John's peculiarity was no oddity; it was the power arranged for him in the Divine wisdom. The peculiarity of Jesus was no eccentricity; it was the expression of that Divine Spirit of wisdom which dwelt in him. Men may criticize the methods of John and Jesus; the story of the ages fully justifies the wisdom of those methods.

I. WISDOM USES VARIOUS AGENCIES. "The spiritual unfoldings of wisdom in the religions world are manifold." John moves you by his fear and terror; Jesus moves you by his quiet goodness. John's wisdom thunders; the wisdom of Jesus flows out in mild words. Men "wonder at the gracious words which proceed from his mouth." Through the intellect God appeals to you in one way; and through sympathy in quite another way. How sweetly gentle is electricity in the growth of lilies, and in the generation of birds, bees, butterflies! But in certain conditions it gathers itself up, and flashes in lightning, accompanied with terrible artillery. "Wisdom in John Baptist was ascetic and sincere; in Jesus it was freer, gentler, and sweetly social" (Pulsford). We can never fairly judge an agency until we see how it stands in its relation - what it does, what it is calculated to do. Then what seems insignificant and even unsuitable is plainly seen to be an inspiration of wisdom.

II. WISDOM IS JUSTIFIED IN THE ADAPTATION OF ITS AGENCIES. Estimate fairly what John had to do, and his austerity and severity are fully justified. Estimate fairly what Jesus has to do, and his friendliness and readiness to enter into the common spheres of life are fully justified. Wisdom is justified in all her methods and changes.

III. WISDOM ONLY FALLS TO JUSTIFY ITSELF TO A RIVAL WISDOM. "The children of pride and self-will justify Wisdom in no form. They puff up their own conceit by complaining of every mode in which she presents herself. John comes to them grave enough, earnest as life and death, smiting at the roots of their hereditary nature; but they say, ' What a gloomy fellow!' Jesus comes, bland and winning, ready to sit at table with every class of men; but they say, ' He is fond of a good dinner and his wine.' So that neither can John break them from their old habits, nor Jesus attract them to the Divine-human life." - R.T.

I. We have here a strong PROOF OF THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST. "The Son of man." His oneness with men; not exempt from the necessities of our nature; He was subject to the laws under which we live. No manna fell from heaven for Him.

II. Christ ate and drank WITH MEN. Not only as others, but with others. He was no recluse. Jesus represents the new order, which is a life of liberty, because a life of love. Religion must be able to endure the strain of life.

III. Here Christ SANCTIFIED THE COMMON DUTIES OF EVERY DAY. Nothing is so common as eating and drinking; it is commonplace. The temptation is to make the hours for meals mere feeding times, or to become an epicure. Christ's example guards against this. He taught the dignity of our bodies. He who recognizes the body as God's gift will never dishonour its appetites. The daily meals may be family sacraments cheered by Christian intercourse. Christ came to fit men for this world as well as for the next.

(W. S. Jerome.)

I. THE DIFFERENT COURSES OF LIFE WHEREIN JOHN AND JESUS APPEARED.

1. That God sendeth forth His servants with divers dispositions.

2. That men are qualified according to the dispensation wherein God useth them. John, a preacher of repentance, was austere; Christ, as a giver of pardon, mild.

3. That men are apt to complain.

1. Except against what is done by God, and whatsoever methods are used to reduce them to a sense of pardon. The censures of the two things disliked in Christ were not just.

1. His diet. All our food should be sanctified.

2. His company.

II. THE REASONS WHY HE CHOSE THIS SORT OF LIFE.

1. Because He would not place religion in outward austerities and observances.

2. Christ would live a strict, but sociable and charitable life; and did not observe the laws of proud pharisaical separation, but spent His time in doing good.

3. Christ came to set us an example, and would take up that course of life most imitable by all sorts of persons.

4. It was fit His form of life should suit with the nature of the kingdom.

5. Because Christ would not gratify human wisdom, as He would not gratify sense, by choosing a pompous life, so He would net gratify wisdom by choosing an austere life.

