Matthew 16

Christs Invitation

In chapter ten of Matthew we saw Jesus send out the twelve as missionaries into the surrounding area, but we see in Matthew eleven that this was not to give Jesus a break from His ministry as He continues preaching and teaching apart from them. Now while He is preaching though some of Johns disciples come to Him again, but this time with a message from John.

Johns Doubts

Matthew 11:2–3 “And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?””

This is kind of a bold question from John. You see John had known that Jesus was the Messiah, the savior of the world, well before anyone else knew about it and yet here he is sending a message to Christ asking Him if He really is the Messiah. Think about this from the perspective of Jesus for just a moment and remember that not only is He fully God, but He is also fully man. His cousin whom He loved dearly who has been preaching His name to people and stood by His side is now questioning Him. His beloved cousin now doubts if Jesus is really who He claims to be. This would have hurt Jesus this feeling of rejection from someone you love. Imagine if your closest friend suddenly began to question your honesty and integrity. It would hurt, you would be sad that they thought ill of you, but also angry that they would turn on you. That is the way that we would see it in our fallen state, but Christ being the one and only perfect man was able to see it for what it was and not an attack on His integrity. Look at four through six.

Matthew 11:4–6 “Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.””

Jesus does not lash out in anger and rebuke John for questioning Him. All He does is remind John of what has happened through His ministry. Of the miracles and the Gospel that is preached. Jesus then goes on when preaching to the crowd around Him in verse eleven to say that among those born of women there is no one greater than John the Baptist. Clearly Jesus is not bothered by this doubt from John and still regards John to be a beloved friend, because no matter how great John was at the end of the day He was still a man. John even though he was close to God still was influenced by the world he grew up in and was holding onto the idea of a warrior Messiah coming in to set the captives free in a physical sense today. Jesus understands that we are human and that so long as we live in this world we will never be perfect. We will make mistakes and yes sometimes we will have doubts and questions about what Jesus is doing in our lives. Thats ok. But when we do have those doubts what do we do with them? Take Johns example, even from within a prison cell he made a way to reach out to Christ and ask Him his question. We need to ask Christ when we are in doubt. Pray about what we are doubting and take wise council with others and find the answer to your question. If you let the doubt sit there and try to ignore it thinking that it is sinful to ever question God then that is how you spiral into sin by your doubt turning into an anamocity towards Him when you could have simply solved it by asking for His answers. And sometimes we have to accept that the answers are not clear and we may not fully understand something. Think back to Jesus’ answer to John. Did He clearly say yes I am the Messiah? No, He did not. What He said certainly says that He is through the implications, but the blatant message was not a clear yes to John. Not every time we have a question will it be answered immediatly or clearly. We must be patient because as finite human beings we simply cannot fully understand the ways of an infinite God.

After He sends Johns disciples back to him to report His answer Jesus begins to preach and rebuke the cities for not accepting the message of John and then not accepting His own message. He tells them that it will be more tolerable for Sodom, the city God nuked, than for the cities that reject His message. After delivering such a grim warning to the people though Christ lifts His eyes to Heaven to speak with God.

Now I want to be honest with all of you and tell you that the next few verses are controversial among believers and understanding how God works especially when pertaining to salvation. I want you all to keep in mind what we just discussed that in some ways we are just to simple minded to fully understand God and that is ok. We can admit that we do not fully understand things sometimes but still fully accept them.

The Invitation of Salvation

Matthew 11:25–26 “At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.”

Here Jesus is thanking God the Father for hiding the gospel from the wise and revealing it to the babes. Why does God hide the gospel from the wise people then? And who are the wise people? What is meant here is the worldly wise people. The people that our secular world would consider wise because of all their intelectual pursuits. God does not hate wisdom, on the contrary He is the author and beginning of all wisdom. What God hates is when man thinks that through their own mind they can achieve salvation and that through their own wisdom they can be made great. These are the wise that God has hidden His gospel from the ones who have really hidden themselves away from it in pursuit of the world. So then, why has God revealed it to the babes and who are the babes? By babes Christ means the humble people, the people who recognize that they have nothing to offer God and it is only Him who can offer anything. So, why does God reveal His gospel to the babes? At first you may think that they had earned that right to have the gospel revealed to them through their humility, but scripture is very clear that sin is sin and all of it seperates us from God and makes us unable to earn the right to have the gospel revealed to us. That is the whole point that we do not deserve it yet He freely gives it anyway. Why? Look back at verse twenty-six, because it is good in His sight. What a simple yet powerful answer. Yes we are all absolutely ruined by sin. It has ravished us and broken us, but God out of His love for us chose to send His Son to us and in His perfect will has chosen to reveal the truths of the gospel to whom He pleases so that we may be redeemed. We are desperate as believers to have a reason for why we are saved, because I earned it, because i chose it, but at the end of the day look at the next verse.

Matthew 11:27 “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”

There is only one way to know God and that is the Son revealing Him to us. Salvation, or what it is more rightly called, regeneration, is a work that is solely of God. The Son reveals to us the Father, the Father forgives us of our sins, and the Spirit is sent into us so that we are made into a new person in Christ. It is exclusively His work in us.

Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

The regenerate life is a gift to the believer from God. It is not something that we have earned or by any means a work of our own, but is wholly a work of Jesus Christ.

I will leave you though with what Christ leaves them with:

Matthew 11:28–30 “Come to Me, all you 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.””

Though we don’t deserve it, Christ extends the invitation anyway. So, may people will read these words that have hearts that are hurting and heavy laden. People who have struggled with sin, shame, guilt, addiction, loss, and so on and so forth for their whole lives and Christ is extending that offer to you to you now. If you do not already know Jesus as your Lord and Savior come to Him and He will reveal the Father to you so that your burdens can be taken away. Lay down your pride and anything else that is standing in your way and admit today that number one, you are a sinner in need of saving, two, there is no way you can get there on your own, and lastly, ask Christ for His help. Ask Him to intercede for you and be your personal savior today so that you can be made into a new person in Him.