Matthew chapter eleven beginning of verse twenty five today, the last paragraph of this chapter, twenty five to thirty. This closes with one of the most well-known invitations in the Gospels. You may need this easy yoke today, this light burden this morning. Listen to the Lord's explanation of who it is that hears this invitation. Matthew chapter eleven, verses twenty five to thirty. At that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank the old father, Lord of heaven and earth, because now has hid these things from the wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes. Even so, father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my father, and no man knoweth the son, but the father. Neither knoweth any man the father, save the son, and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him. 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." Father, how thankful we are today at this wonderful truth, this great invitation that is given even in the face of great rejection by so many. Lord, I pray that you would cause each of us today to realize that if we are overburdened, if we are bowed down with care and anxiety, even about our own religious responsibilities, that we have certainly misunderstood the gospel and we are certainly failing to appreciate our Savior and what he has done for us. Cause us today to realize that Jesus has paid it all, that Jesus Christ is very God. that we must indeed trust and obey him because of his admonition and invitation to us. Help me to make these verses clear in Jesus name. Amen. How is it that the saints of old could have suffered so greatly and yet praise the Lord so perfectly? When we read through some of the texts of the great hymns that we sing, I'm sure that many of us have very little understanding of the great suffering in their lives that gave rise to those wonderful texts. Have we had we the opportunity to study the biographies of these people and to see the hardships that they went through, those words would mean so much more to us. Matthew Henry is always a blessing, and it is great commentary on this particular text. He says these words. Thanksgiving is a proper answer to dark and disquieting thoughts, and may be an effectual means to silence them. Songs of praise are sovereign cordials to drooping souls and will help to cure melancholy. When we have no other answer ready to the suggestions of grief and fear, we may have recourse to this. I thank thee, O Father, let us bless God that it is not worse with us than it is. That's the way they learn to live. We so often today complain that it is worse with us than it is with others. Instead of being thankful that it's not as bad with us as it ought to be, God's been very good to us. He's blessed us immeasurably. There's no refuge to be found for the Christian in mere religion and certainly none in self-reliance. And yet Christian people still tend to trust their religion instead of their savior. But because Christ alone is God, you must trust and obey him. But Kerry, when you wrote that tune, those great words, I doubt if you had in mind this message today. But it's timely that the Lord would have reminded us again of the responsibility to trust and obey, because that's what we find here in our text. There is both an invocation and an invitation in our text. The Lord prays and then he pleads. He addresses the father and then he addresses the faithful and those two things are combined together to help us understand, indeed, that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. In the first few verses, verses 25 through 27, We realize this truth that because Christ invokes the father to explain the unbelief of man, you must trust and obey him. It's an interesting thing that he should turn and declare this statement to the Lord about men's problems and why they exist. This chapter so far has been an expression of the rejection of people in their hearts of the gracious offer of salvation. Christ had great authority and that great authority was expressed both in what he said and what he did. We've seen that so far in our study of Matthew. We've also seen that he can delegate that authority to other people as he commissions them to go out and represent him. But sadly now we're seeing that people can reject that great authority of God for a while. And this chapter is the story of the beginning of that intense rejection which eventually will lead us to the cross where Jesus Christ was literally executed because people didn't want to hear what he had to say and they didn't want that kind of a of a of a savior from the from the Lord. So in Christ's prayer he teaches us some things about men and their unbelief. Look again at those verses. beginning in verse twenty five, it says at that time or as they begin to reject him is what that means. At the time of the rejection of the Jews of God, Jesus answered. Isn't that interesting? You read ahead of that and you'll find no one asking a question. But Jesus is answering the condition that exists. The rejecting heart of man is answered by the truth that Jesus is teaching in his prayer. He answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, that means understanding, and hast revealed them unto babes, or simple, humble people. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. And then he explains in verse twenty-seven who understands and who doesn't. But in this prayer, the first thing that he does is that Christ, we see Christ alone able to exalt the divine power that's been given to him because he himself is divine. He has all the father's authority and he exalts the father. You and I must learn something about how to respond in the face of unbelief in this world today. There are many people that don't accept what we believe. There are many people that won't acknowledge the message that we present. There are many people who don't understand the lives that we seek to live or what it is that we're doing here on Sunday morning. A lot of people have the idea that church is just something that you have to endure to be a good person. A lot of people may be like I was when I was a boy. I thought if there is a heaven and I get there, that will be my reward for having survived preaching. If I have to sit under this boring talking all of my life, and I do it without complaint. Surely God will let me in the heaven. That was my thinking. Maybe some of you are thinking that way this morning, but that's not what it's all about. Heaven is not a reward for enduring religion. In fact, let me make a statement here. Religion is often a great hindrance to people's spiritual lives. What do I mean by that? I'm saying that if you don't understand that a relationship with Christ and being religious are not necessarily the same things, your religion can really get in the way of your relationship with Christ. Because religion is something of which men are proud. These people who were rejecting Jesus Christ and his message of salvation were very, very religious people. They kept the rules. They practiced the rituals they were very proud of what they didn't do. A lot of people like that today. And yet they did not even want to have anything to do with the Christ of God because of their own self-sufficiency and their religion. But Christ exalted God's power when he prayed, Oh, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. If you and I could just remember and have that perspective when we're dealing with unbelief in the world today, it would help us to trust and obey. We would be able to joyfully go through life, responding to the circumstances of life and exalting the Lord if we could remember that he indeed is our father and he is the Lord of heaven and earth. He has chosen to have a relationship with us like a loving father, and yet he is the sovereign of everything, everywhere. That's the balanced relationship with which we must approach him as well. If you would deal with the distractions and despair of life, you must give him praise, just as Jesus Christ did. When he says, I thank thee, the word thank there is a very interesting word. We've seen it in a number of other places. In 1 John 1, 9 it says we confess. Our sins that were confessed. We taught you before the word homologo. It's a Greek word, which means to, in essence, say the same thing. This is an intensive form of that word. It means to acknowledge the truth of a thing with praise. So when he says, I thank thee, he is acknowledging his father as the Lord of heaven and earth. That's what he's thanking him for and thanking him also for the way he has chosen to reveal himself. You must give him praise, if you would trust and obey him, and you must grant his power. What I mean by that is acknowledge his authority. To acknowledge the authority of God in your life is the very beginning of a relationship with Christ. Sometimes we use little cliches and we tell young people, well, if you want to be saved, you have to ask Jesus into your heart. Now, honestly, folks, what does that mean? It's possible for a young person to say, Jesus, come into my heart and never really acknowledge his authority in your life. If you're going to come to the Lord, you must come to him as he is. If you will confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus, and that means the deity of Christ. Confess with your mouth, the deity of Christ, believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Confessing Christ or receiving Christ, honoring Christ is recognizing who he is and what his claims are in your life. In the face of all this rejection that we're seeing, this great invitation at the end of our text today is given to those who are able to acknowledge that truth. Those who don't acknowledge who Christ is are never going to understand it, never going to see the easiness of his yoke and the lightness of his burden. grant his authority, recognize it. He has the right to make these demands on you. He has the right to require your salvation, and he alone can provide it. So Christ alone exalts this divine power in the way that it ought to be done. But Christ alone also explains this divine process when he says, I'm thanking you because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes. That's a doctrine that we often find in the writings of Paul and in the writings of John. But Matthew himself has already said this as well. In the very first sermon of Christ that Matthew records, which we call the Sermon on the Mount, in his introduction to that sermon, he gives us what we call the Beatitudes. And the very first of those Beatitudes says, Blessed are the poor in spirit. There's the kingdom of heaven. And we know that what that means is that those who would have a right relationship with God must first come to recognize their own helplessness. The poverty or bankruptcy of their own soul is the impression that he's giving there, the meaning of what he's saying. A person who would come to God must come with his hands empty. He must come recognizing that he has nothing to bring to God that will give him a recommendation to God. He comes in complete need. A person who only wants to add God to his life is rejecting God. A person who only wants to somehow get help in his spiritual life won't get help. You might say it this way. If you need an engine change, don't go in asking for a tune up. You don't just need help. You need life, and only God can give you that life. You're dead in