Exposition of the Gospel of Matthew – Matthew 11:25-27

Written by Jimmie Burroughs

(The sovereignty of God and the free will of man)

Questions to be answered in this study

(Answers to question will be underlined in the narrative.)

1. What is sovereignty?
2. Does God control everything?
3. What is fatalism?
4. What does free will mean?
5. Are there things God cannot do?
6. Why did God hide the truth from the wise while letting the babes see it, babes meaning those not included among the wise elite?  
7. Why did Jesus praise God for withholding the truth when it meant Israel’s rejection of Him as the Messiah?
8. There is only one way we can ever know the truth. What is it?
9. What is our highest reason for praising God?
10. We know that salvation comes by grace through faith, but what one important thing is also involved?
11. What are the two important things God and Jesus cooperate to bring about, found in today’s study?
12. What are the Biblical bases for salvation?
13. Why does the majority of the world rejects Jesus?
14. What is God’s plan for His children according to Scripture?
15. What are your plans for your future?
16. What is the providence of God?

Introduction

Today, our study centers on the Sovereignty of God; the word sovereign means to be in control. God, according to scripture, is sovereign therefore is in control. The word sovereign does not appear in the transcripts from which the king James Bible was translated, but the principle is there; in order to rightly discern sovereignty, it requires a right application.

When things are seemingly out of control, some say “God is in Control, and  He is still on the throne;” the thinking is that it honors God to believe He is in absolute moment by moment in control over everything.  Maybe shifting all responsibility to God for everything relieves us of any of the responsibility for the choices we make, but that is not in God’s plan and has nothing to do with His sovereignty. God does control what He wills to do, but we also are held responsible for the choices we make and bear the consequences of those choices.

Satan’s choice to rebel against God was not according to God’s sovereignty nor is all the evil in the world today.  God does not control everything, but He is in control of His own will and will bring His plans to pass. We need to say what we mean when we say God is in complete control. I want God to be in complete control of my life, but that does not mean He always is. I may, by my own will and choice, do things contrary to His will, which He does not control, or cause me to do but only allows because He has given me the freedom of choice.

Free will is God allowing people the will to choose, and to choose has consequences. For example, if a person chooses to reject Jesus, the consequences is eternal separation from God in hell.

Sovereignty is not the same as fatalism where everything is preplanned by God and is under His control. If that were the case, all the evil in the world would be part of God’s plan which is not so because there is no evil in God only righteousness.

There are some things God cannot do. He cannot do evil or cause evil things. He cannot lie. He cannot force His people to receive His gift of eternal life. These are just a few of the things God cannot do, since they are against His nature.

There are many verses in the Bible that supports the sovereignty of God, among them is Isaiah 46:9-11: “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’ … What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do.” (NIV)

Now let us look at the first verse of today’s Bible Study:

Matthew 11:25, “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.”

Though sovereignty is not mention in this verse by name, it is the underlying message. We see the providence of God at work. He hid certain things from those wise Pharisees and Rabis who were leading Israel astray, concerning Jesus being the true Messiah. So, the question is, why did Jesus praise God for withholding teachings from the wise and giving it to the unlearned? When we see the attitude of these wise, we understand why God did what He did. In 1 Timothy 6:4, we see a good description on these wise, “He is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions.”

This verse makes it a little easier to understand why God would withhold knowledge from them, and why Jesus applauded the Father for doing it. Probably the things withheld from the wise were the understanding of the teachings of Jesus concerning his Messiahship. Why would God not want them to understand something so important? There is a good reason: They were already determined to believe what they wanted to believe and therefore were unworthy of knowing the truth and would not accept it if they were given it.

Why did Jesus praise God for withholding the truth from those wise know it all scribes and Pharisees? Actually, Jesus was praising God for the babes, (Children) the unlearned, who did receive the truth and believe. Children have the tendency to be more open to learning than do adults who think they already know everything. Jesus trusted the Heavenly Father to do that perfect thing; So, when He approved the paradigm for believing, Jesus gave thanks, for it was the model for which the unlearned (the babes or children, actually, not part of the wise elite) would accept Him as their Messiah and trust in Him.

Matthew 11:26, “Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (KJV). Or another way of saying it, “Yes, Father, for [because] this is what you were pleased to do” (NIV).

God had given the model by which the words of Jesus could best prosper, that required no divine intelligence but only on the level the unlearned and simple could understand. It is also to be understood that only through the assistance of almighty God can anyone know the truth. This truth is brought forth in 1 Cor 1:21 (NIV), “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.”

God was focusing on the wise in their own conceit; He refused His wisdom to those whose hearts were hard who had no heart for believing the truth. Jesus said in John 9:39 (NIV) “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” God is not pleased with the hard hearted who have no desire for the true knowledge of God. God gives knowledge to the meek, as we see in Psalm 18:28, “For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.”

