Well, it is a joy and a privilege to be able to not only sing classic hymns of the faith and new spiritual songs, but also to sing the Psalms as we get to do each Lord's Day, singing straight words and renditions, knowing that the saints for thousands and thousands of years, yea, even our Savior has sung these very words. It's a great joy and testament to God's covenant faithfulness to his people. Let us pray. Lord, as we come to your word, as it is about to be read, your servant is about to preach, we ask that the Spirit would be working amongst us. Father, cause your Son to be lifted up and seen and known and loved, that we might not only know He is Savior, but know Him as our Savior. Lord, open our eyes and ears to your truth. Teach us. Do not leave us as you find us. Transform us through your means of grace. Work in our hearts and minds through the preaching of your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. I'll invite you to turn in your Bibles or tap on your devices, whichever it may be, to Matthew chapter 11. We're gonna be looking at verses 28 and 29. Our sermon this morning, finding rest at the Lord's table from time to time in different seasons. We take a sermon on a Lord's day that we are celebrating the supper and we focus in. attention upon this sacrament, the Lord's Supper. And that's what we're doing this morning. And this chapter in Matthew, there's some some context to this chapter begins with the testimony of the reality and the truth. The Lord Jesus is the Christ. He is the Messiah, the one who has been and was promised the one who would come and earn the forgiveness of his people. And we see Jesus proclaiming a warning of judgment to all those who are unrepentant, to all those who would stand in their own self-righteousness. He declares that. But at the same time, we see Jesus' heart on display, Jesus' heart for his repentant people, those whom the Spirit has been working in and brought to a place where they would seek forgiveness. We see Jesus' heart for all those whom the Spirit is bringing my grace through faith. So listen to God's word. Matthew chapter 11, 28 and 29. Come to me. This is Jesus speaking. 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. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our Lord stands forever. Amen. Amen. Now, if there's anyone in this room or listening later online or watching online and you are a Tolkien fan, and particularly you are a Lord of the Rings fan, And if you're old enough to remember when the movies were coming out, perhaps you had read and you had a, maybe you were so committed, you had a leather bound edition of the Fellowship of the Ring that you'd read through and it was worn. And then you went to the movie and your heart was dashed and crushed because Tom Bombadil was not in the movie. And I'm just gonna assume all the laughs are from people who understand the weight of that reality. In the story, Bombadil is such a massive character, there's so much mystery around him, but the importance is there. The hobbits, Frodo and his hobbit companions, they're leaving, they're heading out on this quest, there's a lot of uncertainty and fear, they go through the old wood and there's danger, old man Willow comes, and there's all these issues, and then they find safety. rest at Tom Bombadil's house with Tom and his wife, Goldberry. And they're given beds to sleep in. They're comfortable and warm and they've been sleeping out. These are hobbits now. They're not like Strider, Aragorn. They're not those who are used to living in the wild. And they've been having a hard time of it. And they're brought in and they get to sleep in beds. They get to come to the table of Tom Bombadil. And not only do they feast, but they hear the singing. And just the singing of Tom causes their hearts to be lifted. And it is truly a respite, an oasis for the hobbits. But it only lasts a few days. And they have to go. And they do go to another wonderful place, Ribbondale, but it is not quite the same. They won't come across again someone like Tom Bombadil, and they lose that moment of rest and respite that they had. And there are no Tom Bombadils running around the world, I know. What a great illustration, what a wonderful part of the story. But for you, I know rest is important. That's why you work out and make sure you can get vacations so you have time off and you scrape together some money to be able to take those vacations to get rest. That's why many look forward to retirement because they think in retirement I'll get to rest from the busyness of my life and I'll be able to calm down just a little bit. It's why we binge watch and all the different streaming services. We sit down and we're entertained because we just want to rest our minds and our bodies. That's why people do cookouts and barbecues, have people over. They want to rest from the chaos and craziness of life. That's why, dare I say, naps are so wonderful, particularly Lord's Day afternoon naps, glorious things. They bring rest. But we'll see in these two verses, by God's grace today, what we're gonna see is there's a much greater, meaningful, deep rest for God's people. So as we look at these two verses, what I hope that you'll see and hold on to is that Jesus welcomes you to find rest in him daily and forever. Jesus welcomes you to find rest in him daily and forever. As we look at three