1 Timothy 1.15 says, This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Christ didn't come to die for
the good So if you're not a sinner, be afraid And as you listen to the words
that I'm singing Hear this one message, dear God As for me, I was broken Down
with no hope and looking for somewhere to flee. So he made me call, he heard
my cry, and he had mercy on me. Yes, he had mercy on me. He looked down on sinners and
saw I was cheap Oh and He had mercy on me Now when I am finished
I want no credit for standing before you to sing The Lord gives the glory The
Lord gives the honor The Lord Jesus Christ is the King But
if you feel broken Down with no hoping You don't know what
you should do Just close your eyes You know
you're a sinner and he might have mercy on you. Cause he had mercy on you. He had mercy on you. He looked down on sinners and
saw how to cheat. Have mercy on me And he just
might have mercy on me Cause he had mercy on me Alright, let's go now in our
Bibles to Matthew 11. Thank you for that, Gabe. The Lord delights to show mercy. While reading this passage, The
last three verses, once again, were a blessing to me and caught
my attention, the last three verses of Matthew 11. And I began
to prepare a message on it, and I wanted to look up some
past messages that We had preached on this, and I looked up my notes,
and I just preached from this in February of this year. But
I'd already been an hour or two on it, and I said, I'm just going
to preach it anyway. Preach it again. Let's read verses
28 through 30. The Lord Jesus Christ says, 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 you shall find
rest unto your souls. My yoke is easy, my burden is
light. blessed words of our Lord. The Lord several times throughout
the Scriptures, many times spoke of coming to him. We read that
in Isaiah 55, didn't we? Sounds like the same thing, doesn't
it? The Lord said, come unto me.
A couple of times there in Isaiah 55. Well, it is the same person
doing the speaking, the Lord, the God who wrote that who said
that in Isaiah 55, dwelt amongst us. And he said again, come unto
me. The Lord said, if any man thirsts,
in another place he said, if any man thirsts, let him come
unto me. The Lord said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. What does that mean? What does
it mean? to come to Christ. What does it mean to come to
Christ throughout the scriptures? Now, before we look at what it
does mean, I must of necessity tell you what it does not mean. I must. In light of this modern
generation and religion today, who have reduced this thing of
salvation, which is a miraculous work of God, a miracle of God's
sovereign saving grace, they have reduced it to nothing more
than a decision which man must make. Walking down an aisle in a moment
of emotion, and before a crowd of people coming to Christ, coming to Jesus.
That's what they have reduced it to. This started what is commonly called the altar
call, or the invitation after a message. It started over 150
years ago, basically. The man named Charles Finney,
a heretical preacher, false preacher named Charles Finney, started
this modern altar call, invitation thing, that at the end of every
sermon, he would invite people to come down to the front and
can profess Jesus or make it publicly known. That's still widely practiced
today, especially by famous preachers from North Carolina and other
places that hold great crusades. I've told you something of the
corruption behind those vast groups of people that come down
front. They do corrupt things in order
to make that happen. That's not coming to Christ.
That was not practiced in the scripture. Nowhere will you find
the apostles inviting men down front and coming forward to make
your decision and so forth. That's not coming to Christ.
Brother Scott Richardson, I love what he said. He said, Come to
Christ, but don't move a muscle. Don't move a muscle, because
coming to Christ is not a physical move. Well, later on, after you've
come to Christ, you come professing him in believer's baptism. That's the way the Lord told
us to confess him before men, but that's not salvation. That's
a confession of what God has done for you through Christ. That's merely a profession of
faith, of what he's already done. Coming to Christ. Christ said,
come unto me, not the altar. The writer of the Hebrews said,
we have an altar. Do you remember reading that?
I think it's Hebrews 13. We have an altar that those that
just labor about the temple, the tabernacle, have no right
to participate in, those that just think about worldly, outward,
fleshly religion and all, they haven't been to this altar. He
said, Christ is our altar. He's seated in the heavens. So
Christ said, when Christ said, come unto me, now when he said
this, he was surrounded by people. Right? He was surrounded by people. Everywhere he went, people came
to him. but not in the way he's talking
about. One time he was walking along in a crowd of people, he
said, he stopped. He said, somebody touched me.
And the disciples, they couldn't understand. Lord, they said,
everybody's touched you. Oh no, he said, somebody touched
me. So Christ says, come unto me.
And we need to come to Him now. Well, where is He? That we might
come to Him. He's not down here. He's seated
on the throne of Heaven. So this is not a physical move. It's the inner man. It's the
spiritual man with the heart man, believe it, comes to Christ. Alright, what does it mean to
come to Christ? Let's look at this. What does
it mean? Go back to Matthew chapter 8. This is where we start. Matthew
8, what do you do when you come to Christ? Well, first of all,
when you come to Christ, you have heard somebody preach Him.
You've heard somebody or read in the scriptures who He is,
who He truly is. Romans 10 says they're not going
to call on Him on whom they've not believed. They're not going
to believe in Him on whom they've not heard. They're not going
to hear without a preacher. Faith cometh by hearing. To come
to Christ is to come to someone you've heard about, him who is
who he is. Hebrews 6, verse 11 says, He
that cometh to God must believe he is. So first of all, to come
to Christ is to hear the true and living Christ. He says, come
unto me. It's to come to him. You're seeking
him and something from him. And you come to him, first of
all, this is vital, this is important, this is missing today. And this
is how you can really tell if you have come to Christ, the
difference. Look at Matthew 8, verse 1. It
says, when he was come down from the mountain, Christ, great multitudes
followed him. Like I said, Everywhere he went,
he attracted a large crowd. People came to see Jesus, came
to hear Jesus. Great multitudes came, it said. And the Lord, in several places
in the scriptures, it says that he would turn to them and say,
You're following me, you came to me because you got your belly
filled. He said to them, he rebuked them,
saying that you are following me, you're coming to me for what
you can get out of me. Does that sound familiar? You're
coming to me for what you can get from me, the miracles, or
you're real curious about the miracles. that I perform. You see that no man can come
from God and do these things. A man must be from God if he
does these miracles. Acknowledge that, and you just
want to see some more miracles. You want to see some signs and
wonders and miracles. That's what our Lord said. The
evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign. They say, show
us a sign. Show us a sign. He said to some, you seek me
because of the miracles. He said to others, you come to
me because you want your belly filled, what you can get out
of me. I have two young horses over
at my house right now. They're getting pretty big. They
like to eat. And they're sisters. They're two sisters. And every
morning when I wake up in the morning and go outside, if they
see me, or if they smell me, or if they hear me rustling around
out there, oh, they'll come running. Kelly, you know how it is. They'll
be way off somewhere and they'll see me and they'll come running
down through there, running to me. Why? They want to see me?
