Come to Me and I Will Give You Rest
First B Jackson
2022-02-27

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Good morning. Good morning. How are y'all? Few but fervent. We're here.

Did the cold kinda get you this morning? If you would, stand with me. We're gonna sing hymn number 56, to God be the glory. If you want a hymnal, there's some stacked up up here in the front. You you're welcome to grab em but the words will come up on the wall and we'll sing whatever comes up there.

Welcome, and we're glad you're here. We'll probably sing a few more in. So there are little arrows in the hymn book that say, these are the popular verses. And sometimes they just don't put an arrow on the verses I think they ought to. I was gonna sing one.

Listen to this. Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of God. To every believer, the promise of God. The vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus a pardon receives. Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord. That's good. Blessed assurance. Hymn number five seventy two. Amen.

Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements this morning. First of all, it's Monday nights at First B is happening. We do that Monday evenings at 06:00. Monday nights at First B has meal, music, and a message every Monday night down the fellowship hall.

Carl is the pastor for that one and we are up to the resurrection. Resurrection, John 20 is what we're in this week. He's been going through expository series on the whole gospel of John. What he usually does is we do the meal first. We do the music next and then he presents a message that is verse by verse, from whatever the passage is, and tomorrow it'll be John 20.

And then after he finishes with a bit of explication, he'll give us the opportunity to speak back and to ask a few questions or to have a conversation about it, and it is so much fun. It's one of my favorite parts of the week is that evening where we turn the lights down and gather around God's word and talk about it. So Monday nights first be 06:00 tomorrow night. Happens at the same time as Awana is happening in the rest of the church. We start off in here and then they spread out all over.

I saw a kid walking down the hall this morning and said, I said my verses. I said, praise God. That's wonderful. It's great. It's a kids club where they fall in love with God's word and with his son.

It's a great great thing. Kids matter to God. There's a sign up for your weekly Email bulletin. If you have just come to town or you just arrived and you think, I really kinda like to know more about what's going on. You can sign up at firstbjackson.org or you can just mention Diane, would you wave at everybody?

There are a few newbies in here. That's Diane. If you would ask Diane and say, I wanna get on that bulletin, she'll figure out how to get you one. That's a way and or call the church office and we'll get you set up for that. We have right now too, in addition to the kind of the weekly email that goes out to let you know what's going on, like our old paper bulletins used to do.

We have a Bible reading that is delivered to your inbox, mail, Email, inbox every morning. We've been going through Hebrews together recently but it's great. We're reading the Bible together separately and it's just so good. That's one of my favorite things that's going on right now. I usually read that first thing in the morning because the guy who sends it out must send it out at, five in the morning.

And when I wake up, I I that's the first thing I see. You read who is doing the passage, the passage, and then a few thoughts and application on the passage from one of us, and it's really good. That's my favorite one of my favorite ministries that's going on right now. We're all kinda sharing the load. I have a minute and a half video about the If Gathering twenty twenty two that should come up right now.

Let me tell you what I see when I look around. Darkness is everywhere. Walls are dividing us. Mountains are are before us that we need to climb, and we're also tired. And there are lies that we are believing every single day.

Darkness, walls, mountains, lies, and it's it's crushing us and it feels like it's closing in. But the interesting thing is, I also see in my Bible that God is more powerful than the lies we believe, that God is more powerful than the mountains that we need to climb, that he is more powerful than the darkness that surrounds us and the walls that are dividing us. And I believe if we could believe that, it would change everything. So we do not want you to miss If Gathering, and here's why. Because we're gonna come together, and faith grows when we come together.

And we're not just coming together, a few of us, we're coming together around the globe. Last year, a 144 countries joined us. Women all over the world. Over a million women gathered together. Guys, and this year will even be more.

And you tell me that's not gonna change things. You tell me that that doesn't change things. A million women around the world believing God, that changes the world. So you are not going to miss it because we are going to watch God together, bring truth to the lives that we've been believing. Help us scale the mountains that we have before us.

Bring light to the darkness that we feel pushing into our lives everywhere and to tear down the walls that are dividing us. It can happen. I believe it. You'll see it if you join us March fourth and fifth, come on.

So believe it or not, March fourth and fifth is this weekend. That's coming up fast. That's really quickly approaching. So, coming up Friday and Saturday evenings. I have this little slide from Nick.

We're trying to put together a church directory. It's amazing that when you finally get through with it and you think you're through, you put it out there and people go, well, I'm not even in it. I'm asking you, if you want to be in it, please, please, please make sure we have your information and we have a picture. This little thing last week prompted a lot of commotion. Email Nick a horizontal photo.

