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Are You Satisfied with Jesus? (Matthew 11:16-24)

First Baptist Church https://fbcbartow.org

“Are You Satisfied with Jesus?”

(Matthew 11:16-24)

Series: God’s Fulfilled Promise [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

June 23, 2019

The Passage

Matthew 11:16-24

16 “To what should I compare this generation? It’s like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to other children: 17 We played the flute for you, but you didn’t dance; we sang a lament, but you didn’t mourn! 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” 20 Then he proceeded to denounce the towns where most of his miracles were done, because they did not repent: 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes long ago. 22 But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until today. 24 But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

Introductory Comments:

Have you ever met someone who could never be satisfied? I’ve met that type of people. Perhaps you think of a boss whom you could never make happy. Perhaps a coach or teacher from your younger years. Maybe you’re thinking of a spoiled child. The truth of the matter is there are some people who can simply never be satisfied. 

Jesus spoke about some of those people in today’s passage. He spoke of some of the people of Israel and how they felt towards Him and His work. Jesus would then go on and speak about how God felt towards them. 

This passage is important for us to understand as we think about ourselves and our feelings towards Jesus and God’s feelings towards us. 

Because of the importance of this passage, let’s go to God in prayer and ask Him to speak to us. 

(prayer)

Remember, we are in the middle of our series in the Gospel of Matthew. In chapter 11, Jesus has shifted His focus away from preparing the disciples to go out and encounter difficulty. Now, Jesus is focusing on Himself and His authority. 

In the beginning of chapter 11, Jesus speaks of John the Baptist preparing the way, of Jesus Himself being the One who was sent, and about the least of those who are part of the kingdom of Heaven. 

Now, Jesus will speak about the people’s reaction to Him and God’s reaction to the people. 

Let’s begin by exploring the fact that . . .

I. The people were dissatisfied with the works of Jesus (16-19) [on screen]

We’re at the point in the Gospel of Matthew when we start to see more and more displeasure and disenchantment shown towards Jesus. 

People are starting to realize that Jesus is not exactly who they want Him to be. They are dissatisfied with Jesus and with His works. 

Look at verses 16-19. 

16 “To what should I compare this generation? It’s like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to other children: 17 We played the flute for you, but you didn’t dance; we sang a lament, but you didn’t mourn! 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

Jesus says, “To what should I compare this generation?”

I believe He’s speaking generally here of the generation of Jewish people among whom He is living and to whom He is ministering at that particular time.  

He’s basically saying, “This is what y’all are like!”

Well, what does He say they’re like?

He gives this illustration of spoiled children: children who are performing and expecting the audience of other children to react a certain way. 

He speaks of playing the flute and expecting dancing and singing a lament and expecting mourning. The children are pretending to be professional musicians who are performing their tasks in order to get a reaction. When they don’t get the reaction, they pout, they complain, they gripe. They are spoiled. 

Jesus is saying that the people among whom He lives and minsters are like spoiled children!

Jesus then gives two examples of their dissatisfaction.

First, Jesus says that some of them rejected John the Baptist because He didn’t meet their expectations. John didn’t eat and drink the way everyone else did. He ate bugs and honey, he didn’t drink certain things. He lived in the wilderness. People thought he was weird, some even saying that he had a demon. 

Jesus was quite the opposite in some ways. He did eat and drink the same things that other people ate and drank. He hung out with normal people and sought to be influential around others. The people accused Jesus of being a sinner and drunkard. 

The people of that generation didn’t like the way John did things and they didn’t like the way Jesus did things!

They thought John was weird and Jesus was not the Messiah that they wanted!

They were dissatisfied. They were like spoiled children. 

Some of us at times can be dissatisfied with Jesus because He didn’t fulfill our expectations for what kind of Savior He should be. 

Perhaps Jesus has failed to live up to your standards. You might say, “Jesus didn’t give me the life that I wanted. I didn’t get the spouse that I wanted. I didn’t get the kids that I wanted. I didn’t get the job that I wanted. I didn’t get the car that I wanted. I didn’t get the house that I wanted. I didn’t get the future that I wanted. I didn’t get the notoriety that I wanted. Jesus let me down when it came to my home, my health, and my hopes. Jesus did not meet my expectations.”

Are you dissatisfied with Jesus? If you are, perhaps it’s time to evaluate what brings you satisfaction. 

The people were dissatisfied with Jesus. 

Jesus ends this section by saying, “ . . . wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

Basically, by saying this, Jesus is repeating the sentiment that He shared with John the Baptizer when He said all the things that He was doing to give credibility to the fact that He was the Messiah. 

Jesus is saying, “You will see that I am truly the Messiah. You will see that my works are true. Wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

We learn next that . . .

II. God will be dissatisfied with the unbelief of the people (20-24) [on screen]

After Jesus calls out the people for their childish dissatisfaction, He goes into a denunciation of the very towns where He was ministering.

He does so in an old school manner. He uses the Old Testament phrase, “Woe to you . . .”

This phrase would have been familiar to the Jewish people. The prophets of old would pronounce the judgment of God on cities beginning with the phrase, “Woe to you.”

Jesus does so as well. 

Listen to what Jesus says. Look at verses 20-24. 

