Come to Christ & Take His Yoke

Matthew 11, go back there with me. Matthew 11, let's read the text again. Verses 28 through 30. Our Lord is speaking. He just said, all things are delivered unto me. So verse 28, he says, come unto me, all that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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 for your soul, unto your soul. For my yoke, It's easy. My burden is light.

I know we just looked at this, just preached on this, yet we need to hear it over and over again, don't we? Come to Christ. Come to Christ. Our Lord kept saying that. He said it here, come unto me. In verse chapter 16, he says, if any man come unto me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Someone came to him and he said, sell everything you have and come and follow me. He keeps saying this.

In my heart's desire and prayer for you and for me as it will come to Christ, all of us, young and old, and keep coming and never quit coming, never quit coming. In Ecclesiastes 3, it says it's good. for a young man to bear the yoke in his youth. Oh, that our young would take the yoke of Christ. They'd come to Christ and take the yoke.

I labored very hard in preparing this. Started Monday thinking about it and jotting some things down and worked all day yesterday and then again today. and had a burden for this and for our young people. One young, two here tonight. But I kept reading. I was burdened about it and laboring. And I had to read it for myself. Come to me. You're laboring, you're burdened. And I kept reading over in the last chapter. Look at Matthew 28. Matthew 28, over there. The Lord spoke to me in this way, the way Paul told young Timothy, just preach the word, just preach the word. It's not up to you. Not up to you. You can't make people come. You can't make people stay. It's not by might or power, it's by my spirit. So he says, just preach the word. That's his power, that's what he uses.

But Matthew 28, The Lord says the same thing, verse 18, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. So he says to his disciples, this is the last thing he said, go ye therefore and teach all nations. Preach, teach the word, teach the word, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. Lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the world. And I said, amen to that, amen.

So we're looking at this again, and I'm just gonna look at it as it come, come unto me, all ye that labor under heavy laden. Now we looked at Isaiah 55, I want you to look at it again, a little more in depth. And what it is, again, to come to Christ is to seek him. We never quit seeking him.

That's what Paul was saying in Philippians 2, wasn't it? I wanna know Christ, I wanna win Christ. He said, I haven't arrived yet. He said, this is a pressing matter, I pray it. Isaiah 55, to come to Christ is to seek him. Anyone listening here or later or somewhere else? It says in verse six, seek ye the Lord while he may be found, right? Now is the time when the Lord may be found. Today is a day of salvation, whenever the gospel's being preached. Call ye upon him while he's near. To seek the Lord is to call upon him. Call upon him. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. We need saving, don't we? Not just from sin, but from unbelief, from doubts, from fears, from worry, from burdens. We need to save from despair and we need to save. Call on the Lord. That's what it means to come to Christ. What it means to come to Christ is to hear him. Again, verse three, Isaiah 55. Incline your ear and come unto me.

Here and your souls shall live. I'll make an everlasting covenant with you. The sure mercies of David. That promise right there, it doesn't get any better than that. You know that? David's last words were these, although it's not so, I know I just quoted it, but I want to quote it again. It's the most blessed. It was David's last word, dying word.

Although it's not so with my house, everything's not just right, but God has made with me an everlasting covenant. That is God has made a covenant concerning me with Christ, ordered in all things and sure. He said, this is all my salvation, all my hope. Although we make it not to grow, although things aren't exactly the way I want them to go, they're going according to his purpose. So he says, here in your soul shall live.

We're living in a day when people turn away their ears from the truth. Well, God's counsel to us is you turn your ears away from the world and you turn your ears to Him, Him. To come to Christ, to come to our Lord is to need Him, to need Him, Isaiah 30. To hear Him, to believe Him, to need Him, Isaiah 30. We need Him and we need to hear from Him. We need to come to Him, Isaiah 30. We look at these verses all the time and we need to. Because there's so many voices.

