You're listening to the teaching ministry of Harvest Fellowship Church in Boyertown, Pennsylvania. You can find out more about us on the web at www.harvestfellowshipchurch.org. We pray that through our teaching we may present everyone mature in Christ. Father, we come before you tonight in the name of Jesus. We bow before you in worship. We glorify your name. We thank you for the way that you have revealed yourself to us through Jesus Christ. And I pray, Lord, tonight that as my words may falter, as I may trip over the things that I have prepared to say, we know that your eternal word will still go forth, that your Holy Spirit will carry your word effectively to the hearts of the hearers tonight. Help us now we pray in the name of Jesus, amen. I'm gonna give a short recap from two weeks ago, which was when I was up here last, two weeks ago, and we looked at the beginning part of Matthew 11, verses one through 15. Actually, I guess it was two through 15. And we saw these messengers that come from John the Baptist. John sends two of his disciples, and we see that John is a bit confused. He's a bit puzzled, and he sends two disciples to ask Jesus, are you the one? Are you the one to come? And Jesus responds with some paraphrasing from Isaiah, instructing these disciples to tell John the Baptist what they had heard and what they had seen, these miracles that they just saw Jesus perform. And then Jesus goes on to pronounce a blessing. He says, blessed is the one who is not offended by me. and his ways, and within there, there was a call to John the Baptist himself, don't fall away. Well, after the disciples left, we see this defense by Jesus, though, of the character of John the Baptist. He asks the people what type of man they had gone out into the wilderness to see. And then he declares to the people that John was, yes, he was a prophet, but he was more than a prophet, far more than a prophet. He was the prophet immediately preceding the Messiah and preparing the way for the Messiah. And there was that verse where it talks about how while John holds this great office, standing between the two testaments, if you will, he said, Jesus says that those who would go on to see the full scope of Jesus's mission are actually greater in the kingdom than John because of this more complete revelation that they have. John actually had failed to see that Jesus's kingdom was forcefully advancing but that not all opposition had been thwarted or put away. And so we see this sense of the violent still trying to take the kingdom by force. And lastly we saw that John indeed was the prophesied Elijah to come. It's a really quick snapshot of last teaching, so if you have your Bibles, turn to Matthew 11. We are going to pick up in verse 16 tonight. My great hope was to get through verse 30, and I realized that that hope would not be realized, so I hope that we'll get through verse 27 tonight, but I am going to read verses 16 through 30. Hear now the word of the Lord. But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, we played the flute for you and you did not dance. We sang a dirge and you did not mourn. For John came neither eating nor drinking and they say, he has a demon. The son of man came eating and drinking and they say, look at him, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. yet wisdom is justified by her deeds. Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done because they did not repent. Woe to you, Khorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! 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. 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 on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you." 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 revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 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. 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. and may the Lord write the eternal truths of his word to our heart this Wednesday night. So as we look tonight at verses 16 through 27, there's a few different things going on here, but let's focus, I would say, on an overall theme of this more bearable on the day of judgment. So the first section that we'll look at here is these first verses here, 16 through 19, where Jesus is talking about this generation, this generation. And reading verse 16 again, it says, but to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, we played the flute for you and you did not dance. We sang a dirge. and you did not mourn. And so we see this expression here by Jesus, this generation, he's talking about the people of his day. He's talking about those of his contemporaries. Wesley Olmsted says that this expression comprises Jesus's and John's contemporaries who stand on the receiving end of their missions and nevertheless reject them both. And so that's what Jesus here, he says, what am I going to compare this generation to? And he's going to give a little bit of a picture here for the hearers. And he compares them to children, he says, sitting at the market as a place to play. The children are playing here at the market and they're calling out to one another. And they're saying, we played the flute for you all to dance, but you didn't dance. We sang a dirge, we sang a funeral hymn, but you didn't mourn, you didn't greatly lament. And so we have a scene here of some children playing. You might imagine them playing like a wedding game of sorts, or a funeral game of sorts, as they're doing some sort of make-believe game. So that's the picture that Jesus is drawing here. And honestly, there's a lot of interesting commentators with different perspectives on this. And I'm not going to present to you multiple points of view. I'm going to present to you I think what is a very straightforward perspective here. And that is that the children calling out here, these whimsical children calling out are illustrative of this generation. He says, I'm going to compare you I'm gonna compare this generation to children in the marketplace. And so when he says this generation, and he's talking about this children, he's referring to hard-hearted Israel. And hard-hearted Israel from the sense of children who give orders, who