Come to Christ!

Matthew 11:25-30

July 27, 2003

 

We are surrounded by mysteries. On Tuesday morning I walked outside to bring in the newspaper before the rain began. My coffee was brewing, and I was preparing to settle into my morning reading of the Scriptures when I noticed a few mild raindrops. Suddenly, the wind increased velocity, limbs snapped, debris flew by, and anything that happened to be loose began to move. Though invisible to my eyes, the effects of the wind's molecular structure and compressed energy were very much visible. Mystery and reality joined together to alter our lives for a time. Meteorologists offered puzzled explanations of why a typical summer thunderstorm crossed the Mississippi River and seemed to explode with power across our county. We understand that atmospheric pressures and cold fronts colliding can do strange things, but precisely how all of this happened remains mysterious. And yet, the reality of what the mysterious winds left behind is no secret.

 

When one of the wisest men in Israel asked Jesus Christ to explain the new birth our Lord turned to the mystery and reality in the wind for a simple explanation. One hears the wind but cannot see it or detect its origin; so also is "everyone who is born of the Spirit." Mystery and reality join together in the wind's origin and effects. But none dares to claim power or control of the wind. The wind blows without our influence or control. We may not be able to explain the physics of the wind but we definitely see its effects. How much more so are the mysteries surrounding God's saving work through Christ! 

 

Few subjects have stirred emotions among Christians like that of the mystery of God's Sovereignty in salvation and the reality of the free offer of the gospel to all. Iron divisions separate churches and denominations over this subject due to the notion that either one or the other must be true, but certainly not both. Some are comfortable leaving all to mystery, and thus give no thought or care to the salvation of sinners. Others cannot accept the least mystery when it comes to divine issues, and so balk at teaching of God's sovereignty.

 

These views produce extremes. One side refuses to evangelize for fear of freely offering the gospel to the non-elect. The other side cajoles and manipulates people into making decisions for Christ, thinking that it is within the nature of man to respond properly to the gospel if it is winsomely presented. But both of these groups have missed the biblical teaching. We have only to look at the teaching of Christ to see how He held unwaveringly to the sovereignty of God in salvation while calling all men to believe in Him. Mystery and mercy are joined together in Christ's gospel, and so it must be in our understanding and application of the gospel as well. Do you glory in God's mystery and mercy in salvation?

 

I. The mystery of divine sovereignty in salvation

 

When the Apostle Paul probed the depth of God's sovereign working in salvation, he dared not exclaim with glee, "I have it all figured out!" Instead, he mused, "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!" (Rom 11:33). Unsearchable and unfathomable are words of mystery. Paul means, "God does what He does in salvation and I cannot grasp it all. It is beyond me. It is mystery - but wonderful mystery!"  

 

It is this mystery that we see in the brief prayer of Christ. Certainly it was no mystery to Him but Jesus Christ offers praise to the Father for the mystery that shrouds eternal salvation. He found it to be praiseworthy - and so should we. Though we see and experience the results of divine election and Christ's saving work, there is great mystery involved in all of it.

 

1. The Father's pleasure

 

We're struck by Christ's praise for the Father's pleasure in revelation. "At that time Jesus said, 'I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight.'" Right after Christ's rebuke and warning for the blindness of the religious leaders in Israel, He glories in the divine mystery of revelation. At one and the same time, the religious leaders and their followers are held accountable for rejecting the witness of John the Baptist and the testimony of our Lord, while Jesus acknowledges that it is the Father's pleasure alone that determines revelation of the gospel. The cities of Galilee are held accountable for rejecting the gospel light given to them through the miraculous works of Christ and His preaching (11:20-24). But God alone is praised for revealing the light of truth to the darkened minds of those characterized as "infants."

 

We must admit that mystery surrounds such statements! And rightly so, for here we are met with the secret workings of God - the eternal, immutable, invisible, omnipotent God of creation - "the Lord of heaven and earth." Though Christ often uses the title, "Father," it is only here that He calls the Father, "the Lord of heaven and earth," expressing the divine sovereignty. The wisdom of God's sovereign rule is praised by Christ, and should be by us as well. By right of creation, men are held accountable for obeying and submitting to the Creator, and yet in the stubbornness of mankind's hearts, all men rebel against the Creator. And so by sheer mercy, the Lord of heaven and earth reveals to some the glory of the gospel so that they might believe. All have enough light to be justly condemned for rejecting the rule of God over their lives (Rom 1:18-23). But out of God's good pleasure, some are brought to an understanding of God's good news in Christ and submission to His kingship. Charles Wesley expressed it best:

'Tis mercy all!