Verse one, woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me. Cover with a covering, but not of my spirit. Verse two, they walk, they go down to Egypt, have not asked at my mouth. So we need to ask from our Lord, don't we? And verse seven, he says, the Egyptians, and you know, they represent the world, modern, technologically advanced at that time, like our world today. The Egyptians help us in vain. There's no purpose, there's no purpose to it. Not to bring you to God, just to take you away from it.

Therefore I've cried concerning this, the strength to sit still, meaning come and sit at his feet and hear his voice. You need to hear from him. You need to hear from him. Believe him. Look at verse 15, I love this. Thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest, Shall ye be saved in quietness and confidence shall be your strength. Oh, but sadly, some would not. They went to flee on horses. No, we'll go here and go there. But verse 18, but the Lord will wait that he may be gracious unto you. Isn't that good?

To need Christ, look at Isaiah 55, go back there. To need our Lord is like Like a dry and thirsty land needs water. David said that in Psalm 63, you read that one. My soul thirsts for thee as in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. Isaiah 55 verse one, hoe everyone that thirsteth. Come ye to the waters. He that hath no money, come by. This water, this wine, this milk is without money. I'm just saying that, without money. Come to Jesus Christ and buy it without price. Everyone that thirsteth.

Look at verse six. Seek ye the Lord. Verse seven. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return unto the Lord. He will have mercy on him, upon him. To our God, he will abundantly pardon. Keep reading. My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. And he's talking about his mercy and his compassion and his pardon. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thought.

As the rain cometh down, and it keeps coming, doesn't it? Though men are not thankful. I hope we are, I believe we are. Not as we should, but we are thankful. The rain cometh down, the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, maketh it bring forth, and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, bread to the eater. What's this talking about? Well, it's talking about the word, and it's talking about Christ. It says in Psalms, he shall come down like rain. to refresh the thirsty soul.

So shall my word, verse 11, be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It or he shall not return unto me void. It or he shall accomplish that which I please. He shall not fail. The death he accomplished is what Moses and Elijah talked about. Shall prosper. God's servant prospered in that thing that he was sent to do.

What's that make us do? Look at verse 12. He'll go out with joy. May we go from this place with joy? Be led forth with peace. Christ is our peace by the blood of his cross. The mountains and hills break forth before you into singing. All the trees of the field shall clap their hands. No more thorn, instead of thorn will come up the fir tree. The briar will come up the myrtle tree. For the Lord, for a name, for an everlasting sign, it will not be cut off.

So come unto me, Christ. You thirsty? You needy? You need him? You need mercy? All mercy's in Christ. You need grace? All grace is in Christ. You need forgiveness? All forgiveness is in Christ. You need pardon? He'll pardon you from anything, everything, all manner of things.

Oh my, you need righteousness? You need wisdom? Comes from above. Christ is made under his wisdom. Righteousness, sanctification, redemption. You need redemption? Psalm 103 says, bless the Lord, oh, bless the Lord, oh my soul. He forgiveth all thy iniquities and healeth all thy diseases and redeemeth thy life from destruction. Deliver him from going down to the pit. Job 34, I found a ransom.

You need redeeming. You need a Lord. You need a king. You need a prophet to tell you all things. You need a priest to confess. Come unto me, Christ said. Did you need to hear that? Over and over again. What it means to come to Christ is to seek him, to call upon him, to hear him, to believe him, to need him, to confess him. To come to Christ, you confess him like that woman that came crawling.

She said, if I just touch the hem of his garment, I'll be made whole. And she did, and she was. And the Lord stopped and said, somebody touch me. And the disciples said, Lord, they didn't understand. You're thronged by people. People are jostling you and all over you and grabbing for you. Someone touched me. Someone needed me. Someone laid hold of the hem of my garment. We preached a message on that one time. You remember the hem of his garment? And he turned and looked at that woman. And she confessed. She said, it was me. I needed you. I came to you, blessed woman, blessed woman, your sins are forgiven.