There's a horizontal photo. There's a horizontal photo. But that's not what we're asking for. We're asking for a photo that goes this way rather than this way. Okay?

So if you send your photo that's this way, you might look Y'all know that already. Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus. I hope you know that already too. It is so sweet just to trust in Jesus. And the sermon today will end on exactly that note.

Would you stand with us and sing it if you mean it?

Just to rest upon his promise just to know the saith the Lord Jesus Jesus how I trust how I prove him more and more. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh, for grace to trust him more. Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus just to trust his cleansing blood. Just in simple faith to plunge trust him, how I've Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh for way to trust him

Come to the savior. Make no delay. This is a new one that we don't have in our hymnal but this little guy over here loves it. Loves it. Loves it.

Loves it. He said, I want for it to be the invitation, but I'm afraid that no one will know it, and it will just go. If it goes, I wanna do it now, not at the invitation time. Right? So sing it if you know it and sing it louder than you normally would so that I can hear you and match with you.

Because I thought this would have music, and it just has words. Everybody likes sausage. Nobody likes to see how it's made. Right? Amen.

Amen. I may actually come back and sing that at the end. That's great. Right now, y'all can have a seat if you would. We're gonna go to a time of the worship through giving or offering time.

I want you to just pray with me. God, there are so many things that so many people are so worried about this morning. And after the first service, I prayed with a lady who is just overwhelmed by news of the day. And there is a heaviness about the world that we live in, Lord. And if we are feeling the burden of the heaviness of the world that we live in, may we gather, Lord, to sing your praises.

May we look forward to and anticipate with great anticipation the way ahead, whatever it will be. This song and this message today is about come, come, all of you who are weary and suffering under a heavy burden, and you'll give us rest. That's what you say. Come to me, and I'll give you rest. In Jesus' name, Lord, I I pray that we who are experiencing the rest would be sharing that with the rest of this, community, with the rest of this world.

I pray, Lord, for the people who have trusted in you and in, your word to transform our lives, that we'd be living it out, that we would be walking in step with you. In Galatians, Paul says, if we walk by the spirit, let's walk by the spirit. What he's saying is, if we say we walk by the spirit, let's be doing it. Lord, may we not ever get ahead of or fall behind you, but just rest in that yoke with you. In Jesus' name, I pray that you would advance your good gospel through your obedient servants to do your will in your way on this earth.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Oh, This is a little about outside the range of what we usually do.

Feel for you Jesus, or in all of you be still, will I stand in your presence, or to my knees will I fall, will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all I can only imagine I can only imagine I can only imagine when that day comes and I find myself standing in the sun. I can only imagine when all I will do is forever forever worship you. I can only imagine I can only imagine surrounded by your glory what will my heart feel will I dance for you Jesus or in all of you be still will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall will I sing hallelujah will I be able to speak in all I can only imagine I can only imagine

Thank you. We no eye has seen nor ear has heard nor heart has ever understood what God has in store for those who love him. That's a great thought. Thank you, Florine, for forcing me to do that. John the Baptist relationship to the kingdom.

So, we've been going forward through the gospels in a harmony of the gospels fashion where we look at Matthew, Mark, and Luke, specifically the synoptic gospels. I throw John in there sometimes too, but John the Baptist relationship to the kingdom is the first part of what we're gonna talk about today. So both Matthew and Luke in Matthew eleven two through 19 and Luke seven eighteen through 35, they both cover John the Baptist's relationship to the kingdom and Jesus speaking about him. Johnson and word to Jesus will cover it. But then after that, Jesus goes on in Matthew and he kinda has a a bit of a word of woe for the people who have seen his miracles and done nothing about it.

Not not repented, not come to him, but a word of woe to the places, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum specifically, that have seen him do what he does and yet have not changed at all in their outlook or life. And then a word of blessing at the name We We you time. Thank God, would you bless the reading of your word and would you illuminate it? You promise, Lord, that you will. In John 15, that great upper room discourse, fifteen and sixteen, where he's saying the what the Holy Spirit will do is convict us of sin, convince us of your righteousness, and Lord that you will illuminate scripture and transform lives.

In Jesus' name, we pray that you'd be very active and Lord that we would be cognizant of that activity. Amen. Now while in prison, John, Matthew says in eleven two. Now while in prison, John and if you look over at Luke, it's specified, no doubt about it, it's John the Baptist. It's no doubt about it in Matthew either.

It's obvious. Now while in prison, John the Baptist heard about the works of Christ, and he sent word by his disciple. Now there have been a lot of miracles by this point in the gospel of Matthew. And specifically, we had seen him come down from the sermon on the mount and he heals a leper that's untouchable by touching him, willing for him to be cleansed. He heals last week, we saw the slave of a Roman centurion, Gentile guy, the slave of a Roman soldier, centurion, he heals him, the have nots and the haves, and then he takes compassion on a widow of Nain who had not even asked him yet for the blessing, and raised her son from the dead and gave the son back to his mother.

