Matthew 11:28-30 - My yoke is easy and my burden is ;ight

11:28-30

We then immediately get the positive! Jesus calls all the weary to come to Him, all those who are burdened. Jesus being the only way to the Father, our needing Jesus to reveal the truth to us, is not a limitation. Rather it is an invitation! For He has said He will reveal the truth to all who come to Him. He invites the weary and burdened to come to Him, and He will give us rest. We will find true rest for our souls. “Take my yoke upon you”. The world puts a yoke upon us. It is one of having to rely entirely upon ourselves, one living a life without God, where everything is down to my ability. One where we are at the mercy of others and at the mercy of events. We are called to swap that heavy yoke for the yoke of Jesus. The yoke of being cared for by the Lord, the yoke of having our sins forgiven. The yoke of being set free! The world can be cruel and demanding, overbearing. But Jesus is “gentle and humble in heart”. So we will find true rest. Let us accept the invitation of the only One who can reveal the Father and the Son to us.

Jeremiah 25:1-3 - You have not listened

25:1-3

The Lord had been warning Judah, through the words of Jeremiah, for twenty three years. “But you have not listened”. God had warned them “again and again”. People say that God has not made things clear enough. This is nonsense, and is not an argument that will stand up on the last day! The truth of God is evident to all. The fact that we were created is the most obvious explanation. The age of the earth and the mechanisms that God did or did not use can be debated, and really do not matter. Whether God created the universe a few thousand years ago, or several billion years ago is really not that relevant. Exactly how He created things is not that relevant. What is extremely relevant is that we were created on purpose and for a purpose. Currently western societies are desperately keen to celebrate LGBTQ stuff. A moment’s rational thought shows that this is a very bad idea. We are without excuse! As were the people of Judah.

Matthew 11:25-27 - All things have been committed to me by my Father

11:25,26

We now get “kinder” words, at least in part. Jesus praises His Father because He has hidden the truth of the kingdom from the “wise and learned” and revealed it to little children. Now Jesus does not mean that it is wrong to be “wise and learned”, there is a whole book in the Bible praising the virtues of wisdom, the book of Proverbs. The truth of the kingdom is hidden from the self-righteous and the proud, those who boast of their own cleverness. Conversely, it is revealed to little children, that is to the humble. To those who put their trust in God, recognising that He is the source of true wisdom and learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 1:7). 

And this is God’s good pleasure. The world encourages us to be proud and boastful, we should not go along with this. It belittles us when we refuse to go along with its “wisdom”. We should not be cowed, for far better to be on God’s side than the world’s side!

11:27

This is a key verse in many ways. It quite clearly states the divinity of Jesus, and that He is the only way of salvation. Moreover, it places salvation directly in Jesus’ hands, for to know the Father the Son had to choose to reveal the Father to that person. “All things have been committed to Jesus”. Jesus has all power and authority, He will return to judge the whole world. Jesus is fully human, but He is not “just a man”.  No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son. Jesus is eternally the Son of God. There was never a time when He was not the Son of God. Our eyes are blinded by sin, sin utterly distorts our vision. But we are not without hope, for those whom Christ chooses to reveal the truth to can know the Father and the Son. Some see this as a limitation, and hence seek to deny the clear truth of these words. We are far wiser and better to see this as our only hope, to see it as a positive. We can know the Father and the Son, but only through Jesus Christ.

Jeremiah 24:3-10 - I will give them a heart to know me

24:3-7

As with 1:11, Jeremiah is asked what he sees, and he correctly describes the vision. God then explains the vision, starting with the good figs. In Jer 21:9 God said those who surrendered to the Babylonians would live. Here we have a very good prophecy for those in exile. Now remember they are in exile for their own sins and the sins of the nation. Those who submit to God’s discipline will prosper from it, those who resist will perish. They would come back as far better people. God would watch over them in exile. He would build them up and change their hearts. “They will be my people, and I will be their God.” This is the ultimate purpose of God, and it is those who are disciplined by God who receive it. (Heb 12:4-11).

24:8-10

The ones who fled to Egypt or stayed in the land, along with Zedekiah and his officials, are like the bad figs. They sought to save themselves by their own efforts, but they would become abhorrent to all peoples and nations. They will be “an offense, a byword, a curse, a reproach and an object of ridicule”. God could not make it clearer. Plague, famine and sword will get them. As the people of God we have a great privilege, but only if we trust in the Lord and obey Him.

Matthew 11:21-24 - Woe to you Chorazin

11:21,22

Various towns are mentioned by name. Chorazin was near the sea of Galilee. Bethsaida was on the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee. Tyre and Sidon were on the Phoenician coast. Chorazin and Bethsaida were part of Israel. They would have considered themselves far superior to the non-Jewish people of Tyre and Sidon. Indeed, in Isaiah Tyre and Sidon are singled out for judgement in Isaiah 23. Yet Jesus is saying that if the people of Tyre and Sidon had seen the miracles they would have repented. Yet the Jewish towns had not repented.

11:23,24

Capernaum is now mentioned, and the words allude to the prophecy against Babylon in Isaiah 14:13-15. In fact, Capernaum gets the worst treatment here. Babylon is representative of Satan’s “kingdom” (see Revelation), then she is told that Sodom was better than her! This is about as damning a condemnation as you can get. Jesus tells them that on the day of judgement Sodom will fare better than Capernaum! It is like Jesus telling you or me that we are worse than Hitler.

Keeping Focused on Christ - A sermon on 1 Corinthians 3

A sermon preached at Gate Church International (virtually!) on Sunday 13th September 2020.

YouTube version:  Keeping Focused

Audio version can be found here.

Jeremiah 24:1,2 - Two baskets of figs

24:1,2

All the skilled workers had been carried off into exile. Then God gave Jeremiah a vision, remember he had visions very early on in his ministry. Things are now entering a new phase. It was only the “dregs” of society who were left in Jerusalem, all the rulers and “elite” were in exile, or dead. The vision was of two baskets of figs. One basket was very good. The earliest gifs that ripened in June were the tastiest ones. The other basket had bad figs that were inedible.