If you’ve got your Bibles, we’re going to be in Matthew again. Brother Jordan made a comment that he’ll be dead by the time we finish up the Gospel of Matthew. But hey, we’ll be in the Gospel the whole time, I promise you. In Matthew chapter 11, we’ll wrap up that chapter this morning.

I was thinking about this this morning. I was like, I need to grab my Bible. And I know some people use phones or whatever it is, and I’m not opposed to that. But I just had a quick thought, like, what if something apocalyptic happened, and you didn’t have a charger for your phone? Do you know the Word? Do you have it with you? And so I think there’s something to be said about some good old paper. But that’s… That’s just besides the point. So, Matthew 11, 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… 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. At that time, Jesus said these things. What time was it? It’s coming on the heels of everything that’s been going on in this chapter. Jesus addressing John’s disciples and his questions. Jesus addressing and preaching in the nearby cities and towns. And it was on the heels of, in light of that, no one answered. Jesus is saying what He just said at a time when He has just announced the Gospel, the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven in the world. It’s here. John asked the question, are you the expected one? I think Jesus answered it in a roundabout way, but because it didn’t need to be answered, of course He’s the expected one. He’s been performing miracles. He’s been causing the lame, the lame to walk, both physically and spiritually. He’s been causing the blind to see, physically and spiritually. He’s been cleansing the lepers. He’s been raising the dead.

He’s here, and no one believes. And so it’s at that time that Jesus said this, and in Luke’s account of this passage, it says that, Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit.

Are you ever discouraged? Do you ever arrive at church on Sundays and you have no reason to rejoice simply because the Christian life for you has been exhausting? Your ministry has been seemingly unfruitful? You’ve been sharing the Gospel, sharing the Gospel, preaching the Gospel, preaching the Gospel. Nobody wants to hear it. Nobody has time for that. It falls on deaf ears. But it was in that time that Jesus came and He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit. And Jesus said, I rejoice that the Father has hidden these things. And so this morning I want to talk to you about these things. These things are the things that Jesus has been proclaiming. It’s the Kingdom of Heaven. It’s that, that the Messiah has made His entrance. John the Baptist has paved the way for Him. He’s here preaching the Gospel, the Good News, to the poor, to the lost. He’s doing all these miraculous things. Jesus is proclaiming these things, and yet no one hears. But Jesus gives us a reason why. These things are the Lord’s to give. They’re the Lord’s to give. These things are not, for the elite, spiritually speaking. These things are not for the know-it-alls. These things are not for those who have it all figured out.

Specifically the Jews. Jesus is preaching in His hometown. People who had the Word of God. People who have witnessed numerous things that God has done for them, in them, around them. Jesus wasn’t for them. The Bible says that they searched the Scriptures. They searched them and searched them. They knew them like the back of their hands. They could probably quote you Lord’s swaths, probably quote you more Scripture than most Christians today have read. And yet, they missed Jesus. They didn’t see the substance of it. Because in their own pride, they wanted it to say what they wanted it to say.

These things are not for the wise and the intelligent. The self-sufficient. They’re not for the super-religious, the super-spiritual. You’ve got it all figured out. They’re not for those people. And it’s not that it’s not allowed. It’s that those people don’t want it. It doesn’t fit their needs. It doesn’t fit the narrative. It doesn’t satisfy what I see, what I want, what I desire. It doesn’t fall in line with that.

And I think we see a lot of that today in our Greek context, right? You see a lot of explaining away the origins of the Bible. You see the origins of the world through science. You see a lot of philosophical explanations for the meaning of life or the foundations of the world or whatever it might be. These things cannot be attained by the mind. They’re not intellectually grasped. You can’t, on your own power and in your own knowledge and in your own skill set, come to the world and come to know and believe these things. They’re not apprehended that way.

Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I’m just going to read a swath of scripture for you that sort of gets at the heart of what’s going on right here. And Paul, who learned it from Jesus, says it in this way. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18. He says, For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside. Where’s the wise man? Where’s the scribe? Where’s the debater of this age? Where are you, Bill Nye? Where are you, Bill Nye? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in this wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God. God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed, Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. To Jews, it’s a stumbling block. It’s scandalous. No way. No way the Messiah, the saving one of Israel is going to come and be a humble carpenter’s son from Galilee. And be the Savior of Israel. No way. Can’t happen. He hung on a cross. We put him there. Scandal. To Gentiles, it’s foolishness. That doesn’t make any sense. But to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you are wise according to the flesh. Amen. Not many mighty. Amen. Not many noble. Amen. I’m just a country boy from South Louisiana. I don’t know nothing. I don’t have nothing. I didn’t have anything. I didn’t have anything. 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 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen. The things that are not so that He may nullify the things that are so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption so that just as it is written, let him who boasts boast in the Lord.

The wise, the spiritually prideful, the ones who aren’t in need of redemption, they aren’t in need of forgiveness, have no part in these things. The parable that Jesus tells the Pharisee standing in the square and he’s looking over at the tax collector. Lord, thank you, thank you that you didn’t make me like him, a sinner, a tax collector. Thank you, Lord. That man has no part in these things. None.

Because he in his arrogance thinks he already has them and he doesn’t.

And the tax collector, he couldn’t even lift his eyes up to heaven and he said, Lord, forgive me, I’m a sinner. That man went home justified. Why? Because these things are for the weak. These things are for those who can’t do it on their own. These things are for those who don’t have it figured out. For the infants. For the babies. When Rebecca got here with the girls this morning, I walked outside and here Emma comes. Hands up in the air. She’s just a baby. She just says, Dad, I need you. I probably don’t even know why I’m here, but I see my dad and I’m coming. I need you. When she’s thirsty, huh? Huh? She doesn’t even know what to say, but she knows to, I need something. I’m thirsty. I’m hungry. Give me a snack. The word for infant is napios. Napios. The root of it is simply to say or to speak. The nay is to negate the speaking. No speech. I have nothing to say. I have nothing to offer. These things are for those people. These things, the gospel, all that Jesus came to do and to accomplish, to fulfill on your behalf, all the things that He purchased with His blood, all the things that He acquired for you.

They’re for the weak. They’re for the ones who are in desperate need of those things.

I’m not saying that to be a learner, to have knowledge is wrong. But when you’re a learner, and you depend on your own knowledge to obtain what God has or to know God, it’s in vain. You can’t. It’s impossible. You can’t. Because why? God has said. He’s hidden them from those people. You can’t have this in your pride. Not for you.

In light of that, I want to encourage us all to spend a lot of time thinking about how we advance the kingdom. How do you go about preaching the gospel? How do you expect that neighbor, that friend that you’ve labored so hard over, how do you expect them to come? You got to go study some philosophy? You got to read some Aristotle and some Plato? I don’t think so. I don’t think so.

It’s not going to work.

If these things are only obtained by the giving of them, they’re revealed to you, it’s out of your power to do so, it’s in God’s hands, we ought to be on our knees, on our faces for those people that you’re burdened for. And I ask you, are you burdened for anyone right now? Are you burdened for anyone’s soul? Might be somebody in your own house, somebody in your family, somebody you barely know. Please, be burdened over somebody. Somebody needs to know about these things. And so if God is the only way that you can obtain these things, we ought to be on our faces asking God to reveal them. Asking God to reveal them to whoever it is that you’re burdened for. And I’ve experienced it myself and read about it on the internet and everything else. But for some reason, modern modern youth groups just it chaps me. Because of this right here. Pizza parties and bubble machines and rock concerts and all this stuff. Fog machines and hoo-ahs and loo-ahs. What’s for the kids? They’re not going to know the things of God through the bubble machines. They’re not. They’re not. Think about, I think about the Roman Catholic Church today. And this isn’t personal. I have a lot of Roman Catholic families and my heart is broken for them. And I believe there are a lot of genuine Roman Catholics who really believe in the sufficient work of Christ. But at the leadership level, at the Pope and the Cardinals and the priests, they’re being led astray. They’re being taught lies. Because the gospel doesn’t need to be dressed up. It doesn’t need to be ornamented with jewels. Christ didn’t die on a gold-encrusted cross. It was a nasty wooden one stained with His blood. The gospel does not need your help. The gospel does not need you to spiffy it up a little bit. We preach Christ crucified. Period. That’s it. The power of God. He doesn’t need mighty people. He doesn’t need noble people. He doesn’t need wise people. He doesn’t need intelligent people. He doesn’t need anything. He doesn’t need anything that you have to offer except for you to just confess that you’re weak and you need Him. And then the power of God works through that. And that’s how God has chosen to do it. Simply put. I ought not question it because He has said it. I don’t question God’s ways. I may not understand it. God, why have you hidden these things from the… Why don’t you… Surely you have the power to overwhelm them and to… Yes, yes, He does. But, He’s not revealed that to me. He’s not given me that knowledge. So that’s where I have to say, that’s where I stop. I just know that these things are for the weak.

