[0:00] It is a pleasure to stand before you and a privilege to open God's Word with you this morning. I do look forward to the time together.
[0:11] Billy Joe and family are on the way to Indianapolis to the Southern Baptist Convention. It is important that we are represented there and that the truth of God's Word is maintained within the Southern Baptist Church.
[0:27] That should always be our guide, our foundation. So we lift them up in prayer as they meet and have a time together there.
[0:41] This morning we will turn to Matthew chapter 11, verses 28 through 30. I should tell you, I'm Mike Alsop. Billy Joe will be back next week.
[0:51] So if you are visiting, please come back again, and you will see him next week. He will be back here.
[1:02] So I told the Sunday school class, our Bible study this morning, I'm much more comfortable in front of a smaller class than standing up here looking out this way.
[1:14] That's quite different than in the smaller group setting. But the Lord will lead us in His Word this morning, I do believe. Before we read, the context of this passage, Matthew 11, verses 28 through 30, is that, and you see this earlier in the chapter, chapter 11, John the Baptist is now in prison.
[1:42] He has sent two of His disciples to Jesus and asked, Are you the sent one? Are you the one we're expecting?
[1:54] Israel had known for many years that the Messiah would come one day. And so they are looking to say, Are you the sent one?
[2:05] And so instead of saying yes or no, which would be easy, He tells them to go back and tell John what they saw. He healed the blind.
[2:15] He gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf. He healed all diseases. He cast out demons. And He preached to the poor and sent him back.
[2:28] We find those promises of the Messiah in the book of Isaiah. And then it goes on and He comes to this part of the Scripture.
[2:40] Also, the context of that day and that time is they were under the strong iron hand of Rome. And just as was prophesied in the book of Daniel, they are the fourth beast that you read about in the book of Daniel.
[2:58] And so they're under the strong hand of Rome. They're also under the heavy rules and regulations that the religious leaders had come up with at that point.
[3:13] It was a very legalistic system, a system that no one could keep. And so they were a discouraged people. And they were under the heavy hand of the government.
[3:23] They were also, just like us, have family issues, marriage issues, work issues, all kinds of burdens that each of us carry with us each and every day.
[3:37] So they were at a point, and they knew that the Savior would come. The people were burdened, and they were discouraged. They needed hope, and they needed a loving Savior.
[3:52] And we're much like that today. We carry many burdens with us. And we're reading or singing today, It is well with my soul. And I hope that it is well with your soul today.
[4:04] But if it's not, be encouraged. The Lord has promised that He'll give us rest. And as we'll read in just a moment, rest for our souls. You can find that peace and comfort in Jesus by coming to Him, taking that invitation that He gives, and walking with Him.
[4:24] So if you would stand with me, we'll read Matthew chapter 11, verses 28 through 30. And Jesus says, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
[4:42] Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
[4:57] Lord Jesus, we just thank You for this morning, this time to come together and study Your Word. I pray, Lord, that You would speak through me with Your Holy Spirit, that You would open our ears to Your Word.
[5:10] And Lord, help us to apply that to our lives each and every day, Lord, as You carry our burdens for us, and You give us rest. And Lord, I pray that You'd use us to reach a lost world, be a light in the midst of darkness, as we leave here and go out into the community and around the world.
[5:29] So Lord, use us today, I pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. So the truth of this message, this scripture, is that we can receive the rest that Jesus promises to us.
[5:50] Jesus said, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. As I look around the world today and see the news, I see a world that's not at rest, and a world that has got many burdens and many issues that keep us from peace and from rest.
[6:14] And of course, we know as the church, the only way that we'll find rest in this world and peace in this world is through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only way.
[6:24] The world looks at many ways to try to find peace and rest, and they talk about peace around the world, but they won't find it because the world more and more is moved away from the Lord Jesus Christ instead of coming to him.
[6:40] And so we'll look at that today, and what can the church do? How can we individually and as a church make a difference in the world, bringing about more who know the peace of Christ and the rest of Christ?
[6:56] We're very blessed in this church. I pray every day that we will be a light in this community and around the world, and we've been blessed to send missionaries to Europe and Asia around the United States.
[7:13] And the Lord is using this body, this church, to make a difference around the world, and I pray that he will continue. And as we draw closer and closer to him, we'll find that more and more that he uses us.
