May God be pleased to bless us
together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
Gospel of Matthew chapter 11 and we'll read the last three
verses. Verses 28, 29, and 30 in the
11th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. Come unto me, all ye
that labour 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 these are the words of Jesus
the whole Bible is really the words of Jesus and earlier in
this chapter this 11th chapter which we read together this morning
Jesus asks the multitude a very important question they were
there they come and he asked them this question what went
she out for to see? He asked it three times. He didn't
want them to not appreciate the importance of the question. And I suppose we could ask the
question slightly differently this morning as to what have
you come here this morning for? Perhaps we might need to repeat
it three times so that you actually hear what the question is and
then to be able to answer the question appropriately before
God because it's not just a question of coming here because it's Sunday
morning it's not just coming here to appease our conscience
because we think we're doing something which is right it's
not coming here this morning to please our friends the real
reason it should be that we've come here this morning to hear
what God the Lord speaks to our souls and that's not just for
old people it's for all of us you know you children here this
morning don't think that preaching is only for old people it's for
all of us young and old and we pray therefore that all of us
may hear what Jesus speaks of later in this chapter he speaks
and says this he that hath ears let him hear well all of us here
have ears and all of us can hear perhaps not all perfectly but
we can all hear And what a blessing it is, therefore, if we hear
with those spiritual ears and hear the truth of God, that it's
not just mere words. We've come here to hear what
God will speak to our souls this morning. And what that really
means is that we have a hunger and we have a thirst after the
truth of God we have a hunger and thirst after spiritual food
and that is absolutely essential we're all hungry we get up in
the morning we're hungry we want breakfast we eat during the day
and we appreciate the food we have but I wonder this morning
how many of you woke up with a hunger for the things of God
whether they were first thoughts were to pray that God would bless
your soul because this is the important
thing and just to put it in context because we do need sometimes
to put things in context don't we you see you eat your food
naturally and it lasts and it keeps you alive for a bit doesn't
it perhaps a day it might even keep you alive for a week it
might even keep you alive for a month or a bit longer but in
the end that food naturally you've had won't keep you alive physically the difference is if God gives
you and me spiritual food it is an eternal food it's not something
which will just then vanish away we move so perhaps sometimes
forget about it so far but the effect and the influence should
remain with us and it is therefore so much more important to receive
spiritual food now when you come to the end of the day and look
back would you be able to say well today I did receive spiritual food for my
soul and if you did you will have cause to praise God perhaps
we look back in our lives and we've eaten much physically and
kept ourselves alive how much have we fed spiritually we come
here this morning to hear the Word of God. And as the Lord
says, what have we come for? What have we come for? Well,
no doubt many of us have wasted, I suppose all of us, have wasted
many occasions when we've come to hear the preaching of the
Gospel and we've never heard it. We've never remembered it. There's never been any food for
us. left us in a barren and hard state. Well, today may it be
different. May we be a different people,
may we be a concerned people to receive the great and glorious
Word of God. You know, Jesus said these beautiful
words, the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers
are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor
have the gospel preached to them. Well, what a wonderful thing
that is. And then he says, and blessed
is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. Well, you and
I know if we've been offended with the name of Jesus, if we've
never wanted to acknowledge the name of Jesus and we've been
offended. What a blessing it is if we now
today are not offended but we love to hear the truth of God
and we rejoice in the glorious gospel. Well these words of Jesus
then will be very suitable and very appropriate to us this morning. We have some wonderful words
in the Bible of gracious invitation and my friends don't turn away
from them recognise that they may have a direct direction into
our hearts even today and therefore these words that we read together
are the words of Jesus and these three verses can be separated,
you might say dissected into different phrases and each phrase
really follows on one from the other and the first phrase is
come unto me now that's something the Lord speaks come unto me
we're not deaf are we? thankfully this morning we can
hear that word come unto me it's a very gracious and it's a very
wonderful invitation we don't want to turn away from it we
don't want to say well that's not me I hope it is you come
unto me and it qualifies those who are to come it's always important
to read the context of the Word of God and not just take a word
out of context it's very dangerous I've heard some preachers take
a word out of context it's absolutely wrong should never do that should
take a word and the context the relevance is important and so
it is here today come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy
laden that means burdened we're burdened and the words here are
not addressed to us in a physical way and you may say well how
do you know that? I know that because the 29th
verse says ye shall find rest unto your souls therefore this
