Word of Salvation – Vol. 35 No. 02 – January 1990

 

Responsibility, Sovereignty And An Invitation

 

Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on Matthew 11:20-30

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 23; Matthew 11:20-30

Singing:  BoW 118 Give thanks to God for all His goodness
                   BoW 372  I know not why God’s wondrous grace
                   BoW 380  My Lord, I did not choose You
                   BoW 415  Abide with me

 

Introd:  What would you consider the most difficult Christian doctrine?

Which teaching of the Bible do you find it hardest to get a handle on?

I suspect that many of us here would mention “predestination”… election.

The teaching that God chooses for Himself, out of the whole human race,
a people for salvation, yet leaves others in their just judgment.

This teaching of the Bible about election is hard for us to work out.

Take for example the words of our text:
That God hides spiritual things from some – yet reveals them to others.
And then it’s just so easy for us to get our exercises by jumping to false conclusions.

Some conclude:  Well, if God hides and reveals then I can’t help it if I don’t make it.
Others ask:  What then is the point of witnessing and evangelism?
                        God will make sure that the elect get there.
Some even say:  If that’s the way it is… then unbelief is really God’s fault.

 

A]        A STINGING CONDEMNATION OF HUMAN UNBELIEF (vss.20-24).

 

1.            One of our problems is our constant tendency to take the Bible out of context.

We do that too when it comes to the Bible’s teaching about election.

Jesus speaks about God hiding and revealing…!

But take that out of its proper setting and we have problems.

Notice how this passage of Scripture begins.
It opens with a stinging condemnation of human unbelief.
That is the context… the setting for what Jesus says about election.
Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum are being strongly rebuked for their unrepentant attitude.
                For not accepting Jesus Christ.

Most of us usually like to emphasise the beautiful words of Jesus.

We think of those words in the Beatitudes:  Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.

Or the words in verse 28 of our text:  Come to me all you who are burdened and I will give you rest.

And it’s easy to overlook that Jesus also spoke harsh… stern words of judgment.
I doubt whether there are harsher words anywhere in the gospels than the words of vs 23:
 “And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies?  No, you will go down to Hades!”

Incidentally – those words were not spoken against some terrible moral misconduct.
They were spoken simply against unbelieving and unrepentant hearts.
Here is a stinging rebuke that these Galilean cities did not believe in Jesus.

All this is vitally important if we want to understand what Jesus says about “hiding and revealing”.

Jesus does not say to these people:  You poor people…I’m sorry you missed out!
                                                                God never revealed spiritual truths to you – too bad!
No! Jesus confronts THEM with THEIR responsibility.
                THEY have not believed in Him.
                THEY have not turned to Him.
                                These people knew enough for Jesus to hold them fully responsible.

 

2.            The point is: we often have trouble with the election because we divorce it from our own responsibility.

You may only talk about election after you have honestly faced your responsibility to believe.

And if you haven’t worried about your relationship to Jesus then don’t go worrying about election either.

The story is told of evangelist holding a week-long tent mission in a country town.
One fellow who faithfully attended every night was Joe.
                He was a man who had grown up in a Christian home.
                But he had fallen away and was now the town’s ‘down and out’ derelict.

Every night Joe sat in the front row – but he never responded to the invitation when it was given.
At the end of the week the evangelist sought him out and said to him:
                “Joe – you’ve been here every night but you’ve not surrendered your life to the Lord.”
Joe replied:          “Well preacher, I guess that if I’m elected I’ll get there.
                  And if I’m not one of the chosen there’s nothing I can do about it.”

The evangelist said:  “Joe, where in the Bible do you read about election.”
Joe still knew enough about the Bible to point to the book of Romans.
The evangelist said:        “Joe, the trouble with you is that you’re reading someone else’s mail.
                The letter to the Romans was written to Christians already committed to Jesus Christ.
                You read your own mail…  the gospels.
                There you are confronted with the claims of Jesus… with your responsibility to believe.”

Whatever problems we have with that story it brings out this one thing:

We may only talk about election after we’ve honestly faced our responsibility to believe.
In our text Jesus spoke words of judgment and condemnation.
                Not because God had passed some people by in His sovereign will.
                But only because here were people who had rejected His love.
                                These people would not face their responsibility to believe.

 

3.            Notice too that Jesus isn’t talking here to people who have never heard the gospel.

Rather He is speaking to people who have probably heard it more than anyone else.

