🎵Music🎵
Alright, good evening everyone. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
Let's all find our seats and grab a song book.
Open that song book to song number 288, I Am Resolved.
Song number 288.
Let's all stand together for this first song if you are able.
Song number 288.
Everyone all together nice and strong on that first verse.
I am resolved no longer to linger Charmed by the world's delight
Things that are higher, things that are nobler Please have a Lord my side
I will hasten to Him, hasten so glad and free
Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee
I am resolved to go to the Savior, Leaving my sin and strife
He is the true one, He is the just one, He hath the words of life
I will hasten to Him, hasten so glad and free
Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee
I am resolved to follow the Savior, Faithful and true each day
I will lead what He saith, do what He willeth He is the living way
I will hasten to Him, hasten so glad and free
Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee
Amen. It's over in our service with the word of prayer.
Father, I thank you, God, Lord, for this evening, Lord, that you gave us, God, to hear your word preached unto us, God.
I pray, Lord, that you would bless the service, Lord, every aspect of it, God.
That you would prepare our hearts, Lord, through the singing, God.
That it would be pleasing to your ears, Lord.
And that you would feel pastor me here with your Holy Spirit, God, as He preaches to us, God.
And be with us, Lord, in the congregation, God, that we would apply that which we hear to our lives, Lord.
And we've heard differently than when we came in, God.
We love you, Lord. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
All right, you may be seated.
Song number 29, At the Cross.
Everyone, all together, nice and strong.
Alas, and did my Savior bleed?
And did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?
At the Cross, at the Cross, where I first saw the light
And the burden of my heart rolled away
It was there by faith I received my sight
And now I am happy all the day
Was it for crimes that I had done?
He groaned upon the tree
Amazing pity, grace unknown
And love beyond degree
At the Cross, at the Cross, where I first saw the light
And the burden of my heart rolled away
It was there by faith I received my sight
And now I am happy all the day
While might the Son in darkness hide
And shut His glories in
When Christ the mighty Maker died
For man the creature sinned
At the Cross, at the Cross, where I first saw the light
And the burden of my heart rolled away
It was there by faith I received my sight
And now I am happy all the day
But drops of grief can ne'er repay
The debt of love I owe
Here, Lord, I give myself away
Tis all that I can do
At the Cross, at the Cross, where I first saw the light
And the burden of my heart rolled away
It was there by faith I received my sight
And now I am happy all the day
All right, great singing. Thank you for being here.
Welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song,
which will be 161.
Our great Savior, if you want to get that ready in your songbooks, 161.
If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand
and one of the ushers can get one for you.
The Christian needs one right down here.
Anybody else need a bulletin?
Addie needs one right there.
Some important information on there, as well as our prayer sheet.
Of course, our Sunday morning service is at 10.30, Sunday evening at 5 p.m.
And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock,
currently going through the book of Matthew.
And we will be in Matthew chapter 11 tonight.
You see the First Works family nights summer calendar
begins on July 9th with a carnival night.
I want to encourage you to bring your families that Sunday night.
Of course, we will have church and then right afterwards
it will be set up right here in the parking lot.
For the carnival, we will have a bouncer.
We are going to have a mechanical bowl and then some games,
hot dogs and hamburgers that evening.
And just stick around and have some fun.
Great way to start off the summer.
And then July 16th is the ice cream social.
The 30th is the kids Olympics along with the men's preaching night.
And then we conclude it on August 4th with the church bonfire.
And so we are looking forward to that.
We will give you more information on each of those as we approach that.
You see the list of expecting mothers.
Continue to pray for them.
The important reminders are at the bottom.
And then the upcoming church events here.
We have the Samaria Soul Winning coming up this Monday, June 26th.
Meeting at the building at 1130.
And you can see Brother Ulysses for more details about that.
We have the 4th of July picnic coming up on Tuesday, July 4th.
And actually that is essentially the one event that does kick off the family nights per se.
We're going to start off with the 4th of July picnic.
And we'll be at Eucalyptus Park.
We'll have food.
And it's going to be like a potluck style type thing.
And we're going to have games.
And so hope you can be there.
We'll give you more info.
But we're probably going to meet at the park there around 12 o'clock.
And then the men's prayer night is on Friday, July 7th.
7 p.m. at the church building.
There will be food provided.
And so hope you can make it to that.
A couple things that are not found on the announcements here that I need to announce.
Lost and found in the fellowship hall.
So you know people leave things here.
You leave things here.
So go there and claim your possessions because they will be there until Sunday.
And then after that they will be cast out and trotted under the foot of men.
And so Ulysses will gather together.
Gather them together and cast them into the fire and they shall be burned.
Okay.
And so make sure you get that.
Go check out that.
Is there a table out there?
Okay.
Go look at those things and the table tonight.
And then they'll be there until Sunday.
And if no one claims it you can either take it or we're going to throw it away.
