jesus Christ is, isn't enough. You're saved by faith alone. But by turning away from what you are committed to and in sin and turning to Jesus Christ by believing him, you must believe. Here is the word repent. You turn away in faith from your ways and you turn to Jesus Christ.

God's revelation

Two applications. Ignorance is not an excuse. Knowledge is not enough. We must repent. Our second section. Again, we see this little narrative note. At that time, it's really helpful. Matthew tells us this follows right after. This is not a second idea. This is not a separated idea. We see here thanksgiving. giving for God's revelation.

At that time, Jesus declared, I thank you, father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and reveal them to little children. Yes, father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Notice that, again, this is connected, but Jesus now breaks into a prayer. I thank you, Father, the great creator of all humanity, of all tar, sodom, sodom, capernaum, besodom.

He thanks the Father that he has hidden these things, that is the message of Jesus Christ, the message of repentance, the message of good news that you can turn away from sin and turn to God. He is thanking the Father that he has hidden these things, the good things, from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to little children.

Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

All right, we've got to do some work here because this is a bit of a surprising turn in what Jesus is teaching and what he's saying. The judgment for not repenting, that makes sense. And now all of a sudden he's going to turn and thank the Father for hiding the good news that would lead someone to repentance. Now, we need to ask, who are the wise and understanding? I believe this must be interpreted as the self-appointed wise, those who have their own understanding, those who lean on their understanding.

If you go to Proverbs, whatever these wise and understanding people are, they lack a fear of God. They are not truly wise. They trust in their own ability to understand, to know. They're truly foolish, but they see themselves as wise. They pretend like they have all understanding. They're self-appointed. These people you usually know because they're bullies. They understand themselves to be the authority on what is true, right, and good. They do not have a fear of God.

The child, this is a word that could be used for babies, but I believe the fact that it's wise understandings is probably the immature, the unknowing, the childish. So what's he doing here with this thanksgiving that some have it hidden and some have it revealed? When John the Baptist had doubt in the previous section, Jesus said,

go tell John the Baptist what you see and what you hear and let him know that the good news is preached to the poor.

The Messiah is coming to the lowly on this earth, the childish, those who don't have the power, those who need help. I believe this is a similar concept. God has hidden away what needs to be believed and understood for those who are the self-appointed righteous, true truth tellers and truth providers.

Maybe explain who these people are. These are the folks who go to the doctor and they've already printed out their diagnosis and prescription. They didn't go to hear an authority tell them what's wrong and how to get help. No, they've gone to tell the doctor what's wrong and how to help them. They already are wise and understanding. They just need the doctor to rubber stamp what they've already discovered. This is what too much religion is. God have already figured it out. I just need you to rubber stamp what I've already come to the conclusion of.

Here God hides and Jesus thanks him for hiding. At some level, if you want to wrestle with what this means, this would be related to their hearts are hardened. because they hardened their hearts, because God hardened their hearts. These things are hidden. Be very clear, this passage is very challenging. There's one thing I want to make clear as what's significant about the ministry of Jefferson Park.

We seek to make sure we know God and make him known. Our desire is that you would have confidence that God makes himself known. that God's desire is to be known, that you would know him and that you would have confidence not only to know him, but to make him known. Our God speaks is a great foundation of the church of Jesus Christ.

But in the context here, the word of God in the flesh, he's coming, they've audibly heard God speak with our words, but their heart cannot recognize it. The voice of God was audible, but they could not hear him and listen and know him. Jesus already previously said,

blessed are those who are not offended by me, who stumble over me. He who has ears, let him hear.

There's one thing that we might be interested in things of God. There's nothing to be granted the grace of God to see them, know him, to truly believe. The most significant declaration there is verse 26.

Yes, father, for search was your gracious will.

The idea of will here is God's purpose, his desire. A significant challenge.

Verse one, God hides his truth and reveals his truth. He has authority over all who would hear it and receive it or reject it. And at the same time, those who did not repent are held responsible for their sin. It's very clear, God is authoritative in who would receive it in verse 25 and 26, and those who reject God are held responsible for not repenting in 20 to 24.

Good theology has tension. Right there, you must hold those two clear teachings with tension. Matthew's going on his way to make sure we understand these two declarations are said at the same time by the same Savior, the same Word of God who is true. So we're gonna hold those two things as true together.

