Matthew 11:25-30 (Teaching)

[0:00] I'm going to teach tonight with the Lord's help. Matthew chapter 11. This is kind of, kind of, sort of, an unintentional continuation of what I preached last week from Hebrews.

[0:17] ! We talked a lot about rest last week. And I know I misquoted, which I went directly back when I was misquoted and quoted it correctly.

[0:30] But I misquoted the phrase that Jesus speaks here in Matthew 11. Come unto me, all ye laborers and heavy laden. I think I say, come unto me, all ye who are weary.

[0:43] Which, you know, that's the case too. And I caught myself like that. I'm going to go back and caught it. But anyway, when I do that, it happens often. Michael testified to it.

[0:54] It happens often that we misquote Scripture. We don't get it exactly right. But when I do that, I go and I read it and I read it and I read it and I read it. Trying to re-ingrain it in my mind.

[1:05] Right. Because obviously it's been too long since I've read it when that happens. But anyway, in doing that, I was like, well, you know, I could about preach a message on that a little bit.

[1:16] And then as I was studying for that, I was like, well, I could probably teach that better than I could preach it. And I've had people tell me over the years that I should just hang up preaching and just teach.

[1:29] And I've had people tell me I should hang up teaching and just preach. And I say, you do what the Lord called you to do and I'll do what the Lord called me to do. Amen. And I can do either or.

[1:41] You know, and if the Lord lays on me to teach, I'll teach like he has tonight. But anyway, Matthew 11, the latter part of this chapter where we find that verse that I was just talking about.

[1:59] But the beginning part, we find all kinds of things going on. Jesus is well into his ministry at this point. And but Jesus is meeting has met, I should say, some opposition.

[2:13] And people have rejected Jesus. People are opposed to Jesus, are opposed to his teaching. There's people that are doubting that Jesus is who Jesus is claiming to be.

[2:23] Even John the Baptist, we find in Matthew chapter 11, is questioning this. John the Baptist sends out some of a couple of his own disciples to ask Jesus, are you the cross?

[2:35] Are you the one that was promised or should we look for another? And of course, Jesus tells tells the disciples of John the Baptist, you go back to John, you tell him the things that you've seen. And he said, you know, you've seen you've seen the blind given their sight.

[2:50] You've seen lepers healed. You've seen the dead raised. You've seen all these things and everything that he's talking about there is prophesied in the book of Isaiah. And he says, you go back and you tell John these things.

[3:00] He didn't say go back and tell him anything new. Tell him what you've seen. Tell him what you know. Christ certainly knew he was the Messiah. John knew that he was the Messiah, but he was still questioning it.

[3:12] And so he was telling him, he was telling those disciples to go back and tell John the Baptist these things to reaffirm what John already knew, what John the Baptist already knew.

[3:23] Well, after this, Jesus gives some upgrading to a few of the cities that he had been to. A few of the local towns that he had been to.

[3:35] Corazon and Bethsaida. Capernaum. Capernaum was actually the headquarters of Jesus' ministry. And Jesus tells them, he says, if Tyre and Sidon and Sodom had seen the miracles that you all have seen.

[3:51] Yeah. And of course, I'm paraphrasing. But he says, if they had seen the miracles that you've seen, they would have repented long ago. He says, but you haven't repented, even though I've worked these miracles.

[4:02] The same miracles that he told John the Baptist's disciples to go back and tell. He says, they have seen these things. Therefore, they're going to be held more liable.

[4:14] He says, they'll be more tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. It'll be more tolerable for a Gentile city like Sodom. And we all know what Sodom was guilty of, although there was more than sexual sin in Sodom.

[4:29] There was a lot of pride in Sodom as well. But he says, it'll be more tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgment than it will for these other cities. Because these cities have not repented, but Sodom didn't either.

[4:42] That's what brought their destruction. They had an unrepentant heart. They had a good pride for it. All sin stems from pride. Every single bit of sin you can think of stems from pride.

[4:55] You know, people go all kinds of routes, but it can all be bowled back to pride. Right. Either too much pride or a lack of it, for that matter.

