Thank you. All right, open your Bibles now to
Matthew chapter 11, the book of Matthew chapter 11. And let's read three verses here in Matthew 11. Matthew 11, beginning with verse
28. The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking
here. Come unto me, all that are at
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 soul. For my yoke is easy. My burden is your life. Salvation is coming to Jesus
Christ. What does that mean? It means you come to Christ as
a sinner for forgiveness. You come to Christ as an unrighteous
or unclean person for him to make you righteous. You come
to Christ as a beggar. You have nothing. You can't do
anything for a handout. Grace. You come to Christ as guilty.
Like those kings of old had a rope around their neck. Came to the king of Israel with
ropes around their neck. Become guilty for mercy. Become as weak for strength. Become as ignorant,
don't know anything, for wisdom. That's what it means to come
to Christ. It's to see all you need in Him. All you need in Him. And it's not a one-time
thing. It's not a one-time thing. Years ago, you made a profession
where you, like men like to say, accepted Jesus, you know, made
a decision and came down to the altar or was baptized. It's not
a one-time thing. Peter said, to whom coming? Because all who come to Christ
like that, they keep coming like that. Salvation is coming to him all
your life. Now, Christ said in John chapter
6, I was going to have you turn, but you can just write this down.
In John chapter 6, verse 44, the Lord said this, No man can
come unto me. Can you quote the rest of it?
Except the Father which hath sent me, draw him." And on down in that chapter,
he says again, he repeats it again. He says, as I said unto
you, no man can come unto me except it be given unto him. It's a gift come to Christ. You're
drawn. Except the Father draw you, you
won't come to Christ. Except to give you this gift
of coming to him. It's great. Well, now he's not
contradicting himself, is he? Huh? When he says, come unto
me. And then over there he says,
no man can come. He's not contradicting himself. Not at all. The only confusion is in our
four little brains. Somebody said to old brother
Scott Richardson one time, you don't, you're preaching confuses
people. He said, now wait a minute, they're
confused already. Not my preaching, it's not the
word that confuses people. Words are not confusing, it's
men are confused already. But our Lord said, Come unto
man. But no man can come except it's given unto him, except God
draw him, except... Now listen to me. No man will
come to Christ for all those things. Like I said, no man will
come to Christ knowing they're a sinner and needing forgiveness,
unrighteous, that they can't make themselves good, can't make
themselves good enough. that they need Christ's goodness.
Nobody's going to come like that. Nobody's going to come like a
beggar. Men don't like to think of themselves as beggars or needing
a handout. Well, you're going to have to
come to Christ like that for everything. In my hands, no price
I bring. Nobody's going to come like that
except it's given to them, except the Father draw them and give
them this. Yes, make them. come like that. God's going to
have to make a person feel this need. God makes people. Yes, he does. Thank God. Christ said no man can come except
the Father draw him. Didn't he say that? Listen to
this in Psalm 65 verse 4. Listen to this. is the man or
woman. Blessed is the one whom thou
choosest. Yes, elect. Blessed is the man,
the person whom thou choosest and causes to approach unto you. Come unto me. And that's got to be a whole
lot more than just an invitation. It's got to be a commandment. And where the word of a king
is, there's power. And if it's given, if God draws
you, you'll come. You'll come. And that's how you
come. Blessed is the man. It's the drawing of God. All
right? And here's what he makes them feel. All right? Look at
it again. Matthew 11. Here's what the Father through
the Holy Spirit does in drawing a person to Christ. Look at it.
He says, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. This is what God makes every
person that comes to Christ, makes them feel that they're
laboring And they're heavy laden. Now, you know he's not talking about
physical labor here, don't you? You know that. God said that
in the garden that man is going to have to earn his bread by
the sweat of his brow all his lifetime. He's not saying if
you'll get religion, then it's all going to be a bed of roses.
