WWUTT 2002 Come to Me All Who Are Weary (Matthew 11:25-30)

WWUTT Podcast

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

Matthew 11 28 is a famous verse come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.

00:08

This is more than just relaxation of the body but it is an eternal promise when we understand the text.

00:25

This is when we understand the text a daily Bible study in the word of Christ that men and women of God may be complete equipped for every good work.

00:34

Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here's your teacher

00:39

Pastor Gabe. Thank you Becky and our study of Matthew 11 we're finishing up the chapter today with what is perhaps the most famous section in this particular chapter

00:48

Jesus saying come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.

00:56

Let's look at Matthew 11 verses 25 to 30 out of the Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the

01:02

Lord. At that time Jesus said I praise you father

01:07

Lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.

01:17

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 the son except the father nor does anyone know the father except the son and anyone to whom the son wills to reveal him.

01:36

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.

01:59

Consider what we've read as we've been studying in this particular chapter going back to last week where Jesus preaches about John the

02:06

Baptist that was in verses 1 through 19 and it was in that particular section that Jesus rebuked those who would not receive

02:14

John nor do they receive Christ. We considered that again yesterday verses 16 to 19 then you had those woes to the unrepentant cities to tour to chores in to Bethsaida and to Capernaum it would it will be better on the day of judgment for Sodom that it would be for them because they saw the miracles and yet they did not repent and put their trust in Christ as the

02:37

Savior whom the father had sent. It was back where Jesus was preaching about John the

02:43

Baptist. He said truly I say to you among those born of women there is not arisen anyone greater than John the

02:49

Baptist yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he and here it sounds as if Jesus is praising the father for those least in the kingdom of heaven that have been given to him revealing these secrets even to infants in this prayer that we read in verses 25 to 26

03:14

I praise you you've hidden these things from the wise and intelligent those Pharisees that Jesus had rebuked earlier and you have revealed them to infants yes father for this way was well pleasing in your sight now this conclusion to Matthew 11 we have this prayer in verses 25 to 26 you have a general address in verse 27 where Jesus says that all things have been handed over to me by my father and then he makes an appeal in verses 28 to 30 so that's how this particular section is broken up now verse 28 in particular come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest that's the verse that probably sticks out the most in this section it's the one that gets quoted the most often you find this verse often grouped with other verses telling you that you can trust the

04:07

Lord with all your cares and with your heartache and when you're just tired and you need to find rest you find it in Christ you just do a

04:16

Google search for Bible verses when I feel down and I found this verse in one article that was titled 21 comforting verses about worry another one was titled for Bible verses for comfort during physical illness and one of those was

04:33

Matthew 11 28 another article gave 18 Bible verses for depression that will help you through your darkest hours and then there was another one that presented five

04:44

Bible verses to read when you're depressed Matthew 11 28 is one of those that falls in with those cheer me up kind of verses now these are good simple reminders for tough times my wife used to have on the welcome screen on her or on her smartphone this three -word reminder

05:03

God feeds birds I had talked about that when we were back in the Sermon on the Mount so she liked to remind herself daily of what

05:10

Jesus said in Matthew 6 and in Luke 12 as God cares for the birds of the air how much more will he care for you but beware of singling out special Bible verses like therapy pills for whenever you feel down rather be feasting on God's Word all the time this verse is a good reminder but see everything else that's around it there's there's more to it it is fuller than just come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest it's important to see that this prayer also follows a warning so let's consider the very start of it again verse 25 at that time so after issuing these woes

05:54

Jesus says I praise you Father Lord of heaven and earth and what a great address this is

06:02

Jesus modeling with his prayer exactly the way that he taught his disciples to pray remember back to Matthew 6 pray then like this our

06:11

Father who art in heaven so such high and lofty praise that Jesus has for his own

06:18

Father if Jesus prayed in this way how much more should we pray in this way

06:24

I praise you Father he says Lord of heaven and earth ruler of things seen and unseen of that which is above and that which is below you have hidden these things the things that Jesus has talked about throughout this chapter the talking about John the

06:44

Baptist who comes preaching the kingdom Christ who's preaching the kingdom the woe to unrepentant cities you you saw the miracles and yet you did not believe but who does believe the disciples that are there with Jesus you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent the people who think they're so wise and intelligent because they think they know better than these miracles that have been performed and yet you have revealed them to infants