I used to confess him, our Lord said, and he'd said there in Matthew 28, go teach, tell them to observe all things that I have told you. And he said, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. That's what he said. He said, he that confesseth me before men, I will confess before the angels, before my father. Your son heard that, Elizabeth, and he didn't want Christ not to confess him. That's what he told me. He said, I don't want Christ to deny me, so I want to confess him. That's a good reason to confess him.

Oh, the Lord would impress that on all of us, all our children, all of us. Look at Luke 7. struck her as it did me. Luke chapter 7. I asked you, I told you, you need to remember where this is. It talks about wisdom is justified of our children. All that God says and does and what He tells us to do is justified of His children. Look at Luke 7 verse 29.

All the people that heard our Lord The publicans justified God, saying God is just, God is true, God is righteous, God is holy, God is true. Let God be true in every man alive. They all said that, God's true. Everything he says about himself, about us, about Christ, about salvation, they justified God. That's what it said, verse 29. And so they were baptized. Being baptized. The baptism of John, that's repentance. But the Pharisees, verse 30, read it.

Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves. The counsel of God doesn't say anything good about us, does it? It calls us what we are, sinners in need of mercy, in need of grace. Not a just man on the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. That's what the scripture says, doesn't it? None good, no, not one, by nature. None righteous, no, not one. But we need to be righteous. That's what the scriptures said then. And our righteousness is a filthy rag. So where are we going to get this righteousness? One place, Christ. Christ is made undone righteousness.

That's what the scriptures say. Well, the Pharisees said, I don't need that. I've got one. And they weren't baptized. They refused to be baptized. Well, they're not gonna be in God's kingdom. Neither is anyone that refuses to confess Christ. And what you're doing is when you're confessing Christ is you're denying yourself and confessing him. So to come to Christ is to confess him. So Christ said, come unto me. Now look at what he says here in the next verse.

Take my yoke upon you. Take my yoke upon you. Look at Psalm 116 with it. Psalm 116, this is good. I love this Psalm. Take my yoke upon you. To all he calls and all who come, all who believe him and all who need him and all confess him, he says, take my yoke. This is to those that come to him. He says, take my yoke upon you. Look at what David says in Psalm.

I wanted to read the whole Psalm. I love the Lord. I just might do that. I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice, my supplication. He hath inclined his ear unto me. Therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. Verse five, gracious is the Lord and righteous. Yea, our God is merciful. Oh, how merciful. Did you sing that from the heart? Verse six, the Lord preserveth the simple. I was brought low and he helped me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. Isn't that wonderful? Look at, keep reading.

Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. We had an old message on that one verse. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living by faith and cry. I believe, therefore I've spoken. I was greatly afflicted. I said in my haste, all men are liar.

Well, what shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefit toward me? I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I'll take his yoke. Who needs a yoke? I'll take it. I'll take it. Take my yoke. You know good and well you can't come, you can't call, you can't do anything unless the Lord bids you come and calls you and you won't take the yoke unless He makes you willing and gave His power. But when He does, this is what you say. I'll take it. I'll take it.

David said that in a couple of Psalms. He said this is what the wicked do, but as for me, For Joshua, he said, choose your God. Of all the gods, just choose your one, it doesn't matter. Choose God. As for me and my house, we're gonna serve the Lord. By the grace of God, he said. Is that what you said?

I'll take this yoke. Take my yoke upon you. Now a yoke, the dictionary says a yoke is a bar or frame of wood that joins long before leather, you know, big round collars, horse collars. You've seen them, wooden yokes. A bar or frame of wood that joins two draft animals. A draft animal can be an ox, a bullock, a horse, a mule. It joins them at the head, a yoke of wood that joins two together at the head. And they're working together and they're pulling heavy load.

