Today's message is called Three
Precious Truths. Now we who are the people of
God desire to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it is the work of the Holy
Spirit of God to teach us the things of Christ and to guide
us into all truth. I pray today that God the Holy
Spirit would give the people of God this morning teachable
spirits. May he be pleased to illuminate
the scriptures and teach us the things of Christ. We also pray
that God the Holy Spirit, if He would be pleased, to grant
life to one of His lost sheep through the preaching of the
wonderful gospel of a complete, finished salvation in and through
Christ alone. Turn, if you would, to Matthew
chapter 11. We see in the first verse the words, And it came
to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding His twelve
disciples, This chapter occurs after our Lord had commissioned
His disciples and sent them out to various cities in Jerusalem
and Judea to preach the gospel of His grace. The scripture declares
He departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. The
Lord Jesus Christ sent His preachers in twos and pairs to preach the
gospel to certain cities in Israel, and then He comes behind them
in person to confirm their message by his own word of instruction.
Therefore the truth of Deuteronomy 7.6 is brought forth at the mouth
of two witnesses or three witnesses. Every word was established. As
you read this chapter, the Lord speaks to his disciples and pronounces,
upon unrepentant cities, different people of different cities speaking
to a great mixed multitude of genuine believers, curious questioning
people, religious hypocrites, unconcerned believers, and every
weary sinner in need of God's mercy and God's grace. We'll see that in this chapter.
The first part of the chapter, there is a word for a troubled
disciple. Look at verses two and three.
Now when John had heard in prison the works of Christ, he sent
two of his disciples and said unto him, art thou he that should
come or do we look for another? And then look at the comforting
words of our Savior. The comforting words of our great
God in verses four to six. From the very lips of the master.
Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again
those things which you do hear and see. The blind receive their
sights, and the lame walk. The lepers are cleansed, and
the deaf hear. The dead are raised up, and the
poor have the gospel preached to them. Every one of those The
people there spoken of is a state in our natural, is a state of
us in our natural being. We're lame from a fall. We're
deaf to the gospel. We're blind to the things of
Christ. We're lepers from the top of our head to the bottom
of our feet because leprosy pictures sin in the scriptures. Oh my. And blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me. Look at that wonderful scripture.
Oh my. Now remember, John the Baptist
was in prison for telling Herod that his intention of taking
his brother Philip's wife was unlawful. John was in prison
for telling the truth. He was in prison for telling
the truth. And he was soon to be executed. He would have his
head chopped off for telling the truth. and also because of his testimony
for Christ, for telling the truth. He was one of the greatest preachers
that ever lived. He was one of the greatest preachers
that ever lived. He was the last, most commentators say he was
the last of the Old Testament prophets, and he was the first
gospel preacher. Oh my, he pointed people right
to Christ. And there's no one, though, who's
ever been as Exceptional or great of a preacher is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now when the believer in Christ
hears the gospel of God's free grace proclaimed, we rejoice,
don't we, in the wonderful mercy that we have received. And we
know it comes from the hand of Jehovah, from the hand of Elohim,
the Mighty One. And here are two striking facts
that are being driven home to my heart. by the Holy Spirit
of God when I hear the gospel proclaimed. And search your hearts
to see if it's the same for you. Number one, God Almighty is totally
sovereign. He's totally sovereign. He's
sovereign in providence. He's sovereign in grace. He's
sovereign in salvation. And he sends the gospel to whomever
he wills. That's the second point, is that
he sends the gospel to whoever he wills. Now, one of the most heinous
wickednesses in this world is the sin of unbelief. And those people who hear the
gospel and yet, believe it not, are guilty of the greatest evil
in the world. Though they may be decent, moral
people, in the eyes of the world, the world might look at them
and go, boy, those people are something. And they may be good moral people
before men, but they are just as guilty before God as Sodom
and Gomorrah. Just as guilty before God as
