Hard to Please: Worship the King Before It's Too Late

Bound for Glory

WELCOME (Sterling Tollison)

Scripture Reading (Matthew 11:16-26)

Prayer of Praise (God is Creator), Jean Smith

I Will Glory in My Redeemer

Blessed Assurance

Prayer of Confession (Anxiety), Jason Wells

Great Are You Lord

PBC Catechism #44

What will happen to unbelievers when Jesus returns?

Unbelievers will be resurrected to judgment and everlasting conscious punishment. The ultimate hope of all creation, and the final state of all that now exists, is the new heaven and new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Pastoral Prayer (Bubba Jones)

SERMON

The story is told of twin boys, one who was an extreme optimist and the other was an extreme pessimist.

Since both the boys were extreme in how they responded to things, they were taken to a psychiatrist for treatment.

The doctor put the extreme pessimist in a room filled with new toys, but the boy refused to play with toys. Much to the doctor’s surprise he burst into tears, afraid he would break the toys if he touched them.

The doctor then put the extreme optimist in a room filled with horse manure. Again, much to the doctor’s surprise, this boy smiled and began rolling up his sleeves. He then started digging into the horse manure shouting “there’s got to be a pony in here somewhere!” [1]

Sometimes I fear we think of Jesus like one of the twin boys in that story.

Some of us picture Jesus as an extreme pessimist. He’s straight-laced, hard to please, often unhappy, and rarely eager to extend grace.

Others picture Jesus as an extreme optimist. He’s happy-go-lucky, rarely bothered, and always eager to accept and affirm everyone just as they are.

The truth is, Jesus is neither of those things. Instead, Jesus always responds perfectly to every situation.

Weeping was the perfect response to the death of Lazarus

Righteous anger was the perfect response to the injustice and irreverence in the temple

Gentle but firm was the perfect response to a doubting John the Baptist

But what about when He’s rejected? Will Jesus respond with the same sort of tenderness towards those who refuse to believe?

Turn to Matthew 11:16

Jesus was approached by John the Baptist with doubts about whether or not Jesus was the Messiah

John was in prison

Jesus wasn’t the Messiah he expected

Jesus’ response to John was gentle yet firm. He listened to him, spoke truth to him, challenged him, and affirmed him.

But how will He respond to unbelief?

Before I answer that, let me remind you the difference between doubt and unbelief:

Alister McGrath—“Unbelief is the decision to live your life as if there is no God. It is a deliberate decision to reject Jesus Christ and all that he stands for. But doubt is something quite different. Doubt arises within the context of faith. It is a wistful longing to be sure of the things in which we trust.” [2]

The Scottish evangelist Henry Drummond said, “Christ distinguished between doubt and unbelief. Doubt says, ‘I can’t believe.’ Unbelief says, ‘I won’t belief.’ Doubt is honest. Unbelief is obstinate.”

So how does Jesus respond to unbelief?

Jesus responds to unbelief just as perfectly as He responded to doubt and everything else. But the right response to unbelief looks different. The right response to unbelief is an urgent warning.

Not a Christian: I want you to worship the King before it’s too late!

Christian: these warnings are for us too!

Hebrews 3:12-13—Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

Four Warnings About the Sin of Unbelief:

1) The POWER of Unbelief

Unbelief is much more powerful than most of us would like to admit.

11:20—Then He began to denounce the cities where most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.

The word “denounce” is a very strong, used only two other times in Matthew. It’s used in 5:11 to refer to the “reviling” Jesus’ followers receive from their persecutors and it’s used in 26:44 to refer to the way the thieves mocked Jesus while they were being crucified

Matthew uses that strong word here to describe the rebuke Jesus is about to give these cities for their unrepentance.

But notice what’s going on: the people in these cities did not repent even though they saw most of Jesus’ mighty works!

Why? Because unbelief is incredibly powerful!!

The story is told of a man who was absolutely convinced that he was dead. His wife and kids were exasperated. They kept telling him “You’re not dead,” but he continued to insist he was dead.

So they tried telling him, “Look, you’re not dead; you’re walking and talking and breathing; how can you be dead?” But he continued to insist he was dead.

So the family finally took him to a doctor. The doctor pulled out some medical books to demonstrate to the man that dead men do not bleed. After some time, the man admits that dead men do not bleed. The doctor then took the man’s hand and poke the end of his finger with a needle. Of course the man started bleeding. The doctor asked him what he thought about that, and the man replied, “What do you know? DEAD MEN DO BLEED!”

