Take your Bible if you would, turn to Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11, I'm gonna speak tonight from a very familiar passage of scripture. Matthew 11, chapter 11 in verse 28, 29 and 30. I wanna speak tonight on overworked and underpaid. Overwhelmed and under stress. Overloaded and under pressure. Overall, I need to be under new management. Have you ever felt that way? You know, Brother Joe was sharing with me a letter, and we were just sharing it with the deacons a few moments ago. One of our missionaries, no explanation, Their mission board contacted us and said, with no explanation, they just came off the field and resigned. That's sad, isn't it? I mean, we invest in missions and we invest in missionaries and we invest in people. And all times, they just really, it just overwhelms them. And it seems like the work becomes too great. and the task too hard. And all times, and we've experienced that, all of us sometimes ourselves, it just seems like we are overwhelmed and it seems like sometimes we're overworked, it seems like we're overloaded, we're under pressure. Well, it may be overall, we just need to be under new management. And sometimes we have felt that way as a country, I believe, the last four years. And it just seemed like we needed to be under new management, amen? Well, the Lord gives us this opportunity to have new management. Notice what he says here. Come unto me, all you 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 and hard and you shall find rest. Isn't that wonderful? Rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Since creation man has been a servant. Since the creation. Man has always been a servant. He has been under the yoke. But as we've been looking on Sunday morning, considering creation, we realized that man, when he was created, he only knew God's yoke. For God told Adam and the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Even in paradise, there was responsibilities. And by the way, do you realize that even in the millennial when this world will be the best it's been since the fall of man, since we lost the Garden of Eden, do you realize even there during the millennium we'll be serving? We're gonna have responsibilities. We'll be under the yoke. In fact, the Bible says that even when we enter into eternity and we go through after the millennial and after the final test that we have and Satan has his last rebellion and we enter into the eternal reign with Christ, we will rule and reign with Christ. There's gonna be responsibilities. And any of you that have ever been in any management, if you really are honest, you probably had more labor, more work in management than you did having to answer to the boss. If you're the boss, then you really under the yoke. It's going to be that way, it is that way. It has been since the very beginning, but man only knew. God's yoke. But then, man, something happened. Man yielded his neck to the yoke of sin. And his rest then became toil. Now, the Lord still invites you and I to take his yoke and find rest. There's a two-fold rest the Lord Jesus is speaking of in this passage of Scripture. and every one of us needs it. I have been busier. I have worked harder and I have been absolutely on the go more since I accepted the call to Central Baptist Church. Many of you have asked me, where do you get that energy? I'm having the time of my life. I'm enjoying myself. I don't have to be rocked to sleep at night. Gail doesn't have to sing lullabies to me to get me to go to sleep. I usually am asleep by the time she's ready to come to bed. But I am just, and sometimes I am tired. I really do get tired. But I'm enjoying it. I believe I understand what the Lord Jesus is trying to get all of us to understand. He said, my yoke is easy. It is. I love it. I like it. I don't realize, if I'm tired, I really don't realize it. I may be, but it's like the Lord, it's his yoke, he's taking the greatest part of the burden, he's pulling the hardest, and I'm just all along for the ride. And church, I want you to be part of it, all right? Now, there's a two-fold rest that the Lord Jesus is giving us in this passage of Scripture. First, there's the rest of salvation. The rest of salvation, Jesus said, come unto me. Now, you think about when he addresses this and what he is saying, he is addressing two groups of people. One is, he addresses the multitudes. that are pursuing him and their lives are in such shambles. So many of them in such despair, Jesus says to them, come unto me. He addresses his disciples. He describes them and I read that this week. They were going and coming and they were coming back from their journey that Jesus had sent them in and it says they hadn't, No leisure. So much as to eat. Jesus said, come apart and rest a while. Now what those disciples did not know. When Jesus said to them disciples, oh, they said, oh, a vacation, finally, we get to do nothing. We get to kick up our feet. We're going to go out and we're going to have a little tourist