So just keep that in mind.
And then you see the regular reminders there at the bottom.
Please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service.
Go ahead and take out your prayer sheet there.
Pray for a couple things here before brother Cody comes on up.
We're just going to look over these briefly.
Of course continue to pray for our church corporately.
Pray for family nights.
Family nights we're not just going to have activities obviously after the Sunday evening services.
But the sermons will be geared towards families as well.
And I want to encourage you to be here for that.
If you don't typically come on a Sunday night or you come in consistently, you know,
please make sure that you make it a goal to be here during the month of July and get some good preaching in on the family.
And so pray over that.
Pray for God's favor in our church.
Pray for the soul winning in our church, the soul winning teams, the missions program, protection of our church.
Pray for Stronghold Baptist Church.
They're going to be celebrating their fifth year anniversary this coming Sunday.
I'm going to be preaching there this Sunday morning and Sunday night.
And so a great work has been done there under the leadership of Pastor Berzins.
And pray that God will continue to give more success, a lot more souls to be saved,
and that God will use them in a great way and grow the church there.
Pray for spiritual and numerical growth of our church for more labors, new people, and just the general church needs there.
And then pray for just the church families' different needs.
Of course, we all have unsafe family members.
Pray for the families to grow.
And again, I don't want to reiterate this too much, but just pray for the family nights.
It is important.
I think it's something that not only do we want to do on a yearly basis that we do on a yearly basis,
but I'm going to give a lot of practical instruction during the family nights.
These sermons will not just be inspirational, but they'll be very practical as well.
We're going to talk about disciplining children, having a disciplined home,
and just a lot of things that we just need to cover as families so that we're all on the same page
and kind of help you out as a family.
And so please be in prayer over that and just the different needs there.
If you have an additional prayer request you'd like to be mentioned, you can put that at the bottom,
tear that off, and put it into the offering plate, and we'll make sure it gets on there for the following week.
And that is it.
Brother Cody, why don't you come on up and pray over these needs.
All right, let's bow our heads in a word of prayer.
Dear Lord God, thank you for just everything you blessed our church with, Lord,
and the members that we have, Lord, and thank you for every soul here, Lord.
I just pray that you continue to show favor upon our church, Lord,
that in everything we do we give glory and honor to you, Lord,
and so just continue to show us favor and just continue to bless our church as you have been, Lord, so graciously, Lord.
And I just pray for the soul winning in our church, Lord,
that we continue to have many people go out and preach the gospel, Lord.
We're so blessed to have so many soul winners in our church, Lord.
I just pray that you continue to allow us to go out freely, Lord,
and add more laborers, more soul winners as we go throughout the months and years of our church, Lord,
that you continue to help us to go out and preach the gospel to the lost
and have a love for the lost souls of the surrounding area, Lord,
and just around the world in general, Lord, as well as the missions, Lord, in Belize.
I just pray for November, Lord, that that would be an edifying and fruitful time, Lord,
and I just pray that you're over that time in Belize, Lord, in November.
Lord, I pray for protection of our church, Lord.
I just pray all the families in our church that you protect them to and from church, Lord,
that you keep them safe and just help us to stay in good health, Lord.
I just pray that you are over each and every individual in this church, Lord,
and that you help us to not have anything hindering us from serving you, Lord,
and I just pray for the leadership, Lord.
I pray for Pastor, Lord.
I just pray that you continue to strengthen him and give him boldness and wisdom, Lord,
and for our evangelist, Brother Elise, Lord, I just pray that you help him to have wisdom, Lord,
as well in the different affairs and matters we have at our church, Lord,
and, Lord, I pray for family nights, Lord.
I pray first and foremost for each and every family at this church, Lord.
I pray that you bless the families in our church, the marriages in our church, Lord,
I pray that you stir in the hearts of the men and the husbands and the fathers to love their wives
and to love their children, Lord.
I just pray that you stir in the hearts of the wives to submit them to their husbands, Lord,
and to listen and follow them, Lord, and for the children to listen and obey their parents, Lord,
and so just please stir in the hearts of the families, Lord, and continue to bless the families in our church, Lord.
I pray we add to those families, Lord, with many more children as the years go on, Lord,
and so I just pray for family nights, Lord.
I just pray we have good attendance, Lord, and that people are willing to listen to the practical teachings of your word, Lord,
and that they not only just listen, Lord, but that they're doers of the word as well
and that they take the advice and take the principles from your word, Lord, and apply to their lives, Lord,
and I just pray that family nights is a fruitful time for our church, Lord, and for the families within our church, Lord,
and, again, just pray for family nights and that you continue to bless the families, Lord,
and, Lord, I pray for Stronghold Baptist Church, for Pastor Burzins, Lord.
