Skip to content Matthew 11:21-30 - True Rest for the Weary | Kingdom Come Bible Study Part 21 Sep 15 · 46 min ...more
Matthew 11:21-30 - True Rest for the Weary | Kingdom Come Bible Study Part 21
September 15, 2025 · 46 min
Find true rest in Jesus as Pastor Tim explores Matthew 11:21-30. Discover His invitation to the weary and heavy-laden, and learn how surrender brings peace, renewal, and lasting spiritual comfort.
Series Matthew: Kingdom Come September 15, 2025 · 46 min · Matthew: Kingdom Come
Find true rest in Jesus as Pastor Tim explores Matthew 11:21-30. Discover His invitation to the weary and heavy-laden, and learn how surrender brings peace, renewal, and lasting spiritual comfort. ...more Show the full description Show less Find true rest in Jesus as Pastor Tim explores Matthew 11:21-30. Discover His invitation to the weary and heavy-laden, and learn how surrender brings peace, renewal, and lasting spiritual comfort.
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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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In this video 0:00 The Tension of Privilege and Repentance6:36 God's Sovereignty in Salvation23:09 The Invitation to Rest
The Tension of Privilege and Repentance 0:00 Have you ever noticed how the same sun that melts wax will harden clay? That's what happens when Jesus shows up. Some hearts soften in repentance. Others stiffen in rejection.0:12 In Matthew 11, Jesus shocks us. He doesn't applaud the cities that saw his miracles. He condemns them. Why? Because privilege without repentance is dangerous. And yet in the very0:23 same breath, he pivots from denouncing the proud to inviting the weary into the gospel that brings us rest. This is the tension doctrine in the gospel brings us. The judge0:35 is also the savior. The 1 who pronounces woe also whispers, come to me, and I will give you rest. Today, we're going to look at why the miracles of Jesus don't guarantee faith,0:47 and yet when religion wears you down, the spirit of God can give you new life. Welcome to Kingdom Come episode 21.0:59 Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Kingdom Come. And like I just said, it is episode 21. And if you who if you do have your Kingdom Come journal, take it out. I hope you've got a hold of this by now. And, if you're new to1:11 the content, the playlist is already available. You can go all the way back to episode 1, which we started way back, I think, in March or February. And, so that's available over at tim hatch live dot com slash journal or1:22 email us for faster access or visit 1 of Waters Church's locations where you can pick that up for yourself. Today, the subject is very simple, finding rest for your souls, but we have to first examine the
1:34 restless nature of the human soul. And that is the human soul, And as soon as I say that you're gonna totally resonate with this, the human soul is always going to be
1:46 in a process of devouring whatever it thinks can bring at peace. Now, theologians will call this idolatry. You can call it sin. You can call it addiction. You can call it
1:58 an obsession. It's just the hue the restlessness of the human soul. Saint Augustine said, our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee, oh Lord. I'm paraphrasing his quote. But what he
2:10 is saying is that the human heart will do whatever it takes to bring itself rest because there's no there's no rest outside of God's rest. So we will look to
2:22 idols. We will look to things or people or pleasures to bring what only god can give. And some, particularly in the time of Christ, when he walked on the earth and and
2:34 was producing miracles and preaching the gospel, they will look to or they'd look to religion. Religion and legalism and works and rituals. And I
2:46 can tell you this, as somebody who has had an experience with legalistic Christianity, it does not work. Religion can produce just as much restlessness
2:58 as, irreligion or waywardness. Okay? So what we're gonna do is how we're gonna explore how Jesus unpacks Matthew chapter 11 from on the heels of the John the Baptist moment when we talked
3:10 about John the Baptist's doubts and what Jesus explains about him and what Jesus explains about us who receive the kingdom were greater in privilege than John the Baptist. And now he's going to turn in verse 20
3:23 to denounce those who have had the most privileged position to hear him, and yet they have not received him. So we move into the text verse 20 of Matthew 11. Here's what it says. Then he began
3:35 to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done because they did not repent. Woe to you, Chorazin. Woe to you, Bethsaida. For if the mighty works done in you had been
3:46 done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. Okay. This is a huge statement that Jesus
3:57 is making. He is pronouncing wool on cities that were closest to himself and to his home base in Capernaum. And just for reference, I do have a map here we will put up on the screen. There's Tyre. There's
4:09 Sidon. There's into the they're on the, northern shore of the Sea of, of the Mediterranean Sea. They're northwest of the Sea of Galilee. There's Chorazin and Baseta, and you'll
4:21 see the proximity of those 2 towns or villages to Capernaum. I bring up Capernaum on this map because Capernaum was the home base of Jesus' ministry. Jesus was born in
4:32 Nazareth, I'm sorry, born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth. But when he began his ministry, he moved to Capernaum. And most of his miracles, and this is important, his first miracle, Cana. He raises
4:44 the the widow of Nain, her her son from the dead. His he's anointed in Bethany, by Mary. So most of Jesus' ministry existed in
4:56 a very small slice of geography. Now Jesus compares the unrepented nature of Chorazin and Bethsaida to these 2 places, Tyre and Sidon. Let me explain to you how
5:08 big this is. Sidon is the home of 1 notorious sinful woman that almost everyone is aware of or knows the name of from the Old Testament,
5:21 Jezebel. She is from she is known as as the daughter of 1 of the Sidonian leaders. In fact, there is a case to be made that 1 her father was a Sidonian high priest.