You don't have to. No. Although that's what some preachers
do, you know, they quit work. Labor and heavy labor, that's
not talking about physical labor or burdens like that. He's talking
about, listen, he's talking about religious labor. Those who labor in religion and
have the burdens of laboring in religion. Now listen to me. Our Lord Jesus Christ, where
did he, where was his ministry centrally located? Israel. Right? In and around
Jerusalem. Right? To the Jews. Paul's called
the apostle to the Gentiles. Our Lord ministered in and around
Jerusalem. Didn't get far from that. His word did. He himself ministered
in and around Israel, always among the Jews, the Jews, the
Jews, the Jews, all right? Who were the Jews? They were
deeply religious. The Jews were deeply religious
people. They were people under, they
had scribes, Pharisees, hypocrite, Pharisees, they had a Sanhedrin,
they had Jewish religious leaders, all right? Our Lord was always
talking to the people, remember? He was always confronting religious
Pharisees, these religious leaders, and he had nothing but hard things
to say to those fellows. Every time those religious leaders,
those Pharisees, those scribes, would bring up something about
the Sabbath or about the law of Moses, our Lord had nothing
but hard things to say to them. Didn't he? But then he'd turn to those Jewish
people who were under those strict leaders. He turned to the people and said,
now you listen to me. He said, you listen to me. Didn't he? I say unto you. These fellows said, you've heard
what Moses said. Moses didn't say it at all. Christ wrote it. Christ wrote the things that
Moses took down. And when the lawgiver walked
this planet, he said, you hear what they're saying, don't you?
Now you listen to me. All these people, they're under
religion, under the strict bondage of these Jewish religious leaders,
laboring to do what they told them to do. and heavy laden with this huge
burden of living up to the standard which they set for them. And
Christ said, Come unto me. I'll give you a blessing. I hope there's one person in
here this morning who's been trying religion. Why do you think the world is
full of so many religions? People are laboring, trying to
find what's true, trying to find what to do the right way, the
truth, the truth, the truth. What did Christ say about the
truth? He said, find the truth. What's
the right way to worship? How are we going to live? How
are we going to have eternal life? Christ said, I'm alive. Come to me. And people, the world over, are
laboring. Now, I'm not talking, he's not
talking to people. This world is laboring to get
rich, you know. This physical, material, carnal
world is laboring to get rich, you know. That's not to labor.
He's talking about heavy laden, laboring for the meat that perisheth.
No, that's not what he's talking about. He's talking to these,
remember, these Jews, religious, those who are laboring. And he says, come unto me and
I will give you rest. Now, this labor. this labor that
people are trying in religion are doing in religion is number
one is laboring for God to accept them. Laboring for God to accept them.
I've got to do something to make God pleased with me so that God
will accept me. I've got to quit that and I've
got to do this. not do that and do this, and
then maybe God will look on me with favor and He'll accept me
and say, that's good enough, so I accept you. Now you look
right, and now you're doing that right, but no, God is no respecter
of persons. God looked not on the outward
countenance. Look at Philippians 3 with me. Philippians chapter
3. All right? The Apostle Paul was one of these
Pharisees. Hebrew of Hebrews. Oh, he was
raised in religion. His daddy was a Hebrew. His daddy's
daddy was a Hebrew. And he was a Pharisee. And oh,
he was one of these fellows. And he thought that he, that
God accepted him, that God was pleased with him. because of
his religion, and because of what he was doing, and because
of what a good fellow he was, to put it very simply. Right? Look at Philippians 3, verse
4. Paul said, Now if anybody is
going to have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh
he have whereof he might trust in the flesh, what ye are, what
ye do, I am more. circumcised the eighth day of
the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of Hebrews.
In other words, he could trace his birth, his lineage, all the
way back to the fathers, the Jewish fathers. It's touching
the law, listen to this, a Pharisee studied the word, an unmarried
man, a eunuch Concerning zeal, verse six, persecuting the church.
