Latest / Reformed Thinking / Revelation by Sovereign Grace: Knowing the Father Only Through the Son (Matthew 11:25–27)

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Revelation by Sovereign Grace: Knowing the Father Only Through the Son (Matthew 11:25–27) · Reformed Thinking

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  All right, hello and welcome back to Reformed Thinking.
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  We're really glad you could join us again.
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  Yeah, it's great to be back. If you're new to what we do
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  here, the whole premise is pretty simple.
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  We take, you know, a stack of what can be pretty dense
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  theological sources, commentaries, systematic
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  theologies, all that stuff, and we try to break them down.
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  We want to get past the surface. We're not here to give you a a
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  light devotional thought for the day.
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  We really want to hand you the tools to understand the
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  architecture of your faith. And today we are opening up a
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  text that is, well, it's massive.
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  It is. It's arguably one of the most
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  challenging passages in the New Testament, especially for, you
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  know, the modern mind. We're going to be in the Gospel
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  of Matthew Chapter 11, specifically verses 25 through
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  27. And just to set the table so
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  everyone knows where we're coming from, right?
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  We should do that. We're both approaching this as
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  Protestant Christians, we hold to Reformed theology, and our
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  lens for this is pretty much the Westminster Confession.
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  That's right. So we believe God is sovereign
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  over all things, and that includes salvation.
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  And this passage, I mean this passage is a pillar for that
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  conviction. So the mission for today is to
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  really get a handle on what the Bible calls the sovereign
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  pleasure of God. Yeah, we want to try and answer
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  that question that I think bothers a lot of people.
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  Why do some people hear the gospel and believe, while other
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  people, sometimes brilliant, educated, you know, morally good
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  people, they hear the exact same message and just walk away?
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  Is it because the believer was just a bit smarter or more open
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  minded? Is it free will or is there
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  something else going on entirely?
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  It's the big question, and Jesus gives us an answer here that is,
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  well, it's pretty shocking. Before we even get to the
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  answer, we should probably introduce the text itself.
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  Theologians actually have a nickname for this little
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  section. They do.
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  They call it the Johannian Thunderbolt.
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  Which is a great name. It's a perfect name.
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  It comes from the fact that Matthew, Mark and Luke, the
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  synoptic gospels, they usually have a certain style.
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  They're very earthy, you know, lots of parables, lots of
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  action. But the Gospel of John is
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  different. It's source, it's full of high
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  theology, the sun's preexistence, that intimate
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  relationship within the Trinity. And then bam, right in the
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  middle of Matthew, which is all about the Kingdom and Jewish
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  history, you get this bolt of lightning that sounds like it
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  was ripped right out of the pages of John.
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  It just strikes out of nowhere. It's this moment where the
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  clouds just part and you get this incredible glimpse into the
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  eternal counsel of the Godhead. But to understand the lightning,
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  you first have to understand the storm that produced it.
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  And that brings us to our first section, the context of crisis.
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  We've got to look at Matthew 11, verses 20 to 24.
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  If you just drop into verse 25 cold, you miss all the drama.
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  You really do. You have to realize that Jesus
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  is not having a good week. I mean not by any human
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  standard, not at all. He has just spent a huge amount
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  of time ministering in three specific cities, Corazon,
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  Bethsaida and Capernaum. And these weren't just random
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  little towns on a map. No, not at all.
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  Capernaum was his headquarters. It was the base of operations
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  for his entire Galilean ministry.
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  If Jesus had a hometown advantage anywhere on earth, it
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  should have been there. So he's been there, teaching in
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  their synagogues, healing their sick, casting out demons.
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  He has poured his life into these communities.
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  And the result. Total rejection.
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  Hard hearted, absolute rejection, the text says.
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  He began to reproach the cities where most of his mighty works
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  were done, because they did not repent.
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  That phrase mighty works. That's so key.
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  These people weren't rejecting Jesus because they didn't have
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  enough data. That is such a critical point.
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  We have this idea today. Oh, if God would just write his
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  name in the sky, that everyone would believe.
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  Well, in Capernaum, he basically did that.
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  Yeah. They saw lepers cleansed
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  instantly. They saw blind people see for
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  the first time. They saw the laws of physics
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  suspended by the sheer authority of this man.
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  They had the best evidence imaginable.
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  And still nothing. They didn't budget.
