And His Own No.4 Knowing God

If you could turn to the scriptures, please, in Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 11. We're continuing our series, as Tony mentioned, from this chapter under the heading The Lord and His Own. So just so that we remember the context, we're going to read together again the whole chapter.

So Matthew 11. After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee. When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else? Jesus replied, Go back and report to John what you hear and see.

The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me. As John's disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John.

What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in king's palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, I will send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way before you.

I tell you the truth. Among those born of women, there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist. Yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing and forceful men lay hold of it. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.

He who has ears, let him hear. To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others. We played the flute for you and you did not dance.

We sang a dirge and you did not mourn. 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, here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. But wisdom is proved right by her actions. Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed because they did not repent.

Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the sky and you will rise? No, you will go down to the depths.

If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you. At that time Jesus said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned and revealed them to little children.

Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father.

And no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. This is the word of the Lord. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Your plans to those who are prepared to honor you by reading the Bible and asking for the gift of the Spirit to anoint eyes and understanding with eyesalve and comprehension. Lord, speak to us through your word right now.

This we ask for the Lord's sake and we commit our brother Graham to you and all who suffer and all who help those who suffer and all who still remain perplexed at the mystery of suffering. Thank you for the insights that you gave us last Wednesday. Those of us who were privileged to listen to the two of our ladies speak from personal experience anchored in your word as to how God can take us through the trauma of suffering and bereavement.

Speak again, we ask, from this book to our hearts and calm our fears and prepare us one day for the encounter that we will have personally with you when we are with you in heaven by making us comfortable in your presence this side of eternity. And the people of God said, Amen. Do sit down.

Let's go to Matthew's Gospel in chapter 11 and we'll have a look at verse 25 in particular and we'll link it into, in a moment, with Luke in chapter 10 in the 21st verse. What makes the Lord Jesus Christ happy? Do you ever think of Him as a happy man? I mean, He's more commonly known and accurately so as the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and there was so much heartache that touched His life that one can quite understand the prophetic scriptures in announcing Him in that sort of personality, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. But that's not the total definition of the character of our Lord.

After all, He's the man who said in John's Gospel 10 and 15 and chapter 11 I am come that your joy might be complete. And He says also in a preceding chapter in the 10th I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. Do you ever think of the Lord Christ as a charismatic figure? I'm not using that in its more modern sense.

I'm using it in its classical sense. Do you think that there could be an occasion when His happiness was such that the word ecstasy has to be plucked from your vocabulary to describe it? And if that is so, what causes the Lord Jesus to be ecstatic? Now look, when the apostle Peter is talking about the fullness of the Spirit as he writes his first letter in the first chapter and going toward the 7th and 8th verses you discover him describing his own experience. He said that he was filled with, and I'm using the authorized version joy unspeakable and full of glory.

Now you can't dilute that. Not to water it down. This was Peter's reaction to the good news of the Lord Jesus.

He's probably reflecting back especially to the day of Pentecost when he knew that mighty baptism of the Spirit. Now here's my question. Did our Lord Jesus ever have that sort of experience? Did He have those sort of experiences? Do you ever think of Him as a man not just of sorrows, but a man of great joy? Overwhelming joy? And if so, and this was my seed thought that I started off with when and how does Jesus become ecstatically happy? Well, if you go to the Gospel of Luke in the 10th chapter which actually locks in in some of its verses with Matthew 11 you find in the 21st verse something that in the original language is utterly unique in terms of describing the Savior.

At that time, this is Luke 10, 21 At that time Jesus full of joy through the Holy Spirit. That's a fairly lukewarm translation. It's a unique term that's used there to give us the picture of our Lord ecstatically happy.

At that time Jesus full of joy unspeakable full of glory through the Holy Spirit said I praise you Father. This is our Lord. The personification of happiness.

Go back to the chapter in Matthew's Gospel which doesn't describe His condition but does give us the wording. At that time Jesus said I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Jesus in ecstasy is thanking God for something that has caused Him such tremendous joy.

What is it? Why did Jesus come into the world? For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. The raison d'etre the reason for the coming of the Lord into this world was to seek ordinary people like ourselves to inform them of the Gospel for them to receive what He had to say and to confess their sins to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to be brought into the redeemed community into the family of God. Now when that happens there's not only joy in heaven amongst the angels there's joy in the heart of the Lord Jesus.