I just thank you for a great church that you have bestowed upon Georgia, Lord,
and I just pray that you continue to bless Pastor Burzins and every member in that church, Lord,
and I just pray there's many more years to come, and I just thank you for just a wonderful church with many like-minded brethren, Lord,
and just continue to bless them, Lord, and, Lord, I pray that you bless this service, Lord,
fill a passage with the Holy Spirit, Lord, as he preaches your word, bless the singing, bless the preaching,
and bless the fellowship to come, Lord, and just pray that we get home safely.
We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.
Song number 161 for our third song, Our Great Savior.
Song 161, Our Great Savior.
They're going all together nice and strong.
Jesus, what a friend for sinners.
Jesus, lover of my soul.
Friends may fail me, foes assail me.
He, my Savior, makes me whole.
Hallelujah, what a Savior.
Hallelujah, what a friend.
Saving, helping, keeping, loving.
He is with me to the end.
Jesus, what a strength in weakness.
Let me hide myself in Him.
Tempt and tried and sometimes failing.
He, my strength, my victory wins.
Hallelujah, what a Savior.
Hallelujah, what a friend.
Saving, helping, keeping, loving.
He is with me to the end.
Jesus, what a help in sorrow.
While the billows pour me roll.
Even when my heart is breaking.
He, my comfort, helps my soul.
Hallelujah, what a Savior.
Hallelujah, what a friend.
Saving, helping, keeping, loving.
He is with me to the end.
Jesus, what a guidance keeper.
While the tempest still is high.
Storms about me, night o'er takes me.
He, my pilot, hears my cry.
Hallelujah, what a Savior.
Hallelujah, what a friend.
Saving, helping, keeping, loving.
He is with me to the end.
Jesus, I do now receive Him.
More than all in Him I find.
He hath granted me forgiveness.
I am His and He is mine.
Hallelujah, what a Savior.
Hallelujah, what a friend.
Saving, helping, keeping, loving.
He is with me to the end.
Amen. This time the ushers will collect the offering.
This night will be in Matthew chapter 11.
Good evening.
We're in Matthew chapter 11.
And the chapter reads,
And blessed is he who so ever shall not be offended in me.
And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John,
What went ye out into the wilderness to see?
A reed shaken with the wind.
But what went ye out for to see?
A man clothed in soft raiment.
Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.
But what went ye out for to see?
A prophet?
Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.
For this is he of whom it is written, Behold,
I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.
Verily I say unto you,
Among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist,
notwithstanding he that is the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
And from the days of John the Baptist, until now the kingdom of heaven sufferth violence,
and the violent take it by force.
For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
And if ye will receive it, this is Elias which was for to come.
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
But whereunto shall I liken this generation?
Dislike unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying,
We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced.
We have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say he hath a devil.
The son of man came eating and drinking, and they say,
Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners,
but wisdom is justified over children.
Then began he to abrade the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done,
because they repented not.
One to thee, Chorazin, one to thee, Bethsaida,
for if the mighty works which were done in you hath been done in Tyre and Sidon,
they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
But I say unto you,
it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon the day of judgment than for you.
And thou, Capernaum, which are exalted unto heaven,
shall be brought down to hell.
For if the mighty works which had been done in thee had been done in Sodom,
it would have remained until this day.
But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom
in the day of judgment than for thee.
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.
Even so, Father, for it seemed good in thy sight.
All things are delivered unto me of my Father,
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.
Come unto me, O ye that laborer 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 ye shall find rest unto your souls.
My yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you, dear God, for every precious word in the Bible.
We thank you for every precious soul in this church,
and, O Lord, we thank you for our pastor.
We ask that you please bless him with your Holy Spirit
as he preaches your word unto us tonight.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Whoa.
There we go.
Matthew chapter 11.
I knew my voice wasn't that powerful.
Matthew chapter 11, tonight we continue our Bible study on the book of Matthew here.
And it's pretty interesting, when we start off in chapter 11,
we start off with John being in prison.
And why is that interesting?
Well, because chapter 10 is spent,
Jesus Christ spends a lot of time in chapter 10 talking about persecution.
So he talks about persecution and what the disciples are going to suffer
because they're preaching God's word,
and then they get a literal illustration of that with John the Baptist, right?
And so he talks about the fact that they're going to be persecuted,
they're going to be brought before magistrates and councils,
they're going to be scourged into synagogues,
you know, the fact that they're going to be hated of all men.
And then we start off with chapter 11.
It says in verse number 1,
It came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples,
he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.
Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ,
he sent two of his disciples.
So already John has been cast into prison,
and the reason he's in prison is because he calls out a magistrate, right?
He's the one that's calling out Herod for essentially committing adultery,
and he's not in prison because he's preaching the gospel.
It's not because he's getting people saved, although those are the things he's doing.
He's in prison because he's preaching against the sin of the rulers,
the sin of Herod, and it's that that essentially got him in prison.
He's preaching against their sin.
