This morning I invite you to take your Bibles and let's turn to Matthew's Gospel, chapter number 11. Matthew's Gospel, chapter number 11. When we were born into this world, we all were born with a heavy burden. Each one of us. The burden that was on us was the burden of sin. Romans 5.12 talks about that. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for they all have sinned. And our sin that was upon us was a heavy burden that weighed us down, and would have caused us to sink into condemnation of hell if we had died in that awful condition. Thank God that He sent His only begotten Son into the world. so that He could give His life as payment for our sins. John 3 verse 18 talks about how that he that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. I want you to realize this morning, if you don't have the Lord Jesus Christ in your life, if you've not believed on Him, not trusted in His finished work on the cross of Calvary, you still have that heavy burden of sin upon you. And I beg of you this morning, Take care of that before you leave this place. God loved us so that He gave us His own precious Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came into this world to freely shed His precious blood. His death was not a tragedy. His death was a necessity for you and for me. The real tragedy took place back in the Garden of Eden when mankind sinned. And thank God for the Lord Jesus Christ. His precious blood enables us to have our burden of sin taken away by faith and trust in His finished work there on the cross of Calvary that was on our behalf. It was on our behalf. Thank God for the blood of Jesus that was and still is sufficient to pay the penalty for each of our sin. God will save anyone. He will. Turn to Him. Turn away from whatever you've been trusting to get you to heaven and turn to Him in repentance and faith. He is able and He is willing and the price has been paid for you to have and enjoy salvation. And through faith in His death for us, faith in His burial, and believing in the power of the glorious resurrection from the dead, thank God we are now freed from that awful burden of sin. That heavy load has been taken away. Amen. Hallelujah. Thank God. Amen. Now, we know that there's power in the blood. We didn't sing that this morning because we sang it recently. And I don't like to sing the same songs very close together, but we know it says, would you be free from the burden of sin? There's power in the blood. Now what you realize this morning, if you are carrying around a burden of sin, there is power in Jesus' blood. Jesus' reference to a yoke here is what we want to call attention to in Matthew chapter 11. He talks about a yoke and a burden. And in Matthew 11 verse number 28, He gives an invitation here. He says, Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. There's that burden right there. He says, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Now, Jesus referring to a yoke here is very interesting. It follows His invitation to the weary to come to Him and find rest. We know that Mankind in his lost condition cannot find rest. In fact, Isaiah 57, the prophet Isaiah wrote in verse 20 and 21, he says, But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. And in that condition there is no peace. But there is peace available through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is a help with the burden that you carry. Christ says that taking on His yoke is the way that one can find rest for their soul. Two times He speaks of the rest in the context of His yoke. Yet when we examine what a yoke is, it's not really an instrument of rest when we look at it, but rather it's an instrument of labor that was placed upon the oxen at work. Now, if that be the case, then how do those who are yoked to Christ find rest? Let me share with you two things here before we get into the meat of the message. First of all, Christ says that if we take His yoke, We will learn of him, learn from him. The imagery uses that of a young and experienced ox being teamed up with a more experienced ox for training. And the weight of the burden was being carried by the more experienced ox as he was learning. Christ was saying that as we are yoked to Him, we learn from Him. He is the one who is meek, which speaks of the gentleness and humility that characterize His person. So in yoking up with Him, we can find rest for our souls. I toyed this morning with singing the song that I sang or singing the other song that was on my mind whenever I was preparing this message. And that is, burdens are lifted at Calvary. And we're talking about burdens this morning. And John Moore wrote that song. He says, days are filled with sorrow and care. Hearts are lonely and drear. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near. It says, cast your care on Jesus today. Leave your worry and fear. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near. It goes on to say, troubled soul, the Savior can see every heartache and tear. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near. Now, I can't look into your heart this morning. But I do know something from looking around, and I do know something from the nature of people, even our folks. I know when we look at the prayer list and the number of our people that are listed on the prayer list going through some heavy burdens right now. We've talked about some of those that are going through some heavy burdens. Can I tell you that the Lord sees what you're going through. He knows what you're going through. Listen, He knows what you're going through better than you know what you're going through. And He wants you and invites you to take His yoke and learn of Him. Also, Christ says that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. The word translated easy also carries the idea of His good, His gracious, and His kind. It's important to note that the Lord Jesus is not promising to remove all of our burdens. That's not what He promises. However, He does promise to provide His good, gracious, and kind strength for us to be able to do His will while we are yoked up with Him. And when we leave this life, amen, we know that there will be rest forevermore. He will remove the burdens at that point when we're taken out of here. And I believe we're very close to that time. I preach that. In fact, that'll be a crux of what I'm talking about in this evening's sermon as we begin to take a look at the beginning of the book of Revelation chapter 1. But we know that there's burdens in this life. Nobody has to tell us that. But by Christ's enablement, we can bear those burdens and those burdens will seem light in comparison to the yoke of sin that we were born with. When He saves us, He takes care of that yoke of sin. And then we walk in Him. He wants us to walk beside Him and with Him in our lives. Now, make no mistake, there are burdens involved even in serving the Lord Jesus Christ. I've been in the ministry for a while now. Being ordained for 40 years, I've seen a lot. Been through a lot. I've been through some things that might cause some to quit, have caused some to quit. But I leaned upon the Lord during those difficult days. And I thank Him for what He did. Because in serving the Lord Jesus, we know that there are burdens. All you've got to do is take a look at the people of Scripture. I mean, they weren't without burdens. When you take a look at the Apostle Paul, we'll talk more about him here in a little bit, but he had a lot of burdens that he was carrying. A lot of burdens that he needed help with. And the Lord did help him with those. And listen, the burdens will be shared by the Lord Jesus Christ as we labor together with Him. And that's what we're to do. We're to labor together with God. 1 Corinthians 3, 9 says, for we are laborers together with God. Now we know that all burdens are not the same. Some of you are walking through some burdens right now that I have not known. I thank God for not having known. They may be down the road from me. I don't know. We don't know what might come our way. But we know that People walking with different burdens in their life. And I recognize that this morning as I bring this message to you, but I want you to realize no matter what the burden, the Lord wants you to cast all your care upon Him for He cares for you. We know that burdens can vary in both type, the kind of burden they are, and also the intensity that you're walking with. And I want to look at three words translated that have the meaning of burden in the Bible and one word that is translated labor in the Bible that describe different aspects of the burdens in service to the Lord. Now, the first word is a word that I've seen a lot as we... Yonah, I preach through books a lot, and as we were in the Old Testament, a lot of times in some of the prophecies that we were looking at, you would see a word, the first word translated as burden in the Old Testament is from a Hebrew word that means a burdensome message. The Old Testament prophets of God would say, a burden of the Lord. Call it a burden of the Lord. Listen, it means a burdensome message what it means. No one likes to be told what they don't want to hear. Some of you this morning, you came and you were hoping to hear something that maybe could help you. But you may hear some things this morning that you don't like. People have before. And I know that people don't want to hear stuff that they don't like to be told what they don't want to hear. Yet sometimes it is our duty to deliver the unpopular message. The unpopular message. I've had to do it many times over the years. And the results can sometimes be extremely burdensome. Listen to me. The true gospel message is not a popular message in this world of political correctness. and wokeness. It's not a popular message. In fact, if anything, it's diametrically opposed to all of that. And we as believers, though, have a duty to proclaim it as it was delivered to us and as it is in reality. We're not to water it down. We're not to change it in any way. We're to preach it as the Lord has given it. Listen to me. This idea of a burdensome message was not only familiar to the Old Testament prophets who had received what they described as a burden from the Lord, but it still applies today. There are some times when I get burdened about what I've got to preach about. One of the reasons why I preach through books is it forces me to cover subjects that I ordinarily would just skip over. If we're going verse by verse through books of Scripture, I'm going to deal with those things. In fact, in the book of Genesis, some of you were wondering, when are we going to get back to Genesis? Well, I got stuck on one thing. And then we had some different things that took place. I had to get away from that for a little bit. I'm going to come back to it, but I may not come back to it on a Sunday morning. The Lord is moving in my heart right now. We've got young people in here. And it's a difficult message. It is a pointed message. And some things that young ears probably would be better off older when they hear those things. But anyway, I'm going to leave that in the hands of the Lord. I do plan on getting back to it and preaching that message that I told you about. some prophets, they were commanded to deliver harsh messages of rebuke or judgment. That sometimes, listen, they really didn't want to give those messages. I mean, just take Jonah. I mean, would you want to go to a heathen nation that's been wicked and has abused your people, the people of Israel, and