So that's immediately preceding this. Now while in prison, we John had heard about the works of Christ and he sent word by his disciples. Luke says, the disciples of John also reported to him about all of these things. And after summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord saying, just a second. Do you ever think of Jesus as being strategic?

I mean, born into the Pax Romana when it was a time of peace relative, enforced military peace, but it's a time where the gospel could spread out from that place along the Silk Road and all of these different things, their reasons, strategy. And if you talk to missionaries for very long, they'll talk strategically. Well, listen to this. Jesus, when he heard in Matthew four, so this is seven chapters back, when he heard that John had been taken into custody, John the Baptist taken in and imprisoned, Jesus withdrew into Galilee. He stepped apart from Jerusalem because the temperature was pretty hot.

Herod had John the Baptist arrested. John the Baptist was calling out the sin of the guy who's supposed to be the king of the Jews, and he was messing around with his family members he shouldn't have been messing around with in a sexual sense. It was bad. And John called him out for his lasciviousness, and he had him arrested. Eventually, he had him beheaded.

But when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, he came and he settled in Capernaum. Remember Capernaum? That's where Peter and Andrew were from. It's a fishing village on the North West shore of the lake, the Sea Of Galilee, and which is in by the sea in the region of Zebulun and Naftali.

We saw that Matthew four. Now we're seeing in Matthew 11 that John is sending where by his disciples and said to him, are you the coming one or are we to look for someone else? Now Matthew says that once. He he has it on the lips of his disciples asking Jesus for John. And then in Luke, says, and after summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord saying, tell ask him this, are you the coming one?

Are we to look for someone else? And when the men came to him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to you, Jesus, to ask, are you the coming one, or are we to look for another? That's John the Baptist. John the Baptist began to doubt. After a year in prison, probably a year, maybe a year and a bit, he's been in prison languishing.

He is and knew he was speaking for the Lord. He knew that he was like a voice crying in the wilderness. He knew that he was sharing of all the Old Testament prophets and adding to the new to the Old Testament prophets the word that God had for those people of that day and still has for us. He knew it while he was preaching, and he was unafraid to spread the message of God. Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand every single one of you.

Even now, the axe is being laid to the root of the trees. It's a message. Actually, we'll see it in just a minute. But after Luke even mentions this twice, are you the coming one or should we look for somebody else? Are you the coming one or should we look for someone else?

I think that drives home the point that John has reached a point of despair. He's reached a point of despair thinking, I thought I had it right. I know that everything that I'm saying was true from the Old Testament. I'm certain of that. But when I pointed him out and said, behold the lamb of God that comes to take away the sins of the world, could I have been wrong?

In a way, a doubt is a statement of humility. I might have been wrong. And John is saying, would you go and just ask him? Ask him if I was right. Ask him if I was wrong.

We need to know, should we be looking for someone else? John's in prison. He doesn't have much hope of getting out of prison. If you get to a place in your life and in even in your ministry and you start to feel like, maybe I got it wrong. Maybe I got it wrong.

Maybe maybe I'm not doing what God wants me to do. Maybe I'm so desperate and I feel this place of despair. Don't feel like the lone ranger. Okay? You're not the only one seeking to do good all by yourself.

It's not an easy task always if we let everything, all of our circumstances affect us. John is in prison, and Herod, who is lascivious, horrible, supposed to be the king of the Jews, doesn't believe anything except for whatever he wants, he takes. Building all these building programs and increasing his name, and John goes into prison and starts to doubt because there's supposed to be this great reversal. That's what I've been preaching about, and it just hasn't come to pass. Are you the coming one, or are we to look for someone else?

This is John the Baptist's message in Luke three. Now while the people were in a state of expectation and they were all thinking carefully in their hearts about John, he had gained some reputation whether he himself perhaps might be the Christ. They're thinking Messiah already. And then when they hear John, they're saying, this guy sounds like he might be him. And then John responds and says to them all, as for me, I just baptized with water.

This is a simple thing. I baptize with water, he would say, for the repentance of sins. I baptize you with water, but he is coming who is mightier than I, and I'm not fit to even untie the straps of his sandals. He'll baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. He is the coming one.

And then part of John's message was this also. His winnowing fork is in his hand to thoroughly clear his threshing floor and to gather wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. That's John the Baptist's message. Do you hear the vengeance of the Lord in that message? Repent, and the stakes are very high.