things, Jesus welcome, Jesus heart, and Jesus rest. So let's first turn our attention to Jesus's welcome that he gives. Jesus invites everyone who is worn out from trying to find God, those who are worn out trying to earn their place before God, to do enough good things that God might recognize them, to those who are trying to earn forgiveness, for those who are carrying the shame and guilt of their sins, and this is worn them out, these burdens they carry. And Jesus invites all of these haggard souls, invites you to come to Him. As J.C. Ryle, a now dead and in glory pastor from Britain wrote, we should mark who they are that Jesus invites. He does not address those who feel themselves righteous and worthy. He addresses all that labor and are heavy laden. It is a wide description. It comprises multitudes in this weary world, all who feel a load on their heart of which they would feign great that they could get free, a load of sin a load of sorrow, a load of anxiety, a load of remorse. All whosoever they may be and whatsoever their past lives, all such are invited to come to Christ. And we should mark what a gracious offer our Savior extends. When Jesus says come to me, there's in essence the whole context of that big Part of that, running right down the middle, is this important aspect of Jesus saying, come to me, believe in me. Believe that I am who I say I am, and everything I have done that testifies to that reality. We go over to the gospel according to John, John chapter 6. John chapter 6, verse 35. Jesus touching on this in a different way, speaking of the reality of who he is as he invites the weary to come to him, as we see the fulfillment of all these promises throughout the scriptures, it comes and there's this this picture we're given in verse thirty five. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. When one is brought to Christ, there is a meaningful, eternal, impactful reality of what happens when one comes in faith. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus proclaims this gospel of repentance and faith and and belief and and he's rejecting he's rejecting the teaching over and over and over again. The Pharisees keep putting out the teaching of the day. Those in religious power who are saying, do this, do that, do this, do that. You have to be like us. You have to be righteous that God might love you. And what they do is they they were they were, as we see today, people still doing putting more and more and more and more burdens upon people in Christ and stop. Come to me, lay the burden at my feet. If you've read Pilgrim's Progress, the scene where the burden drops off Christian's back at the foot of the cross. Everyone who was worn out from sin qualifies to heed the call. The call has gone forth. for faith in Christ, to come to Him, asking for forgiveness. And everyone listening to me, you all qualify for that. And as we'll see as we move on, even those whom the Lord has redeemed, you are God's people. Perhaps you have decades of growth and holiness, and yet this is still a call that you need to hear every day, is Christ says, come to me. Come to me and find rest, dear saint. You can go in the scriptures and read Ezekiel chapter 36, John chapter 10, Ephesians 1, just a few different places. It gives us these pictures of how the Lord works and redeeming and saving his people and the impact it makes upon their lives. For those who are known by Christ in this way, who know Christ, who believe in him, who have come to him and put the burden down because he's taken it. you can testify to that reality of the rest that you have. Even in our weak moments, we have a rest that's beyond our comprehension that we enjoy in Christ. And even in our weakness, when we seek to upset the rest, we have a God who's gracious and continues to care for us in these things. Jesus receives all of his people Also a beautiful aspect there. So there's not this when we're reading this, it's wonderful just to begin with when Jesus has come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden. Jesus didn't hide himself away. He wasn't waiting on people to discover him and then finding him to then come up to him and say, Jesus, look at me. But instead he has gone to them and said, come, come to me, bring those burdens. And then the beautiful thing we see here is not only that Jesus has gone to them, but that Jesus receives all of His people. There are none that the Spirit has given faith to cry out who have come, and then Jesus looks at them and says, no, I don't like you. I meant come to the other people, not you. Please leave. That's not who Jesus is. That's not who our Savior is. You can be confident that Christ will never miss reject or lose any of his people. Back to John chapter six, just a few verses later there, as we read 35 earlier, we go down to 37. And this is what Jesus says. He says, all that the father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. That's a pretty good promise. Nobody's getting missed. See, things happen. Y'all probably experienced this in life. Children, maybe you've had where a parent has made a promise to you and they forget and that can be upsetting. Perhaps where you work, maybe your boss made a promise. Maybe they told you, do this, do that. And I promise next year, next year will be the year for you. Or perhaps you look at the promises that have been laid out and assured