When Faith Is Hard and the Burden Is Heavy

If you have Bible, and I hope you do, turn with me to Matthew 11. Have you ever had doubts about God? About the gospel? About whether or not all of this is real? I got an email the other day from an old friend of mine that I respect greatly and have for years. He is going through a challenging time, and he wrote to me, “David, faith is harder to come by than ever before.” I wonder if you sometimes feel like that.

Alister McGrath said “doubt is natural within faith. It comes because of our human weakness and frailty.” Then he contrasts doubt with unbelief. McGrath says, “Unbelief is the decision to live your life as if there is no God. It is a deliberate decision to reject Jesus Christ and all that he stands for. But doubt is something quite different. Doubt arises within the context of faith. It is a wistful longing to be sure of the things in which we trust.” Likewise, John MacArthur observed: It’s interesting that “when the New Testament talks about doubt, whether you’re talking about the gospels or the epistles, it primarily focuses on believers. That’s very important. It’s as if you have to believe something before you can doubt it; you have to be committed to it before you begin to question it. So doubt is held up as the unique problem of the believer.” Even Charles Spurgeon, one of my favorite preachers/pastors in history, said, “Some of us who have preached the Word for years, and have been the means of working faith in others and of establishing them in the knowledge of the fundamental doctrines of the Bible, have nevertheless been the subjects of the most fearful and violent doubts as to the truth of the very gospel we have preached.” The reality is that even for those who seem to be the most faithful, faith is sometimes hard, particularly when the burdens of life feel heavy.

But the good news is that even in our doubts, the God whom we seek to be sure of is certain to meet us where we are in order to assure of His faithfulness. In the words of J.C. Ryle, “Doubting does not prove that a man has no faith, but only that his faith is small. And even when our faith is small, the Lord is ready to help us.” So to any brothers or sisters this morning for whom faith is hard and the burdens of life feel heavy, I want to encourage you.

I want to show you the greatest prophet, the man whom Jesus called the greatest man ever born before Him. I want to show you this man of faith struggling with doubt. And at the same time, I want to show you masses of people weighted down with the burdens of this world. In the middle of it all, I want to show you Jesus, who is worthy of your faith and worthy of your trust and worthy of your worship.

Matthew 11 Illustrates Four Portraits of Jesus …

I want to show you four portraits of Jesus in Matthew 11. And in the end, in one of the most beautiful passages in all of Matthew, I want to show you Jesus’ invitation for you to find rest in Him when faith is hard and burdens are heavy. Oh, I want you to see Him this morning. Four portraits of Jesus, and we’ll take them one at a time as we walk through this passage.

He is the promised Messiah.

First, see Jesus as the promised Messiah. Let’s read Matthew 11:1 through 6.

When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities. Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

Now this is an interesting passage. John the Baptist had been thrown into prison, which we heard about in Matthew 4, and we will find out why in Matthew 14. But by this time, he’d likely been in prison for a while. And he was perplexed. What is going on, and what is Jesus doing?

So he sends some of his disciples, whom he was obviously in touch with, to ask Jesus a question. And this is where I want you to see the honest doubts of John. John doubts Jesus. He is struggling when it comes to faith in Jesus. He is hearing about the deeds of the Christ, Matthew tells us in verse 2. And we remember that “Christ” is not Jesus’ last name; it’s the title that signifies Jesus’ coming as the promised Messiah. So this is an honest question from a guy struggling with faith. He says, in effect, “I’ve believed that you are the Messiah, but I’m starting to wonder, ‘Are you really the one, or is there someone coming after you?’”

This begs the question: What is causing John to even doubt Jesus at this point? And this is where I want you to see the anatomy of doubt. Because I think we often find ourselves doubting for similar reasons. See what’s behind doubt. There are three things, in particular. One, difficult situations. Here was John, a prophet in the wilderness who had proclaimed God’s Word with boldness, preparing the way for the Messiah, pointing people to Him. But now, as a result, he was experiencing shame, hunger, physical torment, emotional struggle, sitting there alone in prison. You can’t help but to think of Elijah, tired and running from Jezebel in 1 Kings 19, just ready to give up.

And accompanying difficult situations were unmet expectations. After all, this is the Messiah of whom it was prophesied, “He will proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” On a broader level, it was becoming clear by this point that Jesus was not meeting many of the expectations that many Jewish people had for the Messiah. John had prophesied, “Judgment is coming with the Christ,” but the Roman system was still in place. And John was in jail because of it! Roman authority still reigned, sin was still rampant, political and religious corruption still ruled — everything seemed like it was the same it had been the same for generations. And John is thinking, “Isn’t the Messiah the one who is going to deliver us from all of this?” Instead, He’s spending time with irreligious sinners, teaching them about forgiveness, and he’s not fasting.

