is not that I did choose. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyberg. I'm reading this morning from
Matthew chapter 11. I'd like to read verses 28 through
30. This passage of scripture that
I'm getting ready to read is what has been called the great
invitation. Beginning in verse 28, the Lord
Jesus Christ says, come unto me. all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you
and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you'll
find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy. And my burden
is light. And like I said, this has been
called the great invitation. And indeed it is. What an honor
to be invited by one who is so altogether glorious. But it's more than an invitation
as well. It's a command. It's a command,
and I'm thankful it's a command, because if all it were were an
invitation, I may figure out some reason to believe I'm not
invited, but I'm commanded to come to Him. Now, this word is
used when our Lord says to His disciples, come and dine. There
we see the idea of an invitation and a high honor. But it's also
the word used when he said to Lazarus, Lazarus, come forth. That was no invitation. That
was a command. And so this is both. It's an
invitation and it is a command. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden. and I will give you rest. Now, who is this one that makes
this glorious promise? Come unto me, all ye that labor,
and I will give you rest. Well, he's described in this
chapter, in Matthew 11, we read in verse 2, Now when John had
heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent to his disciples
and said unto them, Art thou he that should come, or do we
look for another? Now perhaps John had begun doubting. I don't know what happened to
him while he was in prison. He'd seen that this is the Lamb
of God. He testified that, but he's placed
in prison. lost his sphere of influence,
maybe he got depressed, begins to doubt, maybe he's saying this
for the benefit of his disciples, I don't know, but he says, art
thou he that should come? You see, there's one who should
come, the one the Father sent. Or look we for another. Jesus
answered and said unto them, go and show John again those
things which you do hear and see, when they saw the Lord.
And this is true physically, and it's true spiritually. The
blind received their sight. the lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor
have the gospel preached to them, and blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me." That's the one who says, come unto me. Look what his enemies said of
him. His enemies said, Behold, a gluttonous man, and a wine-bibber,
a drunk, a friend of publicans and sinners. They were criticizing
the Lord for his lifestyle. He wasn't like John the Baptist.
He didn't live the life of an ascetic. He ate, he drank, and
sinners could be in his presence without feeling threatened and
judged and condemned, and they criticized him for this. But
what a blessed title, the Friend of Sinners. Our Lord delights
in this title. He is the Friend of Sinners. He is the one who says, Come
to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. In verse 27, He said, All things
are delivered unto me of my Father. Now, that means everything's
delivered to Him. He's in control of everything. All people, all
of providence, He is in control. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father. And no man knows the Son, but the Father neither
knows any man. The Father saved the Son, and He to whomsoever
the Son will reveal Him. He's saying, I'm so great that
the only one who can comprehend me is the Father. And I'm so
great that I'm the only one who can comprehend the Father, and
that one I reveal Him to. Now He's the one who says, come
unto me. Not only that, in this great
invitation, in this great command, He tells us, and this is the
only time He speaks of His heart, He says, I am meek. and lowly
in heart. This one who's so indescribably
great is meek and lowly in heart. And you'll never feel intimidated
by him. You'll never feel threatened
by him. You'll never feel judged or criticized
by him. He's meek and lowly in heart. This is the one who says, come
unto me. all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest." Now, who does this one invite
to himself? Who does this one command to
come to him? He says, come to me, all ye that
labor and are heavy laden. That word labor means you're
beat down. It's the weariness that comes
from difficult toil. When a woman is getting ready
to have a baby, she's said to be in labor. When an engine is
failing to perform properly, it's laboring to do what it's
supposed to do. You're laboring under a sense
of sin. And what happens when you're
laboring? Oh, you're heavy laden. burdened
with guilt and with shame. Now, this is the person the Lord
calls him to himself, that one who labors and is heavy laden. Now, what is it he calls them
to do? He says, come to me, all ye that
are labor and heavy laden. laboring with the toil of sin
of failure of shame of guilt he says come to me and I will
give you rest now notice what he says he says come to me come
to me now In religious circles, they have what's called the invitation.