Either you're gonna be wheat gathered into the barn or you're gonna be chaff burned up by the fire. There's a dividing line in John's message. And many heard that and repented and were baptized for the forgiveness of sins, and then others rejected it out of hand. Where do you think the dividing line is? It's what you do with that message.

Ultimately, it's what you do with Jesus. But he's forecasting the ministry of Jesus, making straight the way for the Lord. So the coming one, when John says, are you the coming one or should we look for somebody else? Now, what we hear is pretty obvious because we have two thousand years of knowing that Christ was the coming one and so we just read it, are you the Christ or are you not? Matthew's already called him the Christ, by the way.

Now, when John heard of the works of the Christ. So they would have been hearing this and going, the coming one. Well, in Psalm one eighteen, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We hear this at Jesus' triumphal entry. It's ascribed to him then, so we know that.

We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. There's Zechariah where Yahweh himself, the Lord, is the coming one. Then the Lord, my God, will come and all the holy ones with him. This is a forecast of future Yahweh being present. I mentioned last week, Deuteronomy eighteen fifteen is where Moses says, there will be God will rise up.

God will rise up for you, raise up for you a prophet from among your countrymen, and God will put his words in his mouth and he shall speak to them everything that I command him. So the prophet or the tacheb in Hebrew, which is called back at the Samaritan woman in the well in John and in John six. They ascribe this. Therefore, when the people saw the sign which Jesus had performed, they saw a miracle and then they said, this is truly the prophet, the one Moses told us about, who is to come into the world, the tacheb. I'm gonna keep on doing this for a few minutes.

Okay? There are a lot of these. Elijah was the coming one. We behold, Malachi four five says, I'm going to send Elijah, the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. Behold, I'm sending Elijah.

Habakkuk. This one's a little bit more obscure, but I think it's really helpful. It's the the brightest part of the silver lining in a very dark cloud, Habakkuk's book. For the vision is yet for the appointed time. The vision of God is yet for the appointed time.

It hurries toward the goal, and it will not fail. Though it delays, wait for it. Though it delays, wait for it. It's going to come to pass, and it'll be right on time when it gets here. And if you feel like you're languishing in prison and you got it wrong, though it delays, wait for it.

For it will certainly come, and it will not delay long. It'll be right on time. And in the weight of the world right now, it's hard looking at that wars and rumors of wars all over the place. It feels like, God, really? Are you not gonna do what you are supposed to do?

Malachi three one, the Lord is the coming one. Behold, I'm sending my messenger and he will clear away before me. So that one is coming, a messenger. And the Lord whom you are seeking will suddenly come to his temple. So that one is the one who's coming too, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight.

Behold, he is coming. The Lord is coming, says the Lord of armies. Daniel seven thirteen. Some of y'all go to Daniel seven pretty often. I kept looking in the night vision and behold with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man was coming.

And he came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him. And so when John says that, they would have heard, are you the coming one? Jesus would have heard it and said, I know exactly who I am. But he's got some question about who I might be. Am I the messenger instead of being the Messiah?

Am I Elijah? A lot of people had that question. For Luke to say wait. For John to say, he who has come here is mightier than I and to say his winnowing fork in his in his hand, he would see Messiah who's coming as being someone who would bring about the vengeance of God. So here we are.

Jesus answered these disciples of John and said to them, go and report to John what you hear and what you see. That's pretty good. At that very time, he cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits. It's interesting because Luke is a doctor that he differentiates between physical maladies and spiritual difficulties. At that very time, he cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits, and he gave sight to many who were blind.

And he answered and said to them, go and report to John what you have seen and heard. Now, again, lepers cleansed, the dead were raised, centurions, Gentiles slave was raised, and then the dead was raised. And Jesus says it more specifically. Those who are blind receive sight, and those who are lame or limp walk. Those with leprosy are cleansed.

Those who are deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. That is all of those are signs of Messiah. Think back to Jesus' first sermon. I'm spending a little time in Luke here. Jesus' first public sermon that we have recorded in scripture is in Luke four, it says, came to Nazareth where he'd been brought up.

And as was his custom, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of Isaiah, the prophet, was handed to him, and he unrolled the scroll, and he found the place where it was written. This is Isaiah 61 if you're wondering. The spirit of the Lord is upon me. Capital m and Jesus is reading it himself.

Seven hundred years before was when it was written down. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he anointed me to bring good news to the poor. That's one of the things that Jesus said, Tell John what's happening. Good news is preached to the poor. He sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind.

That's another one of those things. And John, by the way, is a captive at this time. To set free those who are oppressed and to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. To proclaim the favorable time of God's pleasure, as one translation puts it. And it says when he said to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, it says he rolled up the scroll, he gave it back to the attendant, and he sat down.