20 Then he proceeded to denounce the towns where most of his miracles were done, because they did not repent: 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes long ago. 22 But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until today. 24 But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

One might wonder why Jesus delivered such strong language against these towns. Well, one would not have to wonder too long. Matthew tells us right away why Jesus denounced the towns. It says in verse 20, “ . . . because they did not repent.”

Jesus names these three towns were He ministered: Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. 

Capernaum was His home base since He left Nazareth. This was the center of all of His ministry. Perhaps no town saw as many miracles as Capernaum did. 

Chorazin and Bethsaida were towns that were also near the Sea of Galilee, near Capernaum where Jesus presumably did ministry as well. 

Jesus says that He did miracles in all these towns yet they did not repent. They saw His work, they heard His teaching, He demonstrated that He was Messiah, He pointed them to the coming Kingdom of God, yet they did not repent. 

Jesus then strengthens His judgment pronounced against them by comparing them to some very evil towns: Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom. 

Tyre and Sidon were cities on the Phoenician coast and would have represented godless areas of the region. These were areas that the Jewish people would know God judged because of their evil. 

Then there’s Sodom. This region was so sinful that God told Abraham He would not destroy it if he could find but ten righteous people. Alas, Abraham could not find ten righteous people and the entire city was destroyed by God. 

These cities were evil, godless, and worthy of judgment. Yet, Jesus makes this bold proclamation concerning these three cities as compared to the three cities of the Jewish people where Jesus is now ministering. 

Jesus says that if these three evil cities had witnessed the work that Jesus was doing around the region of Galilee, where Capernaum, Chorazin, and Bethsaida were, that the three evil cities would have repented, and done so in sackcloth and ashes, which was an ancient sign of extreme repentance. 

This saying would have been outrageous to the people. Yet, Jesus meant every word of it. He meant it to be strong. He meant it to hit them in the gut. He wanted them to know that God was dissatisfied with their unbelief and lack of repentance. 

There’s a warning here for us as well. 

Here are three words which we never want to hear from Jesus: “Woe to you.”

We never want to hear: “Woe to you, America. Woe to you, Florida. Woe to you, Bartow. Woe to you, First Baptist Church.”

What a horrifying phrase that would be. We must get this. We must understand this reality. God is dissatisfied with unbelief. 

The reality is that the people of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum had front row seats to the works and teachings of Jesus, yet they did not believe. They did not repent. 

Jesus said that there is no special place in Heaven for them just because they claim to be the people of God and because Jesus ministered in their area. Jesus said that they would not be lifted up to Heaven, but instead, they would go down to Hades, to the grave, to Hell. 

Listen, we in America, particularly in the Southern United States have multiple copies of God’s Word in nearly every home, we have church buildings on every corner, we have crosses and outlines of fish on clothes, cars, and jewelry, we’ve been baptized, we’re insistent on keeping our names on church rolls, we know all the hymns in the hymnal, we listen to Christian radio, we vote the right way, we want prayer back in schools, we follow all the rules, yet Jesus will say to many of us, “Woe to you,” because we have never repented and truly believed in the One and only Savior Jesus Christ. We’ve never truly followed Him. We’ve never found our satisfaction in Him. 

Living like a moral and godly person is not enough. We must be devoted to and satisfied in Jesus!

If we are not satisfied in Jesus, God will not be satisfied with us. 

We must be satisfied in Him. We must look to and long for Jesus. 

This brings us to our bottom line:

Bottom Line: If you are satisfied with Jesus, God will be satisfied with you.  [on screen]

(repeat)

Have you truly believed in Jesus? Are you truly following Him? Nothing can take the place of our devotion to Him. 

Challenge yourself this week in the following ways:

Weekly Challenge: [on screen]

  1. Identify the source of your satisfaction.  [on screen]

What brings you joy? What makes you feel fulfilled? What satisfies you?

  1. Repent.  [on screen]

Those who claim to be the people of God are often the most blind and the most hard-hearted when it comes to truly following Jesus. 

May it never be so with us, church. May we never hear the words, “Woe to you.”

Let us all be people of repentance. 

Not just once, but over and over again. 

May we repent of our selfishness, our lack of forgiveness, our lack of showing love, our lack of sharing the Gospel, our lack of compassion. 

May we repent of our sinfulness and turn to Jesus! 

Challenge yourself this week to repent. 

  1. Live as a repentant sinner.  [on screen]

Let repentance change the way you live. 

Are you living as a repentant sinner? Do so this week and beyond. 

Closing:

There’s also a message of hope for all of us: repent, and the Kingdom of Heaven will be yours. 

There is hope for all of us. Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom were outrageously evil, yet repentance was possible even for them if they chose it. 

God is calling you to repentance. He is calling you to His kingdom. Will you come?

(Gospel presentation)

(closing prayer)

Invitation Song – I Surrender All

Benediction:

If you have any sort of spiritual decision that you would like to make, you can contact me or any of our staff and we would be glad to talk to you anytime.

Don’t forget about VBS coming up real soon. Register if you haven’t done so. Invite others! There are invitation cards at the exits from the sanctuary. Take some with you. Also, as a reminder, there is a lunch meeting today for VBS volunteers. The meeting is just below us in the multipurpose room. 

Join us tonight at 5:30 for a report from the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting which was held recently in Birmingham, Alabama. Come hear how the Lord is at work, how your giving is at work, and how you can pray for our future. 

Let’s dismiss by singing the Doxology. 

(Sing Doxology)

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