Jesus Chooses Whom He Saves

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Open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 11, Gospel according to Matthew chapter 11.

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As you guys get there, I've really truly enjoyed the last couple of weeks being able to talk about the connection, the bridge between the

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Old Testament and the New Testament, John the Baptist. Hopefully, we'll get that John the Baptist message up onto YouTube.

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I hope that it blesses people. It's been challenging to me as I prepare for these messages, thinking on these things.

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It's encouraged me. It's ignited more of a fire and a passion within me to serve God, to tell the truth, to be bold, and it's also created more and more of a passion within me and a humility to really see just how the

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Word of God ties together in the way that it does. It's powerful. Testimony to God's sovereign hand throughout history, and the fact that God does in His Word tell us history before it happens.

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So Matthew chapter 11, we went through the texts, Jesus talking about John the

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Baptist and his ministry, and now we're in Matthew chapter 11 verse 20, hear now the words of the living

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God. Then He began to denounce the cities, this is Jesus, where most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.

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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.

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But I tell you, it'll be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you,

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Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You'll be brought down to Hades.

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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.

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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.

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Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my

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Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the

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Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

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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.

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Thus far as the reading of God's Holy Word, let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for Jesus.

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We thank you, God, that we have knowledge of you now, God, not just thoughts about you in our heads, but we know you intimately.

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And Lord Jesus, we thank you that for those of us that trust in you, that you and your grace chose to reveal

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God, the Father, to us. Thank you that we know you and we can come before you with bold and confident access, not because of anything in ourselves, but because of your sovereign grace.

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We thank you, God, that you have called us to yourself, that you've given us your Word. I pray, God, for this message, that you'd bless your people with understanding of just how gracious your grace is and how deep your love is for us.

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Please help me, God, to communicate from your Word truths about who we really are and just how much you love us.

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I pray, God, that you'd get me out of the way, that you'd be glorified in this message that you would teach by your

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Spirit, and that people will forget me. And remember your name throughout all the ages, in Jesus' name, amen.

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So this, if you guys are just getting into the text with us, this is an important moment.

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The gospel according to Matthew starts off telling the story immediately about Jesus as having the right to the royal throne of David.

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The fact that we have those genealogies that most of us pass over is really a glorious thing.

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Those genealogies actually are testimony to God's covenant faithfulness, whereas we see those and we skip over them.

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The writers of Scripture put those in there for a very specific purpose. They tell the story of a sovereign

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God who was actually wielding history so mightily and powerfully that He actually did so through individual people.

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If you look at that long list, it's a long list of sinners that God used to bring about His redemptive purposes.

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But Matthew is telling the story from the perspective of a Jewish person that knows that the

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Jews were waiting because of God's promises for Mashiach, for the Messiah to come and to bring deliverance, salvation, and, listen, to bring a kingdom, a rule that would actually fall over the entire face of the earth, that all the nations were going to return to God.

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All the families of the earth were going to return to worship God. That's what Matthew knows.

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Now, this is important. We've talked about it before, but Matthew was the most popular of all four

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Gospels. Matthew is the most popular in the second century of the church. It's the most quoted from, and that ought to tell us something about how much this text had transforming power in the lives of people.

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I think that all the Bible is the Word of God and all the Gospels are amazing, word from God. They're all precious and beautiful.

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But I think Matthew, I think it does something to people when they see that God has told a particular story in history, and Matthew picks up on that point that God has said that these things were going to take place, and now enter

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Jesus, and now we find in them their final fulfillment in the Messiah himself who comes to bring that salvation, to die for the sins of his people, to rise from the dead, and then to take his seat on his throne, which by the way is where Matthew ends,

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Matthew 28, 18 through 20. He has the right to the throne. Here are all the acts of Jesus.

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Here's all the fulfillment, and then Matthew 28 is the climax. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

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That's what the text says. And here's what's so powerful about that. Matthew has a particular story in mind. He has something, he's trying to share with the world about how

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Jesus is in fact the Lord himself come to save his people. The fact that Jesus fulfills all those promises.

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The fact that, watch, that kingdom, that rule of God in the entire world is actually happening now in Jesus.

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That's what Matthew is getting across to Jew and Gentile, the ruler of the world, the king.

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God himself, the savior, has taken his rightful position on the throne where all of his authority over the earth, and now he's drawing all to himself,

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Jews and Gentiles, bringing his salvation to the ends of the earth, which is exactly what the

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Bible said was going to happen long before Jesus came. Now that's the overarching story, at least part of it, of the gospel according to Matthew.

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Now what makes this particular chapter about John the Baptist so compelling is it now creates the bridge between the

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Old Testament and the New Testament. So many prophecies in that Old Testament talking about specifics.

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Who is the Messiah? Isaiah 9 -6, God himself. Micah 5 -2, the eternal one, coming to Bethlehem.

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What's he going to do? Well, Psalm 22, he's going to have his hands and feet pierced, his heart like wax melted within him, surrounded by dogs, his garments divided among them for his clothing casting lots.

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Isaiah 53, pierced through for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, a chastisement for our peace fell upon him and by his wounds we are healed.

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There's those kinds of what's. What's going to take place? The why is in the text, of course.

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We know what the Bible says about our sins and our need for a savior and salvation and reconciliation and peace with God.

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We know about all these details, but there's also this bridge, this connection between Old Covenant and New Covenant, and there's a figure right in the middle of that that they anticipated as coming.

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They knew Mashiach was coming, so we know the ruler is coming to bring salvation, but there's someone coming before him that's going to lead the way to prepare before he actually breaks into history with his kingdom, and that person, that forerunner is

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John the Baptist. Now they knew about it from the Old Testament. There's this intertestamental period, this time where essentially they saw

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God as being silent, sort of the waiting period, right? The air is sucked out of the room, right?

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We're just sort of on standby waiting for like, when's that boom? When's the explosion?

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So the intertestamental period is this period where there's no more prophetic writings, no more scripture being produced, no more is coming forth from God.

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All they're doing is waiting, but watch. It's not just waiting. It's not in a confused kind of waiting like, is anything going to happen at all?

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As a matter of fact, it was a very specific kind of waiting. They knew what was going to happen, but they also knew the timing of it.