is a spiritual statement to our very soul come unto me all ye
that labour and are heavy laden and we may therefore be labouring and are heavy burdened burdened
what would that reference us to? it's very clear that the
soul is burdened with sin that's what drags us down burdened labour
under the attacks of satan he is a great adversary, he is a
great enemy the devil is the greatest enemy that you and I
ever will face and his concern is to destroy our soul that's
his concern and he never gives up this side of the grave the
devil never gives up So this morning if you're sat here and
you're saying well I don't understand this I'm not labouring I'm not
burdened with any sin at all well you should question then
whether you have any life at all you question whether you possess
the blessing of God because to the true believer The true believer
is burdened. The true believer is heavy laden,
because we find ourselves so often doing those things that
we really don't want to do, and thinking those things that we
don't want to say. And we have, of course, a wonderful testimony
of the Apostle Paul. He was a great man of God, wasn't
he? But he was a human being. And he walked the same earth
as you and I walk. and he faced the same temptations
that you and I do and he explains to us something of what it was
to walk this path and in the 7th of Romans he enumerates something
of these difficulties and he says for I know that 18th verse
in the 7th chapter for I know that 17th verse rather Now then,
it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, that is,
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present
with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I
do not. For the evil which I would not,
that I do. Now if I do that I would not,
it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me I find
in a law that when I would do good evil is present with me
you see the conflict there that this man explains to us and it's
good therefore to be able to trace out in our spiritual life
the conflict because it is an evidence that we are one who
Satan is endeavouring to get his hands upon he's endeavouring
to destroy us well says Paul for I did lighten the law of
God after the inward man that's his innermost nature that is
new nature that God's given but I see another law in my members
warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my members it's a tough path
to be captivated to the law of sin the devil wants us to be
captivated by it he wants us to be engaged in it, involved
in it encompassed in it so that we don't find any time for the
things of God he wants our minds to be enveloped in the poor things
of this vain world and so what does it do? the Apostle hits
it on the head doesn't he? he says it brings him into captivity
if you're a captive, if you're in prison you can't get yourself
out, can you? prisoners can't normally they
can't get themselves out the gates are locked they are chained
in there often they can't free themselves and that's just the
same to our spiritual life we are
captive we cannot free ourselves but that's why we have such a
glorious word that we have before us today come unto me look to
Jesus the Prophet Isaiah has it right as well look unto me
nowhere else don't look to a man don't look to books look unto
me and be ye saved all the ends of the
earth for I am God and there's none else there is no other way
come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden so if you're a captive by the
devil and you will have been or you are or you will be because
all are captive by the devil and it's only the great blessing
of the Saviour to free us from that captivity captive and then
the Apostle comes and he tells us you see the Word of God never
leaves us in a vacuum it never leaves us as it were in a dead
end there's always light at the end of the tunnel and here is
light in these words and the Apostle goes on to say he explains
what he feels to be like Very simple words. He says, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? He asks the question and he answers
the question. I thank God through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. That's how he will be delivered. That's how you and I will be
delivered. That's how you and I will be blessed. come unto
me unto the Saviour and then he says so then with a mind I
myself serve the law of God but with a flesh the law of sin there's
the battle between the flesh and the spirit but bless God
if you know the battle and if you know this solution and you
hear the gracious invitation come unto me and he goes on these
glorious words remember of course in the original there were no
chapters no verses it just followed on and it follows on in this
way there is therefore now today there is therefore now no condemnation
that's a very precise and accurate statement isn't it? there is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Well, what a blessing it is today,
if you and I have the evidence that we are therefore under no
condemnation. Come unto me, what good gospel
words these will be. These are the words of the Saviour,
addressed to those who are labouring, to those who are burdened, with
this heavy burden of sin. And the result, the answer, if
we come to Jesus, what would be the result? It's here. I will
give you rest. Rest. You know, when we're laboring,
when we're burdened, when we're heavy laden, we struggle on,
aren't we? There's no rest. But there is
rest in Christ. Why? Because there's rest in his finished work. And that
finished work was simply this. The Lord Jesus conquered sin,
death, hell, and the grave. And the devil can't stand against
the great truth of the gospel. doesn't say any other way he
says I will give you rest the Lord Jesus himself isn't that
amazing isn't that wonderful to think almighty God himself
says to you and me unworthy sinners who walked contrary to God walked
in an opposite direction He now says, I will give you rest. And this rest centers in this. Peace with God. Peace with God. There's the rest. Peace with
God. The hymn writer has it right.