God made us to know him. The beauty of the gracious will of God is that anyone can know Him. One of the problems we have is we think we deserve the right to know God and we deserve the right to know Him how we want to know Him in the way that is most convenient to us. No, God is the one who saw us after we rebelled against Him and graciously promised to save us. He only has to save us because He promised to do so. It is not our right to hear the word of God. We reject Him. Psalm 95 was chosen because of the great warning Psalm 95 ends with, and it's a unique psalm that it ends with a warning.

Today, if you hear his voice,

if you think, I'll wait, I'm not ready yet, I've got too many things to do that I wanna do, I have my own self understanding of what the good life is, and I wanna live that out first, I'm gonna wait, I hear his voice, but I'm gonna put it off. Don't assume you get to hear that call again. Don't assume you have authority over how many times you will hear that call and get to respond. The clear call in scripture is that it's an urgent call. Respond today by faith if you hear that voice.

Verse 26, his gracious will. That must be assumed. Everything God does is gracious. Everything he does is right, good, and true. When Moses asked God to reveal himself more fully, God declared,

I am Yahweh, Yahweh. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.

His will is perfect, and it is only by his grace that we can know him at all.

I challenge you this morning, if you're not a believer, Do you hear the call of God? And it would begin with something of a conviction, of a recognition. We'll look at restlessness later. A sin that you know you should repent of, a problem you know you can't handle. It begins with what we call a pricking of a heart. An internal conviction that there's something you can't fix. Only God can fix. And we hear the words, Jesus Christ, he's come to not only perform miracles, but make God known, to reveal who God is on the cross and that his death for your sins and the resurrection for life.

Do you want to know God? You ask him. My encouragement to you, if you do not know God, if you would, you're clear, you want to know God, but you do not yet know who he truly is, pray. Pray that God, take this Bible, if you don't have one, please take the one in front of you. And ask God to reveal himself as you read it. Ask God that you would have ears to hear and a heart to respond.

I wanna say, let's just pause right now. Let's pray for each other right now that we would hear God and call upon him. Father, we pray for everyone in this room that you would call, that you would help us to hear you, you would help us to believe in you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Verse 27 takes us deeper into the knowledge of God.

You can know God

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Here there's a thankfulness for what has been revealed, and let's deal with those two exceptions there. No one knows, and no one knows. The Father, Son, we see here there's a new relationship in that one God that's revealed. It's not a new relationship, it's just newly revealed.

The one God has always existed as Father and Son, but as Jesus comes as the Son of God, he's making known that God is Father, Son, and we will learn later, Holy Spirit. The knowledge that is exclusive here isn't just intellectual, it's personal. The names themselves, they're familial, it's relational knowledge, a perfect knowledge within the Godhead.

The Father has given all things over to the Son. I believe that's just referring to where we are at in redemptive history. We saw earlier in Matthew, just previously, same chapter, John the Baptist is the last prophet. Well, what's new is the Son has come, the perfect revelation of God. All things have been handed over to Him because He is now the King walking among us.

He will be the King at the right hand of the Father. All things are handed over to him, not as if he's become the son, but because he's the son who has become incarnate, there's a new stage of how revelation is taking place. He shows he has the unique ability to make the father known, and the father has a unique knowledge of him. The son is sovereign.

Anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him, anyone who knows the Father knows Him because the Son reveals Him. There's two things that need to be understood together. There's something that's always true. The Father and the Son have always had this unique, exclusive relationship.

But what happens now is that the Son is inviting us into knowing who the Father is as part of that relationship, and we call that adoption. Again, there's one God who is Father and Son. This is the beauty of what the New Covenant has as a new way of living. The greatest revelation in the Old Covenant is Moses when he says, God, let me see your glory. God sticks him in the crack of a rock. Says, you can only see my hind parts. You can only see me from a distance and partially. In the New Covenant, we now see God truly face to face. It is no longer distant and partial, it's full and near.

We have new access because the lambs of the old covenant did not truly wash away sin and did not give us eyes pure enough to behold the glory of God, but now the lamb of God has come. The son has come to give us the great knowledge of God and it happens in the cross. There we see the perfect justice of God and the perfect love of God. Here's the good news, you can know God.

Never fully. If you think you've understood God fully, you're worshiping a false god. We're too finite and sinful to truly wrap our heads around God. But we can know Him truly in a face-to-face nearness and a loving relationship. To understand His gracious will is that we would know Him and make Him known. We would know Him and be known by Him. Christian, that is a summary of what the Christian life is supposed to be like, knowing him and making him known.