So there's the answer to the question. I've helped you to think it through. What makes our Lord ecstatically happy? It's when people come to an understanding of who He is.

Invert the question. What makes the Lord desperately sad? It's when people reject His Gospel that in effect is the unpardonable sin. I speak with reverence.

The Lord Christ can do nothing for the man, the woman who rejects His message. All right, let's go back into the context. Those of you who have been running with us for this series will know of it as Tim and I have had the privilege of breaking open the contents of Matthew 11.

We always speak from Scripture and we try to get the teaching of the context to control the application or else what we're teaching is not the Word of God but our own ideas. And you will recall that our Lord is here in the 11th chapter in one sense coming to the terms with the heart of the Gospel and there have been incredible disappointments. We met up with John the Baptist in jail.

That's referred to in the opening verses. His disciples have got some problems that is the Baptist disciples have got problems because well if John says that Jesus is who he is and Jesus is John's cousin then why is John as he is in jail? Why doesn't Jesus spring him? And John who's got no answer to the question sends his disciples to Jesus and we said well that's the best thing to do. If you've got a puzzle, go to the Word of God.

Go to the Lord Jesus and ask for help and assistance. But doubtless it was a discouragement to our Lord that these disciples of John were still fumbling on the edge of full information as to what the Gospel is about. And then there was another area of discouragement for our Lord which was dealt with here last week by Pastor Tim when references made from the 20th verse and onwards to those cities and towns where Jesus was brought up in Galilee and the way that they rejected what he had to say.

And our Savior says Capernaum it's going to be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for you. Because you've had knowledge and the knowledge that I've brought has been buttressed by the miracles that have been performed and yet you're still hard and you won't repent. At that time, verse 25 Jesus ecstatically said I praise you Father.

Now think it through, shake your head get the little cogs going at the back of your brain because it doesn't quite run right, does it? It's not what you expect. Here is the Lord and he's had two disagreeable, two disturbing situations. John's disciples come to him they like knowledge full knowledge has been given to these cities in Galilee and yet they're not embracing what the Lord has had to teach yet here in the 25th verse the Lord Jesus says I praise you Father.

I'm ecstatic. Why is he full of praise? Because there are some who have responded to what he has to say. You have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children.

Let's break off a moment, let's talk about children. Have you ever thought in the Old Testament the premium that God places on children? He is the God of the widow and the orphan the widow and the orphan the widow and the orphan time and time again you get that little couplet coming up in the Old Testament because God has a father heart. God speaks through the wisdom literature and says that people have to defend the dumb those who cannot speak for themselves and the context has in mind children who cannot argue their own case and when our Lord is on earth he'll often single out little children, won't he? I mean let's go to the 18th chapter just to show that the context runs with this point that I'm trying to make.

