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We are in Matthew's Gospel, chapter number 11. Matthew's Gospel, chapter number 11. In this chapter, our Lord has been dealing with issues concerning his own followers, John the Baptist, one of them. Others that had firsthand, personally viewed the tremendous miracles that he had been working, which according to the Old Testament would demonstrate that indeed he was the Messiah they were to look for, they were to expect. This was not just a prophet. This was Messiah. This was not just a preacher. This was not just a religious leader. This was Messiah. And there are those that can take a look at the hand of God and the works of God and decide that they are going to make adverse interpretations and conclusions concerning what they see. There was a moral rejection of the forerunner of Messiah, John the Baptist. He was morally rejected. A moral rejection of Messiah himself by both wise and intelligent men. and a deliberate decision that God made that therefore he would not reveal to them Messiah or the God who had sent Messiah to them. And we're going to get a little bit of that as we move along in the message, followed by an invitation to these wise and intelligent men considered to be inferior to themselves. But there's an invitation that comes. Verse number 28. Are you there? Matthew 11 and verse number 28. This fantastic invitation that God gives. Now again, let me say this. Do any of you remember probably about nine months ago to a year ago, I preached for over six months on the work of the cross of Jesus Christ. Anybody remember that? You see, there's not freedom in the human spirit to come to him if there is this perception in the heart and mind that God is angry with you. Very important. See, God's already been angry with you. He took care of that on the cross. The cross was God's anger being poured out for our sins. That's what the cross was all about. An angry God. And God the Son hanging on the cross, himself becoming the one who bore that wrath of God for our sins as our substitute and our place. And he did this so that God would be free, never again, never again, never again to be angry with us on the basis of judgment for sins as a believer. It doesn't mean God condones all our stupidity, but the judgment for that stupidity, the sin issue, was settled with finality on the cross. So when Jesus says, come to me, there's a basis upon which we can do this. God has made the way. He has resolved the issues that stand in the way of our coming, or of our being free to come, or being open. to the blessing of God in our lives. The less you know about the resolution of the judgment of your sins on the cross, the less you know about that, the more reluctant you're going to be ever to ask anything good from God. Because you're going to say, I don't deserve it. I'm not worthy of it. And we are not. We are not. When Jesus says, come unto me, this is before the cross, but it's based on what happened on the cross. All of history before the death of the cross was covered by the work of the cross. And all of the sins after the work of the cross are covered by the work of the cross. And when Jesus did this work of the cross, all of our sins were future. They didn't exist except in the mind of God. He knew about them. So when you have this unbelievable invitation, come unto me. Back in the back of your mind, you have got to know and understand somehow the light has to go on. And you have to be able to understand that God was so angry with you over your sin. He not only judged your sins, but He took you to death. He crucified you in Christ on the cross. to get rid of what he could not accept and what he could not bless and what he could not help and what he could not use. You think you're not worthy. You have no idea how unworthy you are. And I apply that to myself. We have no earthly idea how bad the situation really was. That's why the cross of Christ was such an ugly, awful moment in human history. God was crucifying a whole human race in Jesus Christ, and judging all of their sins in Jesus Christ. Now, that's at the bottom of all of this. This means nothing. It's kind of an emotional appeal. Come, come. God says to come, yes, but if I have all of these reservations in the back of my heart and mind, I don't have freedom to come. Does this make sense to you? If my life is loaded up with guilt, I don't have freedom to come. If I don't know about the work of the cross, I'm loaded up with guilt and shame over what's already been taken care of in full. God has been propitiated. He's the God who is happy. That's the root of the word propitiation. God is happy. How can it be happy? He's happy because He wanted to get us out of trouble, not into trouble. And in order to get us out of trouble, He had to go to the cross in the person of His Son. And He had to bear our sins there. He had to die for our sins there. He had to take us there in Him and kill us and crucify us in Christ for the awfulness of our sins. He's already done it. You take me down to Ghirardelli Health Food Bar. And I say, I want you to take this whole congregation. This whole congregation. I want you to take the whole congregation for a treat. And you say, but pastor, I could do it. I've got enough money to do it. But I've got some bills out here that I've got to pay. And if I don't get those bills paid, I'm in trouble. And I could do it, but I've got these bills to pay. And this