trespasses and sins until you're saved, and God alone can give you life. So what you and I need to understand is that what he's saying here again is that the Lord does not reveal Himself to those who don't know they need Him. In another place, when He heals a blind man, They came to the Pharisees came and even rebuke the blind man is that what he do to you. This man's a sinner and yet you say he'll heal your blindness. Remember that story. And the man stood up for the Lord. He said, Well, this is a strange thing. You say he's a sinner and yet I can see. He came to them later on, he said, Because you say we see, therefore, your sin remain. If he had been blind. You see, if they had recognized the blindness of their heart, the Lord would have given them spiritual sight. But because they didn't think they were blind and wouldn't acknowledge their spiritual need, they remained in their blindness. And that's the same thing the Lord is saying here in his prayer. The truths of God are hidden from those who think themselves wise and understanding. But they are revealed to those who, like helpless babes, are totally dependent upon God. Those two things go hand-in-hand. God has chosen to reveal himself to one group of people and to hide himself from another group of people. Now, you may be sitting here today and saying, you know what, Preacher, I don't understand a word you're saying. I don't get it. That should greatly concern you. Because if you're learning anything from this text, it's not what I'm saying, it's what the text itself says and what God is seeking to say to your heart. God wants to reveal Himself to you and if you want to know who He is, He'll show you. But if you don't want to know who He is and if you don't want to trust Him or obey Him, you'll leave here today without understanding what's being said. That should frighten you. It should frighten you when you open up the Bible and it means nothing. Because the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them. They're foolishness unto him. The Bible says that a person who does not know Christ does not understand the Bible. But if you really want to understand it, you've got to be willing to submit to what it says. And that's what the Lord is saying to us here. And Christ alone explains that divine process. It's inevitable that these truths should be hidden from those who are proud and deny their own needs. But it's an infallible plan. The Lord reveals them under the humble, those who realize they have a need. And then the Lord says in verse 26, Even so, Father, in other words, I agree completely with your plan. Even so. For so it seemed good in thy sight, Lord, if this is the plan that you have chosen to reveal yourself. To the babes and to hide yourself from the wise. That plan is perfect. And Christ acknowledges something here, and you and I should learn from it. Christ does not say, even so, Father, I think that's a good idea myself. He doesn't say, even so, Father, I've thought it through and I couldn't improve on it. He doesn't say, even so, Father, makes sense to me. That's what you and I would like to say. We would like to be able to say amen when we agree. But the Lord Jesus says, even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. It's fine with me because that's what you chose to do. If you and I are saying amen because we acknowledge God's right to say whatever he wants to say, that's one thing. But if we say amen because it touches a note in our own hearts, that's something else. You know, one of the reasons I think we like the books that we like. is because they say so well things we already believe. I wish I'd said it that way. See, I'm not really sure we learn an awful lot from other people's books, but we just like to see it said the way it said. Does that make sense? We appreciate a statement that expresses our own view. It is amazing how clever and brilliant we think others are who hold our own position. I couldn't agree more. with that brilliant fellow is the way we feel about those kinds of things. But that's not what the Lord is doing. The Lord is not commending his father's position because it's the same as his own. It's the same as his own because it's the father's position. And you and I should take that same approach. You see, when we acknowledge God's great power, then we are able to properly represent God's great message. And that's what the Lord is doing here in verses twenty five and twenty six. But then we come to verse twenty seven. And this is one of those verses that some people stumble at. Not only does Christ alone exalt God's divine power and explain his divine process, but Christ alone exposes his own divine person in what he's saying here in verse twenty seven. All things are delivered unto me of my father. In other words, What he's saying is that he alone can represent the Father, because he alone has all the Father's authority. Now, to the degree that we have the Father's authority, we too can represent Him. To the degree that we have accepted Christ's authority, we can represent Him. Now, don't miss this, folks, because this is the key to the fulfillment of the Great Commission, which is coming at the end of this book. No one who does not go in Christ's authority can accurately or effectively speak for Christ. The big problem that we have in the church today is that we have people who want to claim Christ's authority for evangelism, who are denying Christ's authority for so many other things. You hear what I'm saying? You can't say to Christ, leave me alone in so many areas of your life and then go out confident in believing that He will never leave you or forsake you when you go to represent Him in the world. The reason we have