tell them in 40 days the Lord's going to destroy you if you don't repent. Would you want to do that? You know, we give John a hard time. But the Lord was right there with him in that burden if he would just go and obey the Lord. Now, the reason many times they didn't want to give those messages most of the time is because they knew that the people did not want to receive those messages. Now, the Hebrew word that means a burdensome message is used 27 times in Old Testament prophetic context regarding severe announcements of judgment from the Lord. Each time this word is translated as a burden, it means the message was a burden to deliver and a burden to receive. Some of these harsh and burdensome messages were messages of judgment delivered to various nations. I just want to give you a couple of examples. I've got them marked in my scripture. I've given you the scripture there in your notes. Malachi 1. Malachi wrote the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. And this begins with a very pointed... He says, I have loved you, saith the Lord, yet ye say wherein hast thou loved us? They didn't want to hear that God loved them. They had different ideas about that. They didn't think the Lord really did love them. But the Lord did love them. And we see in Jeremiah chapter number 23, I'll have you turn to this one. I want to read a few verses here. Jeremiah 23. We see this matter of a burden that is mentioned here. by the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah 23 and verse number 33. Jeremiah 23 verse 33. And it says, When this people, or the prophet or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the Lord? Thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the Lord. Now if the Lord forsakes you, that's a pretty heavy burden isn't it? It just is. I want the Lord on my side. If you want the Lord on your side, you've got to be on His side. And Israel at this point was not on His side. Judah was not on His side. And it mentions a burden in verse number 34. And as for the prophet and the priest and the people that shall say the burden of the Lord, I will even punish that man and his house. So there's a lot going around. saying, you know, the burden of the Lord. They were just kind of flippantly saying the thing. They didn't even know what they were talking about because they weren't really getting the message from the Lord. Look at verse 35. Thus saith ye, every one to his neighbor, and every one to his brother, what hath the Lord answered, and what hath the Lord spoken? And the burden of the Lord shall ye mention no more, for every man's words shall be his burden, for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts our God. Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the Lord answered thee? And what hath the Lord spoken? But since ye say the burden of the Lord, therefore thus saith the Lord, because ye say this word, the burden of the Lord, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say the burden of the Lord, therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you and the city that I gave you and your fathers and cast you out of My presence, I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you and a perpetual shame shall not be forgotten." Let me just tell you, the people weren't ready to hear that. They weren't ready to hear that and they treated Jeremiah despitefully because of some of the things that he was bringing that the Lord laid on his heart to say, you tell my people this. You tell my people trouble's coming. And he would do that. And they'd cast him in the dungeon. They'd treat him spitefully. Other places that we could turn this morning, but I'm not. But let me encourage you to go and look at these places and you'll see the burden of the Lord. But listen, the preacher who courageously proclaims the Word of God, no matter the consequences, that's the way we're to preach. You preach the Word no matter what the consequences are. They certainly understand the burden that this oft times brings on. I mean there are times when I've come into the pulpit with a message that I knew I knew somebody wasn't going to take it right, and I was right. But I had to suffer the consequences of it being taken that way. I mean, there are certain subjects that I would just rather not preach. And the reason I would rather not preach on certain things may be for any number of reasons, but let me just give you two. Number one, sometimes I know it's not going to be received too well. And number two, sometimes I know that Satan battles against some messages more than others. I can guarantee you if I'm going to preach on hell, Satan's going to interfere. He's going to interfere in the service in some way. I can tell you that if I preach on tithing, there's some folks that just lock up. You know why they lock up? Because they're not tithing. They're not giving like they ought to give. And they won't receive the message well. Well, I don't believe in tithing. Tithing is an Old Testament concept. That's under the law. It was before the law. It was before the law. And it's a Bible concept. It's not just an Old Testament concept. Paul knew about this kind of burden when he wrote in Galatians 4.16. Remember, Paul was trying to address some problems with what was happening in the Galatian church. And he was dealing with that in his writing of the epistle. In Galatians 4.16 he says, am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? You know when you tell some folks the truth, they treat you like, well, you must not love me. I'm your enemy. It sounds like I'm your enemy the way you're talking to me like that. But listen, what Paul wrote we know did not line up with some of the Church of Galatia's preconceived ideas about how things were. That message of