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They can count down the days. Daniel gives specifics about when the kingdom is breaking into history. There's four kingdoms, and then

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God himself sets up a kingdom that'll never be destroyed, but they can count. Okay, there's

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Babylon, that's what Daniel wrote that, the Medo -Persians, we have the Greeks, and now they have Rome, and so now those who are under the

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Roman Empire, the boot of the Roman Empire, they know this is the fourth kingdom, y 'all. They're like, any moment, but then it gets deeper,

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Daniel chapter nine. The angel Gabriel tells Daniel when the Messiah is coming.

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It's a very, very amazing and somewhat complicated prophecy of the 70 weeks, but here's what you do know.

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You can count down the days from when this decree goes forth, and you can count down the days of the

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Messiah, and listen, listen, that's why so much fervor in the first century.

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That's why so many false messiahs and these false Christs are popping up all over the map.

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Why? Because they knew this was the time. They know it. This is Rome. I can count the days.

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You've got the wise men even looking at the stars. God is even controlling them and where they're going to point to the

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Messiah, and these pagans are coming to the birth side of Jesus, or where Jesus is at that time, and they're wanting to know where's the king of the

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Jews so that we can worship him. The pagans are coming now. They know this is a very important time in history, so you've got to understand when

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John the Baptist breaks into history, the forerunner, that's a big deal. He's the bridge.

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He's the signal. He's that bell, not a cowbell, just he's like ringing, like, we're finally here.

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Ring the dinner bell. It's time to come and eat. It's time, and so here comes

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John the Baptist, and when he breaks into Matthew 3, it's a big deal. It doesn't mean much to us today,

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Christians. We get jaded to these things. You've got to admit it. I'll confess it. You get jaded to it. You hear kingdom of God, Jesus is the king.

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He rules over the world. Admit it. You get indifferent. You get jaded. You get cavalier about it. All of us do.

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You take advantage of it. Oh, yeah, Jesus is the king of the world, bringing the nations, like, yeah, gospel of the kingdom.

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You just do, right? But, like, it's a big deal for them. They know it's coming, but see, we're not doing what they were doing.

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They have, like, a physical temple with the priest himself going in, Yom Kippur, animal sacrifices.

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They have all these rituals, the dietary restrictions and the clothing restrictions separating Jew from Gentile, and they're just waiting, and they're waiting, and they're waiting, and now breaks in John the

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Baptist, and what is the first thing out of his mouth? He says, repent. Everyone's like, okay,

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I heard that before. He says, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, is at hand.

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It's within reach. It's at the end of the fingers. This is, like, a big deal. The ruler of the world, watch, who's going to destroy all the works of the enemy, who's going to bring creation back to its purpose, where image bearers of God have no more sin to deal with, and they're in intimate communion and fellowship with God and with one another.

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That's happening? And God's going to remove the curse as far as it's found, and that's happening?

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It's a big deal. Here's the forerunner, John the Baptist, and he says, repent. He's calling people back to the law of God and to justice and to mercy, which is, by the way, exactly what the

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Old Testament text says in Malachi chapter 3 and 4 that Elijah, who was to come, would do.

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He would point people back to the law of Moses. He would call people to repentance and turn their hearts back to God.

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And here's John the Baptist, and watch, the first thing he's doing is he's condemning the religious leaders of his day.

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He's confronting them for their sin, for their violations of God's law. And he says to them, watch, that judgment is about to hit.

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It's coming. It's coming. Get ready. He says, brood of vipers, who warns you to flee from the wrath about to come?

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The wrath about to come. Now, I've been stressing over the last couple of weeks, and I don't know that I do a good enough job of showing this, demonstrating it, but it is powerful.

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John provides the bridge between the old and the new, that the kingdom of God is breaking into history. But what you know from the

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Old Testament, and we're not going to rehearse it today, is that when the Messiah came into history, he was going to bring salvation and judgment.

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And John the Baptist is telling a story about both. He says, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

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He knows the kingdom is coming. Salvation has arrived. But then he's doing the other thing. He's warning about what they should have known, that the coming of the

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Messiah meant salvation and judgment. That's what the Bible says. Look at those texts from the

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Old Testament. We rehearsed at least twice now. The Messiah was going to bring purification and salvation and judgment.

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And John's telling about both, salvation and judgment. And it's about to strike, guys.

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And so Jesus now is telling the story of John the Baptist. He says, the greatest born of women.

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And in this moment, powerful, he says, if you look in verse 18,

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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.

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Jesus now addresses the slander against himself, showing that his generation was a generation of hypocrites.

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John comes in a lifelong fast, a lifelong fast.

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There's nothing wrong with the wine, with the eating, nothing sinful about those things. But John is dedicated to a lifelong fast and testimony, like Elijah the prophet, who called people to repentance.

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His ministry is modeled after Elijah. By the way, Jesus says that John the

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Baptist is the Elijah who was to come. You might be confused because you say, well, wait a minute, they asked John the

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Baptist, are you Elijah? And he said, no, I am not. And here's why, he's addressing their misconception.

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They thought Elijah was actually going to physically rise from the dead and come back.

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You know, I'm not Elijah. I'm not actually Elijah. But Jesus says he was the

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Elijah who was to come. This lifelong fast and repentance, he's calling people to turn back to God.

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And Jesus comes and what's he doing? He's eating and drinking. Drinking what?

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Wine. Grape juice? No, wine. That's why they accused him of being a drunk. You can't call someone a drunk who's drinking grape juice, but they were slandering

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Jesus. He wasn't actually a drunk. But Jesus comes now and he shows that they're hypocrites because you have a prophet who has a lifelong fast and then you have the

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Messiah, God himself, and you don't like either. You're actually coming against both of us.

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Hypocrites. So now Jesus begins to denounce them and he says this, then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, verse 20, because they did not repent.

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Here it is. Woe to you. Now this is, in particular, a very significant prophetic word.

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Now you got to get this. We read the text, woe to you, woe to you, and we're familiar with it if we read the

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Bible. We've seen it before. We know what it is and we see Jesus saying it. We know that it's significant, but we have to understand this.

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This isn't a word that prophets throw around flippantly. They don't say woe to you to everybody.

