Well, it's good to have each
one of you out this morning. We did not have the privilege
of meeting last weekend due to the inclement weather, but we're
thankful that on this first Sunday of January, 1997, we're able
to meet here in this room and to wait upon the Lord to give
us that which we so desperately need. In January of 1865, on
January the 1st actually, C.H. Spurgeon got before his congregation
of about 6,000 people and said to them that you will remember
that for several years I have received my morning text for
the first Sunday in the year from an esteemed brother, a clergyman
of the Church of England. And this year, he was kind enough
to send me this verse of scripture, which he was going to preach
on. And he went on to say, I hope that it'll be useful to you all.
Now on Friday, this past Friday, I received a letter from a brother
over in California, a brother by the name of Thomas Bryce.
And he's been receiving some tapes. Brother Chris has been
sending him some tapes. In fact is he's brother Chris's
brother-in-law and he pointed out some verses having to do
with commandments that are not burdens and grievous to be born
and there was such a blessing to me that immediately when I
received his short letter I felt in my own soul that the Lord
would have me to use his few comments and the text which he
sent. to put together my message for
this morning. And so I have done that to the
best of my ability, the ability which the Lord has given to me. And I trust that the Lord will
bless what we have to say and that it will be an encouragement
to each one of us as we reflect upon these burdens that are not
grievous to be born. But in order that we might be
able to better appreciate our thoughts that we'll later bring.
I felt that it was necessary for us to say a few words about
some of the burdens that were grievous to be borne by those
of our Lord's day, in order that you might appreciate these thoughts
as we try to give them to you. In Matthew chapter 23, and if
you want to turn there, turn in your Bibles there to Matthew
chapter 23, and I want to read beginning with verse one, and
read down through verse 5, verse 5, Matthew chapter 23. Then spake
Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples, saying, The scribes
and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. They interpret the law
of Moses for the people. They sit in Moses' seat. They
have not the spirit of Moses. They do not know the truth about
Moses. They have lied on Moses. but
they sit in his seat. They're those that expound the
law and tell you what the law, what they think that the law
means. Now all therefore whatsoever
they bid you observe, that observe and do, but do not ye after their
works, for they say and do not. They're those that say you do
as I say, not as I do. They're not doing the law, they
just simply explain the law from their own viewpoint and standpoint. In verse 4, it says, for they
bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born, and lay them on men's
shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of
their fingers. He says that they bind these
heavy burdens, these burdens that are grievous to be born,
they have a moral code, they have ceremonies, which they give
to the people which they have laid upon the people which came
from their own hearts and minds they preach for doctrines the
commandments of men they would take and distort the word of
God in any way they wanted to as many in our day do and these
men feeling that they had particular insight into Moses and his teaching
they had uh... somebody had one of these scribes
or pharisees came up with the idea that when Moses was on the
mount, received the Ten Commandments, that the Lord gave him an oral
set of rules and commandments which were never written down,
and only the scribes and Pharisees knew these oral commandments
which God had given, which was additional to the Ten Commandments,
and so therefore they always were bringing up something new
to bind the hearts of the people. And they had no, there was no
text for what they taught, there was no Bible that they could
point men to, no scripture, but they just simply said, this is
what Moses heard on the Mount. And so these were the heavy burdens,
the moral and the ceremonial burdens which were laid upon
the people. And we know that from the very
outset of the giving of the Ten Commandments, it has been the
view of of many, and certainly it was the view under Judaism
that you obeyed the law, you fulfilled the law, you kept the
Ten Commandments, and you were saved by doing so. Well, of course, in the Word
of God we have many, many verses in the New Testament that shows
us clearly and plainly that the law was never given in order
to give life. The law of God cannot justify
or save anyone. It is not our rule of life. It's
not our basis of assurance. It's not even a yardstick to
measure our spiritual growth. The whole purpose of the law
is to expose our sin. Sin is the transgression of the
law. The whole purpose of the law
is to expose the fact that we're sinners, that we're undone before
God, and it condemns our sin. The law condemns our infractions. It is an indictment against us. It is an indictment of justice
against us. The Ten Commandments were not
given to save you. And men take the Ten Commandments,
and then they branch off of this one and that one, and then they
set up a whole system of rules and regulations and tell you
to keep them, and that you must keep these in order to be saved. But the law was given. First
of all, let me explain this very carefully to you this morning.