Okay. That's what the yoke is for. It's always two, a yoke. Elisha, when the Lord called Elisha. He was plowing with 24, 12 yoke of oxen, 24 oxen. Boy, he's working hard. We think we got it hard? At any rate, this yoke of wood joins two together. Now, here's some things about a yoke. Number one, it's a sign of ownership. Every animal that wears a yoke is owned by someone, right? He's owned.

No yoke, no master. Like, no collar, wild dog, right? No halter, the wild horse. And it's gonna end up food for man or beast, isn't it? Certainly, if we don't have the yoke of Christ on us, if our children don't, if we don't wear this yoke, if we don't take this yoke, We're gonna be food for the dragon and the beast. He's gonna devour us in this world. He's gonna swallow us up.

But yoke to Christ. Yoke is for ownership. Proof of ownership. A yoke is union. Union. Two or one, it's always two. United to another at the head. Isn't that a good illustration? United, joined together. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter six with me. 2 Corinthians chapter six. When you come to Christ, you're yoked to him and his people. You see, we're all yoked. We're all joined with Christ. We're one in him. He's our head.

Well, look at what it says to believers, to the church. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit sayeth to the church. Listen now, verse 14, 2 Corinthians 6, 14. Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Is that what it says? Is that advice? No, that's a command. It's certainly wise counsel. It'll do you good to take Christ's yoke and not be yoked with anyone else. What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? None. Can't be. It's impossible. Oil and water don't mix. What communion hath light with darkness? Huh? Nothing.

What do you got to talk about? They are of the world, John said. That's what they talk about. And if you're with them, that's what you'll talk about. Our conversation's in heaven. You want to talk about Christ? Be joined to him and his people. What concord hath Christ, verse 15, with Baal? What part hath he that believeth with an infidel? What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? You're the temple of the living God, as God has said.

I will dwell in them and walk in them. I'll be their God. They shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among them. And we have to work in this world. Our Lord was in this world. He ate with publicans and sinners, didn't he? But our Lord did that for the express purpose of saving some of them. And he knew, but his companions were his disciples, always. That's who he spent all his time with.

Right? Right. Listen to him now. Don't be unequally yoked. It's a union. How can light have fellowship with dark? We can't be joined with false religion. We can't join with them. We'd be joined to a harlot. Right? So it's union. You're one with Christ. A yoke is something that's used for service. For work, isn't it? And if you're yoked to another horse, and what these draft horses are for, they're not pleasure horses. They're not pets. You know, you could love one, pet on it, but its primary use is serve, isn't it? Serve who? Its master. Isn't that right? Not self. No, no, no, no. It's not about ourselves. It's about serving our Lord. His glory. His honor. His kingdom. Right? Serving. It's submission. A yoke is a thing of submission. To take this yoke, you have to bow your head. I remember when we first got Molly. Midnight, I wanted one of these dress went to the Fairham College draft or show when we first moved here I Fell in love with those big old animals, and I had to have one why I? Just did where we went looking there was one for sale, and we went to Blue Ridge, Virginia.

I believe was and And I saw her afar off, had blonde hair, Molly. And many said, you loved her at first sight. I sure did. But they said she was broken and trained to plow and pull a wagon and everything. I know the man that broke her. Well, I brought her home. And I went and bought a collar and traces and all that.

And I didn't have a clue how to hook her. I think when I started to put the collar on, I had it upside down, Kevin. I didn't have it. But anyway, I didn't know. I took that collar. As soon as I picked that collar up, she'd seen that before. She dropped that big head. Bow your head.

You know what the Lord hates more than anything? Pride. Six things that the Lord hate, Proverbs 16. Yeah, seven are abomination. The first thing is a proud look. Read Isaiah. Isaiah 1, he says, the ox knows his owner. The ass knows his master's creed. And they bow their head. They submit and they bend the knee. But my people, they don't know. He said, they're full of pride. They declare their sin like Sodom. They're counting. He said, listen, this needs to be read. This needs to be heard by everybody. Oh, there are young people. So much pride.