Is it me they love? Is it me they've just been waiting
on all this time to come out, speak a word to them? They want
something to eat. That's all they want from me.
And while I'm feeding them, they're just uncontrollable. And I'm going to sell them. I'm
thinking hard about selling them. I don't need them. They don't
need me. They just seek me because of
what they can get out of me. You see the illustration? Now,
I've got an old dog named Abner you've heard about too many times. But I love him and I'm going
to talk about him. When I come out in the morning
and Abner smells me, I'm a sweet savor to him. Me! When I come out and he hears
my voice, he comes running to me. He wants to see me. His bowl can be empty out there.
It's all right. He wants to see me. He loves
me. You see the difference? He just wants a word. You saw
that, didn't you, Brother Gabe, the other day? I come out and
he'll leave all his companions, Abner will, leave all of them
to come to me, just to sit at my feet. and wait on me to pat
his head one time. That's a good illustration. Come
unto me. Well, this fellow did. Matthew
8. Behold, verse 2, there came a leper. Had to come. Why did he come? What did he
do when he came to Christ? Verse 2. He came and worshiped
him. That's the first thing he did. That's why he came. That's the
first thing that he did. The first way he approached the
Lord, and that's what he called him, didn't he? Lord. He came
and worshiped him. He was a leper. He had a great
need. He needed the Lord, our healer,
to heal him. Yet that's not the first thing
he did. He didn't know if he was going
to go away healed or not, but he had to worship him. That's the first way he came,
and that's the proper way to come to the king, people. I don't
see that today. You come to the king, said every
knee should bow. The first way you approach our
God, in whose hands our breath is, is by fear and trembling. The first way we come to God
is believing he is God, that he can have mercy or he can not
have mercy. The first way we come to Christ, who is King of
kings and Lord of lords is as a sovereign. We come unworthy. We come in humility. We come
to our King, our Creator, our Judge, our Lord, and we worship
Him before we ever ask any favors of Him, before we find out we're
going to get anything from Him. We worship Him. This is the difference between
true believers and those who just, their God is their belly. Can you say that? You come here,
we all have needs. Everybody has needs. Temporal
needs, spiritual needs, but you come here to hear about Him,
to worship Him first and foremost. to hear about your God? I remember
distinctly as a young believer, I remember coming to, well, when
I first came, I was looking at her. But then the Lord began to quicken me and awaken
me to look to Him. And before I ever made a profession
of faith, I remember coming zealously and
consistently and always, I wanted to come. I wanted to come before
I ever knew, before I ever had any peace or assurance that I
was one of the Lord's own. I was struggling with that. I didn't know if I was. Deborah,
I came because I loved to hear God exalted and Christ exalted. I'm telling you the truth. That's
why I came. Long before I felt like I was
one of the elect, so to speak. And later on he did, shortly thereafter, did say unto
my soul, I am thy salvation. You're one of mine. That's the
sign. That's the first thing. The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That's the first way. When you come to God, you come
worshiping. This leper came worshiping Him,
didn't he? Paul said to the Philippians,
chapter 3 of Philippians, he said, we are the true circumcision,
the true people of God. Why, Paul, why do you say that?
Because we worship God in spirit. We don't have much special music. We don't have much of it. That's
by design. Because what I'm doing right
here is why we meet here. This is what it's all about.
Everything here centers around the preaching of the word, the
hearing of the word and so forth. I love special music when it
comes from someone who knows the truth and comes from the
heart and they sing it from the heart. But the world is taken
up with religious entertainment and many people come for that
reason. And it's very clear here, in
those places where the truth is preached, very clear why people
come. Because there's not much entertainment
that goes on. Programs and so forth. We preach
Christ. That's what we do. That's what
we're about. We're pointing to Him. We're
the true circumcision, the people of God, which worship God in
spirit. Don't need all the outward trappings
of religion. show of flesh and all that, to
worship God. God is not worshiped with men's
hands, the Scripture says, but with the heart. Through the truth,
we worship in spirit and in truth. We rejoice in Christ Jesus, who
is the truth. That's how. Worship God, rejoice
and cry. Have no confidence in the flesh. Is that why you come? Can you
examine yourself, as the scripture says, to see if you'd be of the
faith? To come to Christ means to come
to worship first and foremost. Can you say that from the heart?
I come here because I love what I'm hearing. I love who I'm hearing. Can you say that? This leper
deity came to Christ. Well, secondly, to come to Christ
is to come poor and needy. is to come as a needy sinner.
This fellow was a leper, verse 2. Became a leper. Boy, a leper is a goner. Back
then he was. Leprosy was always fatal. Always
fatal. We've almost eradicated leprosy
now in this generation, but back then it was fatal. You had no
hope of living. This fellow was a leper. He was
a goner and he knew it. He first came worshiping the
Lord, but then he had a great need that only Christ could meet. Oh, you're talking about needy. Needy. He's going to die unless
Christ heals him. He's the only one. Today, that
day was his salvation. He heard Jesus Christ was coming
through. It was that day, and he was so
needy that he came. to the only one who could provide
that need. Talk about needy. Old blind Bartimaeus,
remember him, sitting out by the wayside, dressed in rag,
blind, been there for years. He'd heard about Jesus of Nazareth,
Jesus who's called the Christ, the healer of blind people, the
Messiah, the King, the healer of blind people. And boy, when he heard Christ
was coming by one day, he dropped everything, didn't he? This was
the day of salvation for him. He dropped everything he owned,
which was rags, and hollered out, Jesus, thou Son of David. That's Lord, that's Christ, that's
Messiah, that's the Son of God. He worshipped him, see? Son of
David. He worshipped him. Have mercy
upon me." And people tried to get him to be quiet, didn't they?
