The Condemnation of God

Introduction

Go ahead and open up your Bibles to Matthew 11. We’re going to be focusing on verses 12-24 today.

Now, our verses for today are really connected to our verses next week. Depending on the circles you’ve run in within Christianity over your lives, many a preacher may have emphasized either the wrath of God or the love of God. The condemnation of God or the compassion of God, is how I’m putting it.

The reason this week and next week need to be seated together is because God isn’t just one and not the other. He is perfectly balanced, experiencing all His emotions without fluctuation or having one emotion overtake the other. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). Or, as He says in Malachi 3:6: ““For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.”

The theological terms for God’s unchanging nature and infinitude of emotions all at the same time are His divine “immutability” and “impassibility.” In essence, God is unchangeable and incapable of being caused emotional suffering.

The reason I bring this up now is because our next verses could be taken wrongly if we don’t understand God’s nature that way. There can be a whiny tone that we read this section in, where Jesus is angry at His lack of control over the souls of His hearers. Instead of bringing just condemnation and telling them the truth, we can read these verses and think Jesus is helpless, which is simply not the case.

This is especially true for next week, but also for our verses today. So let me be up front and tell you that Jesus is not whining, He’s pronouncing judgment on the people of Israel, and judgment on our generations as well. He is announcing His deep affection, while also announcing His sure condemnation, and judgment that He has the perfect right to do.

So, let’s read.

Matthew 11:12–24 ESV

12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. 15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear. 16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, 17 “ ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 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!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.” 20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. 21 “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. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23 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. 24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

—

What we just read can be summarized like this: Since the coming of Jesus, greater condemnation is on those who reject the gospel than in the time before He came.

If we keep this in mind, we will be helped as we work our way through these verses and discover what Jesus means.

Verses 12-19

Notice in verse 12 what Jesus says about the kingdom of heaven. He says that it has “suffered violence” since hte days of John the Baptist. What the Lord is declaring there is that there has been a defaming, a mocking, and a literal physical persecution happening on those who have come as God’s messengers.

The coming of John the Baptist ushered in a new time period, a new “generation” of how the kingdom was coming. Previously, it came with prophets who were coming to announce to God’s people of their need to turn to the Lord, to do the right things, but John was supposed to come and instead of announcing repentance in that way, he was coming to “prepare the way of the Lord” Jesus (Isa. 35:8).

He was coming to “turn the hearts of fathers to their children adn the hearts of children to their fathers” (Mal. 4:6). He wasn’t coming only to announce judgment, but was coming to restore hearts so that they would hear and receive Jesus’ message.

But, was John successful? Yes, but most often in the tune of judgment. What I mean by that is that here was the true message being brought. yet by the hardness of people’s hearts they went out to him to gawk at him, to see him as if he were a spectacle (vv. 7-11). Here was John, baptizing people into a life of repentance, yet most who went out to him were just trying to catch him in a wrong. They were indignant, and brought violence to the kingdom by refusing to hear this message.

Therefore, what we should hear Jesus saying in verses 12-13 is this: I. The ungodly and the hypocrites will do violence to the kingdom, sometimes thinking they are doing the kingdom a favor.

—

Think about it this way: Here are the Pharisees and Scribes, experts in knowing and living the Old Testament Law coming out to hear this new teacher. They don’t like the conviction his message brings, so they find any possible way to silence him they can. Waiting for his slip up, like snakes hiding in a pit, ready to strike and kill their prey.

Hence, both John and Jesus refer to them as a “brood of vipers” (Mt. 3:7 and 12:34). These Pharisees and Scribes, being “experts,” were really false teachers leading God’s covenant people away from the truth.

This is the way false teachers work. They think they are doing God’s work while they are really bringing suffering on God’s people. They bring violence on the kingdom, deceived by their falsehoods and their own self-righteousness and they try to take the kingdom by force.

—

Jesus then brings in this illustration to show what the majority of the people He’s encountering are like. He calls out to a Jewish custom at the time, where whole towns would respond to a celebratory song and dance in the streets. Or if there was a funeral and a sad song were playing, they were to gather around and comfort to console that family, feeling their pain and suffering.