resort by the Mediterranean Sea. And oh, I don't know, we might throw the fish, you know, hook in the water and fish a little bit and we're just gonna have a good time of relaxation. Oh, we deserve it, we deserve it, we deserve it. Now what they did not know, Jesus was about to give them a rest that they were not expecting. He was about to tell them, give ye them to eat. Oh Lord, no. The multitude, why don't you send them away? I'm worn out. I don't know that I can take anymore. We have ministered and ministered and ministered and now it's time to be ministered to. It's time to rest. This is just way too hard. Jesus said, give you them to eat. And by the way, they had food to eat. They went out there to eat. How many baskets full did they have left over when he fed the multitude? 12, yeah, there was 12 of them, that's right. They went out there to eat. And it was such a long service, their bread got kind of stale and cold and dry. Kind of like you're afraid some Sunday morning that preacher, I mean, my bread's going to get dry by the time you get done preaching, it's time to go eat. Well, that's the way the disciples were, but you know what the Lord really wanted? He wanted them to be able to serve, sit down, and eat what he was going to provide for them. Meat to eat that they knew not of. In fact, fresh bread, their bread had gotten cold. Their bread had gotten dry. But Jesus was about to feed them fresh bread and fish. And oh my, what a feast it was going to be. But you know, they sat down, they had the rest. But Jesus said, you haven't learned it yet, and he sent them right out in the middle of the sea. He said, you've got some more to learn, fellas. You're about to toil, and they found themselves toiling again, toiling and rowing. The winds were contrary against them, and oh, we're going to perish. Do you ever feel that way? Hey, you that are in the ministry, you that are in ministry, whether you're a schoolteacher, whether you're a maintenance man, And I know some of you maintenance men, you say, what in the world is this preacher going to want next? You men have been putting in the hours. And it's easy to feel like sometimes this is just too hard. But now wait a minute, let's consider what the Lord Jesus is saying to all of us. When we think, well, we're just overworked and underpaid, when we think we're overwhelmed and under stress, overloaded and under pressure, overall, you need new management. Twofold rest. First, the rest of salvation. There may be someone tonight, life has become very difficult for you. You have been pursuing life and you have been going your own way, your own direction. You thought you had it all figured out, but you're finding out that it's becoming more and more difficult. You need the rest of salvation. Who is this rest for? Notice, come unto me all you that labor, you that are labor. That word labor means to feel fatigue. Not just to be fatigued, not just to be tired, but to feel it. I mean, that's when your bones are aching, your muscles, you feel it. To feel fatigued, to reduce strength by toil, you have become weak by the toil, weak from the labor. Now this rest cannot be attained by labors. You've got to cease from labor. And can I say this salvation, this rest of salvation, Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourself. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. We have organizations and associations that associate, and we have religions, that associate their labors and their works and their toils with salvation. You'll never enter into the rest by working your way into it. It is not by our work, but by His work. You see, Jesus Christ finished the work on the cross of Calvary. It is not by your words. A lot of people say, oh, I pray every day. I've asked people, do you know for sure you're saved? Oh, I pray every day. I talk to God every day, but you know, it's not by your words. It is by His word. It is what He has promised you, not what you have promised God. but His promise to you. The rest is for those who labor. But also it says for those who not only labor, but that are heavy laden. It's that word, that phrase heavy laden means to load up or overburden. That's the condition of every man and woman, boy and girl born into this world. You're overloaded by your load of sin. One of the funniest pictures, I had a missionary friend of mine. We'll be going to Kenya here in a few weeks. And right conclusion of our missions conference here, you're gonna send out another missionary for a couple of weeks. And that's your pastor. I'm excited about that trip. We take that trip every year. But anyway, that missionary sent me a picture. You see some funny things. I've taken some funny pictures of situations in Africa. They do not have all the equipment that we do. Many of them, it's a donkey and a wagon, sometimes it's a bicycle. I've seen the most incredible loads on a bicycle. Motorcycles now, they have motorcycles. You better be careful when you're walking on a road or sidewalk