6. To show us the true nature of mortification, which consists not in abstinence and retreat from temptations, but in a spirit fortified against them.

III. THE OBSERVANCES WHICH WE MAY BUILD THEREON.

1. We may observe the humanity, goodness, and kindness of that religion which we profess, both with respect to ourselves and others.

2. That external holiness which consisteth in an outside strictness without love usually puffeth up men.

3. That a free life, guided by a holy wisdom, is the most sanctified life.

(T. Manton.)

I. OUR LORD PROVED HIMSELF IN HIS OWN TIME TO BE THE FRIEND OF SINNERS.

1. He came among them.

2. He sought their good by His ministry.

3. He showed His patience toward them by the contradiction He endured from them.

II. WHAT CHRIST IS DOING NOW FOR SINNERS.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

I. CHRIST A FRIEND. In a friend we anticipate finding sincere attachment, affectionate concern to promote our welfare, freedom in fellowship and communication, unflinching fidelity.

II. THE DUTY WE OWE TO HIM. Friendliness, gratitude, fellowship, integrity, constancy,

III. THE ADVANTAGES RESULTING FROM THE PERFORMANCE OF IT. The friendship of Christ affords rich consolation, exhaustless supplies, requisite instruction, eternal inheritance. Address the enemies of Christ, the undecided, and His friends.

(Rev. Treffy.)

I. How WISDOM BECOMES JUSTIFIED TO HER CHILDREN. Notice those respects in which the scheme of Christianity is considered foolishness by the world.

1. A strong natural dislike of Christianity is founded on the meanhess of the Saviour's life and the ignominy of His death. The Christian's great struggle is with earthly attachments, and he acknowledges with thankfulness the wisdom of any arrangement whose direct tendency is to help him in the struggle.

2. They often allege the disproportion of the means to the end. Reason cannot decide how much the pardon of a sin must cost. The converted man sees the heinousness of sin. He sees that only an infinite sacrifice could put it away.

3. It is regarded as unsuited to the ends which it proposes to effect, and no heavier charge could be brought against its wisdom. The idea of substitution is said to encourage men in sin; hut where can we find higher morality and truer friendship than amongst men who are trusting in Christ?

II. WISDOM IS JUSTIFIED THROUGH HER CHILDREN TO OTHERS. This wisdom is so manifest in the effects of Christianity on the lives of its disciples, that enemies are inexcusable in charging it with foolishness. The children of God must vindicate the wisdom of religion,

(H. Melvill, B. D.)

I. WHAT IS THE WISDOM TO WHICH REFERENCE IS HERE MADE. Some suppose our Lord to have meant Himself; in Proverbs it is declared that by "Wisdom" God created the heavens. The term wisdom is also applied to the doctrine of the true God. "The fear of the Lord that is wisdom."

II. To SHOW HOW IT HAS BEEN IN ALL AGES EXPOSED TO THE INDIFFERENCE, CONTEMPT, OR THE MISAPPREHENSION OF MANKIND.

1. Deny her doctrines.

2. Forget her commands.

III. How IT HAS BEEN NEVERTHELESS JUSTIFIED IN ITS CHILDREN.

1. In the life of every saint who has arrived in heaven. "A cloud of witnesses " prove wisdom is justified of her children.

2. Wisdom is justified in all the social relationships of life. Is he a husband? wisdom will have given him a new affection.

(T. Jackson, M. A.)

I. Evangelical religion is CHARACTERIZED, AS WISDOM. As it rightly applies the sublimest knowledge; as it diligently studies the most approved rule; as it zealously prosecutes the most enduring interest.

II. Evangelical religion HAS BEEN CHARGED WITH FOLLY. Its principles, its feelings, its practices, have been accounted foolishness.

III. Evangelical religion is JUSTIFIED BY THE EXPERIENCE ON ITS POSSESSORS. They receive her doctrines, avow her service, obey her precepts.

(Studies.)

