Matthew 11:25-30 (Memorial Day) - Searching for Rest (The Crowds pt. 3)

Introduction

If you have your Bible turn to Matthew 11:25

Rest is something we all long for in some way

Perhaps we want rest from our work

Does anyone really think that they have too much vacation time?

Or maybe we want rest from our responsibilities in our families

Maybe you want rest from an addiction that has held you in bondage

Some want rest from their physical ailments that are making living and moving far more difficult.

Some have great spiritual unrest, knowing that there is something wrong within them, and they try to find rest through following a religious set of rules and regulations

(pray towards mecca so many times,

say so many hail mary’s,

sacrifice to the gods so many times,

burn enough incense and buy enough crystals,

or go to church enough times and serve in enough roles) thinking that these things will bring them rest.

There are stressors of all sorts, whether they be emotional or mental, spiritual or physical.

And it seems that there is some truth to the song that says

“there ain’t no rest for the wicked, until we close our eyes for good”

Because even when we do find rest what is it we find? The rest is fleeting.

Sooner or later we must return to work.

We stop caring for our children and then it isn’t too long before we are caring for our parents or other family members.

We find some freedom from our addictions through hard work only to relapse and have to start over

We find some relief and healing from our bodily pains only to have something new happen.

We find that the religious things we do actually add to the stress instead of taking away from it. We find ourselves dreading our times of worship because of the work involved.

All we want is a little rest! And this has been the desire throughout the ages!

Ever since sin entered the world through humanity in the Garden of Eden, we have found that all of life and living is accompanied with pain and labor.

Noah’s name means “rest” because his father hoped that he would bring rest to a sin-stricken world!

We have spent a month exploring some important responses to Jesus and this morning we close out the response of the crowds toward Jesus.

In the previous passages Jesus confronts the crowds for their unbelief and rejection of him.

Last week specifically he told the Jewish people that they will be judged more harshly than Sodom will be on the final day of judgement because they had been given great gifts through the Scriptures and the great signs Jesus performed in their midst. He said that if these things had been done in Sodom, they would have repented and turned to God instead of rejecting him.

Now Jesus continues his critique of his own people with a teaching about the Sovereign will of the Father, who Jesus is in relation to the Father, and how the rest of us can be saved from the great burdens of living in a world corrupted by sin.

Matthew 11:25–30 ESV

25 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; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 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 Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

1. Jesus thanks God the Father for his sovereign authority (25-26)

A strange thing to be thankful for

Why would Jesus thank the Father for hiding the secrets of Salvation from anyone?

And it wasn’t something where the Father just made this open handed offer to anyone and then didn’t know who would accept it

Jesus says it was the gracious will of the Father to hide these things from some people

KJV “It seemed good in your sight”

NIV “This is what you were pleased to do”

If this rubs you the wrong way, you’re not alone

MANY people throughout the years bristle at the idea of God having the sovereignty to reveal the secrets of salvation to whomever he will

The idea that I don’t control my own fate is so anti-American that we think it has no business being in the Bible

But all throughout the Scriptures we find that there is a sovereign hand guiding the affairs of man in one specific direction - the very direction he has always promised the path of history would follow.

The direction of saving all those who follow in Abraham’s footsteps, believing God and repenting, or turning away, from our rebellion against him

Read the stories of the Old Testament Histories and see how often God is guiding the affairs of Man.

Sunday night we studied Judges 4 and 5 and in chapter 4 we see a straightforward account of a military victory with little reference to the LORD, but then chapter 5 sings a song of that victory, and seems to be unable to stop singing of how the LORD won that victory for them!

There is the famous line from the story of Joseph in the end of Genesis where Jospeh confronts his brothers we all probably know a version of it, we say

“What you meant for evil, God “used” for good”

But the problem is that isn’t what the Bible actually says

The evil actions that the brothers used against Joseph were not a surprise to God that he then found a way to use for good

What does Genesis 50:20 say?

Genesis 50:20 (ESV)

20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good

Joseph has no problem in understanding that though his brothers acted with evil intention, God acted through the brothers wicked actions because it was actually something that saved the whole line of Abraham, the line through which Jesus the Savior came, from starvation!

The Psalms regularly sing the praises of God asking “Who can stop his mighty hand?!”

Maybe you say “well that’s God during the Old Covenant, now everything has changed in the New Testament including how God interacts with people”

But You can’t do that because

it’s a heresy called Marcionism to think that God in the Old Testament is somehow different from God in the New Testament

We have plenty of New Testament examples of people who had no say over the illumination of their souls to the truth of who Jesus truly was (take Paul for example in Acts 9 where he is on his way to arrest and kill the people of Christ, but instead is driven to the ground and spoken to from Heaven by Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, and then revealed the truth of how to be saved.

Jesus himself says in this passage, and many others, that he is united to the Father and they are always in perfect harmony with one another

2. Jesus then claims that authority for himself as God the Son (27)

Matthew 11:27 ESV

27 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 Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

For anyone who doubts whether Jesus claimed to be God or not because Jesus never says “I am God” here is one of many times where Jesus equates himself with God the Father.

3. He then uses that authority to invite the weary to enjoy salvation and take on his light yoke (28-30)

Jesus does something unexpected

As the Son, he takes that authority of the Father to reveal the secrets of salvation and makes an offer to all who labor and are heavy laden.

(28)“Come to me… and I will give you rest.”

He doesn’t stop there

Matthew 11:29 ESV

29 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.

In case you don’t know what a yoke is...

It takes two

Who is on the other side of the yoke? Jesus himself

Application

God is sovereign whether we like it or not.

And that is a very good thing.

In his sovereignty he has chosen to reveal these hidden truths through his Son, Jesus.

And Jesus has offered to

All the ways we try to save ourselves is a heavy burden that we are taking upon ourselves.

But jesus offers us a light burden and an easy yoke.

He comes up beside us and bears the weight of the yoke upon himself

Jesus invites us into rest and it is only through him that we can find rest.

Augustine, in his excellent book “confessions” says

Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.

Confession

Assurance

1 John 1:4–7 ESV

4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.