People that had good eyesight, people that were healthy and
wealthy said to old blind Bartimaeus, who's sitting there, can't see,
who's stone blind and broke, except what was in his tin cup.
And they said, be quiet, Bartimaeus, quit disturbing our religious
gathering. He cried the louder. You see, they weren't poor and
needy. He came to Christ right then, but he didn't move a muscle. He couldn't get to Christ. He
was blind. He didn't know how to get to
Christ. That's what this message is all about, what it is to come
to Christ. Barnabas couldn't get there.
He was blind. Somebody had to lead him there. But he came to
Christ before he got to Christ. You understand? Sitting right
there when he called on the Lord. He came to him from the heart.
This to come is poor and needy. Poor and needy. Look at our text
in Matthew 11, verse 28. The Lord said, Come unto me all
ye that labor and are heavy laden. Labor. The Lord tells those who
are laboring to come unto him. Those who are heavy laden have
a great burden. of something, come to him. Now,
every one of us labor physically. Every one of us in here works
hard. That's the lot of man. We need
to quit complaining about this. We need to just do it. Whatever your hand finds to do,
do it heartily. with all thy might, as unto the
Lord." This is the lot of man. The sooner we quit murmuring
and complaining, the better off we will be. The more God will
be honored and the better off we will be. We'll find some peace
where we are. All of us labor physically, labor
hard in our jobs, and the Lord did so. That's the lot
of man. When the Lord came down here,
he worked hard, didn't he? One time they said to him, Lord,
rest. Quit working. You haven't slept.
You haven't eaten. Rest. He said, I must work while
there are twelve hours in the day. The Lord worked twenty-four
hours a day, seven days a week. Seven days a week. Did he? He did. If he had quit actually
working on the Sabbath, the world would stop spinning. The sun would fall, and so on. But he worked twelve hours a
day. That's just a little side note that we need to quit complaining
about it. Our Lord did, without complaint.
He said, learn of me. I'm meek and low. You'll find
rest. The Lord works hard. Labor and heavy laden. burdens,
weights, responsibilities. He had the weight of the world
riding on his shoulder. He never uttered a word of complaint. Here, the Lord is not talking
about physical labor. We all do it. But this laboring
and heavy laden, listen to me now, this laboring and heavy
laden is laboring under a sense of your own sin,
sinfulness and guilt, laboring and heavy laden by this burden
of sin and guilt, laboring to get rid of it, laboring to get
rid of this burden of sin, this guilt that we feel, weighed down
by a sense of our own sinfulness and guilt and so forth. And Christ
says, come unto me. all you that labor and are heavy
laden. You know, some of us who've had a kind
of sordid past can never Toil and labor try to atone for
the past, try to undo what's been done. We can't do it. We
can't do it. And we're burdened by our past. It weighs heavily upon us. Christ
says, come unto me and unload. Scripture says, casting
all your care upon him, all your sin upon him. He's the only one
that can wipe the slate clean. He's the only one that can blot
out all that against you. He's the only one that can undo
the past as if it never happened. And we come to Christ as our
scapegoat. We come to him to unburden. That's what confessing to Christ
is. He's our high priest, our only
high priest. We come to him confessing our
sins, and he's faithful and just to forgive us. I love the story,
and maybe I shouldn't tell the illustration right now. I'd like
to preach from it soon, but it might not be here Wednesday.
But that scapegoat, I love that story of that scapegoat. One
of my favorites. Maybe you haven't heard it. But
the Lord told Moses and Aaron to get a goat of the firstling
of the flock, a male of the first year. Get that goat and bring
him before all the children of Israel, before all the people.
Bring that goat. And everybody who needed their
sins atoned for, everyone, every sinner, it's a faithful saying
the Lord made here, and worthy of sinners to heed it, that everyone
who would come and just lay their hands on the head of that goat,
somehow get to it and put your hands on the head of that goat. And God said, I'm going to have
a fit man, a healthy man, a fine man, take that goat with all,
whoever confessed all their sin, no matter, he doesn't say what
kind of sin, anything, all their transgressions, no matter how
bad they were, lay their hands on the head of that goat, that
scapegoat, and this fit man is going to take this goat out of
the camp, outside the camp, into the wilderness, And keep walking,
and keep walking. Three days' journey, he's going
to go walk with that goat. He's going to take that goat
with all the confessed sins on the head of that goat. He's going
to take that goat into the far reaches of the wilderness, as
far as from the east to the west. He's going to take that goat,
and the fellow's going to let him loose, turn it loose, and
he's going to come back. without that goat. You see the picture. A scapegoat. That goat is a symbol of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Every sinner confesses all their past, all
their present, and what they know will be a sinful future
on the head, on Christ our And ask him, Christ is all. He's
the fit man, he's the goat, he's the one who told them what to
do. And all who confess all their sins to Christ himself, casting
all your care upon him, he cares for you. Christ went to Calvary's
tree, separated from God for us with
our sins laid upon him. and put them away. Every one
of them. Every one of them. Your past
is gone. It's gone, Kelly, it's gone.
Christ said, God said, there are sins and iniquities I will
remember no more. Yeah, but what about he, I can't
remember. That's good news. That's the
gospel. That's good news to who? Sinners. Old Brother Jack Shanks,
I like what he said. He said, and God ain't going
goat hunting. Oh, he turned it loose, never
to be seen again. Gone. And he's not goat hunting
either. He's not going to bring it up.
We do all the time. We can't get rid of it, and we
try, somehow, someway. Christ says, come unto me. I'll
give you rest. We come to Christ needy. We come
to Christ as beggars, like Bartimaeus was a beggar. He needed
somebody to do everything for him, didn't he? He had nothing.