such anemic evangelism, that we are so ineffective in telling others about Christ, winning souls today, is in that very area right there. Our failure to tell others about Christ is just another expression of our denial of his authority to tell us to do so. Listen. How on earth can people who say no to the Lord in so many areas of their lives ever expect to influence unbelievers to say yes to the Lord? Do you hear what I'm saying to you today? And that's illustrated by what the Lord is doing. All things are delivered unto me of my Father. all of the father's authority. That's the first thing you need to see in that verse, and that's why he alone can represent the father in the way he does. But he alone, because of that, is also recognized by the father when he says, And no man knoweth the Son, but the Father. Nobody really knows who Jesus is like God the Father knows. You and I don't really understand who Christ is. unless we understand the Father, because they are the same. I and my Father are one. Jesus is God. Are you with me? And unless you realize who God is, you're not going to know who Jesus is. Why do you think so many people in the world today have such a low view of Jesus? And what do I mean by that? They think that Jesus is just a nice person. Just a good teacher. People will say today, well, if that's your faith tradition as such a disgusting phrase, if that's your faith tradition, well, then I think that's what's best for you. But not everyone shares your faith tradition. So when you're praying in public, it's not always appropriate to pray in Jesus name. Women did not be appropriate to pray in Jesus name. Well, if you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, maybe you shouldn't do it. I think I said to you yesterday, I was so proud and thankful, I guess is a better word, that both of the men who prayed at the inauguration of a new president clearly prayed in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I was watching the news and my wife and I just, Amen, right there in the living room. Why? Because that's the way it ought to be done. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. Well, what about those who don't believe in Jesus Christ who are in the audience? Well, they should. You see, that's pretty narrow. Yes, it's a narrow way. You see, you and I don't need to back down just because there are others who don't believe this. And there are some people today These people who have the attitude, and this is the majority, okay, of people who have the attitude that it doesn't matter what you believe so long as you're sincere. They want you to be a Christian in the same way that somebody else is a Jewish person. Or they want you to be a Christian in the same way that somebody else is a Buddhist. Or they want you to be a Christian in the same way that somebody else is a believer in the New Age. So long as you are sincere and you're not offensive, you don't try to force people to believe what you believe. And so long as you don't ever, ever use your religious views to condemn anybody else's religious views. So you can be a Christian and be a good Christian and hold that position, a lot of people would tell you today. That isn't how Christ lived. And the reason he was crucified is because he refused to do that. Christ said there's one way, one door, one access to the father. Nobody knows the father but me and nobody knows me but the father. And the only people who know him are the ones I reveal him to. And the only ones that know me are the ones he reveals me to. That's what he's saying. That's pretty exclusive. And you can't have it both ways, folks. You can't have him being a nice, meek, harmless religious leader and believe that statement. That's a dividing statement. That's an either or statement. He alone is recognized by the Father and he alone can reveal the Father. Nobody but Jesus Christ can get you to God. Nobody, no other religion, no other person, no other way. You say, Pastor, you know, you're just like these people. You believe you're the only one that's right. No, I believe Jesus is the only one that's right. And there's a big difference in those two statements. Because if you say, I think I'm the only one that's right, you're arguing from a false premise, you're arguing from from a false platform. You've already accepted the world's view that everybody's religion is equally valid. And Christ said no. There's only one way. That's what Christ said. Neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." If you get to God, it'll be through the grace expressed in Jesus Christ. If you ever get to God, it will be because Jesus Christ has revealed the Father to you. And there is no other way. Matthew Henry, again, made this statement. Ambassadors have not only their commissions, which they produce, but their instructions which they reserve to themselves to be made use of as there is occasion in their negotiations. Let me rephrase that. He said if a man is going to another country as an ambassador, he must have credentials with which he has access to the leader of whatever country he is an ambassador to. He doesn't even get in if he doesn't have those credentials, but he doesn't say everything that he's been told to accomplish until he sees that there is a need and possible influence available. You and I have our commission from the Lord. We also have our instructions from the Lord, and those are two different things. The commission is our authorization to go and represent the Lord, and to the degree that we are submissive to his authority, we will be effective in that commission. But when we go out to represent the Lord, there are a lot of things that we're supposed to say and do. And he gives