And the preacher gets up and tries to put pressure on people
to come down to the front of the church and accept Christ
or receive Christ. And you don't find that in the
Bible. People aren't told to come down
to the front of the church. You see, coming to Christ is
not a physical move. It's not even an intellectual
move, where I give assent to certain propositions and say,
yeah, I believe those are true, and therefore I must be a Christian.
No, it's a spiritual move in the heart coming to him. And
he says, come to me. He doesn't say come to church
or come to a new way of life or go and do, go and become a
better person, go and read the Bible and pray more and witness
and do works that prove you're a real believer. Nothing like
that. He says, come unto me. Don't say, I'm gonna be different
from here on out. No, he says, come unto me and
I will give you rest. Now, this one who says this is
the one who has all authority. The one who gave sight to the
blind, he'll give you spiritual sight. The one who caused the
lame to walk, he'll enable you to walk in the gospel. This one
who raised the dead, he'll raise you from being dead in sin and
give you a new heart. This is the one who says, come
unto me. He's the only one who can do
anything for anybody. Come unto me and I will give you rest. This one who is the sinner's
friend, come to me. Now coming implies movement. It's the spiritual motion of
the sinner coming to Christ. We read in John 6.37 where the
Lord said, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Revelation 22 verse 17 we read,
The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. Now this is the message
of God the Holy Spirit. This is the message of the Bride,
the Church of the living God. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ. And let him that heareth say,
come. And let him that's a thirst, come. The Lord said, if any man
thirst, let him come to me and drink. And whosoever will, let
him take the water of life freely. Now, what does it mean to come
to Christ? Because, like I said, it's not
a physical move. It's not even intellectual in the sense that
you hear certain propositions and you say, yes, I believe those
are true, therefore I must be a Christian. In John 6, verse
35, the Lord said, He that cometh to me shall never hunger. and he that believeth on me shall
never thirst." To come to Christ is to believe on Him. You trust Him to save you. You trust His precious blood
as all that's needed to make you clean before God. You trust His righteousness as
the very righteousness that you come into the Father's presence
with. You understand something of what the Lord meant when He
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man come into
the Father but by me. He is the truth. He is the way. He's the life. His life is my
life before God. In coming to the Father, I come
when He comes to the Father because I'm in Him. To come to Christ
is to believe on Him. It's not to come, I come to Him
for all things. I don't come to Him with faith,
I come to Him for faith. I don't come and give Him my
heart, I ask Him to give me a new heart. I come to Him for all
things. It's an empty-handed sinner coming
to the all-sufficient Savior and trusting Him for all things. I trust Him to make me acceptable
before God. I trust Him to make my prayers
to where God will hear them because He presents them to the Father.
Oh, I trust Him. That's what it is to come to
Christ. It's to believe on Him. As many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them which believe
on His name." Now, His name is just not... That doesn't mean
I know what His name is. His name is Jesus, Savior. He shall save His people from
their sins. I'm trusting Him to save me from
my sins. That's what it is to come to
Christ. It's to believe on Him. And the Lord said, all that the
Father giveth me shall come to me. This I know, all the elect
will come to Christ. And the Lord gives this beautiful
statement afterwards. Him that cometh to me, I'll in
no wise cast out. If you come to Christ, he will
never cast you away. He'll receive you to himself.
He said, come to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. and
I will give you rest. Now, think of what he said. I
will give you rest. He can do it. If I said, come
to me and I'll give you rest, I can't give you any rest, but
he can. He said, I will give you rest. He's willing to give you rest. Now, sometimes we think, was
he willing to give me rest? Yes, he is, if you come to him
for rest. He is willing to give you rest.