I. WHAT IS THE WISDOM OF GOD IN THE WAY OF SALVATION PRESENTED BY THE GOSPEL? The end of the means.

II. THAT THIS WISDOM IS DESPISED AND CONTRADICTED BY THE CARNAL WORLD.

III. HOW AND WHY IT MUST BE JUSTIFIED BY THE SINCERE PROFESSORS OF THE GOSPEL.

1. It must be approved and received by themselves.

2. It must be professed and owned when it is in contempt in the world.

3. This profession must be honoured and recommended to others by a holy conversation.Why?

1. Because of the charge that is put upon us to testify for God, and justify His ways.

2. Wisdom deserveth to be justified by us.

3. Those who condemn wisdom by their tongues, justify it in some measure by their consciences.

4. If we do not justify religion, we justify the world.

5. Christ will one day justify all His sincere followers.

6. Because of the necessity of justifying wisdom in the times we live in.

(T. Manton.)

Elias, Elijah, Jesus, JohnBethsaida, Capernaum, Chorazin, Galilee, Sidon, Sodom, TyreActions, Behold, Collectors, Deeds, Drinking, Drunkard, Eating, Exclaim, Feasting, Friend, Glutton, Gluttonous, Gluttony, Judged, Justified, Lover, Notorious, Proved, Publicans, Sinners, Tax, Tax-farmers, Tax-gatherers, Tippling, Vindicated, Wine, Winebibber, Wine-bibber, Wine-drinker, Wine-drinking, Wisdom, Works, Yet1. John sends his disciples to Jesus.
7. Jesus' testimony concerning John.
16. The perverse judgment of the people concerning the Son.
20. Jesus upbraids Korazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum;
25. and praising his Father's wisdom in revealing the Gospel to the simple,
28. he calls to him those who are weary and burdened.

Matthew 11:19

     2203   Christ, titles of
     2221   Christ, Son of Man
     5312   feasting
     5576   tax collectors
     5691   friends, good
     5866   gluttony
     5879   humiliation
     6109   alienation
     8122   friendship, with God
     8703   antinomianism
     8848   worldliness

Matthew 11:16-19

     5881   immaturity

Matthew 11:18-19

     4436   drinking, abstention
     8751   false witness

The Friend of Publicans and Sinners
'The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children,'--MATT. xi. 19. Jesus very seldom took notice of His enemies' slanders. 'When He was reviled He reviled not again.' If ever He did, it was for the sake of those whom it harmed to distort His beauty. Thus, here He speaks, without the slightest trace of irritation, of the capricious inconsistency of condemning Himself and John …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Sodom, Capernaum, Manchester
'Then began He to upbraid the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because they repented not.' --MATT. xi. 20. These words, and the woes which they introduce, are found in another connection in Luke's Gospel. He attaches them to his report of the mission of the seventy disciples. Matthew here introduces them in an order which seems not to depend upon time, but upon identity of subject. It is his method in his Gospel to group together similar events, as we have it exemplified, for instance, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Christ's Strange Thanksgiving
'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.' --MATT. xi. 25. When Jesus was about to cure one dumb man, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and sighed. Sorrow filled His soul in the act of working deliverance. The thought of the depth of the miseries He had come to heal, and of the ocean of them which He was then diminishing but by one poor drop, saddened Him. When Jesus thought of the woes that had …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

John's Doubts of Jesus, and Jesus' Praise of John
'Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, 3. And said unto Him, Art Thou He that should come, or do we look for another? 4. Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: 5. The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me. 7. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Rest Giver
'Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.'--MATT. xi. 28, 29. One does not know whether tenderness or majesty is predominant in these wonderful words. A divine penetration into man's true condition, and a divine pity, are expressed in them. Jesus looks with clearsighted compassion into the inmost history of all hearts, and sees the toil and the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Rest for the Weary
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. W hich shall we admire most -- the majesty, or the grace, conspicuous in this invitation? How soon would the greatest earthly monarch be impoverished, and his treasures utterly exhausted, if all, that are poor and miserable, had encouragement to apply freely to him, with a promise of relief, fully answerable to their wants and wishes! But the riches of Christ are unsearchable and inexhaustible. If millions and millions …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