Yes, Father, for this way is well pleasing in Your sight. You see Jesus laboring, preaching in His hometown where nobody wants anything to do with Him. Preaching all over. No one’s coming. They say, by and large, the spiritual elite, the ones who had more head knowledge than anyone else. Right? Not coming. And yet, Jesus is rejoicing in this. I think Jesus shows us how we ought to think about God’s will and how He carries that out in time. Because I know, thinking about people in my own life who have prayed for and who have prayed for me, who I’ve labored over, and whatever it might be, God’s methods sometimes are hard. But that doesn’t give me the right to rebel against them, to say that’s not right, to say, no, it should be this way. Jesus, Jesus of all people, think about Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Father, please, if there’s any other way, please let this cup pass from me. Yet, not my will, but Yours be done. Jesus is happy to say, Father, if it’s pleasing to You, it’s pleasing to Me. So we ought to be the same. God, if this is how You’ve chosen to save Your people, to bring the Gospel into the world, Your will be done.

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.

Some commentators say all things means just the knowledge of the Kingdom. All the knowledge. Jesus knows everything there is to know about who God is. He has the knowledge. And some people say it’s knowledge and authority. Some say the authority comes later. I’m going to say all things have been handed over to Jesus. Jesus both possesses all of the knowledge and all of the authority. All of it. Jesus says all things have been handed over to Me. And so there’s this knowledge going on that’s shared between the Father and the Son. And the knowing is not a knowledge. It involves head knowledge. It involves an exercise of the mind. It does. But it’s not simply that. It goes much deeper than that. You think about back in early Genesis. Adam knew Eve and conceived a son. It’s the same word. It’s an intimate knowing. An intimate, I’m well acquainted with this. Jesus is well acquainted with the knowledge of the Father. He’s well acquainted with the will of the Father and how He’s to carry that out. No one knows it like Jesus. Jesus is the only one qualified. Jesus is the only mediator to connect the knowledge of the Father, how you are to know Him, how you are to have Him, how you are to have life in Him, and man who knows nothing and has nothing. And then you have Jesus. You have those over here who think they have something and they’re outside of that. And then you have those who know they’re weak and they have nothing. And Jesus is the only one who knows the Father. And the only one who the Father knows like that and they share in that knowledge and that relationship.

And then there are those who Jesus wills to reveal and bring into that relationship. Jesus has the authority to hide these things from the wise and the intelligent and to reveal them to the infants. So we are very much at the mercy of Jesus to remove the scales from our eyes. I once was blind, but now I see. I see. I see. It’s not because you found the bathroom and washed your eyes. It’s not because you went to an eye surgeon and received your sight. It’s because Jesus saw fit to give you sight. Praise Him this morning if you believe in Jesus. Praise Him that He’s given you your sight because you did not obtain it any other way than Jesus willed to reveal it to you.

And then see the graciousness of Jesus here.

Anyone else you give that authority to, who knows what happens. You look at any authoritative figure on the face of this earth, there may be some better than others, but I’m sure there’s a lot of self-soothing, and self-accommodating actions there. Look at the graciousness of Jesus who’s been given all things. He invites all of you. Come to me. All of you. Are you weary? Are you heavy laden? Come to me. So these things are for the Lord to give. They’re for the weak. They’re for the weary. I was reminded yet again this week just how weary I am. I’m just tired of the world, the consequences of sin, and the people on the side of me. Other people’s sin affects you very much. And there’s safeguards you’ve got to put up, and you’ve got to protect your family. You’ve got to protect your family. And then you’re very much so infected with sin yourself. So just weary all around. I was reminded yet again this week, I’m tired and I’m broken. And my own sin, not just the world. The world puts a weight on you that you can’t bear, but then your sin. And then your sin.

