Matthew 11:1
Outline:
I. \\#Matt 1:1-3:17\\ The Presentation of the King
II. \\#4:1-7:29\\ The Person of the King
III. \\#8:1-11:1\\ The Power of the King
A. \\#Matt 8:1-39\\ Jesus’ Power and the Common People
1. \\#8;1\\ The Multitudes
2. \\#8:2-4\\ The Willingness of Jesus
3. \\#8:5-13\\ The Conduit of Jesus’ Power
4. \\#8:14-15\\ The Compassion of Jesus
5. \\#8:16\\ The Power of Jesus over Disease
6. \\#8:17\\ The Cost of the Power
7. \\#8:18-22\\ The Sacrifice of Jesus and His disciples
8. \\#8:23-27\\ The Power of Jesus over Nature
9. \\#8:28-34\\ The Power of Jesus over Demons
B. \\#Matt 9:1-42\\ Jesus’ Power and the Religious People
1. \\#9:1-17\\ The Religious Wondered (They had
questions.)
a. \\#9:1-8\\ Did Jesus blaspheme? Can He forgive
sins?
b. \\#9:9\\ Jesus continued to minister, calling His
disciples?
b. \\#9:10-13\\ Did Jesus defile Himself with sinners?
c. \\#9:14-17\\ Did Jesus ignore the Law?
2. \\#9:18-26\\ Jesus continued to minister, His Power
over Dire
Sickness and Death.
3. \\#9:27-31\\ Jesus’ Power over Blindness
4. \\#9:32-34\\ The Religious Are Deciding
5. \\#9:35-38\\ Jesus continued to minister, making
shepherds out of the sheep.
C. \\#Matt 10:1-42\\ Jesus’ Power and the Disciples
1. \\#10:1-4\\ Jesus Calls and Empowers the Disciples
2. \\#10:5-15\\ Jesus Charges the Disciples
a. \\#5-6\\ Where to Go
b. \\#7\\ What to Preach
c. \\#7-8\\ What to Do
d. \\#8-10\\ How to Pay
e. \\#11-13\\ Where to Stay
3. \\10:16-42\\ Jesus Warns the Disciples
a. \\#16\\ The Condition
b. \\#17-22\\ What to Expect
c. \\#23-31\\ How to Respond
d. \\#32-33\\ God’s Most Solemn Warning
e. \\#34-38\\ God’s Requires All
f. \\#39\\ The rewards concerning discipleship
g. \\#40-42\\ The rewards for those who serve.
4. \\#11:1\\ Jesus continues to minister.
IV. \\#Matthew 11:2-14:13\\ Decisions Concerning the King
A. \\#Matt 11:2-15\\ A Decision by the Forerunner
B. \\#Matt 11:16-19\\ A Decision by the Masses
C. \\#Matt 11:20-24\\ A Decision by the Cities
D. \\#Matt 11:25-30\\ Jesus Encourages The Wise Decision
I. \\#Matthew 11:2-16:21\\ Decisions Concerning the King - In this
section, Jesus continues to minister as one by one, those around
Him make up their minds as to what they will believe about Him
and do with Him. While not all of these decisions are final,
they mostly point to what the final decision will be—the
rejection of Jesus as King.
A. \\#11:2-15\\ A Decision by the Forerunner
1. \\#2\\ The Forerunner - Even John the Baptist was having
some doubt and had to re-think his decision.
2. The background
a. \\#Matt 4:12\\ John had been arrested and was being
kept in prison by Herod.
b. While we do not know how long John has been in prison,
it is likely into the second or maybe the third year.
c. \\#Matt 14:1-12\\ John will ultimately die in prison.
d. Under such conditions, John began to wonder if
Jesus was indeed the Promised One.
3. \\#2-3\\ The Question
a. "Art thou he… or look we for another?"
b. John’s question makes it clear that he was
experiencing some doubt as to whether Jesus was the
Messiah or not.
c. Extreme circumstances can produce extreme spiritual
conditions.
4. \\#4-6\\ The Answer
a. There was no rebuke.
(1) John was suffering from confusion more than from
lack of faith.
(2) John had likely thought that Jesus would use His
power to vindicate John and to establish His
kingdom.
(3) Now, several years into Jesus’ ministry, that had
not occurred.