Unbeliever: what would it take for you to believe? Is it possible that even if you had that evidence, that proof you still wouldn’t believe?

The rich man and Lazarus...

In hell, the rich man says to Abraham, “Send Lazarus back from the dead and warn my brothers so they don’t end up in hell with me!”

Luke 16:29-31—But Abraham said, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’” And he said, “No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” He said to him, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”

Unbelief is so strong that evidence, reason and even miracles can’t shake it!

Not saying you should have blind faith and not ask questions! Not saying their shouldn’t be evidence!

Jesus gives evidence and they still didn’t believe!!!

Tim Keller—“Unbelief is not just the lack of something, it’s the presence of something.” [3]

The problem with unbelief isn’t more evidence. There’s something going on your heart. So let’s consider...

2) The HEART of Unbelief

11:16-17—“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, “ ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’”

Explain: kids in the marketplace playing “wedding” and their friends didn’t want to dance. So they switched and played “funeral” but their friends didn’t want to mourn.

That’s what unbelief is like. You’re hard to please. You’ve got a ‘heads I win, tails you lose’ mentality. You’ve got a critical spirit.

Just in case His hearers we’re thinking, “we’re not like that,” Jesus gives them proof...

11:18-19a—“For 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!’”

John’s ministry was a “funeral mode” sort of ministry.

He was serious and stern. He ate weird foods and wore weird clothes. He didn’t go to parties. He fasted. He lived in the wilderness. He didn’t drink alcohol. He preached a hard (but true!) message of repentance.

How did the people respond? They said, “That guy’s kinda crazy! Maybe he has a demon or something!”

Jesus’ ministry was a “wedding mode” sort of ministry.

He was gentle and lowly. He ate normal food and looked like an ordinary guy. He went to parties. He didn’t fast. He lived among the people. He turned water into wine. He preached a gentle (but firm!) message of grace.

How did the people respond? They said, “That guy’s a little too easygoing for me! Look at who He’s hanging out with!!! And is He getting drunk and overeating at those parties?”

11:19b—“Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”

Jesus is essentially saying, “the proof is in the pudding.”

Consider the fruits of John and Jesus’ ministries:

John didn’t have a demon—Jesus said he was the greater than all the prophets!!!

Through John’s ministry many repented of their sins and returned to faith in God. The wealthy shared with the poor, tax collectors cheating citizens, soldiers stopped stealing from those who couldn’t defend themselves (Luke 3:10-14)

Jesus wasn’t a glutton or a drunkard.

1 John 3:5—You know that [Jesus] appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin.

Through Jesus’ ministry the blind were healed, the lame could walk, lepers were cleansed, the deaf heard, the dead were raised, and lives were forever changed.

The problem was not John or Jesus. The problem was their unbelief.

But why didn’t they believe? What was at the heart of their unbelief?

We often don’t believe because we don’t want to believe!

Why don’t we want to believe? Because then we lose control.

The problem with the bratty kids in Jesus’ parable is that they want they flute! It doesn’t matter what song you play, they’re not happy. Because they want the flute!!

I saw an example of this in the news recently...

Last September archaeologists discovered evidence that a massive fireball about 1000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima atomic bomb struck an ancient Middle Eastern city near the Dead Sea. Scientists believed the temperatures rose to 2,700° F, hot enough to melt an automobile within minutes. Using various dating techniques, they determined the blast occurred nearly 4000 years ago.

Now if you know your Bible, you know that around that time an ancient Middle Eastern city near the Dead Sea was destroyed by fire from heaven. That city was called Sodom.

But if these newspapers admitted this massive fireball was evidence of the Bible’s truthfulness, think of what they’d have to admit: God is real. God is holy. God has wrath against sin. God doesn’t like some of the behaviors we celebrate! Talk about losing control!!!

So instead they said “perhaps this is the event that inspired the Biblical story.” [4]

Unbeliever: why don’t you believe? Is there just something you don’t understand? Talk to the person who invited you. I’m sure there’s someone here who would love to help answer your questions about following Jesus.

Is it possible you don’t believe simply because you don’t want to give up control?

Christian: in evangelism, the most important thing is not your ability to answer your lost friend’s objections. You’re going to find in time answering those objections is like playing “whack-a-mole,” once you respond to one another pops up. What matters more is your faithfulness to communicate the gospel!