[5:06] Some people will say, well, you know, I deserve this or I deserve that. I, you know, that's what brings on a lot of adultery. People say, I deserve a better woman. I deserve a better man.

[5:16] What we deserve is the flames of hell. Right. That's what every one of us deserve. That's what every one of us needs to keep in mind. They'll say, I deserve this or deserve that. And that's a prideful thing to think.

[5:28] Every sin you can think of in one way, shape, form, or fashion will bow back to pride. But anyway, we go through all these things, everything that I just spoke of in Matthew chapter 11.

[5:41] And we get to Jesus in the last few verses of it, beginning at verse 25. It says, at that time. At what time? At the time that Jesus had just told these, said that these cities, it would be more tolerable for Sodom than it would for these cities in the day of judgment.

[6:00] And again, all these people are opposing Jesus. They're opposing the teachings of Jesus. They're opposed to him saying that he is the Christ and teaching that he is the Christ.

[6:11] So that's the time that we're talking about when we look at these first three words, at that time. So it says, at that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes.

[6:29] So again, we're in the midst of really a tumultuous time right now. All this opposition is going on. People rejected Christ. How do you feel when you get rejected?

[6:40] How do I feel when I'm rejected? Rejection is not a fun thing. It's not a fun thing for any of us to go through. It's a very discouraging thing. You all know that I do a lot of street ministry.

[6:54] I do street evangelism, street preaching, and been rejected many, many times. Been mocked many, many times. And I'm getting a thicker skin as far as that goes.

[7:06] But it's still discouraging. And it's heartbreaking when that happens. Because these people aren't rejecting me. They're rejecting the only thing that can give them salvation. They're rejecting the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[7:18] And in rejecting his gospel, they're rejecting him. And that's what's so heartbreaking about it. But Christ had been rejected here. But instead of running off in a corner somewhere.

[7:29] Or instead of running to one of the disciples and whining about it. Or instead of running to Mary, his mama, and whining to her about it. What does he do? He turns to the Father.

[7:39] Not for help to deal with this opposition that's come against him. But to praise God. He turns to God in praise.

[7:51] He turns to the Father and praise. He says, at that time Jesus entered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent. And hast revealed them unto bates.

[8:02] He is praising God for what God is doing. He is praising God the Father for God the Father's perfect plan. God is not a reactionary God.

[8:14] He doesn't wait for things to happen and then come up with a plan. God knows this thing. He knows exactly what's happening. He knows what's going to go on tomorrow. He knows what's going to go on a half hour from now.

[8:26] He knows what's going to be going on a hundred years from now. He is not reactionary. He's already got a plan. There is no plan being with God. There is only plan A. There is only the plan that's been in place since the foundation of the world, since before the foundation of the world was ever laid.

[8:43] But Christ here is praising God for part of His plan, which was to hide these things, basically to hide the gospel from the prudent.

[8:54] Now, who is the prudent? The prudent, think of the Pharisees when you think of prudent people. That will give you a really good idea of what this word prudent means.

[9:06] He says, Because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babies. And people will read this verse. People who contend the Bible, and sometimes true blue Christians will read this and say, Is that really fair?

[9:19] That God hid it from some people and has exposed it to other people. Yes, it's fair. Why is it fair?

[9:30] Because God did it. God cannot sin. God has never sinned. Nor will God or can God ever sin. So anything that He does is good, it is just, it is righteous, and it is perfect.

[9:46] So when people ask that question, Is it right that He hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed these things unto babies? Then yes, it's absolutely so.

[9:57] But precisely what are we talking about? Folks, the gospel is for everybody. It is for everybody. And the gospel is technically, is really not hidden to anyone.

[10:08] We've got more access to the gospel of Jesus Christ now than we ever have had in history. Between our paper Bibles, between the internet, between preaching on radio and TV and the internet, there is more access to the gospel now than there ever has been.

[10:26] It is not hidden to anyone. But the revelation of Jesus Christ, the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, who is that for?

[10:37] Who is that given to? It's given to the meek. It's given to the humble. It's given to those who come to God in humility. Take the example of the rich young ruler.

