15 Sep God is JUST

Matthew 11:20-30

²⁰ Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. ²¹ “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. ²² But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. ²³ And you, Capernaum, 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, it would have remained until this day. ²⁴ But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

²⁵ At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; ²⁶ yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. ²⁷ All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. ²⁸ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Today we are on the eighth sermon of our series, “God is.” In this series, we look at one attribute of God each week and ask, “If this is who God is, if this is true of God, then how should it shape who we are and the way we live?” The attribute we are looking at tonight is just, God is just. Let me tell you this is not easy to embrace. Our passage tonight ends with one of the sweetest and most tender invitations we have from Jesus. Jesus is saying, “Are you tired? Are you weary? Come to me and I will give you rest.” Jesus is offering rest to the restless. And by rest, Jesus is not referring to physical rest. Do you know that we can have all the physical rest we need and still be restless? Why? Because our hearts are not at rest. There is a rest that we need that a nap will not solve. There is a rest underneath all rest, and unless we have it, all other rest is worthless. But if we have this deep rest, we can be amid chaos and still able to sleep and wake up with joy and gladness. This is what Jesus is offering to us in this passage. He calls it, “rest for your souls.”

How many of you want this rest for your soul? Here is the thing. In order for us to have rest for our souls, we need to embrace the justice of God. Unless we know God is just, we will not find the rest that our souls crave. The justice of God and the rest of God are two sides of the same coin. That’s why in the same passage, we see Jesus invite all the weary to come to him and pronounce curses to those who reject him. The same Jesus who says, “I am gentle and lowly in heart”, is the one who says, “You will be brought down to hell.” A lot of people have problems trying to reconcile the two. They say, “If God is a God of love, why did he send people to hell? If God is just and he sends people to hell, how can he be a God of love? How can a great wrath and a tender mercy come from the same heart?” But the Bible insists that God is both. God is both merciful and just at the same time. So, get this. We cannot have Jesus as the rest-giver unless we have Jesus as the judge. We will never get the real rest for our souls unless we understand the justice of God. They go together. One without the other is meaningless.

Let’s look at the passage together. Here are my three points for the sermon: the justice of God; the secret of God; the invitation of God.

The justice of God

Matthew 11:20-22 – ²⁰ Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. ²¹ “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. ²² But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

A few years ago, a pastor friend of mine wrote a book called, “Beyond the miracles.” In the book, he argues that all of Jesus’ miracles were signs pointing to someone greater, himself. Jesus never performs miracles for miracle’s sake. The purpose of miracles is always to point people to the true identity of Jesus. Jesus’ main priority is always to preach the gospel and call people to repentance. And the miracles function to validate the message of the gospel. Here is the problem with the cities Jesus mentioned in these verses. Jesus had done a lot of mighty works in these cities. Mighty works refer to miracles, healings, and supernatural signs that God was at work among them. But those mighty works did not lead them to repentance. They were amazed at what Jesus could do, but it did not lead them to put their faith in Jesus. Then Jesus says, “Cursed are you Chorazin and Bethsaida. For if Tyre and Sidon saw all the mighty works that you saw, they would have repented. But you do not repent.” Tyre and Sidon were two Gentile cities condemned by the Old Testament prophets for their pride and wickedness. And the Jews thought they were better than the Gentiles living in those heathen cities.

But Jesus turns it the other way around. Jesus says those wicked gentile cities would have it better than Chorazin and Bethsaida. Why? Because if Jesus had done all those mighty works in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented. It means Jesus knew exactly what those cities would have done under such and such circumstances. This is what Daniel Doriani writes in his commentaries on this passage. “We make every decision on insufficient evidence. Not so with God. He knows all that is, was, and shall be. But he also knows hearts so well that he has contingent knowledge, knowledge of what might have been.” It means God’s judgements are based not only on what people have done but also on what people would have done if the conditions under which they had lived had been different. God is the perfect judge with perfect knowledge. But despite witnessing all of Jesus’ mighty works, Chorazin and Bethsaida refused to repent. And Jesus says they would experience greater judgment on the day of judgment for it. Then he continues.

