The Sweetest Invitation Matthew 11:25-30

Friendship, Family, and the Eternal Fellowship of the Trinity

One of the greatest blessings of life is friendships when your child. What you learn very quickly is that you gravitate towards some people more than others. You learn that you can have deep relationships outside of your family and you call these people friends.

One thing that you realize is that true friends are hard to come by. It's common to think that you have a friendship when you really don't. The superficial nature of it over time displays that a true friendship was never really there.

But true friendships have certain characteristics. First of all a friendship takes commitment from both sides. If One party pursues the friendship while the other does not this is not a true friendship.

Both parties need to be committed to deepening and fostering this relationship. Second of all a true friend strength stands through you with you through thick and thin. It's almost like a marriage. The deepest of all friendships includes the line for better or for worse in sickness and in health till death do us part.

Now non marriage friendships. Do not have the depth and intimacy of a marriage between a man and a woman. But those lines can really be used for a friendship as well. Proverbs 17 17 says that a friend loves at all times.

No matter what you're going through a true friend will stand by you. One of the great delights in my four plus years at this church is that I have seen true friendships form. It is God's design. That we would all be real friends because it is his design that we are family a church family.

The church that resembles this is a mature united healthy Church. Friendships are a beautiful thing and It's God's invention. But long before human friendships were there. There was a friendship in eternity past the greatest of all relationships it is the relationship between father son and Holy Spirit.

For all eternity these three persons of the Godhead have loved each other with a love that we cannot fully comprehend. But then God did something. He created the world that is populated with his image bearers.

These image bearers are meant to find their meaning and satisfaction through entering a relationship with the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. The meaning of life is entering this eternal relationship.

What is remarkable about this relationship between God and humans is that God is the one who pursues us? It is this friendship. That is the greatest friendship that we can have. The only one who can satisfy you forever wants a deep personal intimate friendship with you.

The Gospel of the Kingdom Revealed to the Humble

It's remarkable to ponder that this morning as We continue our sermon series through Matthew. We are going to see Jesus extend this invitation to his image bearers. So this time I encourage you to turn in the Bible with me to Matthew chapter 11.

We'll be looking at verses 25 through 30 and if you're using a red Bible in the fuse is on page 9 70 this sermon is titled the sweetest Invitation and here's our big idea. It's what the sermon is calling you to do.

Understand that in Christ alone does one find relief from life's endless strain. Understand that in Christ alone Does one find relief from life's endless? strain. We're gonna see three reasons. Why as we dig into this text, but before we jump into our text Let me give you a little recap of Where we were.

Or where we have been. We've seen several very convicting Hopefully convicting sobering sermons in Matthew 10 Jesus talked about how persecution will come to his followers. What we learn is that as you live for the truth inevitably what will come is opposition.

There will be pushback and then in chapter 11 We saw an example of one who walked faithfully with the Lord through thick and thin and he received pushback. John the Baptist. John the Baptist was imprisoned.

Eventually he lost his life. Most of the nation of Israel did not want to hear the truth. They were content continuing in their false Jewish system. What we learned last week is that as evil as much of the secular world is in God's eyes the outwardly Religious that reject him are more of an abomination to him than the pagan world.

What we saw is That those who harden their heart and criticize the truth and those who are indifferent To this glorious truth that has been presented to them. These people will pay the ultimate price.

Remember these are the religious people. These two groups of people who are overly religious will have a worse experience at the final judgment Than the pagan world and this is so because of the exposure to the truth.

Lots of exposure to the truth makes one more accountable, which means there's more of a severe judgment. Now this leads us to our text this morning. Let's begin by taking a look at verse 25 as we begin 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.

So we see here as we begin is a prayer where Jesus praises his father in heaven. The context is a very important to understand. Is it always is. The invitation we are about to see in this passage follows the condemnation that we just saw in the previous passage when Jesus condemned Kharazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum.

These people saw all these wonderful works that he did and they said no. Thanks. We'll pursue something else. They rejected the kingdom and now he's going to offer the kingdom to those who stand before him.