Last week, I spoke to the difficult circumstances of our country in light of the generations who hate John the Baptist and hate Jesus. And somebody said they wish I'd have said more, and I rarely get somebody tell me that I wish they said more. So I thought I'd take the opportunity to not disappoint and say more.

If you wanna know what to do in response to confusion, chaos, fear, lean in on knowing God to make him known. If you wanna know how to rightly respond as a Christian, lean in on knowing God and making him known. The fear is going to lead to isolation and that just causes more disruption and disagreement and diffusion.

No, the call here is to come together as God's people, to know him together, make him known together, so that we are able to better make him known to this world. The only institution God says is going to persevere to the end is the church. The primary way in which God's manifest wisdom is made known, not only to this earth, but to the angels in the heavens, is the church. The only institution that's going to withstand the evil attacks of Satan is the church.

If you want to know what to do, lean into the body of Christ. Lean in on building up the body of Christ and knowing God to make him known. The battle plan is really clear. Be present with God's people to practice what he has commanded. Put forth effort to speak Christ's truth and love to build up the body. You must be present, but it's building up God's kingdom.

See, we get now, the world's scary. Sin tears apart and destroys. Those who understand the insanity that's out there, they're looking for somewhere there is sanity and order and goodness, and it's supposed to be where that order is being brought back by the king and his people.

If you want to know how to help society, it's by showing who God is in the church. Join the movement we call the church. We are supposed to be the church militant. armed and dangerous with the power of the gospel that saves lives. Armed and dangerous with the power of prayer that changes lives. I desire to see the church grow where people not only are healed but trained to go out to know God and make him known. The last part of this teaching from Jesus. The invitation now, he's prayed to God, he's revealed that he alone knows God and makes him known.

The invitation into his rest

Now the invitation, into his rest.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

I wanna walk through this passage in its details real quick.

This is a personal invitation to come to Jesus personally, the Son of God. He invites you to himself. The rest you receive isn't rest in general, it's him, his rest. This is why you must know him, to rest in him. The specific invitation is to everybody who labors and are heavy laden, burdened. All right, verse 29, he continues,

take my yoke upon you and learn from me.

And then he tells you who he is.

I'm gentle and lowly and you will find rest for your souls.

So twice he's given us a promise. At the end of 28, I'll give you rest. The end of 29, I'll give rest for your souls. And then verse 30 ends with a reason.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Well, let's just walk through the different parts of this.

The first is to recognize, is this invitation for you today? It isn't obvious that this invitation would be for the Chorazines or the Capernaums. They're unrepentant. Is it for you? Well, here's some questions. Are you weary? That word labor, it could mean just straight labor, and therefore you need a vacation, but I think it has more to do with being weary, exhausted.

The specific exhaustion would be inner, right? He promises rest for the soul. Well, this would be a lacking in inner peace, feeling undone or wound up, or maybe both. Are you overwhelmed with anxiety? Are you burdened with busyness? Are you exhausted? Maybe you are about doing a certain kind of labor. You've been doing a labor of self-healing, and it's only added to your burden. The labor, the weariness, the burden, that could be self-inflicted or it could be because you've been mistreated.

Notice, come to me, all. Anyone who sees their internal rest and their need of help, Jesus is inviting you to himself. The first thing you need is to know your need of him. This is not for the folks who have it all together. This is not for the wise and are standing in their own eyes. This is for those who would recognize they are hurting. They feel the weight of unrest and internal despair.

So let's now see who's giving this invitation.

Come to me, I will give you rest.

Again, this comes right out of the whole section here, so we need to be clear. Jesus has the authority to make God known. The one inviting you to himself for rest is almighty God who has all authority to give it. He who is inviting you, regardless of whatever your burden is, that seems to have a certain kind of authority over you. This is almighty God who is over everything at all times, the great creator. So first he has all power and authority.

That's what we've seen throughout Matthew. But then notice how he describes himself in this passage. Verse 29,

I'm gentle and lowly in heart.

Answering it, we don't put these two words together often enough. He who has all authority is gentle. He who has all power applies the balm to our soul with care and kindness. He's not harsh, he's tender. That's why his yoke is easy. He's lowly, he's not overbearing, he's not demanding, he's not impatient. He who has all authority to heal you knows how to apply the perfect balm to your greatest need, fears, and anxieties to give you rest.