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They're not just kicking that word out to anybody and you need to know this, that when a biblical prophet says woe to you, that's terrifying.

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Woe to you in biblical prophecy is a way of calling down the curse and judgment and wrath of God upon a person or a people.

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It's significant. And so when Jesus is doing these mighty works, he's healing blind people and people who are paralyzed and dead people are coming to life.

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He's giving ears to people who cannot hear. He's doing these things where he's multiplying food so people are eating.

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He's doing these mighty works that display exactly who they're dealing with, and yet they don't come.

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They remain hard. They don't want Jesus. They don't want salvation from him. They don't like what he's saying to them, and so Jesus says, woe to you.

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By the way, picking up again upon this consistent pattern of coming judgment that you see in the gospel according to Matthew, it hits a climax by the way.

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If you read Matthew, just do this later, open up Matthew and go page to page and look at how the prophetic denouncements get harsh, more harsh, harsher, and more and more and more as you go through Matthew till you get to finally

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Matthew 23, where it's woe to you, woe to you, brood of vipers, the wrath about to come.

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Some of you won't die until you see the kingdom, like it's coming, it's coming, and there's parables and pictures, and there's a vineyard owner with people who keep beating and stoning people who are sent to it, oh, send my son, and Jesus says, what will he do when they find out they've killed his son, and he'll destroy those miserable wretches and give that vineyard to other who will bear the fruit of it, and Jesus says, that's right.

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The kingdom of God's going to be taken away from you and given to others. You're starting to see this climax coming along, coming along, and all of a sudden

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Matthew 23, where Jesus now denounces the leadership and says, all the blood of the righteous is going to be upon this generation, and then he departs from the temple the same way the glory of God left the temple in the

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Old Testament to the Mount of Olives. Jesus takes the same path as God in the

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Old Testament departing the temple, and he goes to the Mount of Olives and sits there exactly like God did before, and they're freaking out because Jesus just announced their temple, and they're like, look, do you see all these things, and Jesus says, do you see all these things?

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There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall be not thrown down, that shall not be cast down, and Jesus starts telling them about what they're to expect, anticipate, taking you to the synagogues, beating you.

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He says there's going to be all these wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines. He warns them, and then he says this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

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There's that judgment. They know it's coming, which is exactly what the Bible said, forerunner.

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The Lord himself comes to his temple, salvation, judgment. All that was planned, but Jesus says here, woe to you, expect judgment when the

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Lord of glory says to you, woe to you. That's a word you do not want to hear from God, woe to you.

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But it's a familiar word, can I ask you this, help me with this, what's a famous section of Scripture where a biblical prophet says, woe is me?

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Isaiah 6, go there because I want you to see it because it actually connects really neatly to what we're doing today, talking about God judicially hardening people.

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In Isaiah chapter 6, it's the vision of the Lord, and it says in verse 1, listen closely because this is very, very powerful, in the year that King Uzziah died,

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I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

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This is an amazing vision. Above him stood the seraphim, these are angels.

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Each had six wings, and two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew, and one called to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the

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Lord of hosts, and the whole earth is full of his glory. This is an amazing scene.

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I wish we could spend all day right here in Isaiah 6 talking about the fact that even these angels that are there before the throne of God are covering their own eyes before God's glory and his holiness.

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But notice this in the text, watch, holy, holy, holy, in the Hebrew there's no way, there isn't an exclamation point in the

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Hebrew, there's no punctuation, so if you want to say something and make it gospel, you just say it once, that's gospel.

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If you want to highlight it and you want to shout it, then you say it twice, holy, holy, but here in the text it's repetition, it's holy, holy, holy.

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It's screaming it from the rooftop, it's coming apart while you say it, and the angels are covering their eyes, and they're saying holy, holy, holy, and this is

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Isaiah now, the most righteous dude in Israel, this is the guy that would put us to shame with his piety, with his acts of righteousness, this is a prophet that has good standing among the people.

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And Isaiah says, and the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

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Now watch his response, here's the guy that would put us to shame, and he says this, and I said, woe is me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the

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King, the Lord of hosts. So here now, watch, Jesus says to a city, woe to you, the curse of God and condemnation wrath upon you, and here's a biblical prophet using that language, but he actually uses upon himself, and he might be saying,

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Jeff, why are you highlighting this? I'm highlighting it for a very particular reason. You're going to see in a minute, Jesus actually talks about how

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God judicially hardens people and blinds them so they cannot see the truth.

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And what we often do when we hear things like, woe to you, and woe to me, and we see blinding taking place from God over sinful people, we often say, but that's not fair.

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It's not fair for God to blind people so they cannot see. God owes them a chance.

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God owes them his grace. God owes them mercy. And when we begin to speak like that, we're already contradicting ourselves.

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Grace cannot be demanded. That's the nature of grace. Mercy is not getting what you do deserve.

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So to say that it's owed is senseless, but here in this text, here's a righteous man saying this, woe to me.

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It's a way of saying this, God, I have seen now, and here's what I'm asking from you.

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God, kill me. Kill me. End my life. I'm coming apart at the seams of the vision of your glory and your holiness.

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God, I don't deserve to live. And the first thing, it's amazing. He notices immediately his own mouth and how foul and broken he is.

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He gets a glimpse of God's holiness, and the first thing he says is this, God, kill me. Kill me.

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And he says, I'm coming apart, the way to actually, in the Hebrew, it's better, it's, I'm coming apart at the seams.

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He's saying basically, I'm unraveling, I'm coming apart at the seams. Kill me. He says, my lips are unclean, and he says,

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I live among a people of unclean lips. He's immediately aware, isn't it amazing? As soon as you get a glimpse of the presence of God, you are automatically aware of our utter fallen, broken condition, more than you could possibly ever fathom on this side of heaven.

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As soon as you get a glimpse of God's holiness, you're automatically aware, oh my goodness,

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I'm foul. And you look around yourself and you say, and so is everybody else. We're all a bunch of wretches.

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Look how foul we are. And what he warrants, well, he's not saying to God, God, you're very holy, and I'm really sinful.

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He doesn't say, so God, mercy, right?

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He doesn't come to God and say, God, all right, let's make a deal, all right? I'll do better.