Peace by his cross has Jesus made. That's where peace is. As you and I come, to the cross
to the Lord Jesus Christ come unto me as we view the Saviour
suffering upon that cross to take away our sins there's peace
there's peace to be found and all of us need to receive this
peace and all of us need to enjoy this peace and all of us need
to know this peace because it is to be known it is to be realized
and it is not something which is not obtainable it's because
you see people struggle on struggle on relying on their own strength
there's no strength in ourselves there's no strength in ourselves
and that's why we have such a wonderful statement like this this morning
come unto me all ye that labour you see everyone is included
no one omitted all ye that labour and I'll have you later and I
will give you rest rest to realise we're resting in the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ we're not resting in ourselves
we're not resting in our own ability we're not resting in
what we've done what we've said, no because we will find that
all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags they're of no value
but you see our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Jesus
and his righteousness so this morning my friends let's look
at ourselves let's ask ourselves the question where is our hope?
where is our rest? is it in what Christ has done?
or is it in what we've done? or are we aren't concerned? perhaps
we're not labouring perhaps we're not burdened perhaps we're just
carrying on aimlessly in this world just satisfied with what
this world can offer well as I said in prayer and as Solomon
tells us all is vanity of vanity and vexation of spirit there
is nothing really satisfying in this world we of course always
try and find some comfort and satisfaction in time but the
only true rest, the only true peace is to be found in what
Christ has done and then to have that work applied to our hearts
with power from on high the blessed application of the Spirit of
God so that we enjoy this spiritual rest which God gives I will give
you rest and then the Lord comes on and he moves on to this statement
he says take my yoke upon you well I hope you know what a yoke
is you young people if you don't know what a yoke is it's that
which we can see not in our country really but in other countries
we can see animals oxen are yoked together and that means they
can't walk in a different direction if they're pulling a plough or
something like that then they walk together they walk basically
in step they're not separated and that yoke ties them together now the Lord says here take my
yoke upon you do you want to be tied to Christ or not? many
people today don't want to be tied to Christ they want to hold
him a little bit away arms length they want to have a religion
where Christ is not yokes to them that they're not yoked to
Christ they want to be a little bit away so they're not too involved
and they can get away a bit if they want to So when you come down to die,
do you want Christ to be a long way away? The Lord says, gracious words,
aren't they? Take my yoke upon you. What's your reaction to such
a statement this morning? You say, well, I don't think
so. Let me tell you this. if you
come under the 28th verse that you are labour and you are heavy
laden you want to be able to share this load you want to share
this burden but if you are yoked to the Lord Jesus Christ you
will be able to because you better tell Him the difficulty, the
problems and He understands of course He knows about you He
knows everything He knows the path you are taking but you see
you're close to Him and He'll help you and He'll strengthen
you and He'll support you and you'll share the load isn't that
wonderful? to be yoked to the Lord Jesus
Christ is the most blessed path many people don't want to be
they don't want to get too close but the mercy of the Lord draws
you to the Saviour draws me to the Saviour with this real desire
take my yoke upon you and the result the Lord tells us and
learn of me you perhaps say sometimes well I want to learn about the
things of God I want to learn about the Lord Jesus Christ but
you don't want to be yoked to him that's a bit too tough that's
a bit too difficult that's a bit too close that's a bit too difficult
no it's not don't expect to learn of the
Lord and to be unyoked because these two are linked together
and you and I should never separate the truth of God's Word what
a cheek isn't it to think that you and I can separate the Word
of God and put our own interpretation on it Here is the glorious truth