And the eyes of all the people in the synagogue were intently directed at him, and now he began to say to them this, today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Now for us to read that and to see that in Luke and to see it, as part of Isaiah 61, we think, why did they get so upset? Because right after this is when they tried to throw him off the ridge. They were fighting mad with it. They're intently looking at it.

He didn't sing their favorite verse of this song. And quite probably, he didn't sing our favorite verse of this song either. We have a similarity, I think, the church of today. A lot of times, I hear people saying, Lord, please come. Come get us.

Lord, it's so terrible. Everything around here is awful. Come get us and just damn all of them, the ones outside. The next verse in Isaiah 61 says, right after to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, the next verse says, and the day of vengeance of our God. Are we living our life like God's vengeance is still in front of us, and we wanna share the love and the mercy and the grace of God with everybody who is right now condemned?

Or are we living it like, I'm so glad I made it in. Forget all these other people. Just put an end to this world. Lord, burn it up. Jesus says, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, he sat down before proclaiming vengeance.

He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant. The next verse right here says, and blessed is any person who does not take offense at me. It's either gonna be that you look and say, my life's pretty good. I don't really need a savior. I feel like I'm better than I am bad.

I've got more good than bad. I'll take my chances. Why would I need a savior? I'm doing the best I can, and that's good enough. I don't need a savior.

It's offensive for you to say that I do need a savior. I reject it. Or you're gonna say, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. There's no way I can make up for the debt that I pay. I trust you to do something about it because I can't do it.

I've got a I've got a little bit of commentary. I usually just distill the commentary and spread what I can here. I think this is so good. I wanted y'all to get it straight from this guy. Any and blessed is anyone who does not take offense at me.

Those who are not scandalized by preconceived ideas of the messianic task, but instead judged by what they see happening will know that Jesus is indeed the promised one and will, as a result, be blessed. When Jesus said, just go tell John what you see and you hear. If you didn't already have a preconceived notion about what Messiah was gonna do, you'd be amazed by what he had done. The next line's right here. These, however those, however, who are offended because of their preconceived notions and by what they do not see happening, such as judgment of the nations or the restoration of political independence and greatness for Israel, they will miss out on this blessing.

And I can tell you right now that if you expect for God to do something and he doesn't do it, and you just get ticked off with him about it because he ought to do it. You're setting yourself up as God. Acknowledge that God is the judge and that we're not. And our perception of him, we should humble ourselves before him. As these disciples of John were going away, this is even interesting to me, is as these disciples were going away, Jesus turns to the crowds and they had heard what they said.

Jesus turns to the crowds and begins speaking to them about John. And he says, what did y'all go out into the wilderness to see? Remember John's wilderness ministry? He's out there eating locust and honey and what'd you go out there to see? Did you go out there to see a reed that's shaken by the wind?

Now this might be sort of an obscure metaphor for us, but we talk about the winds of culture or the winds of change or the winds are shifting. In our society, we see the winds shifting a lot, do we not? Public opinion today about a certain issue can swing dramatically in the course of just a few months. We've got a lot of different media around us all the time, and there are all these grassroots movements that are so upset about something. Turns out a lot of those grassroots movements are astroturf.

They're manufactured, made up nonsense. Trying to pretend to be a grassroots thing to sway people's perception and judgment. John was not a reed blown by the wind. He wasn't blown by the wind. He was not saying he was not proclaiming a message that was expedient for him.

He wasn't profiting from it in any way. He's a nonprofit prophet. Sorry. Couldn't help it. What did you go out into the wilderness to see?

A reed that was shaken by the wind? No. The oh, in Greek, it's obvious that the rhetorical question is to be answered no. There's another one. This one is to be answered no also.

But what did you go out to see? Did you go out to see a man dressed in soft clothing? This is an interesting one. We what do you know of John the Baptist? This is what we know of John the Baptist.

He's always dressed in some animal skin, camel's hair, cloak, leather belt. This is the way John the Baptist looks in the scriptures. That's the way he looks. And that's what we know. I mean, he's one of the easiest people to pick out in Renaissance painting because everybody else has these fine, fine clothes, and John is always dressed rough.

Part of it is because of this verse. Did you go out to see somebody dressed in soft clothing? It's molycois hematois is soft or effeminate clothing. Loungewear. Did you go see somebody that was dressed in soft or effeminate clothing?

Those who wear soft clothing, Jesus says, are in king's palaces. Now I think this might be a dig on Herod. This is Herod. Herod is dressed in soft clothing, living in the lap of luxury, has palaces aplenty, and he is sexually promiscuous and vengeful and jealous, and he often kills his enemies even of his own house, some of them so that he can have his way with their lives. He's a bad dude.