Listening and what Jesus says here. He says publicly. Sometimes in life there is private information that we can only share with a few people. But the gospel is not that the gospel is intended to be proclaimed on The rooftops and this is what Jesus is doing here.

What we see in the first part of this verse is that Jesus praises his father. Jesus mentioning God as his father highlights his unique relationship to him. We'll see more of that in verse 27. He also praises his father for his sovereign role in salvation.

The crowd heard Jesus say as he prayed that God is sovereign over heaven and earth. This is a reminder that God is writing the story of human history. He is Lord over all that happens. What God has sovereignly chosen to do as verse 25 says is that he has hidden these things From the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.

So what are the these things? That have been revealed to some but hidden from others. And this is where we need to be reminded of the first ten chapters of Matthew starting in chapter 3 and Sprinkled in many other spots what we have seen is that the gospel of the kingdom has been offered.

The king has arrived and he has proclaimed That a kingdom is coming and the only people who are going to populate this future kingdom are those who repent and Believe in the Messiah and As we look at verse 25, we also need to ask Who are the wise and intelligent and who are the little children?

The wise and intelligent are those who are sophisticated in their own eyes. This is both the religious and non Religious of the world people who do not know God, but they think that they're wise and that they're intelligent.

Now it's not intelligence. That is the problem rather Intelligence that is accompanied with pride. That is the problem. The one who is smart, but also proud is unable to humble him or herself before God.

This is why Jesus said in Matthew 5 3 blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The poor in spirit are those who recognize their sinfulness. See their need to repent and put their trust in the only one who can save them.

One has to humble him or herself to come to God in repentance and faith. But many intelligent people cannot bring themselves to see their utter brokenness because of their deep pride. Pride leads to an intelligent people to be selfish to be blind to their own sinfulness and To refuse to give glory to another.

Namely to give glory to God. Intelligent people Who have succumbed to pride are not content to submit themselves to God's truth But are impressed with their own wisdom. In the secular world the folly human wisdom is easy to see.

People are willing to embrace lies Because they are unwilling to submit themselves to their Creator. Romans 1 verses 21 through 22 says for although they knew God They did not honor him as God or give thanks to him.

But they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise they became fools. If you were to ask a random person a random secular person that is Who is or who are the smartest people in the world?

What answer would they give you? They would answer by telling you their fellow pagans Albert Einstein Stephen Hawking Richard Dawkins Neil degrasse Bill Nye and others. But how does God view these people?

He views them as fools. Now it doesn't mean that they're fools in every way they've they've learned some things they discovered some things. But largely speaking he views them as fools. And this doesn't mean they don't have a high IQ.

They do. It just means that they use the high intellect that God has given them to use for evil Rather than for good. Proverbs 1 7 says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But the one who does not fear the Lord will only end up with foolish beliefs.

What drives the thinking of the secular mind is not a clear mind, but rather a Confused mind a an agenda mind a mind that has animosity and Animosity is directed towards one one's creator. They think that you're crazy for believing in God you are crazy for believing that the Bible is the standard for truth in this world.

But when you look at all the evidence that all points to the Creator God if you're just following the evidence. That's where you end up. It's easy to defend the existence of God. Look around you. It's also easy to defend the Bible.

Look around you and see how everything the Bible says fits the world to a tee. In the last couple of years we have seen total depravity on display. The secular world has been exposed in ways that it has never been exposed before.

I believe. It was hidden a lot of it was hidden now. It's right out there for everyone to see. It's not about science. It's about agenda. It's about power, and it's all connected right if you think that Science has anything to do with climate change or Evolution or Kovat 19 now.

Kovat 19 I understand there's a virus out there. Okay, but it's a lot a lot more is going on than just the virus. You must understand that. You go right down the list here. Racial injustice. Do you think that you really has to do with racial injustice?

I'm telling it's all connected. It's the world system. And it's built on lies. And let's not be fooled by that. We've seen total depravity on display. We've seen lies. This world needs a Savior and people need to believe in him.