that the law of God was given to destroy all hope of salvation
by works. You say, well, it looks like
it was just the opposite of that. But the Bible says, through the
deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight,
Galatians 3 and 10. And once a person is convinced
of his sin and his guilt, His immediate response is to do something
by which he may turn away God's wrath and win God's favor. But we can never, never do enough
to satisfy God's law because obedience Whatever future obedience
we could render to God, beloved, for our past sin, it will never,
never wipe out the sins that we've already committed. We know
that the law was given to destroy the hope of salvation. You read
the Ten Commandments. The Bible teaches if you break
one of them, you've broken them all. And any time we sin, the
law is a one-way street. You cannot turn around on that
street and go back. The law brings condemnation and,
as we said earlier, an indictment of justice that we're all guilty
sinners and that we cannot save ourselves. The law was given
to show sinners the justice of God in their eternal ruin. Legal
conviction alone will never bring true repentance. But legal conviction
is necessary. A sinner must be made to see
that he justly deserves the wrath of God. And so when you read
the Ten Commandments and you know you've broken them, you
know by that indictment of justice that you are legally a sinner
before God and you deserve the wrath of God. And that if God
sends you to hell, You don't have a word to say in your defense. You've broken the law. This is
God's law. You've broken it. And if God
sends you to hell, you have nothing to say. And he will send you
to hell if you don't repent and if you don't turn to Christ.
You've broken his law. Now, God gave the Lord Sinai
to show us the need we have of a substitute. This law that God
has given shows me that I need somebody to stand in for me and
be my mediator between God and myself. That I need somebody
to stand in my place before God. Now when we read the words of
God's law and see the rigorous and the inward spiritual requirements
of the law, we see the need of one who is mighty that can stand
in our stead. And once we see the law fulfilled
by Christ, we cherish him above all things. The law is severe,
but Christ is gracious. The law is condemning, but Christ
has removed the condemnation. The law curses, but Christ has
redeemed us from the curse of the law. He redeemed us from
the curse of the law. Now I'm not here this morning
to lead anybody to believe that I haven't broken the commandments.
I've broken them all. Because the Word of God says
if you break one, you're guilty of all of them. And so, beloved,
but I am here to say this morning that the law drove me one day
to find a substitute. A man is helpless, he's hopeless.
The law says work, the law says run, but it gives you neither
hands nor feet. But bless God, the gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ gives us all that God demands of us. And
it shows us how that God in Christ has fulfilled the law on our
behalf, and that he's been a faithful substitute. Now then, the law
curses, but Christ has redeemed us because he satisfied the justice
of God's law. In a word, the law was given
at Mount Sinai to bring us to Christ. It was given to drive
us to Christ. But you know, those that lived
in our Lord's day, they had heard all that the scribes and the
Pharisees had to say. They were taught what they had
to do and what they could not do, what they must perform as
duties, and they were blinded. They were blinded to the truth.
And even after our Lord's coming into the world, and we'll show
you a moment what he had to say, to these people, but after he
had come into the world, and even after he was crucified and
went back to heaven, we know that some of his followers, or
those who claim to be his followers, they claim to be believers, they
came out of the church at Jerusalem, they went out and began to teach
the same thing that these scribes and Pharisees were teaching. And in the 15th chapter of the
book of Acts, there was a question that came up. Was it necessary
for a man to keep the law of Moses and to be circumcised in
order to be saved? And the brethren met in Jerusalem,
and they had this council that came together to decide on this
matter. And Peter stood up and said unto
them, men and brethren, we know how that a good while ago God
made choice among us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear
the word of the gospel and believe. And God which knoweth the hearts,
bear them witness, and he saved them just like he did us, and
he gave them the Holy Spirit, the Gentiles, even as he did
unto us. He gave it to them on the same
basis he gave it to us. and it was on the basis of faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He put no difference between
us and them. He purified our hearts and theirs
by faith. He saved us from eternal damnation
by faith in the Lord Jesus. Now therefore, why tempt you
God to put a yoke, there's that yoke again, upon the neck of
the disciples. There's that heavy burden, grievous
to be born. There it is. Why would you go
out and attempt to put these grievous, heavy burdens upon
the neck of the disciples? Because neither our fathers nor
we were able to bear these yokes. Now, beloved, I don't know why
it is that people want to run to pick up this heavy yoke and
these burdens that are grievous to be borne. But beloved, we
find so many, many people in our day, even yet in our day,
that is so confused as to the message of the gospel that they're
still running out and picking up this yoke and saying, I believe
that I'll be saved if I do the best I can. You see, beloved,
one of the things that's wrong with that is that there's never
been a man or a woman lived that ever did the best they could
do. And not only did they not do the best they could do, but
God's not in the business of accepting the best that any man
can render unto Him. God will have Perfection! And that perfection can only
be found in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you
have Him as your substitute, when you believe on Him, when
you trust Him, when He abides in your heart by faith, then,
my friend, you have what God demands of you! you have a perfect
substitute. Okay, but let's see what he says
here. He says, why do you tempt God to put a yoke upon the neck
of these disciples which neither our fathers nor we are able to
bear? But we believe, he said, that
through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved
even as they. But then after the council agreed
on what they would tell these Gentile churches, in verse 24,
for as much as you've heard, this is the letter that the apostles
wrote, that certain which went out from us, certain, some translations
say certain believers, certain men who came out from us, have
troubled you with words subverting your souls, saying you must be
circumcised and keep the law, to whom we gave no such instruction. We gave no such commandment. We did not tell them that that's
what they ought to be preaching. They're going out and they're
preaching the law. Say, you gotta keep it. You gotta
keep it. You gotta keep the Ten Commandments.