Oh, there's nobody more zealous touching the righteousness, which
is in the law. Blame the blame, I was blamed. Perfect. Ah, but then later on, you know,
when God showed him, when he said when the law came, when
the commandment, when I saw what it really required, it killed
me. That's what he said in Romans
7. It killed me. I saw that the
law was spiritual. It demands perfection in spirit
and heart, and not only in deed, but in thought. Not only in actuality, but in
motive. Oh, and Paul said, it just slung
me. It killed me. It made me absolutely
guilty before God. And look here in Philippians
3. It says in verse 9 or verse 8, he says, Now all that, all
that past religion I was in, he said, is nothing but loss. It was lost time. Everything
I thought would be gained in me, everything I thought that
God was taking notice of, was adding to my condemnation. And
he said, verse eight, he said, Oh, I want to win. Christ is
what I want to win. Verse nine, he said, Oh, I'll
be crowned in him, and I'll have my own righteousness, which is
of the law. Are you with me? Paul's the one that wrote 1 Corinthians
and Ephesians 1. Over in 1 Corinthians, chapter
1, he said, Let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom, and the strong man his strength, and so on and so
forth. He that glory, let him glory in the Lord. It said, Of
God Christ is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. He wrote Ephesians 1, verse 6,
he said, He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. in the beloved. He's made us
accept it, whatever we do. Now, this is a very, very simple
message. This is, I'm going, this is the
gospel, very simple. Whatever we do as a man, as a
woman, as a young person on this earth, in order for God to be pleased
with us, it's not good enough. It's not good enough. You say,
is God that strict? Yeah. Wholly. Wholly. Wholly. It's not good enough. And as
I said, God looks on the heart, as the Word said. God looks on
the heart. You say, well, I... That woman
told you. Well, God knows my heart. You
know, she was... Oh, so... self-righteous, and she was doing
something illegal. And my wife brought it to her
attention, and she said, Well, God knows my heart. He sure does. The sad thing is, you don't.
A heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.
Who can know it? God does. Even the heart of man keeps changing,
doesn't it? No matter what we do, it's not
good enough. But let me tell you something. What Christ did
is good enough. It's good enough. God accepts
it, everything he did. That's the reason God sent it
from heaven. Twice he said, this is my son.
Well, please, you better hear him. You better hear him. Isn't all you sinners, all you
guilty sinners? on the face of the earth. Is
none good? No, not one. Is none righteous? No, not one.
Listen up. You'd better hear him. And Christ
says, Come unto me. Come to me. For what? I've got righteousness. I'll
give it to you. You can't work it. You can't
do it. You can't make it. Try as you may. Ask Paul. Ask Saul. Ask him. Paul said, I don't blame my thought.
Now I want to be found in Christ. I've come to Christ. He said,
it's not as though I'd already attained, but I'm still coming
to it. I'm still coming, because I'm
still a sinner. Turn to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. So there's people out there laboring
to be good people. Oh, I want you, I'd like... I'm not against people being
good people, moral, upright, and I wish... I'd like to eradicate
all the sin and evil in this world and all that, but God's kingdom is not of this
world. It's spiritual. You're not going to put away
the evil this way. It's going to get worse. And we're not going to put away
the evil in our heart. Only Christ can. But there's people laboring to
be accepted by God, and we're only accepted in Christ. We come to Christ and say, Lord,
I'm not good enough, but you are. Would you take me there?