us various instructions. Sometimes he says, don't cast your pearls before swine. Sometimes he says, don't even bother in that circumstance. Other times he tells us to lay down our life for our friends. And so there are different ways of accomplishing this thing that the Lord wants us to accomplish. We've got to understand this basic principle that even God does not reveal everything to those who are unwilling to receive it. The second thing we see is in verses twenty eight to thirty. And in those verses we find that wonderfully familiar and comforting invitation from the Lord. Come into me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Isn't it interesting that this verse which is just told us you're never going to see it you're never going to understand it unless God reveals it to you is followed by that very revelation. Isn't that wonderful. And yet, some people will read this and completely miss it for the very reasons he said, because they have no intention of submitting to it. And God knows that. 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. Some of you here today don't believe that. You think Christ's yoke is a yoke of iron. You think the burden of living the Christian life is absolutely impossible, overwhelming and defeating. No, it's not. Some of you young people, you think I can't do this. This is oppressive. I don't want to live this way. You, like so many other people in the world, think it's easier to be a sinner than it is to be saved. My friend, it is so much easier to be a Christian than it is to be a sinner. That's what he's saying here. Look at these verses. Because Christ invites the faithful to accept the grace of God, you must trust and obey him in the same way that he invokes the father to explain the unbelief of man. He now invites the faithful to accept the grace of God. He invites you to accept the grace of God for salvation in verse twenty eight, and he invites you to accept the grace of God for service in verses twenty nine and thirty. Listen to his tender plea one more time. Come on to me. All ye that labor and are heavy laden. And then listen to his promise. And I will give you rest. What wonderful, wonderful words he's giving us here. That word labor is literally the word fatigued. It means who are worn out from what you've been trying to do. And he's not talking about the business of life. He's talking about your spiritual struggle. All of you who are worn out by an attempt to fix your fallen nature. Those of you who are laboring under this heavy burden, when he says heavy laden, he's talking about like a little burrow or a donkey who would be loaded down with a load so heavy he just could not carry it. Those are amazing little animals. I saw some little boroughs when I was in Israel, and I've seen donkeys that were pretty good size, but these little guys over there, they're just tiny, like little ponies. And they'll burden them down to where what they're carrying is bigger than they are. And even though they're tremendously strong and capable of carrying heavy loads, it would be possible to load them down so much that they just couldn't carry it. When I was in Korea, military, they go everywhere on bicycles, and I have seen those people carry their entire household furnishings on those bicycles. I saw a fellow one time, he had wooden boxes of glass bottles piled up on the back of that bike, eight feet high, strapped down. I saw a guy one time riding down the street on one of those bicycles with this huge pig tied to the back of the thing, and the pig didn't seem to mind. You know, and I think, how could the bicycle carry that load? Well, they're very, very, very strong, very well-made, strong, heavy bikes, not like the lightweight ones we have here. But it's possible to overload something to the point where it just can't carry the burden. I borrowed John McPherson's truck way, way, way back when we were over at Hammett Street. We were trying to fix the baptistry over there, and I needed to buy a whole square of blocks. I had no idea what a whole square of blocks would weigh, but it's right heavy. And so I went over to this little pup. pickup truck of his, and the guy brought the forklift up. He said, where do you want them? I said, put them in the truck. He said, are you serious? And I said, yeah, it's all I got. So he said, OK. And it almost flipped the truck over. I mean, it just sat down where it couldn't sit down anymore. And I thought, hmm, bad idea. And it's a wonder we didn't pop the tires. So then we had to unload half of them. And on the way home, I had to stop and unload half of that. and go back and pick them up in several loads. I had no idea how much they weighed, but it certainly weighed more than that little truck would carry. Foolish thing to do. That's what this word heavy laden means. It means so overburdened that you cannot carry it. Some of you are there today. Some of you Christian people are there. This is talking about a lost man who is so worn out from trying to fix the problem of his own soul and so overburdened. These Jewish people, They had all 613 of the commands of the Old Testament and at least 2,000, possibly as many as 4,000 rabbinic rules that were spun off from those laws. And they had to keep every one of them if they were ever going to get to heaven. They were just absolutely overburdened. They could not do it. There was no way that they would ever have peace with God in that kind of an environment. And to them, the Lord says, all of you who are worn out and overburdened, Come to me. I'll give you rest. The Jewish leaders were saying come to me. We'll give you more rules. And the Lord's contrast is so clear. Listen to that trustworthy promise. I'll give you