In Matthew 23:13 Jesus pronounces judgment on the scribes and Pharisees for misleading the people: “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.”

Although the false teachers were hindering some, Jesus is praising God because some are enlightened with the truth, which is clarified in Luke 10:20-21, “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. 21In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, LORD of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.”

In the above passage, the logic of Jesus is rejoicing in Holy Spirit that the Father opened “those things” to the unlearned children while with holding it from the “wise.” It is time to rejoice when we see God opens the door to those who are ready to receive the truth. Our highest reason for rejoicing and praising God is, “that our names are written in Heaven.” It is also praise worthy to know that our names being written in Heaven does not depend on any other thing other than trust in Christ, not works or miracle-working, but only on a humble heart. God desires a humble heart even over sacrifice, Matt 9:13. “God will despise and not recognize a puffed-up miracle-worker, who lacks humility,” Matt 7:22-23.

Even the miracles Jesus performed were not enough for the wise elite to accept Jesus as the Messiah. Had they believed it would have been out of their own wisdom and not by the grace of God. The way for salvation is, “For by grace through faith are ye saved and that not of yourselves…” Ephesians 2:8. Israel had witnessed the miracles, but they were not enough to cause them to understand and acknowledge Him as the Messiah, Matt 11:20-24. However, that was not all of Israel; Jesus rejoices for those the Father had enlightened to come to Him, the babes mentioned in the text. After this Jesus affirms His own divinity in verse 27.

Matthew 11:27, “All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.”

Those who refused to accept Jesus as Messiah and savior, did not understand the Father’s universal calling as we today who are well aware of it in John 3:16. We know that salvation comes by grace through faith, but what one important thing is also involved? The only way we can ever know the truth is through the revelation of Jesus, which only comes through the Holy Spirit when He issues an invitation to receive Jesus as savior.

Jesus bears this truth out to Simon Peter: “And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” Only God knows Jesus in His fullness and is known by Him. Just as Jesus rejoiced for Peter, and said his knowledge was not by “Flesh and blood” but was revealed to him by the Father, so it is with all who have accepted Jesus as their savior. They are invited and enlightened by the Holy Spirit. Jesus knows the Father as no one else could and He teaches us concerning Him as we read the Word of God.

The Father and the Son work together to achieve two things: Without the power of the Father, Jesus could not perform the miracles; without out the Son God could not offer salvation. John 3:16. It is only when God chooses to reveal it, can anyone ever know God or His spiritual realm. It involves more to have a relationship with God than is revealed in the song “I have decided to follow Jesus.” While the choice is ours to make, it is impossible to make it without the invitation and enlightenment of God’s Holy Spirit. A Biblical way of saying it would be, “I have decided to accept God’s invitation of salvation.”

What is the Biblical basis for salvation? Unless God grants us divine enlightenment, we will be forever ignorant of spiritual truth. His call and enlightenment are necessary before there can be any salvation. Notice Paul quoting from Moses in Deuteronomy, when he says that no one comes to know God by wisdom or by his own self effort, as he explained in Romans 11:7-8, 7, “What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. 8(According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.”

Paul points out that it is the Lord who is in charge of determining who will have ears to hear the truth in Israel or anywhere else. Paul makes this clear in 1 Corinthians 1:24-29 how God operates, “But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 25Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29That no flesh should glory in his presence.”

God chooses His own children, and since we don’t know the mind of God, it is a mystery to us what He uses in particular to make that choice. I choose to believe that God recognized His own in eternity past and it could be based on any number of things but primarily on His omniscience. At the same time we need to realize that there is no record in the Bible of God electing the lost to be lost. He clearly says He would that all be saved: 1 Timothy 2:4 “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”

You wonder why the majority of the world rejects Jesus? Paul tells us in 1Cor. 2:12-14: “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 14But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”

God’s purpose in our lives is to offer us eternal life, not through anything we do but by His grace, and then upon our acceptance, give us a life of meaning and purpose. Someone has estimated that 80% of meaning and purpose comes from our relationship with God through Jesus, His Son. That means anyone who doesn’t have a relationship with God, is missing out on the majority of what God would like to plan for them in their life.

Listen to God’s plans for you: “For I know the plans I have for you” – this is the LORD’s declaration – “Plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future of hope,” Jeremiah 29:11. What are your plans for your future? Are you relying only on your own feeble plans, or are you committed to God, depending on His providence?  (Providence: the protective care of God and His divine intervention to bring forth His plans for the future of those committed to Him)? In simple terms it means essentially foresight or making provision beforehand.