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  Stone cold. And this creates what our
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  sources call a theological crisis.
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  It just shatters the modern idea that the human mind is a neutral
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  judge of truth, right? If the mind were neutral, the
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  people of tourism would have looked at the evidence and
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  concluded, well, obviously this has to be the Messiah.
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  But they didn't. This proves the problem isn't a
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  lack of light, it's a love for darkness.
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  And so Jesus pronounces woes on them.
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  He says it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon,
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  these notoriously wicked Pagan cities on Judgment Day, than for
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  them. It's a funeral cry.
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  That word woe means deep sorrow mixed with pending judgment.
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  He's telling them that their privilege, their front row seat,
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  has actually become their condemnation.
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  The more light you get, the more responsible you are.
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  And they had all the light. So if you're looking at this
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  from a human leadership perspective, it's a failure.
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  It really is. Jesus has launched his Kingdom
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  campaign and his core demographic, the religious Jews
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  of Galilee, have just said no thanks.
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  Yeah, try to put yourself in the disciples shoes for a second.
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  You've left your Nets, your family, you've followed this
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  rabbi and now the establishment, the very people who should be
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  welcoming him are turning their backs.
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  The whole movement looks like it's hitting a brick wall.
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  You'd expect Jesus to be discouraged.
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  Maybe, you know, change up his tactics.
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  Try a new approach. But he doesn't, and that's what
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  leads us right into Section 2, the Father as sovereign
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  administrator. So we're in verses 25 and 26.
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  Now how does Jesus respond to this massive national rejection?
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  He praises, he praises. Verse 25 kicks off with at that
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  time Jesus answered and said, I thank you Father, Lord of heaven
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  and earth. I love that word answered.
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  It's like he's in a conversation but nobody actually asked him a
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  question. He's answering the situation.
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  That's it. He's looking at the hard hearts
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  of Capernaum, at the rejection, and he's answering that reality
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  with this prayer. And the word for thank here,
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  it's more than just thanks. Right.
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  Oh, much more. In the Greek it's Eximola gumai.
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  That's a heavy word. What's the what's the nuance
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  there? It's a compound word.
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  It comes from eek meaning out of and homologio, which means to
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  say the same thing. So it's about confessing,
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  agreeing with, acknowledging fully.
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  Jesus isn't just saying, hey thanks dad, he's saying father,
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  I publicly confess and I'm in full agreement with what you are
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  doing right now. He's aligning himself completely
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  with the Father's plan, even when it looks like a failure.
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  Precisely. He's looking at the rejection
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  and instead of questioning it or getting frustrated by it, he
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  validates it. He says.
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  I'm with you on this. And notice who he addresses God
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  as Lord of heaven and earth. Yes, that title establishes
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  total ownership. God isn't, you know, running for
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  office hoping we'll vote for him.
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  He owns the building. He's the proprietor.
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  He is, He has the absolute right to do with His creation as He
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  sees fit, and what He has seen fit to do is what Jesus thanks
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  Him for next. This is what our source is
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  called, the Double Action. Because you have hidden these
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  things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.
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  OK, let's take those one at a time because this is where a lot
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  of people start to get uncomfortable, the text says.
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  God hid these things. It's an active verb.
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  He is the one doing the hiding. It is.
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  It doesn't say God just passively allowed the wise to
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  miss it. It says he actively concealed
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  the saving reality of the Kingdom from them.
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  The information was there, the miracles, the sermons, but the
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  spiritual significance was cloaked.
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  So who are the wise and prudent? We need to be careful here,
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  right? Is Jesus just bashing education?
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  Is he saying if you have a PhD you can't be a Christian?
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  Not at all, and that's a great question.
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  The Reformed tradition has always placed a huge value on
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  the mind. We love books.
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  We love study the wise. The soften in Greek, in the
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  immediate context refers to the religious intelligentsia of
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  Jesus Day. The Scribes.
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  The Pharisees. The experts in the law, yeah.
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  But the deeper meaning, the one that applies to us, refers to a
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  spiritual posture. It's about the autonomous
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  intellect. That's the perfect way to put
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  it. It refers to the person who
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  thinks their own mind is the final Court of Appeals.
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  The person who says I will judge God.
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  I will evaluate the Bible based on my modern sensibilities.
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  If it makes sense to me, then I'll accept it.