We sang, or did we sing it? in my hands no price I bring. Bartimaeus had nothing but rags. He needed Christ to do it all. He needed Christ to do it all.
You know, I thought about this. It doesn't say in that story,
but Bartimaeus threw away his old rags. It doesn't say that. what he was wearing when he left
there, I guarantee that Christ gave him a brand new suit of
clothes. Right then and there made him up a seamless robe to
wear home. Spotless best suit of clothes
he'd ever had, Brother Henry. I guarantee he made it. He didn't
go home naked. He didn't go home blind either.
He came to Christ for a handout. Christ said to do it all for
him. We come to Christ as a sinner. Why aren't there more people
in this building? Why isn't every seat filled? There aren't many sinners out
there. That's true. That's the people
you work with, sinners needing a forgiveness. And this message
is for sinners, for the guilty. This message of mercy, you hear
it all the time. where the gospel is preached,
you hear all the time about God's sovereign mercy. Well, who's
interested in that? Who needs that? Guilty. Grace. We come to Christ as those
who have nothing, are nothing, can do nothing, can't make one
step, not even a baby step toward God. Christ says, come unto me.
How pure are you? That's a silly slogan. or a little sign, you know, footprints
in the sand, there's two sets of footprints in the sand, all
of a sudden there was just one. You've regretted that and heard
that. It's awful. And the person who said, supposedly
said, Lord, you walked with me all that way, and then all of
a sudden there's just one set of footprints, and why did you
leave me? He said, no, I didn't leave you, I carried you the
rest of the way. But God's people have never walked
alone. God's people, in other words,
have always been carried by Christ. From the cradle to the grave.
That's what Isaiah said, didn't he? From the cradle to your hoary
head, I'll carry you. Or as you might say in Franklin
County, carry you. I'll carry you all the way. Scripture
says when he left the ninety and the nine and the wilderness.
to go after that one lost sheep. What'd he do? He'd lead it. He'd
shove it, push it, pull it. No, he carried it on his shoulders. He got all his people on his
broad shoulders. He could carry all of them. Come
unto me, he said. I'll give you rest. You don't
have to walk to heaven. I'll carry you there. All you
got to do is enjoy the ride. Oh, I love the illustration Last
Sunday we looked at Noah and that blessed ark, a picture of
Christ. What did Noah and his sons, daughters-in-law,
his wife, have to do for forty days and forty-nine? When God put them on that boat
and shut the door, did he say, Now, get out the doors and start
rowing? What did I have to do? Come on now, what did I have
to do? Rest. Just rest. Feed the animals. That was it. Rest. You get through feeding,
and you get through eating yourself. Rest. Rest. Christ said, come unto me. When
you come to Christ, true religion, is it not the most restful thing
you've ever? Many labor and are heavy laden
in religion. Oh my, bless their hearts. I
wish the Lord would bless their hearts. Some labor, we see them
everywhere, labor and heavy laden, try to get to God. by their works. In various religions, from the
Jews to the Muslims to, in our society, German Baptists, even
Seventh-day Adventists, so to speak, the Russellites, calling
themselves Jehovah's Witnesses, they are working their way to
heaven. They are trying their best to get to heaven. And how I wish that one of those
German Baptist ladies would hear this gospel and hear about the Son who sets
free, laboring and heavy laden and
don't even know it. But the fact is, most of them
like that. They like that. They are self-righteous
and they like what they're doing for the Lord and how they're
earning their way and you're not. I don't want to. I need somebody
to do it all for me. I need somebody to do it all.
We come to Christ as needy. We come to him as our prophet,
our priest, and our king. Christ is the prophet, the prophet. You don't have to go to such
and such a fellow to tell you about prophecy, to tell you what's
going to happen. Go to Christ. He's already told
it. Come unto me, when the woman
at the well said, when the Messiah's come, when the prophet's come,
that Moses spoke of, he'll tell us all things. Christ said, all
right, I'll tell you all you need to know. You don't have
to go, you don't have to take a pilgrimage with that Van Impey
fellow and let him tell you what's going to happen in the future,
or how, or what his name is. I'm the prophet to end all prophecies. I'm the priest. You better count your blessings
that this morning you're not kneeling before man. There are millions of people
all over this world, deluded and in darkness, literally bowing
before men. going in little booths, little
confessional booths to tell these wicked fellows what they do. These wicked fellows, vile, ungodly
fellows, telling them, unburdening all their sins that have fallen
into the ears of these wicked fellows. Who makes us different? Christ said, come unto me. I
am the priest. Confess to me. He's the only one who can do
anything about it. Christ is the only one. And people can
confess all they want to these fellows, and that's why they
keep coming, because those fellows can't do anything
about it. But they feel better. Christ had come unto me, confessed
it all unto me. I'm the only one that actually
can do anything about it. Must do anything about it. We
come to Christ as our King, Prophet, Priest, and King. We come to
Him as our King. Back when Joseph was on the throne,
and everybody was dying of starvation. They were going to die without
corn, without grain, without bread, weren't they? Pharaoh
said to all the people, if you want food, if you want bread,
you've got to go to Joseph. I've given him charge of all
the storehouses. If you want anything, I've placed
all authority, all power, all provision, everything in the
hands of Joseph, who right now is my king on my throne. If you
want anything, you better go to Joseph. He has charge of the
storehouses. However much you need, you go
to him for it. He'll freely give it. I know
Joseph. Generous man. And do you know how needy you
are? Want a wagon load? He'll give
you two. A little sack will give you that. And Christ is our Joseph on the
throne. We come to him as king who hath
all authority given unto me of heaven and earth, he said. That's
what he said there in verse 27, right before he said that. All
things are delivered unto me of the Father. I have it all.
Christ is all and in all. He's all. I'm so glad. I'm so glad that all my salvation
is wrapped up in one person. I don't have to go over to the
Middle East and visit the Holy Land to feel whatever. I don't have to go from door
to door. I don't have to do anything. This is the work of God. Believe
on him. Come to him only. Go to one. Christ is all. Jesus Christ is
all the religion you and I need. I'm so glad. I'm so glad. Aren't you? We come to Christ,
like I said, inwardly, inwardly, not outwardly, from the heart.