Are you tired of sinning?

I’m a sinner. Have mercy on me, Lord.

Jesus invites me in.

I’m broken. And I need Him. And He invites you. Are you broken? Do you know anyone who’s broken?

Do you know anyone who keeps falling? And they can’t get up? They’re burdened? Exhausted?

Tell them to go to Jesus. He’ll give you rest.

The Gospel is not for righteous people. Righteous people don’t need the Gospel.

The well-fed aren’t in need of your food and what you have to offer.

We flew out to Washington a couple of summers ago. And I got this wonderful opportunity to sit with the guy who went with me. And we were at this little restaurant kind of by the shore there. And it was a nice time. We were just sitting and talking. It wasn’t long after we had ordered our food. I just began to speak with him and share the Gospel with him. And so I knew I had some time, right? Our food hadn’t even come yet. So we got to at least wait for the food and then eat, you know? So I got you for a minute. And I just poured my heart out to him. Like, man. Man. You need Jesus. Yeah. I mean, that’s cool, man. I’m glad you found that. But I just think Jesus was a revolutionary. He had a good movement.

He had no need for forgiveness. He wasn’t weary enough. He wasn’t brought low enough. He wasn’t broken enough.

These things are for… for those who need forgiveness. They need a Savior. And if you come, Jesus promises that you will have rest. Come to me. We’ll take a look. We’ll examine it. I’ll weigh out, you know, what your plan is to move forward. We’ll assess the situation. If it isn’t too heavy, we’ll give you some rest. But it’s yet to be determined. No. Jesus says, come to me and I’ll give you rest. You can bank on that. Go to the bank right now and cash it.

For Christians who have walked with the Lord for some time, I think oftentimes when we fall post-salvation, we bear this certain guilt. Knowing that you’ve been forgiven. Knowing that Jesus died for you so that you could be reconciled back into that father-son relationship and receive life and joy and peace, as the song said. We bear this guilt. It’s not for us to bear. Jesus bore that for you on the cross. All of it. Not up until you confessed your sin and came. And then after that, you’ve got to do some penance, crawl up some steps on your knees, put some dust on your head, give a little extra to the poor, sell all your stuff. It’s called asceticism. That’s not the gospel.

You just come and receive the free grace that is offered. And tomorrow when you sin again, come back.

Because the only way that you’re not going to be forgiven, the only way that you’re not going to enter in rest is if you don’t believe that you will be forgiven.

The unforgivable sin. Unbelief. There’s no sin heinous and nasty enough to overshadow the power of Jesus Christ’s blood. None. Murder. Adultery. Lying. Drunkenness. Cheating. Theft. Blasphemy. Are you a blasphemer? Repent. And be forgiven in Jesus.

Jesus says to take my yoke upon you and learn from me. First thing I think about when I think about yoke is something you put on cattle, right? It’s a wooden contraption and it helps to distribute weight. It helps to bear the load and makes it easier for them to perform what you’re making them do. There’s also a yoke for humans, right? It’s a bar. It goes over the top of your shoulders. You rest your arms on it and it makes whatever you’re carrying seem light. It helps to bear the load. To be yoked, a yoke is simply something that binds you to something else. Jesus says to take His yoke upon you. So when you’re called to come and enter in to the rest that Jesus is offering you, it’s not that you’re freed from yokes, period. You’re not freed from yokes. You’re not freed from the yoke of slavery, of sin to then be sent off into the field to run amok and do whatever you want.

That’s abusing grace. That’s unloving. That’s not how God works. In Hebrews 12, God said He disciplines those whom He loves. If God let you run off free, you would deserve it. That’s judgment on you. But that’s not what God does with His people. You would deserve it. You can’t be freed from the yoke of sin to then just walk freely with no other yoke. You can’t just not be bound to anything. Then you’re just left up to yourself to roam around in the darkness just like you were before. And guess what? You’re going to go pick up another yoke and it’s going to be just as burdensome, just as heavy, just as dreadful. Jesus says to take my yoke. Take my yoke. It’s good to be bound. We’re all slaves. You’re either a slave of sin or you’re a slave of Christ. We’re all slaves. One kills, one saves. Be a slave of Christ. Come and submit yourself willfully to the yoke of Jesus. Put His yoke on Him. Learn from Him. To be a learner of Jesus is not to sit in a chair and absorb information. Yes, you do that. You learn. But you also do. You follow. You imitate Jesus.