We're still in Matthew's Gospel Who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? verse 1 chapter 18 He called, Jesus called a little child and had him stand among them and he said I tell you the truth unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven therefore whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and here's a warning for those who abuse kids today whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me but if anyone causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea and that is the gentle Jesus speaking his concern for children for orphans for those who are unprivileged and our Lord stays with the theme of wanting us to appreciate the value of the value of children the 13th verse 19th chapter them little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them the disciples rebuked them but Jesus says verse 14 Matthew 19 let the little children come to me and do not hinder them why? for such is the kingdom of heaven or the NIV rendering the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these when he had placed his hands on them he went on from there if you have no time for children then I wonder how you react to the example of our Lord who dictates that your attitude ought to be the opposite look at the 15th verse of chapter 21 will you here is our Lord singling out the younger generation as those who are more adequately equipped and spontaneously desirous of worshipping him than the mature generation verse 14 Matthew 21 the blind and lame came to Jesus at the temple he healed them but when the chief priest and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area Hosanna to the son of David they were indignant do you hear what these children are saying? they asked Jesus stupid men that they were putting a question like that to the Lord they might have expected his censorship yes replied Jesus have you never read he quotes the Old Testament and shuts them up from the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise you have perfected praise I believe is the original alright to Matthew 11 Lord I'm ecstatic Lord I'm excited despite the incompleteness of the information of John's disciples and the intransigence the hardness of these local townspeople there are those who are responding to my message you've hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children I want to unpack the expression little children in a moment because it it's literally to be applied but there's more to it than that as they say of grapefruit when someone's eating it sitting next to you there's more in this than meets the eye what is it about little children that our Lord emphasizes as being so wonderful that it's an example of the sort of quality that we should have if we want to come into his kingdom well little children have a childlike simplicity don't they and an utter integrity at least the majority I remember our church secretary going back two decades plus to my days in North London he had a beautiful doll-like little girl who gosh she must be she must be moving up to what some people think is middle age now which doesn't really help me as I reflect on the on the incident and they were having a meal and they just wanted a quiet night and I can understand this and there was a ring at the doorbell and he said almost involuntary in front of his wife and his daughter and his two lads I hope it's not Diana she was the one who was constantly ringing the doorbell of many people in the church little girl goes to the door and there is Diana and the little girl said oh my dad wished it wasn't you he just said so well you can't sort of criticize or reprimand the little girl even though you may feel a bit of anger towards her because why she said was right there is an integrity about children a simplicity there's a trust how many times do kids say I'll ask my dad I had in my arms yesterday a little baby just five days six days old Martin and his wife came and presented that little bundle for Rony and myself to see admire and envy now that little child is so vulnerable have you ever thought that the the young of the human species are more vulnerable almost than any other kind from the animal world I mean very often when an animal drops its its young almost from that moment they can survive not the baby not even at two years or four years in fact some of you adults would say not even at 14 or 16 you wait until they get to 24 or 25 there is a a dependence that children have and our lord is saying this surely about the kingdom this message that he's come to to present it's got to be received with a simplicity and with the natural integrity of children it's got to be trusted as valid even when you cannot demonstrably prove every aspect of it you believe it because dad says so and our lord will use the term dad if you transfer it back to the Aramaic Abba and so speak of his father father I praise you lord of heaven and earth because you've hidden these things these truths of the kingdom from the wise and the learned and revealed them to little children we had to unpack the word children not only literally but also within the context it has reference to literal children but it also has reference to the immediate group who are with our saviour Luke 10.23 the parallel passage then he turns to his disciples and says privately blessed are the eyes that see what you see for I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it and to hear what you hear but did not hear it what's he doing there? well he's reminding his disciples that there are those who don't understand these from whom such things have been hidden but as far as the immediate twelve are concerned certainly the eleven there has been revelation and they are accepting what Jesus has to say so there is a sense in which you and I are as little children in God's sight and we're in the kingdom though we be adults because we have shown the simplicity of faith and trust and integrity that our Lord is looking for and you cannot enter the kingdom unless you come that way now when our Lord refers to the wise and to the learned here well he has in mind the religious professionals he has the scribes and the pharisees Jesus said on one occasion just shifting the metaphor a little bit that he has come not for those who don't admit to their sickness for what doctor is going to be employed by someone who is healthy I come as a physician to those who need me and unless you acknowledge your sense of need then I can do nothing for you and there were wise and learned inverted commas people in those days who never responded to what the Lord had to say and therefore he could do nothing with them because in their wisdom so to speak in their claimed intellectualism they would have nothing to do with the Lord Christ oh my friend the thing that saddens the heart of God is that people can hear the gospel and reject you see here Jesus was thankful not that the wise were ignorant but that the babes knew and whether you've got a brain like Einstein who actually believed in God or whether yours is the I speak with love and tenderness the understanding of little Tim and Lucy Phillips trying to come to terms with the problem of their father's sickness if you acknowledge who this God is it's on that same childlike simplicity that draws a common denominator between Einstein and children in the tab so our Lord puts forward the lesson of the children and we've discovered that the children were not just literal children but the children are also his disciples these are the ones who know these things that our Lord has come to reveal