criticize, who complain, and they're expressing their displeasure specifically in two people, and that is John the Baptist, and the one that he heralded, Jesus. And in this attitude of rejection, this is a wholesale rejection. Of course, we see this most prolifically in whom? It's in the religious leaders. And they're the ones then who consequently are going to receive the greatest words of condemnation from John and Jesus. We saw those words of condemnation from John already. They show up at the Jordan River and he basically says, what are you doing here? You need to repent. And so then what we'll also see then is that these ministries, these actions of John and Jesus are represented in Jesus's short narrative here in what we would call an unexpected response. When the children call out, they're receiving an unexpected response. And so, thankfully, Jesus goes on in verse 18 to build upon what he just said. And he says, for John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, he is a demon. The son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, look at him, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds. And so Jesus leads him with this word for he's he's building he's he's he's it's an inference back to what he he was just talking about. And first he talks about this ministry of John. Now we know that John he appeared on the scene and when he appeared on the scene he was not a man given to eating and drinking. He was a man given more to fasting. There was a somber tone to the ministry of John. We saw how he lived in the wilderness on what? Bare essentials. Did he live a life of luxury? No, he did not. And his food, as we saw back in Matthew 3, was locusts. It was wild honey. He had a rough garb around him. He had a rough demeanor. And back in Luke 1, when it was prophesied of his coming, it says, for he, in Luke 1 15, it says, he, John the Baptist, will be great before the Lord, and he must not drink wine or strong drink. So there's this Nazarite vow placed upon John the Baptist. So he's not a man given to drinking. at all and so that's what he says here. John came neither eating or drinking and then there's a result that Jesus introduces and he says, and they say, consequently they say ultimately this is their final verdict of John, he has a demon. And so there's this perception by this generation Jesus' contemporaries, this generation, their perception of John ultimately was that he has a demon, this man is mad. And so ultimately they rejected John, they rejected his ascetic lifestyle because they had these grand expectations for this prophet, but he didn't conform to their desires. John, yes, of course he drew those crowds initially to him in the wilderness. So there was an early excitement. The crowds come and Jesus says in John 5.35 that the people were willing to rejoice for a while. in his light, in the light that John was casting. They were willing to rejoice for a while, but that rejoicing did not last. And so eventually the people reject John, and Jesus says that they accuse him of demon possession, and you can see then that there's this sense that they are indignant that he has not danced to their wedding flutes. If you can use that picture then that Jesus has given. So John has not conformed to their desires of merriment. Well he moves on to then speaking about himself. He says the son of man and of course that is referring to himself and the son of man appears on the scene not in the same way as John does. And so there is, he says, he appeared on the scene eating and drinking. And then there's a joyous tone in Jesus's ministry, especially early on. And while John is exclusively preaching and teaching judgment, there's this great joy associated around Jesus's ministry, and especially with these miraculous things that he's doing before the people. You remember back in chapter nine, Jesus had even said, can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? And there's this sense of joy. Jesus is here and there's joy, but how did the people respond? They don't say, now we want to be married. They say, behold, a man who is a glutton, a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. And so they perceive Jesus in a much different way than they perceived John. A commentator by the name of S. Scott Barchi, he says that Pharisees regarded their tables at home as surrogates for the Lord's altar in the temple in Jerusalem, and therefore strove to maintain in their households and among their eating companions the state of ritual purity required of priest and temple service. And so they set such a high bar that they were so caught up in doing what they perceived to be holiness before God that to minister to sinners was unthinkable. And there was their great error. And so when they see Jesus doing this, Jesus is now interacting with sinners. He's interacting with the reprehensible people of society. They're upset, and they accuse him. And so here, showing their capriciousness, we could say, as young, petulant young children, Jesus is criticized by this same group, this generation, but he's criticized in the exact opposite way that John the Baptist had been criticized, and they accuse him or they criticize him of gluttony, drunkenness, and bad associations. And so they had called the Baptist, they called him a madman because of his fasting and the ascetic way that he lived while they wanted to make Mary. And now they're irrationally insisting on everything that they wanted John to be, now they're going for the exact same or the exact opposite behavior from Jesus and they're reproaching him now. You're not supposed to be joyous. Why aren't you fasting? How dare you sit at table fellowship with sinners? And so they're, in a sense, they are now indignant because you haven't played along with our funeral dirges, with our sorrowful hymns. But what's the real reason that they have had this rejection of both men? The real reason is that they intensely hated both of these men's preaching of repentance and their proclamation of the gospel. So that's really the heart of the issue. They're not really, really mad about the behavior as much as the message that these men have brought. Now Jesus is gonna go on in