because there may be a motorcycle with a piece of tin stretched across just like this going 30, 40 miles an hour. Here comes a piece of tin and if you're not watching, Man, you can get cut in half. They do some amazing things, but this missionary sent me a picture of this donkey. Had a cart, those two poles stretched from that donkey back to the cart. They overloaded the cart. They got the load too heavy in the back. And that donkey all of a sudden went, And there the donkey was just hanging its legs in that harness. When I got that picture, I had to post it. I said, do you ever feel overloaded? I couldn't even imagine that donkey pulling that kind of a load. Heavy laden. That's what every person is without Jesus. Your sin is greater than you can bear. Heavy laden, overloaded. Who is this rest that Jesus is wanting to give? Well, it's to all who labor to feel fatigue, reduce strength by toil, and that's what sin does. A life of sin will do. Heavy laden, those over laden. Psalm 31 10 says, for my life is spent with grief and my years with sighing. My strength faileth because of mine iniquity. and my bones are consumed. That's the condition of every one. How do you attain this rest of salvation? First by repentance. Repentance. Notice this first word, come. That word come, it is an imperative. Come hither. It's like all you mamas, that little boy's been misbehaving. I mean, he's in the cookie jar. He's got the chocolate dripping down his chin. You say, come hither, Johnny. Come hither, Mylon. That's, The sinner caught in the act. Jesus says, all of you that are heavy and heavy laden and you that are laboring, that are fatigued by the toil because of sin, come, come hither. It's an imperative command. It's the command that Jesus has given us in Acts 4.12, neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved and only Jesus is the one that can give the rest from your sin. Come hither, it's Jesus that is giving that command. But not only by repentance, it must be received. It's not just saying, I know I'm a sinner and I know I'm guilty and oh yes, I'm the one that's overladen with sin, but you must receive. Notice he says, take. He says, take my yoke, that word take, it literally is to receive. That's what that word is meaning. It's to receive, to accept. He says, accept my yoke. Take this salvation that I have for you. Receive it. There's the repentance, recognizing that you're a sinner coming to Jesus, receiving by faith his word and his work. He's saying, come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. What? Take my yoke, the yoke of Jesus. What yoke is that? Oh, it's the work that he has finished upon the cross of Calvary. His yoke, the yoke that Jesus has. He says, accept my work. What I've done for you upon the cross of Calvary. His work. His word, He has promised the last words spoken there upon the cross before He gave up the ghost. It is finished. You've got to accept His word that the work is done. The toil is done. Jesus has paid it all. The repentance, the receiving, and well, what's the result? Romans 4, 7 saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. He takes that entire load. He'll give you rest from your sins. He'll give you rest from the toil of life. That's the promise of Jesus, twofold rest. The first, the rest of salvation. Secondly, you say, preacher, I have accepted Jesus as my savior and I know he has taken my sin. I know that I'm saved. But preacher, I'm still toiling. Not only was he speaking to the multitudes that were under such a load of their sin, he was also speaking to his disciples. Come apart and rest a while, disciples. Now that didn't mean that they would not be doing anything. He knew very well what would be taking place out there in that desert place. Out there in that lonely wilderness where they thought no one would be, but the multitudes raced around that shoreline. Jesus knew that. but at the same time he was truthful with the disciples, I'm going to give you rest. Now it's rest that they knew they did not understand, but if you have been serving the Lord Jesus Christ, toiling for him, but in his yoke, you understand what Jesus is trying to teach to the disciples. Now, who is this rest? This is the rest of service. Now, how can we work and rest at the same time? Well, the Lord is promising that for the disciples. Oftentimes, and this is the problem that we have, we try working without him. We tried doing all of this without the Lord Jesus and we become so weary. The missionary will give up the field that is widened to harvest where souls are lost and dying and going to hell. The school teacher will resign and give up teaching and reaching boys and girls because, and I'll be honest with you, if that was not my calling of the Lord Jesus Christ, you teachers, there's no way in the world I would ever do your job. It's hard, it's difficult, and it's almost impossible without Jesus' help. And it doesn't matter what the ministry is, you've got such opposition. The devil fights you so. And