Sodom and Gomorrah. The crime that they have committed
before God is that of willful unbelief. See, man's will is
tied to their nature. So a dead nature will only choose
sin. Only choose sin. Unbelief. Unbelief. And we who are the
people of God can say, yeah, that's true because we were in
that state before God saved us, whether we were religious or
not. So the crime they've committed
before God is that of willful unbelief. And we see the great
woe pronounced upon these cities. Look at verses 20 to 24. Look
at this. Now these cities were favored
with the mighty works of Christ. He had done miracles in these
cities. He'd done much great works in these cities. And they
regarded them not. Look at verses 20 to 24. Then
began he to upgrade the cities, wherein most of his mighty works
were done, because they repented not." You want to see where man's
supposed will will get them? Right there. Man's will is not
free, it's bound to their nature. And men, dead men, men in their
natural state are dead. And they will not repent. You
see how repentance and faith is a gift from God? Oh, my. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe
unto thee, Basadia! For if the mighty works which
were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would
have repented long ago and sacked cloth and ashes. But I say unto
you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day
of judgment than for you. And Al-Capernaum, which art exalted
unto heaven, shall be bought down to hell. For if the mighty
works which had been done in thee had been done in Sodom,
it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you
that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the
day of judgment than for thee. My, these are words of woe upon
these cities, and they bring forth the judgment of the Lord,
don't they? They bring forth the judgment of the Lord on unbelief. And we see here a clear prophecy
of the endless woe and sorrow upon Christ's rejecters at the
Day of Judgment. In the view of Chorazin and Bethsaida,
and the awful woe pronounced upon those cities, which had
been favored with such high privileges as the miracles of Christ being
done in them, they regarded them not. They regarded them not. Think what will be their final
condemnation. Think of what will be the final
condemnation of this world filled with Christ-rejecting people. Think of the condemnation of
Christ-rejecting sinners. And then let we who are the people
of God rejoice and marvel at the fact that we have obtained
mercy. We've obtained mercy, undeserved,
unasked for. Did you seek it? Not until you
were made willing in the day of his power. Then you sought
it, didn't you? Then you sought that mercy from
God. I was talking to someone this week that called God a tyrant. Called God a tyrant. With those words, they have no
understanding of the grace of God. no understanding of the
grace of God. They do not believe the report
that's in the scriptures. And they do not think that they're
a sinner. And there's many people in this world who do not think
that they're a sinner, even though they are. And this person said
that people are good. Well, when you hear anyone say
that, well, people are good, and they don't deserve to go
to hell, then you know that person has no idea about the grace and
mercy of God. And I proceeded to tell that
person that God's not obligated to save anyone. You ever think
of that? God wasn't obligated to save
us, but he does it because of his
mercy and his grace. Now that's something, isn't it? That's mercy. That's mercy that
you can't measure. Oh, my. Again, my response was that God
is a God of mercy, under no obligation to save sinners except for the
fact of his mercy and his grace. He saves people. You know why
he saved us, we who are his people? This is wonderful. to manifest
his glory. Isn't that wonderful? And we
are receivers of that mercy and grace because he desires to manifest
his glory. My, doesn't get better than that,
does it? Doesn't get better than that. I ask you, would you show
mercy to someone who despised you? Would you show mercy to someone
who cursed your name? Would you show mercy to someone
you found out was talking behind your back? Speaking evil things of you? Well, in our natural state, we
wouldn't, would we? We'd say, I'm going to get that fellow. But not with grace. Grace changes
everything. Everything. We humans would not take it well if someone
spoke evil lies about us and slandered us. We'd be offended.
We'd probably not want to socialize with those people, would we?
But see, again, grace changes everything. Changes everything. Forgiveness. When I think about
the forgiveness that I have received in Christ, The mercy that I've
received at the hand of the master. You know what I do? I keep short
accounts with people. Keep short accounts with people.