07:10

Jesus says remembering back to what Jesus said about John the Baptist John came neither eating or drinking and they say he has a demon did

07:20

John the Baptist have a demon of course not he was preaching in the

07:25

Holy Spirit doing what God the Father had told him to do as the forerunner to the

07:32

Messiah that was to come yet those who ignored him who did not see that this was from God said that John had a demon the

07:41

Son of Man came eating and drinking and they say behold a gluttonous man and a drunkard a friend of tax collectors and sinners but we know that Jesus is the

07:51

Son of God the incarnate Son of God God who put on flesh and dwelt among us it has been hidden from the wise and the intelligent but the truth of this has been revealed to infants it's not far from here we'll get to chapter 16 with Jesus asking his disciples who do you say that I am and Peter says you are the

08:14

Christ the Son of the Living God and Jesus says blessed are you Simon bar Jonah for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my

08:24

Father who is in heaven so here a recognition that it is the Father has revealed these things to his disciples and all who would call upon Christ is

08:33

Lord you you know Christ you know Jesus because it has been revealed to you by the

08:39

Father this is also John 644 no one can come to me unless the

08:44

Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day verse 26

08:51

Jesus says yes father for this way was well -pleasing in your sight or as it's worded in the

08:58

English Standard Version yes father for such was your gracious will it was well -pleasing in the sight of God reveal these things to the the the more humble those who are lowly the meek and to hide it from the proud as Paul was seeking to humble the

09:19

Corinthians he said in 1st Corinthians 126 consider your calling brothers that there were not many wise according to the flesh not many mighty not many noble but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong and the base things of the world and the despised

09:44

God has chosen the things that are not so that he may abolish the things that are so that no flesh may boast before God and then this verse just one of my favorites 1st

09:58

Corinthians 130 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

10:16

Lord this was well -pleasing in the sight of God so this is the prayer that we have in verses 25 and 26 then it's in verse 27 where Jesus gives this general statement all things have been handed over to me by my father now notice that Jesus says here we're not even halfway through Matthew yet it's in Matthew 28 at the start of the

10:42

Great Commission where Jesus says all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me that's not something that God did after the resurrection

10:51

God had given all things to the Son even before he is the the firstborn of all creation as said in Colossians 1 meaning that all the rights of the firstborn have been given to the son by the 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 you know the father and you know the son because the father is revealed the son and the son has revealed the father and has said in 1st

11:25

John 5 it is the Holy Spirit who testifies to both so you know God you know him intimately enough to recognize him as triune one

11:35

God three persons because God has revealed this to you it is only those who have this relationship with God that know

11:43

God in such a way and it is pleasing to God to reveal this so that's

11:49

Jesus general statement there in verse 27 it's in verse 28 that he says this famous line come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest now it is often said that the false teaching of the

12:05

Pharisees has made the people weak and loaded with burdens that's certainly true but in this context

12:12

Jesus has not confronted their false teaching immediately before this Jesus issued the woes to the cities who did not believe that would certainly include the

12:20

Pharisees but it's not exclusively mentioning the Pharisees rather this reference to all who are weak and heavy laden is an invitation to those who have been weighed down by many things not just the false teaching of the

12:35

Pharisees but the slavery of sin and the schemes of Satan that never seemed to relent the cares and the things of this world that never seemed to restore and the burden of false religion and man -made ordinances certainly that that never seemed to relieve in Christ we find rest from all of those snares all of that work all of these false assurances come all who are weary and heavy laden and by the way who can respond to this invitation the ones who respond to this invitation are the ones to whom the father has revealed the

13:18

Son that they may know that Jesus is the one that can relieve us from our weary and heavy laden burdens also consider the warnings that Jesus had just given to those cities who did not believe they will go down to hell he said and the judgment for them will be worse than it was even for Sodom by faith in Jesus the wrath of God is satisfied and that's what it means to have peace with God we have no fear of his judgment only the promise of his rest so Jesus finishes this prayer by saying take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light and by the way the word that gets translated there for gentle same word we had in the beatitudes back in Matthew 5 for meek blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth so you could also translate this as that I am meek and humble in heart in Jeremiah 616

14:34

Yahweh says stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths where the good way is and walk in it and you will find rest for your souls so it's that verse