You gotta keep every law God give or you're going to hell.
And they preached that and said that all males had to be circumcised
or else they could not enter into heaven. picking up the old
religious ceremonial rites out of the Old Testament and trying
to apply them to Gentile believers. And these were heavy, grievous
burdens which could never, never bring a man into favor with God,
make no difference how, faithfully, dutifully he complied with those
regulations. They could not bring him into
faith with God. Beloved men are ruined. You know
what the Bible says, that a heart is desperately wicked, it's deceitful
above all things. You know that we are ruined to
the very core, that we were born, come out of our mother's womb,
speaking lies. You know that we're ruined by
the fall, and that nothing that we can ply these little band-aids
are not going to save us. We need a circumcision, all right,
but one of the heart made by the Spirit. We need an operation
upon our hearts made by the Spirit of the living God. It's when
God's Spirit comes and regenerates the heart and makes us live before
God that we have hope before God. circumcision outwardly is
going to do nothing for you as far as God is concerned. He said,
well, we didn't give these people any instruction. Moses had those,
he said, in every city. which preach him, they preach
him all the time. But we didn't give any such instruction
to these men. We didn't give it. Now any man
who was given to law preaching, any man who was given to legalism
in his presentation of the Word of God received no instructions
like that from the Spirit of the Living God. His message is
not of God. It's not of the scriptures. Now
then, let's turn back here, if we can, to the book of Matthew. And I want us to look at something
here in the 11th chapter of Matthew. Matthew chapter 11. So you see
something about these heavy burdens. that were placed upon the people.
They were told that they must keep every one of God's laws
or they could not be saved. They could not go to heaven.
And hear the Lord Jesus in Matthew chapter 11. Let's look at verse
28 and 29. He says, come unto me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, you people that have been listening
to that kind of preaching, you people that have had these heavy
burdens, bound to your back, that's weighted you down, and
you've been under this kind of preaching, and you've listened
to it, and you've tried to, you've believed it, and you tried to
obey it. He said, you that labor under
this, and are heavy laden, and pressed down, he said, you come
to me. Stay away from them scribes and
Pharisees, and forget what they've told you, and loosen your grip
on that foolishness, and come Unto me, come unto me, come unto
me. Now beloved, I think that we
should see here the love of the Savior's heart for these to whom
he's speaking. These are people that are under
a burden. And they are vexed. You know,
I've seen horses that had bad collars on them years ago that
when they were pulling loads and their necks would become
raw because of the load that they were trying to pull with
bad equipment. And beloved, I think of these poor ones. under the
ministry of these legalistic work mongers and I see them chafed
and raw from the burdens they've been trying to carry. I'll tell
you, there's some people that if you told them that if they
would push a peanut from here up to the county courthouse here
in Great Falls on their knees with their nose, they would try
to do it if they thought that would save them. But you tell
those people, you tell those people, loosen your grip. Loosen
your grip. Let all of that go. Let everything
go that you're holding on to. Some people said, well preacher,
I've made up my mind. One of my New Year's resolutions
is that I'm going to be a better person. Well, there isn't anything
wrong with being a better person. Just have at it. All you can
say, well, I'm determined I'm going to read more. I'm determined
I'm going to pray more. Have at it. There's nobody going
to find fault with you. I'm just telling you, don't trust
in it for the salvation of your soul. Lose and, as it were, unclasp. your death grip because that's
what it is. You hold on to something other
than Christ. Do you know when you come to
faith, the word faith means forsaking all others. Forsake all and everything
else and lose your grip on everything else besides Him. Come unto the
Lord Jesus. Just come to Him. and back off
all of this work mongering and all of this criminal doctrine
of salvation by works and salvation by doing and come to Him who
did all the doing and the dying, the Lord Jesus Christ, and trust
Him. He said, you that are laboring
in heavy labor, He says, you come, I'll give you rest. I'll
give you rest. I'll give you a rest that you