We come by faith, we come by prayer. He said, Ask, seek, knock.
Ask, seek, and knock. Ask, you will
receive. Seek, you shall find. Knock,
it will be opened unto you. Come unto me, he said in our
text, and I will, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest. Rest from hopeless sorrow. Rest
from a burden of guilt. Rest from fears and anxiety of
the future. Rest. Come unto me, all authority
is given unto me. Come unto me and just rest your
soul, your family, everything, the future, everything. You will
rest if you see who I am and cast it all upon me. In verse
29, he says, Take my yoke upon you. I like this. Some of you are some farmers
in here, and horse people know what a yoke is. Our Lord was
about around those things all the time. That's what men and
women did back then. They plowed with oxen, and they
used yokes. Our Lord said, Take my yoke upon
you, my yoke upon you, and learn of me. Learn of me. I wish I'd have brought one.
I've got one. A yoke is something that ties you to another animal. A yoke is always two. A yoke. A yoke of oxen was always
a pair of them, and they were a yoke. You've seen it. Nearly
everybody's seen these either wooden yokes or whatever harness
you. Nowadays, they use a harness.
It's a yoke. You harness a couple of horses or mules or something
together. Christ says, take my yoke upon
you and learn of me. Now, men and women and young
people like to think that they're free. They want their independence,
and they like to think that they have it. And they spend their
living what they think is a life of freedom and independence,
doing their own thing. But it's not so. The scriptures write that there
are those who are under bondage, bondage of Satan, bondage of
this world. They're yoked, all right. A yoke
to this world, a yoke to the God of this world. You spend
a life under bondage, not even knowing it, bondage of peer pressure. Young people, you've heard me say and poke
fun at young people. I was one of them, thinking I
was footloose and fancy free when I was doing everything that
everybody else was doing. I wouldn't dare. I had to follow
the crowd, you know. Young people particularly think
they're independent, doing their own thing when they're following
everything that every other young person is doing, no matter how
ridiculous or how hurtful. Yeah, I'm free. Adults who know
better, they think they're free. Worship today at the church of
your choice. It doesn't make any difference.
You can go to any of them, but the true one, they're no different.
In other words, they spend a lifetime under bondage, and some not in
religious bondage, but the bondage to pursuit of this world, riches
and pleasure and so forth. Our Lord said there, and the
scripture says there, the way of the transgressor is hard.
The way of the transgressor is hard. The way of the world is
hard. It's hard bondage. It's like
Egypt. and Pharaoh's taskmasters, their
hard taskmasters. People laboring, heavy laden,
trying to keep up with the Joneses. And there are very few people,
though they think they are free, there are very few people happy
and content and truly free, living life, really. Only believers
can really enjoy this life. You know, that's true, it's so
true. and freedom. Religious people
can. They're always worried about
whatever. Our Lord says, take my yoke upon you and learn of
me. Learn of me. Learn of me. I talked about that He said,
look at this, verse 29, I've got to hurry. He says, I'm meek
and lowly in heart, and you'll find rest unto your soul. This
is a different rest. When Christ said, come unto me
all you that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest, eternal
rest, peace of conscience, peace of heart, peace of mind, peace
with God, I'll give you rest. You don't have to work your way
to heaven. I've done it for you. And you can just rest all your
soul, your eternity. on him. That's the rest that
Christ gives. Well, here he says, Take my yoke
upon you, and learn of me, and you'll find rest unto your souls.
Daily rest. Rest to live by. Rest for your
souls. This is a little different here.
Now, look at it carefully. He said, Take my yoke upon you,
and learn of me. Christ, as I said a while ago,
Christ worked twelve hours a day. Do you ever complain? He knew that's what he was called
on to do. That's what a man must work twelve
hours a day. As a sweat of your brow, God
said to the first man that lived, a sweat of your brow, a woman,
a mother, toiling with her children in the home, and so forth. Our
Lord said, I'll greatly multiply your sorrows in childbirth, and
so forth. Desire will be to your husband, and on and on. That's
the lot of every son and daughter of Adam. It's sooner we submit
to that. Christ did. He submitted. He was meek and lowly to the
Father. He submitted to what was required of mankind. He never complained. He never
murmured. Huh? Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. The Lord was persecuted. The Lord was maligned. The Lord
was evilly treated. Nobody treated him right. We
think the boss is treating me bad, or so-and-so is treating
me wrong. This and that and nothing. Everybody
is going against me. Everything is going against me.
You don't know the half of it, that Christ...nobody had anything for him. Everybody hated
him. He never said, woe is me. Meek and lowly. Scripture says,
when he was reviled, reviled not again. Scripture says that
he committed himself unto the judge who judges righteously. Meek and lowly, as I represent,
committed himself to God. He knew, he believed, and he
said, my father, vengeance is his, he'll repay. This is all
a purpose. I'm here for a purpose. My hour
of deliverance, final freedom from this world has not yet come,
and so I've got to work the work, and I'll do it gladly, submit
to it." And he had rest of soul. Did he not? The disciples would
all pour up all the time, pour up all the time. He said, learn
from me. You'll find rest of your soul.
Is this coming through? Anybody? Learn of me. Now listen, this is good, I told
you, a yoke is always two people. It's never single. You don't,
you don't, Kelly, you don't stick a bottle or a halter on a horse
and say, now, have at it, let's see what you can do. No, you
turn him loose and say, now, do your best. All he'll try to do is get that
thing off of him. or hang himself if you let him
out in the pasture. A yoke is always two. I probably won't keep those workhorses
that I have, but if I was going to, I planned on getting an old
miler. An old miler is about thirteen, fourteen years old
now. He's well trained, submissive, humble. He can crawl under her
clean her legs, jump up and down on her back, pull on her tail,
stick your hand in her mouth. She's not going to hurt you,
nothing. Kick, butt, bite, nothing. Stomp you. Veek and lowly. Safe. Bulletproof. She is. Been there, done that. Nothing to worry about. If I
was going to train those horses, Lee, I was going to get them
one at a time. And welcome to Molly. To learn from her. And I know what it would be like.