Messiah's Easy Yoke
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. T hough the influence of education and example, may dispose us to acknowledge the Gospel to be a revelation from God; it can only be rightly understood, or duly prized, by those persons who feel themselves in the circumstances of distress, which it is designed to relieve. No Israelite would think of fleeing to a city of refuge (Joshua 20:2. …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

The Yoke of Christ.
"Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls; for My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."--Matt. xi. 29, 30. These words, which are brought before us in the Gospel of to-day's festival[1], are also found in the address made to us upon Ash Wednesday, in which we are told that if we "return unto Him who is the merciful Receiver of all true penitent sinners, if we will take His easy yoke and light burden upon us, to follow Him …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

On the Words of the Gospel, Matt. xi. 2, "Now when John Heard in the Prison the Works of the Christ, He Sent by his Disciples,
1. The lesson of the Holy Gospel has set before us a question touching John the Baptist. May the Lord assist me to resolve it to you, as He hath resolved it to us. John was commended, as ye have heard, by the testimony of Christ, and in such terms commended, as that there had not risen a greater among those who were born of women. But a greater than he had been born of a Virgin. How much greater? Let the herald himself declare, how great the difference is between himself and his Judge, whose herald …
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

On the Words of the Gospel, Matt. xi. 25, "I Thank Thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that Thou Didst Hide These Things From
1. When the Holy Gospel was being read, we heard that the Lord Jesus exulted in Spirit, and said, "I confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." [2252] Thus much to begin [2253] with, we find before we pass on further, if we consider the words of the Lord with due attention, with diligence, and above all with piety, that we ought not invariably to understand when we read of "confession" in …
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

Again on the Words of the Gospel, Matt. xi. 25, "I Thank Thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth," Etc.
1. We have heard the Son of God saying, "I confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth." What doth he confess to Him? Wherein doth he praise Him? "Because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." [2288] Who are the "wise and prudent"? Who the "babes"? What hath He hid from the wise and prudent, and revealed unto babes? By the "wise and prudent," He signifieth those of whom St. Paul speaks; "Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the …
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

Again on the Words of the Gospel, Matt. xi. 28, "Come unto Me, all Ye that Labour and are Heavy Laden, and I Will Give You
1. It seems strange to some, Brethren, when they hear the Lord say, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." [2323] And they consider that they who have fearlessly bowed their necks to this yoke, and have with much submission taken this burden upon their shoulders, are tossed about and exercised by so great …
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

The Sinner's Friend
"Savior of sinners they proclaim, Sinners of whom the chief I am." What the invidious Jews said in bitter spleen, has been turned by the Holy Spirit to the most gracious account. Where they poured out vials of hate, odours of sacred incense arise. Troubled consciences have found a sweet balm in the very sound. Jesus, "the friend of publicans and sinners," has proved himself friendly to them, and they have become friends with him; so completely has he justified the very name which his enemies gave …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 10: 1864

Rest, Rest
We will, this morning, if we can, conduct you into the inner chambers of out text, place its words under the microscope, and peer into the recesses of each sentence. We only wish our microscope were of a greater magnifying power, and our ability to expound the text more complete; for there are mines of instruction here. Superficially read, this royal promise has cheered and encouraged tens of thousands, but there is a wealth in it which the diligent digger and miner shall alone discover. Its shallows …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

Holy violence
"But," says one, "do you wish us to understand, that if a man is to be saved he must use violence and vehement earnestness in order to obtain salvation?" I do, most assuredly; that is the doctrine of the text. "But," says one, "I thought it was all the work of God." So it is, from first to last. But when God has begun the work in the soul, the constant effect of God's work in us is to set us working; and where God's Spirit is really striving with us, we shall begin to strive too. This is just a test …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859

The Meek and Lowly One
I. First, then, I am to consider THE FIRST QUALITY WHICH JESUS CHRIST CLAIMS. He declares that he is "MEEK." Christ is no egotist; he takes no praise to himself. If ever he utters a word in self-commendation, it is not with that object; it is with another design, namely that he may entice souls to come to him. Here, in order to exhibit this meekness, I shall have to speak of him in several ways. 1. First, Christ is meek, as opposed to the ferocity of spirit manifested by zealots and bigots. Take, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859

