Okay, turn in your Bibles to Matthew Chapter 11, because we are going to celebrate the Lord's Supper.  We didn't finish up for 11 last week, so we're going to confine our purview to the finishing of the 11th Chapter and then we'll take the Lord's Supper together.  Let's pray together.

Lord, it's so wonderful to sing the songs in earnest from our hearts.  Those words with the melodies that express the sentiments of praise and worship, adoration that no one else deserves but You and You've heard from us.  But central to our worship is that we hear from You.  So really, we come now to the most important part of the worship and that is the understanding and application of the words preserved by You through history to us.  Give us ears to hear even as Jesus would say often to the crowd whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.  Truth is important, but listening to the truth is as important, because if we fail to listen to what you're really trying to say to us, we miss an incredible opportunity.  So open up our ears, open our understanding that we might know you better, in Jesus' name.  Amen.

For 400 years, God had been silent between Malachi and Matthew.  What that means is that he sent no prophet to speak to the nation.  He was not broadcasting through his messengers for 400 years, KGOD, K-G-O-D was not broadcasting.  The signal fell silent.  God had nothing more to say to his people than he had already said through the Old Testament prophets.  Until, we get to John the Baptist.  John the Baptist was the last, according to Jesus, of the Old Testament prophets.

"For all the prophets," said Jesus, "Prophesied until John."  John was the one that pointed to the new covenant kingdom, the Messiah.  Jesus said he was the greatest man born of a woman.  But, John only anticipated the kingdom did not get to enjoy the kingdom, therefore, Jesus also said, "He who is least in the kingdom is even greater than John the Baptist."  John the Baptist came, fulfilled his ministry, a very short one by the way.  By the time we get to Matthew Chapter 11, he's in prison and he's in doubt.

We mentioned last week that he is out in the Jordanian desert, in modern geography, at a fortress called Machaerus, which is five miles east of the Dead Sea and 20 miles south in the middle of nowhere, confined.  Confined because in his boldness, he rebuked Herod for an illicit marriage to his brother's wife and now he is confined.  And in Machaerus, in that dungeon, in that prison, he will be beheaded.  It is in that prison that he finds himself in doubt as to who Jesus is.

After all, if the prophet said he's going to set the prisoners free, why is he still a prisoner.  He's the one that announced him and he's in prison.  So he sends two disciples and the question is simple, "Are you the coming one or should we look for another?"  I've got to tell you, I take great comfort in some respect in John's question, because some of the most spiritual people, and we just barely noted this last week, some of the most spiritual people struggled deeply.  Charles Spurgeon told his congregation that he gets so deep and in so many dark places of depression, he said, "I go to areas, I pray none of you ever go."  He struggled.

Martin Luther struggled deeply with depression.  Moses didn't even want to leave the children of Israel.  He said, "Can you send somebody else?"  And then when he's in the middle of all their complaining he's thinking, "See, I knew from the beginning I shouldn't have done this."  Jeremiah wanted to quit.  Elijah just said, "Let my life be over.  Just kill me right here and now, that Jezebel chick is after me and I just can't handle it."

I read an alarming statistic sometime ago that 1,600 ministers quit the ministry every month.  For a number of reasons, among some of them are just the stress, the burnout, the issues, the problems and it never ends it seems, the politics, et cetera.  In that review that I was reading, it also said that 70% of those pastors acknowledged that they sensed a strong calling of God to go into the pastorate before they went into the ministry.  But three years later, only 50% sense that same calling, so it was diminishing overtime.

So, I'm so happy that the Bible is so honest with its heroes.  If you think of John the Baptist, man he's a heavyweight.  He's a hero.  He's one of the spiritual muscleman pointing to Jesus, acknowledging Jesus, now he's doubting Jesus.  Is this even the one or should we look for another?  And so Jesus, "Just go tell John the things that you've heard and seen."  The deaf can hear, the blind can see and the poor of the Gospel preach to them.