I've seen it done. And you can joke one of those
young ones, and it'll buck and kick and, and Miley or whoever
the old horse is, why are you kicking? You can't. Would you just settle down? You're
making it hard on yourself. The Master's kind. He's merciful. We're just going to walk down
this road a few times. That's it. We're just going to
walk up and down. You and me. I'm going to throw
it away. Just watch me. Just follow along. Yelp to me. Learn from me. I'm going to do
it all. And when it gets dark, all you got to do is sleep and
eat. It's not hard, is it? It's easy. It's light. according
to the master you have who yoked you. That's what Christ said,
take my yoke. I took it. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. You'll find rest for yourself.
He's carrying the weight. He's pulling the load. We're
not pulling any of it. Huh? We're just following him,
really. I like that. You know, modern
religion is about like that mouse who rode the back of that elephant
across that bridge. It's mouse. Modern religion is
like that mouse. That mouse, after they crossed
the bridge, that mouse on that elephant's back, that mouse said,
Boy, didn't we shake that bridge. When Christ says, take my yoke
upon you and learn of me, I'm meek and low, you'll find rest
for your soul, it doesn't mean you're going to have to do the
pulling. Just learn from him to submit. Do what's required
of you, but you're not pulling away. You'll find rest for your
soul. It's always two, you know, we're
yoked to Christ. We're yoked to him. As in marriage. It's not bondage, is marriage
bondage? I ask those of you who have a loving husband, who love
you, is it bondage? Is that ringing in your nose
or on your hand? Those of you who have a kind,
Christ-like husband, it's not hard, is it, the things that
you're supposed to do? You don't even think of it as
labor. Well, yeah, you complain sometimes. But in reality, Don't you love
serving that fellow? It's not a hard bondage. Our Lord said, it's the way of
the transgressor is hard. Keeping up with the Joneses is
hard. And our Lord says, come unto me, you'll find rest. You
won't have to keep up with the Joneses. You won't have to go
on all these pilgrimages with the rest of the Joneses who are
in religion, trying to find rest. You just come and rest. You can hang a sign on your door,
your heart's door, rest in peace, or do not disturb. I'm resting.
You ever hang those signs on the motel? Do not disturb. That's what Tim said we need
to do, that all these religious people come to our door. Hang
a sign out there. Do not disturb. I'm resting in here. You can
walk to heaven if you want. I'm not. Rest your soul. Learn of me. Christ yokes us to Him. He's
not a hard taskmaster. He said, My yoke is easy, my
burden is light. My animals don't have it hard. Oh, man. Ain't nobody around
there that does anything. They don't kill it. Ain't no
animal around there that pulls his weight. He doesn't do anything.
They don't do anything. 1 Timothy 1.15 says, This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Christ didn't come to die for
the good So if you're not a sinner, be afraid And as you listen to the words
that I'm singing Hear this one message, dear God As for me,
I was broken Down with no hope and looking for somewhere to
flee So he made me call, he heard
my cry And he had mercy on me Yes, he had mercy on me He looked down on sinners and
saw I was cheap Oh, and he had mercy on me Now when I am finished
I want no credit for standing before you the same The Lord gives the glory The
Lord gives the honor The Lord Jesus Christ is the King But
if you feel broken Down with no hopin' You don't know what
you should do Just close your eyes You know
you're a sinner and he might have mercy on you. Cause he had mercy on you. He had mercy on you. He looked down on sinners and
saw how to cheat. had mercy on me And each of mine
had mercy on me Cause he had mercy on me All right, let's go now in our
Bibles to Matthew 11. Thank you for that, Gabe. The Lord
delights to show mercy. While reading this passage, The
last three verses, once again, were a blessing to me and caught
my attention, the last three verses of Matthew 11. And I began
to prepare a message on it, and I wanted to look up some
past messages that We had preached on this, and I looked up my notes,
and I just preached from this in February of this year. But
I'd already been an hour or two on it, and I said, I'm just going
to preach it anyway. Preach it again. Let's read verses
28 through 30. The Lord Jesus Christ says, 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 you shall find
rest unto your souls. My yoke is easy, my burden is
light. blessed words of our Lord. The Lord several times throughout
the Scriptures, many times spoke of coming to him. We read that
in Isaiah 55, didn't we? Sounds like the same thing, doesn't
it? The Lord said, come unto me.
A couple of times there in Isaiah 55. Well, it is the same person
doing the speaking, the Lord, the God who wrote that who said
that in Isaiah 55, dwelt amongst us. And he said again, come unto
me. The Lord said, if any man thirsts,
in another place he said, if any man thirsts, let him come
unto me. The Lord said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. What does that mean? What does
it mean? to come to Christ. What does it mean to come to
Christ? It's throughout the scriptures.
Now, before we look at what it does mean, I must, of necessity,
tell you what it does not mean. I must. In light of this modern
generation and religion today, who have reduced this thing of
salvation, which is a miraculous work of God, a miracle of God's
sovereign saving grace, they have reduced it to nothing more
than a decision which man must make. Walking down an aisle in a moment
of emotion, and before a crowd of people coming to cry, coming to Jesus.
That's what they have reduced it to. This started what is commonly called the altar
call or the invitation after a message. It started over 150
years ago, basically. The man named Charles Finney,
a heretical preacher, false preacher named Charles Finney, started
this modern altar call, invitation thing, that at the end of every
sermon, he would invite people to come down to the front and
can profess Jesus or make it publicly known. That's still widely practiced
today, especially by famous preachers from North Carolina and other
places that hold great crusades. I've told you something of the
corruption behind those vast groups of people that come down
front. They do corrupt things in order
to make that happen. That's not coming to Christ.
