I've entitled the message for
tonight, His Commandments Are Not Grievous. His Commandments Are Not Grievous. Now I'd like to begin with a
question. Do you believe Are you relying
on this that Jesus is the Christ? Do you believe he is the Word
of God? Do you believe that he's God's
priest, the priest after the order of Melchizedek? And if
he represents you before God as God's priest, you must be
saved. Do you believe that He is King
of Kings and that He controls everything and His will is always
done. Do you believe that? Are you
relying on that? That's included in the word believe. Well, if you do, you are born
of God. God has birthed you You're a partaker of the divine
nature. You have the life of God living
in your soul. You were born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God that liveth and
abideth forever. Christ is in you by his spirit. That's an incredible thought,
isn't it? If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, you are,
take this for what it says, you are born, birthed of God. God has done something supernatural
in you, partakers of the divine nature. Now, John says some remarkable
things about being born of God. He says in 1 John 2, everyone
that doeth righteousness is born of him. And that's talking about
that new nature that you possess. Your old nature doesn't do righteousness,
but that which is born of God doeth righteousness. We also
read in 1 John chapter 3, verse 6, or verse 9, that he that is
born of God doth not commit sin. It means exactly what it says.
That which is born of God, the new man, that which is birthed
by God and wrought in your soul by him, it does not commit sin. And then we read, everyone that loveth is born
of God. Everyone that loveth. That's
not talking about romantic love. It's not talking about the love
between a parent and a child. That's talking about the love
of God brought in the soul in the new birth. Everyone that
loveth, loveth God, loveth his people. Everyone that loveth
is born of God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. And we read in 1 John 5, 4, he that's born of God overcomes
the world. And he that's begotten of God
keepeth himself. You see, if I'm begotten of God,
I've got a well of water springing up into me into everlasting life
that's never going to go dry. And in that sense, by his grace,
by that new man in me, I keep myself looking to Christ. There's another place in Jupiter
that says, keep yourselves in the love of God. And we know that this
is nothing fleshly when it says this. We know that the only reason
we keep ourselves is because God keeps us. We know that. And
then in our text, whosoever believeth that Jesus Christ is born of
God. But let's read the rest of that
text. And everyone, no exceptions,
everyone that loveth him that begat, that gave this birth. You know, if you have faith,
you know it's because God begat you. He birthed you into the
kingdom. He gave you a new nature that
you did not have before. And you know it's Him that did
it. You know it has nothing to do with your works. It doesn't
have anything to do with your will or some kind of decision
you've made. He birthed you. And everyone
that is begotten of Him loves Him that begat Him. And you love
those who are begotten of him. Now, all who have been begotten
of God love the one who gave them life. You cannot not love
him that begat you. And you love him as he is in
all of his attributes. You love him as he is, as he's
revealed in his word. You love him. You're like that
Woman in 1 Kings chapter 3, when Solomon, remember the two women
who one lost the baby and the other one stole it and brought
it before Solomon to make up his mind who's baby it was? He
said, we'll divide the baby in half. Well, the woman who didn't
love the baby said, okay. But the one who loved the baby
said, no, don't do that. If you love Christ, you love
all of him. You love every attribute of His. There's no part of Him that you
don't love. If you love God, you love all
of Him. You love all of His excellent
attributes, and you will not suffer Him to be divided in that
sense, the way men do. Now, He that loveth Him that
beget. Somebody says, well, I love His
mercy and His grace, but I don't love the sovereignty of Him.
Well, you just don't love Him, period. That is the fact of the
matter. You love him in the trinity of
his sacred persons, and you know he's the one who made you differ
from everybody else. You know he begat you. But not
only does that person who is begotten of God love him to begat,
he also loves him that's begotten of him. And this is a genuine
and a real love. Now, here's a man begotten of
God. He now sees himself to be a sinner. He didn't before. You know I
love that man. Anybody who really sees themselves
to be a sinner, my heart's drawn out to that person. I love him.