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  So wise in this context really means wise in their own eyes.
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  Correct. It is intellectual pride.
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  It's the person who is so full of themselves that there's just
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  no room for God to give them a revelation.
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  And the theology for this has a name.
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  It's called judicial hardening. Can you unpack that for us?
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  It means that God, in His justice, gives the proud exactly
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  what they want. They want to be the captains of
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  their own souls. They want to rely on their own
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  logic as the ultimate standard. Fine, God steps back.
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  He hands them over to the darkness they've chosen.
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  He hides the spiritual reality from them, so that, as Isaiah
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  says, seeing, they do not see. It's a terrifying thought.
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  The most educated man in Israel, the guys who had memorized the
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  Torah, looked at the living Son of God and all they saw was a
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  demon possessed Carpenter. Because the Father hid the truth
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  from them, their pride became their blinder.
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  It's just like Paul says in First Corinthians.
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  The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God
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  because they are spiritually discerned.
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  OK, so that's the negative side of the action.
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  God hides, but there's a positive side.
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  He revealed them to babes. Yes, the Greek word here is
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  nepuwa. It literally means non speaking
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  ones. Infants, toddlers.
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  But obviously Peter and Andrew and John weren't actual
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  toddlers. They were grown men with jobs
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  and families. Physically, yes, but socially
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  and religiously they were nobodies.
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  They were the people of the land.
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  They didn't have degrees from the right schools.
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  They didn't have a pedigree. To a Pharisee, they were
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  uneducated common fishermen. So Jesus is using the term to
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  describe their heart posture, their spiritual condition.
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  Exactly. Think about an infant.
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  An infant is the definition of helplessness.
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  A baby can't feed itself. A baby can't defend itself or
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  clean itself. A baby brings absolutely nothing
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  to the table except its need. So the babe is the person who
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  has finally come to the end of their own resources.
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  The babe is the one who finally says, I can't figure this out, I
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  am not smart enough, I'm not good enough.
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  Lord, you have to help me. And Jesus says that it's God's
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  delight to show his greatest treasures to that person.
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  It's a total reversal of how the world works.
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  We reward the strong, the brilliant, the self-sufficient.
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  God reveals himself to the spiritually bankrupt.
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  It just shatters our pride. Salvation isn't a discovery made
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  by the clever. It's an apocalypse, an unveiling
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  that is granted to the humble. You don't figure God out.
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  God reveals himself to you. But.
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  The question that always comes up is why?
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  Why does God do it this way? Is it just that the babes were
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  nicer people? Were they more innocent?
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  And verse 26 gives us the only answer the Bible ever gives.
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  Yes, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight.
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  The Greek word there is udokia. Yes, and it means God's good
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  pleasure, His delight, his sovereign satisfaction.
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  This takes us right to the heart of the doctrine of unconditional
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  election. Which means God's choice to
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  reveal wasn't based on anything he saw inside the babes.
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  That's right, God didn't look down the corridors of time and
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  say, oh look, Peter's going to turn out to be a really faithful
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  guy, so I'll choose him. No, Peter was a mess.
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  God didn't choose the babes because they were innocent or
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  had some foreseen merit. He chose them simply because it
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  pleased him to do so. So it's grounded entirely in the
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  will of God, not in the the worth of the person.
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  And that is so hard for us. We want it to be about us.
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  We want to find the reason somewhere in our own resume.
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  Oh, I believed because I was more open minded.
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  I believed because I did my research.
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  But Jesus just strips all of that away.
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  He says no, you believe, because it seemed good in the Father's
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  sight to reveal it to you. It just destroys all boasting.
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  Completely. If you're a believer today, you
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  can't look down your nose at an atheist and say, well, I'm just
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  smarter than him. All you can say is I was just as
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  blind as he is. But for reasons known only to
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  God, he was pleased to open my eyes.
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  It levels the entire playing field at the foot of the cross.
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  It does The most brilliant Nobel laureate and the simplest child
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  stand on the exact same ground before God?
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  Absolute total dependence on sovereign grace.
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  So we've seen the Father as the sovereign Administrator.
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  He has the divine plan. Now we shift to Section 3, the
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  sun, a sovereign mediator. We're looking at the first half
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  of verse 27. And this is where the
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  Thunderbolt really strikes with full force.