That was not practiced in the scripture. Nowhere will you find
the apostles inviting men down front and coming forward to make
your decision and so forth. That's not coming to Christ.
Brother Scott Richardson, I love what he said. He said, Come to
Christ, but don't move a muscle. Don't move a muscle. Because
coming to Christ is not a physical move. Well, later on, after you've
come to Christ, you come professing him in believer's baptism. That's the way the Lord told
us to confess him before men, but that's not salvation. That's
a confession of what God has done for you through Christ. That's merely a profession of
faith, of what he's already done. Coming to Christ. Christ said,
come unto me, not the altar. The writer of the Hebrews said,
we have an altar. Do you remember reading that?
I think it's Hebrews 13. We have an altar that those that
are just labor about the temple, the tabernacle, have no right
to participate in, those that just think about worldly, outward,
fleshly religion and all, they haven't been to this altar. He
said, Christ is our altar. He's seated in the heavens. So
Christ said, when Christ said, come unto me, now when he said
this, he was surrounded by people. Right? He was surrounded by people. Everywhere he went, people came
to him. but not in the way he's talking
about. One time he was walking along
in a crowd of people and he said, he stopped. He said, somebody
touched me. And the disciples, they couldn't
understand. Lord, they said, everybody's
touched you. Oh no, he said, somebody touched
me. So Christ says, come unto me.
And we need to come to Him now. Well, where is He that we might
come to Him? He's not down here. He's seated
on the throne of heaven. So this is not a physical move. It's the inner man. It's the
spiritual man with the heart man, believe it, comes to Christ. What does it mean to come to
Christ? Let's look at that. What does
it mean? Go back to Matthew 8. Matthew chapter 8. This is where we start. Matthew
8, what do you do when you come to Christ? Well, first of all,
when you come to Christ, you have heard somebody preach Him.
You've heard somebody or read in the scriptures who He is,
who He truly is. Romans 10 says they're not going
to call on Him on whom they've not believed. They're not going
to believe in Him on whom they've not heard. They're not going
to hear without a preacher. Faith cometh by hearing. To come
to Christ is to come to someone you've heard about, him who is
who he is. Hebrews 6 verse 11 says, He that
cometh to God must believe he is. Must believe he is. So first of all, to come to Christ
is to hear the true and living Christ. It's not just coming
to me, it's to come to him. You're seeking him and something
from him. And you come to him, first of
all, this is vital, this is important, this is missing today. And this
is how you can really tell if you have come to Christ, the
difference. Look at Matthew 8, verse 1. It
says, When he was come down from the mountain, Christ, great multitudes
followed him. Everywhere he went, he attracted
a large crowd. People came to see Jesus, came
to hear Jesus. Great multitudes came, it said. And the Lord, in several places
in the scriptures, it says that he would turn to them and say,
You came to me because you got your belly filled. He said to
them, he rebuked them, saying that you are following me, you're
coming to me for what you can get out of me. Does that sound familiar? You're
coming to me for what you can get from me, the miracles, or
you're real curious about the miracles. that I perform. You see that no man can come
from God and do these things. A man must be from God if he
does these miracles. Acknowledge that, and you just
want to see some more miracles. You want to see some signs and
wonders and miracles. That's what our Lord said. The
evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign. They say, show
us a sign. Show us a sign. He said to some, you seek me
because of the miracles. He said to others, you come to
me because you want your belly filled, what you can get out
of me. I have two young horses over
at my house right now. They're getting pretty big. They
like to eat. And they're sisters. They're two sisters. And every
morning when I wake up in the morning and go outside, if they
see me, or if they smell me, or if they hear me rushing around
out there, oh, they'll come running. Kelly, you know how it is. They'll
be way off somewhere and they'll see me and they'll come running
down through there, running to me. Why? They want to see me?
Is it me they love? Is it me they've just been waiting
on all this time to come out, speak a word to them? They want
something to eat. That's all they want from me.
And while I'm feeding them, they're just uncontrollable. And I'm going to sell them. I'm
thinking hard about selling them. I don't need them. They don't
need me. They just seek me because of what they can get out of me. You see the illustration? Now,
I've got an old dog named Abner you've heard about too many times. But I love him and I'm going
to talk about him. When I come out in the morning
and Abner smells me, I'm a sweet savor to him. Me! When I come out and he hears
my voice, he comes running to me. He wants to see me. His bowl can be empty out there.
It's all right. He wants to see me. He loves
me. You see the difference? He just
wants a word. You saw that, didn't you, Brother
Gay, the other day? I come out and he'll leave all
his companions, Abner will, leave all of them to come to me, just
to sit at my feet. and wait on me to pat his head
one time. That's a good illustration. Come
unto me. What this fellow did, Matthew
8, behold, verse 2, there came a leper. How'd he come? Why'd he come? What'd he do when
he came to Christ? Verse 2, he came and worshiped
him. That's the first thing he did. That's why he came. That's the
first thing that he did. The first way he approached the
Lord, and that's what he called him, didn't he? Lord. He came
and worshiped him. He was a leper. He had a great
need. He needed the Lord, our healer,
to heal him. Yet that's not the first thing
he did. He didn't know if he was going
to go away healed or not, but he had to worship him. That's the first way he came,
and that's the proper way to come to the king, people. I don't
see that today. You come to the king, says every
knee should bow. The first way you approach our
God, in whose hands our breath is, is by fear and trembling. The first way we come to God
is believing he is God, that he can have mercy or he cannot
have mercy. The first way we come to Christ, who is King of
kings and Lord of lords is as a sovereign. We come unworthy. We come in humility. We come
to our King, our Creator, our Judge, our Lord, and we worship
Him before we ever ask any favors of Him, before we find out we're
going to get anything from Him. We worship Him. This is the difference between
true believers and those who just, their God is their belly. Can you say that? You come here,
we all have needs. Everybody has needs. Temporal
needs, spiritual needs, but you come here to hear about Him,
to worship Him first and foremost. to hear about your God? I remember
distinctly as a young believer, I remember coming to, well, when
I first came, I was looking at her. But then the Lord began to quicken me and awaken
me and to look to Him. And before I ever made a profession
of faith, I remember coming zealously and
consistently and always, I wanted to come. I wanted to come before
I ever knew, before I ever had any peace or assurance that I
was one of the Lord's own. I was struggling with that. I didn't know if I was. But Deborah,
I came because I loved to hear God exalted and Christ exalted. I'm telling you the truth. That's
why I came. Long before I felt like I was
one of the elect, so to speak. And later on he did, shortly thereafter, did say unto
my soul, I am thy salvation. You're one of mine. That's the
sign. That's the first thing. The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That's the first way. When someone, when you come to
God, you come worshiping. This leper came worshiping him,
didn't he? Paul said to the Philippians,
chapter 3 of Philippians, he said, we are the true circumcision,
the true people of God. Why, Paul, why do you say that?