I really do. Any person who really believes
that Jesus Christ is all in salvation and they're relying wholly on
him, I love that person. That one who gives Christ all
the glory and salvation, I love that person. He that loveth him
that begat, loveth him also that's begotten of him. That's true
of every believer. If I do not love my brother I
do not love God. Now what did the Lord say concerning
the sheep and the goats? Remember what he said to the
sheep? Come ye blessed inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world. I was hungry and you gave me
meat. I was thirsty and you gave me
drink. I was sick and in prison and you visited me. I was naked
You clothe me. When did we do these things?
Inasmuch as you've done it to the least of these, my brethren,
you've done it to me. And then he said to the goats,
Depart, he cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil
and his angels. For I was hungry and you didn't
give me anything to eat. I was thirsty and you didn't give me
anything to drink. I was naked and you didn't clothe me. I was
sick and in prison and you visited me not. And inasmuch as you did
it not to the least of these, my brethren, you did it not to
me. Now we see love to Christ, love
to God is expressed in a genuine love to his people. He that loveth him that begat,
loveth him also that is begotten of him. Now listen to this scripture.
The Lord said, by this, he said this in John 13, by this shall
all men know you're my disciples by your love one to another. Verse two, by this We know that we love
the children of God. Now this is very interesting.
By this, we know the children of God when we see how good we
treat them and when we serve them. Well, I want to treat them
well and I want to serve them, but that's not the evidence he
gives of loving the children of God. By this, we know we love
the children of God when we love God. and keep his commandments."
Now, this is the evidence. This is the evidence he gives
of loving the children of God, loving God, and keeping his commandments. Now, if I love him, I do keep
his commandments. I want you to listen real carefully.
Let me read a verse of scripture from 1 John chapter 3, verse
23, but then I want to say quite a bit more about this. In this
1 John chapter 3 verse 23, and this is his commandment that
we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ. Now here's a commandment I keep.
I'm believing right now on his name as being all that the father
is and my only way of acceptance, my only way to the father, his
name. I really believe on his name. His name is the only reason
God will save me. Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. But there's no other reason needed. I really believe His
name is so glorious, I can say, bold shall I stand in that great
day. For who unto my charge shall
lay, fully absolved from these I am, from sin's tremendous curse
and shame. Oh, when I believe on His name,
I'm not getting in by the skin of my teeth. Um, it can't get
any better believing on his name. And this is his commandment that
we love one another, even as he gave us commandment. Now, let me, let me listen to
these scriptures, Matthew 28, 20, teaching them to observe. And that means to keep same word,
same Greek word, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever. I have commanded you. If you
love me, keep my commandments. He that hath my commandments
and keepeth them, he it is that loves me. If a man loves me,
he will keep my words. He that loveth me not, keepeth
not my sayings. If you keep my commandments,
you shall abide in my love. Now, listen to this. Come unto
me. All ye that labor and are heavy
laden is a command. It's not merely an invitation.
It's a command. If you're weary and heavy laden,
weary of your sin, laboring under a sense of your sin, heavy laden
and burdened by your sin, you are commanded to come to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that a great command? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ is a command. You are commanded to look to
Him only right now. It's a commandment. You're commanded
to trust Him as all you need, all you want, and all you have
to make you perfect before God. You're commanded to do that.
Repent and believe the gospel is a command. It's not optional
and it's a command every believer keeps. Love your enemies and
do good to them that hate you and despitefully use you is a
command. Forgiveness is a command from
Him for me and you to forgive those who trespass against us. Giving is a command. Give and it shall be given to
you. And it's not grievous either.