In fact we could say that these three towns were the most privileged in the whole world…
                the most blessed in the whole of human history.
Why?  Because Jesus, the Son of God, made these towns the centre of His earthly ministry.
                   The people there saw Him heal the sick and make the blind to see.
                    They heard His parables… they listened to His teaching.
                But it all made no difference to their lives…. they remained unchanged.

So Jesus makes that comparison to Tyre and Sidon and to Sodom.

From the Old Testament we know the terrible wickedness of those cities.
Tyre and Sidon are often reproached for their evil.
                In that O.T. chapter we read, Isaiah even compared Tyre to a prostitute.
And today I really don’t need to say too much about Sodom.
                It is THE great example of wickedness and perversity in the Bible.

But now listen to what Jesus is saying.

                If Tyre and Sidon were as privileged as Chorazin and Bethsaida…
                  they would have repented and turned to God long ago… like the people of Nineveh did.
                At the time of Jonah they repented in sack-cloth and ashes.

                And if Jesus had walked down the streets of Sodom and preached there…
                instead of in Capernaum… it would have remained to that day.

Therefore, says Jesus,  it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon and for Sodom…
on the day of judgment… than for these three cities of Galilee.

Jesus honoured them with His presence but they shut the door on Him… they rejected their King.

Do you understand what Jesus is saying?
He’s saying that the greatest possible sin is the rejection of the Saviour.
Greater than the sin of Sodom is the sin of Capernaum.
Confronted with the love of Jesus…  but rejecting it…  and going their own way in unbelief.

In vss.20-24 we are then confronted squarely with human responsibility.
Those who have heard the gospel can never get away from that.
And the teaching about election may never become an excuse for us.
                We may not say:  “If God chooses me I’ll get there and if He doesn’t too bad.”
                We are accountable to God… we have no excuse.

That’s also the tragedy today… that thousands of Aussies have heard the gospel.
They have met Jesus in the preaching of the Word… maybe at a wedding… or a funeral.
They know something about Him from the printed page or the media.
    But they have rejected Him.
                And on judgment day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for them.

That’s even more of an issue when it comes to us in the church.
We are people who have heard stories of Jesus all our lives.
Every Sunday we sit here and listen to the gospel.
We are covenant people – privileged people.
                Because Jesus chose to live and work among us through His Spirit.
                                And yet some of us sit here and let it all go past us.
                                Water off a duck’s back!  And we go our own way.

What a terrible thing for anyone who will not accept the Saviour.

God holds all of us here fully responsible.

We who have heard the gospel will be judged with greater severity than those who have never heard.

 

B]         A MYSTERIOUS STATEMENT OF DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY (vss.25-27).

 

1.            Here then is the background to election – human unbelief and human accountability.

In that context Jesus speaks of God hiding things from some and of revealing them to others.

Jesus speaks about election in verses 25 to 27.
But only after that stinging judgment on human irresponsibility.
Notice how verse 25 begins:  AT THAT TIME…!   At that time Jesus said…!

In other words:-  What is said about election can never be taken on its own.
                   We must always keep this against the background of human responsibility.
Because this is Jesus’ response to human unbelief.
The choosing and hiding is mentioned at that time when Jesus was holding them responsible.

Notice then what that response of Jesus to human unbelief is.
It consists firstly of THANKSGIVING… “Father, Lord of heaven and earth…I praise you!”
Or as some translations have it:  “Father… I thank you!”

That seems strange, doesn’t it?
In this situation of unbelief and judgment we’d hardly expect words of thanksgiving.
Grief, maybe!  Or mourning!  Sorrow over so much unbelief…  that seems fitting.
Here in these towns the power of evil is just so great.
In these cities it seems the devil is more powerful than God… that unbelief is winning over faith.
                And yet precisely in that situation Jesus gives thanks.

That reminds us that Jesus see things a little differently.

He gives thanks because He knows that the devil is NOT winning.
That also in Capernaum, Bethsaida and Corazin a sovereign God is still in control.
That even there where Jesus is surrounded by so much unbelief…
                there where  –  despite the evidence  –  they will not believe in Him…
                in that situation Jesus is NOT fighting a losing battle….  because God is still in control.
He is still Lord of heaven and earth:  “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth.”

 

2.            Jesus is showing us in these words that even human unbelief is taken up in God’s plans.

The Lord of heaven and earth even includes the unbelief of these cities within His Sovereign will.

That is why – in the face of such astonishing hardness of heart –
Jesus does not just resign Himself to the situation…
    as though it was all somehow outside God’s control.