Matthew 11:23-24 – ²³ And you, Capernaum, 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, it would have remained until this day. ²⁴ But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

How many of you watch The Chosen? If you do, then you know that most of the story happens around the city of Capernaum. Capernaum is Jesus’ home-based ministry. Capernaum is the city where Jesus performed lots and lots of miracles. Let me list out some of them. The centurion’s servant was healed. The paralytic man who was let down through the roof was healed. A man with a withered hand in the synagogue was healed. Demons were cast out. Jarius’ dead daughter was raised to life. And many more. So, the city of Capernaum had the front row seats for Jesus’ mighty works and teachings. They think they will be exalted to heaven. But Jesus says, “You will be brought down to Hades (hell).” Why? Because they refused to repent and believe in Jesus.

And what’s amazing is Jesus says that if the city of Sodom witnessed all the mighty works Jesus did in Capernaum, Sodom would not perished because Sodom would have repented. Now if you know anything about the city of Sodom in the Old Testament, Jesus’ statement would have shocked you. Because Sodom was destroyed by God for sexual immorality, cruelty, and social injustice. Sodom was not just bad. Sodom was extremely bad. But Jesus says, “Even Sodom would have it better than Capernaum on the day of judgement.” This tells us an important lesson. Listen. Those who have greater opportunities for gospel exposure will be judged more severely. The more you know, the greater your responsibility. There is a warning for us here: do not take the blessing of gospel exposure for granted. If you are in a church where the gospel is preached faithfully, regularly, and clearly, you should not take that for granted. The more you know about the gospel, the more responsibility you have to respond in repentance and trust. It is a very serious thing to close your eyes and turn a deaf ear to the gospel. God will hold you accountable for it.

Here is a question I want us to consider. Why do these cities refuse to repent? Is it because they don’t have enough information? Is it because of a lack of evidence? No. They witnessed Jesus’ mighty works before their eyes. They heard Jesus’ wonderful teaching with their ears. Their problem is not a lack of information or evidence. Jesus overwhelms them with evidence. Their problem is much deeper than that. What Jesus does in this passage is he gives us a spiritual MRI. He let us see the problem underneath all problems. The reason these cities refuse to repent is due to the problem of unbelief. Despite witnessing Jesus’ mighty works, there is something in their hearts that still resists Jesus. Have you heard people say, “If I can see all the miracles Jesus performed with my own eyes, then I will believe. If I see a person who is hit by a truck and breaks his leg, and then someone says, “In the name of Jesus, be healed” and suddenly the leg is restored and he can immediately walk with no side effect, then I will believe”? Here is the problem with that. Jesus says, “I have done that again and again and again. These cities saw miracles upon miracles upon miracles and they still do not believe.” So, if we think we would believe just by having more information and evidence, we don’t know our hearts. There is something in our hearts that resists God.

There is a famous illustration called dead-man walking. The illustration goes like this. What if you have a friend who insists he is dead? You are very concerned about his mental health, and you are trying to convince him that he is not dead. So, you come up with an idea. You say, “I’m going to give you the three greatest books medical science has ever produced. This is what all the world believes, and all the medical science concedes these are the three best books.” You get those books, and you show him inside each book that dead men don’t bleed. Then you ask, “Have I proven to you that medical science says beyond a shadow of a doubt dead men don’t bleed?” He replies, “Yes, I get it.” You say, “Give me your hand.” So, he puts out his hand, and you cut it. His hand begins to bleed, and you say, “Are you surprised?” “Yes, I’m surprised.” “Do you see what this proves?” “Yes, I do see what this proves.” “What does this prove?” “This proves that medical science is wrong. Dead men do bleed.” This is what Jesus is showing us. In our relationship with God, we are dead men walking. It does not matter how much evidence and information we have on God, we resist him. We interpret every information and evidence on God in the light of our unbelief. Do you know what the Bible calls this? Sin. Sin is not just something we do. Sin is our natural condition. Sin is not first and foremost what we do but what we are. All of us were born with a sinful heart that resists God. The problem underneath all problems is the problem of sin. So, it doesn’t matter how much information and evidence we have before us, if the problem of our sinful heart is not taken care of, we won’t be able to repent and believe God. This leads me to my second point.