And so, you know, he's in prison at this time,
and his ministry, so to speak, his public ministry has come to an end at this point
because of the fact that he is hindered by being behind bars.
But, you know, he still has disciples that are following him,
and, you know, you look at John the Baptist,
we see later on that he is the greatest born among women,
but even someone as godly, even as someone who is respected and honored as John the Baptist,
you know, John the Baptist still doubted.
He still suffered like any other person, any other Christian.
He still had fears. He still had doubts,
and we see that being fleshed out here in chapter 11.
Now, why is that? Well, because of the fact that he sends his disciples to go talk to Jesus Christ,
and he says in verse number 3, he said unto him,
Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
Now, why is that interesting?
Well, you know, in the beginning he's like,
behold the Lamb of God who shall take away the sins of the world, right?
He is pointing to Christ. He's the forerunner of Jesus Christ.
He is essentially paving the way and preparing the hearts of those in Israel
to essentially receive Jesus Christ, and he's preaching about him.
He is his forerunner, but now he's in prison, and now he's sending his disciples to say,
Hey, did we get it wrong? Are you the Christ, or do we look for another?
Now, a lot of times people will take a passage like this,
and they'll essentially assume that what's happening here is that
John the Baptist is doubting his salvation, but that's not the case at all.
John the Baptist is not doubting if he's saved or not.
It's not like he's wondering, you know, oh man, did I believe in the right Christ?
John the Baptist is already saved at this point because he believes on Jesus Christ for salvation.
What he's doing here, he's kind of wondering, you know, are you going to deliver me from prison?
That's really what he's wondering here.
And you say, why is he saying art thou the Christ, or do we look for another then?
Well, because of the fact that John the Baptist, like any other disciple,
who's studying the Old Testament prophecies of the Christ,
are reading many of the prophecies that are kind of lumped together, okay?
Let me explain to you what I mean by that.
When you read the book of Isaiah, for example,
you'll see a lot of prophetic statements of Jesus Christ coming the first time,
but it's often kind of coupled with also his second coming.
And even then, it's also coupled with the millennial reign, okay?
So a lot of these prophecies, you'll cover thousands of years within three verses or something.
It talks about the first coming of Christ,
and then it'll automatically talk about the second coming of Christ,
and then it'll even jump into the millennial reign,
and even have elements of the new heaven and the new earth.
And so when you read those Old Testament prophecies, they're kind of all lumped up together,
so when you have the disciples and people who are students of God's word
from the Old Testament reading those prophecies,
one thing that they don't really see clearly is what?
The timing of everything.
They don't know exactly when all that stuff is going to take place, okay?
Which is why when Jesus Christ is performing miracles,
he tells individuals not to tell anybody,
not to spread the information or talk about the miracles that he's performing,
because he knew the natural byproduct would be that Israelites would want to make him king at that moment.
But Jesus Christ knows that he wasn't supposed to be the king at that moment.
As far as him being an earthly king, he's not there to establish a physical kingdom.
That comes way later, right?
But from their perspective, because they're reading these prophecies in Isaiah,
they're kind of thinking they're all going to happen at the same time.
They're thinking he's going to come, he's going to redeem Israel,
which is included with setting up his millennial reign, setting up his kingdom,
essentially rescuing them from the rule of the Romans,
and then that's all going to happen at his first coming.
They don't really understand. They saw through a glass darkly,
and they didn't really have full understanding of it.
And in fact, when you read the book of Acts, for example,
when he's addressing his disciples, and he's already in his resurrected form,
what's one thing that they're asking him?
Are you come to restore the kingdom?
And he talks about the times and the seasons.
You're not going to know about these things.
Of course, he gives them the Great Commission once again in Acts 1a.
But that kind of shows you their mindset.
They're thinking, well, you've resurrected.
All right, let's set up this kingdom.
Let's get out from this Roman rule.
Let's set up the kingdom of God that you've been talking about physically.
They don't understand that that doesn't come immediately.
The kingdom that he's setting up is a spiritual kingdom via the gospel
and getting people saved.
So John the Baptist is in that group because he's thinking to himself,
he's imprisoned, he is suffering for righteousness sake,
and yet he's not being delivered.
It's just like, are you the Christ?
In other words, the king, the Messiah, the anointed one
that's going to set up that kingdom.
And that's what he's doubting there.
He's wondering, when is that going to take place?
Now, what does this show us?
It shows us that, you know, sometimes in the Christian life,
you and I are going to have doubts whether God will provide for us,
whether he will protect us,
whether he will be there for us in our time of need, right?
And you think of John the Baptist, I mean,
Jesus Christ, who is the word of God, in the flesh.
He's there in the land, and yet John is doubting.
His disciples, there are instances when Jesus Christ was present,
and they were doubting.