(4) John was confused.
b. Rather, there was a demonstration of power.
Lu 7:21 And in that same hour he cured many of their
infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many
that were blind he gave sight.
(1) That very moment, Jesus began to demonstrate His
power to those two disciples.
(2) The power of Jesus was one of the most obvious
proofs as to who Jesus was.
c. \\#6\\ "blessed is he, whosoever shall not be
offended in me."
(1) These words seem to be directed to John as well.
(2) To be offended means to stumble, to be enticed
to sin.
(3) It would seem that Jesus was encouraging not to
fail in this last bend of his race.
(4) Everyone needs to be encouraged to stay faithful
and reminded of the high stakes involved.
5. \\#7-15\\ Praise for John
a. \\#7\\ "Jesus began to say… concerning John" - Any
human that God would praise would be a spiritual
giant among mankind.
b. \\#8\\ "What went ye out for to see?" - The Lord asks
the questions and then gives some possible answers.
(1) "a reed shaken with the wind?"
(a) Such a reed would be unstable.
(b) If this was the way Jesus described John.
it would imply that Jesus saw something
unstable in John.
(c) From reading the remainder of Jesus’ words,
one can clearly see this is not what Jesus
thought of John.
(d) While John may have been experiencing some
doubts, Jesus knew John would be faithful.
(2) "A man clothed in soft raiment?"
(a) Soft here means delicate or tender,
clothing that would be easily torn.
(b) Jesus clarifies that those who wear such
clothing sit in "king’s houses"; that is,
they have others to perform their work for
them.
(c) If this was the way Jesus described John,
it would imply that John was afraid of the
hard or the difficult.
(d) Again, the remainder of Jesus’ words make it
clear that this is not what Jesus thought
of John the Baptist.
(3) \\#9, 14\\ "A prophet?"
(a) "yea" - This is the closest to a correct
description of John so far, but he was
"more than a prophet."
(b) \\#10\\ John was the prophesized prophet.
i. Jesus quotes from:
Mal 3:1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall
prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek,
shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall
come, saith the LORD of hosts.
ii. Jesus was describing John as His fore-
runner, the one who was to prepare
the way for His coming.
iii. Jesus then refers to John as "Elias"
or Elijah, that is to say that John
was the fulfillment of the prophecy
made in Malachi 4:5-6.
Mal 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before
the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the
children, and the heart of the children to their fathers,
lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
iv. See also:
Isaiah 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill
shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough places plain:
(c) \\#11\\ John was the greatest "born of
women"
i. Jesus was describing John as being the
greatest man ever to be born of the
human race.
ii. Let there be no question as to the
importance God places on one
performing faithfully his divine
purpose—for that is what John did.
c. Some other thoughts:
(1) \\#15\\ "He that hath ears to hear, let him
hear."
(a) This is a phrase used to say that many do
not have their ears open to spiritual
truths.
(b) To have spiritual ears and eyes, one must
be possess of the Holy Spirit. That is
just as true today as then.
(c) \\#13-14\\ In that area, two important
spiritual truths are mentioned:
i. \\#13\\ Something stops with John the
Baptist.
aa. Jesus says all the Law and the
prophets were to John, making him
the last.
bb. I take it that John was the last
of the prophets to prophesy of
Messiah’s coming.
cc. The reason being, Messiah was
THERE!
ii. \\#14\\ "this is Elias."
aa. That is, John is the prophesied
Elijah of \\#Mal 4:5\\.
bb. That prophesy says Elijah is to
come before the day of God’s
judgment and turn the hearts of
the fathers back to their
children.
cc. John the Baptist was Israel’s
opportunity to repent.
dd. They rejected him.
(2) \\#11\\ "notwithstanding he that is least in
the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."
(a) As great as John the Baptist was for his
faithfulness to God, all that enter into
the kingdom of heaven will be greater.
(b) This is a difficult passage to understand.
Assuming that John entered into the kingdom
of heaven like the rest of the saints, how
can he be called greater than all others
and then all others who enter in be called
greater than he?
(c) Some explain this by saying that John was
not a part of the kingdom of heaven, but of
the Old Testament dispensation.
i. In essence, they are saying that the
kingdom of heaven is different from
the Old Testament.
ii. John was part of the Old Testament
dispensation for he died before the
cross).
iii. However, it is hard to prove that the
term "kingdom of heaven" relates
exclusively to the New Testament
church age.