Difficult situations, unmet expectations, and in the midst of it all, limited perception. John simply didn’t understand everything that was happening (or not happening) around him, so he sends these disciples with this question. And the reality is, much of our questions, much of our doubts, often spring from these same thing. It’s often in the midst of challenging circumstances, difficult circumstances, when faith is hardest to come by, especially when we have been walking with the Lord, faithfully serving and worshiping Him, and tragedy hits. Or maybe multiple tragedies. Or maybe even just varying trials. And you start to think, “God, where are you? Why is this happening? I don’t understand. I’m trying to serve you, and this seems to be keeping me from serving you.” Difficult situations and unmet expectations. “God, I thought (or even, I know) you are good, yet I find myself immersed in what seems so bad. Why won’t this struggle end?”

Now oftentimes, it is a result of sin in our lives or in the lives of others around us, and we will get to that in a moment. But staying at the level of difficult situations and unmet expectations, we know that we always have limited perception, just as John the Baptist had no idea how this story of Jesus the Messiah was going to play out. He had no idea all that God was doing to usher in a totally different type of kingdom that was more than just a political regime change; God was ushering in redemption of the entire world. But John didn’t know that, and his perspective was small. And we must remember, whenever we go through trials, through difficult situations with unmet expectations, and questions begin to rise up within us, “Is God real? Is God great? Is God good?”, we need to remember that our perspective is always limited, and we have no idea what God is doing.

And so, the answer to doubt in this text and in our lives seems to be twofold. How do you confront doubt in you life? First and foremost, you do this with biblical revelation. Jesus answered them: “Go and tell John what you hear and see…,” and then He uses phrases taken from Isaiah 35 and Isaiah 61 and allusions to numerous other prophecies of the Messiah to show that He is indeed the promised One. The blind receive their sight. By the way, all throughout the Old Testament, there is never someone who is blind who receives sight, nor is there any story after this, apart from Saul’s conversion, when Jesus’ followers take a blind man and restore his sight. Yet it was promised in Isaiah 35:5, “The eyes of the blind shall be opened.”

And interestingly, the passages that Jesus is alluding to here from Isaiah 35 and Isaiah 61 and others all refer not only to healing, but to the judgment that the Messiah will bring. It’s as if Jesus is saying to John, “See evidence of the in-breaking kingdom in these works, and trust that I am going to bring full and final judgment,” which we’ll actually see later in this passage. So the first antidote to doubt is biblical revelation, the Word of God. God will be true to His Word always. And to fight doubt without a foundation here in the Word is futile.

I was talking with someone this last week going through an extremely difficult, trying time, and they said to me, “Apart from the Word of God, I would be lost.” And it’s true. His Word is a rock that doesn’t’ make everything easy, but it does keep you feet out of sinking sand amidst difficult situations and unmet expectations.

So fight doubt with biblical revelation and with joyful submission. After alluding to these verses in the Old Testament, Jesus ends this section by saying, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me,” or some translations say, “who does not stumble over me”. Basically, “the one who trusts in me.” “Amidst difficult situations and unmet expectations, even when it’s not easy and seems contrary to reason and everything you think about the way it should be, based upon biblical revelation, trust in me,” Jesus says. “And you will be blessed. That’s a promise. Blessed is the one who trusts in me.”

Now as John’s disciples leave to take that message back to Him, Jesus begins to talk about John, and listen to what He says.

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”

Some may wonder, based on the first part of this chapter, if tension was developing between John the Baptist and Jesus. But Jesus takes this opportunity to defend—and affirm—John for who he is and what he has done. Jesus defends John. To cut to the chase, Jesus tells the crowds that John was the greatest prophet. Not even just the greatest prophet, but the greatest person born of woman, i.e., ever born. That is quite a statement.

Amidst Old Testament giants like Abraham, Moses, Elijah, King David, Jesus says, “None of them greater than John.”

Now what does that mean? Well, this statement had everything to do, not just with John’s person, but with his position in redemptive history. He was a prophet, a position of highest honor to be a spokesman for God, but he was not just any prophet. He was the prophet whom God had promised in earlier prophecies who would come and announce the Messiah.