is the way we think. He says, come to me. And we say, well, look, I could come, but I've got all this stuff out here, all of this sin and guilt. I've got all of this stuff out here. How can I come? And then the Bible says it's paid. He, the Lord Jesus himself, is the full satisfaction. He's the happiness of God for our sins. Now come, come, come, come. Don't worry about it. The bill's paid. In full, to God's complete satisfaction. Come unto me. Then he talks about being weary, heavy laden. I will give you rest. Talks about a yoke. Take my yoke upon you. Learn from me. I'm gentle, humble in heart. You will find rest. under your souls. My yoke is easy. My burden is light." And we talked about the fact that he is offering refreshing to those who have become weary, exhausted, tired, beaten down by the circumstances of life. And he said, I will rest you. I will refresh you. I will renew you. I want you to look, if you will now, please, At verse number 29, verse number 29, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. I'm gentle and humble in heart. You will find rest for your souls. Now, there is work left to do. There is work to do. And in fact, there's more work available to me than I can accomplish in one lifetime. So how do we deal with this? I will give you rest, but you've got all this work to do. How do you rest and work? How is that possible? You know, one time it occurred to me and there are great liberating thoughts in life, OK? You be careful what you do with this. Don't misapply this, please. But it occurred to me one day that God did not expect me to do everything everybody in my world expected me to do. There isn't enough time and energy for me to do everything that everyone expects me to do. Just is not. I decided that God only expected me to do what one man could do in 24 hours a day. And in seven days a week. And if it didn't fit in that, God didn't expect me to do it. And if God didn't expect me to do it, I didn't have to do it. Whoo! That was liberating. So, I invented what I call a program of planned neglect. I can't do everything I need to do every day, so I plan what I'll neglect. And I take care of what I can. And then I learned that I didn't need to worry about what I couldn't do, I just needed to be concerned about what I could do. And what I could do, I should do. And what I should do, I ought to do right. Do well. So I figured if I'd lived that way, instead of beating myself over the head for what I could not do, I would find some joy in doing what I could do. Make sense? Now, there is a sense in which you can work that way and be restful in your spirit at the same time because you're not loaded up with the pressures of having to do more than one person can do. There is work to do. There's more work to do than can be done in a lifetime. Jesus says, take my yoke upon you. The word yoke comes from a word means to raise, to lift, to take up or to pick up. And this is an interesting word because there are different kinds of yokes. Some of us, most of us, when we think of a yoke, what kind of an animal do we generally associate with a yoke? Tell me, what kind of an animal? Oxen? Water buffalo? Something like that. We think of a yoke and we think of this big heavy wooden piece with the two things and you stick your neck through there. It's not like the French guillotine. You know the saying in France, during the days of the guillotine, you peep through the little hole and then you sneeze into the basket. That's not what a yoke is all about. A yoke is about getting the strength of two individual entities. so that one doesn't have to do all the pulling so that you've got someone else that is carrying half of the load, if you please. One of the most beautiful pictures that I see in my mind is the old stagecoaches with some of those beautiful horses that they had pulling them years and years ago across the plains in this country. But to see them all harnessed up so that you have two or four or six wagons down in Southern California where they'd get 20 teams of mules and you'd have all of this load being shared, being pulled by more than just one animal. What one person couldn't do, what one animal could not do, you yoke up and then it makes possible things that are not possible. It's a beautiful picture, it really is, in a sense. Take my yoke upon you. Now, if he says, take my yoke upon you, who's in the yoke first? Let me ask it again. If he says, take my yoke upon you, who's in the yoke first? He says, you get in and then I might crawl in on the other side. No, he says, you take my yoke upon you. I'm already got the thing on. And if you'll get on the other side, then we can do a partnership with the Lord Jesus. And the work is different when it's done in partnership with God than it is bearing the burden all of ourselves. Do you know God does not expect us to do everything he expects us to do? Let me say that again. God does not expect us to do everything he expects us to do. He expects us, along with himself, to do what he expects us to do. It is not our business to do what only God can do. We are not God. We do not have that kind of strength. We do not have that kind of wisdom or endurance. We don't have it. And God doesn't expect us to have it. He knows we don't have it. That's why he says, take my yokan yithu. And it's wonderful when we can get up in the morning and say, Lord, I can't do what I've got to do today, but you said you'd help me and you'd