chapter 31 of Matthew, in verse 32, 21-32, he says to them, he says, John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him, and even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him. they refuse to believe. So they have this childish, Jesus is giving them a picture, your response to my ministry, to John's ministry has been childish. It's been immature, it's been petulant. And so they've played childish games in a sense in their response to the true messengers of God. And on one hand, we can see that if they had actually understood John, then there's no doubt that they would have also understood Jesus. Of course, there was differences between John and Jesus. We just saw some of those differences. But where there is no difference between the two men was their mission. They were completely united in the same gospel mission. So then Jesus gives this very short concluding phrase and he says, yet wisdom is vindicated by her works. Just thinking about that statement here, D.A. Carson, he says, Wisdom in the Old Testament is much concerned with right living. And John and Jesus have both been criticized and rejected for what? For the way that they live. He says, but wisdom, which is preeminently concerned with right living, has been vindicated by their actions, their respective lifestyles as both. acknowledged as hers. So the way that they've lived their life is actually a vindication of the wisdom that is manifest all throughout the Old Testament for what we call right living, holy, righteous living before God. And so in all these things that have gone on in the ministry of John and in Jesus's ministry so far, God's wisdom has been proven right. It's been vindicated, so to speak. In J. Knox Chamberlain, he says, both John and Jesus are submissive to God's rule. Both of them preach and practice the way of righteousness, and both are faithful to their calling, even unto death. And so we see here then that Matthew is highlighting the wisdom of both of these men's actions in their ministry. But there's also this, I think we see this sense of a final exoneration of John the Baptist. If you remember, last week we had seen that Jesus, despite this moment of uncertainty for John, Jesus emphasizes with the crown that, no, don't judge or question the character of John. So here we see this final exoneration of Jesus defending John as having this great important role in redemptive history. And while he's giving this final response, he's castigating the people here because they have this spiritual dullness of heart. And so that concludes that longer section then where these messengers come from John the Baptist and sort of concludes the conversation at least for now about John the Baptist. But Jesus is going to go on then in verse 20 and he's now going to pronounce words of woe. And so in verse 20, It says, he began, then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done because they did not repent. And so we've got this word then, it's giving to us a definitive break in our discourse here. And so we might think of after that. So after that, then Jesus begins to reproach, or we could say to reprimand. He's finding justifiable fault in these cities in which Matthew records that a majority of Jesus's miracles had taken place. And he gives the reason why. Why is he reproaching them? Why is he casting words of woe upon them? Because they hadn't responded. They had not felt remorse over their sins, they had not repented, and they had not believed the gospel, and they had not been converted. And as we look at the three cities that Jesus is referring to here, so we've got Capernaum, Chorazin, and Bethsaida, I would say, keep in your mind, I do not believe that Jesus is saying that these are the only three cities in all of Galilee that are facing his judgment and wrath. I think this is more of a sense of, yes, these are key cities here, but they represent all of these cities where Jesus performed ministry. We saw that at the beginning of this chapter, that he went all around, and we saw that in the Sermon on the Mount, and so I think here, Jesus is really, he's pronouncing an indictment on this entire region of Galilee, but he's a little bit focused here on this triangle of cities. So these three cities that he mentions specifically. And so he says, woe to you, Chorazin. Woe to you, Bethsaida. 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." And so we see this word, woe. It's our first time seeing it here in Matthew. It's this, it's an interjection. It's a, it's a word of intense pain, displeasure. It's almost, you could think of the word a lament. Jesus is giving a lament here. R.T. France, he says, the traditional prophetic formula, woe to you, and this is found 22 times just in the prophecies of Isaiah alone. He says this formula, woe to you, marks out those whose actions and whose attitudes have aligned them against God. Just think of your mind when you hear the word woe. This means that it's being directed to somebody who is against God and his purposes. So we've got these two Galilean towns mentioned here first. And we've got Chorazin and Bethsaida. Chorazin is two and a half miles north of Capernaum. Bethsaida is four miles northeast of Capernaum. And it's also the hometown of three of the disciples, Philip, Andrew, and Peter. According to Luke 9, this is also the general area Bethsaida is where the feeding of the 5,000 takes place. But this is the only mention of these two cities in all of Matthew's gospel, and I think that's another indication that this statement is more representative of the whole region of Galilee Now these woe oracles that we do see in the Old Testament, and you can see examples in Isaiah 3, Jeremiah 48, Ezekiel 16, just to name a few, but it sort of is a pronouncement of judgment. Here is judgment that is coming from God. And what Jesus goes on to say here is he talks about these two towns here. He says, if, this is a hypothetical because it didn't actually happen, but he says, if these mighty works, these mighty deeds, these miracles and these wonders that were done by Jesus in these regions, in Chorazin and in Bethsaida, if they had been performed in these two Gentile cities, Tyre, which is in