5:34 And Jesus says that the ministry that these towns have seen, particularly, he mentions these 2, and he will mention Capernaum in the next verse. The miracles that you
5:46 have seen, the privilege that you have had to be in the presence of god the son, face to face with god the son,
5:58 Jesus says, you still have rejected. And therefore, Tyre and Sidon will have a lesser judgment than you. It'll be more bearable on the day of judgment
6:10 for these 2 places than for you. Jesus is saying something very rich there in just a moment, but I wanna make sure that you're getting something very clearly here first. To whom much is given,
6:22 much is required. So these cities don't repent, and they had the privilege of not just seeing God, the Son in the flesh, but experiencing the miracles and seeing people raised from the dead, demons cast out,
6:34 healing signs and wonders. And Jesus says Tyre and Sidon would have repented. Tyre and Sidon had the preaching of, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah. Big hitters in the Old
God's Sovereignty in Salvation
6:46 Testament. They didn't repent. They were actually judged for not repenting, and they were brought down. These were, by the way, Tyre and Sidon, 2 ancient pagan cities that were centers of wealth and power to
6:58 the, king's kingdoms north of Israel. And the most profound judgments were placed upon them. And Jesus says, if I had preached to them, if they had seen what you've seen, they would have
7:10 repented. And it it is just an amazing, judgment here upon these cities that Jesus makes. Then next verse, Jesus said in verse 23, and you, Capernaum, his
7:22 home base, where he did most of his miracles and and taught in their synagogues. He says, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom,
7:34 another notorious ancient sinful city. If the works that had been done in you, Capernaum, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it would be more tolerable on the day of
7:43 judgment for the land of Sodom than for you. To to hear Jesus say this reveals a few things that we have got
7:55 to nail down. Okay? Number 1, there is an extraordinary hardness in the human heart to truth.
8:07 Men were face to face with God in the flesh, and their hearts were so hardened, they rejected him. In fact, they cast him out of their cities in some places. And
8:19 then secondly, we have to understand that miracles do not necessarily produce faith. Sometimes they do, but most times they don't. We see this in the Old Testament when Moses brings the people of Israel out of
8:31 Egypt with 10 mighty plagues and signs and wonders. They still reject. They still complain. They still moan. They still wrestle with god's wonders and then they refuse to go into the promised land because they don't
8:41 think that god can give them that land even though he got them out of Egypt's land. Miracles don't produce faith. Thirdly, the more revelation that you have, the more
8:53 responsible you are. Jesus will say this in Luke chapter 12 verse 48. He says, the 1 who did not know his master's business and did what deserved a beating
9:05 will receive a light beating. But everyone to whom much is given, of him much will be required, and from and from whom him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more. Jesus
9:17 is saying, listen, to the extent that you know what you should do and don't do it, you will be judged. You will be judged more strictly the more revelation that you have. Now,
9:29 let me boil this down for America because I have bad news for unbelieving Americans. You have been the beneficiaries of gospel preaching, which has
9:41 brought unparalleled amounts of wealth and prosperity and peace and human rights and dignity to this country, to this culture, than at any time
9:53 in human history. I am I am 100 percent sure of that. There has never been a country like America. There's never been a richer country than America. There's never been a more dignified with with regards to human life
10:04 than America. And we have the gospel to thank for that because the people who founded America, people who came and settled America, guess who they were? Devout Christians who wanted to establish
10:16 a new Israel, a city on a hill, a shining beacon of God's grace to all the world. Now in many ways, America has done that. We have sent more missionaries around the world. We have,
10:29 I believe, created more disciples of Jesus than any other empire, world empire in the earth, but we are abandoning it, at a faster pace than ever. And I have
10:41 I have bad news for America. We have heard the gospel. We have seen the gospel preached. We know who Jesus is. We've heard his name. His name is so common. His name is now a swear word in
10:52 cultural media outlets and, unfortunately, in many of our friends and family members who do not believe. I pray to God it's not in your mouth that's a swear word, dear believer. But we're so
11:04 familiar. We're so aware of this truth and to reject it in this culture. Guess what? Even harsher condemnation in the judgment.