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Set me up, set me straight, give me mercy, give me your grace, God. What he wants from God in that moment, as soon as he sees what he's really worthy of, as soon as he sees it, he says this to God, God, kill me.

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Kill me. And watch what happens. What? I want you to see it.

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When he recognizes this condition, it says this, there's this scene of God's cleansing that's given to him.

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Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar, and he touched my mouth and said, behold, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.

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A lot can be said about that, but I want you to see this, watch. And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall

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I send and who will go for us? Trinity. Then I said, here

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I am, send me. Watch, isn't it amazing? I got to excurse this.

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As soon as he realizes he's now before the eyes of God, atoned for, forgiven, right, cleansed, and as soon as he's in a relationship with God, or once he was like, kill me,

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God, I'm guilty, I'm foul, and so is everyone else, as soon as his sin is taken away, the first thing he wants is to fight.

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Who's going to go for us? Here I am, send me. First response, his guilt's taken away, he's like,

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Lord, I'm in it, send me. Now watch, it says, and he said, go and say to this people, watch the judgment, here's the judicial hardening.

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Keep on hearing, but do not understand. Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.

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Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.

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Then I said, how long, O Lord? By the way, that appears a few times.

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Does that sound familiar to you? How long, O Lord? You see in the book of Revelation, the saints are crying out before God, they're saying, how long,

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O Lord? How long, O Lord? It's a way of actually pleading with God to act.

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It's not really asking God, God, how much time before, can you give me the time,

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God? How long, O Lord, is a way of essentially as the child of God, crying out to God to act.

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How long, O Lord, act, act. He said, until cities lie waste without inhabitants, and houses without people, and the land is desolate waste, and the

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Lord removes people from far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land, and though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled, the holy seed is in its stump.

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Now watch. I want you to see the pattern here. Woe is me, he realizes his sin.

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God purifies him, and then God sends him with a message. What? What? Blind people. Let them have deaf ears.

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Let them see, but not even perceive what they're seeing. Blind people. Until what?

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Until this judgment falls. That's the pattern. Blind them, and then judgment. By the way, that's terrifying when you see people in your culture around you blind to the things of God, and not hearing

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God's prophets and his voice in the culture. When you see people loving their sin and completely blind to the things of God, no fear of God, that is a time to be concerned as a child of God when people can't hear it, because the only reason is because God is sovereign.

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They will hear what he wants them to hear. Now I wanted you to see that background there to get to the text in Matthew.

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Now go to Matthew again, Matthew chapter 11, and get to the rest of the text. Jesus condemns the cities around him.

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He warns them about the impending judgment. He tells them about what's to come for them.

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So Jesus is giving the same message as John, the same message of the Old Testament. The arrival of the

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Messiah means salvation and judgment. It's coming. Get ready.

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But this is where it gets into blindness.

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In verse 25, it says, at that time,

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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.

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Hidden? Wow, here's what's crazy. Did you catch it?

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Think about the word. Jesus prays a prayer to the Father, and he says,

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Father, I thank you. I am grateful,

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Father. I am grateful that you hid this from the wise and understanding, and you revealed them to little children.

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Jesus is giving a prayer of gratitude to the Father for not giving the knowledge of himself to certain people.

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He says, thank you, Father, for not showing them. Thank you, Father, for not showing the wise and understanding, but thank you for giving it to the little children.

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Little children speaking of his people, his children. Now I want you to see, in the text of the

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Old Testament, Isaiah 6, where Isaiah is aware of his own sin, and God purifies him, immediately

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God sends him with a message about being blinded, judicial hardening, not seeing, not hearing, not perceiving.

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It's understood from God's word. God does that as the sovereign, holy God, who is just and righteous over rebellious and fallen people.

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God does harden. God does blind. God does cause them not to hear.

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I want you to see a text for that, guys. Another text underneath. You saw Isaiah 6. Go to Isaiah 44, 18.

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Keep a finger in Matthew if you would. Isaiah 44, 18.

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By the way, this could be multiplied over and over and over again, but this is a powerful one. Same prophet we were at before.

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Isaiah 44, 18, it says, they know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes so that they cannot see, and their hearts so they cannot understand.

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Does God respond to fallen people by giving, watch, listen, this is big.

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This is context. This is the story. By giving them what they want.

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You see, that's the thing, watch. We're hearing it wrong and we don't understand it. If we think that God is taking very good people who love him, and he is taking them and saying,

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I don't want you. What he is doing is he is talking to rebellious people who already hate him in their hearts, who are already running away from God, and he is saying,

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I will give you what you want. I will send my messengers and I will blind your eyes. I will give my voice and I will not let you hear it.

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I will close up your heart so you cannot perceive it, and God does blind people as an act of judicial judgment.

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Now watch, want to see something kind of cool? I love this. I want you to have it in your hearts because it's powerful.

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Remember that scene I just brought you to? Where did we go? What text was that? Isaiah 6, remember it.

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Isaiah 6, Isaiah realizes his own sin, says, woe to me. God purifies them, and then

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God says, blind them. I want you to see another text that talks about this particular subject of judicial hardening.

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Keep your fingers there in Matthew 11, go to John 12. John chapter 12.

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Matthew, Mark, Luke, John 12, and here's a text that does more than just show the judicial hardening.

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Okay, so here it is. John chapter 12, after Jesus talks about the ruler of this world being casted out in 31, him being lifted up to draw all people to himself.

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In verse 33, he said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die, so the crowd answered him.

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We've heard from the law that the Christ remains forever, how can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is the

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Son of Man? So Jesus said to them, the light is among you for a little while, longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you.

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The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he's going. While you have the light, believe in the light that you may become sons of the light.

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When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them, though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him.

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All these signs. People say it all the time, God, just show up on stage. Atheists love that.

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They have public debates with Christians and they always call God down to make an appearance. They're like, I'll believe in God right now if God appears right here on stage with me.

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One time, Greg Bonson was debating Edward Tabash, who worked for Bill Clinton. He's an attorney, famous atheist, who was actually at the

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Reason Rally years ago that we went to. He said the same thing. He's like, God, if you're there, appear right now on this stage.