Phoenicia, and Sidon, which was a Phoenician royal city, He said, if they had been done there, they would have repented. Now, Michael Wilkins, he says that Tyre and Sidon were known throughout the ancient world as powerful maritime commercial centers. And in Israel, they became proverbial for pagan peoples. They were linked as the object of condemnation from Old Testament prophets for what? For their Baal worship? and they had this arrogant pride in their power and their wealth and they were therefore deserving of judgment. And so this is the example that is being held up here by Jesus. And if you go to Isaiah 23, Jeremiah 25, and Ezekiel 27 and 28, you can see oracles of judgment by God, specifically against these two towns of Tyre and Sidon. But Jesus says, if I had been there instead of here, and if I had done my mighty works, my miracles, my wonders, they would have visibly responded in repentance. How? Through sackcloth and ashes. Sackcloth was a symbolic, a symbolism, a visible portrayal that I am rejecting comfort and ease. It may be used in cases of mourning, in national disaster, and most importantly, with the context of what Jesus is talking about here, repentance. And then ashes that they would also put upon their bodies. Sometimes they would sit in them, but think here more, this is an apparel. And that was a symbolizing loss. And of course we see Gentiles repenting in this way before in Jonah chapter three, when Jonah finally gets to where he was commanded to go by God. The people believed God. They called for a fast and they put on sackcloth. From the greatest of them to the least of them. And even the king goes on to cover himself with sackcloth and he sat in ashes. But in the present day context, what do we have? We have a prophet far greater than Jonah in the midst of these people. This is an infinitely greater Jonah in their midst. And yet these Jewish Galileans, they failed to respond the way that the Gentile Ninevites did. And that's the comparison in a sense that Jesus is drawing. And so when he gives this hypothetical, here's what would have happened. And of course it didn't. These other cities were also rightly judged by God for their pride and sin. But he goes on in verse 22 where he says, nevertheless, I declare to you, he's declaring to them, he says, it'll be more bearable to be more endurable for the people of these Gentile towns, Tyre and Sidon on the final day of judgment than it will be for you, people who have personally and physically partaken in my ministry. And there is, even within these words by Jesus, there's an indication of degrees of torment at the day of judgment and for all eternity. Grant Osborne, he says, Galilee had received the greatest ministry humankind would ever know. And he says, so their judgment would be correspondingly more severe. Well, we've got this third town singled out in verse 23, where Jesus says, 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 on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you. So now Jesus says, And you, you know, it's like he's saving up for the last one here. The rebuke to the, I guess you could almost say the worst child. And you, Capernaum, and remember this was the hometown of Jesus, essentially. This is where he performed the majority of his ministry, and so they're singled out for even greater condemnation and woe. And he's asking a question here, but the way he asks the question is it's expecting, or you could even say it's demanding, a negative response. So the answer is obviously no. Will you be lifted or raised high up to heaven to the dwelling place of God? Of course not. You will not be. And they probably had expectations for various reasons, and a lot of it had to do with just being ethnic Jews, that they would be raised up in such a way. But he says no, so much the opposite. Quite the opposite. He says, instead, you will suffer humiliation to be brought down to Hades, to the depths. So there's a great contrast. This is the opposite of heaven. There's a connotation here of eternal punishment. He's really delivering some shocking, jarring words to the people here. And first he is comparing them through this rhetorical question. This is a comparison directly back to the king of Babylon. And then the king of Babylon had this, we could call it a vaulting ambition that we would say would make the pride that was already condemned in Tyre and Sidon seem like nothing. How great was the pride of this king of Babylon? And so there's this almost a direct pulling from Isaiah chapter 14. where you see a prophetic taunt by Isaiah condemning this king of Babylon. In verse 12, it says, how you are fallen from heaven, O day star, son of dawn, how you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low. You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven. Above the stars of God, I will set my throne on high. I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high. but you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. And so there's this direct parallel to this passage that Jesus is clearly referencing here, even though he's not quoting it, but there's this exact same idea. And there's a parallel here. He says that your refusal, Capernaum, to repent, in a sense, it's like a satanic refusal to repent, even though Jesus lived and worked among them. And just as Babylon was too proud to repent. Notice Jesus doesn't say anything about how Babylon would have repented. Babylon did not repent. They were too proud to repent. And so too it seems that Capernaum here in this direct comparison is too proud to repent. But then he goes on to draw, get another astonishing comparison. He says, for, just like I said before about the other two towns, if these amazing works and miracles and deeds and proclamations have been done in Sodom, of all places, Sodom, as they had been done in Capernaum. And of course, Sodom, we might even say we could define it as the quintessential example of extraordinary sinfulness. And he says, if I had preached and done these miracles in Sodom, Sodom would not have been destroyed by God and it would still be here to this day, the day of Jesus. And I had read several months ago, it was a geological article about