14:49

Jeremiah 616 that's quoted here at the end of verse 29 you will find rest for your souls but Jeremiah 616 goes on to say but they said we will not walk in it so Jesus was quoting this word of God from the

15:06

Prophet Jeremiah the people who would not walk in the way God directed them to walk did not rest but they came into judgment so it said in Psalm 95 11 and repeated in Hebrews 3 11 so I swore in my wrath they will not enter my rest and so if we if we take

15:29

Jesus yoke upon us we will find rest for our souls and Jesus says for my yoke is easy and my burden is light you understand this reference to yoke right it's not it's not like yoke in an egg but the wooden frame joining to plow animals usually oxen this was called a yoke and to be yoked was a metaphor among the

15:56

Jews for a person's relationship to someone or something else whatever you are yoked to then whatever that thing or person is wherever it goes that's where you go so what are you yoked to are you yoked to Christ or are you yoked to the flesh are you yoked to the spirit or are you yoked to something else in this world maybe you're yoked to a particular person that keeps leading you into sin as we read in 2nd

16:30

Corinthians 614 do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers for what partnership does righteousness have with lawlessness or what fellowship has light with darkness what is heavier than the yoke of Christ is any other yoke but Christ's he will never unnecessarily burden you with things that never satisfy everything we receive from Jesus is good his gospel his grace his fellowship even his commandments his righteousness that has been imputed to us his rule his love his care all of these things we receive from Christ all very very good and cannot compare to anything else we are fully satisfied in Christ you remember the words of Psalm 23 the

17:31

Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he gives us all good things that we need even more than we think we need we get more than enough in Christ take my yoke upon you learn from me

17:49

Jesus says that's what you're doing right now right it's why you listen to this podcast so you can learn from God to hear the word of God spoken and taught

18:00

Jesus says 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

18:11

Jesus delivers us from our sin relieves us of our burdens he delivers us from the judgment that is coming against all the ways of the world the things that would weigh upon us and weary us instead of satisfy and comfort in Christ you will find rest for your souls in this life and in the life to come forever there is a rest that we have in Christ even now he is our

18:46

Sabbath rest and by the way that connection is made even here in the gospel of Matthew because we go from this into chapter 12 which we'll look at tomorrow with Jesus proclaiming that he is the

18:58

Lord of the Sabbath so we go right from this statement that you will find rest for your souls to Jesus making the statement that he is the

19:06

Lord of the Sabbath he is our Sabbath rest we rest from our works which could never save us anyway we rest knowing that our sins have been forgiven we rest in Christ knowing our eternity is secure you will find rest for your souls in Christ and when we have that kind of I do believe my friends you'll you'll feel that physically too what goes on in our souls even affects us physically if you are constantly burdened and stressed by the things that are going on in this world that vexes your soul you'll feel it in your body but if you can feel at ease and at peace with Christ that I believe you feel in your bones as well now that's not to say that you won't feel the gradual wear and tear of your body as it decays and is falling apart but it certainly won't be as hard as if you were to put yourself through unnecessary stresses that we can rest in Christ and know he has relieved us of these burdens doesn't mean that our life will be stress -free

20:18

Jeremiah which I quoted from a moment ago after all he was referred to as the weeping prophet and Jesus is even called a man of sorrows in Isaiah 53 we read back in the

20:29

Beatitudes blessed are they who mourn so we will still go through very stressful times but we can rest easy in Christ knowing that though this world is not our final home we will be forever with the

20:45

Lord in glory where all the stresses and concerns that we are burdened with in this life will be no more in eternity and that even makes this journey a little bit easier heavenly father we thank you for what we've read here and I pray it is something we continue to think about and meditate on what it means to find rest in Christ what it means that our burdens have been lifted we we do have a burden take my yoke upon you learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart there there is still a burden that we carry but it's light my yoke is easy my burden is light

21:27

Jesus said we are yoked with Christ he leads us on the way we are burdened but it is our pleasure to bear it for it is not something that leads us to destruction or death as our sin did rather it is to be clothed in his righteousness that leads to everlasting life and so lord

21:47

I I pray that you continue to guide us in these truths today help us to seek Christ in all things with all that we are that we may know this rest that he has promised us it's in Jesus name we pray amen pastor gabe is the author of several books and bible studies available in paperback or for your e -reader for titles and more information visit our website at www .utt