of God's Word. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. And it'll be a wonderful experience. And it won't be something that
you'll lose. Yes, because if God be for us, who can be against
us? Yes, God will be with you. He'll
be there to help you. in the battles of life which
there will be he'll be there to help you to bring to your
mind scriptures to resist the devil that he might flee from
you and if you're not yoked to the Saviour how can you expect
this favour? he says come unto me he says
take my yoke upon you they're not separate they're joined they're
linked together don't separate the Word of God don't operate
under your own thoughts your own mind take the Word of God
as it is it's there for our encouragement it's there for our blessing take
my yoke upon you and learn of me and then he tells us of himself
this is glorious this is wonderful he says for I am meek and lowly
in heart he comes down to our level He understands us. Yes, although He's high and lifted
up and a great Almighty God, He graciously condescends to
come and to be to us meek and lowly. That means He understands
all about us. Yes, He comes right down to where
we are. We might feel to be very low.
That's all right. The Lord comes there. what a mercy to have such a saviour
like this I am meek and lowly in heart
and remember spiritual religion is the religion of the heart
it's not outward it's inward it's between your soul and God
but it's real and it's true and what a mercy when the Holy Spirit
touches your heart and you realise that you are united, you're yoked
to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and you're being taught
by Him. He's leading you in those good,
right, gracious paths, preparing you for your eternal home. I am meek and lowly in heart.
And then he says again, and ye shall find rest unto your souls
he says previously and I will give you rest and here he says
and ye shall find rest unto your souls that's a wonderful promise
a wonderful promise but we cannot expect to enjoy the promise if
we have turned our back upon God if we've distanced ourselves
from the Saviour and if we've said really well no That's just
too costly for me. I'm just not prepared to go that
far. I'm not prepared to take my yoke,
take the Lord's yoke upon myself. I'm not prepared to be yoked
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Many people, my friends, say
that. Many people have said it. It's
a very sad scenario. what a blessing it is then today
if you and I are blessed with that humble obedience you know
we read a lot don't we about obedience in the Word of God
from Genesis to Revelation and often we think we're being obedient
in actual fact often we're being disobedient what a blessing when
the Holy Spirit in love to our soul shows us where we are what
we're doing and you shall find rest unto
your souls and then he concludes with these words of great encouragement
for my yoke is easy you see there you were thinking it was going
to be hard work there you were thinking it was going to be difficult
it's going to be a great test a great trial no says the Lord
my yoke is easy it's not hard it's easy and many of us have
proved it and many of us are thankful for the grace given
to take the blessed yoke of the Savior upon us and to be yoked
with Him and to walk with Him my friends there's no more blessed
place than to be walking with the Savior
for my yoke is easy and my burden is light God's burden is light
it's not a heavy burden because it's shared with the Saviour
in any event and therefore He gives us He gives us sometimes
a burden just to keep us down just to give us a balance what
a mercy it is that the Lord deals with us in love to our souls
for my yoke is easy And my burden is light. Now this is the Word
of God. Let us not disagree with it.
Let us thank God for it. This morning, let us bless God
for such a wonderful Gospel. So watch a wonderful Saviour. And think of this, why should
the Saviour invite such rebels, such sinners, as you and me,
to come to Him? Do you know why? I'll tell you.
Because He's loved us. Because He's loved us. And that
with an everlasting love. Yes, an everlasting love. The
love of Christ. How glorious it is. Well may
we know it. And may we enjoy it more and
more. And may we rejoice in it more and more. May we praise
God for it more and more. and may we be thankful for such
a word as this and hear this word as the very word of God
speaking to our very souls for our eternal good and for his
great honour and glory come unto me all ye that labour and our
heavy laden 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. Amen.