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  Jesus says all things have been delivered to me by my Father.
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  All things. I mean, that is a staggering,
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  all-encompassing claim. It's comprehensive.
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  The Greek verb is padathia. It means handed over, entrusted.
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  It implies a formal transaction. Many theologians connect this to
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  what's called the Covenant of Redemption or the Council of
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  Peace. This pre temporal agreement
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  within the Trinity. Exactly before the foundation of
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  the world, there was an agreement where the Father
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  entrusted the entire execution of the plan of salvation and the
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  judgement of the world to the Son.
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  So Jesus isn't just a wandering teacher offering some good
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  advice. He's the CEO of the universe.
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  He's been given the keys. He is the mediator.
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  If you want to deal with the Father, you must go through the
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  Son. He holds all authority and then
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  he makes this statement about knowledge that is just mind
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  bending. One knows the Son except the
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  Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son.
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  This is pure, unadulterated high Christology.
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  This is one of the clear statements where we see that
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  Jesus is God. He's homoseos of the very same
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  substance as the Father. Explain the logic there.
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  OK, so God is infinite. He's eternal without limit, who
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  can fully, exhaustively and completely comprehend an
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  infinite being. Well, only another infinite
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  being. Precisely.
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  If Jesus were a created being, even the highest Archangel,
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  Michael, his mind would be finite.
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  He could not possibly contain a full knowledge of the infinite
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  Father. But Jesus claims to know the
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  Father just as the Father knows him.
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  That is a direct claim to divine equality.
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  It's a closed circle of divine intimacy that no one else can
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  enter. It is, and it serves as a
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  massive rebuke to the wise. We were just talking about the
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  critics, the Pharisees. They thought they could size
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  Jesus up and judge him. They looked at him and said he's
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  a glutton and a drunkard, right? And Jesus is basically saying
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  you don't have the first clue who I am.
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  My identity is a divine mystery that is infinitely too high for
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  your autonomous reason to grasp. Unless, and this is the huge
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  pivot, unless he chooses to reveal it.
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  And that takes us to Section 4. The sun is sovereign revealer,
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  the verse continues. Nor does anyone know the Father
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  except the Son and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal
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  him. This is the exclusive channel,
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  and in our culture this is incredibly offensive.
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  We're constantly told that all roads lead to God, all paths
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  lead up the same mountain. Yes, that's the prevailing idea.
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  But Jesus says no, there are no paths up the mountain, you are
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  all the bottom in the dark, and the only way you see the Father
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  is if I come down from the top and personally show him to you.
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  It's a direct link to John 14.6. I am the way, the truth, and the
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  life. No one comes to the Father
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  except through me. It's a complete rejection of
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  religious pluralism. There is only one ventricle of
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  grace, as the Puritans would say.
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  Jesus is the sole exegete of God.
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  If you want to know what God is really like, you have to look at
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  Jesus, and you can only truly see Jesus if he lets you.
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  Let's focus on that word Wills to whom the Son wills to reveal
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  him. The Greek is bullatai, and this
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  word refers to a deliberate, active, determined will.
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  It's not a faint wish. It's not a passive hope.
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  It's a sovereign decision. Yes, so many people have this
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  picture of Jesus as the sort of, you know, passive gentleman who
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  just stand at the door of your heart and knocks politely,
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  hoping you might let him in. But ultimately, he's helpless if
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  you say no. That's the popular image, but it
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  is not the Jesus of Matthew 11. The Jesus of this passage is a
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  sovereign king who actively chooses to whom he will grant
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  sight. He doesn't just offer a light,
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  he creates eyes. And this is what we call the
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  doctrine of effectual calling. It is when the sun reveals.
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  It isn't just showing someone data on a spreadsheet.
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  It's a powerful operation of the Holy Spirit that overcomes our
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  natural blindness and resistance.
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  Remember the crisis we started with?
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  Yeah, the rejection ensures in. Why did they reject him?
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  Because they were left to their own wisdom.
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  Why does anyone anywhere except Him?
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  Because the Son, in His sovereign good pleasure, decided
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  to actively reveal the Father to them.
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  So faith isn't the cause of the revelation.
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  Faith is the result of the revelation.
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  That is the crucial distinction. I don't see the light so that
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  God will open my eyes. God opens my eyes so that I can
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  see the light. Now whatever we get this deep
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  into divine sovereignty, listeners start to feel the
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  tension. So we need to move into Section
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  5 application and some of the common misconceptions for sure.