Let earth adore,

Let angel minds inquire no more ["And Can It Be"].


Though it is all mercy, some still complain, finding fault with the ways of God, claiming that He is unjust in His dealings. "He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires" - that is the divine prerogative (Rom 9:18). As vessels in the hands of the Master Potter, we have no right to complain (Rom 9:19-26). "Mankind are prone to find fault with God's mode of procedure in every respect," wrote John Broadus. "All rulers are blamed; and the only perfect ruler is blamed most of all" [Selected works of John A. Broadus, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, III, 255]. With Jesus Christ we are to give praise to the Father for the wise display of divine prerogatives - which means that we are simply confessing or agreeing with what is true of God (the word "praise" literally means to confess what is true, and thus came to be used as a word expressing praise). To speak what is true of God is to praise Him. For what things did Christ praise the Father?

 

He praised Him for hiding the truths of the kingdom from those that thought they understood God's kingdom. "You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent." The "these things" refers to the truths proclaimed by John the Baptist and Christ - kingdom truths, we might call them. Every Jew thought that he understood the kingdom of God. And yet the basic understanding held by the religious leaders was totally off base. Like most people in our day, they thought that kingdom life began through slavish adherence to laws and rituals instead of seeing oneself as bankrupt before God. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God" (5:3). Their perception of the kingdom related almost entirely to the physical and material realm. They were concerned about armies, palaces, and market places. And so the teaching of John and Jesus flew right over their heads. Even the most studied among them could not put together by sheer intellect the simple truths of kingdom life. They were hidden by the wise, judicious prerogatives of God.

 

But "You ...have revealed them to infants." "Infants" does not refer to newborns but to those that have no claim to understanding the things of God. It is used metaphorically to describe those that are not wise in their own eyes, thus boasting before God. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains, "Babes are a people who have come to see their own insufficiency ...who have wisdom to see what they do not know" [The Heart of the Gospel, 109]. It is the poor in spirit - the ones that realize that they have no good but God, and no way to God but Christ alone. No merit, no boasting, and no claim to deserve salvation - these look to God's mercy to give what is needed to know God. 

 

But we must acknowledge that all of these people were certainly not illiterate or uninstructed. We know that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were well schooled in biblical truths, as well as many others. However, it was not their level of intelligence that opened the way to the kingdom - it was the pleasure of God in revealing the gospel to them. "You ...have revealed them" points to the sovereign pleasure of God in giving light where there is darkness and making clear what is muddled. "Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight." It was not that these truths did not exist in the hand written copies of Scripture nor that they had no exposure to them through the liturgies they practiced with all the symbolism pointing to Christ. The problem is in men's minds. They can see something in black and white, and yet they do not really perceive it. Men can read and hear the gospel, and yet be apathetic toward it, "being darkened in their understanding" (Eph 4:18). A few years ago, my youngest son, Stephen, and I walked through the USS Alabama, a World War II battleship in Mobile Bay. We saw mess halls, bunks, gunner ports, and other essentials on the ship. We stood in awe of the huge 16-inch guns that could fire massive shells, over 20 miles. But how these 2000 pound shells were loaded remained a mystery to us until one of the ship's worker's asked if we would like to know more about it. We said we did, so he took us to a door labeled "Magazine." We could not enter without him because he had the key. But as he opened the door we were able to see the inner workers of huge wheels, cogs, and chains that moved tons of munitions into the right spot. We saw a label on a door but the worker revealed how everything worked. Even so we might see truth and even be able to recite it. But God alone can open the door of our understanding so that we see and believe the gospel. 

 

2. The Son's will

 

After the prayer of verses 25-26, there is either an explanation or a continuation of the confession of praise or the Incarnate Son's rehearsing of divine truth that He might glory in the Father's wisdom. In it we find one of the most remarkable statements by Jesus Christ concerning the certainty of sovereign, electing grace in salvation. "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, an anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." The very next statement contains one of Scripture's most powerful gospel invitations, but here, Jesus does not hesitate to declare the sovereign, mysterious purposes of God in electing some for salvation and passing over others. Broadus adds, "To his mind there was no contradiction between sovereign, electing grace, and the free invitations of the gospel" [253]. Nor should we consider them to be contradictions either.

 

A clear exclusion is stated: "no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." Christ divides humanity between the wise and intelligent that do not grasp the gospel, and the mere babes in understanding whom God reveals gospel truth. Again, the division is clear between those that do not know the Son or the Father - that is, to know experientially, intimately in relationship - and those whom the Son wills to reveal God. 