Enter into the rock and hide thee in the dust for fear of the Lord, for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled. The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down. The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And he keeps saying that. He keeps saying that. The loftiness of man will be bowed down. The haughtiness of man gonna be made low and bring everybody down. But those that humble themselves. that bend the knee and bow the head to the Lord Jesus Christ, that take his yoke, submission to him, I am your servant, and will be exalted.

That old plow horse that works all day, oh, he's treated well, isn't he? If he's submissive and he plows faithfully all day long, when he comes in, and I've seen this, these big old horses, take that yoke, take that collar off of him and all those traces and chains and all that, he's just standing there. He knows what's coming. They're going to wipe him down, maybe throw some water on him and give him a big old bucket of oats, and he's just going to rest. He said His Master is not cruel. Our Lord said, Scripture says, His commandments are not grievous. My yoke is easy. The way of the transgressor is hard. This is my next point. The yoke is for instruction. He said, take my yoke, my yoke. We are joined to Christ. Kelly will tell you this.

A good way to teach a young horse is to tie it or yoke it to an older horse that's got the... What's the word I'm looking for? It's been doing it all those years. That's the way you teach a young horse. Tie it to an older horse. That older horse is going to go one direction then. Straight ahead. It's not going to look to the right or left. It goes straight ahead. And that young horse, never done this before, he went, look here.

And that old man, Kelly, had a little mule, a little donkey. He had a little donkey. And he used that donkey on horses that were troublemakers. Horses that kick and bite and all that. He'd tie that little donkey to these troublesome horses. And if that horse would start acting up, that little donkey would whack, whack, whack. Just kick, kick, kick. And boy, that horse would just settle right down.

So the things of this world, the people of this world, they are wild. And our Lord is wisdom. If you yoke to Him, it's a yoke of safety, ownership, security. This old world is following blind leaders. What's going to happen? You're going to fall in a ditch. If you walk in the light as He is in the light, you'll not stumble or fall. You follow Christ. You yoke to Christ. You're not going to fall for the pits and the traps and the snares of God this world. You're not going to do it. That's why we pray, call upon Him, come to Him and say, Lord, keep us from evil. He will.

Yoke to Him. The yoke of instruction. My yoke. Well, all right. Now here, let me get to the heart and soul of it. This yoke, Christ says, take my yoke upon you. Go back to the text. My yoke upon you. Learn of me, I'm meek and lowly in heart, and you'll find rest under your soul.

What is the yoke of Christ? I already told you, the dictionary says it's a yoke of wood. How are we united to the Lord Jesus Christ? By the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That yoke of wood. One animal joined to another, they become one. We are crucified with Christ. Aren't we? Buried, risen again.

That yoke was the cross of Christ. It's the purpose for which the Father sent His Son into this world. To bear this cross. This burden of our sins. That is the yoke. that Christ came to bear. And our Lord God, these two were one, yet three, these three are one. In this, in putting this yoke upon God's Son to take away the sins of God's people.

Like Abraham, when he and Isaac, Isaac 18, 20 years old at the time, strong, robust young man. And Abraham put that wood on Isaac's back. Well, can he carry it? He sure can. But wait a minute, he's got to be willing, doesn't he? Did he? Did Isaac carry that wood all the way up the mountain? No questions asked? Yes, he did, until he got up there and asked that question of all questions. Here's the wood. Where's the lamb? He was willing. Our Lord was willing. If the Father asked, He didn't. They wanted this.

But if He had, Son, will you bear this burden? Will you go to Calvary, take this yoke, bear the burden of all your people's sin, united to them, they in you, you in them. Will you take this yoke, this cross, Bear it to Calvary and hang upon that cross and take away the sins of your people. Will you do it? Like the marriage vow. Will you do it? Will you take this sinner and his sins? Will you be made sin? He said, I will. I will.

