with a question today. How many people here, It's an awkward question, maybe never thought about it before. But most of us would say, like, I want to be satisfied. That's kind of the same thing as happy, although there's a difference. Satisfied is actually a little bit different than joy. But satisfied is that things are good. They're the way they should be. You're satisfied. Like in a few weeks after we get done eating a big Thanksgiving meal and you feel satisfied. Now, maybe Thanksgiving's a bad example because you're more than satisfied on some of those days. But, you know, when you're just content and satisfied, I think all of us want those things in life. And in fact, so much of what we do is directed toward that, right? We have jobs to make money to help us be satisfied with life. We go about and strive after all kinds of things so that we can be satisfied. If we can't get what we want to be satisfied, sometimes people will resort to committing some type of crime to get it, right? We see this all the time in life. In fact, I would even dare say that most of our disappointments in life is when we can't reach that goal of being satisfied. And we get really disappointed. We get frustrated with the way things are. We feel that they're unfair. And we have all these types of emotions that dwell up inside of us, and we can't feel satisfied. That can be in personal relationships. It can be finance. It can be positions of authority and influence. It can be anything in life that we go through that we want to be satisfied in. But the reality is all of this is focusing on what? On me. See, we gauge our satisfaction based on ourselves. And we may even gauge our satisfaction based on comparing ourselves to someone else or how we feel at that time or that moment. And so we have a challenge here because we're all focused on self. We live our entire lives for ourselves. You ever notice this? In the very beginning in the book of Genesis, what happened was Eve was tempted to what? To be like God. She wanted to herself. And Adam did as well and they sinned and sin came into the world. We have a real challenge in our lives today. We focus too much on ourselves and because of that I think that's why we misinterpret a lot of scriptures. That's why you see things like Jeremiah 29 11, for I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Now, if you know Scripture at all, you know that that comes right in the middle of God telling the Hebrew children that they've been captive by another culture, and they're going to stay that way for 70 years. But most of the time, we think somehow that means like a prosperity thing. Oh, God has good things for you. Maybe. Maybe we don't understand the good things. Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me. We see this in all type of sporting events. Is that really what that means? What about in Romans 8, 28? God works all things together for those who love Him. There's a caveat there, and I'll call it according to His purpose, and then we'll talk in a minute about the verse that comes right after that that we don't like to read. But the spoiler alert in all this is it's not about us. But we make all these scriptures about us. We look at all these things, and we hear this in the heretical, you know, prosperity gospel, if you will, that just name good things, and God's going to bless you, and He's going to send you good things in your life. Well, the way God looks at our lives is not the way that I look at my life. The things that I desire to be content with may not be what God desires for my life, and who's right? Well, He is, not me. And so we get all these things backwards and we have a really hard time understanding what's going on in life. And we try to bend scripture slightly to make it about us. So let's give you an example. Let's turn with me to the book of Matthew, where I want to spend the majority of our time today. Matthew chapter 11 and verse 28 through 30. Matthew chapter 11. verse 28 through 30. Could be a familiar verse or even a familiar phrase. Matthew 11, 28. Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. 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. Now here's the point I'm hoping to make rather quickly today so we can move into the rest of this service is this. How many times have we applied this verse to our lives or read it to someone else when we're struggling with something that has nothing to do with God? Does that make sense? How many times have we encouraged each other with these words and said, oh, God's burden is light, His yoke, and we'll talk about what that means in a minute, is easy. We just have to believe that God wants good things for us and He's gonna make our lives easy. Is God interested in how easy your life is? This is not a trick question. The answer is no. He's interested in one thing. That's your relationship with Him. Sometimes that brings ease of life. Other times it does not. You look at the Apostle Paul, shipwrecked, beaten within an inch of his life over and over again. In fact, I would dare say scarred so bad that people probably stared at him when he walked by. And yet, was he content and satisfied with the Lord? Absolutely. And so we get this verse all mixed up. We think that somehow it's about us. Somehow that it's about what we want and God's going to make things easy for us. But this verse is not talking about ourselves. It's not talking about our nature. It's not talking about the troubles we get ourselves into or the challenges we find. No, it is not talking about that at all. In fact, the reality is all of our desires, the things that I want, that I would say I'm satisfied with this, God tells us to crucify those things. That's harsh language. It is very serious language. In fact, in Galatians 2.20, let me turn there and at least read it for you. Galatians 2.20 says, I am crucified with Christ and nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So in the book of