There's instances throughout the gospels,
where even though Jesus Christ is present,
he's there in the flesh,
those who believe in him are still doubting whether
he's going to deliver them from a storm,
he's going to rescue them, he's going to help them.
Well, how much more us, right?
When we go through trials and tribulations,
we go through difficult times,
we go through instances of need, financial need,
you're going through a health problem,
a situation in your life, and you start doubting.
Not necessarily your salvation, you're doubting,
man, is God going to provide for me?
Is God going to fix this situation?
Is he going to make me whole?
Is he going to actually come through on his promises?
When is this going to take place?
And a lot of the times, we're suffering from the same things
that the disciples suffered, right?
Which is what? The timing.
Just as the disciples were looking forward to the timing,
they got their timing mixed up,
and like man, it's the same thing with us.
You know, when we think of a trial,
we're going through a difficult time,
we're kind of wondering, when is this going to end?
And we're kind of suffering from the ignorance
of knowing, you know, the timing.
When is God going to alleviate this trial for my life?
When is this going to stop?
And so we see there that he's a man of like passions,
who, you know, suffered just as we do,
suffers from doubt, even to the point where he's
sending his disciples to question Jesus Christ.
Now I want you to notice Jesus' response, okay?
And how vastly different it is from what the Chosen series
presents John the Baptist and Jesus Christ to be.
Because the Chosen has this particular chapter here,
this scenario in their series,
and Jesus is kind of like looking down on John the Baptist for it.
Like, you know, his disciples come,
and he's kind of making a mockery of them,
and, you know, he's sliding him indirectly,
and, you know, there's a lot of dialogue in that Chosen series
that's not in the Bible, okay?
And so in the Chosen series,
he actually starts like downplaying John the Baptist.
Oh, I'm sorry, they call him John the Baptizer.
You know, God forbid that you should call him John the Baptist,
because then that's associated with a group of people
known as the Baptists today, right?
So they call him John the Baptizer,
and in that series, you know, the Jesus,
this false Jesus of the Chosen, this woke Jesus of the chosen,
he's like, yeah, you know, my cousin, you know,
he gets like that sometimes.
It's like, where is that in the Bible?
As if he's just like, you know,
he's kind of undermining John's doubt, right?
He's undermining the fact that John is going through a difficult time
in the Chosen series, that's what he does.
And he kind of openly mocks the disciples there of John,
and of course, that's done to essentially discredit the Baptists of today, in my opinion.
But that's not what happens at all in this story.
And in fact, look what it says in verse number four.
Jesus answered and said unto them,
Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see.
The blind receive their sight, the lame walk,
the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear,
the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached unto them,
and blessed is he whose service shall not be offended in me.
So, instead of rebuking the disciples and saying,
you know, tell John the Baptist that he needs to stop being a little weenie about it,
and you know, he needs to just man up, right?
What does he do? He reminds him of the works that are being accomplished.
Let the work speak for itself, right?
He's saying, look, you know, the dead are being raised,
miracles are being performed, the gospel is being preached,
and that is supposed to reinforce his faith in Jesus Christ.
And the same thing goes with us.
When we go through a time of trials and tribulation,
and sometimes we can't necessarily see beyond tomorrow
because of a difficulty we're experiencing,
you know what we have to do is look in the past,
not to our failures necessarily, not to previous successes,
but rather to the works that Jesus Christ did in our lives prior, right?
The miracles that he performed in times past,
the times when he showed himself strong on our behalf,
the times when he actually fulfilled his promises,
and we saw God work in our lives,
we need to call back to remembrance the former days, right?
And that's an important thing to do, my friends,
because there's going to be instances in our life when the future looks,
you know, it doesn't look bright.
It looks very dim, it looks not promising, it's just very dark,
and it just seems as though there is no hope.
Well, be like Abraham who against hope believed in hope.
And if you have a hard time hoping for the future,
then go ahead and reemphasize and remind yourself of the works of God in times past.
The things that he did in times past, how he came through,
he showed himself strong, and that he is still capable of doing those things today.
You know, and by the way, folks, God is still in the business of miracles today.
And I'm not saying he's going to, you know, heal blind people
and make the lame walk and things of that nature,
but, you know, there's bigger problems than that.
Let me just say that, you know.
We can suffer from far more difficult situations,
spiritual problems than that.
And so we need to remind ourselves of the works of God in times past.
And you may think to yourself, well, you know, I'm not really suffering right now.
I'm not really going through a hard time.
I'm actually experiencing the miracles today.
Okay, well, just remember this day then.
Remember those miracles that are happening today
because you're going to need them as a reminder later on in the future
when they're not present.
In a time of plenty, store up some of those memories, amen.
So when the time of leanness comes upon your life,
you can kind of essentially call back to those times of plenty
when God came through and blessed you and showed himself strong on your behalf.
And so that's what he tells John.
And you say, well, what happens to John?
You know, does he hear those things, and it's just like, oh, okay, got it.