[7:28] God oftentimes will give us that opportunity to serve, and will we say yes when he does. That's why I'm up here today. That's because I've been praying that the Lord would show us that next step of ministry, that next place of service, and so when Billy Joe asked me, I said yes.
[7:49] This morning we sang about it as well, with my soul, and we'll talk about that today. Victory in Jesus. You can have victory in Jesus and victory in your life in the midst of the storms of life if you'll take his invitation to come to him and follow him.
[8:11] There. Had to bring that up with me. So the invitation is to come. So when Jesus invites us to come to him, the invitation requires that we respond.
[8:28] When Jesus, this is Mark chapter 1, verse 17, he was walking along the shore, and he invited Simon and Andrew to follow him.
[8:40] Come after me and I will make you fishers of men. And then right after that, he saw James and John and called them. They immediately left their nets.
[8:51] They left their boats and followed Jesus. Jesus has something in store for each and every one of us. If you are a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit lives within you, and the Holy Spirit has given you one or more gifts to use within the church, within the church body, to build up the body.
[9:11] And so each of us need to take our place of service. Each of us need to respond to his call when he calls us. Jesus calls us today to follow him.
[9:24] He calls us today to learn from him and to be his disciples. He calls us today to himself that we may have eternal life. So when he calls us, we need to respond.
[9:40] The next thing, come to me, is the invitation, all you who labor and are heavy laden. So we see the world today, and it is in chaos.
[9:50] It is in the midst of war, and people are on edge. You see much violence and that kind of thing. And it's exactly what you would expect to see in a world that is turned away from the Lord Jesus and turned to the ruler of the world, which of course is Satan.
[10:09] As the world moves further and further away from God's word and from Jesus, it's exactly what you expect to see around us. And so the world is laboring and is heavy laden, but there is an answer for the world, just as it was for each and every one of us.
[10:28] We can come to know the Lord and come to him. He invites everyone. He invites everyone to come to him for that rest, but we have to make a response.
[10:40] We have to come to him. Why are we in such a burden in the world today? Ephesians chapter 6, 10 through 20 gives us one of the best explanations of why the world is in the shape it's in and why we struggle as believers each and every day as different burdens or the storms of life happen in our lives.
[11:09] And let me turn over there to Ephesians so I won't mess this up. Ephesians chapter 6 tells us that the reason that we struggle and that we wrestle with life and certainly the world as a whole, verse 12, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
[11:41] We struggle and have burdens. The world as a whole is burdened because we have an enemy. We have an adversary and he is doing everything he can to disrupt.
[11:54] When we see chaos, when we see disruption to life, we know that we have one working against us. And the hope that we have, and we'll get to more of that later, is verse 11, but put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles or the trickery of the devil.
[12:16] Why do we have trouble within our marriages? Why do we have trouble within our relationships? Why do the many things happen throughout our lives, even as believers?
[12:28] And it's because we have an adversary and because we have a sin nature. Oftentimes it's from our own doings that we do that. But there is hope. There is assurance of hope.
[12:40] Just as for the world, there is hope in Jesus. If the world will respond to the invitation to come to Jesus, there is hope for the world.
[12:52] There's hope for us as we live each day. We don't have to walk this way alone. We walk with the Lord. We can pray. We can call out to him and he will respond to us.
[13:04] And we have each other. Part of the reason that we come together as a church for fellowship, we don't walk this way alone. We don't have to carry our burdens alone.
[13:16] We can share those with the church family. And oftentimes we do. Our prayer list in the Bible study is growing as we have more needs within just the small group that we are.
[13:29] And we share those burdens with each other. We continue in Matthew 28.
[13:41] Come to me all you who are labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Jesus promises that he will give us rest.
[13:51] So in the midst of the storms of life, Jesus doesn't take us out of the world. When you walk down the aisle and commit your life to Christ, you've placed your faith in him.
[14:02] He doesn't take you out of the world and you no longer have problems and issues. Matter of fact, it's most likely that you'll experience even more because our adversary, Satan, will want you to even struggle more.
[14:18] So it's not likely that you'll have less, but you'll have more burdens possibly. But we can have rest in the middle of that as we come to know the Lord and walk with him.
[14:30] More closely. Okay. Next thing I want us to look at is verse 29.