Galatians we clearly see, written probably by the Apostle Paul to us, it says, I am crucified with Christ, yet I still live. What does that mean? What that means is, as it says in another place in Luke, where Jesus himself says that you must take up your cross daily and follow after him. That means that what I want in this life is not what it's about. That means that whether or not I feel satisfied with life, whether I have enough money, or have enough possessions, or have enough family, or have enough education, or all the things that we strive after and spend our time and our effort after, whether we attain all these things means absolutely nothing to God. God wants us to love Him and to be devoted to Him. And because we are fallen, and what I mean by that is because sin entered this world with Adam, and has entered every life after, we are born into sin, we choose to continue to sin, and because of that we are separated from God, and we go after the things that we want. And what God is telling us is that we must take our nature, our self, and we must sacrifice it. We must give it up. And we don't do that just once, we have to do that over and over again. Now, just so I'm clear, we are saved exactly once. But we must sacrifice our desires and our selfish nature every single day. We must come before the throne of God and lay what we want in our lives down, our interests, our self nature, and we must strive after Him, not of things of the world. Now, I told you everyone likes to quote Romans 8, 28, God works all things together for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. But notice verse 29, it says to be conformed to the image of the Son. The reason that He works all things together is so that we can be more like Him. It's not so we can win sporting events. It's not so we can get a promotion. It's not so we can have the family that we want or the car that we want. It is so that we can be more like Him. And so everything we seek in life should be a goal to be more like Him, to be conformed to His image, to the image of Jesus Christ, not ourselves. Our self, who we are inside, is actually the enemy to God. The scripture declares as much, for the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Our natural state is to be hostile to the God who made us. You ever thought about that? Every day we're going to wake up and do what? The opposite of what God wants. It's our nature. It's who we are. And every day, once we're saved, we have to make sure that we say, It's not about me, it's about you, God. What do you want me to do today? We must lose our desire for self, our desire for satisfaction, and become holy like God. We will never perfectly attain this. But it should be our desire. It should be what we pursue. It should be what we are after. It should be something that we truly seek, is to be more like Him. And once we finally get to that point and we can consistently daily be that way, we begin to be satisfied. Satisfied in the only way that matters. Satisfied with God. Satisfied spiritually. We may not have any more money, We may not have any more health. We may not have any more possessions, but to be satisfied with God, that's the goal. And that's the point. We read the book of James chapter four. I'm going to read a few verses. You can listen or turn if you'd like there. James chapter four. I just want to read it. From whence come wars and fighting among you? Come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members or in your body? You lust and you have not. You kill and desire to have, and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you have not, because you ask not. Ye ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. See, the Bible over and over again says to ask for what you want, and God will grant it. You ever heard that before? I hope so because it's in there. But the thing we always miss is this verse right here. We ask for my own selfish nature. I don't ask for the glory of God. You see, we too often ask what we think that we want and what we think that we need. And we fail to ask God for what he wants in our lives. And we fail to accept many times his answer when he does give us the answer. Well, I know you said this, but I didn't really mean it that way. I don't want to do it that way. I heard what you said, but let's go left instead of right. Or how about let's just go two or three degrees off of what you want. You do that for a long time and you're way off. So we have a real challenge here in life. You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts, upon yourself. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know you not that friendship with the world is enemy with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." Becoming a friend with the world, getting all the things that you think you want in your life, is separating you from God. Even believers, it's separating believers from God. Not eternally, but while we're here. Do you think the scripture saith this in vain? The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to enemy. That means who we are in our nature, we lust after things. We want selfish things. And it's our very enemy that we struggle with every single day. But he gives more grace. Wherefore, he said, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. So you pointed out this morning, brother. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up. Do you want to be satisfied in life? It's not in the pursuit of the things we see, touch, taste, and feel. It's in the pursuit of Him. It's in the pursuit of His relationship with Him. That is how we will be lifted up if we truly stop seeking after ourselves and seek only after Him. Now, in case anyone's thinking that somehow I'm preaching this because I have somehow obtained this, I most assuredly tell you I have not. I struggle with this. It's a daily battle for everyone. No one ever achieves perfection, this side of perfection. At some point, when I'm taken into heaven, I will be able to lay this effort down because I will no longer be tempted in this way. But until that time, even as a believer, I struggle with this. So what does all this have to do with these verses? And what is a yoke anyway? I mean, probably nobody in here has ever used a yoke. You might have seen one hanging on the wall of Cracker Barrel and probably didn't even know what it was. So a yoke is a device that connects two animals together. It's like a harness. And it's used to control and to help them work. It distributes force among two different animals, and it provides the person who's leading the animal's control, and ensures that they're working together. So most often you would see two, like cows or oxen or something like that, who are yoked together with a piece of wood around their necks that's connected together, and they can pull forward together. But here's the things about this that are important. Really well-trained animals, they kind of know what they're supposed to do. If you ever worked with a team of animals or anything like that, or horses or something like this, if they're well-trained, they kind of get what they're supposed to do. And oftentimes you can just speak to them and they know. They know left, they know right, they know that once they're hooked up and you say whatever the command is they're supposed to pull, they know when to stop, they sense what it is that their master wants them to do. So here's a question for you, believers. Can you sense what it is that the master wants you to do, right? Or does he have to speak very loudly? Because you know what, usually, almost historically, his voice comes as a still, small whisper. And we have to be ready to hear and then to be obedient, to be successful. But here's the other thing about a yoke. It restrains you and takes away your freedom. If you have a cow or a bull that's in a yoke, it just can't wander off and do whatever it wants to. Ever thought about that? It has to stay there. It has limited movement. It can move around a little bit, but it can't run off somewhere. This is the challenging part. When it says, take my yoke, this is Jesus speaking directly to us in case you missed that. And he says, take my yoke. Jesus is saying, take my yoke upon you. What he is saying is, you must submit to me and to my restraints. You must do what I command you to do. And you must not seek your own self-freedom or your own self-good. You ever thought about that way? When he is saying, take my yoke upon you, he's saying, limit yourself. Oh, you could go do all the things you wanted to. You could go live the life you wanted to. You could pursue all the things you want to. But what Jesus is saying is, take this yoke that limits your freedom of movement, listen to me, and then to be obedient. It's entirely different from maybe how we have interpreted this verse many times. Are you willing to do that? Really ask yourself that question. What if God asks you to move to a different city? What if he asks you to take a different job? What if he asks you to preach? What if he asks you to serve in the church? What if he asks you to join a church? We've seen quite a bit of that recently. Are you willing to let God limit your freedom? The reality, I think, for most of us is, sometimes if we're comfortable with what he asks. Other times, we're like, not a chance. I'm not going to give you control over this. You want me to do this? You want me to go here? And we may not verbalize and say, are you crazy? But our actions betray us, because disobedience is the same thing. By our actions, God knows our heart. And by our actions, others know our heart, too. Are you willing to take his yoke, his restraints, his will, your freedom that you're gonna lose and be commanded by him and by him alone? Notice it says, take my yoke upon you. It doesn't say, I'm gonna force you to do it. You ever thought about that? You can be a saved born again believer and disobedient to God. You can refuse to be refined and restricted. You must voluntarily take the restrictions that he gives you and you must voluntarily be obedient. He's not going to force you. That's not his way. We have a free will. He made it that way and he's not going to violate it. Now could he if he wanted to, but he won't. I've heard it say God is a gentleman. He doesn't force himself. It's the same idea with us. So when he's saying, take my yoke, he's giving you an option. You can take it or you cannot. And in that offer, we have to come face to face with some serious questions. Am I willing to give up myself, my desires, my interests, my goals? Am I willing to give up the striving, the thing that I want so I can serve him for whatever he's going to give me? Or am I going to keep doing it my way? Again, what if he asks you to do something you don't want to do? Here's a better question. What if he asks you to stop doing something you like doing? You ever had a sin in your life that you struggle with? What if he's telling you to stop? Are you going to let him yoke you and control you? Here's another one. A good number of people struggle with this sometimes. We don't always want to trust God, because sometimes we compare Him to earthly people. You ever had a hard time with that? Someone to let you down, someone to hurt you. You're like, I don't know if I want to take that, yoke His burden, His restrictions, because I've done that before, and it didn't work out so well. Have you done it with Him? Because we're poor examples. We all fail at everything that we do. And so if we judge God based on other people's behaviors, we're never going to really trust God. Because God is perfect. God never fails. God never does something wrong. He never tells you a lie. He wants only good things for you. Now, you may not see it that way, but that's what He desires for you. What if you're just satisfied in your current state of life and you don't want any better? Maybe