Now, he deals with John's doubt, but he also deals with many of the spiritual leaders, the crowd in general even and their reaction to Jesus.  And again, we briefly touched on it, so I'm going to take you back to Verse 15 of Chapter 11 where Jesus says, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."  And you find that that is a common phrase that he uses.  It's use throughout the New Testament.  Is that whenever truth is given, it's incumbent upon a person to really pay attention as if their whole future is determined by what they hear.

In fact, it could be said, its better to not hear at all than to hear and not respond.  With that in mind, look at the next verse, "But to what I shall liken this generation?  It is like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to their companions and saying, 'We played the flute for you and you didn't dance.  We mourned to you and you didn't lament.'  For John came neither eating nor drinking and they say he has a demon.  The son of man came eating and drinking and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a wine bibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners,' but wisdom is justified by her children."

Some people are never satisfied no matter what.  They are predisposed toward a certain person that no matter what that person does or says, they just will not be satisfied.  They're like little spoiled brats, little children.  We mentioned last week that there was a game that they used to play, mimicking adult rituals, one was playing wedding and one was playing funeral.  And when children would play wedding, they would often maybe get a dress that they could find that one would play the bride, one would play the groom, one would play the friend of the bridegroom, one would play the musician who would play a nice happy little tune.

And so some of the kids would say, "Let's play wedding."  And the other kids go, "Okay, I'll be the bride."  And then the guys would say, "Oh, I'm not going to be the groom then."  One unlucky sap would be the groom and the other guys would laugh at him and they'd be playing wedding.  But there would be always one kid or a few kids that, "I don't want to play wedding."  And so, they'd say, "Well, let's play funeral then.  You'd be the dead person."  "I don't want to play funeral."  In other words, like some children, there are some people that just cannot be satisfied no matter what.

And so what was in the ministry of John the Baptist and the ministry of Jesus?  John the Baptist came sort of in funeral mode, he was more austere.  He wore camel's hair and he was a recluse.  He was a hermit out in the wilderness in the desert and he was very rigid and very condemnatory and denunciatory.  And people said, "Well we don't like John the Baptist, he's so legalistic and so narrow-minded."  And that's because even when the narrow-minded Pharisees came, he was to the right of the Pharisees.  He was more conservative and more rigid than the Pharisees and pronounced judgment on them.  So they said, "We don't like John, he's so rigid and so ascetic."

Jesus came along and he was very wedding like with joy and celebration.  In fact, some of the disciples of John came to the disciples of Jesus and said, "How come you guys don't fast like we fast and pray like we pray?"

And basically their answer was, "We're in wedding mode man.  We have the bridegroom here.  We have the Messiah with us.  It's time to celebrate."  And Jesus did celebrate.  He was not a recluse.  He didn't withdraw from society like John the Baptist did.  He integrated into society.  He showed up at wedding feast.  He turned water into wine.  He showed up at Matthew's house when they were having a party.  He mingled with tax collectors and sinners.

So they would say, "We don't like John the Baptist, because he's so narrow.  What we don't like Jesus, because he's so much of a libertine."  This is their theology, their viewpoint.  Jesus is saying, "You know what, the problem isn't with us.  The problem is with you.  You are spoiled little brats when somebody says let's play wedding.  No.  Let's pray funeral.  No."

Now children are like that.  We adore our grandson.  He is so fun to be with.  Oh, and did you know and if you didn't, I have a granddaughter on the way, just want you to make sure that's been announced, but you know the word can't get out enough.  There hasn't been a daughter in the Heitzig family for over a hundred years, so we're breaking some ground here.  But it's an interesting thing about our grandson.  He can teeter between emotions.  In one second, he can be so happy and then just a split second later, he can get into crying mode.  And so we find ourselves trying to do everything we can to entertain him.  We'll do monkey noises.  I'll do imitations.  We'll bring out the toys to get him going and that's okay for a kid.

It's not okay for an adult and especially not okay for anyone who would say, "I'm a spiritual adult."  Do you have to be treated to be brought in and caressed in and maintained with doing something that just pleases them all the time?  So, Jesus ends by saying, "But wisdom is justified by her children."  In other words, truth will justify itself by what it produces.  If you look at the ministry of John the Baptist that pointed to the Messiah and the Messiah himself and those who follow the Messiah, the disciples of Jesus, and you see the changed lives and the healed bodies and the joy that is produced, God's wisdom and the truth that is produced by this duo, John the Baptist and Jesus, what justifies their ministry is what that truth and ministry produces.