[14:43] And it's the invitation to discipleship. The first point, if you were keeping up with points, was the invitation to come. This one is the invitation to discipleship.
[14:55] Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 through 20, Jesus tells us to go and disciple all nations.
[15:05] Your version may say, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them all things that I have taught you.
[15:15] So we're to go and make disciples. So the question is, what is a disciple? Verse 29 says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
[15:33] Rest for your souls. So how can we obtain that rest for our souls that we all need and the world needs? But for those of us who know the Lord, then there is the discipleship, and we can draw closer to him.
[15:50] In this verse, it says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. The picture that they would have known back then, and you'll see where, well, earlier in the reading, or not in the reading, but in the chapter, John the Baptist sent two of his disciples.
[16:10] They were learners. They were students under John the Baptist. The religious leaders of that day, Paul sat under Gamal, I think it was, this is who he sat under.
[16:20] He put the yoke of, which was the learning, is to be under a teacher. So under a teacher or a coach is what this is the picture of.
[16:32] Take my yoke, which is Jesus' yoke, upon you and learn from me, and we learn from the Lord through his word, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
[16:44] So these, he's called us not only to come to him for salvation, but once you have come to him from salvation, he wants you to grow from that point.
[16:57] Jesus takes us just as we are in our sinful place and calls us to come to him for salvation, and we can do that, but he doesn't want to leave us where we are.
[17:10] He wants to take us to where he wants us to be, to be useful in the kingdom. If somebody comes out on the football team, then that's great they came out on the team, but if they don't work out and come to the practices, then they'll never get in the game, and we want to be in the game.
[17:27] We want to be ready when Jesus calls us to go into the field and witness to someone or to use our spiritual gifts.
[17:41] So to be a disciple, Dr. Avery Willis compiled the information that's in a study called Master Life, and the first diagram that you learn is about the disciples' cross, and so if you look at the cross and the baptistry and imagine a circle in the middle of where the cross bars come together, the first thing that we learn is that we need to be Christ-centered, Christ-centered.
[18:12] You would have to be a believer to be Christ-centered, so first of all, that is for those of us who have accepted Jesus as our Savior, who know him as our Savior and our Lord, and we're focused on him.
[18:27] So the first step in the disciples' cross is being Christ-centered. You'll notice the vertical bar on the cross, that is our relationship, represents our relationship with God, and the horizontal bar represents our relationship with each other.
[18:48] Matthew 22, verses 34 through 40, Jesus is asked what the great command is, and of course we know that the great command is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, with all our strength.
[19:04] And then the second is like it, to love our neighbor as ourself. We won't love our neighbor, we won't love each other, if we don't first have the love for God, the love for the Lord.
[19:17] Jesus draws us to himself, and as we learn about him, as we consider what he did for us on the cross, we take the Lord's Supper, the bread represents his body, and when you realize what he did for you, actually unrecognizable by the time they put him on the cross, that he did that for you, he did that for me, he loves us so much that he took the punishment that we deserved, that we wouldn't have to experience judgment and wrath if we will only accept him.
[19:50] The Jews, the grape juice represents his blood, and to think that when we stand before holy God, he sees us as righteous, and not in our righteousness, but it's in Christ's righteousness that he sees us.
[20:06] So it should draw us to him, and it should draw us to love him in such a way that we obey him. Jesus says, if you love me, you will obey my commands.
[20:18] It's not legalism, it's out of a great love for him that we study God's word, that we draw together as a church and minister to one another, that we spend time in prayer and go out and witness.
[20:34] So the first part, the bar, get back to the disciples cross, the vertical bar is our relationship with God, and the foundation of being a disciple is God's holy word.
[20:46] I pray that you're in his word every day, and that you study it, memorize it maybe. I'm not a memorizer, but some of you are.
[20:57] I should, but I don't. But we should meditate on it, memorize it, apply it to our lives. It is the foundation of our faith, to know him. The way you're going to get to know the Lord Jesus and the Father is through reading his word, and seeing how he has worked in and through all of history.
[21:16] So the word is our foundation. The top part of the bar on the cross represents prayer. Prayer should be our way of life.
[21:27] It should be who we are. You've probably heard somebody say before, well, I tried prayer and it didn't work. You don't try prayer. Prayer is what you do each and every day.