Yep. Just rest. I'll carry you. Hey, all the way from the cradle
to your hurry, hey, I'll carry you in two sets of footprints
in the sand. And why? We can't take one step toward
God. Look, man, it's impossible. We're
accepted in the beloved. He's good enough. sifted in the
blood. I'd a whole lot rather ride than
walk, wouldn't you? Isaiah 53, as people are laboring
to find peace with God. You know, the people who have
gone, who have lived bad lives in the past, they raised, they
went astray like a prodigal, or they A young man, you know,
went wild, became a rebel. Or a young girl just hit the
streets and, you know, goes whatever it may be. And they've lived
in sin and so forth. And so, and then later on, their
conscience starts smiting them. And they start to think, well,
how can I? There's conscience. God's, you know, put the law
in man's heart and the conscience smites man. He knows what's right
and wrong unless he makes them a reprobate. Well, they don't
have a conscience. But they have a conscience, and
the conscience smites them, and they become guilty of their past
life. And so they try to make amends,
you know. Well, I'm going to start living right. I'm going
to turn over a new leaf, and I ain't never going to do that
again. Never say never. You may think you have one thing
conquered and something else will be infinitely worse. They
think if I could just appease God for my past life, you can't
do it. You can't do it. You cannot make
peace with God that way. And then there are people right
now maybe living in open sin, and so they go to a church service,
and you know, and the preacher makes an appeal, you're living
in your drug, you're taking drugs, aren't you? And yeah, I am. And
you lived a sorry life, hadn't you? And Mama, and he's saying
things about you. You think, well, he's just talking
to me. But he said, about half the people in there have been
that way, you know. And he said, and you this and you that, and
you're under a smitten conscience. And he said, now we're going
to sing a hundred verses just as I am. And while the choir
is singing and the music's playing under a sphere of emotion, you
know, and boy, the music's getting to you and your conscience is
smiting you. And you come down front and you start crying and you make peace with God. It says that Esau sought repentance. How? With tears. Tears. Great crying. Tears. He was begging God. It says, Judas went out, wept
bitterly, and hung himself, killed himself for what he'd done. Is
that godly repentance? Is that it? Guilt like that? People laboring to find peace
with God. Well, look here. Isaiah 53 is
only one way to have peace with God. Verse 5 says, He was wounded. Christ was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace
was laid on Him. With His stripes, we are healed. Martin Luther. He's a good example
of somebody in religion laboring and heavy laden. Martin Luther. The story has
it. doing everything he could to
appease God, have peace with God. And one
day he was, says the story has it that he was in the monastery
there in the temple or whatever, and crawling up some stairs where
supposedly there was blood on the stairs, blood of Christ.
And he was kissing each step as he crawled on his hands and
knees, kissing each spot of blood. And he said, he said, God in
mercy and grace, the word of God. This is how God deals with
people, by his word, the word of his power. That's what Isaiah
55 says. By word, like a hammer, like
a sword. He said the word of God came
to him as if somebody spoke it out loud. The just shall live
by faith, not works, not penance, not doing, not striving, not
trying. They look into Christ. He said the story has it that
he jumped up. In that dark monastery, you know,
crying, his knees hurting him, his hands hurting him, his mouth
probably hurting him, kissing rocks. Jumped up! Justified, holy, unblameable,
unapprovable, accepted peace with God just by faith in Christ,
just by believing Christ. He said he ran out that door,
out of that dark dungeon of bondage and into the sunlight, and he
jerked that monk robe off of him alive. Freeze! You don't have to kiss
steps, no, just the sun. You don't have to crawl on your
hands and knees, no, just look to Christ. Don't have to make
up from a past life. You can't do it. Christ did it. And what did it take? God smiting the Son. That's what the chastisement
of our peace means. It means God beat His Son to
death. That's what that means. It means
God beat His Son to death with the rod of the law. Whack! Don't
do that anymore. Whack! Whack! Can you imagine
witnessing a whipping like that? 39 strikes with a thick rod? Don't stop! Stop! No. All of
it. I got every jot and jittle. Every cent. Every one. Till it killed him. Blood poured out. Covered the ground. and covered
our sins. That's the reason it's such ignorance
and blasphemy for somebody to say he made his peace with God. What it took to make peace with
God was nothing less than God beating his son to death in my
blood. My dad used to whip me, and I
thought he was beating me to death. Now understand, when you're
young and hit man pulls his belt off, and don't go around telling
the authorities, they might put him in jail even now for past
abuse. He'd take his belt off and it
looked to me like it was 12 feet wide. And just the thought enough,
I was dying. I was dying. Just the thought of it. He'd
go in the bed and lay over the bed before you passed. Oh, I'd
already died. He didn't have to hit me. And he'd come in there with that
belt, you know, just a little belt, but he'd get me maybe a
couple of times. He claimed, Nancy, he claimed
he never did this. Oh, I remember it. I remember it. But he claims
he never did, you know. Love forgetteth all things. My
bottom doesn't. At any rate, he's, you know,
he's hit me a couple of times. It was enough, it was enough,
you know. It wasn't very, it was light,
it was easy. Why would God do that to his
son? Because that's me. That's me. But what it took for
me to have peace with this offended, angry God, who I should not beat
his son to death. And now I have peace. I have peace, he said. And then
there are those who are laboring to find the answers. be accepted by God, laboring
to have peace with God, you know, to make amends for their past
life or present life. Those who are laboring to find
answers. If I could just find the truth, if I could just find
the right way, you know, I've gone to Presbyterian, I've gone
to Methodist, I've gone to Baptist, I've tried to Catholic, Episcopalian.