never experienced before. I'll give you a rest that'll
top any rest you ever found after your best day in all of your
religious activities. I'll give you a real true rest
and your soul will know the difference between that and what you've
tried to work up in all of your labors under the law. Then he
says, He says, you take my yoke upon you, you take my yoke upon
you. You come to me, you trust me, you take my yoke upon you. The yoke of being, you're my
disciple now, you belong to me. You're mine, you're followers
of mine. You belong to me and you're going
to learn my ways. Listen to what he says, you take
your yoke upon you and you learn of me. My yoke, and ye learn
of me. Now, beloved, this is a burden
that's not grievous to be born. This is a commandment not grievous
to be born. Take Christ's yoke upon you. Well, how do you do that? You
do that by bringing yourself and surrendering yourself unto
Christ. Just give up your life unto Christ. Lay yourself down at his feet.
and receive the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart. Lay your life
down and become a learner of the Lord Jesus. The time you commit your soul
into the hands of Christ, that is your assignment. Learn of
me. Learn of me. Oh beloved, I wish
we had some scholars around here. Some scholars, some people that
would be learning about Him. Learning about Him. and you can't
separate Him from His doctrine, you can't do that. You've got
to know the Word of God, read the Word of God, study it, listen
to it, preach, but learn of Him. Now in this new year, beloved,
these are commandments not grievous to be born. We're talking about,
and we're saying to you that the first one is, you take His
yoke upon you. And you learn of Him. You learn
of the Lord Jesus. And any time anybody starts talking
about heaven, starts talking about hell, you will know that
Christ is heaven! And without Him, all is hell
and judgment. Beloved, you will have the answers.
And whenever you begin to hear people talk about how they're
trying to get to heaven, You'll say, the triumph's over as far
as I'm concerned. I'm trusting that One who has
provided all that was necessary, all that the Father demanded
of me, it's been provided, and He did it. Christ did it. Christ
is the answer. And I took His yoke upon me,
and I'm learning of Him. He says, for I'm meek and I'm
lowly in heart, and you'll find rest under your souls. For my
yoke is easy, And my burden is light. I'm not going to bind
anything on you, but I'm going to give you the strength. to
bear the yoke, and strength to stand up under the burden. He
said, there'll be no testing taking you, but such is common
to man. I'm faithful. I'll not allow you to be tested
above what you're able. I'll bear, listen with you, and
I'll give you a way of escape that you might be able to bear
it. The Lord Jesus said, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Sometimes because of our pride
and indifference and because of our attitudes, We do in some
ways come up bearing burdens we oughtn't to be bearing and
bearing burdens and we think they're heavy and simply because
we're not trusting in the Lord as we ought. But this is the
first one that I suggest to you this morning and that is we take
his yoke and we learn of him a burden that's not grievous
to be borne. And then turn to John chapter
11. John chapter 11. And look at
verse 44. Now you'll immediately, when
I say John chapter 11, you will identify with the story in this
chapter, and it's the story of Lazarus, where Lazarus died and
was put into the tomb, and the Lord Jesus came and raised him
from the dead. And in verse 44, and he that
was dead came forth. bound hand and foot with grave
clothes and his face was bound about with a napkin and Jesus
saith unto them and here is the next commandment that is not
grievous to be born loose him and let him go loose him and
let him go now beloved in this coming new year I hope this church
will adopt this as being a commandment for us As we go out and as we
attempt to speak to men and women in this world and be a testimony
to those around us, that we will be seeking those that we can
loose and let go. Beloved, this world is full and
we've mentioned something about work mongers and we've mentioned
something about the criminal doctrine of salvation by works
and by man's merit in doing. But we meet these people everywhere. This world is full of people
that do not know the gospel, but that are bound up. I've met
many of God's dear children who did not have any understanding
of salvation being all in Christ. They didn't know the meaning
of Christ having the preeminence in the salvation of souls, in
the purpose of God, in the plan of God. They still believed that
it was necessary to add their works, to mix along the gospel. And these people are in bondage.