11:16 That is the point that Jesus is making here. The 1 who knows his master's business and did not do it will receive a bigger judgment. So now Jesus pivots in verse 25, and check out this pivot because
11:28 it's kind of like a strong 1. He says in verse 25, at that time, Jesus declared, I thank you father, lord of heaven and earth, that you now let's just take a look at the pronouns and the verbs. Please look at the
11:40 subject from the verse. You have done what? Have hidden these things from the wise what things? The things that Jesus has taught. From the wise and understanding. And
11:51 you, again, this is the subject of Jesus' thanksgiving here. You, father, have revealed them to little children. And then look at the kind of yes and amen here.
12:03 Yes, father, for such was your gracious will. Hidden and revealed truth, and to whom it is hidden and to
12:15 whom it is revealed. Make no mistake. Jesus says is the father's own will. First up,
12:27 who gets it? Who gets revelation? Well, in this passage, it's very clear, isn't it? Not the wise and learned. Now when he says wise and learned here, he's talking about the religious establishment, the scribes, the
12:39 Pharisees who are starting to question this Nazarene rabbi, this upstart teacher and prophet, and they're starting to have issue with him. And they're not catching the gospel. Right? They're not
12:50 they're rejecting it, and they're getting a boatload of doctrinal truth, and they're having a face to face contact with God the Son. But who does get it? The humble, the receptive, the open,
13:02 the the repentant, the people who know they're sinners, the people who know they don't add up. Matthew, the tax collector. Simon Peter who falls at Jesus' feet in Luke 5 and says, depart from me,
13:14 Lord, for I am a sinful man. The people who to whom the gospel is revealed are the humble of heart who know they are sinners and the people to whom or from whom the gospel is is hidden are the people who think that they
13:26 are okay based on their own actions and good deeds. Now, believe it or not, as important as that is, it's not the actual
13:38 main emphasis of Jesus' words here. Let's go back. Because the main emphasis is, this is the father's doing. Jesus just denounced cities for not receiving him, and then he praises the father
13:50 for choosing to harden their hearts. Yes. You, father, hid these things from the wise and understanding. The people who thought they were all that cannot receive the gospel because
14:02 the father has hidden it from them. Again and again, Jesus makes clear the father is the central operative character in
14:14 human salvation. The father is the initiator. The father is the author. The father is the originator. And Jesus stipulates, again,
14:26 with the affirmation, this is your gracious will. Yes. Christians, I'm I'm I'm really hoping that you're catching on to something through the teaching as you go verse by verse through the Bible. You will miss this
14:38 if you do not study the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter. But on every page of scripture, it's almost, it's god's sovereign over salvation. And and 1 of the clearest examples is
14:50 here in Matthew chapter 11 verse 25 and 26. He is the 1 who draws us to Christ, not not us. Now you say, well, I came to Jesus. Yes.
15:02 You did. Because the father revealed the son to you. And and and it's gonna get even deeper in just a minute.
15:14 Trust me. We're we're just getting warmed up. So let me address a couple of because I know your synapses are firing off in your brain, some of you right now. Because you were never taught
15:26 this. You were never taught this because you came from a church background like me. Here's your first question. Well, then what's our responsibility? Our responsibility is to recognize that Jesus
15:38 has come to save us and rejoice over that. Our responsibility is to respond to what the father has done in our hearts, to be
15:49 grateful with the lord Jesus, to give him praise just as Jesus again, what does he do? He says, I thank you, father. Our responsibility to god's sovereignty and our salvation
16:01 is joy joy and thanksgiving, humble appreciation, amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a rich like me.