The secret of God

Matthew 11:25-27 – ²⁵ At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; ²⁶ yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. ²⁷ All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Pay attention to the logic of these verses. First, Jesus says that there is a special revelation that God hides from the wise and understanding but reveals to little children. Second, no one knows God the Father like God the Son. Jesus has special access to God. Third, God has given Jesus the authority to reveal God’s special revelation to whom he chooses. Jesus is the exclusive agent of God’s special revelation. In other words, Jesus is the only one who can give us access to God the Father. So, the way to know God is not through human wisdom and intellect. The way to know God is to come to Jesus like little children.

What does it mean? It does not mean that if we are smart, we cannot know God. That is not what Jesus is saying. What Jesus is saying is this. As long as we still rely on our own strength and intellect, we cannot know God. We can only know God if we come to him like little children. We don’t come to know God by human wisdom but by simple trust. Let me make it clear. Some people say you should not use your mind to know God. They say faith and reason are not compatible. This is not true. Little children are not dumb. Have you ever tried to reason with little children? If you do, you know they know how to think about what’s good for themselves. Let’s say one day you come home and see a big mess your child made in the living room. So, you make an offer to your child. You know your child loves to watch Pokémon. Here is the offer. “If you clean up the mess and pack up your toys, I let you watch one episode of Pokémon.” Do you know what your child will do? Your child will think. Your child will consider your offer and decide that the joy of watching Pokémon is greater than the pain of packing toys. Do you see? Your child is not dumb. Your child reasons. And your child trusts you that you would give what you said you will. And this is what Jesus is saying. What we need is a simple childlike trust. What we need is to admit our inability, swallow our pride, and come to Jesus. He is the only one who can give us God.

But here is the problem. Jesus says no one can come to God unless he reveals God to that person. Jesus is here talking about the total sovereignty of God over salvation. God is the one who hid this revelation from the wise and understanding, and God is also the one who revealed this revelation to little children. He is the one who closed hearts, he is also the one who opened hearts. The point is, if anyone can come to God and know God, it is all because of God’s work in that person’s life. I know what some of you are thinking right now. “That’s not fair. If God is the one who hides and reveals this revelation, then why does he hold people accountable for rejecting him?” I understand your concern and I do not presume to have all the answers to God’s mystery. But here is what I want you to consider. There is a difference between being fair and being just. God is not fair, but he is just.

Let me give you an example. Let’s say a teacher gives a test to the class that will determine whether they pass or fail the class. The test is hard and challenging, but it’s based on everything the students have learned throughout the semester. And everyone in the class flunks the test. So, if the teacher fails everyone in the class, that’s just and fair. Right? But let’s say the teacher takes a different approach. Because no one passes the test, he decides to let all the girls pass the test, but not the boys. The boys would complain, “You can’t do that. That’s not fair.” Here is my question. Is the teacher fair in failing the boys? No. But is the teacher just in failing the boys? Yes. Why? Because the boys get what they deserve. The girls, on the other hand, do not get what they deserve. What the girls deserve is failing the class. But instead, they receive mercy to pass the class. Can you see where I am going with this? And here is the thing about mercy. Mercy is not owed. Mercy is given according to the pleasure of the giver. Do you see? God does not owe anyone mercy. God does not owe anyone salvation. All of us were born in sin. We rebelled against God. The justice of God demands all of us to be punished and condemned for our sins. And if God decided to let all of us perish, he is just to do so. God owes us nothing but judgment. But if God chooses to reveal himself and bring us into salvation, that’s mercy. God is not fair, but he is just. No one receives less than they deserve, but God is merciful in not giving some what they deserve. That means if we have faith in Jesus today, that’s not because we are better or smarter than others. The only reason we trust Jesus is because God is merciful toward us.