as a citizen that you received as a citizen of this country or the state and you see these places and you say, these things have been forgotten. But our Lord does not forget. This is a sure promise. He does not look over. And as it were, Jesus one day won't as it were tapped, be tapped by his father. And the father won't say, Jesus, where are there? There are some people missing. I gave you some more of these sheep. Where are they? It's not gonna happen. As the father, son, and spirit worked together in the redeeming of their people, we can be assured is the perfect welcome. It's regarding this burdensome, this weariness that you have. It's, I hope, hitting you how amazing it is that unlike every other religion or philosophy or attempts, God is not saying, clean yourself up, get your act together, and then come to me so we can talk. Christ has come to me with all of this. Bring it to me. We took a trip recently. Actually, I say recently, a couple of days ago on a trip listening to an audible book and in the book, one of the characters, the doctor, and he's caring for someone who's hurt and it's crazy, a disastrous situation. And in that situation, as you can imagine, doctors have to deal with a lot of mess. And this person's embarrassed and they're injured state that the doctor's having to care for their mess. And the doctor made it clear that, you know, I'm a surgeon, I'm a doctor, and if I'm not willing to wade into the middle of all of this, what we, you're embarrassed by, and everyone else sees as disgusting, if I'm not willing to wade into that to care for you, what kind of a doctor am I? What kind of a savior would the Lord Jesus Christ be if he said, deal with your disgusting mess, then come to me? But he's a savior says, come to me. I'm dealing with your sin. I'm taking care of the mess. There are no hoops to jump through. There are no payments that you have to make. Come, you repent of your sins, your trust in Christ and receive him. And then for for those who have enjoyed that, who have been adopted by God for whatever time it may have been, a week, a decade, a lifetime. For you, dear saints, don't forget. Don't be like Adam and Eve when you sin and seek to hide from God and cover yourself. So when we look at the scriptures, we don't see that God's people are perfect, sinless. They have their act fully together. In fact, when we look at the scriptures, they're brutally honest. Look at David, a man after God's own heart. Look at some of the wretched, evil, sinful things he did. And yet, what is the characteristic we see in David that is true of all those who are gods? When they sin, their hearts are broken by their sin and they are not driven to run from God and shame, but they are driven to run to God, to run to Christ. To come and lay down their burdens. So when you sin, when you're hurt, when you fail, when you're anxious, you need to go to Christ and remember, dear saints, of the welcome that Christ has extended. In a few minutes, we're going to come to the table and we're going to enjoy, as God's people, that welcome that he gives to his saints. An aspect of that rest. So Jesus, welcome. And then we look at Jesus' heart here. Jesus, thankfully, is not like us. Thankfully, he is not sinful like us. We learn early, whether it's kindergarten class, whether we stumble onto social media, have a conversation with another human being, we learn early that people are sinful and can be mean. We learn early that we are sinful and we can be mean. And we can hurt others with the things we say and the things we do. And others hurt us with the things they say and the things that they do. And so there is an aspect almost that we grow up and we learn from experience that other people cannot be fully trusted because they have their own selfish motives. At some point, we just were waiting that they're going to do something to sin against us and hurt us. And yet, praise the Lord, Jesus is not like us. I think in many ways we're tempted to think that this character in this book we were listening to like this hurt person thought of doctors and this hurt person thought this doctor, successful surgeon is going to want nothing to do with my broken, bleeding and dying body, this mess that I am right now. Well, in the same way, sometimes, sadly, I think we're tempted to think Jesus, the God man, the sinless one has no interest in us, in me, a sinful, wretched, weak-faithed person. But what do we see in the Gospels? We see the God-man not keeping all the sinners at bay. That became difficult to do after the incarnation. But he's there and he's present with them. Jesus' heart is It's not one that pushes away sinners. As one of my seminary professors used to love to say, God loves to save sinners. That's what we see in the scriptures. That's the movement we see throughout a redemptive history. If God, and we talked about this in our little short series on the Trinity, God is love. If God wasn't love, there would be no redemption. forgiveness for any one. Christian, Jesus doesn't look down his nose and disgust at you. He has compassion for you. The sheep of his pasture, the apple of his eye, his bride would have been given to him by the Father. Our Savior has compassion for you, dear saints, because Jesus, as we read here in our In our verses, in our passage, Jesus is gentle and lowly in heart. In the Old Testament and the New