[10:47] In the scripture, you can actually read about him just a few chapters over. Matthew 19, you can read about the rich young ruler. He comes to Jesus Christ. He says, Good master, what good things shall I do to have eternal life?

[10:59] And Jesus told him to keep the commandments. He goes through a few of the commandments. He says, All these things that I've kept from my youth, though, what lack I have. And Jesus told him, Sell all of your things.

[11:11] Sell everything you've got and give to the poor. And follow me. And he would not do it. That was a wise man. That was someone that was dependent upon something other than Jesus Christ.

[11:22] But Jesus wasn't hidden from him. The gospel wasn't really hidden from him. People hide themselves from it. They don't want it. Folks, just like Israel.

[11:33] Israel was blind to who Jesus Christ was when he was here. And they are still blind to this very day as to who Jesus Christ was. But they were blind by choice. They chose to be blind.

[11:45] They wanted to be blind. They had all the Old Testament scripture that pointed directly at Jesus Christ. They had Christ, as we've already talked about here in Matthew 11, Christ performing the very miracles that Messiah was said in the Old Testament scripture.

[12:00] He would perform. And yet they did not believe. He was born of a virgin. That was prophesied in the Old Testament. He was born in Bethlehem. That was prophesied in the Old Testament.

[12:12] The book of Michael. All of these things pointed directly toward Jesus Christ. And yet they did not believe. That was by choice. It was by choice that they did not believe.

[12:23] It's by choice if you or I are going. They did not believe. God in the Old Testament, the book of Deuteronomy, He gives the Israelites a choice. He says, I set before you life and death, good and evil, right and wrong, light and dark, however you want to phrase it.

[12:38] He says, choose life. He gives them the option to choose life or death. But He says, He commands them, choose life. That's in the imperative form when He says that. Choose life.

[12:48] Just like here in a couple more verses, we're going to read where He says, take my yoke upon you. And He says, come unto Me. Both of those are in the imperative form. They are commands of Jesus Christ.

[12:59] And it was the same Christ in the Old Testament as it is now. Giving command. But the choice is left up to us. Again, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto me.

[13:14] He thanks God for doing this. He thanks God for doing this. Even Paul, in 1 Corinthians 1, he says that God uses the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty.

[13:31] He uses the foolish things of the world to confound that which is wise. Even Paul reiterates that in the book of 1 Corinthians. And God has ever done that.

[13:43] You look at King David. You look at David's brothers. All of them lined up. All of them ready to be king. All of them ready to be anointed by God's man. And God chose the readiest one of them all.

[13:58] David. I'm personally convinced that Samson wasn't a big buff fella. Because that's really not God's style all throughout the scripture. He wouldn't have chosen somebody that looked like He-Man or somebody that looked like Tony Atlas.

[14:11] I think God would have chosen somebody that was just a regularly looking Joe. I don't think that he was this huge fella. That he had the strength of God inside of him.

[14:22] That's God's way. That's how God does. You look at yourself. And I look at myself. Folks, we weren't worth saving. In our eyes. In our human eyes.

[14:33] In our human understanding. We were not worth saving. But God looked down upon us. And He said, you know, that looks worthless. But I can redeem that.

[14:44] I can redeem that. I can make that into something that will bring me glory. I can redeem that. And make it into something that will bring me on. Or something that will proclaim my name. And exalt the name of Jesus Christ.

[14:56] God specializes in those sorts of things. And I praise God for that. So, He has hid them, as the scripture says, from the wise and prudent. And He has revealed it unto babes.

[15:06] Those that come unto Him with a humble heart. A broken heart. And a contrite spirit. As the psalmist puts it. He reveals these things unto them.

[15:17] He reveals Himself in Jesus Christ. Through the drawing of the Holy Spirit. And in that revelation. We can be saved. And we can receive salvation.

[15:28] Verse 26. Even so, Father, for it is seen good in Thy sight. This is a very short verse. But it's very profound. Again, there are people that will contend with verse 25.

[15:42] And say, it's not fair. It's not fair. It's not fair that God would show some. And not show others. Folks, what's not fair? And this is something we all need to keep in the forefront of our minds.