The invitation of God

Matthew 11:28 – Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

What a wonderful verse. Jesus is sending an invitation to all of us. “Are you exhausted? Are you weary? Come to me.” The invitation is not to come to church. The invitation is not to believe a set of beliefs. Jesus does not say, “This is the list of things you must do to rest. Do them and you will find rest.” Jesus is not giving us a prescription. The invitation is to come to a person. When we come to Jesus, we don’t seek a prescription, we look to a person. But notice to whom this invitation is given. It is not given to some, but to all. Jesus is making this invitation to all people. In the same way, we are to give gospel invitations to all people. Yes, not everyone will come to Jesus. Yet, we are to invite everyone to come to Jesus and trust him. Even Jesus washed Judas’ feet. Jesus is inviting everyone who labour and heavy laden to come to him and he will give them rest.

But how does Jesus give rest from exhaustion? Let me ask the question differently. Why are you exhausted? Why are you weary? Let me tell you why. You are carrying an impossible burden for you to carry. What is that burden? It’s the burden of trying to prove yourself. Whether you realise it or not, you have this deep consciousness of who you should be. You know you should be honest. You know you should be unselfish. You know you should be loving. But the problem is you are not living up to those standards, and you are finding ways to prove yourself. That’s why you are weary. You are exhausted because you constantly try to prove yourself, which creates deep restlessness in your soul. And then when you go to church, instead of finding rest, people like me make you even more weary by adding more burden for you to carry. Jesus calls it heavy-laden. In this context, heavy laden refers to the burden of the law. The people of Israel are living under the heavy burden of the law put on them by the teacher of the law.

Let me give you an example: drunkenness. The Bible is clear that getting drunk is a sin. So, don’t get drunk. But what the teacher of the law did is they create laws to protect the law. So now not only drunkenness is a sin, but they also said that you should never drink alcohol. On top of that, it is best to avoid temptation so you must not use any alcohol in cooking. Every time you go to a restaurant, ensure you check all the ingredients, and that no alcohol is used in the preparation. But to be safe, if you want to be faithful to the law, you should not eat at a restaurant that serves alcohol. That limits your options to McDonald’s and KFC. Can you see what happened? And people like me do this all the time. To protect the people in the church from harm, I can easily add a heavy burden for you to carry. Not only that, but I make you feel like you are less of a Christian unless you carry that extra burden. So, instead of offering rest, I am adding shame and guilt into your life. Pastors are experts at making people feel guilty and shameful. But Jesus is different.

Instead of adding more burden to your life, Jesus offers you rest. Jesus is saying, “I know you are weary. I know you are exhausted. I know you are overloaded. Come to me and I will give you rest.” Listen. The main reason you are exhausted is you are still trying to please God on your own strength. You are still trying to measure up using your own ability. You think that if you are just able to balance all the plates in your life, if you can find that sweet spot where everything in your life runs well, you will be okay. And Jesus is saying that you will never find that sweet spot unless you first come to him. Get this. The invitation of Jesus is not to fix yourself so you can be pleasing to God. The invitation of Jesus is to come to him because you cannot fix yourself. He is the only one who can. So, stop believing that you can measure up and do enough to please God. It is a battle you cannot win. Come to him and he will give you rest. You might ask, “But how do I know that God has opened my heart to receive mercy?” It’s simple. You come to him, and you trust him. That’s how you know you have received mercy. But that is not the end. Look at what he says next.

Matthew 11:29-30 – ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Notice that Jesus does not say, “You don’t have a yoke, now take on a yoke.” He says, “Take my yoke upon you.” That means we already have one. Not many of us know what a yoke is since we lived in the city. Look at this picture. A yoke is a heavy wooden bar that fits over the neck of an ox so that it can pull a cart or a plough. The yoke can be put on one animal, or it could be shared between two animals. In a shared yoke, one of the animals will be stronger than the other and take the lead. Here is the truth about all of us. All of us are yoked to something. We are yoked to something that guides our lives. All of us are governed by something that gives our lives meaning. None of us is yoke-free. We need something to validate our existence. Whatever we live for, we are yoked to that thing. And that is the reason we are weary. Let’s say you live for your love relationship. You are yoked to that person. If that person’s love and happiness are the main thing in your life, you will be over-dependent on that person. You will continue to rely on him or her to validate your existence. And it will create emotional dependence which will eventually destroy the very thing you desire the most which is your love relationship.