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And Dr. Bonson said, well, I'm awfully glad that God has chosen not to bring his second coming in this moment, he said, for your sake.

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But people say, if I could just see a miracle, if I could just see some sort of a miracle, don't you know that the ministry of Christ, the whole thing was miracle upon miracle upon miracle upon miracle, and then resurrection from the dead, miracle and miracle, and times where a dead man would rise, and it said that some believed and some doubted.

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Even at the ascension in Matthew 28, it's powerful, it's in the text. The writers of scripture aren't hiding it.

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Jesus is standing there ascending, and it says in the text that some worshiped him and some are like, eh, it's a trick,

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I don't know, right? Here's the text, all these signs, still not believing. And here's

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John's answer, listen, so that, verse 38, the word spoken by the prophet

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Isaiah might be fulfilled, Lord who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the

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Lord been revealed, therefore they could not believe, listen, they could not believe.

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They could not believe, they could not believe, no ability, hashtag free will.

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They could not believe, for again Isaiah said, here's the quotation, he has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them, and this is why

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I wanted you to see it. Here's another act of judicial hardening mentioned, it's the same quotation from Isaiah 6, but here's the glory of it, ready?

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In Isaiah 6, come with me now, in Isaiah 6, when Isaiah was there and saw God and was utterly broken, and then he was cleansed, can

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I ask you a question? When the angels said, holy, holy, holy, who were they talking about?

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God, right? That's God on his throne. John, John quotes from Isaiah 6, that scene, and watch what

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John says, Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.

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Who's the only him in the text? Jesus. So who did Isaiah see?

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Obviously, God is triune, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but John says, Isaiah saw

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Jesus on his throne, he saw him. So here's an act in Isaiah where Isaiah is undone, he says, woe is me, he's aware of his own sin and filth, and then he goes forth with the message of God's judicial hardening, blinding people so they can't see and making it to where they can't hear, but actually

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Isaiah saw Jesus on his throne. Jesus is Yahweh, Jesus is

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God. Remember the text? Who will go for us,

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Father, Son, Holy Spirit? Wow.

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But what I want you to see here in the text is where Jesus says, I thank you,

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Father. And our response in modern evangelicalism to Jesus' prayer of gratitude to the

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Father for blinding people is this, ready? But Jesus, that's not fair.

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Jesus, that's not fair. How can you say thank you to the Father for blinding people?

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God owes us grace, God owes us mercy. He has to give it, don't you understand? It's not fair of God to say to people, you can't see, you can't hear.

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God owes us so very much. Isn't there, watch, isn't there such a contrast between how the

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Bible describes our condition before God and talks about God's holiness and the thinking of the modern evangelical or just average religious person in terms of what our condition really is?

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Here's Isaiah before God's holiness saying this, kill me. Kill me. Can you please end my life?

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Can you just give me, I don't deserve this. I am foul, I am wretched, and so is everybody else.

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I deserve to die. Can you just kill me? And what we say to God when we see His holiness today, we say, it's not fair,

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God. You don't have a right to judge people, God. You don't have a right to exercise your holiness and your justice as a judge.

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No, God, you sit in the dock, God. Get in the dock. I want to be judge over you. Have a seat,

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God. I want to ask you some questions. I want to talk to you about how you're managing the universe,

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God. I want to talk to you about how you're not doing things the way that I think that you ought to do it. You see, we have this very perverse view of God in our day where we don't really have any fear of God.

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We don't have any fear of God. We don't fear His holiness. We don't fear His justice. We don't fear His wrath. But the biblical prophets got a glimpse of this

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God, and every time they did, they were in fear and trembling and falling and saying things like this,

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God, kill me. But yet we see Jesus saying, Father, I thank you that you've hidden this from people.

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And we say to Jesus, well, that's not really fair. Jesus, you're not being very Christ -like. You're not being very loving,

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Jesus. But you see, Jesus knows the truth about our condition, the fact that none of us deserve Him.

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And the fact that we have His grace is the astonishing part of it. Because watch what it says,

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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.

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Now, I just want to let you see that next verse, yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

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Why is Jesus, watch, why is Jesus thanking the Father for blinding people judicially?

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Why? Because watch, grace. It's grace.

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You see, what we often focus on is this, don't we? Come on. Yes, we do. We focus on this.

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Jacob, I've loved. Esau, I've hated. We go, hey, why'd you hate Esau, God? Why are you hating

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Esau, God? That's not fair. We always do that, right? Because we see people that are saved, redemption, and we go, oh, that's awesome.

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And we see people over here, blinded, and God says, I'm going to judge them. And we go, hey, that's not fair.

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Why are you judging these people, God? But you see, Jesus is not judging people. From Jesus' perspective, he knows the truth, is this, why is

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God giving people grace? Why is he giving people grace? So when

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Jesus sees God saving people, he says, Father, I thank you that you've given them what they deserve, and I thank you that you've saved these little children.

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Such was your gracious will. It's a focus on the grace of God, that God would save any.

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But this, watch, this hiding of the truth is really a theme through scripture. Let me give you an example.

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You already know this, right? We use it all the time because it tells a very large story. Romans 1, everybody knows

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God, right? Come on now. What do they do with the truth? Suppress the truth. They know the true God. They suppress truth.

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And so what does God do as a result of their suppression of the truth? It says, therefore God, what?

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Gave them over. It says it actually a couple of times. Therefore God gave them over. Therefore God gave them over.

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Here's God giving to people what they actually want. What do they want? Not God. And so God says, have it.

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And there's another text I want you to see in the same book, Romans, Romans chapter 11.

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Here's another example of actually Paul dealing with a problem in his day. I won't do the whole detailed examination of this passage, but just point it to you if you're taking notes.

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Watch, this is powerful. In Romans chapter 11, the apostle Paul is addressing the fact that only some people in his day who were

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Jews have turned to the Messiah in faith. So the question, watch, can rightly be asked, right?

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Watch, you're a Jew in Jesus' day. The Jewish Messiah has come and not all the Jews are coming.

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They're not all following Jesus. It's got to be kind of disheartening. This is a Jewish Messiah. He's accomplished his salvation, and there's really a limited number of Jewish Christians.

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And so Paul answers that problem of the remnant. Romans 11, verse 1,

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I asked then, has God rejected his people? By no means, for I myself am an

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Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.