make it possible. Yoke up with Him. Be in a partnership with Him. Every day. That's what the word fellowship means. It's koinonia. They use that word fellowship. It's really a partnership. It's people getting together to share in common, to do a common cause. So the work of God in our lives is a partnership with God. He is responsible to carry the part of the load that I can't carry. And I can't carry it. It's not possible for me to carry it. Come unto me. Take my yoke upon you. Learn of me. Really, learn from me. Let me mentor you. Let me show you. how to do it. And to me, one of the most graphic illustrations in scripture. I try to recall a poem, when we see the lilies spinning in distress, taking thought to manufacture loveliness. When we see the sparrows building barns for storing food, It will be the time for us to worry, not before. Jesus said, why do you worry about things that you can't help, that you can't do? Can you see a lily? Can you see this plant? Look at how distressed it is. See those leaves just waving off? See them just kind of trembling under pressure? Can't you see the stress in those flowers? Take my yoke upon you. Get into a partnership with me. I cannot do what only God can do. I can't do that. I can't do what I need to do in this service tonight. It is not humanly possible. This same congregation has never been assembled before. Your situation in life is different than it has ever been at any time in your life before. I have no way to know what's going on in your heart and mind. I do not have the strength, nor the cunning, nor the insight, nor the wisdom to know what to say and how to say it. It doesn't matter if I preached 150 years. I have to do this in partnership with the Holy Spirit of God. Or it will mean nothing to you when you leave this place tonight. Yes or no? Take my yoke upon you. Be in partnership with me. There is work to do. And the work is hard. And the work is more than that of which we are capable. Take my yoke. Learn from me. Let me be your mentor. The word here implies a thoughtful process that has external affairs. Learn to know me. Understand me. Learn under my instruction. Learn from me. And I love this. Let's just look at verse 29. I'll give a couple more things and then I'll have to draw this thing to a close. Notice what he says and fix your eyes, please, on verse twenty nine. Verse twenty nine. Take my yoke upon you, learn from me, I am meek, which was gentle and lowly, which means humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. What are the expectations of the Lord Jesus for us? I have in my notes this. Our leader is a shepherd, not a boss. Our leader is a shepherd, not a boss. What are his expectations of us in life and ministry? If you're a good parent, you have high expectations for yourself. But sometimes those expectations are too high. Sometimes they're too low. But what is the level of expectation of the Lord Jesus? I am meek, I'm gentle, I'm humble, I am considerate. Briggs and Driver says this word meek means not being overly impressed by a sense of one's self-importance. He is to us a shepherd, not a boss. He is more concerned about us than himself, if that were not true, then the cross doesn't make any sense. More concerned about us than himself. That's the love of God, that's the selflessness of God, yes? The servitude of God, yes? I am meek, gentle, humble, considerate. Notice the next word, I am meek and lowly in heart. The word lowly means of low position, poor, lowly, undistinguished, of no account. And concerning emotional states, it means subservient or abject in the good sense, lowly and humble. Briggs and Driver says it pertains to being servile in manner, pliant, subservient, abject. I am gentle, humble, considerate, subservient, lowly, undistinguished, humble in heart. The heart here is his disposition toward those who are yoked with him. The heart is the seat of the emotions and thoughts, and this is the disposition of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, the expectations of our Lord Jesus and the expectations of our fellow believers are sometimes quite different. Man's expectations are one thing, but God's expectations. I'm a meek, lowly mentor. My disposition toward you is that of gentleness, considerateness, humbleness. Considering myself undistinguished, I'm here to enhance you, your life and enrich your life. I am here to be subservient to you. I'm here to pull my share of the load, take my yoke on you. Come to me. If you don't get in the yoke, then you have to pull by yourself. Maybe you're doing that tonight. Maybe you're pulling by yourself. We need to share this thing with Him. Verse number 30, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And I haven't time to finish this completely, but I do want you to go one more place so we can wrap this up. Philippians chapter four. We have been here before, but let's go there tonight one more time. Philippians chapter four. Verse number 12, and let me read this from the New American Standard Translation, as you read along in your King James Bibles, Philippians chapter four. Paul said, I know how to get along with humble means. That's what the word of base means. I know how to get along with humble means. To abound means to live in prosperity. So he says, I know how to get along with humble means. I know also how to live in prosperity in any and every circumstance. I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry. That's