This world needs a King and that King is coming to reign forever, and he'll be the king we always longed for. But intellectual depravity does not just belong to the secular, but also to the religious.

What religious unbelievers and pagan unbelievers have in common is that they love human wisdom. They are impressed with their own with their own creative minds. They say let's throw away those Sunday school stories and find truth through human wisdom.

This is the problem in the American Evangelical Church. For example, let's not completely throw out critical race theory or social justice. There's some things we can learn from this atheistic Marxist ideology.

Then you have broader Christianity that makes the same mistake as the false Jewish system that developed after the Old Testament prophets. The scribes and Pharisees developed a works righteousness System a works righteousness salvation.

They believed if the good outweighs the bad. That's how you'll enter heaven. And as you look at church history this has happened In in Roman Catholicism and in the Eastern Orthodox Face of faith that developed a works righteousness system that says Jesus does some to get you to heaven.

But you need to earn your own way. There's also a new teaching that came up in the last 50 years or so called the new perspective on Paul. It is also a works righteousness system. And these all come from religious teachers, but make no mistake about it.

It is human wisdom. But the Bible is very clear on salvation and please hear me very clearly the Bible is very clear on Salvation. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone and this alone is our authority.

When it comes to a relationship with God you bring nothing to the table. The only way you can enter a relationship with God and dwell with him forever is recognizing your utter sinfulness. You must recognize that only Jesus can save you and you can never earn your own way to heaven.

Jesus went to the cross and he paid the full penalty for your sins. And then he rose gloriously from the dead on the third day. By believing that he earned your salvation for you you have eternal life and if you sincerely believe you're saved.

And Works by the way are they're important in the sense that they're the evidence that you're saved. But you don't do them to earn your salvation. This gospel that I just proclaimed to you is not human wisdom.

It's God's Word. It's God's truth and it comes straight from the Bible and we're gonna see that here in the next couple of verses. Believe this and you will be saved but believe human wisdom and you will be lost forever.

Do not be impressed by the wise and Intelligent of this age. On the other hand the little children of verse 25. Who are these people? These are the ones we want to be. These are the ones Who know what life is all about?

They're not celebrated by the world. But these are the ones who have it. These are the ones who realize their sinfulness. They realize that only trusting God's plan through Christ and not your own Will bring you into an eternal relationship with him.

The humble belong to God not the proud. The proud rely on themselves while the humble rely on God. The humble want glory for God while the proud want glory for self. It is the little ones and not those who are wise in their own sight who belong to Christ.

Now Jesus says in verse 25 that the truth of the gospel was hidden to the wise and understanding and we might ask Wasn't the gospel proclaimed to everyone. Yes, it was. But most of the Jews that Jesus preached to didn't want it.

As the Apostle Paul was in prison at the end of the book of Acts He proclaimed that the nation of Israel largely rejected the gospel. Acts chapter 28 verse 26 he proclaimed What Isaiah chapter 6 verses 9 and 10 predicted.

You will indeed hear but never understand and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull and with their ears they can barely hear and their eyes they have closed. Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with the ears and understand with their heart and turn and I would heal them.

So in this sense the truth was not revealed to them. The Holy Spirit did not move in their hearts in such a way where they received the truth of the gospel with joy. Which is what a genuine believer does.

They saw the truth and they didn't want it. And we saw this last week with Kharazin Bethsaida and Capernaum these cities where Jesus did all these mighty works. They said wow, we're impressed with these miracles.

But we don't want you. Now what's interesting is that Jesus tells us in verse 26 that this was God's plan. Listen to this. Yes, father for such was your gracious will. And this is what the Bible teaches.

Ephesians 111 says that everything happens According to the counsel of his will. What this means is that God planned their rejection and this is how it came to pass. One of the great mysteries of life is how does God's sovereignty and human freedom fit together?

The Bible affirms both and It's not a contradiction to say that. But it is a mystery. The Bible affirms that God is completely sovereign over all of history, but also that we make our own choices. We're not robots.