You see, he delights in mercy. He said, come unto me and I will
give you rest. I will give you rest. He gives rest. He doesn't want anything from
you. He's not saying give me this or you do this for me or
do that. No, I will give you rest. It's the free gift of his grace. You know, he said to the woman
at the well, if you knew the gift of God, and who it was that
saith to thee, give me to drink, you would have asked, and he
would have given thee living water. If you knew, you'd ask,
and he would give. He said, come unto me, and I
will give you. You, there's the gospel, I will
give you rest. What a beautiful thing rest is. You rest when the work is finished
and there's nothing for you to do. Now let me read some scriptures
to you. The Lord said in John chapter 19 verse 30. These are
his last words from the cross. It is finished. Isn't that wonderful? That means
there's absolutely nothing for me or you to do. It's finished. It's completed. It's done. All
that God requires of me, I have and I rest. Nothing to do. In Hebrews chapter
1 verse 3, it said when He had by Himself purged our sins, He
sat down at the right hand of the Father. Why did He sit down?
Because the work was finished. I think it's interesting In the
tabernacle in the Old Testament that had all of the paraphernalia
of visible worship, one piece of furniture that was conspicuously
absent was a chair. The priest never sat down because
his work was never finished. But the Lord Jesus Christ sat
down at the right hand of the Father because His work was finished
and we rest. We rest in Him. 1 Corinthians
1.30 says, For of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is
made unto us wisdom. and righteousness, sanctification
and redemption. That's everything. He's made
that to us and I rest. There's nothing for me to do.
I don't have to work out a righteousness. He is my righteousness. I don't
have to work out a holiness. He is my holiness. I don't have
to become more wise. He's my wisdom. I don't have
to become redeemed. He's made redemption to me. He's
my full deliverance. I rest in who he is and what
he did. What a joyous thing it is to
rest. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 9 and
10 says, For he that's entered into his rest hath ceased from
his own labors as God did from his. Talking about creation. We read in Genesis chapter 1
at the end of the story of creation, and God saw everything that he'd
made, and behold, it was very good. Couldn't be improved. And the evening and the morning
were six days, thus the heavens and the earth were finished,
and all of the host of them And on the seventh day God ended
His work which He had made, and He rested on the seventh day
from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh
day and sanctified it, because that in it He had rested from
all His works which God created and made. Now, God created the
heavens and the earth, and He finished them. Wasn't anything
left to do. He ended his work and he rested. There was no more works to do. Now God didn't rest because he
was tired. God rested because there was
nothing left to do. He looked at his work and behold
it was very good. And he was satisfied with what
he did and he rested. Now, He that's entered into His
rest, speaking of the rest of the Lord Jesus Christ, Scripture
says He's ceased from His own works as God did from His. You
don't look to your works in any way as to why you'd be accepted
before God. That is stricken from your vocabulary. You don't look to your works.
You don't look to yourself. You don't look to your Bible
reading, to your growth, your prayer life, your witnessing,
your ability to refrain from sin. You don't look to yourself
in any way. You rest. in what he did. You cease from your own works.
To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Now, I love
resting. The Lord said, come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Now let's go on reading in our
text. He says in verse 29, take my yoke upon you and learn of
me. Not merely learn about me, but
learn of me. Now what is a yoke? A yoke puts
two oxen together, so they're going in the same direction.
They're joined to one another and they can't get away from
one another because they have that yoke on them. It's a coupling
that brings two together. Now what a glorious thing it
is to be yoked to the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, my yoke is easy
and my burden is light. Take my yoke upon you. Now, I
want to take his yoke upon me because if I'm yoked to him,
I can't get away from him. And that's a good place to be.
I don't want to get away from him, but furthermore, I can't
get away from him because I'm yoked to him. I'm yoked to his
strength. I'm yoked to his power. I'm yoked to his glory. I'm yoked
to him. What a glorious thing it is to
take his yoke upon you. He said, take my yoke upon you
and learn of me. And then he gives this description
of his very own heart. He says, for I am meek and lowly
in heart. He speaks of his humility. the creator of the universe,
the second person of the blessed trinity, the ineffably sublime,
the one who dwells in the light that no man can approach to,
whom no man hath seen or can see, me, I, the creator of the
universe, the altogether lovely one, I'm meek and I'm lowly in
heart. Oh, the humility of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You'll never, you come to Him,
you'll never feel intimidated, you'll never feel threatened.