[15:55] What's not fair? Is that a perfectly sinless man hung upon a cross and died for us. He died for me. And He died for you. That's what's not fair.

[16:05] I don't want what's fair. Because if I get what's fair and what's just, I end up in hell. I want grace. And I want mercy. That's what I need. And that's what I want.

[16:16] I don't want what's fair. He says, even so, Father, for so it is seen good in Thy sight. It was good in the sight of God. This is the same type of good in the sight of God as it was after the first six days of creation.

[16:29] We read in the book of Genesis, it says, God looked upon everything that He had done, and He saw that it was very good. Everything that God created was very good. This is the same thing.

[16:42] Except this is to do with salvation. This has nothing to do with creating the world, creating the earth. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight. It seemed good to God to expose and reveal these things to babes, to those who were reliant, or were not reliant upon themselves, but relying on someone else, relying on God.

[17:06] Think of that. I mean, that's how I was growing up. That's how you was growing up. We couldn't rely upon ourselves. When we were babies, we couldn't feed ourselves. We couldn't change ourselves. We couldn't do anything by ourselves.

[17:17] We relied on a parent or a parent figure to do that for us. And we do the same thing with our Heavenly Father. We rely upon Him for everything. And it is good in God's sight that it's done that way.

[17:31] And if it's good in God's sight, folks, it is good. Period. There is nothing in this world. Nothing in this world can happen. No earthquake. No volcano. No natural disaster.

[17:42] No human disaster. No disease. No sickness. No death. Nothing can negate the goodness of God. He is good. And everything that He does is good.

[17:54] And if it is good in His sight, and He is doing it in our lives, it is for our ultimate good and for His ultimate glory. We need to keep that at the forefront of our attention as well.

[18:07] Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight. Verse 27. All things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father, saith the Son.

[18:20] And He to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. So here, Christ is making a wonderful claim to His deity.

[18:31] People will say, now again, those that contend the Bible, the people who don't believe in God, don't believe the Bible, however you want to phrase it, they hate God, really.

[18:41] But they will say, nowhere in Scripture does Christ explicitly say that He is God. And you know what?

[18:52] And them saying that, they're right. But my goodness. This is one of those things that He says. That's exactly what He's laying claim to. That He is God. And it's all throughout the Scripture, all throughout the Gospel accounts.

[19:04] There's different things that Christ says claiming His deity. Three. I mean, even when He says, you know, when He tells the disciples in the Gospel of John, He says, I'm in the Father, and the Father is in me.

[19:18] He's saying that they're one. Right. They're one. And you can throw the Holy Spirit in there as well if you want to. Those three are one God. The Bible teaches that there's one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.

[19:31] There is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. But that Lord, that God, is made up of three separate persons. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

[19:42] And I wish, there's a certain group of people I really wish I could get that across to, but we won't get into that. But He says, all things are delivered unto me of my Father. And they've all been given unto Christ.

[19:53] Even at the very end of this Gospel, Christ makes that claim. He says, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Folks, what He's saying there, all means all.

[20:05] Every bit of the power. Everything that God has done. Everything that God the Father has done. Everything that God the Father has made. Everything that God the Father sustains.

[20:16] It's all been given over to Jesus. Even in the book of Colossians, Paul writes that all things were made by Him and for Him. And He is before all things. And by Him all things consist. He's speaking of Christ there.

[20:29] But He's also speaking of the Father. Because they're co-equal. They're co-eternal. They were co-creators of the world. They both had their work in the world as well as the Holy Spirit.

[20:42] All three of them had their work in the creation of the world. And in the sustaining of said world. All three of them are co-equal in that. All things are delivered unto me by my Father.

[20:53] And no man knoweth the Son but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. So Christ here is saying, no man knows the Father except for me.

[21:07] No man knows me except the Father. Well folks, I say it all the time. I didn't always know Jesus. Well the flip side of that coin is, but I know Him now.

[21:17] And Christ here is saying, no man knows me except for the Father. So who's correct? We're both correct. I'm correct in saying I know Christ. I know Christ as my personal Savior. I know Christ as my God.