If I just, where's the, what's the way? I said, come unto me! Jesus Christ is all the religion
any man ever needs. Labor and heaven, I've got to
find the way. Would you show us the way? That's
what Thomas said, didn't he? Oh, we don't know the way. Are
you going to just put us out there and have us find the way
ourselves? No, Thomas. I am the way, he
said. I am the way. What does that mean, that Christ
shows us the way and puts us in the way and then it's up to
us to keep our way. No, it means that He's the way
we're going to get there. By Him taking us. He said, come
to me. And again, I say, He'll carry
you all the way. He's the way. You know how I
got to the church house this morning? a jeep. I rode in a
jeep. That's the way I got here. The
waves at Route 40, I could have taken another way. I could have
gone around and come up and come down 735 and all that and round
about the way. Christ is the way. That's what that means, really.
Not a road that he put you on and he set you down and now it's
up to you to get there now. No, it means He's how you're
going to get there. He's the way. You're found in
him. You're carried by him. You're
crucified in him. You're made righteous in him. But you'd better know the law.
He's made unto me wisdom. Whatever he says, I believe. That's what I do. That brings
me to the next thing. He says they're heavy laden. Heavy laden. Look at Matthew
23, very quickly, OK? I want to give you just about
five more minutes. Matthew 23. Matthew 23, laboring,
laboring, laboring. Laboring. Laboring to be accepted, laboring
for peace, laboring for answers. the truth, the right way, and
so forth. Christ said, come unto Me, all
you that are laboring. I'll give you rest. You'll stop
laboring. You'll stop looking. You'll see Me. You'll stop looking.
Well, you hear my voice. When you hear Christ and Christ,
Christ, Christ, Christ, you finally hear, hey, it's in Christ. Yes. And you'll quit listening
to anything else. You say, I heard the way. They said they're heavy laden.
Religion. Chapter 23 of Matthew. Religion lays heavy burdens on
people. Heavy, strict burdens. Rules and regulates. A yoke of
bondage. Look at verse 4. Christ said
these Pharisees, mine heavy burdens, grievous to be born, laid it
on men's shoulders. But they won't move them. They're
not going to show one ounce of mercy. You're going to toe the
line, buddy. You're going to toe the line,
according to us elders, if not. And those are the ones Paul was
talking about in Romans 2 when he said, You that say you keep
the law, you're guilty of it all. Paul said, I know, I was a Pharisee.
And these fellows that lay these heavy burdens, strict rules and
regulations. Now listen to me. Most of it,
and many of it due in the name of the truth or the Scriptures
according to their interpretation of Scripture. It's a pick-and-choose
religion. Pick-and-choose law. We'll go
over here to Leviticus 19. We'll pull this verse out and
we'll make you do this. Take it out of context. Pick-and-choose,
you know. James said you offended one point.
