Okay, Matthew chapter 11, read with me the verse 20. and the following couple of verses here. Matthew 11, 20, then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, and set cloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at that day of judgment than for you. But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee. Let's pray. Our Lord and our God, we have read even briefly again thy precious word. We come, Lord, to study it. For, Lord, thy word is truth. It is a light onto our path. It is a lamp onto our feet. And Lord, we're not here to consider the Quran tonight. We are not here to consider an alternative religion. We are looking on to Jesus. We look not, Lord, not to evolution, to science. We look not to other religions, other gods, but we look on to Thee, the author and finisher of faith. So Lord, tonight, help us, we pray. In Jesus' name we ask, amen and amen. Christ, when he was born, was born into Bethlehem. That you know. Go with me just for a moment to Matthew chapter two. Matthew chapter two. And we read here, now, Verse one. Now, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and of course that was a prophecy fulfilled. Look with me at verse six. So the Old Testament prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. That's what happened. Stay with me, please, in Matthew 2, because Christ didn't stay in Bethlehem. In fact, he wasn't there for very long. He very soon was moved to where? Egypt. Egypt. Go with me to verse 13. So Matthew 2, 13. That's interesting because look at verse 15. And was there, that means Christ was there, until the death of her, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. That was a prophecy found in Hosea 11 verse 1. So it was prophesied in Bethlehem, it was prophesied that he would come out of Egypt. Now when the Lord left Egypt, where did he go to next? Well, read on down this portion, Matthew 2, verse 19. But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for they are dead which sought the young child's life. And he arose and took the young child, Christ, and his mother, Mary, and came into the land of Israel, but When he heard that Hercules did reign in Judea, in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go further. Notwithstanding being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee, and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth. that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophets, he shall be called a Nazarene." Awful lot of prophecy been filled here, all right? Bethlehem, prophecy fulfilled. Egypt, prophecy fulfilled. Nazareth, prophecy fulfilled. Move on then to chapter three and to verse 13. 3.13, then come of Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized. So he was baptized of John there in Jordan. Move with me please to chapter four and the verse 18, the verse 18. Now, I think it's actually verse 13, isn't it? Let's read from the verse 12 here, verse 12. Now, when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee. So he's gone back now to Galilee, all right? And leaving Nazareth, because he was put out of Nazareth. Christ was chased out of Nazareth. We read that one week recently, actually. They were going to throw him over the precipice, but he walked right through the middle of them. Verse 13, and leaving Nazareth, because they didn't want him, he came and dwelt in Capernaum. and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast in the borders of Zebulun and Nephilim, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet." Can you see a common theme here? Verse 15, here's the prophecy. The land of Zebulun and the land of Nephilim. So again, wherever Christ goes, it's a fulfillment of prophecy. Interesting. You can't choose where you're born. You can't choose where you were raised, can you? No. Christ here now is moving into Capernaum as prophecy said he would. I read all that to make the point that Capernaum is where we stop. That's where Jesus Christ lived. That was his home. That's where he dwelt. Didn't grow up there, but that's where he lived. Now, Capernaum still there today. Not a big lot there. I was there many years ago with a tour. Thoroughly enjoyed it, by the way. Good to see Capernaum, of course. It's more of an archaeological dig, which is a little bit strange because the climate there is excellent. Very warm, as you can imagine. And you'd think there'd be plenty of life there, but not so. Not so. You can go to the place, therefore, where Christ grew up, and then Capernaum, where the Lord ministered for a while. And while the Lord was there in Capernaum, he called several of his disciples. Look with me in the following verses here. Verse 17, from that time Jesus began to preach and to say, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So in Capernaum, he's preaching repentance, repentance, repentance. Verse 18, and Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee saw two brethren called Peter called Peter and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the water and so on. And so he called Peter and Andrew because that's where they were from. They were from Capernaum. All these things are important to understand tonight. And here's the reason why. Go back to your text. Go back to Matthew chapter 11. Bethlehem, Egypt, Nazareth, but when Christ's preaching ministry commenced, that is when Christ lived in Capernaum. Now look with me at Matthew 11 verse 23. And thou Capernaum, where I live. where I minister, where I have been called of God, where in the providence of God, Christ, as God could say, I have ministered, you have been exalted onto heaven because Christ lived there. Christ labored there. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell. That's some statement. Christ here is now speaking about the very location in which he lived. And read on in verse 23 where it says, Look at that phrase there, mighty works. Christ did mighty works in the place where he lived. The Lord didn't hide himself. The people knew what Christ was claiming, that He was the Messiah, and His miracles demonstrated, proved, defended the fact that this was God in flesh. Can I show you some of the miracles He did there? I think it's good to follow me through the Bible, and we'll see this. Look with me at Matthew chapter 8. Go to Matthew 8. All right? And the verse 5. Matthew 8, 5. This is Christ's hometown. And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, There came unto him a centurion, beseeching him and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy grievously tremendous, and Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou should come under my roof, but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. Great passage there, but to cut a long story short, Christ did heal his servant. He spoke. And the servant was healed, a miracle indeed. Move on down here to verse 14. Here you have Peter. who lived in Capernaum. And Mark tells us he was in Capernaum when this miracle happened. Verse 14. And then Christ would have left Peter's house and went to his own house down the road. All right? He lived there. The centurion would have known where I lived. Peter knew where I lived. Let's go on here. Perhaps turn with me actually to chapter nine. Chapter nine. And he entered into a ship and passed over and came onto his own city. His own city is Capernaum. That's what that means. All right. When he's back home again, he was away over in Gennesaret. Curing there, the one plagued with demons. He's back home again, verse one. And he entered into a ship and passed over and came into his own city. And behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed. Here's the man who couldn't walk. And Christ was in this house. And Jesus, seeing their face, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. And of course, then he told him to get up and walk. And a miracle happened. So he cured this paralyzed man there. Go with me also then to Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1, we're still in Capernaum. Mark chapter 1, and let's go to the verse 21. Mark 1, 21. And they went into Capernaum, and straightway on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. This was God in flesh. They could recognize that from his ministry, that he spoke with authority. God-given authority. The Holy Ghost was moving. Verse 23, And there was in the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, saying, Let us alone. What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. Now listen to me. This is church on the Sabbath day. The people of Nazareth, they would have been in church. And while they were there, this man who's on claim, he had these spirits, the very spirits cry out and they say, we're devils and we know Jesus who you are. You are the son of God. You're the holy one of God. But it could not be clearer. That was in Capernaum, his home town. As importantly, the devils declare who he was. Then Mark 5, last verse, and I don't want to draw this part of the message any further. This will suffice. Matthew 5, verse 21. And when Jesus was passed over again by ship on to the other side, that means he's coming home again, much people got on to him, and he was nigh on to sea. And behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name. And when he saw him, he fell at his feet. and besought him greatly, saying, My little girl, my little daughter, lieth at the point of death. I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed, and she shall live. And Jesus went with him, and much people followed him, and thronged him, and a certain woman there, which had an issue of blood twelve years, that happened too. Well, I assume that's obviously in Capernaum as well. And the little girl, Joannes' daughter, was brought back to life. He's raising the dead. He's healing the sick. He's silencing storms in the Sea of Galilee. All of this was in Capernaum. Wow. Capernaum wasn't a massive place. And so the people of Capernaum would have heard of who Jesus was, what he was doing, what he was claiming to be, what even the devil said about him. But how did the people in general respond? Look at Matthew 11. Go back with me there now. There's no text. Matthew chapter 11. Sadly, sadly, verse 23 says, and thou Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven. You understand that. Christ is lifting them up. They're seeing heavenly things. shalt be brought down to hell. For the mighty works which have been done in thee have been done in Sodom." That's Sodom and Gomorrah. It would have remained until this day. That means they would have repented. That's the idea there. Look with me at verse 20. Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done. because they repented not. When the Bible says that most of his many works were done, he means in Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum where Christ lived. That's where the most of his miraculous activity actually happened. Chorazin, Bethsaida, not an awful lot about them in the Bible, but I've heard it said that Bethsaida, Chorazin, and Capernaum were the evangelistic triangle that the Lord preached out. He would go from each place and he'd be working in that main area. That's where the bulk of his work was. And yet, they repented not. Can you see the issue here, men and women? It is possible to be saturated in good gospel preaching, good gospel truth and yet not be saved. And it's possible to even hear Christ preaching and still not be saved. And tonight, you're in a gospel preaching house. You have the word of the living God before you. And I'm tonight walking through one of the times when Christ himself was preaching, and yet you might not be seeing it. Even though you hear all of that influence, and it's not new to you, but you can still walk out those doors heading to hell. That's a solemn reality tonight, and I don't want it to be anyone here this evening. Come with me please to verse 21. Verse 21, woe unto thee Chorazin, woe unto thee Bethsaida. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. So there's three cities mentioned here. There's Tyre and there's Sidon. Let me try and bring you with me here. First of all, there's three cities that Christ preached in. Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. They're all mentioned there. The Evangelistic triangle. And the Lord took three Old Testament cities, Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom. And he says to these three, he says, you're like Tyre, you're like Sidon, you're like Sodom, because of your sin, because of your wickedness. And they wouldn't have liked that, because they knew the people did not like Tyre, they did not like Sidon, and they certainly did not like Sodom, which had been destroyed years before. Let me say something here about Tyre and Sidon. Sodom you know. Sodom and Gomorrah. Fire and brimstone come down out of heaven. Sometimes it's said that hell rained out of heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah. That's a Sodom mentioned here. But there's also Tyre and Sidon. Let me explain what they are. They were two Phoenician cities, mentioned a lot in the Old Testament. They're now, if you want a location today, it would be modern day Lebanon. Judges 1 records Israel's failure to conquer that part of the world. They were told by God to take Tyre and Sidon, but they failed to do so. From Tyre and Sidon was brought materials to build the tabernacle. of God, the temple of God, sorry. Sidon was a city of Zarephath, and remember who was in Zarephath? The widow woman. Elijah went to Sidon, he went to Zarephath, and there the widow woman took care of him. That's where the oil, the borrow of oil did not waste away. And that's the same woman that Elijah came later on to raise her son. She was from Sidon, this very place we're talking about. The Old Testament has several prophecies about how Tyre and Sidon would be completely overthrown and conquered. And that happened. Nebuchadnezzar besieged it. Alexander the Great also conquered it. And the Persian king Artaxerxes also conquered Sidon. So they were conquered time and time again, as prophecy said. So God's judgment came to pass. Those nations, Tyre, Sidon, Sodom, they were judged by God. They were under the judgment of God. Sodom annihilated, Tyre and Sidon, well that continued to survive after it was plundered and plundered and plundered. That's very clear because even in Christ's day, there were people from Tyre and Sidon that followed Jesus Christ. Would you go with me for a moment here please to Mark again, Mark chapter three. Mark chapter three. And look with me at the verse seven please. Okay, Mark 3, 7 and 8. A great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him. So here you have people from Tyre and Sidon, same place. And they've left Tyre and Sidon because they've heard of how excellent Christ was. And they went to follow him. They ended up this great multitude amongst the others. Go with me please to Matthew 15. Please, Matthew 15, I know we're going to a lot of verses here, but I wanna just build a good picture here of Tyre and Sidon and these other cities. Matthew 15 and the verse 21. Then, verse 21 of Matthew 15, then Jesus went fence and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed with the devil. And what a great passage this was, because the Lord knew that the Israelites hated the people from Tyre and Sidon. And so look what he says in verse 23. If you never understood this verse, let's get it now. Verse 23, But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth after us. They hated her. She was a foreigner. She's not one of us. She's from Tyre and Sidon, and they wanted to get her away. And Christ didn't say a word. Look at verse 24. But he answered and said, oh, sorry, verse 23. Sorry, it's verse 24. But he answered and said, I am not sent, but on to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He said them after a silence. And the disciples tell her to go away. The Lord then says to her directly, I'm not come to the lost. I'm come for the house of Israel. That was some blow to her. You're a foreigner, he said. Now think that through for a minute. Could Christ have said that? Then look at verse 25. I love that. She's having none of that. She sees straight through this. She knows full well what Christ is