truth was a burden for Paul to deliver, and it was a burden for the Church of Galatia to receive, and that's what he was acknowledging in that. Nevertheless, by the enabling power of the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul looked at it as being a joyful burden. He was given that task of challenging that church. And he didn't back away from preaching the truth just because it wasn't going to be well received. And we too must not back away from proclaiming God's truth just because it's not going to be well received. Second thing. The second word translated as burden in the New Testament is from a Greek word that means a burdensome weight. a burdensome weight. A burden describes a heavy load, a weight. This particular word is used in Matthew 20 and verse number 12 regarding the burden of daily toil. In fact, it's used in the parable of the laborers by our Lord Jesus Christ. He was telling about the laborers in the vineyard And in Matthew 20 verse 12, he said there were some who had been laboring all day, and they got paid the same as people who had just been there a little while. And here's what the Scripture says. These last have wrought but one hour. These are the workers talking. They have wrought but one hour and thou hast made them equal unto us which have borne the burden. There it is. We've borne the burden and heat of the day. It's also used in 2 Corinthians 1 verse number 8 and 2 Corinthians 5 Verse 4, regarding the burdens of suffering in ministry and or in life. In 2 Corinthians 1 verse 8, Paul said, For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure. That's a picture of a burden. Depressed out of measure. It was translated depressed out of measure here. Above strengthened so much that we despaired even of life. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 4 says, For we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened. We're burdened in this life. Not that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Our mortality can be a burden, can't it? It just can. Sickness, injury, different things can become a burden. But one of these days, mortality is going to be swallowed up with life. This mortal is going to put on immortality. Amen. Praise God for that. But these are some general terms used to describe something heavy. In a general way, it describes the weight of heavy responsibilities involved in ministry. Yet, I want you to understand that it's also true as stated in 1 John 5 in verse number 3 that says, For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous. The Word of God is not a burden. If you look at it the right way, it's not. His commandments are not grievous. If you love the Lord, you want to keep His commandments. In fact, Jesus said, if you love Me, keep My commandments. And so we should be striving to do that. We don't do that for salvation. We do that because we're saved. I want to please the Lord Jesus Christ because of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for me. Now, this again points to the joyful burden of sharing the yoke with our Lord Jesus. So we've seen a burdensome message. We've seen a burdensome weight. And thirdly, we see that there's a third word translated as burden also in the New Testament. It's from a word that means a burden to carry as in a task or service. You know, it's one thing to have a burden weighing down upon you while you stand. But it's another thing to be expected to carry that burden as an extra load of cargo while you walk. Yet that's precisely the meaning of this other New Testament word for burden. And it's used in one of the passages of Scripture Brother Mike was preaching from Acts chapter 27. It refers to the lading, literally the ship's cargo. It says, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives. So that the ship was carrying, that burden that it was holding onto was going to be damaged. It's also used figuratively in Matthew 23 verse number 4 of the unbearable burdens of the scribes and Pharisees interpretation of the law. Matthew 23 verse number 4 says, Jesus is talking about the scribes and the Pharisees who said, For they bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves would not move them with one of their fingers. So these religious leaders expected people to carry the burden in their daily lives of the Pharisees' harsh interpretations of the law. Not only were they harsh, but they were wrong. They were wrong interpretations of the law. In comparison, Jesus said His burden is light. There in Matthew 11 verse 30. Of course, there are burdens for Christ's disciples. But these burdens are not too heavy to carry. For the Lord Jesus Christ is jointly yoked with those who He has called. So it can become a joyful burden with Christ at our side. Now the last word we want to look at is translated labor. Now we know when you labor, that can be a heavy burden too, amen? In fact, Jesus said there in our passage, coming to me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Now, this word is used, it means a burden to overcome. This word is used less than 40 times in the New Testament, but it's used frequently by the Apostle Paul. In the classical Greek, it originally meant a beating, to strike something, or the physical consequences of being weary. It came to refer to any kind of work that leads to exertion, pain, or hardship. Is there any other kind? That's the kind I grew up with. When my brothers and I were raised on a small farm there in Brunswick, Georgia, my dad made sure that we did plenty of work. He taught us to have a great work ethic. Now, it's difficult going through it when you're going through it. But we learned through the work. And it not only involved the activity of exertion and toil process of work, but it brought forth fatigue and exhaustion. And all this is in that word labor. It brings to mind those things. And Paul used this word to describe the heavy burden of his ministry, which caused him sometimes to receive physical pain. He talked about it in Labors in 2 Corinthians 6 verse 5. 