Powerful Persuasives
I HAVE preached to you, dear friends, several times from the words, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." There is such sweetness in the precept, such solace in the promise, that I could fain hope to preach from it many times more. But I have no intention just now to repeat what I have said in any former discourse, or to follow the same vein of thought that we have previously explored. This kindly and gracious invitation needs only to be held up in different …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 62: 1916

Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany
(From the Gospel for St. Matthias'-day, 24th February) Of the proper marks of true humility. Matt. xi. 29.--"Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart." CHRIST, our blessed Lord, the true master and teacher of all art and virtue, and a pattern of all perfection, when He came down from Heaven to instruct us poor ignorant men, did not see fit to make use of great subtleties, or mysterious and ingenious statements of truth; but in short, plain, simple words He delivered to us a maxim, and gave us …
Susannah Winkworth—The History and Life of the Reverend Doctor John Tauler

Sermon for the Third Sunday in Advent
(From the Gospel for the day) How that we must wholly come out from ourselves, that we may go into the wilderness and behold God. Matt. xi. 7.--"What went ye out into the wilderness for to see?" OUR Lord Jesus Christ said unto the Jews, "What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind?" In these words let us consider three things: First, the going out; secondly, the wilderness; thirdly, what we are to see there. First, let us consider the going out. This blessed going …
Susannah Winkworth—The History and Life of the Reverend Doctor John Tauler

Sixth Day. Thankfulness.
"I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth."--Matt. xi. 25. A thankful spirit pervaded the entire life of Jesus, and surrounded with a heavenly halo His otherwise darkened path. In moments we least expect to find it, this beauteous ray breaks through the gloom. In instituting the memorial of His death, He "gave thanks!" Even in crossing the Kedron to Gethsemane, "He sang an hymn!" We know in seasons of deep sorrow and trial that every thing wears a gloomy aspect. Dumb Nature herself to …
John R. Macduff—The Mind of Jesus

Fifth Day. Meekness.
"I am meek and lowly in heart."--Matt. xi. 29. There is often a beautiful blending of majesty and humility, magnanimity and lowliness, in great minds. The mightiest and holiest of all Beings that ever trod our world was the meekest of all. The Ancient of Days was as the "infant of days." He who had listened to nothing but angel-melodies from all eternity, found, while on earth, melody in the lispings of an infant's voice, or in an outcast's tears! No wonder an innocent lamb was His emblem, or …
John R. Macduff—The Mind of Jesus

"I Will Give You Rest. "
A COMMUNION ADDRESS AT MENTONE. "I will give you rest."--Matthew xi. 28. "I WILL GIVE YOU REST." WE have a thousand times considered these words as an encouragement to the labouring and the laden; and we may, therefore, have failed to read them as a promise to ourselves. But, beloved friends, we have come to Jesus, and therefore He stands engaged to fufil this priceless pledge to us. We may now enjoy the promise; for we have obeyed the precept. The faithful and true Witness, whose word is truth, …
Charles Hadden Spurgeon—Till He Come

A Devout Exhortation to the Holy Communion the Voice of Christ
Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you,(1) saith the Lord. The bread that I will give is My flesh which I give for the life of the world.(2) Take, eat: this is My Body, which is given for you; this do in remembrance of Me.(3) He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood dwelleth in Me and I in him. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.(4) (1) Matthew xi. 28 (2) John vi. 51. (3) Matthew xxi. 26; Luke xxii. 19. (4) John vi. …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

The Baptist's Inquiry and Jesus' Discourse Suggested Thereby.
(Galilee.) ^A Matt. XI. 2-30; ^C Luke VII. 18-35. ^c 18 And the disciples of John told him of all these things. ^a 2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent by his disciples ^c 19 And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them unto the Lord [John had been cast into prison about December, a.d. 27, and it was now after the Passover, possibly in May or June, a.d. 28. Herod Antipas had cast John into prison because John had reproved him for taking his brother's wife. …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

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