Jesus says, Folks who dress like that are living in the lap of luxury inside of royal palaces. But what did you go out to see? This is not a rhetorical question. It's a straight question. What did you go out to see?

A prophet? Question mark. Yes. I tell you the one whom is more than a prophet in Luke and in Matthew, it says, yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. He is the last of the prophets.

He's the last of the one who are who is sharing that Old Testament message of the coming one. Behold, this is the one about whom it is written. This is Malachi three one. Behold, I'm sending my messenger. John is the messenger of God, prophet, but he's the messenger who has the contemporary ministry with the son of God.

Behold, I'm sending my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way before you. There's been said a lot of different times that first, before people hear the good news, they really need to recognize the bad news. That they stand in peril before a savior, and that's what John was saying. You need to repent of your way. It's a wicked way.

Repent and turn to God and look to him for the provision for the forgiveness of your sins. Malachi three one, I will send my messenger. Truly, I say to you, Jesus goes on, that among those born of women, there is not arisen anyone that's greater than John the Baptist. He's the best this world has to offer. He's a good guy, absolutely dedicated to God, and yet still he had despair, yet still he had some doubt, yet yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Jesus said, he was announcing me, and I am here bringing salvation. And anyone who puts their trust in me will be greater than John the Baptist. That's great, isn't it? Every believer. Every believer is greater.

And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been treated violently. It's been handled violently, and violent men attempt to take it by force. People are always trying to either take over something in the name of religion, or they're trying to force someone else to take on their religion. And that's the way that it is in this world. From the days of John the Baptist then until now, the kingdom of heaven been treated violently, taken by violent men by force.

For all of the prophets, capital p, that's Old Testament prophets, and the law prophesied until John. But now what John was forecasting has come to pass right here. And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is the Elijah who was to come. Remember Malachi four? Malachi three says, my messenger, Malachi four says, behold, I'm going to send you Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.

So that's the last passage Testament, if you recognize that. The very last of your Old Testament is Malachi four and five says, behold, I'm gonna send you Elijah. And six says, he will turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children. That's John the Baptist's message. Repent.

Pay attention to the things that are important. And the hearts of the children to their fathers so that I will not come and strike the land with complete destruction. And then there was four hundred years of intertestamental silence where they just didn't hear from God. And they began to quibble and to speculate and to argue over what God meant by all of those passages. But by what he meant by those passages was about the coming one, about Jesus.

And John got to put his finger out there and said, behold the lamb of God who comes to take on the sins of the world. If you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come. Jesus says this in Matthew 11. It's funny to me. In Matthew 17, we see his disciples asking him, why is it that the scribes say that Elijah has to come first?

Why is it? And he answered, oh, yeah. Elijah is coming and will store all things. But I say to you, Elijah has already come, and they didn't recognize him. It was John the Baptist, but did to him whatever they wanted, imprisoned him, mistreated him, eventually beheaded him.

So also the son of man is gonna suffer at their hands. They didn't understand that at the time either that Jesus was about to die on the cross. And then the disciples understood he had been speaking to them about John the Baptist. They were there when he said that. Mark says almost exactly the same thing.

Luke says it earlier, actually. He says, and it is he, talking about John the Baptist, who will go as a forerunner before him in the spirit and power of Elijah. So if you are still quibbling over thinking about, that Elijah part bothers me. I don't believe it was Elijah. Elijah was John the Baptist.

Say it as plainly as Jesus did. If you're willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. The one who has ears to hear, let him hear. That's the way Matthew puts it.

I love this. Luke spells it out for us. It says, and when all of the people and the tax collectors heard this, they acknowledged God's justice. They acknowledged God's justice having been already baptized with the baptism of John. They recognized their lack.

They recognized their need. They recognized that they didn't know everything, and they acknowledged God's justice. Do you remember in Peter where it says that Jesus, he was insulted, did not insult in return. When he was beaten, he didn't lash out in return. There was no sin in him at all, and he continually entrusted himself to the one who judges rightly.

He allowed for God, the father, to be God. In Philippians, it says he did not consider equality with God as something to be grasped. He didn't have to be right all the time. He was right all the time. Don't get me wrong.

But he didn't have to be. He didn't have to beat it into people. He didn't have to force them by violence. He was in the way he lived his life without sin, completely submitted to the spirit, and able to continually entrust himself to God who judges rightly and leave room for him for the vengeance of the Lord is still future and coming. When all the people and tax collectors heard this, they acknowledged God's justice having been baptized with the baptism of John, but here we go.