 

Some cry "Foul!" on the part of God for not revealing Himself to all men equally. But is that not a grave misunderstanding? The basic problem is that men do not want to know God without God's gracious intervention. "There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God," writes both David and Paul (Ps 14:1-3; Rom 3:11). We are satisfied for God to stay out of our lives until He reveals to us the sad condition of our hearts. Then we are desperate for God! Then we must know Him or we find life intolerable. 

 

Christ identifies those that will know God through the ages - that is, those that will know Him in the intimacy of relationship: "anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." Here is the mystery that none of us can fathom. If you are a Christian it is because the Son was pleased to reveal Himself to you through the gospel. Was there a good reason or even a poor reason for Him to reveal Himself to sinners like us? Did you do something that got His attention or persuade Him to include you in the divine favor? Was it your birth or race or religious affiliation or potential to aid His kingdom? Oh no, instead with Isaac Watts we must ask,

Why was I made to hear Thy voice

And enter while there's room,

When thousands make a wretched choice,

And rather starve than come?  ["How Sweet and Awful Is the Place"]


II. The mercy of divine invitation in salvation

 

With no contradiction, Christ offers the greatest invitation the world has ever known - the call for sinners to come to Christ and find the rest of salvation. The mystery behind the divine invitation is that of God's sovereign grace prompting and enabling stubborn sinners to flee to God's refuge in Christ. We may not understand that mystery when we come to Christ - and that is likely. It may be that we simply hear the Lord's invitation and run to Him by faith without realizing what He willed before we were created, and how He brought it about by the work of regeneration and the effectual working of His grace. 

 

The trouble is that men conjure their own ideas of how to have a relationship with God. The religious leaders in Galilee were doing that. They constructed elaborate systems of do's and don'ts, and hoops to jump through to make one righteous. But as Isaiah questioned, "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?" (Isa 55:2). Instead, "Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost" (Isa 55:1, italics added). It is not what we do that saves us - this work belongs to Christ alone who bids us come to Him.

 

1. Christ commands

 

Christ issues three commands in His invitation to sinners, "Come, ...take, ...and learn." Coming to Christ is not a geographical move. It is not a call to come to a certain location at the front of the church facility or to any other spot. Christ declares, "Come to Me." We are not coming to a religious movement or an institution or a philosophy of life. We are coming to Christ - the Son of God and Redeemer of sinners. We come to Christ as He has revealed Himself to us in the Scripture. We do not come to a Christ of our construction that strips vestiges of His deity or humanity or sufficiency in favor of men's desires. We come to the Christ of the gospel who bore the judgment of God at the cross, and rose from the dead by the mighty power of God to confirm the effectiveness of His work. Coming to Christ excludes all others. He alone is the way to the Father and His kingdom (John 14:6). 

 

There is a qualification about who can come to Christ, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden." The words imply a people that were wearied by the excessive legalism of their day, and laborious striving to please God by their own power. The present tense of "weary" suggests that it is an ongoing struggle so that the anxious sinner is left in a state that can only be described as "heavy-laden" (where the perfect tense verb conveys a state of intense burden brought on by the frustrations of man-centered attempts to get to God). I recently received an email from a man named Dan in Ohio that had been reading some of the sermons from Hebrews on our website. He had been religious and even involved in church at one point but recognized that he was lost. His letter expressed that sense of weariness and burden felt by seeing no way to be set free. I exhorted him to come to Christ, to see Christ's death for him on the cross, and to believe that what Christ accomplished is sufficient before God. A few days later I received his testimony of having come to Christ, and being set free! "I am now trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for my salvation," he wrote. "He is my High Priest and protector ...I am now resting in our Lord Jesus Christ's sacrifice only."

 

Jesus Christ also tells us, "Take My yoke upon you." A "yoke" was used for oxen in pulling wagons or plows. Two oxen would be joined together in one yoke. The term came to imply submission or obligation to the master. The call of Jesus Christ in the gospel is never so that we can chart the course of our lives or so that we can follow our own will. The yoke means that we are joined to Christ. He is the strong one pulling the load, but we go with Him every step of the way. 

 

"And learn from Me," Jesus adds. The word means to learn through instruction, and carries with it the idea of being a disciple or follower of Christ regularly learning from Him. It reminds us that the Christian life is a journey that does not end until we reach the Celestial City. All along the way, Jesus Christ is instructing us through His Word. He is taking the circumstances of life - the good and the bad, the success and suffering, the joys and trials - and applying truth to each. He continues to reveal Himself to us and to expose to us the depth of our weakness and need for His constant supply of grace. 