So many prophets had come before him: Elijah and Isaiah and Jeremiah and a host of others. But none of these holy men of God had the distinct privilege of announcing the King when He came. John was the climax of all pre-Christian revelation, the one who announced that the Messiah had come.

This then sets the stage for this next statement that Jesus makes that is absolutely astounding. Second half of verse 11: “Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” What does that mean? Don’t miss what Jesus is doing here. He is making a shift from all the people, from the days of Abraham, who have pointed to Christ, and He says, “John is the climax of them all. But none of them, not even the highest of them who came before me, can compare to the position and privilege that is reserved for all who will come after me.” The picture here is powerful. All of these men, including John the Baptist (whom we just talked about) had an incomplete picture of the Messiah; they had a limited perspective of what the Messiah would do, and they spoke about it. But we, even the least person who comes into the kingdom after Jesus, has a greater understanding of the Christ, the Messiah, than everyone who came before Him.

Do you realize what Jesus is saying? John was the greatest prophet, and for that he is to be celebrated and commended. But brothers and sisters in the kingdom since the coming of Christ, we have an even greater privilege and position than he did! Think about it! As we just saw, even in all of his greatness, John was unclear on all that the Messiah would do.

But we know all that the Messiah has done. And we have the privilege of proclaiming the crucified and resurrected King to the ends of the earth. What a position in redemptive history that we have! Take hold of this, brothers and sisters. Let us be faithful to our task, a task that is greater than all the prophets of the Old Testament. D. A. Carson wrote:

So often Christians want to establish their ‘greatness’ with reference to their work, their giving, their intelligence, their preaching, their gifts, their courage, their discernment. But Jesus unhesitatingly affirmed that even the least believer is greater than Moses or John the Baptist, simply because of his or her ability, living on this side of the coming of Jesus the Messiah, to point him out with greater clarity and understanding than all his forerunners ever could. If we really believe this truth, it will dissipate all cheap vying for position [in this world] and force us to recognize that our true significance lies [simply] in our witness to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Oh, I think about my younger brother, who moved up here to Birmingham to be a part of Brook Hills and to be sent out from Brook Hills, who leaves this Wednesday for 18 months in North Africa. And as I pray for him and we prepare to send him out, I think, “Greater privilege than John the Baptist!” Proclaim the Christ who has come and died for our sins and risen from the grave – proclaim the Christ in North Africa! And it’s not just him, and it’s not just those who move overseas. It’s you and I today and tomorrow and this week who have a greater privilege than even John the Baptist.

Now it will not be easy. Like Jesus and John, we will be opposed by this world. Verse 12 says, “From the days of John the Baptist until now…” i.e., in the present in Matthew 11, “the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” In other words, the kingdom of heaven, as it advances, experiences opposition. We saw this last week in Matthew 10, we’re seeing this in John the Baptist’s ministry, and we’ll see this increasingly in Jesus’ ministry. This greater privilege of proclamation comes with a price:

Persecution. Just as John’s message provoked opposition and Jesus’ message provoked opposition, so our message of the Messiah will provoke opposition.

Matthew 11 Reminds Us that Christians Will be Opposed by the World 

We will be opposed by this world, and we will be criticized in this world. In verses 16–19, Jesus basically says, “John came hardly eating and drinking anything at all, and you said he was demonic, and I have come eating and drinking with sinners (an allusion back to Matthew 9), and you call me a glutton and a drunkard.” John had sounded a warning of repentance similar to a funeral dirge, and Jesus had sounded a promise of forgiveness similar to a celebration. Yet sinful hearts rebelled against both of them. The world reacted with hardness toward both John and Jesus, and the world will do the same with you. But wisdom, right living before God, will be justified in the end.

Oh, do you see the picture here? Jesus is the promised Messiah. And even in the middle of difficult situations, unmet expectations, and limited perception, He is worthy of your trust. And it is worth it to give your life telling people about who He is. So fight doubt in this world and fight fear of this world with faith in the promised Messiah.

He is the authoritative Judge.

He is the promised Messiah, and He is the authoritative Judge. Verses 20 through 24 say,

Then he began 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 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. 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. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

“Woe to you” literally means, “Warning of doom upon you.” Jesus is speaking to these Galilean cities where He had performed all of these miracles, and the reason for the woe is because they did not repent.