No! He gives thanks… He praises His father in heaven.
Because even in this God is still at work carrying out His plans and purposes.
And God is still doing that – also in the unbelief of today.
                That is yet another perspective that we need to keep in mind.
                God in His Sovereignty carries out His purposes – even in human unbelief.

Notice how strongly this Sovereignty of God is stressed in these verses.
God hides things – from the wise and understanding.
                Spiritual things are withheld from them.
But they are revealed to little children… to childlike people.

Of course those verses are difficult for us – we struggle with them.
How can God hold man fully responsible on the one hand…?
And yet on the other hand… hide spiritual truth from some while revealing it to others?
                That’s a mystery!
                If we could fully work that out then we could fully understand God.

Notice though, what kind of people God hides things from… and to whom He reveals things.
It is the wise and understanding who are blinded to the truth.
                People wise in their own estimation – Scribes and Pharisees.
                Their eyes are blinded to the truth.

On the other hand it is to babes… the childlike… the dependant…
                it is to simple fishermen that God has revealed spiritual truths
                   they see and they believe.

In other words – Jesus gives thanks that knowledge of spiritual things
                   does not come through human wisdom and cleverness…
                                not by us working it all out for ourselves.
                It comes from God and God alone… it is a gift of His grace.

 

3.            Behind these verses is the mystery of God’s electing love.

The mystery that we know Jesus only because God reveals Him.

We know the Father only because Jesus chooses to make Him known.

“No one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”

No!  God never over-rides our human responsibility.
On the one hand:  You are fully accountable.
                                       You must make your choices.
On the other hand:  At the same time God is at work in and though it all.
                He is choosing those who by grace will belong to Jesus.
                And yet passing others by and leaving them in their sin.

How do we reconcile these two things?
Our responsibility and God’s sovereign choice in predestination?

We don’t have to reconcile them.
The Baptist preacher, Spurgeon once said: “I don’t have to reconcile friends.”
We must simply believe both…. accept both to be true.

                We should not try to work it all out but accept it in faith.
                In both faith and unbelief God is working out His gracious will.
                He performs His good pleasure as Lord of heaven and earth.
                And yet… yet somehow… He leaves us fully responsible.

 

C]         A GRACIOUS INVITATION TO REST IN CHRIST (vss. 28-30).

 

1.            It is interesting that this passage ends the same way it began… with a call to exercise our responsibility.

This text began with a denouncement of those who rejected Christ.

It ends with an invitation to come to Him.

It began with the sternest words of judgment ever spoken by Jesus.

It ends with one of the most beautiful sayings of the Saviour.
“Come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest.”

That’s truly marvellous, isn’t it?
Jesus has spoken of God’s sovereign purpose in all things.
He has spoken about the fact that even faith is God’s gracious gift.
But that isn’t the last word…. the last word is “COME!”
So your worry is not: Do I, or do I not, belong to God’s elect?
But your worry is: Will I accept this invitation of Jesus?
                                     Will I come to Him to find rest for my soul?

 

2.            Surely this shows us the greatness of the love of Jesus.
There is the Lord’s bitter disappointment over these cities of Galilee.
But does He give up in despair?  Does He just turn and leave them?
No!  No, He is able to praise His Father in heaven.
And then turn once more to those wicked cities and offer them His love.

Jesus knows the kind of people that live in these cities of Capernaum, Chorazin and Bethsaida.
People who are burdened with life…  loaded with pain and guilt…
There are people weighed down with man-made regulations
      that the Scribes and Pharisees have bound on them as burdens.
There are people burdened with trying to earn their own way to heaven.
                And there is no way to lighten the load.
                And so Jesus offers them relief… if only they will come to Him.

 

3.            Today that offer is still open.
Jesus invites you to come to Him.
To come – even if you have been sinful and rebellious.
                Of course coming to Jesus involves a yoke too – a load.
                Jesus too requires something from us – He makes demands.
                But in contrast His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
                There is rest for weary souls.

This is the wonderful comfort of the gospel of salvation.
Jesus Christ rebukes… condemns and reproaches for unbelief.
He speaks of the mystery of election.
Yet He comes once more and invites a rebellious people to Himself.

So our response to the mystery of the doctrine of predestination is not to say:
“Well, what can I do about it? It’s all decided anyway!”

No! Our response to the mystery of an electing God ought to be to say:
“I will take up Jesus’ invitation, come to Him and find rest.”

Why don’t you come?

Come to the Saviour… now!

Amen!