you've reached the point, you're like, I'm good. I've got everything I need. I've got enough money. I've got enough family. I'm healthy enough. Everybody's happy. What if it could be better? What if God has something in store for you? You have no idea how good it could be, but you have to be willing to be restricted, willing to give up what you want, willing to give up your desires so that He can move you to the next thing. A yoke will guide and restrain us. It conforms us to the will of another. And so if we take on His yoke, we're guided and constrained and we're conforming to His will. And here's the thing, that's what God wants us to do. He wants us to take this on. He literally sent his son to give us this message, to live a perfect life, to die falsely accused of crimes that he never committed, sinless, to be buried, raised on the third day, to ascend into heaven, to be seated at the right hand, simply so that I can be satisfied in him and not in myself. to have a reunited relationship with Him, to know Him and to love Him. Now, as I said, maybe you're afraid of what He might ask you to do. I've been there a couple of times, probably more than a couple of times. I've been like, I don't know about this. Here's the thing. He gives us a promise. I am meek and lowly. What does that mean? He's gentle and humble. He loves you. He died for you. What he wants for you is best. He knows that our selfish nature, the self that makes us seek after things so that we're satisfied with our lives, he knows that that's not good for us. And what he wants is to restrict us, not because he's mean, not because he's oppressive, but because he wants to make it easier for us. The reality is this, we go through lives and we go through ups and downs and ups and downs. And sometimes some of us will say, I've been down for a long time. That's not God's way. God's way, when we truly give up ourselves and seek him is consistent love. We may go through trials and struggles on the outside, but the relationship with him never changes. The peace that he gives us, the knowledge of who he is, the desire to strive after him, we just have to give up control and stop seeking our own selfish desires. He is humble. He's not a taskmaster. And when we do, When we do this, we find rest for our soul. Look at that verse. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And just before that, I'm sorry. And ye shall find rest unto your souls. What does that word soul mean? That means the very essence of who we are. It means self. So here's what's so contradictory. When we give up control of who we are to an almighty, all-powerful, all-loving God, to let Him guide us, to let Him lead us, to let Him restrict us in what we should do, our self that we have to sacrifice every day, that's when we find fulfillment is in Him. Does that make sense? Let me give you another illustration. At home, we have an Australian shepherd. She's a herd dog, bred that way for I don't know how long. If you come over to the house and you bring small children, after a few minutes, the small children will all be in the corner of the room, because she just moves them there. We have a ball that she likes to herd, because we don't have any livestock. And we take her outside, and she'll sit and violently shake, because all she wants to do is to herd that ball all around the yard. And the moment we throw it, she will not let it go. I mean, I've never tried this, but I'm pretty sure she'd, like, die out there and then go eat, okay? That is what she's bred to do. That is what she loves to do. She will do nothing else. Is it a burden for her to herd something? Not in the least. She would do it until she's so exhausted she can't do it anymore. Why? Because that is the nature of what she does. That is what she is bred and intended to do, is to herd things around. Similarly, you ready? Follow me. We are intended to worship God. And when we were born into sin, that was violated. And now we don't really want to. It's work to pray. It is work to come to church. It is work to strive after him. And we don't find it content to ourselves. It feels like work. That is unnatural, as if my dog did not want to herd something around. She was made for it. We are made to worship God. It should be everything we desire in life. We should be like her, literally shaking in excitement and anticipation, waiting for the moment that we could begin to worship and serve God. That is what we were designed to do. That is what his yoke is. That is what his burden is, is for us to love him and to serve him. And yet we chase our own desires. to be about as likely as when I throw a ball for her to pick it up and drop it off on my lap, because that's not her nature. That's the retriever I had as a kid. We are meant to serve God. And if we would but do that, the burden would not feel like a burden. The yoke wouldn't feel restraining. We would feel free when we are doing the things that God wants us to do. So if you read this and find encouragement, and I hope you do, come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden. Maybe you've worked really hard to get where you're at. Maybe you've worked to do, to raise your family well, to make money, to provide for people, to be nice to people, to do good things. But listen, you have labored and worked all your life, but he says, come to me and I will give you rest. Take the yoke, the thing that constrains you, that gives you guidance, that allows you to actually work for me upon you. Learn from me, let him whisper in your ear, for I am meek and lowly, I'm humble, and you shall find rest to your souls. That means that Jesus Christ, when we do this properly, we will find contentment and we will be happy with all that he is. Why? Because it's what we were designed to do. And we go chasing things that we shouldn't. We try to do things we shouldn't. We try to be a retriever when we should be a herd dog. Or we try to be a herder when we should