The message is clear: Jesus will condemn the unrepentant. People who had seen the Messiah had been amazed by Him, they had even admired Him, but they did not turn from their sin in response to His summons, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Tyre and Sidon were Gentile cities on the Mediterranean Sea, were known for their godless idolatry and immorality, and the Lord destroyed them in Ezekiel 28. Yet here Jesus says, “If I had done there what I have done here, they would have repented in grief and sorrow over their sin” which is what sackcloth and ashes refers to. This was a stunning indictment. And it continues when Jesus speaks about Capernaum, and He says, “You self-righteous people who think you will be exalted to heaven, you will be brought down to hell.”

Jesus will condemn the unrepentant, and He will damn the indifferent. Think about this: This was the city where Jesus did more miracles than any other place during His earthly ministry. The people of Capernaum had seen Him give sight to the blind, deliver demon

possessed men, heal paralytics, He had brought the dead back to life — they had seen it! And yet, in the end, they did nothing in response. And Jesus says that is worse than the immorality of Sodom, for they would have turned from their sin and they would remain to this day. Oh, their hearts were so hard, spiritually indifferent to Jesus and unrepentant in their sin.

So let me pause and simply urge anyone in this room who is living in any kind of indifference toward Jesus, or unrepentance in sin, to be not indifferent. Be warned; by mercy, be warned today. Jesus is the authoritative Judge, the one who has come to save you from your sins. Turn from your sins and yourself and trust in Him, lest you be condemned and damned forever. Do not disregard God! Do not close your eyes to the Christ!

He is the sovereign Son.

Jesus is the authoritative Judge, and He is the sovereign Son. Oh, there’s so much here. Just look at the next three verses, verses 25 through 27:

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; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 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.

So here we have a dialogue between the Son and the Father in which we get a glimpse into their relationship with one another. As you read these verses, you just sense yourself treading on holy ground as you glimpse the inner workings of the Trinity. See what we discover here: First, Jesus alone knows the Father. Verse 27, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father.” And the word He uses there for “knows” is a word for the most intimate and full knowledge one can have; it is a statement that would parallel others Jesus makes about being one with the Father. This is almost certainly seen as a reference to the deity of the Son.

He is in relationship with the Father as God, and as such, He alone reveals the Father. “No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” And this is part of the purpose of Jesus’ coming. He has not come merely with a word from God; He has come as the Word of God made flesh revealed to man. We can know the Father through the revelation of the Son, not, Jesus says, through wisdom and understanding in this world. Those who know the Father are not those who are the smartest and most educated and most intellectual, not that it’s bad to have education or intellect. But these are not what qualify you to know the Father. The only way to know the Father is through the Son.

It’s all by divine grace. “The Father has hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children, for such was his gracious will.” What does that mean? It means that in His mercy, God must reveal Himself to us. And He does this through the Son. And as He does, we respond, not with unrepentance and indifference, but we respond in human faith. We do not respond in self-righteous religion or prideful intellect, but in the humble trust of a child, acknowledging our total dependence on the Father.

He is the gracious Master.

This is salvation, and it leads right into this last portrait of Jesus. He is the promised Messiah, the authoritative Judge, the sovereign Son, and He is the gracious Master. So here’s the invitation in verses 28 through 30. Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Oh, the wonder of this text. Here is the Son of God, the revelation of the Father, representative before man of the Trinity, saying, “Come to me.”

Now what is involved in this invitation? Don’t miss it. I am going to give you an explanation of Christianity that is radically different than every other religious system in the history of the world. Follow this; don’t lose the wonder of this: What does it mean to come to Jesus? It means we give all we have to Jesus. The imagery in this passage is a yoke, which is a heavy wooden bar that fits over the neck of an ox so that it can pull a cart or a plow. The yoke could be put on one animal or it could be shared between two animals. Now in a shared yoke, one of the oxen would most often be much stronger than the other. The one was stronger, more experienced, more schooled in the commands of the master, and that animal would then guide the other according to the master’s commands. So by coming into the yoke with the stronger ox, the weaker ox could learn to obey the master’s voice.

So here is Jesus speaking to self-righteous people who are burdened down with laws and rules and regulations and commandments, many of which had come from God the Father in the Old Testament, but others of which had been added on by religious teachers of the day. And Jesus will tell us later in Matthew 23 that these religious teachers had tied up heavy burdens that were hard to bear, and laid them on people’s shoulders. And Jesus to them, “Come to me, all who you are weary and burdened.”