rest. The word labor is met by the word. Burden the word gift. On the other hand is met by the word rest. He on the other hand gives us a gift. and that gift is rest in Him. Some of you need rest today. You need to come to the Lord. And you know, I'm so thankful that He gave us verses 29 and 30 and not just verse 28, because verse 28 is primarily for lost people, but verses 29 and 30 are for saved people, for His disciples. Take my yoke upon you. Once you have come to me and have found this initial rest in salvation, then you take my yoke upon you and learn of me. And the more you learn about Christ, the more you will realize that he is meek and lowly in heart and you will have regular rest for your souls in the same way that you have rest in your old nature and you're no longer struggling to do it yourself. You can continue to have rest and refreshment every day in your lives. And I believe that the reason Christian people get so strung out in their Christian lives is the same reason lost people do. Lost people are that way because they're just not trusting God. Safe people are that way because they're just not trusting God. You've got to trust God as a Christian in the same way that you trusted Him to become a Christian. That's what He's saying to us here. Listen to this gracious assurance that He gives. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. The word easy there is a very interesting word, Christos. It's very similar to the word charis, which is the root, which means grace. He is not saying that it's easy to do. He's saying it's a gift from God. His yoke is gracious. His yoke is an expression of his grace. It's sweet and pleasant. It's not something that's hard to bear. Listen, young people, if you believe that living the Christian life is a hard and arduous task, you don't understand what the Christian life is. Some of you people that are not so young, you would love to impress us today in the same way that you're trying to impress God with the fact that you're holding out faithful under the heavy burden. But if you think the burden of Christ is a heavy burden, you do disservice to the name of Christ. Why? Because he's offered to carry it with you. And he's lined the whole yoke with his love, so that when he places his yoke upon you, he is placing a loving embrace around you, not just some iron thing that's going to blister and callous your neck. His burden is light. That means easily born. It doesn't mean it doesn't weigh much. Note that difference. If you and I think that there's not a big load to carry, we've missed the point. But it's not hard to carry. That's what he's saying. It's easily born, regardless of its weight. My son, John, was in the Army for eight years, a little over seven years. Most of that time, except he was overseas, he was in the 82nd Airborne as a paratrooper. It amazes me what those men do. When they go into the field, they have a pack on their back that weighs a minimum of 90 pounds. And if they have other equipment like radios or weaponry or other things that sometimes they can add another 50 pounds to that. And this is worn on their person. And when they jump out of the plane, they're wearing all of it. And you think, I couldn't do that. That's what most of them think when they first start out. But they realize that one of the reasons they're able to bear that, there are several reasons. First, it's made more bearable by its ingenious design and the frame on which it's carried. Secondly, the straps with which they carry it are padded. And thirdly, they are made stronger through intense exercise. So they find that what they feared is easier than they thought. Can you imagine having somebody weigh you down with ninety pounds and marching you in hard shoes for twenty miles? You say, I could never do that. And yet people do. And ask for more. It's called reenlistment. Christian people may look at the burden and think, I'll never be able to do that. I can't. This is impossible. God is asking me to do something that's impossible. No, he's not. Because he has made a way for you to do it. He has made it easy for you. He will help you. And if you get to the place where you can't take another step or carry the load another way, he will pick the load up and pick you up to. and carry you through. That's what the Lord's offered to do for you today. If you'll just trust Him. Are you worn out today trying to go it alone? Are you at the end of your resources? That's not a bad thing. That's a good thing. Because it's often when we come to the end of our resources that we turn to the Lord. And you will hear Him say, My yoke is easy and my burden is light. If you are about to fall today because you think it's too hard. You need to realize. That your religion. Is causing you to try to do something for God. Instead of your relationship helping you to understand that God is doing something for you. Father, thank you today for Jesus Christ and for what he did for us. We know, Lord, that we tend to trust our religion, but we also know that Jesus Christ is God and that he came to reveal the Father. It's only because of our unwillingness to recognize who he is fully that we don't understand what he wants to do for us. I pray today that every person saved or lost that's in this room would come to see Christ today as the Savior. That the burden of being a Christian is an easy burden. That the yoke is not grievous. It's a gift. And we can do this thing that you've required of us if we will just trust and obey. And if we find ourselves at the end of our strength. It has to be, Lord, because of our self-reliance and resistance. O God, break us of that self-reliance and give us faith to trust and obey. In Jesus' name, Amen.