be a retriever. Listen, that's the way we are. We're designed to worship God. And yet we chase after what? Ourselves. Try to build up our status. Try and build up our money. It's only when we realize what we are made for, And when we allow that to conform us, that we are truly satisfied. If you want to be satisfied with this life, no matter how much you make, how much you lose, no matter what kind of relationships you have or don't have, no matter where you live or what you live in, no matter what your title or power or possessions are, no matter how little that you have. If you want to learn to be content and satisfied in all things, then you must do the only thing that will actually satisfy you. And that's love the Lord, your God, with all of your heart, soul, strength, and mind. And when you do that, when you allow him to control you, his burden becomes happiness. It becomes satisfaction to do the will of the Lord. Tell me, you all have not experienced this in your life. When you know that you're in the will of God, and you do the things that God wants you to do, is it hard? Doesn't seem like it, does it? It seems like satisfaction. Why? Because it is. Because His burdens are not heavy, and He's not a taskmaster. He loves you. He wants you to do what is right for you. He wants you to work for Him. He wants you to love Him. And when you do those things, find rest for your soul. " A person. Now, as always, there's two groups of people every time that I preach. There's those who have been saved, rescued from their sin and separation from God, have been reunited with Him, having had an experience of salvation. And then there's another group of people who are not. There are messages for both here. I spent most of the time focusing on believers, if you didn't notice that. Brothers and sisters, we must be about God's business. We must let Him control us and constrain us. We must crucify our own fleshly desires every single day so that we can do the thing that we were born to do, which is love Him. Now, to those who are not believers, The yoke that you're bearing is sin. It's death. It is separation from God. That's not of his own doing. That's of our own doing. We're always the one who leaves. We're always the one who offends a great almighty God. It is our sin that has separated from us from him. And he desires for us to be reunited. And I will tell you this, that yoke of sin is really heavy. Some of you all know what I'm talking about. You have been burdened by your sins. You know just how hard it is to get through life because you have sinned. Here's the thing. The same way that believers have to give up and let God take control, unbelievers have to do the same thing. You cannot get to God on your own. You cannot work hard enough to get to God. You cannot do good enough to get to God. You must come to him and say, God, I, I'm a sinner. I need your help. I don't know what to do. You must come to him and you must seek forgiveness. Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. And when you are saved in between laden and end, when you come to know God, he will give you rest. That's why so many times believers describe what happened is I just had peace. That's what happened to me. I didn't understand what was happening when I was on my knees praying out to God. But I knew that when I got up, something was different about me. Something changed. God gave me a peace that I still remember to this day. He will still give me that peace when I get my own self out of the way and focus on Him. I have that peace and contentment and that satisfaction with life because I'm doing what He wants me to do, not what I want to do. And so I want to give us an opportunity to reflect on this. I don't know what God has told you in this message. I don't know if he's revealed to your heart that you are separated from him. And if so, then you need to come and you need to pray to him, not to me. You need to come and you need to bow before him and say, God, I am a sinner. Save me. And when you have that peace come about your life, you just stand up and share it with us. We will celebrate you. Celebrate rather what God has done for you. Some of you have been dependent upon other people to be satisfied in life, and you need to stop that, because it's not going to work. Some of you have been dependent upon your jobs, or your status, or your title, or your wealth, on anything other than God to be satisfied. That's not going to work. Some of you are not willing to give God the control over your life that He deserves, that He demands, that He will give you in a loving way because you want to do it your own way. Listen, end of the story. It's not going to work. The only way to have a satisfied life is to be crucified every single day, to give all the desires and wants and wishes of your life unto him and let him be the yoke that guides and controls you. That's it. There is no other way to a satisfied life. And trust me, we all want to be satisfied. We all want to be full. We all want to be at peace. So I don't know what God has burdened you with today, but I'm telling you, this is an opportunity to deal with God. What do I mean by that? I mean, if God is telling you to do something, he's burdened you to pray, you feel like you need to do something, you need to talk to God and get more information. If He wants you to be saved, then ask for that. Seek after Him. If He's telling you to forgive someone, then forgive them. If He's telling you to give up a sin, then you need to do that. If He's telling you to do something, you need to do that. Whatever it is that God is telling you to do. I'm going to close. Whatever He's telling you to do, this is your opportunity to do it. To come unto Him so that He will give your soul rest. Because while I'm only 40-something years old. It's hard. We need rest. We need satisfaction. Not earthly satisfaction, but satisfaction that comes from Him. May we all seek that today.