(d) While I cannot prove it, my thought is that
Jesus was stating that those who are saved
in the New Testament church age are going
to enjoy greater blessings than those who
were a part of the Old Testament
dispensation of the law.
(e) I think this greatness has less to do with
the quality of the person and more to do
with the quality of God’s blessings.
(3) \\#12\\ "from the days of John the Baptist until
now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence"
(a) Jesus states that the intensity of the
spiritual warfare had increased since John
began his ministry.
(b) The "violence" that Jesus referred to was
not physical for so far, even the scribes
and Pharisees’ response to John and Jesus
had been tame.
(c) The violence was spiritual. Satan and his
demons were doing all that they could, both
in the spiritual realm and to influence
the actions of mankind, to turn against
Jesus.
(d) "and the violent take it by force" - Jesus
told them that in the end, those powers
behind the violence, would by force,
accomplish their purpose.
B. \\#Matt 11:16-19\\ A Decision by the Masses
1. \\#16\\ "whereunto shall I liken this generation?" - While
talking about John the Baptist and his ministry, Jesus
speaks of how the people had responded to both John’s and
Jesus’ ministry so far.
2. What was the people’s response?
a. In short, they had not followed.
(1) Jesus’ states that John and He had been "calling
unto their fellows," but they were not
answering the call.
(2) Even though crowds had followed them both, most
in those crowds were not true converts. That
will be evidenced at the cross. Most were
following for curiosity and convenience sake.
b. More directly, some were not content with either
John’s austerity of Jesus’ liberalness.
(1) \\#17\\ To them, John’s messages was "we have
mourned unto you and you have not lamented."
(a) John came preaching repentance, i.e. turn
from eating this and drinking that \\#18\\.
(b) The people dismissed John saying that he
had "a devil," that John saw evil
everywhere.
(2) \\#17\\ To them, Jesus’ message was "we have
piped unto you, and ye have not danced."
(a) \\#19\\ Jesus did "eat and drink."
(b) He was even friends with "publicans and
sinners."
(c) They dismissed Jesus as "gluttonous and a
winebibber," that is, as one who enjoyed
the excesses of life.
3. In the end, "that generation" rejected John and Jesus.
That was their decision.
C. \\#Matt 11:20-24\\ A Decision by the Cities
1. \\#20\\ Jesus pronounces woes on three cities because even
though "most of his mighty works were done" in them,
"they repented not."
a. The cities were Chorazin \\#21\\, Bethsaida \\#21\\,
and Capernaum \\#23\\.
b. All three of the cites were on the northern edge of
the Sea of Galilee.
c. Although Matthew had not recorded events in Chorazin
and Bethsaida, it is obvious that Jesus had spend
a considerable amount of time in both.
2. Jesus compares the judgment facing these cites to the
judgments facing three others.
a. \\#21-22\\ Chorazin and Bethsaida verses Tyre and
Sidon
(1) Tyre and Sidon were located reasonably close
together and were similar in make up so were
often considered as one in the Bible.
(2) These were costal cities known for their trade
and merchandise.
(3) Both had friendly relations with Israel in the
Old Testament and were brought under the Greek
and Roman empires.
(4) Still, they were both Gentile cities and
considered heathens by the Jews.
(5) \\#21\\ Yet, had they seen the miracles which
Chorazin and Bethsaida had seen, "they would
have repented long ago."
(6) \\#22\\ Tyre and Sidon shall receive a more
favorable judgment than these cities of Israel.
Luke 12:48 …. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him
shall be much required…
b. \\#23-24\\ Capernaum verses Sodom
(1) Sodom was that ancient city known for its
homosexual sins \\#Ge 13:13\\.
(2) Capernaum was Jesus’ headquarter city.
(a) Matthew calls it Jesus’ "own city"
\\#Matt 9:1\\ and recorded many of the
miracles Jesus did there.
(b) Capernaum was an important and busy city in
Jesus’ day, serving as a military post for
the Roman army and standing along the busy
international trade route called the Via
Maris (Way of the Sea).
http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2071
(3) \\#20\\ Yet, Capernaum "repented not."
(4) \\#23\\ Jesus said that if the works done in
Capernaum had been done in Sodom, "it would have
remained until this day."