it's not easy, but Jesus said it is. But to hear a lot of ministers, those that are in the ministry, to describe the work that they have, they would say, oh, this is not easy. Well, what did Jesus say? My yoke is easy. So who is this rest of service for? The saved. It is for those who have accepted that the Lord Jesus has taken their sin. He is addressing specifically the servants. It is for the saved, it is for the servant. Now the question is, not only who is this rest for, but how? How do we get this, dear Christian? You Sunday school teachers that are tired of teaching your Sunday school class and you children workers that are tired of doing this on Wednesday night and doing all that it takes to get to do a good job with that and going out and inviting and building and reaching people and giving of yourself, how do you do this? Let's look at that word again, that word take. He says, take, what is that? It literally means to receive and lift. To receive and lift, the picture is of this word of a trained ox. When that husbandman, that farmer goes out to the stall and he opens the stalled gate. He lets the oxen out. He has hanging there nearby a yoke. A trained ox goes to where the yoke is, lowers his head, comes under the yoke and lifts it. He accepts the yoke. Again, that word take, Jesus is saying to his disciples, accept this ministry. Accept this load. At first sight, that old wooden yoke, I want nothing to do with that thing. But now wait a minute, it's going to make this ministry easier. This yoke is going to help the ox pull the load. It's going to be very difficult for the ox to do this job without a yoke. The word take means to accept it and the yoke is a symbol of surrender. Now in the yoke, the oxen cannot go wherever it wants to go. The ox by surrendering and accepting the yoke is going to accept the load that it's got to pull. And listen, before you ever enter into a ministry, you've got to consider what the ministry is. It is going to be, there's going to be a load that you've got to accept. There's gonna be the responsibilities, there's gonna be some long hours. There's going to be some stumps along the way that the plow's gonna hit and that oxen has got to have, it'll have resistance. Don't, Kid yourselves, you that are in ministry. I know sometimes the ministry can be glamorous. That's why one out of 10 missionaries quit. That's the latest statistics. Tonight in our deacon meeting, we were going over that and Brother Terry was, he said, I looked back over my notes and he says, way back many years ago when Don Sisk was here the first time, he said 40%. Only 40% of the missionaries go back to the field when they come home. Do you realize now it's down to 10%? That's what missionary directors have told me. I've been in several missions conference that I've done myself the past two years. You know why? Because when they look at the ministry, boy, I'm excited, I'm going to Greenland. That's exciting. Oh, I've always wanted to go to Africa. I've had so many people tell me that. But you might not wanna live there. You might not wanna, you think dealing with our officials is easy? You better have your, if you're gonna do anything, you better have your pockets. If you're gonna get to where you're going, you might as well expect you're gonna have to shell out some cash to some cops along the way that's just gonna shake you down because you look like an American to them. And Americans are rich, you've got plenty of money. We've been held up and said, if you wanna get out of here, you better shell it out. Well, what do we do? We shell it out. Now, you think it's bad here, but what our missionaries are facing over there is difficulty and it's day after day after day, learning the culture of the people, which is so different, learning the language. And all of that, it's not easy. But sometimes, oh man, I can't wait to get to the mission field. And they get to the mission field and find out it's difficult and then find out it's hard. And maybe some of you schoolteachers, you found out the same thing. It's not easy. And it seems like no one really understands. There's one who does. It's the one who said, take the yoke, take my yoke upon you. Learn of me. You see, you've got to surrender. You've got to accept whatever load that that husbandman, that farmer is going to put behind that yoke. And maybe that ox has no idea when he puts his neck to the yoke, but he has surrendered whatever, I'm gonna trust my master. Whatever my master wants me to do, I'm going to pull this load today. I'm going to trust my master, he feeds me. He's been so good to me and he knows what's best for me. And we're going to perhaps have to tread out the corn, but I know one day there's going to be corn and I'll be the recipient of that corn. We don't muzzle the ox. But see, that yoke signifies not only to receive and accept it, but a surrender. And then you got to learn. Notice what he says. He says, take my yoke upon you and learn. Learn of me. That means you have