I'm going to get to that in a moment. But it is a command. You know
it's a command not to judge anybody. It's a command. Let us not judge
one another anymore. Judge not and you shall not be
judged. That's a command. Here's a command. Deny yourself. Take up your cross
willingly, the confession of Christ, and follow the Lord Jesus
Christ. That is a command. Now to speak of loving God but
not being obedient to His commands is pure and utter hypocrisy. That's all it is. To speak of
loving Him and not obeying His commands. Now, you know that
this is not speaking of an effort for you to keep the Ten Commandments.
Now, I love God's Ten Commandments. I love God's holy law. I delight
in the law of God after the inward man. I see the beauty of God's
character in the law of God. But I've kept the law. I don't try to keep it. I've
kept it. Because when Jesus Christ kept
it, I kept it. That's why I always am very uncomfortable
when people say, well, the law, you know, we ought to try to
keep the law. You don't do it. Y'all don't
even talk like that because you haven't and I haven't kept one
commandment one time ever. And if I think I have, all I
prove is I don't really understand the law, and I don't understand
how sinful I am, and I'm a stranger to what it is to look to Christ
alone. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. So this is not talking about
our efforts to keep the Ten Commandments. I love God's law. I kept it in
Christ. Really? Really. Really. I kept
it in Christ. He is my righteousness before
that law. And that law, all it does is tell me I'm guilty and
causes me to look to Christ only as my righteousness before God.
So when he's talking about keeping the commandments, he's not talking
about trying to keep the law. Now, that being said, the gospel
is filled with commands. And here's the glorious thing
about his commands. When he commands you, He gives
you the grace to keep that command. I think of what he said to the
man with the withered hand. He'd been withered all his life.
Stretch forth thine hand. He couldn't. It was withered. But when the Lord told him to,
you know what he did? He stretched forth his hand. The ability to obey comes with
the command. When Christ commanded something,
people always did what he told them to do. The ability comes
with the command. Matthew, follow me. And do you
know that he saw such beauty in the Lord Jesus Christ that
he rose, forsook all, and followed him, not regretting what he was
doing, but happy to do it, thinking, what a blessing of grace that
I'm allowed to do this. Turn with me to Philippians chapter
2. I want you to look at a couple of scriptures. I quoted this last Sunday, verse
12. Wherefore, my beloved, as you've
always obeyed, keeping commandments of Christ,
not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Don't be
complacent in this thing. It is God which worketh in you,
both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And you know what
that makes me do? Lord work in me, both to will and to do thy
good pleasure. Turn to Hebrews chapter 13, verse 20. Now the God of peace,
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great
shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will,
working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight through
Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Now,
listen real carefully. If you're a believer, You cannot
not keep his commandments. You can't not believe that he's
the Christ, can you? Try it. Do you think he's an imposter?
You cannot not believe that Jesus is the Christ. I love it when
David said in Psalm 27, when thou sayest, seek ye my face,
My heart said, Thy face, O Lord, will I seek. When he says, believe, to me,
I believe. When he says, repent, I repent. When he says, love, I love. I cannot not do what he tells
me to do. When the Lord said to that crippled
man, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. Could he have said no? When the Lord said, Lazarus,
come forth. Could he have said no? No, when
he commands you to. When he says believe, you believe. Keeping his commandments is not
a choice. You don't say, well, am I going
to keep it or am I not? No, keeping his commandments
is something that every believer must do. Now look what he says
in verse three. I thought I'd never really seen
this before. Verse three of chapter five.
For this is the love of God. Notice it doesn't say, this is
love to God. That's the way a lot of translations have it. This
is love to God that you keep his commandments. This proves
your love to God, but that's not what it says. It says, this
is the love of God that we keep his commandments. Beloved, if he loves you, you
know what? you're going to keep His commandments.
He's going to make sure that that is what you do because He
loves you. If you are loved of God, He will
make sure you keep His commandments and He does that because He loves
you. Remember the very fact that you love Him is why? Because
He first loved you. We love Him and we do but it's
because He first loved us. Now, the love of God, it's in Christ. Nothing should
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.