And then he gets released from prison.
He starts preaching the gospel again.
No, he actually gets beheaded.
So John the Baptist is actually killed in the line of duty, so to speak, right,
for preaching God's word.
So, you know, he actually is persecuted to the point
where Herod commands his men to go and behead him
all for some ho who's dancing before him or whatever
because her mom wanted the head of John the Baptist on a platter.
And so, you know, she's still bitter about John the Baptist
calling out her adulterous relationship with Herod.
And so what does she do?
He's like, ask for John the Baptist's head in a charger.
And so, you know, because Herod is just kind of simping over the daughter
because she's dancing before him.
And then he's like, I'll give you anything you want even to the half of my kingdom.
And the daughter is like, hey, Mom, you know, what should I ask for?
And she's like, get that guy's head because he ruined my life or something.
And so that's how he dies.
He dies because of the fact that he stands for righteousness sake.
And it's a very extreme example of what we see in Matthew Chapter 10
that we shall suffer persecution.
And John the Baptist did.
And look, when it comes to the Bible, folks, you know,
sometimes there isn't necessarily an immediate happy ending.
There's no happy ending with John the Baptist per se, right?
It just kind of ends with him getting his head chopped off.
It doesn't make for a good novel, but it's real life, right?
And so we can't always expect a happy ending.
The happiest of endings is eternal life.
The happiest of endings is when we know that at the end of the day,
God will be glorified through our lives, that all things will work together for good,
and that we're simply a piece of the puzzle in the greater scheme of things
of glorifying God and essentially carrying out His will.
And we know that His will will be carried out here in this lifetime.
And so that's what he tells them.
Look at verse number 7.
And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John,
Woe ye out in the wilderness to see!
A reed shaken with the wind?
So obviously, you know, the disciples going there, of John,
going there and kind of questioning whether he's the Christ or not,
you know, it caused some people in the audience to kind of question John, right?
Question his credibility because many esteemed him as being a prophet.
They liked John the Baptist.
He was revered by the public as being a man of God.
But now, you know, you see that his faith is shaken,
and so their faith in John the Baptist has been shaken,
and maybe they might not esteem him as much as before.
And so what Jesus does is that He kind of reminds them what kind of man John the Baptist is.
And He says there, you know, when you went into the wilderness,
which is where John the Baptist essentially abode, preaching,
He says, did you see a reed shaken with the wind?
What is He saying?
You know, was John the Baptist someone who was tossed to and fro,
carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slider men and cunning crafters
whereby they lie in wait to deceive?
No!
Is that a reed shaken in the wind?
He's obviously a man who did not move,
which is why he got his head chopped off, right?
So he's saying, you know, you didn't see a reed shaken in the wind,
and this is a great example here that we as Christians should follow that example of John the Baptist,
that when the going gets tough, we don't change our beliefs.
We don't change our stances, right?
If persecution comes upon us, and even to the point of death,
we don't change what we believe based upon the circumstances around us,
based upon the threats, based upon injury, or even violence.
You know, you stick it out to the very end, even if that end means death.
John the Baptist was not a reed shaken in the wind.
He's not moving with every wind of persecution or doctrine.
He's staying put, and he is essentially someone who shall not be moved and was not moved.
He says in verse 8,
But what went ye out for to see a man clothed in soft raiment?
Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.
But what went ye out for to see a prophet?
I say unto you, a more than a prophet.
For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face,
which shall prepare thy way before thee.
So, John the Baptist here is being honored by Jesus Christ,
and he's basically saying, you know, John the Baptist wasn't a king,
he wasn't royalty, but you know what?
If he's being esteemed by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords,
he's obviously a very important individual.
And in fact, he says in verse 11,
Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women,
there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.
Not withstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Now that is a powerful statement right there, right?
Among them that are born among women, there's not a greater than John the Baptist.
Now when you look at all the prophets of the Old Testament,
you can point out some pretty awesome prophets.
Prophets who did a lot of miracles.
You have Moses, you have Elijah, you have Elisha,
you have so many different prophets that actually prophesied the word of God,
and were used greatly to even, you know, perform supernatural miracles.
Now John the Baptist did no miracle, the Bible says.
He didn't make it stop raining for three and a half years,
he didn't call fire from heaven,
he didn't necessarily resurrect anybody from the dead,
he wasn't given the capability as the 12 disciples to cast out devils,
and heal lepers, and do all these supernatural miracles.
He didn't do any of that.
Yet Jesus said of John the Baptist, he's the greatest born among women.
Why is that?
Because he was someone who preached Jesus Christ.
He's someone who essentially prepared the way by being the forerunner of Jesus Christ.
He made the path clear so everyone understood that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
And this shows us here that the greatest miracle that you can perform, my friends,
is soul winning.
