Light & Judgment Part 2 | Matthew 11:20-24

Scripture

• Matthew 11:20–24

About this sermon

Introduction Our Lord is addressing the cities that are emblematic of the entire people of Israel who are rejecting their King. Clearly, we do not mean that every Jewish person rejected Christ — His disciples are Jewish — but the nation considered as a whole proved to be unbelieving. But these cities are also emblematic of all mankind apart from the grace of God. Like children playing in the marketplace, sinful humanity finds fault with the messengers of the truth (even when that messenger is Himself THE TRUTH EMBODIED), in an attempt to escape the message itself. Why are men stubborn in their sins? It is because they are evil. It is because their works are evil. It is because they LOVE their evil. They PREFER their evil. ESV John 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. This morning we began considering three woeful results when truth is refused. We considered the first one this morning, and we now turn our attention to the other two tonight. Review: • REFUSING TRUTH RESULTS IN GUILT (vs.20) Guilt is already present. But God’s truth comes to sinful mankind offering deliverance from guilt. So, that when the truth is rejected, the guilt is CONFIRMED and MULTIPLIED. ESV John 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. Jesus was “denouncing” some specific cities. The rebukes were both warnings and expressions of regret. They were warnings that expressed the sadness of their condition. • WHAT CHARACTERIZED THE SELECTED CITIES The cities Christ reproves are those who have received the greatest demonstrations of His confirming signs. “Most of His mighty works” had been done in these cities. Christ mentions three cities in these verses. • CHORAZIN • BETHSAIDA • CAPERNAUM All three receiving astounding revelation. What you and I have never seen, these cities saw in MULTIPLIED FASHION. And what they saw was matched together with WHAT THEY HEARD. John came preaching. Jesus came preaching. The miracles were confirmations of the message and demonstrations of what belongs to the kingdom of heaven. • WHAT CHRIST DENOUNCES IN THE SELECTED CITIES He reproves them, He warns them, because THEY DID NOT REPENT. They sometimes were amazed. They sometimes admired. But they would not repent. What is repentance? It is a change of mind and heart that results in a change of course. It is a fundamental change in our disposition. It is a transformation of our worldview. And the result of coming to the place where we agree with God, changes our course. Where there is repentance there is FRUIT. We agree with God about our sin We desire what God offers as they remedy for our sin We come to the one who saves us from our sin Now, we come to the second woeful result of rejecting the truth. • REFUSING TRUTH INCREASES JUDGMENT (vs.21-24) Receiving truth should be a trembling experience. It should be a sobering experience. Receiving truth is a blessing. It is an undeserved grace. Where it is received in faith it brings joy. Where it is refused it brings increased judgment. To put is simply, more light means more guilt, if the light is refused. More light means greater judgment if the light is refused. The three cities that Jesus denounces, are compared to three cities that were famous for their wickedness and for God’s judgment of them. Three infamous cities. To be infamous is to be well known for something bad.

Topics

• Hell & Judgment