Because there's two things that can happen. I've learned this
in my life. I've learned this in my walk
with the Lord Jesus Christ. You can either get better or
bitter. Anything that happens in this
life with us, you can either get better or you can become
bitter. We don't want to become bitter
as God's people. The scripture says to take an
ax to the root of bitterness. Because you know what bitterness
is? It starts off as this little wee seed. It starts growing. This little seed of bitterness
starts growing. And then before you know it, it springs up into
this giant tree. And we are told to take the axe
to that root of bitterness. And I like to say the axe of
forgiveness. The axe of pardon in Christ. Isn't it wonderful? It's a whole different way, isn't
it, than what natural man thinks. It's a whole different way. I've
had people treat me in all kinds of ways. When I used to be a
street evangelist, going out and talking to people on the
streets, I had people spit at me. I had people curse in my
face about my great God. All kinds of different things
that occurred. But you do it for the glory of God. You just keep telling them about
Christ. Do you tell your family members and your friends about
our great savior? Of course we do. Even when they get mad at
us? Of course we do. Even when they
say, speak evil of us? Of course we do. Why? Because we love them. Right? We love them. So we tell them
about Christ when we get the opportunity. We don't have to
slam the door open and tell them. No, the Lord will open the door,
won't he? And when he does, we tell him the great things that
Christ has done for us. Never, ever, ever stop praying
for your family members. Never. Never stop praying for
your family members. As long as they're breathing,
never stop praying for them. Never. Keep lifting them up. Your family members, your co-workers,
your friends, just keep lifting them up to Christ. Until they
breathe their last breath, keep asking God to save them. Just
keep asking God to save them. And if it's his will, he will.
And then keep talking to them about Christ when you get the
opportunity. We don't have to be like some religious people
who make it so bad that people only want to be around them.
Just when the Lord opens the door, tell them about the great
things that God has done for you. Just tell them. Tell them about Christ and his
finished work. There's always hope for them until they They
breathe their last breath. You see, God's ways are not our
ways. God's ways are not our ways. Not our ways at all. He's full
of mercy and grace. He has mercy on the miserable,
on the ungodly, on sinners, and it's all in and through the Lord
Jesus Christ. He has mercy on sin-loving, God-hating
sinners. He takes a rebel, and makes him
a trophy of his grace. And how does he do that? All
by his almighty power. All because he's willed it to
come to pass. My. Look at verse 19. Look what they said about our
master now. We know they spoke bad about John, but look what
the Pharisees say about our master. Look at this. The Son of Man
came eating and drinking, And they say, behold, a man gluttonous
and of a winebibber and a friend of publicans and sinners, but
wisdom is justified of her children. And then right after that verse,
our Lord pronounces woe upon those cities. Condemnation from the lips of
the master. Now let's go to our text. Look
at verses 25 to 30. At that time, Jesus answered. And said, I thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and the prudent, and has revealed them unto babes.
Even so, Father, for it seemed good in thy sight. All things
are delivered unto me of my father, and no man knoweth the son but
the father, neither knoweth any man the father, save the son. And he to whomsoever the son
will reveal him. Wonderful verse. Come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll 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. In these five verses is a wealth
of truth, a wealth of truth, beloved, from the lips of God
incarnate in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now remember that
when Adam fell in the garden, we all fell in him. All of us,
we know that. All of humanity fell in him.
He's the federal head. He's called the federal head
by theologians of the human race. So then all of us who are the
seed of Adam are born with his nature, dead in trespasses and
sins. And this is a fact which scripture
clearly brings forth. And as a result of Adam's fall,
there's none good, no, not one. None. No one in God's eyes. The human race is made up of
all different people, but we're the human race. And we're all guilty before God,
all of us. Our Lord's going to reveal a
great truth here before us. The fact that God must reveal
himself to his people. If God does not reveal himself
to his people, we will grope around in darkness. If God hadn't
revealed himself to me, or to you who are a believer, we would
have still been in the darkness, deadness of our natural state,
groping around in spiritual darkness. That's what we would have been
doing. That's what we would have been doing. Look at Matthew 11, verse 25
and 26 here. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father. Oh, he's given all the glory
to the Father. See, he's the submissive servant. He's fully God, and yet he's
submissive to the Father's will. Remember, he said, not my will,
but thy will be done. O Father, Lord of heaven, there
is a title of our King, Elohim, the Mighty One, Lord of heaven,
everything is beneath his feet. Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou has hid these things from the wise and prudent, and has
revealed them unto babes. You know who the wise and prudent
were? The religious Pharisees, the nitpickers. That's who. They're wise in their
own eyes. They're wise in their own eyes, but they're foolish. They think they're wise, But
they're so full of self-righteousness. So full of self-righteousness.
