The Truth about Salvation

Good morning

If you are a guest, my name is Stefan I am the pastor of preaching here at Harvest

Before we begin - Men’s event on Friday - today is the last day to sign up

And we are in our multi-part series in the gospel of Matthew

And in Matthew 11-13, we are confronted with the reality of when the kingdom of man collides with the Kingdom of God

When our attempts to build our own kingdom come into conflict with God’s mission to build his kingdom

Now, I said this last week and it bears repeating…

We preach line by line through through the Bible… We don’t pick and choose what we like, and ignore what we don’t.

So when we come to difficult passages, we preach them and we as a church submit to them, even if they are difficult to accept

That is what it means to turn from our ways and embrace God’s ways…

We turn from our thinking and embrace his word.

And I am going to say from the outset…

The truths that we find in this morning’s text are going to be hard to swallow.

But if we will hear them and submit to them, we will be able to live confidently in light of them as a church in 2026.

So, let’s turn to Matthew 11 where Jesus is going to tell us “The Truth about Salvation” in v. 20-30.

And as you turn there, I am just going to go straight into the controversy.

There is a debate that rages in the church around two particular ideas:

Does God choose us? Or do we choose him?

To put it another way: Is salvation a matter of God’s eternal decree for who he will save? Or is salvation a matter of God responding to those who respond to him?

The New Testament uses words like “predestined” “chosen” “elect”

But it also says that whoever believes will not perish

[DEPENDING ON YOUR BACKGROUND, YOU MAY HAVE EXPERIENCE IN ONE OR THE OTHER]

So we are left with a dilemma… Which is it?

Now, while we are not going to solve the dilemma in a 40 minute sermon,

This text makes a few truths very clear that will help us to think well about God’s role and our responsibility in salvation

But it is his words that we need - So it is his words that deserve our full attention

Matthew 11:20–30 “Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. “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.” 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. 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. Come to me, all 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.””

These are God’s words for us as a church family - May we have ears to hear them and hearts to obey them.

Big idea: Salvation rests on God’s will and requires our response. [9:00]

The picture that Scripture gives us is that God is in control and that salvation is according to his will

But you and I are not released from the obligation to believe.

Now, I know what you’re thinking:

Stefan, you said it was a dilemma and both sides of the dilemma are in the big idea

I thought you were going to solve it for us?

No, I’m not - Because here is the deal:

The dilemma is a result of our limited thinking, not God’s perfect knowledge

We want an answer that gives us an either/or

So that we can pick one and discard the other

Salvation is either according to his will or it requires that I respond.

And whichever one I pick, I can then write the other one off as wrong

But the answer that scripture gives is not an either/or, but a both/and

[Transcendence and imminence]???

To say salvation is either according to God’s will or it is our responsibility is to choose one truth to the neglect of the other

But we are going to see in our passage this morning that it is both

And these are necessary truths for us

And what Jesus shows us in v. 20-30 of Matt. 11 is that these are truths that we must hold together, even when we struggle to see how they cleanly work together.

He gives us 3 necessary truths about salvation

If we deny any of these three necessary truths, we will have the wrong view of salvation

If we are to be a church that rightly understands the sovereignty of God and human responsibility as we reach our community and our world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we must hold on to these necessary truths

Necessary Truths:

I am responsible (20-24)[12:00]

Now, before we get into the text, I want us to understand what is involved in that word “responsibility”

To be responsible is to be both accountable and liable.

[Driving a car - ACCOUNTABLE TO OBEY TRAFFIC LAWS, LIABLE IF YOU BREAK THEM AND CAUSE AN ACCIDENT… LIABLE FOR DAMAGES/CONSEQUENCES]

In the same way…

You are accountable to the righteous standard of God

You are liable for not living accordingly

What does this mean for salvation?