Now, you could put a line between Verse 19 and Verse 20.  Because up till now, Jesus rebuked and it has been a rebuke has been a mild rebuke.  He says, "You guys are like kids.  You're like little spoiled brats in the marketplace.  You can't be pleased."  Now if you think that's harsh and it is not, it is very mild.  Now, Jesus unloads both barrels and the words are much harsher than previously.

As he goes right for the jugular and he's going to do this from here till the time he gets crucified and you'd begin to understand why there are hatred toward him that brings on the crucifixion, is accelerated from here on out.  Then he begin to rebuke strong harsh reproof, is the idea of rebuke.  He began to rebuke the cities in which most of his mighty works, the work from mighty works means his miraculous works, his power works, "dunamis" is the word, in which most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.

Now, what our Lord is going to do is compare three cities with three other cities -- three contemporary cities at that time around Galilee, Jewish cities with three ancient pagan cities, three cities that felt themselves to be very special with three cities that they, as Jewish people, knew to be the epitome of condemnation -- the epitome of gentile filth.  I mean, what could be worse than Sodom?  You know what could be worse than Sodom and you probably in your mind have a list.  I don't know what's on the list, but you probably have a list.  If I were to say, name three of the worst cities in America?  What would be number one on your list?

San Francisco, I've heard New Orleans, Las Vegas and of course that comes to mind.  Now, I don't know if they are any worst, but they come to my mind as well.  Well if you were to ask a Jewish person, what's the worst city ever?  They'd say, Sodom.  All right, Sodom, Gomorrah, they are high on the list.  What Jesus is saying actually, you know what's worst than Sodom?  Capernaum, that tops the list and then Chorazin and then Bethsaida or look at it yourself, he rebukes them.

And he says, "Woe to you, Chorazin!  Woe to you, Bethsaida!  For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes, but I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the Day of Judgment than for you.  And you Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, would be brought down to hell, Hades, for if the mighty works which were done in you have been done in Sodom, it would have repented and will remain until this day.  But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom, in the Day of Judgment, than for you."

Do you realize that for a person to go to hell, all that person has to do is nothing and people say, "Well, that guy's pretty bad.  Look at all the bad things he's done.  He's probably going to go to you know where."  Actually, you don't need to do anything.  You can just not do something.  When truth is presented and you don't have the right response whether you marginalize it or you denounce it, or you spurn it or you reject it.

The more you have presented to you, the more you know, the more responsible you are with that knowledge, to whom much has been given, much shall be required.  Do you remember Matthew 7, the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "But to the one who hears my sayings and does not do them," see, all he has to do is not do what he said, "If you hear them and you don't do them, I liken that person to one who builds his house upon the sand.  And the rains descended and the floods came and the wind blew against that house, and that house fell and great was its fall."

All that house, all that person, all that city has to do is nothing at all.  Now, these three towns that are mentioned in these verses you can see their names were all places that had the fortune, the blessings, the better word of having Jesus hang around them for three and a half years.  They're close to each other, if you have a map in the back of your Bible and you look at the Sea of Galilee on the northwestern shore just about two and a half three miles from each other are these three towns that are mentioned.

Capernaum is where Jesus had his headquarters.  In Chapter 9 of Matthew Verse 1, Capernaum is called his own city.  Jesus made that his own city.  He moved from Nazareth and he made Capernaum his headquarters.  The town of Bethsaida, to the north by the inlet of the upper part of the Jordan River into the Sea of Galilee, is where Andrew was from and Peter was from originally, it was called the Town of Philip.  This is the area in that region where Jesus fed the thousands of people an incredible meal.

