A Warning to the Unrepentant

Matthew 11:20-24

Last week we saw Jesus complimenting John the Baptist as the greatest man born among women. Matthew tells us in 3:2 that when John the Baptist stepped on the scene his message was “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” In 4:17 Matthew says when Jesus began preaching His message was “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” John was a great man, in part, because his message was the same message that the Lord Jesus Christ preached.

The message of God to this world is “Repent and trust Christ.” Unfortunately, that is not a message many people want to hear. They did not want to hear it in Jesus day, and they do not want to hear it in our day. We need to hear it. We not only need to hear it we need to heed it as well.

Why is it so important that we repent? Listen carefully. Refusing to repent invites the wrath of God upon people and nations. Repenting of sin results in the grace of God being granted to people and nations. That is why it’s important that we repent.

In this section of Scripture Jesus confronts and condemns specific cities because of their refusal to repent. We’re going to see three things Jesus does when these people refuse to repent.

1. Jesus turns up the heat in His preaching (20).

A. His rebuke.

Verse 20 says Jesus began to upbraid the cities. This is a strong verb in the Greek. It means to denounce or scold. Jesus preaching had been preaching gently. Now He changes His tone. We saw in verses 16-18 that the people were acting like children. They were pitching a fit because John and Jesus weren’t playing their games. Now Jesus is scolding them as if they are children.

Perhaps you remember something like this happening to you when you were a child. Your mother began very gently with you:

Now honey, clean your room.

Now sweetheart, pick up your shoes.

Now darling, go take a bath.

When it became clear you had ignored her sweetness, she changed her tone. She transformed from Joel Osteen into John the Baptist in a moment. When that happened, you knew she was serious.

If you’ll look in verse 21 you’ll see Jesus uses the word “Woe!” That’s a word used in the Old and New Testaments to pronounce judgment. It’s meant to call the people to attention. It was a word the prophets used to warn Israel of coming doom.

“Woe unto you” means judgment is coming upon you. Jesus is preaching His heart out to these people. Sometimes God uses a scalpel and sometimes He uses a sledgehammer. The scalpel wasn’t working with these people. Jesus begins to pound away on their hardened hearts with the sledgehammer of His Word.

When you hear someone passionately telling you to turn from your sins you should listen. You should be reminded of Jesus in these passages. It is Christlike to passionately urge people to repent of their sin.

B. His Rational.

It would have been a very logical thing for the people to repent. Look at verse 20. It was in these cities that Jesus had done most of His mighty works. The point is Jesus had done everything to convince these people He is the Savior.

It wasn’t they hadn’t heard, seen, had opportunity. They wouldn’t repent. Matthew 22 gives parable of a wedding banquet. The king invites the community to His wedding banquet, everything is prepared, and all that is missing is people. Matthew 22:5 says of the people invited "But they paid no attention and went off-one to his field, another to his business.”

These were people were indifferent to the gospel. They heard the message; they just weren’t interested. Hebrews 10:26-27 says, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.” To hear the gospel and not repent is the same as saying “So what” to God.

But these folks had done more than hear the gospel. They had seen the mighty works of Jesus. There was no logical reason for them not to believe the gospel and repent of their sins. This is why Jesus tone changes. It’s almost as if He is marveling at their unwillingness to repent.

C. His Reason.

Look at the end of verse 20 “Because they repented not.” That’s the reason for the change in tone. Jesus could have simply gone on His way. He didn’t have to preach another message to them. He gives them another opportunity by preaching more passionately to them.

The Lord cares if we do not repent. We may be indifferent to Him, but He is not indifferent toward us. Their unwillingness to repent was tragic to Jesus.

It was tragic they didn’t see the worth of Christ.

It was tragic they didn’t listen to his words.

It was tragic they loved their sin more than they loved Jesus.

It was tragic that they would die and be condemned.

See that man who was once a wicked sinner now in heaven? Ask him how he got there. He will tell you “I repented!”

See that man everyone thought was upstanding and moral in hell? Ask him how he got there. He will tell you “I didn’t repent.”