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Do you not know that what the scripture says about Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?

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Lord, they've killed your prophets. They've demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.

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But what is God's reply to him? I've kept for myself 7 ,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

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So too, Paul says, at the present time, there is a remnant, what's the words? What? Say it loud, guys.

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Chosen by grace. So what Paul says is this, remember in Elijah's day, he thought he was the only one, and God's response is this,

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I've preserved 7 ,000 people for myself, chosen by grace. And Paul says this, at the same time, in his day, that there is an elect people that God has chosen by grace, who he's kept for himself.

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And watch, it says this, verse 6, but if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

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Watch, in other words, if you're working for it, if it's because of something you did, if it's because of your performance, your behavior, your piety, anything, then it's not grace.

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That's the definition of grace. In verse 7, what then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking.

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The elect obtained it, but the rest were what? What's the word? The rest were what?

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Hardened. The elect received grace, the other ones were hardened.

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And you say, oh right, they hardened their own hearts. Well, as it is written, verse 8,

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God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear down to this very day.

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And David says, let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them.

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Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see and bend their backs forever.

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Brothers and sisters, it's not to belabor the point of sin and God hardening people and blinding people to say, oh, that's such an amazing truth, let's dwell on that forever.

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Because it's not a comforting truth to know that God is giving to people what they deserve and what they want.

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For those of us that have experienced His grace, we know how amazing this grace is.

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The thing to focus on is the gracious aspect. When God hardens people and gives them a spirit of stupor,

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He is giving to them what they deserve and what they want, which is not Him. But the point of the passage for Paul is not that God hardens people, it is that He has given grace to people.

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That is the amazing thing about God. Can I take a moment here to say something about yesterday?

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We were outside of the abortion mill, hostile, so ugly, so difficult.

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I mean, you're out there and it is just like, wow, this is insane, it's a circus, right?

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It's crazy. How come they can't reason and they can't see? They're making such amazing errors that are right in front of them, how can they not see it?

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It's incredible. And so that has to hit you for like, what are they thinking?

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They're standing outside of a location and they're cheering these women on and they're encouraging them and they're supporting them and they're trying to stop us.

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They're calling us names and we're the ones that are pleading for the lives of children. You think, how can people have such a spirit of stupor?

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How can they not see? How can they not hear? How? And we know from the text of God's Word, we know that God is sovereign even over that moment.

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But here's what I wanted you to hear about yesterday. I did see, because I was creeping, it just gets sent to me,

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I did see that the Planned Parenthood supporters were talking about yesterday and they were like, it was a disaster.

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They were talking about it for them. They were like, it was horrible, it was a disaster. They were getting us from the front, from the back, it was a disaster, right?

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I was like, this is awesome, it's fantastic, right? I was kind of cool to see that.

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I was like, praise God, right? They were just like flipping out, like it was unbelievable. And one woman said this, she said, at one point, they all started singing together.

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They said it was like some kind of cult war chant. You know what it was?

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Amazing grace, right? Amazing grace.

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Christians outside there, they're blasting like satanic messages, like literally from Anton LaVey out at us.

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They're blasting music, F you very much, and they got their middle fingers up and they're just going, like just going in, going in, going in, and Christians out there singing amazing grace, right?

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And they're like, it was some kind of cult war chant, like, you know. I'm like, come on guys, you know amazing grace, right?

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Even the heathens know amazing grace, right? So, but what

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I want to point to is that in this moment of hardening and stupor and blindness, the people of God are,

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I can only say, God, amazing grace that you would save a wretch like me. Because you know what was outside that abortion mill yesterday?

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I'll tell you what was out. It was one, actually one major group of people, it was all wretches. It was all wretches, the

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Christians and the unbelievers. Every one of them wretches. But it was one thing that actually divided them into two groups, and it was that word, grace, that separated them.

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And watch, watch this, lest you become haughty in yourself in a moment like that, right?

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Haughty about where you're at and what you have and what they don't have. Just recognize that God judicially hardens people so that they can't see.

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And if you see, you only see for one reason, and that's God's gracious will. And what you should be saying to God is the same thing

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Jesus is saying to the Father. He says, thank you, Father, that you've hidden these and revealed them to children.

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Such was your gracious will, God, thank you that you didn't hide it from me, that you loved me, that you gave me your grace and your care and your love.

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And then Jesus gets bigger with this, it gets bigger. After he talks about God's gracious will, he talks then about the fact that he is the one that reveals it.

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I want you to see it, look. In Matthew 11, verse 27, all things have been handed over to me by my

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Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the

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Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

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Guys, you don't get much thicker, stronger, more overt statements on the sovereignty of God in salvation than passages like this.

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Father, thank you that you hid it from these people. Thank you that they can't see, but you revealed it to these children.

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That's your gracious will. But then Jesus says something even deeper, like he just continues to add power to the punch.

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He says, all things have been handed over to me by my Father. This goes again with 1

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Corinthians chapter 15. The Father has installed Jesus as the King. Where is he at? On the right, at the right hand of the

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Father. Doing what? Having all of his enemies put under his feet as a footstool for his feet. Paul says this about Jesus.

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Every enemy goes under the feet of Jesus. The very last one after they're all defeated is death.

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And he says what? So that Christ would be all in all. Christ is going to conquer the world with his gospel, and then he's going to hand the

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Father of the kingdom back again here, Father. All done. All done.

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All things. All authority. Jesus says all authority in heaven and on earth. That means

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Jesus has all authority. You know what that means in the Greek? All.

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Every last thing in heaven and earth. That means he's sovereign over the salvation of your mother, your father, your sister, your brother, your children, your aunt, your uncle, your teacher, your boss, your friends.

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He's sovereign over everything. Jesus chooses to reveal the knowledge, the intimate knowledge of God to people, whomever he pleases.

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And what's powerful? Watch. This gets deeper. Because it sounds weird, doesn't it? It sounds weird. Listen. He says this.

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He 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

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Father except the Son. And you think, huh? Because, watch. There's people next to Jesus that are like,

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I know you. There were disciples on the outskirts that are like, do you know who

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Jesus is? Yeah, I know Jesus. He's one from Nazareth. He's the Messiah. People that have a knowledge of the facts of Jesus, and there are certainly people who knew about the

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Father, like they had head knowledge. That's not the knowledge Jesus is talking about.