[21:29] I know Christ as my friend that's taken closer than a brother. I know Him as my Savior. I know Him as my friend. I know Him as my protector. I know Christ as all of these things.

[21:40] And if you're born again, you know Him as all of these things. But God, God the Father and God the Son have had an eternal relationship. Amen.

[21:51] I cannot say that. You cannot say that. Right. But the Father and the Son and the Spirit have all been there from the very beginning of this thing. However many eons ago it started, God was there.

[22:05] The Bible says in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. In the beginning. Who knows when that beginning was, but God was there. Right. And He was there in the same three persons that He is there now.

[22:17] So when He says no man knows the Father of the Son, no man knows the Son of the Father, He's talking about a unique relationship there. An eternal relationship.

[22:28] Yeah. Because I know Christ. And if you're born again, you know Christ. But He says, save the Son. And He to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. And this just goes right back to John chapter 14 verse 6.

[22:43] Something we hear quoted all the time. Probably quoted a lot of ourselves a lot of times. Where Christ says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Me. And Christ also says, and no man can come unto Me.

[22:55] Christ, except the Father draws him. Right. So no man can go to God except through Christ. And no man can come to Christ except the Father draws him. And the Father will draw him through and with the Holy Spirit.

[23:07] So again, that shows all three of their work. Not only in creation, but in relationship and salvation.

[23:18] They all three have their parts. The Father was not crucified on our cross at Calvary. The Son was crucified. And the Son is the one that went in the grave.

[23:29] And the Son is the one that resurrected. And the Son resurrected by the power of the Father, by His own power, and by the power of the Spirit. They've all got their parts. In every aspect of our lives, they've all got their parts.

[23:43] Save the Son and He to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. Christ can choose whom He reveals Himself to. Or actually, as far as this goes, Christ can choose whom He reveals God to.

[24:00] Right. Because that's exactly what He did. Christ came and revealed God the Father. The Son came and revealed God the Father to the world. Because the world had it all messed up.

[24:12] Israel had it all messed up. Messed up exactly who God was and is. And Christ came in a perfect revelation of whom God is.

[24:22] And we have that revelation. All throughout the scriptural accounts. I've said many times, you want to know what God thinks about something? You want to know what God the Father thinks about something?

[24:33] Read what God the Son said about Him in the New Testament. Or said about it in the New Testament. You want to know what God the Son thinks about something? Read what God the Father had to say about the Old Testament. Yeah.

[24:43] Because they cannot disagree. They will not disagree. But the Son can reveal Himself and reveal the Father unto whomever He wants.

[24:56] And folks will say that's not fair. It is completely fair. But again, folks, it's not that people can't be saved. That's not what this scripture is teaching.

[25:08] It's not teaching that certain groups of people cannot be saved. But we cannot go to God in pride. We cannot go to God with, well, you do your part and I'll do my part and I'll get saved.

[25:21] No, folks, it don't work like that. God has done it all. Christ has done it all. Christ, that's where we find our rest. We're about to get to that. We find our rest in Christ.

[25:33] We find our rest in His finished work. We don't need to strive to be saved. Christ has already done all the work. He's already suffered for us. He suffered the death that we deserve.

[25:45] He suffered the mockery and the beatings that we deserve. He suffered it all for us. And that's why we can find rest in Him. So verse 28, Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

[26:01] This is a wonderful invitation. This is a gospel invitation. Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Who are those that labor? Well, folks, you've got to consider who the main audience was here.

[26:15] It's a bunch of Jews. Jewish people was the main audience. I'm sure there were Gentiles mixed in here and there, and that's all great and fine and well. But the main audience was Jewish people. What would have been their big burden?

[26:27] What would they have been laboring for? Salvation. They thought, if I keep the law, and I keep it to a T, and this is also something they were taught by the Pharisees, and the Sadducees, but mostly by the Pharisees, they were taught these things.

[26:44] And so these people were constantly laboring, and constantly toiling, and constantly heavy laden, with the burden of salvation. Folks, there is no burden to salvation.

[26:58] The burden has already been felt, and been pulled. It's been hauled. It's been accomplished by Jesus Christ. Now, Jesus is speaking to these words.