Because we worship God in spirit. We don't have much special music,
do we? We don't have much of it. That's
by design. Because what I'm doing right
here is why we meet here. This is what it's all about.
Everything here centers around the preaching of the Word, the
hearing of the Word and so forth. I love special music when it
comes from someone who knows the truth and comes from the
heart and they sing it from the heart. But the world is taken
up with religious entertainment and many people come for that
reason. And it's very clear here, in
those places where the truth is preached, very clear why people
come. Because there's not much entertainment
that goes on. Programs and so forth. We preach
Christ. That's what we do. That's what
we're about. We're pointing to Him. We're
the true circumcision, the people of God, which worship God in
spirit. Don't need all the outward trappings
of religion. show of flesh and all that to
worship God. God is not worshiped with men's
hands, as Richter said, but with the heart. Through the truth,
we worship in spirit and in truth. We rejoice in Christ Jesus, who
is the truth. That's how. Worship God, rejoice
and cry. Have no confidence in the flesh. Is that why you come? Can you
examine yourself, as the scripture says, to see if you are of the
faith? To come to Christ means to come
to worship first, foremost. Can you say that from the heart?
I come here because I love what I'm hearing. I love who I'm hearing. Can you say that? This leper
deity came to Christ. Well, secondly, to come to Christ
is to come poor and needy. is to come as a needy sinner.
This fellow was a leper, verse 2. Became a leper. Boy, a leper is a goner. Back
then he was. Leprosy was always fatal. Always
fatal. We've almost eradicated leprosy
now in this generation, but back then it was fatal. You had no
hope of living. This fellow was a leper. He was
a goner and he knew it. He first came worshiping the
Lord, but then he had a great need that only Christ could meet. Oh, you're talking about needy. Needy. He's going to die unless
Christ heals him. He's the only one. Today, that
day was his salvation. He heard Jesus Christ was coming
through. It was that day, and he was so
needy, he came. to the only one who could provide
that need. Talking about needy, old blind
Bartimaeus, you remember him, sitting out by the wayside, dressed
in rag, blind, been there for years. He'd heard about Jesus
of Nazareth, Jesus who's called the Christ, the healer of blind
people, the Messiah, the King, the healer of blind people. And boy, when he heard Christ
was coming by one day, he dropped everything, didn't he? This was
the day of salvation for him. He dropped everything he owned,
which was rags, and hollered out, Jesus, thou Son of David. That's Lord, that's Christ, that's
Messiah, that's the Son of God. He worshipped him, see? Son of
David. He worshipped him. Have mercy
upon me." And people tried to get him to be quiet, didn't they?
People that had good eyesight, people that were healthy and
wealthy. Said the old blind Bartimaeus,
who's sitting there, can't see, who's stone blind and broke,
said what was in his tin cup. And they said, be quiet, Bartimaeus,
quit disturbing our religious gathering. He cried the louder. You see, they weren't foreneeding. He came to Christ right then,
but he didn't move a muscle. He couldn't get to Christ. He
didn't know where to go. He was blind. He didn't know
how to get to Christ. That's what this message is all
about, what it is to come to Christ. Barnabas couldn't get
there. He was blind. Somebody had to lead him there.
But he came to Christ before he got to Christ. You understand? Right there when he called on
the Lord, he came to him from the heart. This to come is poor
and needy. Poor and needy. Look at our text
in Matthew 11, verse 28. The Lord said, Come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden. Labor. The Lord tells those who are
laboring to come unto him. Those who are heavy laden have
a great burden. of something, come to him. Now,
every one of us labor physically. Every one of us in here works
hard. That's the lot of man. We need
to quit complaining about this. We need to just do it. Whatever your hand finds to do,
do it heartily. with all thy might, as unto the
Lord." This is the lot of man. The sooner we quit murmuring
and complaining, the better off we will be. The more God will
be honored and the better off we will be. We will find some
peace where we are. All of us labor physically, labor
hard at our jobs, and the Lord did so. That's the lot
of man. When the Lord came down here,
he worked hard, didn't he? One time they said to him, Lord,
rest. Quit working. You haven't slept.
You haven't eaten. Rest. He said, I must work while
there are twelve hours in the day. The Lord works twenty-four
hours a day. Seven days a week. Seven days a week. Did he? He did. If he had quit actually
working on the Sabbath, the world would stop spinning. The sun would fall, and so on. But he worked twelve hours a
day, and that's just a little side note that we need to quit
complaining about it. Our Lord did without complaint.
He said, learn of me. I'm meek and low. You'll find
rest. The Lord works hard. and heavy-laden burdens, weights,
responsibilities. He had the weight of the world
riding on his shoulder. He never uttered a word of complaint.
Here, the Lord is not talking about physical labor. We all
do it. But this laboring and heavy-laden—listen to me now—this
laboring and heavy-laden is laboring under a sense of your own sin,
sinfulness and guilt, laboring and heavy laden by this burden
of sin and guilt, laboring to get rid of it, laboring to get
rid of this burden of sin, this guilt that we feel, weighed down
by a sense of our own sinfulness and guilt and so forth. And Christ
says, come unto me. Oh, you that labor and are heavy
laden. You know, some of us who've had a kind
of assorted past can never