Testament, so in the scriptures, all the way through as we read, it speaks of the heart. It's talking about the center of who you are. We think of heart and we're like, oh, that's that muscle that pumps blood around our body. But the scriptures, it uses heart to mean that that's who you are. It speaks of your heart. It's speaking of the reality of you. The heart drives you, the heart animates you. And this is the only place throughout the scriptures that we get a very distinct, clear picture of the Lord Jesus Christ heart. So I think we should listen and pay attention to what it is that is revealed. We read in 28, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn for 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. Now don't misunderstand this. Don't don't read this incorrectly in a heretical way in a way that doesn't understand context or look to these things and and perhaps read it as as Jesus in verse twenty nine saying take my yoke upon you and learn for me for I am and fearful and a pushover. And you'll find rest in me. Because I'm afraid of you. I'll just kind of let you do whatever. And we back up just a little bit earlier. What is it we see in verses 20 to 24? An extremely strong rebuke that Christ gives to the religious leaders not something a fearful, weak, afraid of what other people think, or the consequences that come from telling truth. That's not what we see. We see the Lord Jesus Christ. Though He is gentle and lowly, He is bold and courageous as He rebukes unrepentant sinners, specifically those who are misleading those whom they were supposed to be guiding to the Messiah. So gentleness, gentleness is misunderstood, particularly by men. Gentleness is power under control. Gentleness is the reality that Lord Jesus Christ is sovereign and almighty and he has all power and yet it is completely under control. It's not out of control like you look at perhaps younger, maybe look at a playground full of a bunch of young kids and it's just And there, you know, there's adults there just trying to, like, control a little bit, like, oh, if we can just get through recess and all the kids are alive. It was just bouncing around. That's out of control. But gentleness is like the father who's 6'4", 250 pounds. He is extremely strong and he's handed his two-minute-old infant and he holds the infant in his arms. He doesn't crush the baby. His power is under control. That's gentleness. That's our Savior, who is gentle with us. His might and strength, He doesn't crush us. He's not out of control. But He has it perfectly under control. And Lowley is speaking of humility, of being humble. And you can turn your attention to Philippians chapter 2 and get a picture there. We can just start with the humbleness of Christ, that God the Son would come and take on flesh, that he would live amongst his fallen and sinful creatures with sin all around him, that he might keep his own law for the people who can't. that he then might go to the cross so that our sins would be put upon him and that he might die the final perfect atoning sacrifice for his people's forgiveness. Three days later, rising from the dead, ascending in glory, but that's humbleness, humility. Gentleness and lowliness or gentleness and humility are key things missing in our culture, but particularly with men. And the problem is that men hear these things and they think, as I've told others about some conversations I've had where church is where grandma goes. Jesus is kind of weak, like really? In a land, in a world of survival of the strongest, you want me to love my neighbor? And they miss the whole thing. So young men and men, I say to you, don't miss who Christ is and He calls you to be. Being gentle and lowly, that does not mean you're not bold and courageous, that you're not follow your King into battle, that you are not serving in ways that God is using you to transform, not only your own life, but your family's life, your culture's life. There is nothing weak or pushover about the gospel of the church or our savior. Back to where we were, but Jesus, knowing his people, your sinfulness, your failures, this gentleness and lowliness comes through as Christ is tender and patient and accessible. Jesus will never crush you. He will never abuse you, take advantage of you, reject you in your moment of greatest need. He is not like the false gods. He is the real, one true and living God. And regarding Christ's people, One of the elders of our denomination has written this, speaking of the heart of Christ and that interaction with God's people. And he writes, his heart of gentle embrace is never outmatched by our sins and foibles and insecurities and doubts and anxieties and failures. For lowly gentleness is not one way Jesus occasionally acts towards other. Gentleness is who he is. It is his heart. He can't un-gentle himself toward his own any more than you or I can change our eye color. It's who we are. So while you live in a world where people are harsh toward you, and they are, and sadly we're harsh towards others, you live in a world where people are harsh towards you, where people break their promises, and if you admit it, you break your promises, where others find you irritating. I know that you only find other people irritating, but they find you irritating as well. In that world where there's harshness and the breaking of promises and irritation, where