You and I are accountable to God for our sin

And we are liable to the judgment that is due for our sin

However, in God’s grace, he sent Jesus Christ to live a sinless life and to die in our place on the cross

So though we are accountable to God for our sin, Jesus paid the price for it

And though we are liable for judgment, Jesus Christ took that judgment on himself on the cross

And if we receive Jesus Christ by faith, his life is credited to us and his death pays for our sin

If we reject him, we are accountable for it and we are liable for our sin

That is what it means that I am responsible: I will answer for my receiving of, or rejection of Jesus.

Look with me at v. 20-24

Matthew 11:20 “Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.” .

Notice - They are denounced for a specific reason…

Not that they lacked evidence. Not that they were confused. Not that they didn’t understand.

Because they did not repent

And their lack of repentance was not because they did not know who Jesus was…

Matthew 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.””

He lists three cities - Bethsaida, Chorazin, and Capernaum

These were all cities in the region where Jesus ministered

They saw him

They heard him

There was no denying who he was

And they rejected him.

And Jesus lists three other cities - Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom

These were pagan cities in the Old Testament that were destroyed under God’s judgment for their godlessness

And I want you to notice something… Jesus does not say that those citites should not have been judged

He says that if they saw what the cities in Jesus’ day saw, they would have repented

Yet the cities in Jesus’ day did not.

And Jesus is saying, “Judgment is coming for you because you are responsible for what you did with what you saw.”

They are responsible for their disbelief

They were accountable to God to believe in Jesus when they encountered him

And they are liable for their willful rejection of him in spite of all of the evidence that Jesus was the coming savior.

Here is his point

You are responsible for how you respond to Jesus.

When you respond in faith, you receive salvation.

When you respond with rejection, you receive judgment.

Plain and simple.

And I want you to notice… Jesus says it will be “worse” for these cities in Israel than for those cities that were destroyed.

He says in v. 22 and 24 that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for those ancient cities than for the cities in Israel who rejected Jesus

This is highlighting something we don’t talk about much, but it is important:

There is a gradation of judgment based on the knowledge that you had of Christ in this life.

The reason these towns in Jesus’ day will receive a worse judgment is precisely tied to what they saw and what they heard.

And Jesus actually teaches about this very idea in Luke 12 when he tells a parable about the servant who knew his master’s will receiving a worse punishment than the one who didn’t

They are both responsible - They both receive punishment

But greater knowledge brings greater responsibility… which results in greater punishment when God’s will is rejected.

The fact that I am responsible is a necessary truth of salvation - And God’s holds us accountable and liable if we ignore that truth.

What does this mean for us?

Since we are responsible to believe, it should give us urgency

Urgency to ask, “How have I responded to Jesus?”

Because you will be held accountable for it

And do not be too quick to think that simply because you are sitting in church today that you and Jesus are good

In the Old Testament, in Exodus and numbers, we see that the people of Israel were witnesses to the mighty works of God, they heard the voice of God at Sinai, they received the commands of God from Moses

And they rebelled anyways - They did not believe God’s words and they lived however they wanted to live

And they assumed that because they were identified with God’s people, that they were good

And the book of Hebrews uses them as a warning to believers

Be careful that you not have that same evil and unbelieving heart

You are a witness to God’s work

You hear God’s word preached

And you are responsible to give your life to Jesus

Your proximity to believers is not the thing that saves you

Faith in Jesus Christ is

Do not be like these cities that saw and heard and chose to go their own way

Run to Jesus, embrace Jesus, live for Jesus

But it also gives us urgency in how we share the Gospel with our neighbors and friends

They will be held responsible too

And if I truly believe that, I will (out of love for them) tell them about the salvation from sin that can only be found in Jesus

The fact that you and I are responsible for how we respond to Jesus gives us urgency to both reflect on our own response to Jesus and to call others to respond to Jesus

But that is only part of the picture

Because the second necessary truth of salvation is that…

God is sovereign (25-27) [24:00]

Definition of sovereignty: God’s sovereignty means that all things are under God’s authority, so that regardless of size or scope, all things serve God’s eternal purposes

God says through the prophet Isaiah “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’”

There is nothing outside of his infinite power

There is nothing outside of his limitless knowledge

There is nothing that does not have to submit to his eternal decree

He is not surprised… he is not reactive…

He is sovereign.