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It's not acquiescing to facts knowledge. It's a deeper knowledge of intimacy.

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No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, watch, and anyone to whom the

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Son chooses to reveal Him. The knowledge here of the

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Father and the Son given to the people is an intimate relationship knowledge.

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It's an intimacy. Nobody is even brought into this intimate relationship with God to know

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Him intimately without the Son choosing to reveal Him too.

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You see, watch, you know that from Scripture, right? How does the Bible start? Adam and Eve come into the garden, right, and God tells them, be fruitful, multiply, and there's a word in Scripture that you use there,

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Adam, what, knew Eve. He knew his wife, and you're like, oh, he didn't know she was there the whole time, and all of a sudden she was like, oh, hey, wow, right, like,

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I know that woman, and it's in the Bible elsewhere too where it says to Israel, you only have

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I known from all the nations of the earth. Is that saying, watch, that God didn't know the other nations were there, like He's just oblivious to the other nations,

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He's like, I only know this one, right? No, the knowledge there describes intimate knowledge, and Jesus here talking about knowledge of God, He's talking about intimate knowledge of God, the knowledge of relationship, knowing this person.

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And so what Jesus says is that nobody knows, nobody, except those to whom the

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Son chooses to reveal, and if you have a broken view of your sin and the grace of God, that's offensive.

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It's offensive. If you don't think you're that bad, if you don't think people are that sinful, it's offensive for Jesus to have that kind of authority to determine who

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He's going to give the knowledge of the Father to. If you don't think God is that holy or that just, then you'll be offended.

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But the Bible does say that God is the one who chooses to save.

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He's the one that has the will and the choice to save. What does Ephesians chapter 1 say?

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What? He predestined us to adoption as sons, right?

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And it says, why? Why did He predestine us to adoption as sons? It says, all to the praise of what?

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His glorious grace. All to the praise of His grace.

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And then Ephesians 2, it says to the same people, the same context, it says this, it says, you were dead in your sins and trespasses by nature, children of wrath.

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And then it says this, but God, but God. He says, you were dead.

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God made you alive by grace you've been saved. Predestined, dead people, made alive by God, saved by grace, through faith.

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And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not according to works, lest any man should boast.

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That's what the Bible teaches about the grace of God. Anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal, you see it throughout the

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Bible. Let's go quickly. Acts chapter 11, I want you to see one little verse here,

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Acts chapter 11. Look how the apostles interpret God bringing people to Himself. Acts chapter 11,

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Acts 11, verse 18. After the

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Gentiles come to Jesus, after having the gospel presented, it says, when they heard these things, they fell silent and they glorified

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God saying, then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.

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Watch, just quickly, it's easy to capture, right? These Gentiles believe in Jesus, and the response of the church is, wow, they believe in Jesus now?

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I guess God granted them repentance and a life. God did that. God granted them repentance.

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When you've come to Jesus and believed, the proper response for a Christian to see it is wow,

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God granted them life. God granted them repentance. That's what

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God did. Otherwise, we wouldn't believe, we wouldn't see, we would run from God. The fact that any person turns to Jesus is a miracle.

01:00:06

Don't you see it? Watch. Every one of you in this room, including me, the fact that you're in this room today listening to these words as though they had any meaning to you at all, loving

01:00:16

Jesus, being grateful for God's grace, the only reason you believe is that God granted you life.

01:00:22

Think about how intimate this is. You got to hang on to this.

01:00:28

When God feels far from you, when you feel like he's done with you, when you feel lost, when you feel like God isn't concerned with you, remember this.

01:00:36

If you trust in Jesus, it means that Jesus chose to reveal the

01:00:42

Father to you. It's the only reason you believe, because Jesus stepped into your darkness and he gave you life.

01:00:51

That is what the Bible teaches. You want more proof of it? Fine. First Corinthians chapter one.

01:00:59

I want you to see it again. It's the consistent testimony of all of scripture. First Corinthians chapter one, verse 18, for the word of the cross is folly, foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

01:01:17

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning,

01:01:23

I will thwart. Watch. Where is the one who is wise?

01:01:28

Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know

01:01:36

God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

01:01:42

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.

01:01:53

Nothing's changed. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.

01:02:02

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

01:02:08

Some dangerous language from Paul right there. That's dangerous talk right there. The foolishness of God, dangerous.

01:02:15

But that matches perfectly with Jesus saying, Father, I thank you that you hid these things from the wise and you revealed them to children.

01:02:27

Paul says the same thing, blinded, hardened, darkened in their understanding and our message is foolishness.

01:02:35

I sometimes reflect when

01:02:42

I see people mocking the message that we preach, I'll be transparent, when you see people in the world hearing your message and saying, lunatic, cult member, freak, liar, idiot, fool, you hear those things and you think, how could you think that?

01:03:08

How could you possibly think that about this message? You're preaching to people outside of an abortion clinic or at work, you're saying, repent, believe the gospel,

01:03:16

Jesus died for sins and rose from the dead, come to him for life. And they're like, that's so stupid. Why am I giving my life to that? I'm not going to believe in Jesus.

01:03:23

I'm not going to believe in a guy that died 2 ,000 years ago in some book written by scruffy nerf herders.

01:03:29

I don't want to listen to that. Right? I mean, seriously, bronze age nonsense.

01:03:35

Like, I'm going to listen to this garbage. I don't believe in that nonsense. You believe in a book written by men 2 ,000 years ago from a guy who died on a cross?

01:03:43

Give me a break. Why would I believe in that nonsense? And you go, I see it, it's folly to them, and yet I see it and it's everything.

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I see Jesus and he's everything. He's the substance of what all of life is about. He's the treasure to be sought above all treasures.

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He is glorious. But watch, that message goes out and it goes out to some and they're like, idiot, and it goes out to others and they're like, wow, for me?

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He did it for me? He died for my sins? And that one thing is the grace of God and Jesus says, thank you, and no one's going to see it unless I choose to reveal it.