(5) Because of Capernuam’s hard heart, that city
"shall be brought down to hell."
(a) For centuries, Capernaum was a destroyed
city, due in part that part of the world
being a war-torn region and to earthquakes,
especially ones in 363 and 749 AD.
http://urantiabook.org/archive/graphics/palestine-seismic-events.htm
(b) Today the city is nothing more than an
excavated tourist attraction.
(6) \\#24\\ It will be more tolerable for the land
of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for"
Capernaum.
(7) There is no sin more grievous to God than the
rejection of His Son.
D. \\#Matt 11:25-30\\ Jesus Encourages The Wise Decision
1. \\#25-27\\ The Father Has Made Some Decisions
a. \\#25\\ "I thank thee, O Father" - In thinking
about those who had made wrong decisions, Jesus
prayed to the Father.
b. The Father Decided to:
(1) \\#25\\ To Hide from Some and to Reveal to Others
(a) "thou hast hid these things from the wise
and prudent"
i. God had hidden the truth from those who
deemed themselves to be "wise and
prudent."
ii. This is in accordance with a principal
that Jesus gave, i.e. those who exalt
themselves shall be abased.
\\#Matt 23:12, Luke 14:11. 18:14\\
(b) "and has revealed them unto babes" — And,
according to the same principal, God had
revealed truth to those who were childlike
(c) \\#26\\ "for so it seemed good in thy sight"
This is God’s sovereign decision.
(2) \\#27\\ "All things are delivered unto me of my
Father"
(a) The Father had decided that all things are
the Son’s.
(b) Jesus’ statement reveals that the Godhead
had placed everything on Jesus and His
atoning work.
(c) It was God’s decision to exalt the Son
while He was on earth. I say this because
the Son did not need the Father to exalt
Him before He came to earth.
(d) "all things"
i. All things means everything.
ii. While Jesus’ work on the cross began
as a work to determine man’s destiny,
once the Godhead committed to that
work, God’s destiny became tied to
man’s.
iii. If Jesus failed to redeem mankind, God
would also fail to keep His word.
iv. Hence, "all things" literally means
all things.
aa. Things both in heaven and earth.
bb. Things now, from the beginning,
and forever.
cc. All things and every thing was
committed to Jesus.
(3) \\#27\\ "…no man knoweth…save… whomsoever
the Son will reveal"
(a) Another of the Father’s decisions.
(b) No one can know the Son or the Father,
except it is revealed to them.
(c) God has decided that the only way to
comprehend the Godhead is through the
spirit. The human mind and reasoning alone
will never find God.
(d) Adding this decision with the first and we
can conclude that to understand who the
Father and the Son are, one must be humble.
2. \\#28-30\\ Jesus Invites All to Come
a. \\#28\\ An Invitation Given
(1) "Come unto me" - Even though the Son can only be
understood through the spirit, one need only
accept God’s invitation in humility to know Him.
Just COME.
(2) Especially invited are those who "labor" and are
"heavy ladened."
(a) Those who have a heavy burden, or rather,
those who realize they have a heavy burden,
are invited to come.
(b) Here is where the humility comes in. Those
who think they are in good shape, will
never realize their need.
(3) "I will give you rest" - If you realize you need
help, Jesus says come and receive it. You can
have rest from your spiritual toil, your guilt,
and even from the circumstances that of your
wretched life.
b. \\#29\\ An Offer Made
(1) "Take my yoke upon you" - A yoke is a harness
which goes around the neck and shoulders of
animals to allow them to pull heavy loads.
(a) Jesus is asking us to yoke up with Him, so
He is asking us to join in a double yoke.
(b) In this type of yoke, the work is shared by
two.
(2) \\#30\\ There is an exception.
"my yoke is easy, and my burden light."
(a) However, in this case, Jesus is not asking
us to share His load. He is offering to
share in our load.
(b) No load is ever added to the one who comes
to Jesus. His load is only lightened.
(3) \\#29\\ There is a condition.
"learn of me"
(a) Both taking the yoke of Jesus and living
in it are things that must be learned.
(b) Jesus is willing but our pride and
blindness is great.
(c) "for I am meek and lowly in heart" - Jesus
models for us the character of humility.
(d) If we will be humble and wise, we can find
that help which every human soul inwardly
craves.
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