Let’s say you live for your children. Parents, living for your children is one of the greatest dangers of parenting. It comes so naturally you don’t even realise it most of the time. But if you are living for your children, you are destroying your children. Either they are doing everything they can to get away from you because you are dominating their lives, or worse, maybe they are not trying to get away from you, and you are dominating their lives. What you are doing is you are living your life through them, and they never grow into independent, self-sufficient adults. And you don’t realise it because in your eyes you are simply loving them. But in fact, you are destroying them and yourself. You constantly worry about them because you must be in control. And you are exhausted because it doesn’t matter what you do, it is never enough. The same can be applied to career, finance, and anything else. We must live for something. None of us is yoke-free. And whatever we yoke ourselves to will destroy us.

And Jesus is saying, “I want you to take my yoke. I want you to live for me. I want to be your meaning in life. I want to be the reason you do everything you do. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” This is powerful. Jesus is offering us an easy yoke. Why is Jesus’ yoke easy? Is it because he demands less? No. Jesus’ yoke is easy not because he demands less but because he fulfils it for us. Jesus came to fulfil the demand of the law on our behalf. Therefore, we no longer have to perform. We no longer have to prove ourselves. Jesus has taken our place and performed for us. Now we can breathe. And not only his yoke is easy, but his burden is light. Why? Because we are yoked to him. When we are yoked to Jesus, we don’t carry the burden by ourselves. We carry the burden with Jesus. So, when we carry the burden, we are not carrying it with our strength. We are carrying the burden with the strength that Jesus has given us. That is why the burden is light. And not only Jesus helps us carry the burden, but he also teaches us how to do it. He says, “Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.” The phrase “learn from me” is where we get the word discipleship. This means there is no rest without discipleship. The path of rest is the path of learning from Jesus.

So, there are two parts to Jesus’ invitation to rest. First is to come to him and second is to take his yoke and learn from him. Here is my concern. Many of us excel at the first part of the invitation. We are weary and exhausted. We come to church carrying a 100 kg burden on our shoulders. And then we hear the gospel being preached. We are reminded of how Jesus has died for our sins, and we no longer need to perform. We might come to church with the burden of relationships, family, work etc. And we decide to give that burden to Jesus. We take that 100 kg burden off our shoulders and put it at the foot of the cross. The gospel penetrates our hearts, and we feel relieved. But then as we walk out of the church, we see that 100 kg burden that we just let go of, and here is what we do. We put that burden back on our shoulders and we go home. And we live out that week feeling extremely exhausted and burdened. And then we come to church again the week after, hear the gospel being preached, cast our burden on Jesus, and go home with the same burden on our back. We repeat this cycle week after week. No wonder we are weary. No wonder we are exhausted.

Do you know why? It’s because we cannot live without a yoke. We are always yoked to something. It is not enough for us to come to Jesus and receive his rest. The invitation of Jesus is not simply to come to him but also to take his yoke and learn from him. We need to exchange our yoke with his yoke. Listen. True rest does not come from avoiding yokes but by taking the yoke of Jesus. Do you see? If we are not yoked to Jesus, we will be yoked to other things. We will be yoked to our career, relationship, family, money etc, and we will continue to be anxious. So, if we are tired today, if we are exhausted, if we are extremely weary in our souls, it is because we are yoked to something besides Jesus. Period. It does not work. And this is the problem of consumer Christianity. If we only look to Jesus for what he can do for us, we will continue to be restless. Going to church once a week is good, but it is not enough. We have to take the yoke of Jesus. True rest is only given to those who are learning from Jesus.