So, these three cities on the northwestern part of the Sea of Galilee saw enough "dunamis", that's the word power works miraculous works.  They saw enough power works of Jesus that Jesus' ministry in words would be accredited.  It's enough proof that he was the Messiah.  Thousands of people heard and saw the mighty deeds that was enough, should have been enough to convince them and have them respond rightly to his ministry and to his message, but they didn't.

So Jesus uses a strong word which is, "woe".  And woe isn't just you're on a horse and you wanted to slow down, so you go, "Woe!"  Or like, "Woe dude, don't get so heavy."  It's not that kind of woe, it's woe kind of woe, in Hebrew it's "oy."  I know it's written in Greek, but it sounds very similar, "ouai" is the Greek word and it's a translation on the Hebrew "oy", which means what a pity, what a terrible shame.  It's a condemning kind of a word.  Oh, how terrible.  And what could be more evil than the notorious cities of Tyre and Sidon or Sodom?

And Jesus says, "Actually you left the three that should be on the top of the list of your list."  Now, you have to understand what a joke this would have been to a Jewish listener, who thinks that the worst places in the world are gentile areas, right?  Tyre and Sidon, those are notorious gentile ports up in modern day Lebanon.  Actually Tyre is an island that was created of the sea coast for defense purposes, but Tyre and Sidon were ports, and as ports if you are in the navy or were in the navy you know the reputation that a port city has and a gentile port city had all of the filth imported in and exported from it that you could imagine.

And so Tyre and Sidon became notorious by words for filth and they were pronounced in judgment upon in the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel and Amos, all pronounced judgment on Tyre and Sidon, doom.  So the doom that came historically to these nations, the Jewish people saw as evidence of God's judgment upon them.  But what Jesus is saying is, "What's even worse than some place that is notoriously evil like Tyre and Sidon?"  Those lewd sea ports where filth is imported and exported from our areas, who have been given a high privilege of having Jesus with them and they didn't turn to him, they didn't receive him, by and large.  Yeah, there were a few interested people and there were lots of crowds that wanted more food and more tricks, but when it came to actually being disciples of him, there was no repentance.

And so, I say to you, Verse 22, "It would be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you."  And every Jewish jaw dropped down, "I can't believe he just said that."  And you Capernaum, now Capernaum is saved as the last one, and that's because not only was it in the middle of these towns, but it was the place that Jesus made his home.  It's the place that Peter had his home and he had his fishing business in Capernaum.  And if you come to Israel with us this next spring you'll be in Capernaum and we'll walk around that town.  What's left of it?

"And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven will be brought down to Hades."  Actually, in the original, it's a question, "And you, Capernaum, do you think you will be exalted to heaven?  No, you shall be brought down to hell," that's how it's worded.  "For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom.  It would have remained until this day, but I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you."  Think of all the miracles that were done in Capernaum alone.  Jairus's daughter was healed.  The noble man's son was healed.  The centurion's servant was healed.

The demoniac was healed.  The man with the withered hand in the synagogue was healed.  Peter's mother-in-law was healed.  The man who was a paralytic, who was let down through the roof of presumably Peter's house was healed.  Miracle after miracle, after miracle, the entire township and surrounding area should have all come to faith.  They didn't repent, that's what Jesus said back in Verse 20, because they did not repent, so he said it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom.

You know that that's just an amazing statement, because Sodom would've topped their list and probably would've topped your list or at least been on your list.  It was one of the five cities in Genesis, the cities of the plain, it was called.  And it was known for its unusual lust, its lewdness.  It was also known for its pride and known for its oppression of the poor.  So what could be worst than that?  I'll tell you what can be worse than that, a person who hears truth and rejects it.  Hears the truth of the Gospel and says, "I don't want to investigate it any further.  I don't want that there'll be any possibility that it'd be true.  I will just reject it flat out."

Be more tolerable for Sodom in that day.  We have a question, it's actually a great question, Jacob James online writes this and we'll put it up.  A more tolerable, "How can one place experience hell more than another?"  It's a great question and what this verse points out is an obvious truth that though hell is bad for everybody, like heaven is wonderful for everybody who goes there, there will be degrees of punishment in hell and there will be degrees of reward in heaven.  The Bible teaches that in so many places and this is one of the anchor verses that show that though separation from God for eternity is bad enough that there are degrees of punishment in eternal punishment and conversely when it comes to going to heaven.  We're all going to heaven, but we're going to be rewarded according to our works, our deeds.