We do what we want to do. But as we say all of this we must still affirm that God is fully sovereign over our Choices. What Jesus does in this verse is praise God for his plan. God's plan. Was that many would rely on their own faulty wisdom that made the offer of the gospel of the kingdom unattractive?

And there would be others who would not rely on human wisdom that would humble themselves that would recognize their sinfulness believe in the Messiah and Enter this future kingdom. So we must understand that in Christ alone does one find relief from life's endless Strain and the first reason why is that human wisdom will never find the truth.

So let's not be impressed with human wisdom. It'll never lead you To where you need to be. Here's our second reason. Why we must understand that that in Christ alone does one find a real life Relief from life's endless strain and that is this Christ opens up the eyes of the humble.

Christ Reveals the Father to Those He Chooses

He opens up the eyes of the humble verse 27. So in the first point we we looked a bit at those who humble themselves and now we are going to see how the humble enter this relationship. So, let's see what Jesus says in verse 27.

He says all things have been had 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.

I already mentioned in verse 25 that Jesus refers to God as his father in The Old Testament the Jews understood the deep Intimate relationship they had with God, but they would not have called God their father in a personal sense but only in the corporate father of Israel sense.

Now New Revelation in the New Testament reveals the unique relationship of the Trinity and also that we refer to God as our father as well. Here Jesus is describing his personal intimate relationship as God's Son.

Jesus calls God his father in ways that we can't. He is the unique Son of the Father. John 3 16 says that he is the only begotten Son and We are sons in the sense that we are adopted into this family the family of God.

And so we call him our father. What Jesus says as God's unique son is that his father has handed all things over to him as as God. God the Father has Complete authority and as we already read in verse 25, the father is Lord of heaven and earth.

But the father who has this authority shares this same authority with his only begotten Son. In the Gospel of Matthew, we have already seen Jesus authority over disease demons the weather life death. And he had authority to forgive sins.

Colossians chapter 1 verses 16 and 17 says this about Jesus for by him all things were created in Heaven and on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through him and for him.

So Jesus has authority over everything in the universe even over the spiritual realm the realm of angels and demons of Heaven and hell these realms that we can't see. Can you imagine someone in the first century? standing beside him.

Imagine yourself being in the first century standing beside him. He has more power Than anyone could ever imagine. He created all things. He sustains all things. He knows everything. He knows your thoughts.

He delivers people to heaven and sends people to hell. Satan our greatest adversary trembles at Him. What we also see in verse 27 is that he describes this intimate relationship that he has with his father.

What Jesus says is that no one knows the father exhaustively like he does and Jesus can only say this because He is God. It takes an infinite person to fully understand another infinite person and The Holy Spirit is implied here as well as 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verse 11 says no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

As Humans we we can never know God fully. We will always be learning new things about him and by the way. This is why heaven will never be boring because we're always gonna be learning new things about God.

We're always gonna be amazed at who God is. But we can know him as finite creatures, even though God is limitless. And this is why Jesus says at the end of verse 27. Not only did the father and the son know each other but look who else enters this relationship as Jesus says.

And Anyone to whom the son chooses To reveal him. What Jesus makes clear here is that one cannot understand God and his truth apart from this book apart from divine revelation. Once again, first Corinthians 2 is a good place to go to understand this.

And this is what Paul wrote in verses 13 and 14 of that chapter. He says we impart this in words. Not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit. Interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

The natural person Does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. For they are folly to him and he's not able to understand them because they are spiritually Discerned. You ever wonder why someone who you know is not mesmerized by Christ and is not Excited and thrilled.

To love Jesus with all their heart and to live for him. It's because unbelievers do not see the truth of God's Word as glorious. They see something else as glorious. They do not they don't see the truth of God's Word as glorious.

But instead live for idols. And Try to find their satisfaction there and their sinful hearts lead them to believe that their human wisdom is where the glory is. That that figuring out your own path to happiness or figuring out your own answers to life.