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  The first charge that always comes up is anti
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  intellectualism. People hear God hides it from
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  the wise and they think OK so the goal is to be ignorant.
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  I should stop reading books. Which would be a disaster.
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  Jesus is not praising ignorance, He's condemning pride.
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  There is a massive difference. You can be a certified genius
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  and still be a babe in God's eyes.
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  How does that work? The babe is about teachability.
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  It's about your posture. APHD in physics can be a babe if
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  they sit before scripture and say Lord compared to you I know
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  nothing please teach me. And on the flip side, someone
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  with very little formal education can be wise in their
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  own eyes if they're stubborn and refused to be corrected by the
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  word. Exactly.
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  It has nothing to do with your IQ.
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  It has everything to do with submission.
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  The mind is a wonderful servant, but it's a terrible master.
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  Reformed theology commands us to love God with all our minds, but
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  those minds must first be submitted to the authority of
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  God's Word. And the second charge is even
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  heavier. It's the charge of fatalism.
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  Look, if God chooses, and if Jesus only reveals to whom He
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  wills, then why should I do anything?
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  Why preach? Why pray for my lost friends?
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  If they're chosen, they're chosen, and if they're not,
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  they're not. We hear this all the time, but
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  it assumes a disconnect that the Bible never ever makes.
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  The Bible teaches that God ordains the ends, which is
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  salvation, but he also ordains the means to that end.
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  And the means are preaching and prayer and evangelism.
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  Precisely. And if you look back at the
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  text, Jesus doesn't treat the people of Capernaum like robots.
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  He says woe to you. That implies real, genuine
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  guilt. They are responsible for their
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  rejection. So God's sovereignty doesn't
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  erase human responsibility. Never.
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  We are moral creatures. We make real choices based on
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  our desires, and the desire of the unregenerate heart is to
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  reject God. Their rejection is real and it's
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  culpable. So the rejection is our fault.
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  Yes, but the grace is all gods, and this actually kills
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  fatalism. It doesn't create it.
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  Think about it. If salvation ultimately depended
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  on my powers of persuasion, I'd quit tomorrow.
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  I can't change a human heart. I can't make a blind man see.
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  But if God can. If God is the one who does the
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  revealing, then there is hope for everyone.
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  I can preach the gospel to the most hardened atheist, the most
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  arrogant, wise man I know, and I can have confidence that in a
• 19:12
  single moment the Son of God can choose to reveal the Father to
• 19:15
  him, and that man will crumble in repentance and faith.
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  So sovereignty actually fuels evangelism.
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  It gives us the confidence that God can save even the hardest
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  cases. It's the.
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  Only thing that keeps us going. We preach because we know it's
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  the very method the Son uses to do his sovereign revealing work.
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  There's also a pretty stark warning in this passage about
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  what we could call the idol of autonomous intellect.
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  It is a severe warning. If you approach the Bible as a
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  critic, you know, with your arms cross, trying to master it, it
• 19:45
  will remain A sealed book to you.
• 19:47
  You might learn the Greek, you might know the history, but you
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  will not know the Lord of the book.
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  You have to come as a beggar. You have to come as a child.
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  Which sets up what might be the most beautiful and stunning
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  transition in the entire gospel. That's Section 6, the bridge to
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  the invitation. We've been climbing these steep,
• 20:05
  rocky cliffs of predestination and high Christology in verses
• 20:09
  25 to 27, and then without even taking a breath, we get verse
• 20:14
  28. Come to me, all you who labor
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  and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
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  I mean, most people have that verse on a coffee mug or a
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  plaque somewhere, but they completely disconnect it from
• 20:24
  the verses that come right before it.
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  They do. They love the gentle invitation,
• 20:28
  but they hate the hard sovereignty.
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  But you cannot have one without the other.
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  They are intrinsically linked. So why are they connected?
• 20:36
  How does the sovereignty set up the invitation?
• 20:38
  Look at the promise Jesus makes. I will give you rest.
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  How can you possibly make a promise that grand?
• 20:44
  He can only make it because of what He just said in verse 27.
• 20:47
  All things have been delivered to me.
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  Exactly. He has the authority to grant
• 20:51
  eternal rest because he runs the universe.