But the Pharisees, the religious folks, and the lawyers, the ones who are equivalent over being right, scribes, lawyers, rejected God's purpose for themselves. John's message was one of repentance, and they rejected a message of repentance. They were good enough. Not having been baptized by John, they were alienated from God. But to what shall I compare this generation?

Jesus goes on. To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? This is kinda weird to me, but still kinda fun too. It's like children. Children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to the other children and they say, we played the flute for you and you did not dance.

You're not paying attention to anything we're saying. We played the food for you and you did not dance. We sang a song of mourning. You did not mourn. You just went about your day doing whatever it is you wanna do, and you didn't pay any attention to what was going on.

For John, Jesus says, came neither eating nor drinking. He was an ascetic, eating locusts and honey. Right? He was not a not a fancy guy. John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, he's got a demon.

And then Jesus says, and the son of man comes eating and drinking, living an abundant life, perfectly righteous. And they say, behold, a gluttonous man and a heavy drinker, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. I've got a little point of application here. Are you a fault finder? It's easy to find fault, honestly.

They're finding fault with Jesus. There was no fault in him, and they still were finding fault in him. And John the Baptist was living the life that God called him to, and they're finding fault in him. And honestly, if you look at me, you're gonna find fault in me. And probably I'd find fault in you too.

I think that this is really helpful to say, you know what? Let's concentrate on our relationship with God directly. Listen to what he's saying. And when we feel despair, I think that we turn to him and we send the message right like he did. Send the message to Jesus.

Is this is this am I still okay? Is this right, what I'm doing? Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds. The one who is wise will act on that wisdom. And to reject God will be shown to be foolishness.

Okay. Now Jesus goes here in Matthew. He goes from this point, and Luke doesn't tell this part of the story, but I think it's important especially as church folk. I've grown up in church since nine months before I was born, and I have seen Jesus do a lot of great things in a lot of lives. Okay?

So for me, I think this is good for me to consider. It's a it's a real warning to us. Then he began to reprimand the cities in which most of his miracles were done because they didn't repent. Those cities did not by and large repent. Woe to you, Chorazin.

Woe to you, Bethsaida. For if the miracles that occurred in you had occurred in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless, I say to you, it'll be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. One of the things that we do as as local churches, not not the capital c Church Triumphant, local little bodies. One of the things that we do is we expect for everybody around us to act like they know Jesus.

When it's hard enough for us to act like we know Jesus, we fall short often. And for us to live humbly and say, God, would you just show me your way? And I'll walk in it. Give me the power of your spirit and allow me to see where I'm erring and bring me back up into that good old gospel way. If I get legalistic, bring me back up.

If I go off into the ditch of license, bring me back up. Lord, I wanna just be walking right with you. Then let's do that. Right? The next one is Capernaum.

Capernaum. And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted up to heaven, will you? All of you. No. You'll be brought down to Hades.

Why? If the miracles that occurred in you had occurred in Sodom, it would have remained to this very day. He's saying they would have repented. If they had seen the miracles that authenticate my message, they would have repented. Nevertheless, I say to you that it'll be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.

If you know better, folks, you ought to be doing better. And Jesus is about to show us what doing better looks like. He goes into a prayer right here, a praise even. At that time, Jesus said, I praise you, father, lord of heaven and earth, and you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent, and you've revealed them to the infants. Yes, father, for this way was well pleasing in your sight.

All things have been handed over to me. He that sounds vaguely familiar, doesn't it? He says, all authority has been given to me. All things have been handed over to me by the father, and no one knows the son except for the father nor does anyone know the father except the son and anyone to whom the son determines to reveal him. And Jesus was attempting to reveal the father to all of the people listening, but he who has ears to hear would hear, and those who didn't have ears to hear would reject.

And this is where I say we're gonna land on the blessing. The blessing is come to me, directly to me. I had somebody call this week and they were struggling with an overly religious past that had caused them great harm and now was causing them to question the faith altogether. And this passage is all I could think about. Skip the middleman.

Eliminate the middleman. Go directly to Jesus. He says, come to me, all of you who are worn out, weary, and burdened, and I'll give you rest. That's what he's offering. That's what he's promising.

Come to me, all you who are weary and you're burdened, and I'll give you rest. Remember, he's speaking to the Pharisees. I don't remember exactly if it's before now or after now. I think it's after now because the conflict is heating up at this point. But he'll eventually get to the pharisees and say, you place a burden on the people that you yourselves cannot carry.

And if they're feeling the weight of that burden, I want them to come directly to me. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I'll give you rest. The clicky clicker is not click it, Blake. There it goes. Take my yoke.