That's where the glory is their pride blinds them. While the ones who humble who got whom God humbles Can clearly see the truth of God's Word. But God has to be the one to humble the person first. And as we look at our world Please understand that most of the world will laugh at you.

Many people on Sunday mornings think of us as poor ignorant deceived hopeless souls going to church. Like why would you go to church? There's so many other things you can do to on a beautiful Sunday morning.

Let's go hunting. Let's go fishing. Let's go shopping. Let's let's go to the early brunch on Mother's Day, but you know why you're here. You know What life is all about? You know that you need this book.

And you need fellowship with other believers. The blind in the world who rely on human wisdom. Think that church is for those who need a crutch. The world tells us to be self-sufficient. To pursue the world's way to think highly of ourselves and to be self-righteous.

This happens both in the secular and the corrupt false religious systems. But we know who we are. We are sinners deserving of God's holy wrath. We are beggars. We know that without God we are nothing but with God we will be who he created us to be.

We know that with God we have true knowledge. The only way to know the meaning of life is through the Bible. It is the only book that God has written. It is the only book that tells us the whole truth.

It is the only book that will lead you into a sweet intimate friendship with your Creator the one you were created to know. And you'll never be happy unless you discover this as Divine truth is presented to you and the Sun reveals himself to you and you believe you enter this sweetest of all friendships.

And one question that people ask sometimes is Why did God create the universe? If he was so happy In eternity past. Why did he create us? Was there some emptiness in in him? Was there some lack? That he needed to create a world with people who could love him.

And I was reading a book from an author by the name of Joe Rigney a while back and He compared it to a husband and wife who are so in love with each other. But their love does not keep them from having children.

They have children so that their children can share in their love and. For parents in this room you can relate to this. You love each other so much as a husband and wife and you want to create? Children to join the deep love that you have with each other.

So with this understanding God is not creating us because he lacked in some way. Rather he creates us out of the overflow of his joy. And theologians call this Trinitarian fullness out of his fullness he creates us to join this eternal fellowship.

And when you come to faith in Christ you join the sweetest fellowship of all with the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. Understand that in Christ alone. Does one find relief from life's endless strain.

And the second reason? Why is that Christ opens up the eyes of the humble to come to him? Here's our third and final reason why we must understand that in Christ alone does one find relief. From life's endless strain and that is this.

Come to Christ and Find Rest for Your Souls

Those who submit to Christ find true rest. Those who submit to Christ find true rest and we'll see us in verses 28 through 30. So remember here Jesus is he's talking here. He's talking and there's a crowd before him.

There's people listening and so it's a great opportunity for him to give an invitation To the many people who are listening to him. And He's inviting them to join this richest of all fellowships. Let's look at the first half of verse 28 where Jesus says Come to me all who labor and are heavy.

Laid in it will stop right there. He begins by saying come to me. Jesus is putting his arms out and Saying come to us come. Come join this fellowship. Jesus is not hidden and it's up to you to find him on some amazing quest.

No. He is the one who pursues you. He finds us. John 644 says this no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him. He pursues us not the other way around. When it comes to salvation God pursues us before we ever pursue him and I've heard it described like a salesman persuading a customer.

Jesus is saying something like this, you know, come over here. You don't want to stay where you're at. You don't want to live in bondage to sin. You don't want the devil to rule your life any longer. You don't want to follow the world that is passing away.

Come to me as we read this morning and the call to worship come to me and you will find eternal life. Remember. Peter said Where else should we go? You're the only one with the words of eternal life. There is nowhere else to go.

You see all these people. On the Internet, they're called deep deconversion stories. They're leaving the faith. They're on a bridge to nowhere. There is nowhere else to go. And Peter said. Because when Jesus gave that sermon in John 6 He had a bunch of false disciples who were listening to him and they didn't like what he said.

And so they jumped ship. And then it was Jesus and his disciples and Peter speaks up. After Jesus asked them are you gonna leave too and Peter says Where else are we gonna go? Only you have the words of eternal life.