Sodom and they believe that God's judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, that area was so severe that the ground was unusable for upwards of 700 years afterwards, unable to produce any kind of growth. That's how devastating the fire and brimstone that God poured down upon those people. And sometimes we might think in our heads, these were some of the most wicked people who ever lived and then just think of this comparison that Jesus is drawing here. And so Jesus's ministry here is really highlighting some things and that is that it's revealing people who genuinely repent and it's also revealing those who have really great hardness of heart. And Jesus's message Just like that of the Old Testament prophets, it's tearing some people down and other people it's building up. And you could reference Jeremiah 1, 9 through 10, just to glance at those verses regarding that. But Jesus then, he gives this final, this is a reiteration of what he had just said about the other two towns, but he says, nevertheless, I declare to you, it will be more bearable for the people of Sodom. on the day of judgment than it will be for you, O people of Capernaum." Janoch Shamblin, just talking about that comparison, that concept, he says, whereas those Gentile cities, and he's referring to the Gentile cities that Jesus references here, he says, whereas they sinned in great ignorance, these Jewish cities have sinned against God have sinned both against God's prior revelations, as recorded in their scriptures, and in the face of these ultimate disclosures of His glory and grace in Israel's Messiah. And so there's this sense now that we see from the teaching of Jesus that as greater light, as greater revelation is rejected, then greater condemnation, greater judgment will be received on the day of judgment. in these wicked cities that he's referencing. And don't mistake this. Jesus is not saying that these other cities were good. Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom were evil cities and they were representative of the enemies of Israel. And by extension, then they were the enemies of God. And so this comparison, Jesus is saying, hey, you three towns and really the whole surrounding region, I'm saying that you are representative of the enemies of true Israel. You are enemies of God. Think of the slap in the face that these people are drawing in with these words if they're comprehending them. But these words here, they're meant to do that. They're meant to shock, to warn the listeners, hey, you better wake up and recognize this true spiritual condition that you're in right now and that if you fail to take decisive action here, that severe eternal condemnation is the only consequence, it's the only result that is going to happen here. And so there is this foreboding, overwhelming sense of condemnation. But is Jesus going to leave his hearers just hopelessly contemplating condemnation? Of course he's not. He's going to offer them the sweetness of his mercy under the yoke of his discipleship in just a few verses. But before we jump into verse 25, I just wanna talk about what does that mean to us? Because we have before us here, we have in this canon of scripture, we have the full revelation of God. We have a clear revelation and we have a description for us of God's Messiah. We have a true and a clear understanding of Jesus' identity as God and as Savior. And so rhetorically, how severe of eternal condemnation do you suppose God will pour out upon those of us who have been given such extensive revelation? Those who have had the entire gospel according to Matthew to read and to study, and the whole canon of scripture to testify to us, and yet to still continue in defiance and rejection of the Christ. How much greater will, I would say, that generation as compared to this generation of Jesus' day, how much greater will that generation of people's condemnation be than even the generation here that Jesus is talking about? And so the implication is that if you have failed to repent, if you have failed to believe the gospel, then the inference is that you should be terrified by these words of Jesus here. And so I would ask you tonight, what about you? Have you believed the gospel? Have you repented of your sins? Have you turned in faith to Jesus Christ? I pray that you have. Well, let's look to verse 25 then, these three final verses, verses 25 through 27, where we're going to see God's gracious will. Verse 25. At that time, Jesus declared, I thank you, Lord, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. And so Jesus now, he's continuing in his discourse, and actually, it actually says that he answered, or he said in reply, There's no issue with translating it, the word declared here, but there is a sense of Jesus almost responding, in a sense, to what he's just talked about, this amazing, obstinate, continuing unbelief by the people that he's ministered to. And we don't see that context from Matthew, but we do see it from Luke. And in Luke 10, Jesus had sent out 72. So we looked at the missional discourse of where he sends out the 12, but he also sends out 72, which we see in Luke 10, 1. And when they return in verse 17 of chapter 10, they're reporting back to him and they're professing their amazement because they said, we even have had power over demons. And so when he hears that and he responds to that, after that in verse 21 and 22, it says that he rejoiced. In that same hour, he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and he said, and essentially his response there is the same as what we're reading here in verses 25 through 27. So that gives us a much more precise understanding of when he said these words. So, How much time has passed between here and Matthew 11, between verse 24 and 25? We don't know. We just know it came sometime after. But he says here that he's praising the Father, the Lord of heaven. He says, I thank you, Father, or I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. And that heaven and earth there, that's a merism. You'll see that all throughout scripture. You see day and night, east and west. We've got heaven and earth, and this is representative of the total dominion of the Father. Grant