Would you agree with me? They have not experienced any
peace. They do not know rest, true rest. Now, the Bible is
clear on it. If the Son sets you free, you'll
be free indeed. The Bible says, He that believeth
on the Son shall not see the... He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but
is passed from death unto life. He that believeth is not condemned.
He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. The Scripture
says that to him that worketh not, but to him that believeth
on him that justifies the ungodly. His faith is talented for righteousness,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the
renewal that is brought about by the Holy Ghost in our hearts.
And so beloved we, everybody that we meet, that is in bondage,
in legal bondage. Oh, I want to sit down with them. I'd like to be able to just sit
down with them and begin to loose them and let them go. There's
nothing like the glory of knowing full salvation in the person
of God's Son. And to know that your sins are
put away. To know that you have right standing
with God, and to know that you've been reconciled unto a holy God,
and that God's not mad at you anymore. To know that your sin
will never be imputed to you, but it was imputed to another,
namely Jesus, and he died to save his people from their sin.
He laid down his life for the sheep. He laid it down, and thank
God he may never demand God made of his people, and they're saved
in the Lord. You believe that? You believe
that God's people are saved in the Lord? That Jesus is the Lord,
our righteousness? Don't you think we got something
to tell this work-mongering generation? Don't you think we've got something
to say to these people that believe this criminal doctrine of salvation
by merit and human works? I'll tell you, we've got a lot
to say to them. Loose him and let him go. That is a commandment
to my soul as a preacher and a commandment to you as the Lord's
people, not grievous to be born. Sit down. How joyous it is to
be able to sit down and just tell somebody about the fact
that you're a sinner, and that there's nothing good in you but
Christ, and that Christ is so good to you, and that He's just
provided everything that you needed, and you have a good right
standing before God in Him, and you've been accepted of the Father
in Him, and that you don't have to worry anymore about your soul,
that everything's been provided in Christ. who has saved us and
called us not according to our works but according to his own
purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the
world began. How glorious that is! Now I could
just stay right here because I like this. I like this. Loose him and let him go. Would
you say amen? That should be our mission. And
when we preach, loose everybody in our midst. Anybody that's
in bondage, we say to you this morning, our mission toward you
is to loose you and let you go in the name of the Lord. In the
name of the Lord. Come unto me, Jesus said. I'll
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Learn
of me. I'll give you rest. Loose him and let him go. All
right, then, there's another one. Let's turn to 1 Peter 1
and verse 22. Verse 22, let's look at this.
This is a commandment that's not grievous to be born. And
he says here, Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth
through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren. See that
you love one another with a pure heart fervently. I looked that
up in another translation. And let me read it to you out
of this other translation. I think you'll see this commandment
that's not grievous to be borne by the Lord's people a little
clearer if you'll just listen to it. Now you can have real
love for everyone because your souls have been cleansed from
selfishness and hatred when you trusted Christ to save you. So
see to it that you really do love each other warmly with all
your hearts. Now then, beloved, what he's
saying here in this text is, is that we as the Lord's people
have been saved from the selfishness and the enmity of our own natures. We've been saved. We still have
the old nature. We're not denying that. But the Lord has done something
in us. And the Bible says that we know
that we pass from death to life because we love the brethren.