So here is Christianity explained: We give Him the full weight of all our sin. These people were so burdened because they had failed over and over again to keep the law they carried. And as leaders poured on more laws and more laws, the people felt more guilty and more shameful, and the weight of their sin became heavier and heavier, and they could not stand up under it. And Jesus says, “Give to me the weight of your sin. Not just some of it, but all of it.”

And not just the weight of all our sin. So that’s not the whole picture, but also we give Him our complete and utter inability to obey God. Our utter inability to carry out the commands of God. It’s not that the commands of God are bad; they are good. But they cannot be carried out by men. We are imperfect, sinful people, and we cannot, we do not obey the Master’s voice. This is huge. The call to come to Christ is definitively not a call for you to try to reform your life and do better in your life and be a better person. That’s not Christianity!

It’s what Ian Thomas called “the curse of Christendom…[it’s] what paralyzes the activity of the church of Jesus Christ on earth today! In defiance of God’s Word, God’s mind, God’s will, and God’s judgment, men [and women] everywhere are prepared to dedicate to God what God condemns – the energy of the flesh! There is nothing quite so nauseating or pathetic as the flesh trying to be holy!” Jesus says, “No, come to me. Give all you have to me, yield/submit to me, come into the yoke with me, and I will give all I have to you.”

Oh, see it. We give all we have to Jesus, and Jesus gives all He has to us. “Take my yoke upon you,” He says. This is the picture. Jesus, the stronger one, the one who alone is able to bear the weight of the Father’s commands, says, “Come into the yoke with me.” We give up all we have to Him, and He, in grace and mercy, gives up all He has to us.

We give Him the full weight of all our sin, and He gives us full pardon for all our sin. Enter into the yoke of Christ, and you, in all your sin, will be counted as righteous in Christ. He has carried the burden you could not carry. He has obeyed the law you could not obey.

So come to Him, and rest in Him with peace before God. Jesus says, “I will give you rest.” He is literally saying, “relief from bearing the load.” Praise God in Christ that we are free from self-effort, self-improvement, and a constant struggle to overcome the guilt and shame of our sin. In Christ, we are free to rest with peace before God.

But that’s not all! That’s not where Christianity stops; there’s more! Jesus not only gives us full pardon for all our sin, but He also gives us His complete ability to obey God. So we give Him our complete and utter inability to obey God, and He says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” That word “learn” is huge. It is the same word that is translated “disciple” in the Great Commission later in Matthew. Jesus is literally saying, “Learn what it means to be my disciple, and you will find rest for your soul.” Why? Because “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

What does that mean? Don’t miss it: Jesus alone knows the Father, reveals the Father, and Jesus alone perfectly obeys the Father. So come into the yoke with Him, and He will lead you in how to walk with the Father. “Come to me,” Jesus says, “and I will enable you to do what that which you could never do on your own.”

And in the yoke with Christ, we work in peace with God. In other words, we now live in obedience to God not by our own strength, but with the very strength of Christ. Everything we do, it is Christ who is leading us, guiding us, enabling us, teaching us, literally living through us. Martin Luther said: “Here the bottom falls out of all merit….Christ must do and must give everything.” It was said of Hudson Taylor, missionary to China, when he came to this realization in his Christian life:

He was a joyous man now, a bright happy Christian. He had been a toiling, burdened one before, with not much rest of soul. It was rest in Jesus now, and letting Him do the work – which makes all the difference. Whenever he spoke in meetings after that, a new power seemed to flow from him, and in the practical things of life a new peace possessed him. How was his faith strengthened? Not by striving after faith, but by resting on the Faithful One.

That’s it, Church at Brook Hills! This is not about what you and I can do in and for the kingdom in our own effort. That is a recipe for failure and burden. It’s about Jesus the Christ living in and through and for us on a daily basis in our struggles with sin, in our battles with temptation, in our suffering in trial. You are in the yoke with Jesus. And the one who calls us to righteous living is the one who lives righteously through you. The one who beckons you to trust the Father is the one who enables you to trust the Father. And don’t miss it:

The one who calls you and me to preach the gospel in Birmingham and to the nations is the one who goes and preaches the gospel through us in Birmingham and all nations.

Matthew 11 Calls Us to Repent Sin

So here’s the invitation. The invitation of Christ: When faith is hard and the burden is heavy, first and foremost, repent of sin. Be not indifferent, and be not unrepentant. You do not need to bear the burden of your sin any longer. Renounce yourself. Like a child, come to the Father and throw aside your pride! And rest in Christ. Come to the one who is gentle and lowly in heart, and find rest for your soul. And as you do, rejoice forever in Him.