[21:39] Prayer is what you do throughout the day. If you're only trying prayer, then you're really not ready for that storm of life that's going to come, and then you probably will get upset because the Lord doesn't respond as you expect him to.
[21:54] But if you spent time in the word and you've spent time in prayer as those storms of life come, there could be a diagnosis of a health issue. There could be a loss of a job.
[22:04] There could be so many things that affect us today. And if we're not prepared, He wants us to be prepared so that when He puts us in the game, we're ready to catch the pass because we're in the right place.
[22:18] But anyway, that is our relationship with God is through His word and through prayer. And that will help us as we face the issues of life.
[22:31] The next one is the horizontal bar that you see on the cross behind me. One side of that is fellowship. God gave us, Jesus gave us the church.
[22:42] Matthew chapter 16 is where Jesus introduces the church. It's not mentioned in the Bible before that. But He introduces the church, and of course, He gives us each other to walk in fellowship with one another.
[22:58] We don't have to walk through this world alone. He gives us each other, and we can reach out to one another. Share each other's burdens, and share each other's joys.
[23:14] Men, we should have a man that we can go to in prayer. And ladies, you should have another lady that you can go to in prayer that you can confide in. That's part of what we should be in the fellowship of believers.
[23:28] We should have at least one, if not a couple, of men for men, women for women that we can confide in, pray with, and be an encouragement.
[23:41] There's going to be so many things that happen in this world, but if we have each other, and we know we have the Lord, we can walk through effectively, and be a light in the midst of the community.
[23:55] I asked this question this morning in the class, you know, when the world looks at the church, what does it see? Does it see a church that is supportive of each other, is sharing the love of Christ, His mercy, His grace, or do they see conflict within the church?
[24:12] They should see the love of God within us, within the fellowship that we have for each other. They should see how we encourage one another, and pray for one another. The other part of the horizontal with our relationship to man is evangelism.
[24:31] Jesus said, go, go. We are to go and make disciples or disciple all nations. We're to go and to tell. We receive the greatest gift ever given, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, that we can be Him in eternity.
[24:51] Just as He told the thief on the cross, you'll be with me in paradise. We know where our future is. We know what our future holds. So when we come, we can come in confidence and evangelize and tell others about the victory.
[25:09] We're just saying about victory in Jesus also. We can tell Him about the victory in Jesus that not only we have had, but that they can have. We should be, our life should be an evangelism tool everywhere we go.
[25:24] People should see the Lord. We should be a witness constantly through the way we live and the words that we say. And then the last thing that sort of over, is over the disciples' cross is the ministry of service.
[25:41] God has called each and every one of us to serve, and as each of us take our place within the church, the work is done well, and no one is overburdened.
[25:51] So I encourage you to take your place in serving the Lord within the local church. That is actually just a privilege that He gives us.
[26:07] In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, talks about the, part of that Paul tells about the judgment seat of Christ. And each of us as believers will be before the judgment seat of Christ one day.
[26:22] This isn't a judgment of whether we're saved or not, but it's what we did with what we've been given. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10, tells us that before, I guess before we were even born, God prepared good works for each of us to do individually.
[26:40] And so, will you respond to the, to Jesus' call to come, and will you respond to Him to be a part of the service that He has for us within the church?
[26:52] I encourage you to have those crowns for Jesus at the judgment seat of Christ. Be prepared to walk with Him. So, Jesus taught us the truth of God's Word and who God is.
[27:09] He gave us an example to live by as we study His words and His works. He tells us here, learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart.
[27:20] Jesus was humble and Jesus is the Son of God and yet He came to us as an humble servant here on earth. The more we draw closer to Jesus, the more and more we should look like Him, should reflect His character and who He is.
[27:38] Jesus said, I am, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. Jesus expressed the love, grace, and mercy of God. Jesus was humble and obedient to the Father and we should follow His pattern, His example.
[27:56] So, we can experience rest for our souls through Jesus who will give that to us if we'll take on His yoke and learn from Him. As we learn how to pray about our burdens, we can give those to Him.
[28:12] Jesus teaches us that He will carry our burdens for us. You don't have to carry the burdens that you have before you. He will give those to you. Isaiah also, in talking about the Messiah, about Jesus, teaches us that He will carry our burdens, burdens for us.