We have a love in our hearts for the Lord's people due to
the fact that God put His love in our hearts, shed it abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. And this commandment is that
we love one another, that we love one another with a pure
heart fervently, that we have a warm love toward each other,
in the Spirit, having been enabled by the new work which God has
done in us through the gospel. Now, I wouldn't get up here,
and I don't think Peter would, and instruct you to rise above
the old Adamic nature and to put into practice such warm and
affectionate love toward your brothers and sisters in Christ
if God had not taught you to do it, And if God had not enabled
you to do it by the presence of His own Spirit in your heart. And so here today I come before
you and you know sometimes we feel, well, you know, we do love
the brethren. Sometimes we feel, well, we have
more love than we do at other times. And sometimes we say,
well, there seems to be an absence of love in some hearts. And I
like something I read Brother Scott Richardson wrote some time
back. Oh, it's been seven or eight
years ago. But I like this, and you listen to it. I want to give
it to you. He said, the fatal year of most church members and
professing Christians to be a blessing to their family, to their friends
and outsiders is not that they do not have the proper doctrine,
it's not that they don't have the proper moral integrity and
enthusiasm for the truth, but you don't have the proper attitude
and the love for others. If you don't really love people,
sinners and saints, they sense it. And they not only won't love
you, they won't listen to you. If you're not really concerned
about the everyday problems and burdens of others, they don't
want to hear you talk about their spiritual problems. Most fundamental
separated religionists I know are of a big head, a big mouth,
and a small heart. They want to talk about the things
of the Lord, but they have little concern for the things of others. Don't blame, and I like this,
don't blame all of your loneliness on the gospel. Much of it is
caused by an unlovely personality, an unlovely attitude. And so,
beloved, for this new year, A new commandment that's not grievous
to be born for your soul is to love one another. See that you
love one another with a pure heart, fervently. See that you
do that. And you begin to look not on
the things of yourself, but on the things of others, and to
be concerned about those needs that other people have. Now then,
there's another one that I want to give you, and that's in Ephesians
chapter 4. Ephesians 4, and we'll be done
here in a minute, but you remember I didn't get to preach last week,
so maybe it's built up a little bit here, but Ephesians 4 and
verse 15. I'd like to read that 14th verse
first. that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and
fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight
of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie and wait to
deceive. But speaking the truth in love
may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ."
Again, I beg you to just to Allow me to read that out of this other
translation. Verse 14 and 15. Listen carefully
to what these verses say. That we no longer be like children
forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone
has told us something different or has cleverly lied to us and
made the lies sound like the truth. Instead, We will lovingly
follow the truth at all times, speaking truly, dealing truly,
living truly, and so become more and more in every way like Christ,
who is the head of the body, the Church. Isn't that a blessing?
It is a blessing indeed. And I tell you, that is a commandment
which is not grievous to be born, We are growing up in the Lord
Jesus. We're becoming more like Him
day by day. We're like those that were spoken
of in the scripture that we read this morning. about how that
we go from grace to grace in our Lord Jesus Christ and that
we grow in Him. That's 2 Corinthians there, chapter
3, where it says this, he says, but we all with open face beholding
as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same
image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
We're growing up in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there's one
more and that's found in Luke chapter 10 in verse 39. Luke 10 and verse 39. I had a lady one time that come
to our house and she said, you know what's remarkable about
your church is that you don't give the people anything to do. You don't give anybody anything
to do. We want something to do. And I thought about that when
I was preparing this message. There's a whole lot to do, isn't
there? A whole lot to do. And if we got a heart for it.
Okay, now in this 10th chapter of Luke, in verse 39, here we
have a commandment that's not grievous to be borne. And I think
we can adopt this. Listen to what it says, and she
had a sister called Mary. Martha and Mary, you remember
them? She had a sister. Martha had a sister called Mary,
which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His Word. Now that,
I think, is a commandment that we need to take and adopt today. We just sat at Jesus' feet. You
know, what that means to me is, number one, it means humility.
Number one, it means that we're humble before God, that we know
that we do not know what we need to know, and that we need to
sit at Jesus' feet. We're teachable. We're of a teachable
spirit. And this Mary, she sat at Jesus'
feet. She was humble. I remember Alan,
every once in a while, mentioned sitting at Jesus' feet when he
was here. And it's a blessing just to sit
at his feet. Sit at his feet to respect and
reverence. The Lord Jesus Christ, where
that we will on the Lord's day, where that we will every day
of the week, set at his feet, set at his feet. What a posture.
This is the posture that we ought to have. And what do you do at
Jesus feet? Well, Mary heard his word. She heard his word. And that's
what you and I need to do. Hear the word of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I hope that in this coming year
that our reverence for the Word of God will grow. I hope that
our desire, appetite for the Word of God will ever grow. I hope that we'll all see the
need to sit at Jesus' feet and hear His Word. And that we'll
look upon this as not being, there's no drudgery in it. No
drudgery in it. His yoke is easy and His burden
is light. Sit and hear His Word. Your soul
will be blessed. Your soul will be encouraged.