 

So in the invitation of Jesus Christ, what does it mean to be a Christian? It means that you have come to Christ, recognizing Him alone as your Savior and Lord. It affirms that you have taken up the yoke of submission to Him as Lord of all in your life, so that your delight is to do His will. And it means that you are learning from Him, being regularly instructed out of His Word. That is a Christian - one that has come to Christ, been yoked in submission to Christ, and regularly learns from Christ. Then by that standard of Jesus Christ, are you a Christian?

 

2. Christ explains 

 

But we may find the command of Christ to exceed our strength or our confidence. So Jesus Christ explains why we are to come to Him as wearied and burdened sinners. The first reason is found in His ability: "Come to Me, ...and I will give you rest." The "I" is emphatic. Come to Me and I myself will give rest to you! Jesus Christ is unlike any other religious figure. Broadus explains, "The great difference between Christ and other religious leaders is that he can give power to be and do what he requires; we find rest not simply in the superiority of his precepts, but in the supports of his grace" [253]. He is not only able to give you rest, but He will give you rest.

 

Can you trust Christ? Look at His character as a second reason in His explanation, "For I am gentle and humble in heart." Unlike the religious leaders that had befuddled and confused the masses, Jesus Christ is gentle and humble in heart. The people were accustomed to the arrogance of the scribes and Pharisees but Christ could declare His selflessness and self-control (gentle) as well as His humility in heart. In perfect self-control, Jesus Christ bore up under the reproach of sinners without retaliating or complaining or bailing out on doing the Father's will. He therefore is dependable in all He promises. In perfect humility, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the most ignominious death in the Roman Empire - death on the cross. He therefore is faithful in all he claims.

 

Christ also explains His accomplishment, "My yoke is easy and My burden is light." It is Christ that has borne the yoke of the law for us, fulfilling its demands, and satisfying the righteousness of God on our behalf (Rom 10:4). It is Christ that has taken the burden of our sin at the cross, and who continues to intercede for us as our Great High Priest, so that He saves forever (Heb 7:24-25). The yoke is easy and the burden is light only because Christ has accomplished all that the Father sent Him to do on our behalf (John 17:4).

 

3. Christ promises

 

And so therefore, Christ promises "rest." "Come to Me, ...and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, ...and you will find rest for your souls." The rest is certain because Jesus Christ has secured it. "Rest" implies rest from the self-striving for forgiveness since Jesus Christ declared, "It is finished!" at the cross (John 19:30). It is rest for those troubled over sin. Until you feel the reality of your sinfulness then this "rest" makes no sense. But when you know that you are a sinner deserving God's judgment, then "rest" from the anxiety of judgment is what you long for.

 

This is where those of you without Christ probably struggle. You hear the invitation to come to Christ but you think that to do so would spoil your life and plans and ambitions. You think that Christ will "rain on your parade," life will become morose and boring. Listen to His words, "You will find rest for your souls." In other words, there is the satisfaction of rest through Christ. He calls you to His yoke and His burden, and guarantees by all the power of the Creator and Sovereign that you will find rest for your souls. "This burden is not the weight upon one that is laden but the wing of one that is about to fly," wrote Augustine. Broadus added, "And if it ever feels like a weight and an encumbrance, that is when the soul has soiled this heavenly plumage with the mire of the earth" [255]. I remember talking with a fellow student when I was a college freshman, exhorting him to come to Christ. He repulsed my gospel plea by saying that he was not interested in Christianity, that he wanted something with a challenge to it. He could not see what would be the most fitting challenge for all of life until the Lord opened his eyes. And that is what happened the next year as I saw him again, and he grinned widely, thanking me for telling him about Christ. 

 

How does this rest satisfy? Jesus tells us, "My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Does that mean that being a Christian is a "piece of cake"? No, certainly not, but by "easy" He does not mean something that has no demands but rather the word implies a "comfortable fit." In other words, if you are outside Christ today you probably cannot imagine the gospel and Christian discipleship "fitting" in your life. But Jesus Christ assures you that it is a perfect fit! You may be looking and wondering how you will bear up under the demands of Scripture. But see what Christ has promised. "My burden is light," and it is light because Jesus Christ is capable of carrying the full weight of our burden. "What can be lighter than a burden which unburdens us and a yoke which bears its bearer?" [Lenski quoting Bernhard in Leon Morris, The Gospel of Matthew, 297]. 

 

Conclusion

 

And so this great salvation is a mystery. God is working in ways that you cannot see, and be glad of that for that alone is our hope against the background of our sinfulness. 

 

Have you come to Christ? Do not overload this command with your own baggage and concepts. Come to Christ. Come to Him as your Sin-Bearer, your Standing before God, your Righteousness, your Life, your Lord. You will discover that Christ and the demands of discipleship are the perfect fit for your life.

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