now does the heavenly father want people to come to an understanding of the gospel and the answer is yes a thousand times so look at verse 26 yes father for this was your good pleasure you had your hand upon these children God gets pleasure in what well when our Lord was baptized this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased now there's a unique way in which the Lord pleases the heart of his father but don't you see if we are children in a lesser sense there is a way in which we can please the heart of God and God takes pleasure in us do you know why God is grieved so much about the state of families in our world today well simply because the concept of family comes from him he is the God and father of our Lord Jesus and says Paul writing to the Ephesians from whom all fatherhood derives God has locked ideally humankind up into basic units of husband and wife and children that has divine approval and when families break up and when children and parents don't have their act together so to speak then God grieves but God the father has pleasure as human beings come to a knowledge of him and slip into the redeemed community part of the great family of God and God in his wisdom grants the abilities for people who you might not think would be so privileged to get in and those who you might feel would have the best tickets in the front row they never even made it the wise and the so called learned father yes it was your good pleasure father it's just like you to bring them the children into the kingdom now Lord knows what he's talking about verse 27 because there is a relationship between him and father that is utterly unique look how in the 27th verse when he's referring to the Lord God he does so three times by using the descriptive term father all things have been committed to me by my father no one knows the son except the father no one knows the father except the son there is a relationship between father and son which is so close that you can understand why Jesus said to his disciples on one occasion when they said show us the father have I been so long time with you and you haven't known me this is the sort of verse that would embarrass the kingdom hall people if they would actually read it through in its context and link in other verses of scripture the son is in perfect harmony with the father there are no secrets between the son and the father the only possibility of a secret is any ignorance that our Lord is prepared at the human level to maintain until after his mighty resurrection there's no secret there's perfect harmony there's equal authority all things have been committed to me by my father no one knows the son except the father no one knows the father except the son and those to whom the son chooses to reveal him you're a Christian how did you become a Christian ah you say well you know it was it was my logic I went to Davison school then I went to the University of London then I did this then I did the other and I came to a realization that God is and I sort of tip my cap to him no no you come to the father because of the urge that he gives because of the eyesalve that he puts on your eyes so that when you read this book you realize that it's a magnificent statement of the love of God you see the apostle Paul he makes commentary on this doesn't he he's writing to the Corinthians and what in effect he's doing is he's putting up a little fairly lengthy note on what our Lord has here been saying 1 Corinthians 1.18 for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God for it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate where is the wise man where is the scholar where is the philosopher of this age has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world so for since in the wisdom of the world the world through its wisdom did not know God God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe isn't that marvelous the wisdom of the world you read it on every newspaper that you purchase you see it on the television you see the mess that we're in in so many areas the wisdom of this world God says it's utter foolishness but there is a wisdom it's contained in our Lord Jesus in the ministry that he brings and he who responds to the wisdom of God revealed through the Lord is indeed a very wise man so the apostle again still writing to the Corinthians but now moving on to the second chapter capitalizes on his argument in the first and he tells us about the spirit unveiling our understanding and giving us a comprehension of what God is about we have not received verse 12 1 Corinthians 2 we have not received the spirit of the world but the spirit who is from God that we may understand what God has freely given us this is what we speak not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the spirit expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words the man without the spirit does not accept the things that come from the spirit of God for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they're spiritually discerned the spiritual man makes judgments above all things but he himself is not subject to any of man's judgment what does all that mean well it means just what our Lord has succinctly put in these verses these things have been revealed by me to little children no one knows the way to you father but me and I'm introducing you and your gospel to them thine they were and you gave them to me these disciples of mine these hundreds who are listening to what I have to say and then later these tens of thousands these hundreds of thousands these millions of people down the corridors of time they are my children and they have been enlightened by the gospel that I have been able to bring hey father it was your good pleasure that they should respond you know nobody really knows our blessed Lord unless they appreciate that besides the vital dominant and I don't want to qualify in any sense element of him being the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief but there is this other side there is the joyful Lord Jesus Christ who can engage in the worship patterns of the Old Testament cultists and not be embarrassed there is the blessed Lord of whom it was said that he was in an ecstasy when he praised God the father but what made him happy that people were responding to the gospel and as it was then so it is now so here's the question are you making the Lord happy this morning by your own embracing of the gospel of his great grace and father we want to thank you that so many of us here if not all have embraced our Lord Jesus as Savior and have discovered that yes we are among the children and it's your good pleasure to have brought us into the kingdom help us to make living for you the most important thing in our lives and push to the sidelines all those things which would interfere with the relationship that we enjoy here is beloved God in the name of the Savior Amen let's sing the last couple of verses of 693 thou art the everlasting word the father's only son God manifestly seen and heard and heaven's beloved one verse 4 says but the high mysteries of thy name and angels grasp transcend the father only glorious claim the son can comprehend we thank you for time around it and around your throne and ask that you'll continue to bless and prepare our hearts to take this bread and wine together with all these dear friends some with unspoken fears and problems we just ask that your word may have done them good and help us to respond to the care of the father heart of our God who takes pleasure in having brought us into his kingdom