16:13 I was was lost but now found, was blind but now I see. You can't make yourself see if you're blind. You can't make yourself found if you're lost. You have to be the object of somebody else's searching and finding. You
16:24 have to be the object of somebody else's healing for you to turn from blindness to seeing. So the wise in their own eyes, they don't get it. The simple and the humble receive
16:35 it. Isaiah 29 verse 14 says as much. It says, therefore, behold, I would do wonderful things with this people with wonder upon wonder and the wisdom of their wise shall perish and the discernment of the discerning man
16:47 shall be hidden. This is a theme throughout the scriptures. In the Old Testament, we see it revealed in the law of primogenitor. Primogenitor is the ancient law that the oldest son was the son of privilege and special
16:58 special privileges and and and, sacred responsibilities to the father. And he really basically got the entire inheritance from the father according to the ancient law of primogenitor. The oldest son got all the
17:08 inheritance and the oldest son carried on the name and the honorable status of the father. Well, what happens in the book of Genesis in the ancient world context again and again and again? The younger son
17:20 becomes the privileged special relationship son. It is Cain born first. Abel is a special chosen son. It is Ishmael born first. Isaac is a special chosen son. It is Esau born
17:32 first, and Jacob is the chosen son. Later on, it is Manasseh born first and Ephraim becomes the chosen son. And there is this picture in Genesis 48 where Jacob, the the grandfather, blesses
17:44 Joseph's sons by crossing his hands over and putting his right hand on Manasseh's head I'm sorry, on Ephraim's head and his left hand on Manasseh's. Jacob comes and I mean, Joseph tries to come and change it, and Jacob
17:54 says, no. No. No. No. No. No. This is God's doing. And you see the cross when he crosses his arms through the cross. Okay? The outside people are in, and the
18:05 people who think they're in are actually out. God reverses the assumption of men's hearts. Now why? Because the only way to reveal god's saving
18:17 work as an act of grace is to upend the assumptions of men who are prone to think they have earned it. Let me say that again. The only way to reveal god's saving work as an act of grace is to upend the assumptions of
18:29 those who believe that they have earned it. You do not earn your salvation. Not even your coming to Christ earns you salvation. Your coming to Christ is the response
18:41 of your heart to god's work and the holy spirit regenerate, opening your heart to receive him. By the way, Paul will say this as much to the, Corinthians. In first
18:53 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 18, he'll say, the word of the cross is folly to those who are
19:05 perishing, but to those who are being saved is the power of god. And then it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and that that word that comes from Isaiah 24, 29 14. We just read it. I will destroy the
19:16 wisdom of the wise and discerning of discernment, I will thwart. Where is the 1 who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of the sage? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since the wisdom
19:25 of the world, the the the world did not know God through wisdom, may please God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. The Jews demand signs, Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified.
19:34 It's a foolish message to those who think that they can do it on their own. We're saved by the death of a Nazarene carpenter. And then he goes on in verse 26. He says, consider your calling, and
19:46 let's just highlight this, not many of you were what? Wise. Not many of you were powerful. Not many of you were of noble birth, but God and there it is, subject verb, God chose. God
19:58 chose what? The foolish to shame the wise. God chose the weak to shame the strong. God chose what is low and the things that are not to bring to nothing, the things that are. Now
20:09 big picture, here we go. Why? So that no human being might boast in the presence of god. Friends, there is no boasting about your
20:21 salvation. There is only glorification of the father who has chosen you, who has made a way for you to not suffer
20:33 and die in your sins, though he would have been perfectly justified to allow it. Your salvation is always and forever a gift of God's internal and amazing grace. And a lot of Christians
20:45 have a hard time receiving this because we are prone to think, surely, I have to do something. Surely, I contribute something to this saving work. And to suggest that you
20:57 do is to therefore make God, responsible to respond to your acts, your goodness, your choice,
21:09 thereby making you the central actor in your salvation. Do we have to repent? Absolutely. Do we have to seek God? Absolutely. But
21:21 my question goes deeper. Why do we do those things? Have you met people? Have you met people? I always get a kick. There's these guys on YouTube, and they do these
21:33 videos where they go to college campuses or public places, and they try to argue with sinners about the gospel. Try to debate and argue. And I'm just so done with it. I have had my
21:45 fair share of this. You just don't do it. It's throwing pearls of swine. It's It's giving to dogs what is sacred because they do. And you watch them. They trample it under the feet under feet. God, through the preaching
21:55 of the gospel, humbles the heart, not not through the debate of of the religions of this world, not through debate of the origins of our cosmos. No. Through the preaching of
22:07 Christ and him crucified, we see the heart split open by the gospel, the dunamis power of God, Romans 1 16 and 17, that
22:19 saves sovereignly at the hand of God. Jesus is not done in Matthew 11 verse 27. Check this out. All things have been handed over to me by my father and no 1
22:31 can we just appreciate the absolutes here in this text? No 1 knows the no 1 knows the son except the father. Absolute, absolute. And no 1 knows the father except the son.
22:43 Now check this line out. And so so who knows the father? Anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him.
22:56 If you are not getting this yet, I don't know what to say because Jesus now gets even more explicit on teaching God's sovereignty over salvation.Show more
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