Jesus gives you what you’re to imitate here. He says, Learn from me, for I’m gentle and I’m humble.

Learn to be gentle. Learn to be weak. Learn to be humble. Learn it from Jesus. Look at Him. Search the Scriptures. Examine them. See how He lives. See what He requires of you. And submit to it. Place the yoke on you.

He says if you do that, you’ll find rest for your souls.

In Hebrews chapter 4 in verse 11 it says, Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest so that no one will fall through following the same example of disobedience. Be diligent to enter into Jesus’ rest. The world will offer you rest. But it’s not that. The world will dress all sorts of people and dress all sorts of things up and make you believe that it’s going to be good for you. Your flesh will want to cast off Jesus’ yoke and put on another and deceive yourselves in disobedience. You will not find rest there. There is no rest there. None. There’s condemnation.

No rest.

Be diligent. Be diligent. Don’t be lazy when you find yourself taking off that yoke. When you find yourself cutting ties to the guidelines and the rules and the laws that Jesus has set forth for you to follow. When you find yourself separating yourself from them.

Be diligent to come back.

Don’t fall into disobedience and find yourself with no rest. You can come back.

Jesus says His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

And the yoke, think about it. Let’s think about this this morning. You go get a ticket. Two by four from a construction site. Maybe it’s got some old hammered down nails or something. Maybe the head of one is kind of sticking out a little bit and you’re carrying it. Man, you carry some buckets of water on the end of that. It’s just going to press into your shoulders. You’re like me. I’ve got kind of bony shoulders. It’s really going to hurt. It’s not going to be comfortable. It’s not going to be easy. I might as well carry it in buckets with my hands. Jesus’ yoke is easy. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, craftily contoured to your shoulders. It’s made for you. God has not placed a burden on His people that is overwhelming, uncomfortable, unbearable. In Jesus. Jesus bore your yoke. The one with the two by four with the nails in it. Oh wait. He bore that yoke for you. And He offers you the one made for Him. By Him. Perfectly contoured to you. It’s made for you and for your good. So that you don’t wander off into destruction. You don’t veer off the straight and narrow. When you walk through the Christian life, yes, it is work. Yes, it is tiresome. Yes, it’s hard work. It’s hard at times.

But there is no yoke like Jesus’. Not that the world offers. No one else is there to offer it. His burden’s light. Jesus, Jesus is not placing something on His people that He knows they will fail with. Jesus is giving you what He sees fit. And as we’ve already seen Jesus demonstrate, we learn from Him. I submit to that. I, I, I bear it with gladness. I rejoice. In that this morning, Lord. Sometimes it’s hard to accept what God has placed in your life. And I say that largely out of ignorance. I, I, I face things in my life that have not been easy and not fun. But there are people who have faced much greater things than me. So I’m fairly ignorant on that. But I know because Jesus has told me so. That if you will carry His yoke, that you will bind yourself to Him, you will bear it. And you will finish well. And you will enter in to that rest.

These things are the Lord’s to give. Be weak. Be weary. Receive them and find rest for your souls. So you have the opportunity this morning to enter in to rest. Stay there. Abide in the rest of Jesus. Pray with me.

Lord Jesus,

thank You for Your kind rule.

Lord, You are Lord of heaven and earth. You do as You see fit. We pray that Your will would be done. Lord. Help us, Lord, to, to, to submit by Your Spirit, Lord. Would You help us to deal with the sin of pride? The sin of unbelief?

Would You help us, Lord, to walk faithfully bearing the load that You’ve made for us? Help us to be faithful, Lord. Finish well. And forever be in Your rest. We thank You, Lord Jesus, that You bore our sin. You bore our yoke. You drank the cup for us, Lord. And You offer up Your peace. You offer up Your hope. Your life forevermore, Lord. We thank You for that. We worship You this morning, Lord Jesus. Our great King. Our great Savior. Our great High Priest. Our Mediator. Our Shepherd. Our Teacher. There is none like You, Lord. None are fit. But You, Lord. So we just worship You for that this morning, Lord. Just worship You.