Try to maybe help us understand this. About five months after Lisa and I were married, she went from running five miles a day to not being able to stand up without passing out. Pretty dramatic, a lot of anxiety, a lot of weariness. The weariness was only added to as we went from doctor to doctor who had no idea what they were doing. There was no authority or ability to actually help. And then some of them were kind of impatient and frankly rude. We would get this diagnosis after diagnosis of the worst possible situations or worst possible diseases and go through testing. And it was a painful labor because we could not find somebody who had the authority to help. And even if somebody might could help, they didn't always seem to do so well.

Jesus, the great physician, knows us better than we know ourselves. He designed us for his wrath. He knows what causes our unrest. He has perfect knowledge, authority, and power to provide all that we need, and he does so with gentleness. He who has all authority uses his authority for our good with gentleness. We too often confuse meekness with weakness. No, he comes with meekness to apply the balm we need. So those who are in need, who are weary, he who has all authority and is gentle and loathe, he invites you.

You will find rest for your souls

Now the promise,

I will give you rest. You will find rest for your souls.

We'll do a bigger theology of rest next week, but we need to at least remember There's six days of creation in Genesis, and then the seventh day, it ends in an unusual way. There's not an ending. It just ends with rest. I believe that's pointing us to we are designed and created to be with God forever in rest.

When we rebelled against him in the garden, we not only left him, but we left rest. In the garden, we were at perfect peace with God, with one another, with ourselves, with this creation. After sin, after we rebelled, we lost all of that peace and all of that rest.

Now we are restless. And in that restlessness, we try to find ways to get rest. We come up with different ways thinking we can numb the lack of rest or finding a rest of our own. It's amazing how much we burden ourselves finding something other than God for rest. Here, Jesus is bringing us back as our creator.

I will give you rest.

I will undo the heart that's twisted up and undone and bound in sin. I will bring about a peace with God. I will bring about an inner peace that makes you whole again, as designed, being restored as an image bearer. At some level, this teaching does go against the Pharisees who lay heavy burdens because they kept saying, do this and you'll be better. No, Jesus himself is our creator who brings about true, perfect rest. Now, the stunning part about this passage is the picture.

My yoke is easy

Take my yoke upon you. My yoke is easy. My burden is light.

A yoke, by definition, is heavy. A yoke, by definition, is always heavy and for a beast of burden to do heavy labor. Here, Jesus is introducing a whole different kind of yoke and a whole different kind of labor.

Jesus tells us, when he restores us, what he puts upon us is easy. It's light, because it fully restores us to know who he is and who we are. Now, to have some fun with this, We talked about how good theology has tension a few times. Jesus here tells us to put his yoke upon us, and that yoke is easy. Previous, he had just told us we must carry a cross. Both those are true at the same time. Both those are worthy of real meditation.

He who came to carry his cross and die on the cross for us, He makes our yoke easy to be restored in His ways as we learn from Him. And He also calls us to carry our cross. It's important, when we put His yoke on us, it doesn't remove the earthly conflicts and earthly struggles, and it doesn't mean we will never have persecution. Over and over again, He's warned us, there will be persecution. But over and over again, He's promised us,

I will be with you.

And that's the beginning point of what rest is. Knowing we can come to him and he is our rest. Knowing we come to him and he heals us with his grace that he purchased with his blood on the cross with forgiveness. Knowing he restores us to know God in a new peaceful relationship as sons. Knowing he can restore our humanity together, the church. We need to make sure we hear and receive this invitation.

God, our creator, who made us and designed us to know him and to rest in him, even though we've rebelled against him and ruined who we are internally so that we experience this unrest. He says, come to me, come to me by faith, and I will give you rest. If your heart is restless, Turn to him by faith and receive the rest you need. Will you pray with me?

Father, we thank you that you did not leave us alone, but you sent your Son so that we can be restored to know you. And not just know you as our father, but to know how you have brought us back into a right relationship with you. To give us the rest that we cannot get our own. Pray no one here would leave with the same restless heart they came in with. But you and your power to reveal yourself You and your gracious will would apply the balm of your gospel that would heal us, help us, Lord, to repent and call out to you. Thank you for not leaving us in our restlessness. Thank you for the invitation to come to you. Help us to hear that invitation. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.