But, instead of coming and hearing the comfort and confrontation of the gospel, they were those who refused to respond.

To use a modern parallel, it would be like a group of people gathered on a busy street as a semi truck is barrelling down. Someone shouts at them: “Move! You’re going to be killed!” And the group is blissfully unaware, staring at their cell phones and texting one another.

Or another: It’s like a wedding gathering where the couple has exchanged vows and the couple is introduced as “Mr. and Mrs. so-and-so,” but the gathered crowd is too busy staring at the ceiling to clap and celebrate. They are more interested in what they will eat and drink at the reception than they are in celebrating the real reason for the gathering.

—

John the Baptizer and Jesus came for similar reasons, Jesus is saying. To announce the truths and plans of God. But here stands the crowds by and large who are completely unmoved, unphased, and seek only their own benefit and gain instead of hearing the truth of God.

This is another truth of the ungodly and hypocrite: II. They are unmoved by the truth of God. This is what Jesus is illustrating here. Instead of being moved by the truth of God, they are finding fault with the one proclaiming the truth.

That John, he’s just a pretentious, pious, and weird guy… He must be possessed! He’s got to have a demon! This Jesus guy… He does some incredible miracles… but look at who He hangs out with! He’s just trying to get good with rich people so He can eat and drink His fill!

Neither of these things were true, yet these were apparent charges that people brought against both John and Jesus. These people were blaspheming, bringing false charges against God and His messengers; dishonoring and vilifying the truth of God.

—

So, here I bring a warning: If you hear the truth of God preached, yet are unmoved in your heart by it, then the problem is not the one proclaiming the message, but in you.

I’ve been in those shoes. I’ve had to repent. I continue to have to repent of this, where I hear something and go “I already know that” or “I could say that better.” But in so doing I’m missing the whole point and ruining the feast of truth that God is bringing me.

If you are unmoved in Bible study or reading, or if you play the self-righteous card and pretend like you can’t be taught because you’re better than the teacher, then you are the one Jesus is casting judgment on here. Plead with God for repentance that He might restore you and your heart! Don’t waste another moment, but tell God that you need your heart warmed by the truth regardless of who brings it!

Do not be like the apathetic hypocrite or the self-righteous viper. You are doing violence to the kingdom of God.

—

“Wisdom is justified by her deeds.” What Christ means when He ends this section here is all that I’ve said. The foolish self-righteous condemn the person who is truly seeking after God. They are hard-hearted and unaffected with the truth, they bring violence against God’s kingdom and defame Him. Being false teachers or false professors of the faith, they are unwise to see what God is actually doing.

So Jesus vindicates the wise and truly righteous in contrast to the fools, saying that wisdom is justified by what God does despite the fools. One Puritan commentator on this verse says it well: “These children of wisdom justify wisdom; they comply with the designs of Christ’s grace, answer the intentions of it, and are suitably affected with, and impressed by, the various methods it takes, and so evidence the wisdom of Christ in taking these methods.”

The lives of the wise will display their true wisdom. God will continue to bless their work despite the work of fools to ruin them.

Verses 20-24

Jesus continues His condemnation by highlighting the areas He’s been to. There are two important things to remember in this section of verses. (1) Jesus is not just frustrated and speaking irrationally. He is God-incarnate, and is immutable. Therefore, He is announcing true judgment as this new generation of history is born. (2) As with most prophetic judgments, there is an air of poetry in what He says. There’s a huge “if” in these verses, but it’s to their shame and not despising God the Father’s timing in the sending of His Son.

Notice in verse 20 where Matthew, the writer of this gospel, throws in a note that only a narrator could. He says this: “Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.”

To review, in our time in Matthew we’ve been mostly in Capernaum in recent chapters. But we’ve also traveled through Chorazin and Bethsaida. Matthew didn’t mention these cities to us, but with his note in verse 20 we can assume that Jesus did some incredible miracles in these places.

He’s probably healed the sick, preached the gospel, given sight to the blind, and all the other miraculous proofs of His earthly ministry. Jesus is no longer pointing to John the Baptizer’s ministry, and thus there is even greater condemnation on these places.