• 20:55
  If Jesus were just a nice moral teacher, he couldn't give you
• 20:58
  rest for your soul. But because He's the sovereign
• 21:01
  mediator to whom all things have been entrusted, He has the power
• 21:05
  and the authority to deliver on his invitation.
• 21:08
  The sovereignty is the foundation for the comfort.
• 21:11
  And as a paradox here that we just have to live with and
• 21:14
  embrace the sovereignty says I choose, the invitation says
• 21:18
  come. And both are 100% true.
• 21:21
  The invitation is genuine. Jesus stands with open arms to
• 21:24
  all but who actually comes? Who are the laboring and heavy
• 21:28
  laden? They're the ones who are tired
• 21:29
  of being wise. They.
• 21:30
  Are they are the ones who are crushed by the burden of their
• 21:33
  own self-reliance? They're tired of trying to
• 21:35
  figure it all out on their own. They're tired of trying to earn
• 21:37
  their way to God. They are the babes who have
• 21:39
  finally realized they are spiritually empty handed.
• 21:42
  And to them, to that person, Jesus says, come to me, stop
• 21:47
  striving. I will reveal the Father to you.
• 21:50
  I will give you the rest that you could never find in your own
• 21:52
  wisdom or your own works. You don't achieve this rest, you
• 21:55
  receive it as a gift. And that is the absolute beauty
• 21:58
  of sovereign grace. So let's try and bring this all
• 22:01
  together. We started with a crisis.
• 22:03
  The greatest ministry in the history of the world face what
• 22:06
  looked like total rejection. And Jesus didn't panic, He
• 22:09
  didn't despair. He praised, He anchored himself
• 22:13
  in the sovereign good pleasure of the Father.
• 22:15
  We saw that the Father actively hides the truth from the proud
• 22:18
  as an act of judgement, and He actively reveals it to the
• 22:22
  humble, the babes, as a display of His free grace.
• 22:25
  Then we saw the Son as the exclusive mediator.
• 22:27
  He's the only way to the Father, and he's the act of Revealer who
• 22:30
  sovereignly chooses to open blind eyes.
• 22:33
  And finally, we saw that all of this incredibly high theology
• 22:36
  isn't meant to be cold and abstract.
• 22:38
  It leads directly to the warmest, most gentle invitation
• 22:41
  in all of Scripture. The God who sovereignly chooses
• 22:44
  is the very same God who says come and rest.
• 22:47
  It just changes everything about how you view your own salvation.
• 22:51
  It moves the center of gravity from I was smart enough to
• 22:54
  figure it out to I was lost. And for his own good reasons, he
• 22:59
  came and found me. It creates a sense of awe, a
• 23:02
  sense of wonder. If you're a Christian listening
• 23:05
  to this, your conversion was the miracle.
• 23:07
  It was the greatest miracle of all.
• 23:08
  So I want to leave you, our listener, with a final thought
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  to chew on. We've covered a lot of heavy,
• 23:13
  heavy doctrine today, but try to bring this down to your prayer
• 23:16
  life tonight. When you get on your knees to
• 23:18
  pray, just stop and realize this.
• 23:21
  If you love the gospel, if you see any beauty in the person of
• 23:25
  Jesus Christ, it is not because you were clever.
• 23:27
  It's not because you were more spiritual than your neighbor.
• 23:30
  It is because the Lord of Heaven and Earth, the sovereign God of
• 23:33
  the universe, stopped and performed a specific personal
• 23:36
  miracle of revelation in your heart.
• 23:39
  He chose to show you what he justly hid from others who are
• 23:42
  no more sinful than you are. That thought alone should
• 23:45
  absolutely crush your pride and cause your gratitude to just
• 23:48
  explode. How does that reality change the
• 23:51
  way you pray? You can't pray with any sense of
• 23:53
  arrogance or entitlement anymore.
• 23:55
  You can only pray with staggering, speechless thanks.
• 23:59
  And that's really the goal of Reform thinking to think God's
• 24:03
  thoughts after him and to let that thinking lead us into
• 24:06
  deeper worship. We really hope this deep dive
• 24:08
  has challenged you and encouraged you to become a babe
• 24:12
  in the very best sense of that word.
• 24:14
  Thanks so much for listening. We'll.
• 24:15
  See you next time.