[27:09] He hasn't been to Calvary yet. I get that. But, this is all leading up to Calvary. And every bit of Jesus' ministry was pointing towards Calvary. I love the scripture. It says, Christ set His face like a flint toward Jerusalem.

[27:23] Right before He went up, knowing what was there. Knowing that the cross awaited Him. Knowing what suffering was there. But He set His face like a flint. He wasn't turning back. He couldn't turn back.

[27:35] I mean, He could have. If He had wanted to, but He didn't want to. He came to fulfill the Father's will. What was the Father's will? That a perfect sacrifice be made. That mankind, sinful creatures, rebels against Him, could be redeemed back to Him.

[27:49] And it was His meat to do the Father's will, according to John chapter 4. So, He was doing the Father's will. Come unto me, all ye that labor and have you laden, and I will give you rest. He says, come unto me, folks.

[28:01] He's calling them to a person. The person of Jesus Christ. He's not calling them to a system. He's not calling them to a bunch of rules and regulations. He's not calling them to a denomination. He's not calling them to keep the law.

[28:13] He says, come unto me. It's an invitation. And invitations can be rejected. It's just like Noah. You turn over to Genesis chapter 6 and chapter 7.

[28:24] At the very beginning of chapter 7, well, in chapter 6, we know that every thought of man was evil continually. We know that it repented God, that He had even made man.

[28:35] We know all these things from Genesis 6. You get to Genesis 7. Yeah. And God gives the invitation to Noah. Come into the ark. It was an invitation.

[28:46] It's not go. And there's some of the English translations out there that say go. Folks, if He told Noah, if He told Noah to go into the ark, that means God's on the outside telling Noah to go.

[28:57] But if He says, come into the ark, God's on the inside of the ark. He says, come unto me. Come into me. Come into this ark. Come into this boat, this ship, where you will have safety, where you'll have security, where you'll be saved.

[29:12] The invitation is there. And this is an invitation here. He says, come unto me. And again, He's not calling them to any particular system or anything along those lines.

[29:22] I heard Brother Dewey Williams say one time, it was one of the greatest things I ever heard that man say. Y'all are familiar with Dewey. Right? They said, when you're witnessing about Jesus Christ, no one should know if you're a Methodist, a Baptist, Tentecostal, or any other denomination out there.

[29:40] They should not be able to tell your denomination when you are talking about Christ. Right? When you are witnessing to someone about Christ. When you are trying to soul win, basically, is what Dewey was getting at.

[29:51] And that's absolute truth. And there's too much of that that goes on. We try and win people to the Baptist faith. We try and win people to the Pentecostal faith or the Holiness faith or the Church of Christ or the Christian Church or whatever the case is.

[30:05] We try and win them to that particular denomination. Folks, we need to concentrate on Christ. Christ and Christ alone is the way of salvation. I don't care if you're Baptist.

[30:17] I don't care if you're free will Baptist. I'm good friends with a lot of free will Baptist. And God bless them all. We might disagree on some things, but there are secondary things that we disagree on.

[30:28] We agree that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. We agree that He's virgin born. We agree that He lived a sinless life. He was crucified, buried, resurrected, ascended to the Father, makes intercession on behalf of the saints, and He's coming again one day.

[30:43] We agree on the main points of it. Right. There's a few secondary and maybe there's some tertiary things that we disagree on, but I can still shake their hand and hug them, and kiss them on the head and call them a brother or sister in Christ.

[30:56] Amen. We don't need to try and win. Christ wasn't calling them to anything other than Himself. Come unto me.

[31:07] Don't go to the temple. Don't worry about the temple. Don't worry about the Pharisees. Don't worry about the Sadducees. Don't worry about the scribes. Don't worry about any of these other things.

[31:18] You come unto me. Folks, this is not just for salvation. This is for us as well. We need to be reminded. Many times over, I need to be reminded.

[31:31] Go unto Christ. Here lately. Here lately, I've had to be reminded of that. You put too much faith in doctors. You put too much faith in medicine. And I praise God for all those things.