You don't need to be a demon slayer, a tongue speaker,
you don't need to do all these foolish miracles that are not really miracles by the way of today,
that these charlatans perform, you don't need to do all that stuff.
You know, the greatest thing you can do is preach Christ and him crucified.
The greatest miracle that you can perform today is knocking on a door,
preaching the gospel, and getting someone saved.
And that's still the greatest miracle that exists even today, right?
That a lost soul who's on their way to hell can come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ
via a soul winner who brings to them the word of reconciliation.
You know, it reminds me of a meme.
Memes are great.
I like this meme about a meme, by the way, where it's like Alex Jones, he's just like,
I got a meme here.
He's looking through stacks of memes that communicate a specific truth.
I feel that way sometimes.
But there's another meme, okay?
And it's like these two people and they're looking at this bright line that says,
people who have gone to church their entire life and don't even know if they're saved.
And then you see like, you see Kermit the Frog, the silhouette of Kermit the Frog with like a briefcase or something,
and it says, the soul winner.
You know what I mean?
So it's like people who go to church their whole lives and then all you need is just someone who knows the gospel.
It literally can just change their eternal destiny.
Not because they perform a miracle, they're slapping someone on the forehead,
choking someone to get the demon out of them.
It's because they preach Jesus Christ, they're preaching the gospel,
they're opening their mouths boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel.
It's the greatest miracle.
And so, and then he says there of course,
But he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Emphasizing the importance of humility.
It says in verse 12,
And from the days of John the Baptist until now,
the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence,
and the violent taketh it, take it by force for all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
Now what does that mean?
Well this is essentially saying because it's stating there from the days of John the Baptist until now.
So from John's ministry up until that point,
it's saying that God, the kingdom of heaven, obviously the Lord,
is allowing violence upon God's people.
Because obviously John the Baptist is suffering violence.
And the violent taketh it by force.
You know you have Herod who's getting them beheaded.
And this is saying God is allowing John the Baptist to suffer this persecution.
And the principle that we can learn there is when you go through a trial,
just know that it didn't take God off guard.
It's not like God didn't know about that suffering.
He's suffering that violence upon you, that trial upon you.
He's allowing that difficulty in your life for a particular reason.
So it says that the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence,
and the violent taketh it by force for all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
So John is essentially the last of the Old Testament prophets.
Now we often say we preach and we're prophets of the Lord,
just referring to the fact that we preach.
But as far as these ordained prophets that God has sent forth,
such as John the Baptist, such as Elijah, such as Elijah of the Old Testament,
John is the latter end of that Old Testament lineage of prophets.
It says if you will receive it, this is Elias which was for to come.
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Now this is not teaching reincarnation.
It's not teaching that John the Baptist is Elijah reincarnated or something like that.
It's saying that he's coming in the spirit and power of Elijah because they're very similar.
You look at the life of John the Baptist and compare it to the life of Elijah,
you look at their sermons, you look at their style of preaching,
you look at what they preach, it's very similar.
It's not because they're family members, it's not because they knew each other,
it's because they got the same spirit.
Now why is that important?
Because I guarantee you the hard preachers of today,
if you can look at the hard preachers of today and compare them to the hard preachers of 200 years ago,
we would say they're exactly alike.
If you can get the sermon from someone from 200 years ago,
a fundamental Baptist or some other Christian that's preaching hard on sin
and you were to compare it to the sermons of today,
you would say, oh, he's coming in the spirit and power of J. Frank Norris.
He's coming in the spirit and power of some hard preacher.
It's not because it's J. Frank Norris reincarnated,
it's because they got the same spirit which is the spirit of God.
And speaking of J. Frank Norris, I remember I actually have some sermons of J. Frank Norris.
He was part of the roaring 20s, the 1920s,
and towards the latter end of his life he was recording a lot of his sermons
and I got some of his sermons and they're very low, low quality.
Especially when he starts screaming, it's kind of hard to listen to.
But I popped in, not popped in, I turned on one of the MP3s,
the sermon that he was preaching and this guy is like, I don't know,
he's like 70 years old. He sounds like he's like 70 years old.
He's just ripping face.
I was like, oh yeah, but what is he ripping face on though?
Like, you know, prohibition or something.
...who wear pants.
He's ripping on women wearing pants.
He's like, some of you ladies, I'm looking like a bunch of sluts.
He's like going off.
He's preaching against young dudes looking all effeminate.
He's preaching against women with short hair.
I mean, like, he's going off.
And I'm like, wait a minute, wait a minute.
I thought this was only in our day.
No folks, there's nothing new under the sun.
These things have to continuously be preached on.
If not, humanity has a tendency and a propensity to get back into those sins
were it not for the moral conscience of the nation through the pulpits of America
that preach against them.
So don't think, oh, you know, they didn't have those issues back then.
Of course they did.
That's why he's preaching against it.
He's preaching against the Roman Catholic Church.