Because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and
has revealed them unto babes. Unto babes. Even so, father,
it seemed good in thy sight. We'll look at three wonderful
truths found in these verses today. The first truth before
us. is the fact that we must come
to the scriptures with a childlike mind, a teachable childlike spirit.
You ever seen a child and you just, you tell them something
so and they just believe it, right? It's, you know, and I find this
and say, you know, I'm sure you found this too. The older we
get, we think we get wiser but we lose that childlike way. we are to come to the scriptures
with childlike faith. The excellence of a childlike
and teachable mind, look at these wonderful words, is brought forth
with these words, thou has hid these things from the wise and
the prudent and has revealed them unto babes. Now, it's not for us to attempt
to explain why some receive the gospel and others do not. That's
left in the hands of our sovereign God. We know it's because of
his will. We know that because that's revealed
in scripture. But this has to do with his sovereignty. And
it's a deep mystery that we cannot fathom. But there's one thing
that stands out in scripture. Those from whom the gospel are
hidden are generally called the wise and the prudent, or
people who are wise in their own eyes, wise in their own eyes,
prudent in their own sight. But the gospels reveal to those
who are humble, simple-minded in the sense that
we receive It doesn't mean simple-minded like when it says the foolishness
of preaching. It doesn't mean that we're foolish.
It just means that we come with childlike faith before the Lord. He's not revealed the gospel
to the wise and the prudent. God's people are humble, simple-minded,
and willing to learn. That's how we are to be. the gospel is revealed to them.
Listen to what Mary said in Luke chapter 1 verse 53. He hath filled
the hungry with good things. Are you hungry for the things
of Christ? Do you hunger and thirst after righteousness? Yeah,
and that righteousness is Christ, isn't it? Has he not filled the
hungry with good things? You know what else it says in
that verse? And the rich he has sent away empty. That's Luke
1.53, he has filled the hungry with good things. And the rich,
those who think that they're fine. Those who think that they're
good people. I'm a good person. He sends them away empty. Now is the one who he sends away
full deserving of being sent away full? Absolutely not. They're just as deserving as
the ones sent away empty to be sent away empty, aren't they?
But it's all because of the mercy and grace of God. Sinners who
are bought to Christ are born again by the power and might
of God, the Holy Spirit, and we are humbled before God. We're
humbled before God. That's what God's people are.
We're humbled before God. My. So again, he takes a rebel. He takes a rebel at heart and
he makes him a trophy of his grace. He takes someone who cursed his
name and now he praises his name. He takes someone who never spoke
to God except when they got in trouble to one who talks with
his king anytime, anywhere. So the gospel is revealed to
God's people who are humbled by God the Holy Spirit. And we
are taught, is this not true too? We are taught how glorious
God is and how small we are. We are, aren't we? Who are we
to shake our fist at God and tell him, you didn't do this
right, God. I don't like what you did here. Who are we to do that? We are but animated dust. Spurgeon
used to say that. My, oh my. Turn, if you would,
to Matthew 18. Matthew 18. We see here that
God's people are to come before our great God, our Savior. We're
to come like children. a childlike attitude listen to
the master's words these are words the master and in Matthew
chapter 18 verses 3 to 4 and he said verily I say unto you
except you be converted and become as what little children you shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this
little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
See, we humans have a tendency to, once we start to learn things,
to actually exalt our knowledge more than what we should. Because all the knowledge we
have comes from him, whether it be things in life or whether
it be things in the scriptures. It all comes from him. And the
more I study scripture, tell me if it's so for you, the more
I study scripture, again, the more great I see how God is and
the more insignificant I see how I am. And yet he's had mercy
on me. The great God of all the universe
who controls everything, who holds all things together by
the word of his power has had mercy on me, every believer can
say. See, we need to bring it right
home, don't we? On me. Wonder of wonders. Now, that'll
make us fall like a child before a parent, won't it? And just
put our arms around them. Oh, my. We must ever be on the
watch against pride. In every shape, pride of intellect,
pride of wealth, pride in our own goodness, pride in our own
works. Nothing is so likely to keep man out of heaven and prevent
him seeing Christ as pride. Pride. So long as we think we're
something, we'll never be saved. And is that not what the Lord
teaches we who are the people of God? That he is something.