The reason for God's love is found in Himself. He doesn't
have to find a reason you love Him. His reason for loving you
is not influenced by you. It's because you're in Christ.
It's because you're united to Him and you can't be separated
from Him. And the Lord said regarding all
His people, thou has loved them as thou has loved me. It wasn't
because of any personal loveliness in you. It's because you're in
the Lord Jesus Christ. God's love is eternal. Behold,
I love you with an everlasting love. God's love is sovereign.
He loves whom he will. And anybody who bristles against
this, it's because you don't really believe you're a sinner.
That's the only reason you'd bristle against that. If you really believe
you're a sinner, you can see why he would pass you by. And
you would believe that. You wouldn't argue with that
and complain with it. You'd think it's so. His love
is a saving love. There'll be nobody in hell that
he loves. And I love this, this love of God that all believers
possess is going to cause us to keep his commandments. And look what he says about this
keeping of his commandments. They're not grievous. They're
not burdensome. They're not irksome. Now would
you turn with me for a moment to Matthew chapter 11. You know, if somebody puts you
under law, this is what you need to do or you're not a Christian.
This is what you need to do or you won't be saved. If someone
puts you under law, that law is burdensome. It's grievous. It's irksome. It troubles you. You feel no lift of the weight
of burden. You feel more burden than ever.
When somebody gives you, you need to do this. You need to
do that. If you don't do this, you must
not be a Christian. Christians will do this. Christians
will do that. Christians would never do that.
Oh, what a weight of burden. It's grievous. But listen to
the Lord in Matthew chapter 11 verse 28. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Now, is there anything at all
burdensome about resting in Christ? Is there anything burdensome
about coming to Christ? What a gracious command this
is. Come to me, all ye that are burdened
and heavy laden with sin. And I will, he's got the power
to do it. I will give you rest. And what is this rest? The writer
to the Hebrews says, he that's entered into his rest hath ceased
from his own works as God did from his. Now, is there anything
burdensome, grievous about resting in Christ? Not at all. Let's go on reading verse 29. Take my yoke upon you. Now, a lot of times when people
think of a yoke, they think of something that's grievous. I'm
being reined in. I'm being kept in. I'm yoked
and I can't move. Well, look what he says. Take
my yoke upon you and learn of me. Child of God. Is there anything
grievous regarding learning of him? That means he's the one
that teaches you. That means you're learning of
him. Is there anything grievous about that? He says, for I, and
this is the most incredible description of the creator, of the sovereign
of the universe, of the holy one of Israel. Look at his description
of himself. I am meek and lowly in heart. I'm meek and I'm humble. You'll
never feel judged by me. You'll never feel threatened
by me. All you're going to find for me is rest. Come unto me
and I will give you rest. You'll find rest for your souls.
Now look what he says about his yoke. He says, for my yoke is
easy. gracious. Now, yoke is used to
couple two things for a yoke of oxen. It means there's two
oxen coupled together. A yoke for couple two things
together, two animals. Well, his yoke is easy. It's gracious. He bears all the
weight. He says, my burden is light. It's not grievous. It's not burdensome. It's light. Now, there's nothing grievous about
obeying the command to trust Christ alone, is there? Is there
anything grievous or irksome about that? Is there anything
burdensome about that? Simply resting in the Lord Jesus
Christ and knowing Nothing else is needed. I'm complete in the
Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing burdensome about
that. Now, it's a burden to not do
that. It's a heavy burden to not do that, but oh, to simply
obey the command of the gospel. This is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he has sent. What joy. The joy, Paul said, the joy and
the peace of believing. To really believe that Christ
is all in your salvation, to really believe that everything
God requires of you, he looks to his son for and you have all
in him. There's nothing irksome about
that. There's nothing grievous about that. It's not grievous
to trust Christ alone. And it's not grievous to be granted
repentance. What a glorious thing it is when
you're given a change of mind. A change of mind about God, instead
of being mad at Him, seeing He's all together lovely and glorious.