And he did. He didn't. He labored, didn't he? He labored on the cross. Heavy laden. The weight God laid on him. The iniquity of us all. That's the yoke. Now Christ says, take my yoke upon you. This is what he said. Now, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself. and take up his cross and follow me. Now, I don't know when this started.

There's a lot of old preachers I like very much that talk about crosses. The scriptures doesn't ever say crosses, never plural. Do you understand me? The scriptures of it doesn't ever call our physical problems and troubles and all that crosses. It doesn't say that. Paul never said that. I said cross I got to bury. He never said that. He did say this though.

He said, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ by whom I'm crucified to the world and the world to me. The cross that we are to bear is not just trials and troubles. That's trials and troubles we bear for his glory. But the cross, what we're up to take up is the cross of Jesus Christ. The gospel, a witness to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the cross that he tells us to bear. And he says if you do, you'll be persecuted. What is the purpose of a cross?

One thing. To kill somebody on it. Right? To punish somebody. That's the purpose of the cross. No other purpose. Arthritis is not a cross. But affliction and pain and suffering for the cause of Christ is the cross. Our Lord said, they're gonna kill you for my sake. So this is the cross.

He said, will you take this yoke? That's what he said. So you'll be hated by all men for my name's sake. Will you take this yoke? I was going to go back to Matthew 10, but I'm out of time. Where he said that, you save your life, you're going to lose it. But if you lose your life, what for? for Christ's sake. Peter said it over and over again about suffering. If any man suffer as a Christian, suffer for righteousness sake.

Do you hear me, John? That's the cross. It's singular and it's his cross. It's his yoke. Don't ever call your problems crosses. Don't do it. The cross that we're to take up and bear and the yoke That which unites us to Christ. And that's our service in this world. It's one thing.

I preached a message one time from 1 Samuel 4, I believe it is, about those two cows. Those two milk cows in a cart. You remember that? Two milk cows in a cart. They were laid hold of and they were yoked. And they were tied to a cart. And you know what was on that cart? The Ark of the Covenants. And those cows were told to take, to bear that burden, go, bear that burden, and they did. And they didn't go with right or left, they went straight on. Low in, low in as they went. That's our cause, that's our cross, His cross, to bear the ark up.

It's my purpose as a preacher and it's your purpose as a believer. Yes it is. Take my yoke, upon you learn of me, I'm meek and lowly in heart. Our Lord bowed his head on the cross, gave up the ghost. Oh my, lowly? Oh my. Willing, oh, it says, for the joy set before, despite, thought nothing of shame, thought nothing of it, thought nothing of it to hang there naked, to be jeered at, mocked, scoffed, spit upon, slapped, beaten to a pulp, thought nothing of it for the joy of saving his people. Think about that. You know, that's the only thing that'll make you bear this yoke. See His meekness and His lowliness and willing to bear that yoke for us.

My yoke is easy. My burden is light. Easy. Easy compared to being owned by the God of this world. Oh, that's a rough road to hoe. Following this world. You know it's easy to follow. It's a whole lot easier to follow than it is to lead. Especially if you don't know where you're going. You know that? Christ said, follow me. What's hard about that? Follow me. It's easy. It's simple is what that means. It's safe. He said, my burden is light. Didn't Paul say that? Our light affliction? Didn't he? His commandments are not grievous.

Light, afflictions. Light. They're light compared to all the goodness and the mercy and grace and all that the Lord has done for us. Our afflictions are very few compared to all the goodness and mercy and grace. Right? They're light compared to the afflictions of some other people. Read what Paul went through. And he's the one that said they're light. They're light, certainly compared to what our Lord went through.

They're light compared to what we deserve. Very light. Take my yoke away. Anybody? I'll take it. I don't want to serve the God of this world. I don't want to serve myself. I'm going to serve the Lord who was yoked and joined to me on the cross. Okay, let's stand.

Come to Christ & Take His Yoke

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Come to Christ & Take His Yoke

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