2 Corinthians 11 verse 23. I'm not going to turn over there and read those passages, but you will see both places there. He talks about the labors that he was associated with. In Colossians 1 and verse 29, Paul described this kind of weariness coming to him as a result of his ministry to present every man mature in Christ, and that was the goal for which he labored. The goal for which he labored. Hey, listen to Colossians 1 verse 28 and 29. Paul said, whom we preach, talking about Christ, we preach Christ, whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfectly in Christ Jesus, whereunto I also labor, striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily. So we see the concept there of It is work. It is labor. But the Lord is the one that works in and through us and works mightily in those situations. In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58, Paul said, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast. I'm talking about to believers. Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor Your labor is not in vain. Now, we can overcome the burden of our ministries and the resulting fatigue because of the strength of the Lord Jesus Christ who is yoked together with us. Amen? Ministry, though it can be very exhausting, can also be a joyful burden when we are yoked with the Lord and depend on Him to help us carry the burdens. So what is it that I want us to take away from the message today? It's this. Whether it be a burdensome message, a burdensome weight, a burden to carry, or a burden to overcome, ministry for the Lord can be difficult. I don't want to fool you into thinking that by serving the Lord, everything is hunky-dory. It's a breeze. Because it's work. It just is. And it often involves proclaiming a message that not everyone wants to hear. It often involves heavy responsibilities. It often involves the crash of daily burdens. It often can and does lead to exhaustion. You can see all of that as you read Paul's writings to the churches of those things that were upon him as he was ministering in the manner that the Lord would have him minister. But listen, in all the burdens of ministry and service to the Lord, we have a wonderful Lord and Savior directly at our side. Aren't you glad for that this morning? He's with us. He's jointly yoked to us. If you're saved, if you're not saved this morning, you don't have any help. Whatever burdens you're bearing, you bear them along. If you have the Lord Jesus Christ in your life, He wants you to be yoked to Him And He helps your burden to be a joyful burden as you work for Him. I wonder, is Christ sharing your burden today? Are you yoked up with Him? If you're here this morning and you need the Lord Jesus Christ in your life, if you've never repented of your sin and trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, in Him alone, Him plus nothing minus nothing for your salvation, That's what salvation is. It comes through what Christ did, Christ accomplished on the cross in His death, burial, and resurrection there. He accomplished what was needed for our salvation, all that was needed for our salvation. And if you don't have Him, He's not sharing your burden today. But if you're saved this morning, praise God for that, but are you allowing the Lord to share your burden? Are you yoked up with Him? Is He speaking to you today? Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Are you in a position that you're overwhelmed with that labor and the burden that you're carrying and you need some help with rest? Well, take it to the Lord Jesus Christ. Come to Him. And yoke up with Him. And He will help your burdens become a joyful burden. Amen? Let's bow in prayer. I trust this morning that you won't walk away from here without getting help if you need it. We're here to help you. And we're fixing to have an invitation as soon as I pray. As soon as I pray, we're going to stand, we're going to have a hymn of invitation playing, and we're going to invite you to come. If you come today, we'll get you some help. We'll have somebody take you aside in private and show you from Scripture how you can be sure of salvation. And we trust that you will do that today. But Christian, this is for you too today. Lean upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Yoke up with Him. That burden that you're carrying, don't carry it alone. Amen? And let Him help you. We thank You today for Your love for us, that love that was manifested to us through Christ Jesus. And Lord, we thank You for the guilt of our sin being lifted, for the punishment of our sins being transferred to Christ. That is a burden that we ought to be joyful about. And Lord, because of what He's done for us, Help us to be willing to bear the burdens for Him. And help us to see from what we've learned today that these can be a joyful burden. We don't have to go through it alone. We don't have to go through it with the mully grubs. Lord, we can lean upon God. We can lean upon the Lord Jesus Christ as we walk through this life and as we anticipate Your soon coming As we anticipate being absent from this body and being present with you when all of the burdens of the Christian, all the burdens of the believer are going to be taken away at that point. But until then, we're going to be dealing with burdens. Help us to have the right view of burdens and help us to have the right response to them in yoking up with the Lord Jesus Christ. Have your way in this invitation, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.