So it's so sad when someone leaves the faith because They're on the road to destruction. What a tragedy. So Jesus here describes what people are like as he invites them. Everyone is like this as he invites them in verse 28.

He invites those who are weary and heavy laden. The weary that Jesus is referring to are those who are searching for the meaning of life. They are also those who are trying to earn their own way to heaven.

Because remember there's all these religions out there right and they're all trying to find the way to God find the way to heaven and. To be in this position is an agonizing place. It's not a restful place.

Every false religion tells you that you need to do work to get to heaven. Only biblical Christianity the one true religion in the world says you can't do it. That's what Jesus is saying here. You can't do it.

Give up surrender. Give up pursuing this lost cause. Your dead works are not gonna earn your way to heaven. Give up this burdensome life where there is no hope. Jesus has already paid it all at the cross.

So come to him when you see a cross. That's what that means, right? Come to the cross. And when Jesus says heavy-laden what this means is the burdens placed on one by human wisdom specifically a false Religious system that tells people they need to follow certain rules rules that God did not give.

Man-made religion places burdens on people that God doesn't place on it on people. That should be a relief to hear that. Anything that one says you must do when God never says Will be a burden on those who want a relationship with God, but need a true shepherd to show them the way Jesus is telling the crowd that I didn't put these burdens on you false teachers put them on you.

Don't listen to them. Those listening to Jesus would have known very well about the burdens that the scribes and the Pharisees Put on them and what a relief it would have been to hear. Don't listen to these people.

The religious experience of the first century and the religious experience of a lot of people today is not a pleasant experience and You wonder why people don't want to come to church because they think that's what it is.

That's not what we are. We're about fullness of joy and Pleasures forevermore. Who doesn't want that? But Satan deceives people into thinking that that's what religion is. True religion is not that false religion is.

Then we get to the sweet words of Jesus at the end of verse 28. And these words are so comforting to the one who is weary and heavy laden. He says this I Will give you rest. They come to me weary and heavy laden.

I Will give you rest. And the Greek word here for rest means to refresh or revive from labor or a long journey. A Couple weeks ago Brandon. I went to the other side of Wisconsin Racine. And we drove with our two kids and we got home and it's nice getting home right because you can rest from your journey from your labor.

You work all day. Especially the blue a blue-collar job right you're working hard all day. I know we have many of you in this room and you go home and you rest. And it's nice to do that. But the rest that Jesus is talking about here is rest for your soul.

And what he is saying is stop searching as to how to get to heaven. Stop trying to earn your own way. Stop carrying burdens that you're not meant to carry but come to him and find rest and This rest comes through humbling yourself in repentance and putting your faith in Christ alone for your salvation.

It's called rest because you're ceasing from your effort and trying to get. To have in your own way, right? You've given up that I'm not gonna try to do this on my own. You're ceasing from that. And he also calls it rest because to pursue religion apart from Christ is to rob one of true joy and peace.

As one author wrote to be in God's rest is to be freed from the Uncertainties of running from philosophy to philosophy from religion to religion from guru to guru. Hoping somehow and somewhere to discover truth.

Peace happiness and eternal life. Why do you think bookstores are full of books about self-help? Because people are looking for this and many haven't found it. But it's right here. People want peace happiness and Eternal life, but you're only gonna find it in one place the one talking right here Jesus.

Then his comforting words continue in verses 29 and 30 where he says. 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.

So Jesus gives us an illustration here. A Yoke was made of wood and it was made to fit the shoulders of a neck or the shoulders and neck of an animal. It was put there to prevent chafing. It was part of the harness.

It was used to pull a cart or plow. The master used the yoke to guide the animal to accomplish work in the field. All right, and some of them might be a little harder than others and when they jerked on it this one but Jesus and my yoke is gentle a gentle pull.

In Ancient times it was also used to describe a student's relationship to a teacher as. The students submitted to his or her teacher. One would receive instruction. And this is what Jesus has in mind as he says in verse 29 to learn from me.