To see how Jesus makes this clear, look at v. 25-27

Matthew 11:25 “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;”

Notice, the hiddenness of God and the revealing of God is the choice of God

He makes himself known and he keeps himself from being known.

And you might say, “Well, yeah… he knows that we will believe so he reveals himself to those who he knows will believe.”

That is not true on two accounts:

That makes God Thanks God dependent on us

Jesus says in v. 25 that God’s choice to reveal himself has nothing to do with what we know or what we will do

Children have their needs met, apart from their knowledge of it

The wise know better…

God’s sovereignty in salvation is in spite of what we think, not because of it.

Not only does Jesus say that is the case, but he also says why that is the case

Matthew 11:26 “yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”

Listen to the words of Jesus here

It is the will of God to reveal himself to some and to not reveal himself to others.

And in case you aren’t convinced, Jesus doubles-down on it…

Matthew 11:27 “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.”

We often have the idea that we believed in Jesus Christ because one day we opened our eyes and came to a knowledge that he was our savior and so we turned to him

That we knew the truth and in our new wisdom and understanding we chose God

But Jesus’ words here help us to see that something preceded that decision

That when you were a little child… not knowing the truth… God revealed himself to you that you might believe.

Church family, you did not find God because you were smarter than someone else

You found God because by his grace he sovereignly chose to reveal the truth of who he is to your blind, dead heart

And in case you think I am somehow misinterpreting Jesus’ words here…

Deuteronomy 7:7–8 “It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers.”

God chose Israel because of who he is, not because of what they did

Ephesians 1:4–5 “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will…

God chose us, predestined us, according to his will… before the earth was ever created…

John 6:39–44 “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day… No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”

Everyone who looks upon Jesus will be saved, but the only way you will turn your eyes to Jesus is if God first sovereignly draws you to himself

Matt. 11:25-27, along with the verses I have read and many, many more in Scripture reinforce the fact that God’s sovereign will in salvation is a necessary truth that we must believe.

It might not be a truth that we fully understand, but it is a necessary truth nonetheless that God is sovereign

And this truth gives us confidence because if salvation rests on God’s will because he is sovereign, we can know two things:

That our own salvation depends not on our ability to find him, but his ability to save us

And that when we share the Gospel, some won’t believe, but some will

Your friend’s salvation does not ultimately rest on your ability to convince them

But on God’s sovereign will.

I hear it often said “if God is sovereign over salvation, what is the point of evangelism?”

And my response to that question is always the same: What is the point if he is not sovereign?

If God is not sovereign over salvation, then that means that belief is up to human ability

Human ability to comprehend

And human ability to convince

And it makes God submissive to our will, rather than us submissive to his

But if God is sovereign over salvation, then there is a confidence in evangelism that some will respond with faith

Not because of how eloquent I am

Not because of how smart they are

But because of how sovereign God is

Now… In know what you are thinking…

“But you said we are responsible… If God is sovereign over salvation… How then are we held accountable?”

That is a fair question… such a fair question, in fact, that Scripture expects you to ask it!

In Romans 9, Paul directly addresses God’s sovereignty in salvation

And he anticipates the question that we all ask

How can God hold us accountable while being sovereign?

Romans 9:19–21 “You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?”

What is Paul saying?

If you don’t know what God knows, you are not in a place to judge what God does.

We are wrong to do either of the following:

Point the finger at God because we don’t like his sovereignty

Reinterpret God’s word to neuter him of his sovereignty.

Both are ways we judge God - And we must not do either

In the book of Job, Job suffers greatly and for 32 chapters, he and his friends speculate about God and Job judges God as unfair for letting him suffer

Then God shows up and says, Job 38:2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?”

Who is this who judges me without knowing what I know

And what is Job’s response?

“Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.”

When confronted with passages about the sovereignty of God in salvation, we would do well to lay our hand on our mouth and raise the other in worship.