[28:31] So, we need to learn how to give those to the Lord and we can experience the freedom that each of us can have, the rest that each of us can have in Him.
[28:42] and then we head down here going back to the Ephesians chapter 6 verses 10 through 20.
[28:54] We know who our, where the burdens that we face come from and then He tells us that we're to put on the armor of God. If you haven't been discipled, if you don't know God's Word and are active in prayer, if it's not your way of life, then it's going to be difficult for you to put on the armor of God.
[29:16] Is your shield real small to catch those fiery darts that Satan will throw at you? That's the shield of faith? Or do you have a big shield that's going to help you?
[29:28] It's a part of being a disciple as we look at the different pieces on the armor of God. We can be fully prepared for the battle that's ahead or we can be less prepared for the battle.
[29:46] I encourage you to seek discipleship, seek to walk with the Lord and to be prepared to put on the armor of God. When you read Ephesians 6, 10 through 20, after we put on the armor of God, the action that we take is to pray.
[30:05] We are to pray. Jesus fights the battle. He will go before us and he's the one that fights the battle, not we ourselves.
[30:15] But we are to pray and that's what we are to do. So I encourage you in the word, I encourage you in prayer to be prepared. We can face the battles of life, the storms of life, with rest and with peace in Christ.
[30:32] Paul tells us, and we know that he was shipwrecked and stoned and beaten and everything else and yet he says, I've learned how to be content in all things.
[30:44] Even through the storms of life, we can be content as we walk with Jesus. And then the last thing is verse 30, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
[31:00] is light. We put off the yoke of the world which is heavy and there is no relief, there is no hope in the burden that the world puts on us.
[31:15] And we can put on the yoke of Christ which is easy and light. He calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him. So we can do that and his burden or his yoke is easy and light.
[31:33] It's not like the burden that we carry with the world without hope. So I encourage you in that today. The world believes that Christianity means that we follow a lot of antiquated rules and that's far from the truth.
[31:50] The relationship that we have with the Lord Jesus and because of the love that we have for him makes this easy. It makes it what you want to do. Because we love Jesus we want to serve him and to walk with him and be obedient to him.
[32:08] So the invitation is there before us. We've talked about the great command so I don't need to go back there. So in the midst of the storms of life we can experience the rest that Jesus invites us to receive and know the Lord Jesus Christ make his word the foundation of your faith and make prayer the way of your life.
[32:35] If we love the Lord God Almighty then we'll love each other. As the world looks in at us they should see within the church that we love one another.
[32:45] Within our marriages that we love one another. Even those outside of the church we love those and want them to come to know the Lord Jesus. So in the midst of the storms of life we can experience his rest experience the peace that he promises to us and walk with him.
[33:09] What is the solution to the burdens we bear? And the only answer is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the fulfillment of all the law and the prophets. Jesus is the promised seed in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15.
[33:25] Jesus is the sacrifice that covered Adam and Eve's shame. Genesis 3.21 Jesus is the substitute ram for Isaac on Mount Moriah.
[33:37] Genesis 22.13 Jesus is the redeemer that Job knew and believed in. Job 19.25-26 Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
[33:51] John 1.29 Jesus is the great high priest the king of kings and the lord of lords we find in Hebrews. The solution is only found in the person of Jesus Christ the son of God.
[34:06] Jesus invites you to come to him today in faith in who he is and what he has done for you. So as we close today okay as we close today you're invited to come.
[34:24] If you don't know the lord Jesus Christ I hope that you'll come today and invite him in to your heart accept the invitation that he gives you has given you to come and to know him.
[34:37] If you're burdened with in marriage relationship or with relationship with others come I pray that you'll come and give that to the lord.
[34:49] If you're burdened with anger or grief or shame or any other of the emotions I pray that you'll come. Jesus or Peter writes therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time casting all your care upon him for he cares for you.
[35:09] Jesus cares for you and he wants you to come. He invites you to come to him. He invites you to experience his rest. So with that we will close.
[35:21] Let me pray for us as Lynn comes and we'll have the invitation. Lord we thank you for your invitation for us to come and to experience your rest and your peace.
[35:37] So Lord I pray that you will draw us to yourself today and use us in the coming week and I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Yeah.