Osborne says, it is the sovereign God with authority over all things who has acted in this way. And that's who Jesus is praising here. And you see similar words of praise if you go read Daniel 2, 19 through 23. After God reveals this vision or this dream of what it means, Daniel responds to God in a very similar way. But Jesus here, he says, I thank you, Father, or I praise you, Father, That, or you could say, because you kept these things secret or hidden from the wise, and we'll put quotes, air quotes around wise and discerning, because the implication is that these are people who are smart, they're learned, and they're intelligent, but not according to God's standards. This is according to the standards of the world. They are worldly, wise people. And he says, you've kept these things from those people. Now, specifically, there's a reference, of course, here to this generation. He's talking about this generation, and more particularly, the region of Galilee that he has just pronounced woe upon, the ones who had repented or had refused to repent and believe despite seeing all this amazing ministry by Jesus. Isaiah 29 verses 13 and 14, it talks about this hiding from the discerning, this preventing of true wisdom from the so-called wise men. And so these people, they saw, but they didn't see. So they saw these things that Jesus is doing, but they can't perceive the true meaning. They can't understand the true meaning of what it is that Jesus has done. This ministry of Jesus, the nature of this kingdom that he's inaugurated, it's a mystery to them. They can't understand it. And we'll see that more clearly when we get to chapter 13. It's a formidable chapter where Jesus is going to speak to his disciples in parables, explaining the secrets of the kingdom. and these other people will not understand, cannot understand. And so he says, I thank you because, firstly, because you did that. You prevented these people from seeing and understanding. And instead, you divinely revealed, or you made fully known these mysteries. And there's that word where we get apocalypse from. that we talked about in Revelation, but you have fully made known these mysteries to essentially to young children, almost babies. This is a reference to innocent ones, if we could use that term, people who are unspoiled by the learning of this world, people with whom God is pleased. It's a bit of a reference even back to the little ones back in 1042, the one who gives a cup of cold water to one of these little ones. And so he's carrying on with this sense of the little ones who are the true believers in the kingdom, true kingdom disciples. Patrick Schreiner says, the little children are those who have neither the time nor the possibility of going to the school of the wise He says, but they become wise at the feet of the wise one. Now, in chapter 13, when we get there, we're going to see a great contrast between those who reject because their eyes are not open to these things and to those who understand. First, in verse 51 of chapter 13, after he explains things, he says to them, to his disciples, have you understood these things? And they don't say no they say yes because God had revealed to them and so they said yes. And I think I read this maybe last time I taught as well but then right after that Jesus goes to his hometown and so where he got that favorable response where they just said yes he does not get the favorable response there it's an unfavorable response and they said where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works and they took offense at him. Why? because of what Jesus just said. And so this kingdom that we could if we could use the expression that had broken in this kingdom that had broken in it had not come in the way that people had expected that it would come. And many of them are not able to see this kingdom because Jesus says it's been hidden from their eyes. Now, lest we get a little bit too weighed down by the passage, we have to remember that this rejection that Jesus experienced was not universal rejection. Peter, James, Andrew, John, Matthew, and likely many others all had answered the call to discipleship from Capernaum. So it was not a universal rejection, but it was, we would say, a wholesale rejection, and there's a difference between that. But thinking then about this understanding, these disciples who understood, these disciples who then did follow Jesus, who listened and believed in his teachings, J. Knox Chamberlain, he says that the external evidence from the Son, referring to Jesus, must be augmented by internal light from the Father. A human being cannot understand truth about God the Son unless God the Father reveals it to him. We have a great example of that in Matthew 16. Peter makes this great profession. You remember, he says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. But what does Jesus say in response? He says, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, He says, but my father has revealed this wisdom to you. And so it wasn't just enough for Peter to look at Jesus, but the father also revealed this light within his heart to confirm that. And that's essentially what Jesus is saying here. And so he is thanking he's he's blessing the father that this is what is happening. And he goes on to almost double down in verse 26 he says yes father. So there's an addition of emphasis here. He says basically for doing it in this way was pleasing to you. And remember back in Luke chapter 2. those angels and they're declaring on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased. There's this people that the father is pleased with on earth and that comes through this gracious elective will of God through his deliberate choice and intent of people. Grant Osborne says, God in his providence has concealed his truths from the rebellious nation and revealed them to the receptive children that he has chosen. And so Jesus is saying here that it pleases the father to accomplish his will in revealing saving truth about his son And who is he revealing it to? He's revealing it to those whom he has chosen for salvation. He's revealing it to the elect. And on the other side of this coin, he is withholding