I am responsible

God is sovereign

It is not for me to judge God for those truths

It is necessary for us to embrace them both

And to worship God accordingly

We find in these two truths, that I am responsible and that God is sovereign, two sides of the same coin

The human side and the divine side

We often find that human side of the coin easy to understand, because we live it

We find the divine side of the coin difficult to understand, because we aren’t God and we don’t know what he knows

But what we must not do is deny the divine truth in favor our our human experience

Instead, we would do well to remember Moses’ words in Deut. 29:29

[For God, he has no problem reconciling the two]

God has not told us everything we want to know… He has told us what we need to know to live

And the third necessary truth…

Anyone can come (28-30) [34:00]

And Jesus’ offers an open invitation to the crowds

Look at v. 28-30

Matthew 11:28–30 “Come to me, all 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.”

In scripture, rest is the reality of living in God’s good design, no longer burdened by things not being the way they should be

Because of sin, things are not the way they should be

And Jesus invitation into his rest is an invitation to be made right with God

Though your sin has cut you off from him

And you carry the weight of it on your shoulders

Through faith in Christ, that sin can be forgiven and you can live according to God’s good design for your life

And Jesus calls out to the crowds that if you are worn down, come to him

He took the weight of your sin on himself

He paid the penalty for it

And he offers you eternal rest from any effort that would seek to earn God’s favor

Come to him and find rest for your souls

He is gentle and lowly in heart - He is not a slave driver or a taskmaster

He is not brutal and oppressive

He will not weigh you down with guilt because of your past

He will set you free from it and he will give you everything that you need for this life

Just because we are responsible and God is sovereign does not mean that that invitation is any less true.

If you are weary come to Jesus!

And when you do come to Jesus, or if you have come to Jesus, then know that it is because God made it possible

But for those who don’t come to Jesus, it is not as if they wanted to and God would not let them

Listen to me: there will never be a single person in the history of the world who wants to come to Jesus and God says “tough”

Instead, the reason someone refuses to come to Jesus, the reason Bethsaida and Chorazin and Capernaum rejected him is the same reason that the pharisees rejected him and it is the same reason every person rejects him

John 5:39–40 “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”

Ultimately the reason that anyone refuses to come to Jesus is because they don’t want him

And God will hold them responsible for that

If you do come to Jesus because you want him, ultimately it is because God was so sovereign over that

But the invitation to come is offered to all

[Conclusion] 40:00

I know that a sermon like this probably raises more questions than it gives answers

And this week on our podcast we will go deeper to try to answer more of the questions that this passage raises

But whatever questions may be coming up in your minds, this passage gives us three very clear necessary truths that we need to grow in our knowledge of:

I am responsible

God is sovereign

And anyone can come

If we neglect any of these three truths… we will have a wrong view of salvation

If we say I am responsible and anyone can come, but we deny that God is sovereign… Then we will have a view of God that he is powerless to do anything unless we act first

If we say I am responsible and God is sovereign, but deny that anyone can come… Then we will put ourselves in the place of deciding who is and is not worthy of hearing the gospel

If we say God is sovereign and anyone can come, but deny that I am responsible… Then we will say that those who don’t believe will not be judged.

If we are to have a biblical view of salvation that is consistent with the words of Jesus and Matthew 11, we must accept all three of these necessary truths.

The fact that we are responsible gives us urgency - How will they believe if they have never heard?

The fact that God is sovereign gives us confidence - How can the mission fail if God is sovereign over it?

The fact that anyone can come gives us freedom - It isn’t up to us to decide who will believe

We share the Gospel and we know who God has called by who believes.

Are those three truths difficult to understand, especially how they work together?

Yes

But that does not make them any less necessary for us to believe as a church family

And if we will believe them together, then we will be at church that lives in the urgency of human responsibility, the confidence of God sovereignty, and the daily mission of knowing that the invitation is open to anyone.

Because salvation rests on God’s will and requires our response.

Amen.