You broke it all. You can't pick-and-choose what
you like. He spelled it according to their interpretations and
so forth, and it's usually a gross misapplication of the Scripture. Way out of context. Making people
live like Levites when there are no more Levites. Making people
live like Nazarites when there are no more Nazarites. Even the
Lord Jesus Christ was not a Nazarite. The reason his hair wasn't long. He's a priest up to the order
of Melchizedek. Different entirely. Look at verse
6 and 7. Christ said they loved the uppermost
rooms at the feast, the chief seats in the synagogue, greetings
in the marketplace. Reverend, elder, father, oh elder
so-and-so. Christ said, come unto me. Didn't they? I'll give you rest. You ain't
working for those fellows. They're not your Lord. I'm your
Lord. You don't answer to them. Right? Oh, there's such rest
here, people. There's no rest under ecclesiology. Under the Presbyterus, under
the elder rule, there's no rest. But buddy, there's rest in our
great elder. There's no rest under the rules
of bondage of the brethren. Oh, there he is under the elder
brother. Come unto me, he said, my yoke
is easy. Easy! He's an easy Lord. He's easy. Oh, He's easy. My daughter and my wife think
I'm easy. You know, they just ask for something and I just
give it. That's why I owe 1.3 million dollars. Whatever they give you, hey Dad,
okay. Even if it's not mine to give,
Rick, I'm easy. I'm easy. He's easier. Don't you love this,
Joe Parch? I give you rest. You don't work
for Elder So-and-So. Christ said, You're tired, you're
laboring, you're heavy laden, they just brought you undemanded,
and you can't live up to it. Come to me! Yeah, but Christ had had you.
What? He'd had me what? Keep the Sabbath. Where does
it say that? Where did Jesus Christ say that? You better observe
today. Where? Somebody, show me, and
I'll do it. Whatever he says, I'll do it. Yeah, but Christ said you better
wear your hair a certain way. What? Where did he say that? I'll do
it, but I'll grow my beard to my toes. I will. He said, I will. Where does he
say that? Where does he say that? He came
and in a sermon on the mountain, he magnified the Lord, didn't
he? He said, now here it is. You've heard what it said. Listen
to me, he said. Here, I'll tell you what you
do. Look over at Acts chapter...
Oh, this is just wonderful. This is just wonderful. Acts
chapter 15, and I'll quit with this, all right? The early church,
the Gentile church, they didn't have a clue about the Levitical
law of Moses. They didn't have a clue. They'd say, what's a... What's a scapegoat? What's a
this? What's a that? What's a Washings? What are we
supposed to do next? Acts chapter 15. The early church,
Peter and the boys went out preaching, you know, and they preached the
gospel. What did they preach? Christ. They said, trust Christ. Look
to Christ for all your religion and all your acceptance with
God. Look to Christ and Christ alone. You can't atone for your
sins, but bless God, He did every one of them. Now look to Christ,
you Gentile dogs, because all dogs go to heaven, with the Master
leading you, taking you. Look to Christ. Oh, they were
rejoicing in the gospel. But later on, some Jews came
in. You know, some Jews, Pharisees,
and they said, now, wait a minute. Yes, you got to trust Christ,
but. Now, that sounds sufficient when
a fellow says, but. Doesn't it? When a fellow says,
trust Christ, but. You better have a red flag, boy.
Trust Christ and. They said, you've got to be circumcised.
You've got to keep the law. Sabbath. Circumcised. That's when Paul, you remember
when Paul confronted Peter? Peter, you're not living like
a Jew. You start eating ham. Peter,
I saw you the other day, you was eating ham. You're not living like a Jew,
Peter. You're living like a Gentile. So why are you going to require
that the Gentiles live like a Jew? You're confusing these people,
Peter. And Peter repented of that, and they all got together.
Let's write them a letter. Let's write all the Gentile churches
a letter. All right? Here's the letter
to us. The Gentile church. What are
we supposed to do? All right? Acts chapter 15. Acts
15, verse 23, And they wrote letters by them after this manner,
The apostles and elders and brethren sent greeting unto the brethren,
which are the Gentiles, and Antioch, Syria, Cilicia, all over, forasmuch
as we have heard. We have heard that certain which
went out from us, Jews, have troubled you with words subverting
your souls, saying you must be circumcised and keep the law.