that same special revelation, such truth from we would call the non-elect. But we also must remember that as he's doing that, as he is fulfilling his gracious will, he is not delighting in the destruction of the wicked. He's not delighting in that. But we do see then, just through these short words by Jesus, the grounds of our salvation. If you are a kingdom disciple, if you are in Christ, the grounds of your salvation, it lies in the Father's good pleasure and saving purposes. It does not lie in some behavior or characteristic within you. In Ephesians 1, 7 through 10, which we'd love to read the entire chapter of Ephesians 1, but it says, in him we have redemption through his blood, that's Christ, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us, believers, true kingdom disciples, the mystery of his will. which is left a mystery and shrouded to all those that the father has not revealed that to. So making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. Following up on this not delighting in the destruction of the wicked, Bavinck says, in a certain sense, the fall, sin, and eternal punishment are included in God's decree and are willed by him. He says, but this is true in a certain sense only and not in the same sense as grace and salvation. He says, these, grace and salvation, are objects of his delight. but God does not delight in sin, neither does he take pleasure in punishment. He meets out punishment, he is a just and righteous judge, but he does not take pleasure in the destruction of the ungodly. And so we see that in these words by Jesus that both the judgment of the wicked, the judgment of the, we could say the worldly wise, and his salvation of the little children, those are two things that are both foreordained by God. And this cause of election, this cause of those who are elected, it comes only through the sovereign will of God. It does not come through human behavior. So pride, on one hand, or faith, is not the cause of salvation. But there is a sense, though, that the pride of the worldly wise, that it does keep God's truth hidden from them, and that is used by God, that is ordained by God. And on the same vein of thought there, he has also appointed faith to be a vehicle, to be an instrument, and so faith is the means of how he brings his elect to salvation. And in all these things, then, The ultimate result is that the Lord of Heaven, the Lord of Earth, is to be praised for two reasons. He's to be praised for his justice, which is the condemnation of the wicked, and he's also to be praised for his mercy, whereby he saves the elect. Now it is important for us to remember that not all of the worldly wise, not all of the proud, not all of the skeptical continue on under the eternal wrath and judgment of God. And what do I mean by that? I mean that who among us here tonight was not once spiritually dead, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of this air, living in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath. And not only that, but in our past, were we not in our past people who were, and key emphasis there, were, were we not people who were unrighteous, sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, greedy, drunkards, revilers, and swindlers, but no longer because, Paul writes, We were washed because we were sanctified, because we were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God. So because of all of those things that we remember about ourselves, how much, I would ask you, how much and how greatly should we cry out then to God? to the Father for the salvation of those among us who are still dwelling in this great pride and obstinate refusal against God. Well, let's look quickly as we conclude at verse 27. And I think next week, we'll probably come back to 27 a little bit. But in verse 27, then Jesus says, 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. Well in a bit of a roundabout way maybe it didn't seem straightforward but verses 25 and 26 essentially they show us the way to salvation. This is the way to salvation. But William Hendrickson says, now another question needs to be answered. And he says, does the one, and he's referring to Jesus, does the one who extends the invitation to accept this salvation, does he have what this sinner needs? And secondly, does he even know what he needs? And he says, the answer to the both of those questions is found here in verse 27. where Jesus says, all things have been handed down to me by my father. This is all things. And notice where all things, it's emphatically placed here at the front. He is making a big deal that this is all things. This is an expression here related to the knowledge and revelation of the Father, the giving or the passing of revelatory authority from the Father to the Son. And remember, the Father had bestowed this spirit of wisdom and might upon the Son. The Son has been empowered to work miracles, and we've seen that a lot the last few chapters. The Son is equipped to teach, receiving instruction directly from the Father. And the Son's teaching, as we saw at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, it possesses an authority that no other teacher has. Any teacher who stands and preaches and teaches, they say, this is what God has said. Jesus was able to essentially say, this is what I have said. It's a much different approach that will give you an infinite amount of authority. In addition to that, the Son has dominion over all things, as sovereign over heaven and earth, Colossians 1.16, Ephesians 1.21. And this authority is universal in scope, as we will see at the very end of this gospel. All authority is given to me. All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me. But the context here, I would say to you, is focusing more on authority that relates to people. And we've talked about that. People and salvation have been this dominant theme over these past several verses, and that continues here in this verse. And when you pair it back to those two verses that we just talked about, 25 and 26, then it's clear for that question that William Hendrickson asked, it's clear that Jesus has whatever is needed to fulfill this mediatorial role that he is standing in between God