to listen. When I was a boy growing up, we didn't have oxen. But we didn't have tractors either, not up in the mountains. What we had up there and the farmers all had was mules. Every barn, you could go to any barn and find mules. In fact, when I built the cabin, my wife and I have up there, one of the closet doors that I put in there was the mule stall door where her grandpa had kept his mule, and I was able to salvage that door and I put it as a closet door on a barn rail to open and close. It's just neat as can be, but every barn had mules. And I watched them oft times, those farmers working those mules. Gee! Haw! Haw! Gee! Whoa! Gip! Get him! Now they had all those, those commands for those mules. Those mules, a trained mule, would take to the right, take to the left. They'd stop, they'd start. According to listening, they had to learn that. And they had to learn not to fight each other. A team of mules, especially, you had to train them to work together, to pull at the same time. I should have looked it up. But one mule, and I'll just have to say, it can pull X number of tons. One mule can pull on its own. Now you would think two mules could pull twice that amount. But it's something like seven or eight times the load one mule can pull. You put two mules that have trained to pull in that same horn, a team of mules pulling the load can pull like eight times the load one mule can pull. My, how a church can do that. But you know what you have to do? You have to learn, learn of him. You can't work contrary. Now the wonderful thing about his yoke is he's in the yoke with you. And you have to learn to step when he steps, stop when he stops, turn when he turns, shift when he shifts. And that ox that learns, the one that accepts that yoke finds out, oh, it's easy. But you have to learn, you have to be taught, listen, follow in step like the young donkey who had never been rowed. Followed the old donkey that was with him because I don't know that I've preached that yet. I've already forgotten all the messages that I preach and I might repeat myself every now and then. But there's, I preach a message on Jesus, a jack and a jenny in the Bible. There were two donkeys that took Jesus into Jerusalem. That's what the Bible says. He rode both of them. Bible's clear about that. Not one donkey rode two, an old one and a young one. He begins on the old donkey. And at some point, the old donkey, he gets off the old donkey, that's the ministry, and he gets on the young donkey. And the young donkey has learned by going alongside the old donkey. And now it's got the load and it's going because it's learned, and now the old donkey just kinda comes alongside and encourages him. And how beautiful it is when a church, and let me say, all you old donkeys, you better be encouraging a young donkey and helping them learn. And you young donkeys, if you ever wanna do something for Jesus, you're gonna have to be patient and learn, and it'll become easier when you accept that work. The rest of service, take, learn, and then what? He said, for I am meek, That word meek means gentle, humble. Can I say, listen, whoever you are, teacher, deacon, ministry leader, don't you ever get proud? I got this title. I'm up here and the rest of you are down. I want you to know who the boss is here. We can't ever get that way. Jesus says, for I am meek. That means I'm gentle. And in that work that you are in and that ministry that you're in, you must be gentle like Jesus. You can't be harsh. You must be like Jesus. You can't be proud, you must be humble. For he is meek and lowly, meek, and lowly. Lowly in heart. What does that mean? Lowly in heart means depressed in thoughts of low degree. In other words, not thinking more highly of yourself than you ought to think. Now we have to battle that. We're continually, all of us, if you're not careful, you'll get to the point, I deserve, I deserve better than this. I deserve to be treated better than this. I deserve to be more respected than this, but Jesus said, that's not the way I am. lowly in heart. I don't think highly of my depressed in my thoughts. I got to continually depress those thoughts when I think I deserve more and I should be a little more elevated. I have to be careful with that. That's why he says you don't use the word reverent to a pastor. You don't use the word father. We don't deserve. We don't just, it's by His grace that I get to stand here doing this and I love it. I just, I'm like a kid in a candy store. I'm enjoying myself. And I pray that I never become where, I've heard a lot of preachers very bitter. and angry and downgrading their congregation and browbeating them. Lord, help me never to get that way. You can, it's easy to do. But that's not like Jesus. You got to resist ambition. You must resist ambition in the ministry, for he is lowly in heart. We must be like him. What's the result when we do this? We take, we receive, we lift, we put ourselves under that yoke of surrender. We learn, we listen, we follow, we