We gave no such commandment." Well, it seemed good unto us,
being assembled with one accord, one mind, to send chosen men
unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have hazarded
their lives with a name that is above every name, our Lord
Jesus Christ. We have sent, therefore, Judas
and Silas, who shall also tell you the same thing, same word,
for it seemed good to the Holy Ghost now." He's in on this.
He's the one that wrote this letter. And to us, to lay upon
you no great burden than necessary thing." Now here
they are, he said, "...of stainful meats offered to idols that are
just bad for you, and from blood, and from things
strangled, and from fornication." That's deadly. "...from which if you keep yourselves,
you'll do well." Farewell. God bless you. Keep looking to
Christ. Have a good day. That's it. Christ said, come unto me. I'll
give you rest. And you labor and heavy labor,
and I'll remove the burden. Religious, somebody said most
people have just enough religion. Listen to this. Maybe this is
so with somebody in here. Most people have just enough
religion to make them miserable. And everybody else around them. Christ never made anybody miserable.
He said, I'm easy. Let me close with this illustration.
Easy, my yoke. Take my yoke on you. My burden
is easy. My yoke is easy. My burden is
light. I've got a plow horse at home. Molly. About, I guess it was four or
five years ago, maybe, I went and found her up in Blue Ridge,
Virginia. There was an old man up there.
about 60-some years old, 70, old man. Sorry, Joe, but that's
old. He may be older than that. An
old man that he'd been plowing with a horse all his life. He'd
been plowing with a horse all his life. And I looked over to
the side, and Mindy, you were with me. Remember that old horse
he had? I forget what the horse's name
was, but that thing standing there, It was broken down everywhere
it could be broken down. Sitting there like that, I thought
it was dead. And he later told me it was 27
years old and he'd plowed with it for like 20, 25 years. And
you know when you plow, you put a yoke. You put a great big collar
around it. That old man worked those horses.
And there stood Molly. That's good, Molly. It was love
at first sight. I fell in love with her. She
didn't fall in love with me until later. And that old man was working
Molly. He was putting that yoke on Molly. She was standing over
there in a little pen about the size of this, about the size
of this, standing there maneuvering up to her knees. I've been working under that
yoke. I said, how much do you want? He told me. I paid it. I took Molly home. My yoke's easy. She thinks she
has come to a horse stand. I had that stand. I had a yoke. Henry, I bought me a harness,
you know, for Molly. I bought her a flower. What's an old city boy know about
plowing anyway? But I put it on her one time. She's had that plow, that yoke
on her one time. And I didn't even plow with her.
I hooked a log to her and skidded about a hundred yards and took
it off. And I said, oh honey, you tired? You worked too hard, hadn't you?
Look at you sweating. Oh, let me give you a bath. Want
some carrots? Here's some hay. Here's some
grass. You see, I'm easy. I'm a good
master. I'm a kind master. And that's
exactly what Romans and Galatians say when it says, You're married
to a kind husband. You're married to another. Moses
ain't your husband no more. Christ is. He's easy. Your heavenly Father
is not a strict, cruel tyrant that absolutely demands you.
He's easy. You see that now? See what he
means by, I'm easy, and our yoke is easy. My burden is light. You'll find rest, all you'll
do, mostly what you'll do is rest. Like Molly. Like Molly. Us believers are just, we'll
be like Molly. When they come and hear this
gospel of Christ, they think they've already made it to heaven.
You have. This is a taste of glory. What
are we going to do in glory? Rest in peace eternally. Isn't that good news? Huh? Come unto me, Christ. Come unto
me. Don't go to there. Don't go over there. Don't go
to this man, that religion, or this religion. because of it. All right. You know. What not to thirty three. Thank you.