A change of mind about yourself, seeing that you're nothing but
sin. And it doesn't bother, I mean, you see, that's the truth. It
takes all the pressure away. You see yourself for what you
are. and how glorious it is when you're given repentance regarding
the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation that's in Him. There's
nothing grievous about repentance. You know, one of the old preachers
said, the only thing that I'm going to not enjoy about heaven,
and that wasn't a good statement. I realize that because you're
going to enjoy everything about heaven. But he said, the one
thing that I'm going to miss is repentance. Having my mind
changed. It's not grievous to love my
brother. It's not irksome. It's a thing
of joy. It's not grievous to obey the
commandment to not judge one another. You know, I love it
when I just don't judge somebody. You ever do that? Well, sort
of. I guess I've always got some kind of judgment going on and
it vexes me that I do. But what a blessing it is to
know I don't have any business judging that person. I'm worse
than they are in the first place. I don't know what they are going
through. And I don't I don't have the right to do that. I
don't have the proper information to do that. Isn't that takes
the burden off, doesn't it? Just takes the burden off. It's
a joy. It's not grievous. It's not irksome. It's not grievous to forgive. Oh, it's a joy to be enabled
to forgive somebody. The most God-like thing me or
you are ever going to do is to forgive somebody. It's joyful. Now I'll tell you what's grievous
is when you're bitter, when you're angry at somebody, when you're
just thinking about the way they treated you and they shouldn't
have done this, all the stupid things you think. That is grievous. That's irksome. That's burdensome. All you do is make yourself miserable
by it. But how wonderful it is. How, what a blessing it is to
forgive. You know, it's not grievous to
give. I love what the Lord said. It's better to give than to receive. And the Lord loveth a cheerful
giver. Isn't it a blessing to be enabled
to give willingly? Oh, there's nothing burdensome.
You know, some people, they give, oh, I'll think about what they're
losing. No, you don't lose anything. You're only gaining what It's
a blessing to give. Now, it's grievous to not give. You see, the love of God leads
his loved ones to keep his commandments. Those who do not love him do
not keep his commandments. They don't obey the gospel. They
don't repent. They don't love God. They don't love their brethren.
But those who are loved by God They keep his commandments, and
they obey the gospel, and those commandments are not grievous.
I was thinking, for instance, here's a commandment. Forsake
not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some
is. Now, there's some people, what we call going to church,
going to church, going to church. Some people, it's a burden. They
feel a duty to. They feel like it would be wrong
if they didn't. They feel guilty when they don't. It's burden.
It's an irksome thing. It's just, you know, I need to
do it. And there's other people who
find it a joy to be sitting under the sound of the gospel, a joy
to meeting with God's people, a joy to everything contained
with the gospel. It's a joy. Now, This is the
love of God. This is what God does for someone
when He loves them. They keep His commandments. And
His commandments are not burdensome, but rather a joy. Now, I love that verse of Scripture. This is the love of God that
we keep His commandments. And beloved, God's people really
do keep his commandments. I believe the gospel. That's
keeping his commandments. I'm in a continual state of having
my mind changed, repenting. That's keeping his commandments.
I love his people. I keep his commandments. I follow
the Lord Jesus Christ. I keep his commandments. I know
it's only by his grace that I do that. But let me tell you this.
It's not grievous. It's enjoyable. to keep his commandments. But this is the love of God that
we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that your
son is the Christ And Lord, we are relying on him being our
prophet, our priest, and our king. And Lord, we know that everyone
that you have birthed loves you and loves those whom you have
birthed. And Lord, truly, we see that
love for your people has seen more in love to you. and the
keeping of your commandments. And Lord, how we thank you for
your gracious love that causes us to keep your commandments
and to not find them burdensome and grievous, but altogether
glorious. I bless this message for the
Lord's sake. In his name we pray. Amen. Matt,
could you come lead us in closing in?