Now, it's difficult as it was just now to get Christians to actually say that, because we go, "Wait a minute, I thought we were saved by?"  Yes, we are, but you will be rewarded in heaven according to your faithfulness to what God called you to on the Earth, so there are also degrees of reward in heaven.  Verse 25, "At that time Jesus answered and said, 'I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and Earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent and have revealed them to babes.  Even so Father, for it seemed good in your sight.'"  Now, the rest of this chapter is -- it contains some of the most wonderful promises in scripture.  The first book I ever read as a new believer was the Gospel of Matthew in a more modern translation.  And I remember how intimate it felt and how these promises hit my heart and now they touched me so deeply when I first read them.

And I was struggling and I mentioned some of the struggles I went through my early Christian walk at home with my parents, with my friends, and just how wonderful these verses were.  They're so precious and intimate.  Now, look at Verse 25 and notice it says, "At that time, Jesus answered."  The word answered means he spoke openly.  Now, he is addressing his Father.  He's talking to his Father in heaven, because he says, "I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and Earth."

He's speaking these words openly.  He obviously wanted everyone to hear what he was saying.  He didn't just say, "Excuse me, just a moment.  Amen."  He prayed openly.  He wanted to pray to the Father, but he wanted other people to hear him.  Now, you'll notice that Jesus addresses God in heaven appropriately as Father.  We know there's the trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  The average Jewish person never mentioned the name of God and spoke of him as the Holy, all beneficent one and had many adjectives to describe him, because of his position and his holiness.

But Jesus brought him so intimate.  He called him Father, but he didn't just call him Father.  He taught his disciples, when you pray, you don't have to keep coming to me just come directly and call him Father, and when you pray Jesus said, "Say, 'Our Father in heaven.  Holy is your name.  Your kingdom come, your will be done.'"  So Jesus told us that we can pray directly to the Father in whose name?  In Jesus' name, come to the Father in my name and that is why at the end of a prayer, I pray --we typically pray in Jesus' name.  Amen.  We come in directly to the Father on the merit and the character of Jesus.  I do feel it to be misleading and confusing if you say, "Father I come to you -- and I pray this in your name."

No, I'm praying to the Father in the name of Jesus.  I'm following the direct access that I have to the throne of God based upon the merit of Jesus.  So if you're praying to the Father, you pray through the merit and the character and the avenue provided by the sacrifice on the cross.  And so Jesus, as the son approaches the Father and prays out loud, "I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and Earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent."  This is sanctified sarcasm.

It means those who are wise and prudent in their own eyes, they think they're smarter than anybody else.  They've got the degrees behind their name.  They're reverent doctors so and so.  They studied so long and their Pharisee this and Scribe that.  Oh, they're so wise and so prudent.  "Father, I'm so thankful that you hid what's important from them." Now, don't get hung up on that.  Why did he hide it from them and get the truth of the passage and revealed it even to babes?

One of the beautiful things about Jesus is how simple he made truths, so that anyone and everyone even a child could understand.  The wise and the prudent are those who are wise in their own eyes, in their own conceits according to the wisdom of men.  A babe is a child of God.  Jesus said, "Unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God."  So when you come to Christ, you are born anew. You're a baby spiritually.  You're a babe in Christ and you grow from there.  And even a new babe in Christ with the Bible has more of an advantage than the smartest degreed professor of the best university without the Bible or without the spirit.

Paul said, "You see your calling, brethren.  Oh, there's not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble who are called.  But God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise."  Now, it doesn't mean that God bypasses all smart people, all brilliant people.  I've met some incredibly advanced erudite brilliant thinkers who are in love with Jesus.  For the most part, it's the common people who fall in love with him.  They come as a child.  They receive the truth based upon enough evidence that's there.  They receive him.