doing. What Christ said there. He was stating what the viewpoint was in that day. Here, Christ is venting. Christ is articulating what everybody else thought. She's from Tyre. She's from Saints. She can't be one of your followers, Lord. And the Lord states that. Obviously, the word mystery is, I have only come to save Israelites. She sees straight through it. She worships him. Verse 26. Wow! He's now calling her a dog. He says, listen, I'm called to Israel, isn't that what everybody says? And I can't take the blessings for Israel and give them to a dog from Tyre and Sinai, a stranger. What's her response? I love this passage, verse 27. And she said, truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. And if anyone has a dog here tonight, you know how true that is. Once you open anything, buy your crisps, put your dinner on the plate, the dog is gonna be there, the big eyes. But that's what she's saying. Look at verse 28. Look at verse 28. Here's the relief. The first time you read this you think, what is Christ saying? This couldn't be true. Verse 28, then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith, great is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. The Lord was making a point. He's proving to everybody on that day, I have come not just for Israelites, for us as well. Where are the foreigners? Do you live in Israel? When's the last time you paid taxes in Israel? I don't live there. Christ came for those of Tyre, Sidon, for you and me. Anyway, I took you there. I need to remind myself exactly why I took you there. Because Christ, oh yeah, yeah, because she was from Tyre and Sidon, verse 21, okay? And I was making the point that Tyre and Sidon still existed in Christ's day, all right? Even though it received judgment, the Lord permitted it still to survive, and it had risen up a little bit, and here you have this woman from, she was a Syrophoenician woman, a Sidonian, and she was following Christ. Go back with me please then to our text in Matthew 11. Because in Matthew 11 the Lord said, verse 21 there, about Tyre and Sidon. If he would have done the works that he did in Chorazin and in Bethsaida, if he did them in Tyre and Sidon, the people would have repented. If he would have done in Sodom the works that he did in Capernaum, verse 23, the people of Sodom would have repented. All right? And what this verse... Well, I want you to see here, there's a few exceptions here, obviously, because there were a few people from Tyre and Sidon. There was even a person who lived in Sodom who was saved, wasn't there? Lot is his name. So it's not that nobody was saved in these areas. There were some people saved. The ones and the two. Some exceptions indeed. But by and large, they rejected Christ. They rejected Christ. And these verses make it clear that they are in hell. And anyone who follows their pattern of life will also be in hell. What was the problem? Verse 20, they did not repent. Look at the end of verse 20, they repented not. That's the key here. Repentance means turning from your sin, turning from any false hope of salvation outside of God. Repentance means turning right around and facing towards God, turning away from all of your sin and pursuing God. There'll be fights, there'll be battle, there'll be temptation. The world, the flesh and the devil will shoot at you. They'll try and pull you back. Expect that. That's what's going to happen. But you have repented of your sin and you are heading heavenward and you are heading towards glory. That's what it means by repent. The people of these cities did not do that. And so anyone who reads these verses, it makes uncomfortable reading. Because you can be under the preaching. You can be under the knowledge of the world. You can know all about Jesus Christ. You could have seen him face to face. You could have seen his miracles. Doesn't mean you're saved. Doesn't mean you're saved. You could be exposed to the gospel, attending church. You can even call yourself good living, even call yourself a Christian. But if you haven't repented of sin, you're heading to hell. And that is the uncomfortable reading of this passage for anyone who is not genuinely saved. These people would hear the words, depart from me. Well they would stand before God, the law would declare, depart from me, I never knew you, you workers of iniquity. Now why? Why did Chorazin, why did Bethsaida, why did Capernaum not repent? Why did they not get saved? I mean, what more could they have got? God is walking in their cities. Christ did the most of his miracles there. They could not have had anything clearer. Why did they not repent? Maybe, maybe it would have upset their lifestyle. They'd have had to have given things up. They didn't want to give up. They didn't want to give up, perhaps, I don't know, maybe their relationships. They would have to give up their church religion that they support. They'd have to give up their own gods, whatever those gods would be, I don't know. Why they did not get saved, we're not told. It may have disrupted them, it may have had them sacrifice things they loved too dear, but either way, they did not repent, and they were lost. You see, look with me here again. Verse 21, first of all. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For the mighty works which were done in you have been done on Tyre and Sidon. They would have repented long ago and sacked cloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you. Go on down to verse 24. He's speaking to Capernaum. But I say unto you, Capernaum, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee. Now think about that. Tyre and Sidon. And Sodom were notable for their sin. They were. They were under the judgment of God. Sodom, the one we know best. Think of the sin of Sodom. Sodomy. All right, couldn't be clearer. Sodomy. And yet, yet, in God's eyes, the righteous, sorry, the self-righteous, church-going people the Israelites who could say that we are the children of Abraham. The Lord says that in his eyes they are far more sinful than Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon. And they will go to a deeper, more awful hell than Tyre, Sidon and Sodom. Now think about that tonight. Focusing on Sodom for a moment here, for that's the one you understand the best here. You might be here tonight and you might look at Sodom and you might think what was... You should read Genesis sometime and read what happened in Sodom. I mean, it's just one of those portions. You read it and you just can't believe. The boldness, the horribleness, the vileness of their sin, it was brutal. I can't emphasize that enough. And yet in God's eyes, you have sinned more. You have sinned far deeper. What did Capernaum do? What did Chorazin and Bethsaida do that was worse than the atrocities that happened in Sodom? I'll tell you. Their light, their understanding, their opportunity was far greater. That's what it is. They were lifted up to heaven. Christ walked there. Christ performed miracles there. And listen, the more the Lord gives you, the more He expects from you. It's the same with anything. Listen, let's think on work. Let's say your job. I'm from the building trade. I'm going to make an illustration from there for it's easiest for my mind. But let's say Your first day on the job, you get the basic tools, the old hammer, the old saw, all the junk stuff. Your employer won't expect an awful lot from you because the tools you have, well, they're not fantastic. But as the years go on, you might get better tools. You'll get the best chop saw. You'll get the best router. You'll not be using a hammer anymore. You'll have a pneumatic set up going. You've got your gas cylinder. You're pumping the nails in. But at the end of the week, you've done no more work than you did when you had the old tools. What's wrong there? You're going to get fired. Because your boss is going to say, listen, you're lying around. You're not taking the gifts that you have. You're a waste. I'm going to give them to somebody else. All right? And that's the same with the gospel. The Lord has given everyone in this room, without exception, excellent tools. You have the full canon of Scripture. You have people who are saved around you. You have, listen, I'm a mere preacher. I'm certainly not the world's best preacher, that's for sure. But you have someone who feebly reads the Bible and gives you some pure explanation of it. You're without excuse tonight. You have all the tools you need to be right with God. You have everything. Christ has already died. He's went to the cross. It's all there. And yet you still say no. You still say no. Turn back with me, please. I'm going to finish here with this. Matthew chapter 10 and the verse 15, Matthew 10, 15, here's the same thing said again. Verily I say unto you, Matthew 10, 15, verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. What city? Read the previous verse. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words when you depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. And the point being made here, the Lord has sent his disciples out to go and preach. And if they're asking the question, if we go and preach and the people, they chase us, they reject us, the Lord says it'd be better for Sodom. and Gomorrah, and it will be for that sake, because they're rejecting the gospel of Jesus Christ. When they have a man there, a missionary there, to preach the truth about repentance and faith, and they reject it. Dear Unsaved, the more knowledge you have, the more you are accountable before God. I want you to understand that and feel the weight of that. Furthermore, dear Unsaved, tonight, you don't need more information. I'm not going to treat you like a fool tonight, or a child. I don't think you need any more information. You don't. You know this book. You know the Saviour. You know what's required here. What you need is the very thing that Corazon, Tyre, And Sidon, that Chorus and Bethsaida and Capernaum wouldn't do, go back to our first reading, our first text, and with this we finish then. Matthew 11, verse 20, here's the problem. Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done. Why? Because they repented not. That was it. They repented not. I wonder if Christ himself was here tonight and he raised the dead, would you repent? Would you get saved or would you still do it the exact same way? Dead in trespass and sins, being like Korah, Bethsaida, Capernaum, full of religion, that's for sure, but not repenting of sin. Tonight, you must repent. Imagine, imagine a hell, an eternity in hell, all because you did not repent of your sin. Tonight, repent, get right with God, turn from your iniquity and call upon God the Savior and whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall and will be saved. Please take your hymn books this evening. Turn with me to the hymn 221.