He is something. And yet he's had mercy on us.
Oh my, so we must pray and seek humility, seek to know ourselves
rightly and find out our place in the sight of a holy God. And
the beginning of the way to heaven is to feel that we are on the
way to hell and to be taught of the Holy Spirit of God. And
isn't that not what God reveals to us before he draws us to Christ? As he's drawing us, he reveals
our sinfulness. He reveals how deserving we are
of hell. And then, as Sister Diane once
said, he puts the balm of Gilead right then. Right then. Boom. Forgiveness of Christ. Oh, it's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. We live in a generation of proud
people. People are experts, but not examples.
And we know too much or we think we do. My, oh my, pride, pride, pride,
pride. How often does a simple soul
learn the gospel of God's grace and press through to glory while
the wise and prudent utterly miss it. My. The second point we can learn
from this text is The greatness and majesty of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Look at verse 27. Matthew chapter 11, verse 27.
Oh, this is so clearly bought forth. The greatness and the
majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father. All things. There's nothing left
out. There's not a maverick molecule
in this universe, beloved. Nothing. There's not an atom
that's not under his control. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son, look at this, but the
Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father
save the Son, and to he to whomsoever the Lord will reveal Him. Look at that. The only reason, if you're a
born-again blood-washed believer, The only reason you know about
God and you're saved by His grace is because the Son has revealed
the truth to you. Now that'll put us in the dust,
won't it? That'll strip the pride rod out
of us. Brother Scott Richardson used
to say, preaching the gospel is stripping grace. Grace, you
preach the grace of God and Christ and it just strips the sinner
down to nothing. who the Lord's moving on and
working. And then they're built up in Christ. You are complete
in Christ. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. In light of these words of the
master, consider these words in Psalm 139.6, which says, let's
turn there quick. Actually, this is a good verse
for us to look at. Psalm 139.6, this is a really good verse for
us to look at. It speaks of knowledge. The knowledge
of God. Psalm 139, verse 6. And look what the psalmist writes
about our great God. Psalm 139, 6. Such knowledge
is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain unto
it. Do you know that we only know
what God's been pleased to reveal to us about himself? There is
so much more about him that we do not know, and we won't know
until we get the glory. And we may never know. But all
that he's chosen to reveal to his people about himself is in
this book, and this book is just a mine, isn't it? You'd be reading
it, and you're going, I never even saw that verse before. And
the Holy Spirit's just pleased to reveal a little bit more about
our great God to you. Oh, it's wonderful. It's wonderful. Oh, my. Or you may hear a verse
that you've heard preached on 100 times, and all of a sudden,
oh, my. Oh, my. That's hunting to my
soul. Look what it says here, though.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. It's high. It's higher than the heavens.
It's high. I cannot attain unto it. The
psalmist is saying, I can't even grasp it. I can't grasp this. It fills him with awe and wonder. Think of this. When you think
about our great God, When you think of His grace and mercy
bestowed upon we who are the people of God, I know for me
it overwhelms me. Does it so for you? Does it just
overwhelm you when you sit in the private? You know, some of
the best praying is done behind a steering wheel and just thinking
about God, isn't it? Some of the best, you know, we
ought to just, we can talk to the Lord anytime we want, no
matter where you are. My, oh, my. And when you start
to meditate upon these things, which is just meditating is just
thinking upon these things. When you start to think upon
the grace of God and the wondrous mercy of God, it'll astound you. It'll overwhelm
you. The knowledge of God, the knowledge
that God has, And who he is surpasses my comprehension. Is it so for
you? Surpasses our, even our imagination. It surpasses all that. And the
psalmist writes here, it is high, I cannot attain unto it. I can't even comprehend it. And
remember, the one who's written this is now in glory. Face to
face with the one he wrote about. My. So think upon this blessed
truth of our great God. What he knows and how powerful
he is. We are to come to him with childlike
faith. Childlike faith. Rejoicing. When we just think about the
attributes of God and what he knows, how powerful he is, how
merciful he is, his wisdom, his holiness, our finite minds, we
quickly learn cannot measure the infinite one. Who are we to question his ways
and his workings? Who are we? Who are we to question
his ways and his workings? Ask yourself, do you love and
adore him? Do you love his ways? Do you
love his sovereignty and how it's worked? It's amazing. God's grace is truly amazing.