Charles Spurgeon—“The best way to spread the gospel is to spread the gospel. I believe the best way of defending the gospel is to spread the gospel. . . . Suppose a number of persons were to take it into their heads that they had to defend a lion, full-grown king of beasts! There he is in the cage, and here come all the soldiers of the army to fight for him. Well, I should suggest to them, . . . that they should kindly stand back, and open the door, and let the lion out! I believe that would be the best way of defending him, for he would take care of himself; and the best 'apology' for the gospel is to let the gospel out.” [5]

It’s good to consider why we don’t believe. But unbelief is too serious to stop here. So let’s consider...

3) The JUDGMENT for Unbelief

11:21-24—“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. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. 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.”

Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum are three cities where Jesus performed the most of His miracles

Tyre and Sidon were two ancient Phoenician cities, known for their immorality.

A certain king of Tyre was so evil that in Ezekiel 28 used him as a picture of Satan

Sodom, of course, was the ancient city mentioned in Genesis 19 that was infamous for its debauchery and immorality. Even angels weren’t safe from the violent lustful appetites of its citizens.

But Jesus says on judgment day, it will be better for the cities of Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom than the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum.

Did Jesus misspeak?

The people in these towns in Israel were moral, upstanding, respectable citizens. They were good people!

How could they possibly have it worse on judgment day than these other cities known for their immorality?

Jesus says if those evil cities saw the works of Jesus, they would have repented!

The more access you have to the truth, the greater accountability you have to obey it!

One of the most dangerous places you can be on a Sunday morning is in a church that preaches the Bible!

John MacArthur—“Indifference is a heinous form of unbelief. It so completely disregards God that He is not even an issue worth arguing about. He is not taken seriously enough to criticize.” [6]

Talk to the young people: please don’t be indifferent to the things of God!!!

There will be eternal hell to pay for all who are indifferent to Jesus!

"Well that’s one of the reasons I don’t believe! I can’t believe in a God who sends people to hell!”

Did you know that’s a Western objection to Christianity? Most other cultures have a hard time believing in grace, not judgment.

Why should Western concerns about hell trump the rest of the world’s concerns about grace?

What matters is not cultural preferences, but truth!!!

Is Jesus saying there are degrees of suffering in hell?

He’s certainly saying some will have it worse than others!

Does that mean the temperature is hotter? Perhaps.

Or, perhaps, it’s something like what I’ve experienced through the years as a fan of Cleveland baseball. Years like 1995, 1997, and 2016 were more painful than any other years because of how close we came to winning it all without winning it all.

Perhaps the judgment will be greater for these cities because they will remember how close they were to Jesus, and yet they rejected Him!

Either way, you’re in great danger if you reject Jesus!

But that’s not the end of the story. Finally, let’s consider...

4) The SOLUTION to Unbelief.

There is hope in two words Jesus uses...

“Woe”

Daniel Doriani—“‘Woe’ suggests both anger and lamentation, both pity and doom. It announces impending judgment: Woe, for “it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you” (11:24). Yet the woe implies that there is still time to repent. The end is almost, but not quite, here. ‘Woe’ calls out judgment, yet it also offers a shred of hope for the penitent.” [7]

Jesus is giving this warning so that His hearers will heed that warning!!!

What do we need to do?

“Repent”

Explain: to turn away!

Problem: you can’t do it by yourself!

Martin Luther—As no one can give himself faith, neither can he take away his unbelief.

Matthew 11:25-26—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; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”

In his book Center Church, Tim Keller tells the story about a missionary trying to reach prostitutes in Korea with the gospel. No matter how hard he tried, women in that culture simply could not accept the idea that God would be gracious to them. Their self-loathing was too great. No matter how many passages the missionary showed them about forgiveness, love, mercy, and grace, he got nowhere.

Until finally he had an idea. He told the prostitutes about a God who is King. Kings, of course, have a sovereign right to rule as they choose. They even had the right to punish evildoers. All of this made sense to the women.

And then he told them that God had chosen to reveal Himself to some. Not because of anything they had done, but solely because of His mercy and grace. So He sent His Son to die as a substitute for these people. And only they could be forgiven.

Once again, this made sense to the women. Then they asked the missionary a question: how can I know if I am chosen?

The missionary answered, if you’ve heard the gospel, believe it, and want to follow this King than you’re chosen. [8]

Non-Christian: That’s what we invite you to do today (white flag)

Christian: is that what you’ve done? Then rejoice!

Hebrews 3:12-13—Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

Come Ye Sinners, Poor & Needy

Benediction (Rev. 22:20-21)