This is the reason our repentance matters to Jesus. The doors of heaven are opened to the wicked through repentance and faith in Christ.

The gates of hell slam shut on the unrepentant. Jesus turns up the heat in His preaching because He can see the souls of these people slipping into hell.

Sometimes when I am preaching, I think I can see that as well. There’s nothing worse for a preacher to look out at a crowd of people who are just enduring the sermon. Sometimes the indifference on peoples faces will spark passion in my preaching.

2. Jesus points out the hardened hearts of the people (21-23).

A. The cities Jesus preached in.

Chorazin. This was a small village 2 ½ miles North of Capernaum. Sometimes we equate small towns with godliness and large ones with ungodliness. I can almost hear the people in the coffee shop at Chorazin “We are a small religious community. People here love God”. “We aren’t like those big cities. We still pray in public, we have the Ten commandments on our Courthouse lawn…”

Bethsaida. This town was a little further NE in the plain of Gennesaret. It was where the feeding of the 5,000 took place (Luke 9:10). Philip, Andrew and Peter were all from this town. It was a fishing village. There were obviously some godly people from the town, but over all they had rejected the message of Christ

Capernaum. Jesus preached and did more ministry here than any other place. It seems to have been His base. Matthew 4:13 says He dwelt there. He healed many people in Capernaum.

B. The cities Jesus compared them to.

He compared Choarzin and Bethsaida to Tyre and Sidon. These were large Phoenecian cities on the Mediterranean. This would be like comparing Dublin to Atlanta. We are proud that we aren’t like Atlanta and they were proud they weren’t like Tyre and Sidon.

In the Old Testament the prophets condemned these cities for their wickedness. The prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Amos and Zechariah had strong words of condemnation for these ungodly cities. They were filled with Baal worshippers. They were located on a seaport, so the culture was one of coming and going.

Tyre was such a wicked city that when Ezekiel was describing Satan himself he used one of Tyre’s kings to do so (Ezekiel 28:11-15).

He compares Capernaum to Sodom. Sodom is infamous for its wickedness. The people had hardened hearts. Lot’s preaching was mocked there. Not even ten righteous people could be found in the city of Sodom. The term “sodomy” is used to describe homosexual acts because so many in that city were homosexual. Some angels came in human form to rescue Lot. The inhabitants of the city tried to rape them. The men were blinded by the angels but not even that stopped them. They continued to try and find the men so they could rape them (Gen. 19:11). The point is that these folks were exceedingly sinful!

Tyre, Sidon and Sodom were all Gentile cities. Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum were Jewish cities. Yet Jesus says these Jewish cities were worse than those Gentile cities.

C. The sad reality.

Jesus says if He had done all that He had done in Chorazin and Bethsiada in Tyre and Sidon then Tyre and Sidon would have repented in sackcloth and ashes. Sackcloth was an uncomfortable and unappealing garment made of camel hair. It symbolized the pitiful emotional state of the person wearing it.

Ashes were used to convey the same thing. In the Old Testament we see heartbroken people putting ashes on their head (2 Sam 13:9), sitting in them (Jonah 3:6), laying on them (Esther 4:3) and even rolling in them (Jer. 6:26). It was a sign of repentance. There was no sign of repentance in Bethsaida and Chorazin.

We see the omniscience of Christ in this. Not only does Jesus know everything we have done He knows everything we would have done in different circumstances. If these wicked cities from years back had experienced what Bethsaida and Chorazin had they would have genuine repented of their sins.

Then Jesus says if He had done in Sodom what He had done in Capernaum, Sodom would still exist today. In other words, He would not have destroyed the city because they would have repented.

Jesus is saying that their hearts are:

Harder than the hearts of sodomites

Harder than the hearts of pagan idolaters

Please note, God is not obligated to do for one what He does for another. It was only because of God’s grace that Bethsaida, Chorazin and Sodom received more light.

Some people will live 70, 80 or 90 years and have time to repent, but God isn’t obligated to give all of us that many years.