So marvel, you who are the people of God, that you are washed in
the precious blood of Christ. Marvel in that. You're washed
in the precious blood of Christ. And we should not be surprised
that the most glorious God should, in his knowledge, be high above
all the knowledge that we can attain. Because his ways are
not our ways. And his thoughts are not our
thoughts. He is so far above us. So far above us. Think about how low we are. We're
but dust. We can't even reach to the lowest
step. of the throne of glory. My, look what it says here. Look at this great truth brought
forth again, Matthew 11, 27, about the glory of our great
Savior. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father. The Father has given all things
to Christ. All things in heaven and in earth,
visible and invisible. And no man knoweth the Son but
the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son,
and to whom, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. The
fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is all power is clearly brought
forth here over everything. And the fact that all that concerns
our soul's interest is placed in the Lord's hands, never forget
that. All of our concerns in this world
that we have, and we have many, don't we? are in his hands, are
in his hands. All things are delivered unto
him. He has the keys. To him, we must go for admission
into heaven. He's the door. Through him, we
must enter into glory. He's the shepherd. We must hear
his voice. We must hear his voice, and we
must follow him. If not, we'll perish in the wilderness.
He's the great physician. We must apply to him to be healed
of the plague of sin. He's the bread of life. We must
feed upon him if we would have our souls satisfied. He's the
light. We must walk after him. If not,
we wander in darkness. And he's the fountain. We must
wash in his blood if we would be cleansed and made ready for
the great day of judgment. Blessed are these glorious truths. Therefore let no man glory in
men, for all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or
Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present,
or things to come, all are yours. And if ye are Christ, then Christ
is God's. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verses
21 to 23. The last point that I'd like
us to look at here in this text is the fullness of the call of
the gospel. the fullness of the call of the gospel. Look at these
wonderful verses. And oh, how these verses meet
the trembling sinner who asks, will Christ reveal his Father's
love to such a one as me, to such a sinner as I? And here
before us, we see a gracious encouragement to the lowest of
sinners, the lowliest of sinners. And for over 2,000 years, these
words have went forth, and they have been good words to millions
of souls. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden. And I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon me and learn
of me. 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. Note who he does not invite. He does not invite those who
feel themselves religious and worthy. Note that. Who does the Lord Jesus Christ
call unto himself? Well, we see in our text, he
calls all that labor and are heavy laden. And there are some
in this weary world who feel a load upon their hearts. from which they desire to be
free. They have a load of sin and a
load of sorrow, anxiety, or a load of remorse. And our Lord Jesus
Christ says, come. Come to him. Come to he who can
give you true rest. True rest. And we see the graciousness of
our Lord here. He proclaims, I will give you
rest. Ye shall find rest for your souls. To the sin sick sinner, these are
words of cheer, aren't they? To the weary Christian pilgrim,
these are words of cheer. Because not only are we to come
to the Lord When we come to him in faith, when we're regenerated
by the power of the Holy Spirit, but we are to continuously come
to him as believers in Christ, aren't we? Continuously. Here is the ark of refuge for
the weary. Here is the city of refuge for
the manslayer. Here is the sacrifice that God
will accept for Lord Jesus Christ. He says, come unto me, all ye
that are weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. And take note what our Lord says
to those who are laboring and heavy laden. And you know, when
I was in religion, it was heavy work. Ah, you're laden down with
all these things. You got to do this, and you got
to do that. And you come out of church, and
you just feel like you're just weighed down. Yeah. Oh, but praise be to God. Christ's