stay humble, we're meek and we resist ambition, we're lowly in heart. What's the result? rest. He says, and ye shall find rest. Isn't that what we're looking for? All you that are in ministry, isn't that what you look for? Oh, I can't wait till that clock, that bell rings and I'm out of here so I can rest. Why not rest while you work? Why not rest while you minister? He says, you shall find rest. That word rest means an intermission, a relief. It's like taking a break. It's recreation and it's literally means you're gonna find enjoyment in what you're doing. That kind of a rest. It's like, I remember the little song, let him whistle while you work, let us whistle while you work. Why not? It says it's good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth, why? Because he begins to like to do this. He enjoys working. I enjoy it. If I had the time, Bill, I'd love to do this sort of thing that you're doing. I've done a lot of it. I like it. It's a relief for me. I mean, it's doing something with my hands instead of my brain. That's enjoyment. But you know, I really have enjoyed being here. I've enjoyed this. I'm having the time of my life. People ask me, says, how's it going down there at Central Baptist Church? I said, I am having the time of my life. I don't know if everybody else is, but I sure am. That's the kind of rest, that intermission, that recreation. And then he says, you shall find rest unto your souls. It literally means peace. You're not worried about what everybody else is doing. You're not looking around and saying this one and that one, and they ought to be doing this, and they ought to be doing that, and they ought to be helping me. It's like Martha when she was cumbered about with much serving. It's easy to become a Martha when we're looking at everybody else. You know, when somebody's got, when they're complaining all the time and got a critical spirit, they do not have peace themselves. You'll have peace, he's promising, and then fulfillment. The fulfillment, rest unto your souls. That word soul means your life. Your life has purpose, and you begin to realize, hey, my life means something. And you begin to realize that your life, that God has put purpose in your life, and now you've got a reason to live. You've got a reason to do this. Fulfillment. The yoke is easy. It's useful. That yoke is. You see, there are a lot of people trying to work without the yoke. And they're frustrated because it's so difficult to try to pull the load without a yoke. You're taking hold of it and you're yanking on it and yanking on it and trying to jerk it and jerk it. You're not getting it very far and you're frustrated. Get the yoke on. And all of you, you've done this, you men that have done some work in your life, there are times when you put a strap around your shoulders and you tie it to that load and you lean into it. It's a whole lot better than trying to yank it. We moved a big heavy slate pool table out of my house. And A fireman that took my place at our church, he was a retired fireman, he brought straps. Straps that he put and we wrapped those straps around that thing and then each man took hold of the strap. Instead of trying to pull, we took that strap and put it around our shoulder. I was amazed at the difference of the load. Don't work in labor so hard. when he provides the yoke, and that burden that he puts upon us is so light, you don't feel the load. You mamas, you got that little baby you're carrying around, is that a burden to you? Is that little baby so heavy? Oh, I can't carry this, so hard, so heavy. No, that burden is light to you. And that's the way the ministry is when we yield to it. Jesus said, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Learn of me. I'll be the example for you. Learn of me. I am meek and lowly in heart. He says, take my yoke upon you. My yoke is easy. My burden is light. Every one of us here tonight should be in the yoke, each of us. If you're not in the yoke, you have no purpose for your life. And you're gonna stand ashamed before the Lord when he has offered to you, he'll take the frustration out of life, accept his yoke. Let's bow our heads. Heavenly Father, help us tonight. It's so easy to become so weary in well-doing. And that's why your word has told us, be not weary in well-doing. We don't have to be weary in well-doing. because we'll reap if we faint not. If we'll just get in your yoke, you've promised. You've promised us everything we need and the joy of serving you. And we can also see fruit from our labors. We've been seeing some this week. Lord, we've seen some teachers and we've seen some fruit of their labors. We've seen some boys and girls, young people that have trusted the Lord as savior. We've seen the results of some of these young people, their testimony and their faithfulness. Now, Lord, I pray you'd help all of us tonight to learn of you, that your meek and lowly in heart help us to find rest unto our souls. Have you in this invitation. Your name we pray, amen.