the civil government, your family members, your friends, coworkers, whatever it may be, where they treat you sinfully and you treat them sinfully, in that world, be assured that the Lord Jesus Christ will always look to his people with gentleness and care, that he will not Treat us the way we treat him. Be assured that the Lord Jesus Christ will grant you rest and refreshment as he cares for you through his means of grace, even as we come to the Lord's table today and see this opportunity to come, that he is inviting his people to find refreshment and rest and ease. So we've seen Jesus welcome in Jesus' heart, and then for a few moments, Jesus rests. Jesus alone gives this authentic sustaining rest that Christians enjoy. We read that in a few verses that we were looking at this call to come. Where Jesus literally says, I will give you rest. Jesus promises rest for your soul. Now, he doesn't promise a life free from labor and a life free from suffering. That's not the point. I mean, we're seeing here, actually, he says, he literally says, take upon you my yoke. But the point is, is he saying the yoke of the world is one that is heavy, one that will beat you down. My yoke is one that is easy, light. And yokes are those things that are put on the shoulders of animals that might guide them and that can be used in agriculture. And he's saying the same way. We're not being promised a life with no suffering. We're not being promised a life where we don't have to pick up and bear our cross. But what Christ promises is that a life of service to Him is wonderful, and nothing like a life of serving sin or the world or yourself. When God saves you, he gives you a heart that trusts him and seeks out of love to obey him. And as strange as it may sound, the Lord, through the work of the Spirit in us, what Christ has done for us, he actually makes it where we find great joy in serving the Lord. Something that to someone who's not a Christian, that is like an oxymoron to think that joy in service, that's so strange. Yet it is a glorious reality. As Christians submit to Christ and his word, we can be thankful and assured that this yoke will never crush us. And Jesus alone gives lasting rest for his people now and forever. To rest in Jesus Christ is to cease any effort of justifying yourself before God. What a merry-go-round, what a world that it is crushing to think every single day you've got to do enough to feel the good lists compared to the bad list. To think that you have to be good enough. What is good enough? You can't be good enough. You put yourself into an impossible situation. But in Jesus Christ, that impossible situation is dealt with. The square peg is rounded. And in Christ, we enjoy forgiveness, rest, reconciliation to our God, and adoption. To rest in Jesus Christ is to be freed from worldly burdens that rob you of peace and joy. To rest in Jesus Christ is to enjoy assurance of your union with Christ and the eternity that we look forward to with our triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit. To rest in Jesus Christ is to trust God's covenantal faithfulness that we see throughout the scriptures. That promise as you read through, and if you haven't read the scriptures before, look for this. You'll notice it as you work your way through. There's a promise over and over and over again. We see it where God says, I will be your God, you will be my people, and I will dwell with you forever. We see it starting in Genesis, moving all the way to Revelation. It is the movement of redemptive history. It is God's covenantal faithfulness to his people. And now we have the blessing to come to the Lord's table, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. And there is a way, we talk about this as we come to the table, we talk about this often, that what's happening here is we're gonna eat a meal together here in a few moments. And I know we're all excited, because I am, I'm excited to eat some of the wonderful food and be together and sit at the table and to talk and encourage one another. But first, we're gonna eat the covenant meal. And while our bodies are gonna be nourished here in a few moments, our souls, we're gonna be spiritually nourished with this meal. And part of that nourishment is a growing and a feeding on Christ of our rest. That in Christ, through the work of the Spirit, we, as his people, will find greater rest in Christ, now and forever. Jesus welcome, Jesus heart, Jesus rest. Jesus welcomes you to find rest in Him daily and forever. Let's pray. Oh Lord, we ask that you would make that truth evident to us, that we would experience your rest every day, even as we look forward to experiencing it forever. Let us not be those people who have been Through the work of Christ and the work of the Spirit in us, that by grace, through faith in Jesus that we have rest forever before us. And yet, Lord, we would find ourselves in silliness and weakness, never finding rest in you. So help us even this moment to enjoy rest. So that regardless of what is happening, regardless of the wars that are around us, regardless of the economy, regardless of the way that things are developing in our own country and in this world, regardless of all those things, even though we seek to be faithful and all to you in the midst of that, we would find rest and joy and peace in Jesus. It's in his name that we pray. Amen.