yoke is easy, easy. Note our Lord makes no demands. Notice that? He makes no demands. He speaks nothing about a work
to be done. You notice that in those words? He doesn't speak
about, he doesn't say, well, come to me after you've done
this and that. He doesn't say that, does he? There's no demands
made. He says, come unto me. Speaks nothing about works to
be done. He only says, come to him just as you are. just as you are, with all our
sins, and submit ourselves like little children to him. And he will give you rest. Rest. What is humility? What is humility? It's not thinking
of self at all. And we see our Lord here. Oh,
he's so humble. He's filled with humility. Our Lord seems to say, do not
go to man for relief. Don't go to man for relief. Don't
go to religion for relief. Don't go to anything you can
do for relief. No. Don't look for help from any
other source. Just come as you are. Just come as you are. And the Lord says of himself,
I am meek and lowly in heart, in verse 29. Meek and lowly in
heart. This is the only place where
the heart of Christ is actually named. And don't ever forget
what our Lord Jesus Christ says here. is we who are the people
of God have all tasted of his meekness and of his gentleness
and of his greatness, haven't we? We've tasted that the Lord
is gracious. And notice how he encourages
his people to service. He says, my yoke is easy. It's
easy. My burden is light. Now, there's
a cross to be carried for every believer. We know that. Trials
and tribulations in this world come. And as we found out on
Wednesday night, they're all appointed by God. Trials and
afflictions in this world are appointed of God. And if we follow Christ, we are
going to have hardship. It's going to happen. There's
battles that are going to be fought, but you know what? The
comforts of the gospel far outweigh all of that, doesn't it? Far
outweighs it all. All the things that we have to
go through is far outweighed by the comforts of the gospel. Oh, my. Compared to the service
of this world, sin, and the bondage of human superstition, and the
yoke of religion, Christ's service is, in the highest sense, easy
and light. Easy and light. His ways are
the ways of pleasantness. In his paths are peace. Right? Come unto me, our Lord says here.
Here's the key to true happiness. Here's the key to true joy. Come
unto me, our Lord says. People are always seeking joy
and seeking happiness. Well, I'll tell you what. Brother
Scott Richland used to say a thing. He said, since I heard the good
news, I haven't heard no bad news. It's true, isn't it? It's true. Oh my. May we never be satisfied until
we know that we have come to Christ by faith for rest, and
then continue to come to Him daily. Just continue to come
to Him. Continue to come to Him. Are you wise and prudent in your
own eyes? Do you think you're smarter than
God? Look what God's made. Look at this world. Look at the
stars. He just spoke it into existence. My, oh, my. And if you've already come to
him, learn to cleave to him more closely. His word can never be
broken. His words in John 6.37 say this,
him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. So he says,
come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll
give you rest. And God's people find that, don't
we? And then we hear these wonderful words that, him that cometh to
me, I will no wise cast out. Again, there's people in this
world who think that they're wiser than God. But here's a
little bee that organizes a city. that builds 10,000 cells for
honey, 12,000 cells for larvae, and a holy of holies for the
queen mother. A little bee that observes the increasing heat,
and when the wax may melt and the honeybee lost, he organizes
the swarm into squads and puts guards at the entrances, glues
their feet down, and then with flying wings, they create a system
of ventilation that makes our electric fans obsolete. If a tiny bee performs such wonders,
who are we to question God? Who are we to question God? Lift
up your eyes and behold the hand that supports the stars without
pillars and guides the planets without
collision. May we all be meek and lowly in heart before our
Savior and may we come to him with childlike faith. Heavenly
Father, we thank you again for your mercy and goodness and grace
to us that we see in thy word. We who are your people, oh, we've heard the call by thy
grace and mercy have come unto me. All ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and we were made willing in the day of thy power,
O Lord, and we marvel. We pray you use this message
for your glory, for your honor and praise. In Jesus' name, amen.