But there are those who are very advanced and I would say Paul, the Apostle, was one of those high IQ intellectual brilliant writers.  I mean, I go through some of his writings and I go, "Man, that's just deep.  Amazing!"  But for the most part, God has delighted to reveal them even to babes and here's why.  Typically with the person who is wise in their own eyes and prudent and advanced, they have all of these walls and roadblocks and it becomes an impediment to them.  God has to knock those defenses and things down first and he's willing to do that, but that simple faith in Jesus Christ.  Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit."

A person who comes to Christ knows that they need him.  So many people that are advanced and intelligent, "Oh, I don't know if I need that or not.  I'm a smart person.  I don't know if I really need God.  Now if I was in bad shape and then that's when you get religion, like you know you are about to like die of something and then you," and that's a lot of people's thinking.  They never admit their need.  They're not poor in spirits, so they bypass.  Even so father for it seem good in your sight.

"All things have been delivered to Me by my Father and no one knows the Son except the Father nor does anyone know the Father except the Son.  And the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."  So compare Verse 25 and Verse 26 and look at the word reveal.  "You have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent.  You've revealed them on the babes.

Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."  One of the prerequisites to know God is revelation.  You'll never know a person lest they reveal themselves to you.  God has revealed himself to us.  Now, this shows us that you can't just come to God.  You can't just come to God by any little means that you can try or you come up with.  You choose what path you want to come to him on.  You choose what religious venue you decide that you want to travel on.  You can't find God on just any path.  I'm going to read two passages to you just keep your finger here and let me read this to you.  One is John Chapter 3, John writes, "He who believes in the Son has ever lasting life.  He who does not believe in the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides in him."

Many people claim to know God.  A person does not know God unless the person receives Christ, who reveals what God is like and who God is like.  John also writes in 1 John Chapter 5, "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone who loves Him, who begot, loves Him who is begotten of Him."  If you love the Father, you love the Son in other words.  If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater for this is the witness of God which he has testified of the Son.  He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself.  He who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of his Son.  And this is the testimony that God has given us the eternal life and this life is in his Son.  He who has the Son has life.  He who does not have the Son does not have life.

If you want to have life, you need the Son of God.  You need a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  If you don't have Jesus Christ, I don't care what religion you choose or how sincere you are, you will not see eternal life.  It comes through knowing the Son which answers the question, why did God find it necessary to become a man?  Answer, to fully reveal to the world what God is like, Jesus said, "If you have seen Me you have seen the Father."  He came to reveal fully the Father and here is the problem we have, you and I as earthbound creatures are confined to a box so to speak of time and space, our time and space continuum.  We live in the natural world.  God dwells in the supernatural world.  People invent religions and they think, "If I'm really spiritual and really religious maybe I can poke through my box and find God."

So, if you read the Koran and pray five times a day, may be you can poke through that, a little hole in that box, and grab God.  Others will say, "No, no, no, you need the Bhagavad Gita and you have to read and study those writings, then maybe you can poke a hole through your little box and find God."

Others will say, "Oh no, that's not true, but if you buy crystals and hang them in your home and meditate upon these crystals maybe you can poke a hole in that box and you can find God."  Actually, no matter what you do you cannot crawl outside of your little confined space of the time space continuum.  You're confined in the box.  The only way you could know God is for God to crawl inside the box and show himself to you.

That's the purpose of the incarnation, Jesus becoming a man walking among us, taking among him and around him disciples, teaching them the truth, showing them the truth, so that if you have seen him you have seen the father.  Now, look at Verse 28, "Come to Me all you 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."  Jesus said, "Come to me."  He didn't say come to a ritual.  He didn't say come to a religion.  He didn't say come to a church.  He said come to me, salvation is a person.  It's the person of Christ.  "Come to me all you who labor".  You're exhausted is the word.  You are working hard and notice this "And are heavy laden."

The word heavy laden is in the Greek a perfect passive participle.  Isn't that nice how that all rhymes.  A perfect passive participle which means the reason you are heavy laden is because somebody has come along at one time and laid upon you a burden and made you heavy laden.  You know what he is talking about?  Religion.  Religion does that.  Oh you want to know God?  You want to get to heaven?  You have to confine yourself to these practices and these rituals.  It's the only way you can get safe.  You have to keep them rigorously or you'll lose it the next day.