at the same time. Both of having abundance and suffering need, that's at the same time. This happens in ministry. And then we have this verse number 13. I can do all things through him, through Christ, who strengthens me. Let me again give you the paraphrase on this. Paul is saying here, I possess the personal strength for everything. Now, where does he get it? Not that I get it from myself. I have it within myself. I possess the personal strength for everything in Him, in the One literally who endures me, who pours into me His strength and His power. So, Paul is saying here, I possess the personal strength for everything in the One who pours His power into me. Take my yoke. upon you. Join in partnership with me. Don't, in any sense of the word, take upon you the burdens of life that you have. Do not bear them alone. It doesn't matter what they are. Any legitimate function of life is too much for us. Now, is that true or not? Yes or no? How many of you have the strength to be the kind of an employer you ought to be? The kind of an employee you ought to be? How many have the wisdom and strength to be the kind of a parent or child that you need to be and ought to be? How many of you have the personal strength that you need and the ability that you need to serve God as a Sunday school teacher or deacon or deaconess? We all come up short. So we get yoked up with the one who pours his power into us. He's the one with whose partnership we are enabled to do what we cannot do. If we don't yoke up with him, we will end up beaten down and defeated and guilt-ridden with a sense of failure Does this make sense? You're just looking at me. I just want to know what's registering, what's going on. I know the brainiums are working because your eyes are still open. Nobody's snoring yet. So I know you're thinking about this. But this is not our burden. A little saying, and I've got several sayings I'd like to get put in beautiful plaques. And this is one of them. Can I share it with you? Bear not a single care thyself. One is too hard for thee. The work is mine and mine alone, your work to trust in me." Wow! Take my yoke upon you. This is not getting stuck with a drudgery filled life. This is going into partnership with the one that makes life possible. And then there can be some joy and some rejoicing and gratification as we see him pulling alongside of us and see what's going on in our lives. Not because we have the capacity, but because we're yoked to the one who has that capacity. They're not a single care yourself. I don't care what it is. One is too hard for you. The work is mine, mine alone, and your work is to trust in me. Is that good? Design it and put it on your wall. That's the way God wants us to live. Sure, life is hard, but when we live it right, it needs to be filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit. of the Lord is your strength. But the joy of the Lord cannot be your strength if you're not working in partnership with Him. Take my yoke upon you. By the way, there's one more yoke. I've got to stop. I've gone too long. There's one more kind of yoke. It's a one man yoke. And I I'm not familiar with this. I've seen them. But my mind doesn't give me that. I couldn't draw it on a drawing if I had to. But there are yokes that that people wear across their shoulder that enable them to do more work than they could otherwise. They really make impossible work possible. Have I seen someone carrying two big buckets of water at the same time with a yoke over their shoulders? Have I seen that? There would be no way they could do that work without a yoke. Yokes sometimes are real work savers. A fellow said it's a piece of McHenry. M-A-C-H-I-N-E-R-Y. It's a piece of McHenry. Didn't get it yet? M-A-C-H-I-N-E-R-Y. Now you tell me if you get that by the time Munch and Mingle is over. They call it Mack Henry. Oh my, God's a wonderful God. Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, learn from me. I'm meek, I'm lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your soul because my yoke is easy. And my burden is light. Come. Do this partnership thing this week. All right? God, I can't do this without You. Now let's go. You're going to go with me. He said, I will sometimes leave you and sometimes I'll forsake you. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. With boldness we can declare The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. Yoke up. Yoke up and live in a partnership with God. Thank you, Lord, for your people. Thank you for the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for your word. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for being a shepherd to us, not a boss. Thank you for the honor of working for you, but not in our own strength and power, but to simply in partnership, Lord Jesus, with you, go into life to minister. Now bless this people as they do. Fill us fresh and new now with the Spirit of the living God to make possible all of these things we've been talking about tonight. We pray that you shall lift the burdens of our hearts, We pray, O God, that you shall give us your joy and give us, O God, the wisdom that we need as we go out into our world and the spiritual resources that we need to minister. Bless our fellowship together now in the time to follow, we pray in Jesus' wonderful name. Amen. God bless you as you go.
The Greatest Invitation You Will Ever Receive
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