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And then Jesus' call, and I'm just really going to read it. I'm not really going to unpack it much today. I just want you to hear it because watch,

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Jesus says, it's powerful. He says, thank you, Father, that you hid it from them and revealed it to them, and no one's going to know it unless I choose to reveal it to them.

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And then watch, he says, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

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Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you'll find rest for your souls.

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For my yoke is easy, my burden is light. He just said, blinding some, thank you for giving it to them, no one's going to see it unless I reveal it, and then watch this, the call goes like this, come to me, everyone who's burdened, who's weary, and you think for a second, well,

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Jesus, you're the one that has to, you're the one that has to, you have, you're the one that has to do it, right?

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Like, you, you have to show it to them, but the call goes out, and you notice it's in the same text, watch, we're all there, just go back, back up a space, just reverse, 1115,

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Jesus says, watch, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. He says it also in Mark 4, 9, it's in Revelation 3, 6, watch, you get this statement, whoever has ears to hear, let him hear, and you're like, that's weird, is

01:06:08

Jesus speaking to crowds of people, where some of them literally have like, no ears, they're walking around with like, just skin over this, like, that's the weirdest thought ever, it's creepy, right?

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People are walking around, there's no ears, it's like literally just skin grafted over, and they can't hear nothing, right?

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It's so weird. But he says it, he says, whoever has ears to hear, let him hear, you think, well, wait, that's weird, because we all got these things on our heads, so whatever do you mean,

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Jesus, and Jesus does that, he calls into crowds of people, where he has his people, that he has chosen to reveal himself to, and he calls out generally to them, whoever wants rest, come and find it, whoever's weary, come to me, and then he says, whoever has ears, let them hear, and some people in the crowd go, huh, wait, what, what'd you say, oh, okay,

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I'll come, like, all of it, you see, some people turn the other way, and not believing me, then some go, yes, okay,

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I'm coming, like, all of a sudden, people are coming and hearing, and other ones are turning around going, I didn't understand a thing he just said, right?

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He's telling parables, and his followers are like, I get it, like, I understand, and other people are turning away, and Jesus says the same thing in Matthew 10, sorry,

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John 10, it's powerful, he's preaching about him being the good shepherd, who lays his life down for the sheep, for the sheep, other sheep

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I have, which are not of this fold, them I must also bring, and they will be one flock, with one shepherd, and then there's people there going, excuse me,

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Jesus, hey, if you're the Messiah, tell us plainly, and Jesus says,

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I told you, and he says, and the reason you don't hear me is because you are not of my sheep, he says, my sheep hear my voice, and they come, and I give them eternal life, they're in my hand, and nothing can snatch them from my hand, they're in my

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Father's hand, and nothing can snatch them from my Father's hand, it's a double grip of the

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Father and the Son, you ain't getting out, but it's amazing, he says to people, he says, I told you, and you can't hear me because you don't belong to me, that's the glory of God's sovereign grace, and what you need to hear in that is not some abstract, theological, reformed gymnastics, where you just start beating people up with the sovereignty of God, you need to allow it to be an intimate detail you are acquainted with, if you believe in Jesus, it's because God loved you, and you can watch, you probably heard that too much, you just kicked that out too, you're jaded to that too, no, he loved you, and he chose to give intimate knowledge of himself to you, so that he would know you, and you would know him forever, and he would never lose you, and he made sure that there was a point in your life, where he directed your feet to a particular place, where you could hear his voice, and then you would go, huh, what, you were in your mess, and your sin, and brokenness, you were blind, and you were saying no to God, you were chasing down something else, and all of a sudden, a voice came into your life, and your heart transformed, and you looked up, and you said,

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I can hear, oh my goodness, I can see, how come I couldn't see this before,

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I couldn't hear it before, and behind all of that was a sovereign God, wielding all of the details of your life, to put you into a place where you were right in his grip, and that's the glory of it,

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God's people hear his voice, and so let me say it to you now in this room, 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'll find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light, are you weary, do you feel heavy, like do you feel like a heavy burden you're carrying, sin, self -righteousness, brokenness, are you heavy, laden,

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Jesus says come, I'll give you rest, you want to stop being so tired, do you want to just rest, and you notice, watch this, that rest isn't

01:10:45

Jesus saying rest some day, Jesus says come now, I'll give you rest, and I'm going to say watch, this is a side final thought, if my walk with Jesus, this is significant, if my walk with Jesus isn't a walk with Jesus that is, can be expressed in terms of rest and comfort, then something is distorted in the nature of what

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I think about him, something is messed up in terms of how

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I think about God, or whether I actually know God, if I'm not experiencing rest in the

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Messiah, because what Jesus gives to people is rest, are you resting, are you still heavy, laden, are you still burdened, or are you resting, because Jesus says this is what he gives, eternal life, when you believe, this is what he gives, rest, comfort for your souls, this is what he gives, peace with God, so what are you holding on to, what's stopping you from resting as a child of God that's been called by Jesus and brought into relationship with him, what's stopping you from being comforted as a child of God, what are your distractions, what are you burdening yourself with, what are you not believing about Jesus, what do you not understand about his love for you, that you're still burdened, you still feel no rest, you still feel no peace, because I'll tell you right now, you're not following the

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Jesus of the Bible, if you're still heavy, laden, and not comforted, and not at peace, so what you ought to do, if you do believe in Jesus, and you are weighed down, is you ought to right now repent where you sit, until you experience that comfort and peace, and then daily you walk in the joy of that comfort, because this

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Messiah gives rest to his sheep, he doesn't burden them, he doesn't destroy them, he doesn't beat them, he brings them into an eternal rest, not someday, when he turns you to himself, he gives you rest, why aren't you resting, let's pray,

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Father we can only thank you, in this moment, for the revelation of your grace, we can only confess to you, that we have nothing, nothing, nothing to put at your feet, we have no good deeds, we have no righteousness that avails, we have no boast, we have nothing, we have controlled nothing, we have authority over nothing, in terms of your world,

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God, and you have saved people that just do not deserve you, and God, I pray right now, for those in this room, who have been blinded,

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I pray for those in this room, who belong to you, that they would have ears to hear, and I pray

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God, in this moment, you would give your people rest, please give us rest, enjoy, grant faith,