The Pharisees have laid these things.  The religious leaders had laid upon them a burden.  Jesus will say in Matthew 23 when he says, "Woe, unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites."  He says, "Woe unto them.  They bind heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on men's shoulders, but they won't lift them with one of their fingers."  When we get to the Book of Acts and the Gospel is going out to the gentiles and its salvation by faith and many unbelieving gentiles believe in Jesus and they just believe that he is the one, who saved them from their sin and it's a wonderful revival.  When the disciples, when the apostles get back to the mother church in Jerusalem, there's a big Habab going on.

And many of the Jewish believers are saying, "I don't know if we can accept these gentiles into the church.  They have to circumcised and keep the laws of Moses."  And so Peter stood up and he goes, "Guys, if you remember not long ago, the Lord raise me up to become an apostle to the gentiles and I've gone out and I preach the word to them and they believe in the Jewish Messiah just like you and I believed in him".  And he goes, "Let's not lay upon them a yoke," that's the word he used a yoke, "That neither we nor our fathers were ever able to bear."  You never kept the law fully.  I never kept the law fully, why tell gentiles who aren't under the same covenant as Jews to keep the law.  Ridiculous, they're saved by faith just like we are.

To these people who are listening to Jesus and they are under the burden of the religious rigor of these leaders, who told them to do things in order to find favor with God.  Jesus said, "Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you."  Now you know what a yoke is?  It's a steering device that is placed upon an animal, so that the owner might control the animal more easily.  When an animal is tied to another animal, their yoke together and that wooden cross mean that's a yoke, if it's around their neck.  Leather is bound and brought back, so there's a harness and the ability was stirrups to control the animal.

What Jesus is saying is, "Let Me control your life.  Let Me be the one who directs and steers you from place to place 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."  I don't know what your Christian experience is like.  I do know that in my own personal experience as a believer, there have been some wonderful times.  Most of the times as wonderful, but I have had some challenging times.  I'll admit that there have been times that it's just difficult seasons.  But for the most part, following the Lord is not like riding a bicycle uphill.  Let's say you're riding a bicycle.  Okay, so I ride bicycle to school, when you get to a long steep hill, that's hard.  But what would it be like if a car allowed you to tie a rope from the car to the bicycle and towed you up the hill?  Would it be hard or would it be easy?  Be easy.

Sometimes I encounter a Christian.  Every time I encounter that person, "How are you doing?"  "Oh."  I go, "Here it goes again."  It's just -- and as I listen and then I see them again and I listen, see them six months later and I listen.  I eventually come to realize that person is carrying the wrong load.  They're carrying something God never intended for them to carry.  That's the load Jesus should be carrying.  Jesus said, "You put My yoke on you, it's light."  In comparison to the struggle that it could be, "My burden is easy."  And he says, "You will find rest for your souls," in the end of Verse 29.

Psalm 55 says, "Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you."  A final word as we bring this to a close before we take the Lord's Supper together.

Jesus is talking to disciples and the crowd that is gathered around him.  For his disciples, the burden is light, because he's going to carry the heavy stuff and what he's going to settle them with even though some of them are going to have to lose their life, in comparison, the burden is light.  And then he's speaking to unbelievers who have marginalized him or have already pass judgment.  They want the tricks.  They want the free food, but they really don't want to follow him.

To be a disciple of Jesus, we've told you that the word is mathetes, which means a learner.  It's a person who is willing to learn and Jesus says, "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me."  Here's my question to you, "How teachable are you?"  If you're a true disciple, you are committed to the process of learning consistently, consecutively to something you are committed to.  If you're not committed to learning, you're never going to be growing.  How teachable are you?  That's a disciple of Jesus.