[31:43] Don't get me wrong. You know, and the Bible actually supports that. I mean, Paul even told Timothy, use a little wine for thy stomach's sake. You know, basically using something for a medicinal purpose.

[31:57] So, I'm not against medicine. I'm not against doctors. I'm not against nurses. I'm not against procedures. Things along those lines. But we can put too much faith in those things. Right. If not for God, we wouldn't have any of those things.

[32:09] Exactly. If not for God giving men and women the wisdom to know what to do in certain situations, then we'd all be running around with God only knows what's wrong with us.

[32:20] Right. And no way to treat it. So, I'm not against those things. But Christ says, come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Don't labor for your salvation, folks.

[32:31] If you're saved, you've already got it. And you can't get any more saved than what you are right now. That's something else I wish I could get across to some people, especially some free willies that I know. Amen.

[32:41] But besides that, God bless them all. I love them. Amen. But we cannot be any more saved, can't have any more salvation than what we already have. Don't strive for it.

[32:52] Don't work for it. And if you're heavy laden, thinking I have to do this to please God, I'll tell you right now, there's one thing that pleases God, and that is the work of Jesus Christ.

[33:04] Yeah. The finished work of Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross, that pleases God. Now, would it please God for us to go out and, you know, run the roads and go to the bars and hell holes of the world and things along those lines?

[33:20] No, that wouldn't please God. But does it please God any more that we stay away from those places? God expects us to stay away from those places if we're His children. So God is already very well pleased with the work of Jesus Christ.

[33:33] And if we're redeemed, we'll stay out of those places, stay out of those situations, and not hang out with those people. Come unto me, all ye in the laborer and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

[33:44] He will give us rest. We cannot give ourselves rest. Christ gives us rest. He gives us the invitation to do so. Verse 29, Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

[34:00] So again, in verse 28, we have come unto me. That's imperative. That's a commandment. Come. Take my yoke upon you. That's imperative. That's a commandment that Christ is giving.

[34:11] Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Well, this is something that was foreign to the Jews that would have been listening to this.

[34:25] And Jesus makes it very plain, and actually in this same book, in chapter 23, in Matthew 23, he talks about the Pharisees laying the yoke upon the people that the Pharisees won't even bear themselves.

[34:39] So, because they were making, they were taking the law of the Old Testament, or the laws, I should say, of the Old Testament, and adding to them. And adding this to the people. And this was burdening the people down.

[34:52] Go back to verse 28 again. All ye that laborer and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And much of that is because the people were so burdened down by law keeping that they didn't feel like they could do anything else.

[35:08] And Christ says, take my yoke upon you. What is a yoke? A yoke is something that was put across two oxen, or two donkeys, or whatever the case was. It was a wooden bar that had little collars on it, and it served two purposes.

[35:21] One was for training for one animal that had not had much plowing time, or whatever the case was. So the more seasoned animal could teach them how to do that.

[35:33] But the other purpose of it was so they could share the load. So you got two donkeys or two oxen pulling a load is a whole lot better than one oxen doing that.

[35:44] But the yoke of the Pharisees I was talking about, which again you can read about in Matthew chapter 23, it was burdensome to the people, but Christ says, take my yoke upon you.

[35:55] So he says, come unto me. Then he says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. So again, a yoke was used for training purposes. Here's Christ saying, learn of me.

[36:08] In other words, follow me. It's a commandment that he gives in the Gospels. He says, if any man will be my disciple, let him deny himself daily, take up his cross, and follow me. We are to follow Christ.

[36:20] Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly and hard. What is meekness? I heard Brother Mike say it not too awful long ago. Meekness is power or strength under control.

[36:31] And Christ is the ultimate example of that meekness. Right. Because he has all power. He had all power in these days. He's always had all power. But, he kept it under control.

[36:44] Think of these people that we were talking about in Matthew 11 earlier before we really began these verses. Think of these people that were coming against him. These people that were rejecting him. Think about what he could have done with them.

[36:57] He could have done with them anything that he had done over in the Old Testament. He could have rained fire and brimstone down on those people. He could have opened up the ground to swallow them up.