We know what a yoke is. Right? Two oxen, they have holes for their head, their necks. It rests their neck, and the two of them are tied together so they'll walk at the same speed to be able to plow or pull or do whatever it is that needs doing. They'll be able to do it as a team together.

Team of oxen. Jesus says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. Why? For I am gentle and I'm humble in heart.

There's a lot of battling going on right now. There's a lot of tempest going on right now. But I am the calm in the midst of the storm. You just come to me and rest in me. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I'm gentle and I'm humble in heart, and you will there find rest for your souls.

Amen. That you will find rest for your souls is a quote from Jeremiah. Do you remember Jeremiah? Jeremiah six. Jeremiah, one of the prophets, the weeping prophet, we call him, because he had forty years of faithful ministry.

He was faithful to God for forty straight years. He carried God's message faithfully and it's interesting because when he shared it with the people, sometimes the people would say, we don't wanna hear that message. They take it, they roll it up, written down paper, roll it up in a rock and throw it in the river, or they burn it, or they reject it. They throw it away like trash. And then when Jeremiah goes back, it says, God, they did it again.

They took that thing that you gave me, Barak wrote down, and God, what do I do? He said, Jeremiah, write this down. Same message. Forty years because God is not slack concerning his promise. He doesn't want anybody to perish.

He has given the time. Jesus proclaimed the acceptable year of the Lord. Vengeance is coming. No doubt about it. But I think what we need to be praying for is more time, acceptable time of the Lord.

Look at this. This is what the Lord says. Jeremiah, it's Old Testament. This is what the Lord says, stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths. Pay attention to what God has said in the past.

Seek out where the good way is. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Seek seek out where the good way is and walk in it, and then you will find a resting place for your souls. I think Jesus was calling back to that. And you know what?

The next line of Jeremiah says, it's so sad. But they said, we will not walk in it. Either you're gonna say, yes, Lord, I accept what you've done for me, or nope, and you reject it like the tax collect like the Pharisees and lawyers did, or you accept it as a sinner who's accepting the way of grace. Jesus goes on, Come to me all you're weary and burdened, I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I'm gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is comfortable.

Now I'm gonna go out on a limb here. Comfortable can be translated easy. Way my my yoke is easy. My yoke is kindly. My yoke is pleasant.

My yoke is comfortable. If you feel like John seems to have felt in this passage, if you feel like, oh, the burden you've given me, Lord, is so heavy and it's burdensome. First John says, his commandments are not burdensome. For my yoke is comfortable. If you will hitch up with Jesus and just walk at the pace that he has for you and learn from him and you allow for gentleness and humility instead of anxiety and rage and outrage and pride.

If you will just walk with him, you will find that his yoke is comfortable. And if it's not comfortable, perhaps you're doing it wrong. Maybe. For my yoke is comfortable and my burden is light. Now I wanna talk about Jesus' burden.

We know that on the cross, he took the burden of all of the sin of all of the people who would ever put their trust in him. He took that upon him, and so his burden on the cross was absolutely terrifically terrible. But if he took the burden of your sin on the cross, why are you still trying to carry it now? My yoke is comfortable and my burden is light. If you think about Jesus walking it out, and I say this most of the time when we do communion, the body When I talk about the body, he walked us out and he was without sin.

He had innocent blood to offer. And so if we will accept it, just like he said in first John one nine, if you are homo logeo, saying the same thing, speaking the same, confessing your sins, I am faithful and I am just, we know God is faithful and just, to be forgiving your sins and cleansing you from all unrighteousness. So for Christians, one of the hardest things about the of God is accepting it. He's saying, my burden is light. I have no sin debt of my own.

And if I take that on the cross, if I take yours, you have no sin debt of your own. My way is comfortable and my burden is light. If you will humble yourself before the Lord and submit to his spirit and walk with me, tied to me, yoked to me, don't get far from me, Pay attention and put into action what you learn. He's saying, your burden will be light. In Jesus' name, may we walk this week in absolute accordance with your spirit, your scriptures, and, Lord, may we walk it out in such a way that others are drawn into fellowship with you.

May we be winsome and loving and caring. May we be gracious and merciful and peaceable people. In Jesus name, amen. Would you stand with me and we'll sing? You wanna sing come to the savior?

Make no delay again? Amen. Amen. Alright. We'll sing it again.

It's a good one. The altar is always open for prayer. It's open if you wanna talk to me. I'll hang around till the last customer serve. Amen.

And I'm just gonna take those last three verses as a benediction today. Jesus is tenderly, softly and tenderly calling us home, and this is the way he does it. Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I'm gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is comfortable and my burden is light.

Lord, may we carry that burden with you, recognizing that it's light. And may we walk together with you, not getting ahead of you and not dragging behind, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.