Some people will have godly parents who teach them the truth, but God isn’t obligated to give us all godly parents.

It’s not that those OT cities didn’t receive some light. They did. The others just received more light. Listen to me now. This is what the old preacher Matthew Henry said. He said:

“Christ keeps account of the mighty works He has done for us.”

When we stand before the Lord and Jesus will know every reason He gave us to repent of our sins and trust Him. How many reasons would you have friend? Can you count all the:

Good things He has given you

Times people have prayed for you

Messages you have heard about God’s grace

Prayers He has answered for you

Every sunrise and sunset

Pain He has spared you from

Second chances you have been given

We have forgotten some of the mighty works Christ has done for us, but Christ has not forgotten a single one. Every one of those mighty works is a reason we should have repented of our sins. Everyone of those works will stand as evidence against us if we do not repent.

3. Jesus warns that hell is hotter for the privileged (24).

A. These NT cities would experience a more severe judgment than those wicked OT cities.

The Day of Judgment speaks of final judgment. Everyone will stand before God and give account for his or her own sins. There are degrees of hell. It’s not that the Sodomites didn’t go to hell. They did. But the hell they are experiencing is more tolerable, less painful, than the one Capernaum is going to experience.

Think of hell as a giant sea. Think of your sins as weights tied to you. The greater the sin, the further you sink into the Lake of Fire. The further you go down, the hotter it is.

B. Hearing the gospel call brings great responsibility. Each of us this morning are privileged. We live in a land where the gospel is being preached. To hear the gospel call is a glorious thing:

It is the loudest call of God- it extends to all the earth.

It is the simplest call of God- Come to Christ. You don’t need a priest, a sacrifice or money.

It is the most loving call of God- God so loved the world…

I would argue that we are more accountable than even the city of Capernaum.

We have the full counsel of God’s Word

We have the resurrection of the Lord Jesus

We have the establishment of His church across this globe

We have faithful preachers and teachers who have taught the truth to us

We have examples of Godly men and women who have lived the Christian faith before us

Most of have lived our entire lives within walking distance of a church. If Capernaum had a great responsibility, how much more responsibility do we have?

You live in a nation that for the better part of it’s existence has claimed that Jesus Christ is the Way the Truth and the Life. Things have changed! We are not who we were. But you still hear more gospel than you would in any other part of the world.

C. We must repent.

We must repent from a life of sin and follow Christ. We are obligated.

Some people repent early. Thank God for that. Thank God for children who come to Christ. Those who repent early are saved from much heartache. Young person, hear me, repent of your sins and come to Christ. It’s your obligation.

Some people repent later. Thank God for His grace. He is patient with us. He is patient with some for 20, 30 40 and even 50 or more years. If we are saved at eight or eighty, we go to the same heaven.

Some people never repent. This past week I preached a funeral service. I shared what happens when a believer dies. I want you to think with me for a moment about what happens when a person who refuses to repent dies.

They stand before God to give account for their sins. They know they are guilty. They know they have no hope. Then they hear the Lord say “Depart from Me ye who work iniquity, I never knew you. They rejected God now they are rejected by God.

They are cast into hell. In a moment they find themselves in the blackness of hell. It is darker than you can imagine. After they are plunged into the darkness their body is immediately consumed with pain like they have never felt before. They are tormented, they are thirsty, they are crying out for help, they are grinding their teeth.

They remain there forever. Hell is their home. There is no hope of things getting better. The pain never lessens, the darkness never brightens, the screams never quieten. Hell is forever.

Listen to me friend. You are a privileged person. You may not believe it but you are. You aren’t privileged because of how much money you have or the color of your skin. You are privileged because you have heard the gospel and you have heard it often. Because of that you carry with you a great level of responsibility. That means if you don’t repent and trust Christ hell will be very hot for you.

There’s no doubt in my mind hell is hotter for Americans than it is for people who live in Russia or Pakistan or China.

Look back at verse 20. Jesus said, “because they repented not”. Have you repented friend? Have you turned from your life of sin and followed Christ? If not, I pray you will.