Now you come around anybody else, you know what it is to be around
people and you feel judged, you feel criticized, you feel condemned.
You get around them and they're looking down their nose at you,
particularly religious people, seeing if you measure up, seeing
if you're holy enough or righteous enough, and all that is is a
facade. There's no truth to it. When somebody acts like that,
all they are are being Pharisees. You get around that kind of person,
you feel uncomfortable. You feel like you're under their
microscope. But you'll never feel that way
around the Lord Jesus Christ. He is meek and lowly in heart. And do you know sinners felt
comfortable around him? Now that doesn't mean he said
their sin was okay, but it's still true. This is who he is.
Sinners felt comfortable around him. He's the friend of publicans
and sinners. He's meek and lowly in heart. You can come to him and you'll
be received. not held off, received by the
meek and the lowly one. He's of low estate. Only in taking his yoke and learning
of him do we find out what true humility is. And we'll find rest
for our souls. He promises that. Resting. What What a glorious thing it
is to be yoked to Christ and resting in Him. What assurance
we have that He's all we need to make us acceptance. What confidence
we have in His intercession. What satisfaction we have in
knowing that all God requires of us, we already have. What
peace we feel from coming to Him. He said, come to me. all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. He says, for my yoke is easy
and my burden is light. That word easy is gracious, kind,
Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for
Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. It's a yoke of grace, and
that's why it's easy. It's not the terrible, heavy
yoke of the bondage of the law and work salvation. It's a yoke
of pure, free grace. That's why it's easy. And the
burden is so light. because He bears the burden.
It's His strength. That's why it's so light. Now
those yoked to Him will find themselves to be just like that
Gadarene demonic whom the Lord healed, sitting at the feet of
Christ, clothed and in his right mind, clothed in the righteousness
of Christ, and in his right mind, sitting the position of rest,
resting at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a glorious
thing it is to be yoked to him, and his burden is so light. Paul said, our light affliction,
which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory while we look not on things which are
seen, but on things which are not seen. For the things which
are seen are temporal, temporary, but the things which are not
seen are eternal. Come unto me and I will give
you rest. Now, here's the thought I want
to close with. Have I come to Christ? And I'm asking you this
question, have you come to the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not asking
you if you're religious. Perhaps you are, maybe you're
not. I'm not asking you if you know you're saved. I'm not asking
you if you know you've been born again. I'm not asking you if
you're a Christian. I'm asking you, have you come
to the Lord Jesus Christ? Now this is the evidence of divine
election. Oh, the Bible teaches election.
It teaches that God chose who would be saved before time began.
And our Lord said in John 6, 37, all that the father giveth
me, that's a reference to the elect shall come to me. The Lord said in John 6, 44,
no man can come to me except the Father which has sent me
draw him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. Now, our
Lord says you can't even come unless you're drawn by the Father,
and we realize that. And really, you don't really come until you
find out you can't. And it's only when you find out
you can't that you come. Now, have I come to Christ? I know this about coming to Christ.
A man will come to Christ when he needs him. A man will come
to Christ when he has nowhere else to go. A man will come to
Christ when he knows that Christ is the only one who can do him
any good at all, and there isn't anywhere else to go. A man will
only come to Christ when he has no other choice. Now, have I
come to Christ? Have you come to Christ? It's
the evidence of election. It's what those that are drawn
by the Father do. It's what those do who have nowhere
else to go. Have I come to Christ? Well,
how can I know? Well, the Lord said, come unto
me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. If you've come to Christ, this
I know, you rest in him. You cease from your own labors
as God did from his, and you rest in who he is and what he
did, as all that's needful to make you acceptable before God. You rest. Have you ever rested? Have you ever quit working and
rested in His work? Hear His words. Come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. If you come, He will give you
rest. To request a copy of the sermon
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