[37:09] He could have done any number of things. He could have caused a great flood to come through and sweep them away. Christ had all power to do that. This is the ultimate show of meekness though because he did not do that.

[37:22] He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He came to seek and to save me. Praise God. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest under your souls.

[37:35] Again, this is a foreign notion because all these people knew about a yoke was the yoke of the law. And Paul goes over this again in the book of Colossians.

[37:47] He talks about it a little bit in Ephesians. He talks about it in Philippians. Paul and Galatians. Mainly in Galatians. The whole book of Galatians basically is a bunch of people that he's writing to the churches in Galatia and saying, you know, why are you going back to the law?

[38:06] Why are you going back from whence you were redeemed? Why are you going back to these things? When you've got grace, you've got freedom. And Christ gives us freedom.

[38:18] So many people, including these Jews, saw a yoke as bondage. But folks, if we take the yoke of Christ upon us, we are completely liberated from so many things.

[38:29] We're liberated from sin. We're liberated from hell. We're liberated from striving for salvation. We're liberated from all of these things by taking a yoke upon us. How so?

[38:40] Because Christ is the one doing all the work. Again, a yoke was put between two animals so they could share the load. But Christ has done all the work. That's why his yoke is easy and his burden is life.

[38:54] He says, for I am meek and lowly and hardened, ye shall find rest unto your souls. So we're not talking about physical rest here. I mean, you know, I'm born again Christian.

[39:06] As far as I know, y'all are born again Christians. But we all still do physical work, do we not? Maybe not at a job, but we all do physical work. Maybe we've got a garden. We've got this going on. We've got that going on.

[39:16] Where in the case is we all still do physical work. We are not talking about the physical here. We're talking about spiritual. And we need to keep that in mind with so many things in the scriptures.

[39:29] Because many people will read this and say, well, I can quit work. That's what the church at Thessalonica was guilty of. And Paul had to rebuke them for it. Because then people were quitting their job saying, well, Christ is coming back.

[39:42] I don't need to do anything. I just need to kick back on the front porch in my hammock and wait. And Paul says, no, don't do that. You continue on. Continue on with what you are doing while you watch and while you pray and while you wait upon Christ.

[39:58] So many times in the scripture we get the physical mixed up with the spiritual and vice versa. You take Isaiah 53, for example. And a wonderful verse in there speaks about how we're healed by the stripes of Jesus Christ.

[40:13] Folks, that's not talking about our physical healing. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was physically wounded for our spiritual transgressions. He was physically bruised for our spiritual iniquities.

[40:27] the physical chastisement of our spiritual peace was upon him. And with his straps, we are healed. Now you tell me why God would throw something physical in there or three other things right before it that are spiritual.

[40:44] He didn't. With his physical straps, we are spiritually healed. Christ did not die for you. Christ did not suffer and bleed for you so that you'd never have a snotty nose.

[40:54] He didn't die for you so that you'd never have a headache or the common cold. He died to redeem your soul out of hell. That's why he died. We cannot use that verse and claim it for physical healing.

[41:07] Now, I'm going to a land one day where there will be no need for healing because there will be no sickness there. There will be no injury there. There will be no disease there. And I'm going there because of the crucifixion, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

[41:24] I'm going there because of that. But that verse in Isaiah 53, do not use that to claim your physical healing. That is not what it's talking about. This here, where he says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest under your souls.

[41:41] This is talking about spiritual rest. Spiritual rest we can have in Christ. Last verse, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Substitute that word for with the word because.

[41:52] And you'll get a greater understanding of that when you link it with verse 29. He's talking about taking his yoke upon you. He says, he's meek and lowly in heart.

[42:04] We will find rest under our souls because, or for, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. His yoke is easy. Folks, there is nothing more liberating than to be a slave to Jesus Christ.

[42:17] Nothing is more liberating than that. We are either in bondage to the world or we are in bondage to Christ. And if we are in bondage to Christ, we are free indeed.

[42:28] And the scripture backs that up over and over. And I'll end it right there. Anybody got any questions or any comments on any of that? Anything? Anything at all?

[42:40] That's where I usually get myself in trouble. Anybody got questions? Alright, God bless you all. I appreciate your attention.