Sometimes people wonder, every time you go to Calvary, there's always a Bible study.  They always have to have a Bible study.  They can't just have a night of sharing or a night of music and we do have those from time to time, but it's always a Bible study, always exposition.  Well there's a very simple reason for that, you can never worship a person that you don't know.  It's only when you know a person as he is revealed to you.  You can't know the Father unless the Son reveals him to you and the only way God has revealed is through His word and if you don't have the Bible then you have to make things up.

And you have people going, "Well my picture of God is this and I sort of think God as like that."  You know what that's called?  Idolatry, you're making God in your image.  This is how God is revealed in his word.  So, we began our study tonight with doubt, John the Baptist.  We end with peace and with rest.  Jesus is willing to take your heavy burden and give you something much lighter than you've been carrying and if tonight you are severely burden, would you please leave that at the foot of the cross?  In a moment we're going to take these elements that are symbolic of taking unto us Jesus and his efficacious work on our behalf.

The body and blood, the broken body and shed blood of Jesus on Calvary's Cross for us.  It's symbolic that you are a disciple of Jesus.  You're following him.  You're a learner.  You're making progress.  You're teachable and you're thankful for what Jesus has done on your behalf.  But again if you're burdened, leave the burden with him.  Cast your burden upon the Lord and he will sustain you.

There was legend and it is just a legend.  So we don't know if it's from history or if it's something someone made up, but it comes from ancient times that in Jesus' carpentry shop in Nazareth, he had the reputation that he made the best yokes of any other carpenter in Galilee.  That if you wanted a custom yoke that would fit any animal, any oxen, you'd go to Jesus' carpentry shop, actually Joseph's that was passed on to Jesus, because they made the best yokes in the area.  And I don't know if he had a sign on the carpentry shop, custom yokes.  We make the world's best yoke.  No yoke, that's the legend, that's the story.  And when you let Jesus yoke you up and control you, it is much easier than any system controlling you, any person controlling you even your own agenda controlling you.  It's just hard to live without the towing power that the Lord gives.

I'm going to pray and I'm going to ask the communion board to come as we pray.  Father in Heaven, how thankful we are for the invitations of Jesus throughout the scripture and this one ranks high on the list.  Come to me all you who are exhausted due to your labors, those who have had burdens laid on them by others and I will give you rest.  Lord, the burden of sin, the burden that religion on top of that exacts upon a person's life is more than we were meant to bear.  It's more than we can bear.  We could go through life completely guilty and guilt ridden and motivated by that, but grace has set us free.  We're not safe by works, but the free gift given to us by Jesus.

We take these elements as a symbol, as a token that we have taken to us the crucified Son of God that his merit is enough for our lives, is enough for our sin, and because of that Lord, we are unburdened.  We are free.  We are light.  Truly, Jesus makes the world's best yoke.  We willingly take that yoke of control upon us.  I pray that none of us would be controlled from here on now by anyone or anything or any system, but the person of the Lord Jesus.  We would submit to your will.

Your will be done.  Your kingdom come.  Or we couldn't even pray to you unless it was for a work of Jesus, the invitation and the ability Jesus gave us.  We couldn't be brothers and sisters without the blood of Jesus.  We couldn't enjoy the hope of heaven were if not for His act of sacrifice on that cross.  Lord, if there's anyone here tonight who is burdened, because of their sin that has not been atoned for by You.  If they're not true children of God yet, if their failures have burdened them and if religion has added to that, I pray that they would drop that here and now.  If tonight you are not under His yoke, under the Lord's control, if you've never invited him personally to control your life.  And even before we pass out these elements, you asked the Lord to come in.

And you say to Him right now, "Lord, I know I'm a sinner.  I pray that you'd forgive me.  I believe that Jesus died for me on the cross and rose from the dead.  I believe that He shed His blood for my sin.  I turn from my sin.  I turn to You as my savior.  Help me to live for you as my Lord," in Jesus' name.  Amen.

If you said that just now by faith, you're a child of God.  You have ever lasting life.  You have a relationship with the Father whether you feel differently or not.  It's that step of faith that has enabled you to know the Father and you will discover Jesus revealing more and more to the Father to you in days ahead.  And perhaps then for the first time, you'll take these elements with us with a new found faith.