Your soul will be enriched. Let the Word of Christ dwell
in you richly with all wisdom. Let the Word of God act as umpire
in your lives. Sit at His feet and hear His
Word. Learn of the Lord Jesus Christ,
you know this way and I'm gonna close now But I must call one
more thing to your attention and out of the text that we read
turn back there if you will to the to the Book of 2nd Corinthians
chapter 3 and and we're going to close out, but there's one
thing here. I need to call to your attention
You know the law kills the spirit it gives life and And what we've
been talking about here this morning, we've been talking about
life in Christ and how wonderful it is to have come and took His
yoke upon us and to be learning of Him, to be His disciple. And
you know, this is spoken of here in this third chapter of 2 Corinthians
as being the ministration of the Spirit and how glorious it
is. And I would like, if you would,
to look there beginning with about verse 6 and I want to read or let's begin with verse 7.
I want to read out of this other translation down here a few verses
and I want you to follow. I just want you to listen to
this. This will be a help to you. It'll be a blessing to you.
I guarantee you that. He says in verse 7, yet that
old system of law that led to death began with such glory that
people could not bear to look at Moses' face. For as he gave
them God's law to obey, his face showing out with the very glory
of God through the brightness, though the brightness was already
fading away. Now there's something here that
I really want you to see. Shall we not expect far greater
glory in these days when the Holy Spirit is giving life? If
the plan that leads to doom was glorious, that is the law, As
we said, the letter kills. It don't give life. The gospel
gives life. The spirit gives life. If the
plan that leads to doom was glorious, much more glorious is the plan
that makes men right with God. In fact, that first glory, as
it's shown from Moses' face, is worth nothing at all in comparison
with the overwhelming glory of the new agreement. So if the
old system that faded into nothing was full of heavenly glory, the
glory of God's new plan for our salvation is certainly far greater,
for it is eternal. Since we know that this new glory
will never go away, We can preach with great boldness, Paul says,
and not as Moses did. Now I want you to look at this.
Not as Moses did, who put a veil over his face so that the Israelis
could not see the glory fade away. Now brethren, you can talk
all you want to about why Moses put the veil over his face. When
he came down off of the mount, The glory of God was upon his
face. He had been with God, and he had received the Ten Commandments.
But as he came down off of the mountain, he had to put a veil
over his face, not in order that the glory could not be seen,
but because the glory was fading away. Because it must fade away
in the light of that new glory which was coming from God in
the gospel, so that they could not see the glory fade away.
Not only Moses' face was veiled, but his people's minds and their
understanding were veiled and blinded too. Even now, when the
scriptures read, it seems as though Jewish hearts and minds
are covered by a thick veil because they cannot see and understand
the real meaning of the scriptures. For this veil of misunderstanding
can be removed only by believing in Christ. Yes, even today, when
they read Moses' writings, their hearts are blind and they think
that obeying the Ten Commandments is the way to be saved. But whenever
anyone turns to the Lord from his sins, then the veil is taken
away. The Lord is the Spirit who gives
them life. And where He is, there is freedom
from trying to be saved by keeping the laws of God. But we Christians
have no veil over our faces. We can be mirrors that brightly
reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord
works within us, we become more and more like Him. Isn't that
a... I think it's a wonderful translation. And I, for all of
my Christian life and all of my ministry, Forty-five plus
years I never discovered until this past few days that the veil
over Moses' face was to keep the people from seeing the glory
fade away of the law. See it fade away so that they
would quit looking to Moses and those commandments and look to
Christ. But we've been instructed, brother,
sister, to look to Christ and to believe on Him and take His
yoke upon us and learn of Him and find true rest for our souls.
I do hope, and you know, one of the things that this brother
had to say in his letter was he said, I thank God that you
do not have a ministry of death, but that you have a ministry
of reconciliation. and how wonderful it is when
people can hear the Word of God and rejoice in the message of
life in Christ, the message of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus.
Father, we thank you that we've been privileged to meet around
your Word this morning. And we thank you for these truths,
and may in this coming year you give us all the ability to remember
these things that we've talked about this morning, and may we
rejoice under these commandments that are not grievous to be born,
but that we might be useful, and that we might thank thee
that you have not put us under a system of works. whereby we
have to labor in and of ourselves in order to establish a righteousness
before you. We praise you for the glory in
the face of our Lord Jesus Christ and we ask that this message
will be remembered and that fruit will be borne from the hearing
these words today and may the word spoken be salvation to someone's
heart we pray it in Jesus name and for his sake alone amen