Lesson 82 - Senior
Memory Verse
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).
Cross References
I Certain Cities Upbraided
1. Chorazin and Bethsaida are upbraided because they failed to repent, [MAT:11:20]; [PRO:1:24-31]; [JER:44:5-6].
2. If Jesus' mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, the people there would have repented, [MAT:11:21]; [LUK:10:13]; [LUK:11:31]; [REV:2:21]; [HOS:4:17]; [LUK:13:2-5].
3. Tyre and Sidon shall escape with less judgment, but Capernaum that was exalted to Heaven shall be brought down to hell, [MAT:11:22-24]; [MAT:23:12]; [ISA:14:13-15]; [LAM:2:1-2].
II The Gospel Hid
1. The Gospel is hid from the wise and prudent and revealed unto "babes," [MAT:11:25-26]; [PS:8:2]; [1CO:1:19]; [2CO:4:3].
2. All things are delivered into the hands of the Son, [MAT:11:27]; [JHN:3:35]; [JHN:13:3]; [HEB:2:8]; [1CO:15:27-28].
III The Gospel Call
1. Rest is promised to the weary and heavy laden if they will come, Matthew 11:28; Isaiah 53:4; 28:12; Exodus 33:14.
2. His yoke is easy and His burden is light, Matthew 11:29, 30; Isaiah 58:6; I Timothy 6:1.
Notes
Judgments Pronounced
Jesus spent most of His ministry around the Sea of Galilee. He performed many miracles in the midst of these Galileans; nevertheless, the hearts of the multitudes there were filled with hardness and unbelief. He compared that generation to children sitting in the market places and calling unto their fellows and saying, "We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented" (Matthew 11:17). John the Baptist came to them fasting and mourning, preaching repentance; many failed to lament over their sins. The Son of Man came with the joyful news of salvation; He healed the sick and cleansed the lepers; but many failed to rejoice.
Then He upbraided those cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, and said if those works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, the people there would have repented long before in sackcloth and ashes. "And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee." This seems to indicate that the hearts of the people had grown harder as the centuries rolled by. Small wonder the Lord asked the question, "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"
If the Lord upbraided those cities, when the light of the glorious Gospel was just beginning to break forth on the world, what shall be the judgment of people living in these days under the blazing light of this Latter Rain Gospel?
Responsibility
Jesus told the Pharisees one day, "The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here" (Matthew 12:41). The account of Jonah shows us clearly the responsibility that rests on the people of God to tell the story, and also the responsibility that rests upon those who hear. Jonah tried to shift the responsibility by running away from the Lord. Then he was in serious trouble and cried unto the Lord for help. The Lord sent him help, but He still held Jonah responsible for carrying the message to Nineveh. When the people of Nineveh heard the preaching of Jonah they repented, from the king on the throne to the peasant in the field. Had Jonah failed to tell the people of Nineveh the coming judgments of the Lord, the whole city would have perished.
Today the people of God are watchmen on the walls. It is their responsibility to tell the world of the impending judgment. If we, as Christians, warn the people and the warning is heeded, we have not only cleared our own souls but also have saved others from death; but if we fail to warn them, the Lord says He will require their blood at our hands ([EZE:33:1-9]). As watchmen, we have a high calling and a tremendous responsibility.
Many times at the close of a meeting our ministers have said, "We have told you the story in song, in testimony, and in the preaching of the Word; the responsibility was upon us. Now it shifts to you: will you accept it or reject it?" Many people tremble under conviction as the judgments of God have been proclaimed from the lips of an anointed minister; but, like Felix of old, they have put it off for a more convenient season, and, perhaps like him, too, they never found that more convenient time.
We cannot afford to trifle with such an important issue as eternal life: no one has the promise of tomorrow. "To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts" (Hebrews 4:7).
Unbelief
"For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:17, 18). The people of Capernaum saw mighty works done; yet they failed to repent and believe. Seed sown on rocky ground with no depth of earth soon withers. If the heart is opened to the seed " the Word of God " it will take root and grow and bring forth fruit unto eternal life, some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundredfold. The Word is alive and powerful, but as a free moral agent every person has the power to accept or reject it.
Many of our cities today are in the whirlpool of sin and unbelief, as were Chorazin and Bethsaida. They have heard the truth but have turned from it to formalism, false cults, higher criticism, and evolution. Many have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. The Word tells us, "From such turn away" (II Timothy 3:5).
Revealed unto Babes
Jesus thanked the Father that He had hid these things from the wise and prudent and had revealed them unto babes. Paul says, "Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called" (I Corinthians 1:26). And in John 1:12 we read, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."
It was not because He did not want them to see, that God hid these things from the wise and prudent. God is already revealed by His creation and works, and through His Word. But the wise and prudent have rejected God and set up their own theories, some of which eliminate God as the Creator. Their own hearts became darkened because they refused to accept God's righteousness, which is of faith; and they established their own righteousness. In professing themselves to be wise they became fools ([ROM:1:16-22]). "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; . . . that no flesh should glory in his presence" (I Corinthians 1:27, 29).
Yokes
The common acceptance of the term "yoke" is a wooden instrument placed around the necks of draft animals to couple them together for drawing. If they are trained to pull forward and one holds back, the yoke binds. Jesus said, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me" (Matthew 11:29). Not only does He want us to take His yoke and be coupled together with Him, but, He wants us to learn how to work together with Him and for Him. As we learn to keep in the centre of His will, the yoke is easy and the burden light. But if we draw back, when He tries to lead us on, we encounter difficulty. The Word says it is good to bear the yoke in our youth ([LAM:3:27]).
When Solomon died and the people came to Rehoboam to make him king, they said to him, "Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore ease thou somewhat the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us" (II Chronicles 10:4). But the new king did not hearken to them. The devil never makes the burden lighter. Jesus always takes the heavy end of the load and makes the burden light.
The Gospel Invitation
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden." Is it not strange that so many people become sick in body, or sick in soul, or in distress of some kind before they will accept the Gospel call? Jesus knew that such would be the case, so He invites the "heavy laden" to come.
They who are in trouble today can seek the face of Jesus, and He will give them rest. The Lord stretches forth His hands and says, "Come . . . I will give you rest." Oh, what a rest! What a weight is lifted when a soul comes. He does not limit the call to a few weary, sick ones but throws His arms wide open to a whole lost world and says, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Revelation 22:17). How could God be more free and more all-inclusive with His great Gospel invitation? How could a lost world be more stupid, more loath to accept it than the world is today? "To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts" (Hebrews 4:7).
Questions
1. To whom does God extend the Gospel invitation?
2. What is the greatest sin?
3. What was Capernaum's fate?
4. Into whose hands has God delivered all things?
5. Unto whom is the Gospel revealed?
6. What does Christ mean by saying His yoke is easy?
7. What responsibility do the saints have in the Gospel?
8. After the Gospel has been preached in a city, upon whom does the responsibility fall?
9. If the miracles Jesus did had been done in Tyre and Sidon what would they have done?