and man. And he has whatever is needed to render man truly blessed. And so he says, all things have been handed down to me by my father and no one perfectly and completely knows the son except the father. And this is a present tense knowing. This is knowledge that has been shared in eternity past, present and eternal future. The Father has exclusive, exhaustive knowledge of the Son. And there's a demonstration here of an eternal and also intimate relationship. And there's this glimpse, this tiny glimpse that Jesus gives us of an incomparable, incomprehensible communion that exists between the Father and the Son. And so there's this description of the fullest, we could say the fullest and deepest knowledge imaginable, but it's not just knowledge. This is something that is far greater than just intellectual recognition. This is an unfathomable love between the Father and the Son. And certainly we would say that the Holy Spirit, he's not highlighted here in the words of Jesus, but the Holy Spirit also participates in this perfect communion. And so William Hendrickson then he says, so great and glorious is the heart of this mediator, Jesus, that none but the father can fathom its riches of knowledge, wisdom, and love. So Jesus presents the one direction of this relationship, but it's not a unidirectional relationship because he says, and no one perfectly and completely knows the father except the son. If you think about what the Old Testament reveals to us, it's that God alone possesses the knowledge to know what is in the heart of man and man's deepest needs. Jeremiah 17, nine, we're more frequently aware of verse nine, where it says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it? But in verse 10, then it also says, I, the Lord, I, Yahweh, I search the heart and test the mind to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds. So there's this prerogative of God. And going off of Hebrews 4.13, if no creature is hidden from God's sight, then to really know a person, to know their deepest needs, means that you need to be able to see that person as the father sees him. And guess what? Since the son has this perfect, inexhaustible knowledge of the father, then the son knows exactly what the sinner needs. And then this last statement by Jesus, he says, and the one to whom the son, we could say wishes or wills to divinely reveal or to make fully known the father, the direct implication of that is that Jesus alone can truly reveal his father. Jesus alone can reveal his Father. John 1 18, no one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the Father's side. He has made him known. And so we see then that this revealing to little children, back in verse 25, there's an implication of a divine election. And here, Jesus is talking about this manifestation of how that special revelation happens through the Son. Through the Son, who has perfect, complete knowledge of the Father. And again, salvation is not dependent upon anything in man, anything in woman, but upon revelation from God. And that revelation from God is dependent on the will and pleasure of an inseparable union, and that's the Father and the Son. Because the Father and the Son and Spirit, of course, are one, and it's not just one in essence, but they are also, we must remember, they are one in purpose. They're one in purpose as well. So believers will truly know God But we do have to remember, we will not know God in the incomprehensible way that the Father, Son, and Spirit know each other. On this last verse here, Cyril of Alexandria, one of the older church fathers talking about 1127, he says, Jesus said, everything has been handed down to me so that he might not seem to be a member of a different species or inferior to the Father. And Jesus added this statement here in order to show that his nature is ineffable and inconceivable, just like the father's. For only the divine nature of the Trinity comprehends itself. Only the father knows his own son, the fruit of his own substance. Only the divine son recognizes the one by whom he has been begotten. Only the Holy Spirit knows the deep things of God. the thought of the Father and the Son. And that's why I didn't really want to stop at this verse, but we have so much to say about the subsequent verses that to try to squeeze them in would have been to sell them short. But the offer then to follow that is going to come from Jesus What are we drawing then from these verses leading up? That it is a divine offer. This is a divine offer by Jesus. And that's the statement that he's making. And so when he says, come to me and I will give you rest, he's built his case for why this is a monumental, incomparable offer of eternal rest. It's a divine offer. And I trust and pray that you won't wait until next week if you are outside of Christ to consider that divine offer. Today is the day of salvation. So if you have not found rest in Jesus Christ, the one who reveals the Father to us, then today I urge you to repent and believe the gospel. So next week we will Come back to verse 27 and through the end of the chapter, I don't know how far we'll get into chapter 12, but I do thank you for being here tonight. I thank you for your attentiveness. So let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you for your word. And what a Difficult it is in our feeble human minds to think of such amazing statements about the Trinity, about the Godhead. But to see all throughout the Scriptures, all throughout the Gospels, these claims of divinity by Jesus. Thank you, O Lord, for impressing these truths upon our hearts. Thank you that we are not just glossing over words because you have given us understanding. This is not just a book to us, but it is not just a book to us only because you have opened our eyes. And so we thank you for that tonight. And we pray, O Lord, that this knowledge of how you divinely work according to your own gracious will would cause us to be upon our knees, praying and praying and praying for those around us, mired in great pride and spiritual obstinacy. For we do not know your mind of who you have called, but we can faithfully pray as you have called us to help us to do so. We pray in the name of Jesus, amen.