—

So when we read v. 21, we have to remember that Jesus is not making proof that if His Father had sent Him sooner, it wouldn’t be this bad. Instead, He’s condemning these places for their hardness of heart. He is not saying literally “If these things were done in Tyre and Sidon, if my Father had sent me to THESE places, then salvation would’ve been more effective.”

No, what Jesus is really saying is that the places He’s been have been so hard-hearted, that they had to be compared with some of the places of God’s most intense judgment of the Old Testament.

We are all familiar with Sodom and Gomorrah. Wicked places where people were violated sexually, where sin was celebrated and righteousness condemned. Tyre and Sidon, though, were places that frequently stood against Israel. They were both the judgment of God against Israel and also places of extreme judgment from God.

Judgments like Isaiah 23, where God is commanding Tyre to weep because destruction is coming for them. Same thing for Sidon, which was a city that neighbored Tyre in Lebanon. Both of them were port cities, and both had suffered incredible destruction historically. It was prophesied before it happened, it happened as God had promised.

—

What Jesus is doing by comparing Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum to Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom, is pulling back these biblical memories of incredible judgment, saying that those who reject Him are worse off than even these places that were brought to utter destruction.

He is angry, yet angry without sinning (Eph. 4:26), and announcing great destruction on the people of these cities. He’s comparing the people of those cities to those places that were wiped out and made almost uninhabitable.

—

The main point that we must draw from these passages is this: III. Rejection of Jesus brings worse punishment. Now, the reality is that all who reject God suffer His wrath eternally in Hell. But now that Jesus has come, a new “generation” has come.

This “generation” was not only the generation where Jesus walked and did His miracles, but it’s a new period of time where the revealing of God’s mysterious plan of Christ has come (Col. 1:26). Clearly, when Jesus was walking on earth there was miraculous proof of His ministry, but there is a similar proof in our day and age.

When a person responds to the gospel, when God opens their ears and heart to the Good News, and they respond in faith and repentance, this is miraculous proof of God’s continued work. Sinners who would by no means come to salvation see and hear, believe and receive, respond and repent… This is a new generation that didn’t happen in the pre-Christ days.

Thus, it is worse off for those who reject Christ. It is no longer just the Law and Prophets that people have, but the entire revealed Word of God in the person of Jesus Christ and also in the fully inspired and inerrant written Word.

—

There is a day of judgment coming. It will be more bearable for the citizens of Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom, there will be less harsh of judgment on those souls in Hell than for those where Christ has brought His gospel. Our own town of Toledo has had various gospel-efforts since its inception. Those around us are destined for eternal suffering from the hand of the God who brings them condemnation.

Do we not have a heart for these people? Destined for destruction? Do we not want them to hear the news of Jesus’ atoning death and sacrifice?

Do we want the people around us to suffer?

The word “Woe” is a word that announces suffering. It says “How great the suffering,” “How great the distress” of those who reject the person of Christ and His gospel. The citizens of a town who remain wicked are destined to the same fate as apathetic, angry, and self-serving false prophets who bring violence against God’s kingdom.

Both are condemned.

This condemnation should spur us to confront the ungodly. Not with self-righteousness, but with the gospel. The condemnation of false believers and teachers should also spur us to stand against them. They do violence against the kingdom and are worse off than even Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom.

Conclusion

Now, as I said at the beginning of this sermon, the reality of this condemnation can only come mixed with the reminder of God’s gentleness. His compassion. God tends to call the unlikely to salvation, revealing the loving side of nature instead of only wrath.

Jesus seats the reality of this condemnation with the reality of His salvation as He concludes His sermon in Matthew 11. We will pick up there next week, but I want to ask you to spend your week contemplating what Jesus says in these verses. I implore you to plead with God to give you the strength to preach the gospel to the ungodly, to challenge those who stand against God’s work. Or, perhaps if it’s you that’s stood in the way and been apathetic and unaffected, that you might plead with God for repentance.

He is faithful to rebuke the condemned, and He’s also faithful to reveal His Son to those who come to Him. The Christian life is a life of repentance. 1 John 1:8-10 says: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”