Let me put it this way. Many of us think of Christianity as an elevator. What do we do? We get into an elevator, we press a button that takes us to heaven, and we let the elevator do all the work. It is easy. But that is not Christianity. The invitation of Jesus is not for us to take the elevator to heaven, but for us to walk up the stairs with him. Taking the stairs takes effort. It requires energy. It requires strength. It requires time. But the good news is we do not walk up the stairs on our own. Jesus is walking up the stairs with us. He shows us the steps we need to take. He teaches us what we need to know. And not only that, but he also supplies the strength for us to do it. We think we are the ones taking the step, but it is actually Jesus in us who empowers us to take every step. So now, in our struggle with sin, we struggle with the power of Jesus in us. We battle temptation with the love of Jesus for us. We endure suffering with the hope of Jesus in us. We do everything in the strength that Jesus provides. That is why the yoke of Jesus is easy and his burden is light. If we feel like following Jesus is very heavy, maybe we are still trying to do it in our own strength.

But here is the question. How can we trust Jesus to lead us? How do we know that his yoke is good for us? Here is how. Jesus says, “I am gentle and lowly in heart.” In the Bible, the heart is not speaking simply about what we feel or our emotions. The heart is the central reason behind all that we do. It is what gets us out of bed in the morning and what we think about before we sleep. The heart is the centre of who we are, the source of our motivation. When Jesus tells us what drives him most deeply, what motivates all he does, he says he is gentle and lowly. Here is what Dane Ortlund writes in his excellent book. “He (Jesus) is the most understanding person in the universe. The posture most natural to him is not a pointed finger of accusation but open arms of embrace… The minimum bar to be welcomed into the embrace of Jesus is simply: open yourself up to him. It is all he needs. In fact, it is the only thing he works with.” That’s Jesus’ heart for us. Think about it. Jesus is the only master who does not owe us anything yet gives us everything. Jesus is a different master from all the masters in this world. All other masters say, “Perform for me and I will bless you.” Jesus is the only master who says, “I have performed for you so now you can live in my blessing.” Do you know what we should have received because of our sins? Judgment. Restlessness. That’s what we deserve. But how can Jesus offer us rest when what we deserve is restlessness? How can God still be just and show mercy to us who deserve judgment? There is only one way. The judge of the universe must be judged for you and me. The rest-giver must experience cosmic restlessness on our behalf. That’s what happened to Jesus at the cross.

The night before the crucifixion, Jesus was restless. He prayed three times for God to take the cup away from him. He was anxious to the point that he sweat blood. And at the cross, Jesus carried the burden of all our sins on his own. Every sin deserves punishment and because God is just, every sin must be paid for. And Jesus paid the full price for our sins. Jesus experienced cosmic restlessness at the cross so that when we put our faith in him, we can receive his rest as a gift. God forgives us not because he is soft on sin. God hates sin but God is just, and he cannot demand two payments for the same sin. To do so would be unjust. God is just to forgive our sins because Jesus has paid the demand of God’s justice. The justice of God is satisfied, and rest is offered to us. And when we take his rest, we no longer have to prove ourselves. A great burden falls off our shoulders. We no longer need to prove ourselves to God, our parents, our spouse, our boss, or anyone else. The cross tells us we are already accepted in God’s sight because of Jesus. We can breathe. Do you see? Until we understand the justice of God, we won’t get the rest from God. But when we see we deserve judgment from God and realise that we have been forgiven in Jesus, that’s rest. Our rest comes from knowing that Jesus has paid it all, and now we are found in Jesus’s perfect righteousness. And we spend the rest of our lives learning and applying what Jesus has done in every area of life. That’s how we find rest for our souls. Let’s pray.

Discussion questions:

1. What struck you the most from the sermon?
2. Explain the primary reason people refuse to repent and trust Jesus. What does it say about the human heart?
3. “God is not fair but he is just.” Why is this truth both beautiful and hard to take?
4. Why do you think you often fail to receive the rest Jesus offers?
5. How does the gospel give you true rest?