I mean, a lot of the content that was in that sermon, I thought to myself,
I literally just preached on that particular topic last week.
Am I coming in the spirit and power of J. Frank Norris?
Well, at the end of the day, yes, because he had the spirit of God on him.
So what this is essentially showing us is that, you know,
when they look at John the Baptist, that's why they asked him,
art thou that prophet?
Are thou Elias, they said.
It was like, you know, maybe some of these people,
they believed in reincarnation or something.
I don't know.
But if you read John chapter one, they ask him if he's Elijah.
And he's like, no, I'm not that prophet.
I'm not Elijah.
Sit up straight.
I'm not Elijah, you know.
But he's coming in the spirit and power of Elijah.
He's preaching hard, which is exactly what Elijah did.
And if you think about it, you know, John the Baptist came and went.
Right.
He came.
He preached three and a half years later.
He's beheaded.
He's gone.
Right.
Well, that's the same thing with Elijah.
He's going to shows up out of nowhere, out of the wilderness,
preaches against the magistrate, and then three and a half years later,
he's gone.
OK.
You know, the Lord takes him in a fire chair.
Kyla, pay attention.
Sit up straight.
Put your legs down.
Sit up straight.
And so we see that here that Jesus Christ is paying homage to John the Baptist.
And he's not tearing him down.
He's not like the chosen that just tears him down.
He's saying, look, yeah, you know, he's struggling here.
But, you know, he's still a great man.
He's a prophet of the Lord.
He's fulfilling his ministry.
And there's nobody greater than him, born among women.
And, of course, he leaves room because he says,
notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
It says in verse 16,
But whereunto shall I liken this generation?
It is like unto children sitting in the markets and calling unto their fellows
and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced.
We have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.
It says, For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.
The Son of Man came eating and drinking.
And they say, Behold, a man gluttonous and a winebibber,
a friend of publicans and sinners, but wisdom is justified over children.
So what are these two verses talking about here?
This is essentially pointing out how implacable Israel was at this time.
Because he's basically saying in verse 17,
Look, we've piped unto you. What does that mean?
He's basically saying we've preached unto you.
We're preaching God's Word, and you're not responding to it.
Because when you pipe, when you play a certain instrument,
I guess depending on what kind of song you play or something,
you want to dance or something.
If Louisa got up here and started doing her little tin whistle thing,
I don't know, maybe some of you may be motivated to dance or something
if she played a certain tune.
But he's saying we've piped unto you.
You have not danced. We have mourned unto you. You have not lamented.
So he's basically saying the natural byproduct of an instrument being played
is that you dance. The natural byproduct of mourning is that you lament.
But we're preaching God's Word unto you, and you're not responding to it.
You're not adhering to it. You're not listening.
And aside from the fact that you're not listening,
John the Baptist, he's not even coming eating and drinking.
I mean, he's eating locust and wild honey, and then you're saying he's a devil.
What is that? It's an implacable generation.
It's a generation that basically cannot be appeased no matter what you do.
You can preach God's Word. You can have the utmost integrity preaching God's Word.
The world will take it out of context every time.
It will still call you a devil.
When we got persecuted, they called us the International Federation Baptists.
I mean, you can look at our website as Independent Fundamental Baptists,
and they're like, these are the International Federal Baptists.
And I was just like, cool, we're international. I guess we're worldwide.
And they made these fliers about me that had some quotes that were quotes that I said,
but other quotes are just like, I never said that, but you know, it sounds pretty good, though, you know.
They just kind of take you out of context, and they're just lying.
They're reviling. They're railing.
But at the end of the day, there's a generation that is completely implacable.
It doesn't matter how well you pipe. It doesn't matter how well you mourn.
It doesn't matter how much you preach. They're not going to receive it.
They'll still call you a devil.
This is why we're called pastors and not politicians,
because politicians want to just please everyone.
So pastors and preachers, they're to preach God's Word,
stay faithful to preaching God's Word as it needs to be preached,
and who cares what people say? Who cares if they lie about us?
It doesn't matter. They're going to do that anyways.
That's why it's not worth trying to appease the mob
and, you know, try to preach these feel-good sermons or whatever
and appease the alphabet people out there and all these reprobates.
It's not worth it. They're still going to call you a devil.
He's like, John the Baptist didn't even come eating and drinking to call him a devil.
He goes, I came eating and drinking and they're saying I'm a wine-bibber.
So it's like, you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.
No matter what you do, they're going to hate you anyways, okay?
It reminds me of this time when a family member, this is years ago,
I think it was like right before I got married,
I was watching March in the Zion in my room.
And I was watching it for like, I don't know, the 50th time or something like that, you know?
And one of my family members walks in and he sees that it's like about Jews and stuff,
but he thought it was like for Jews.
So he thought, you know, that I was watching this to kind of like be for Jews.
And he's like, don't you know that they stole the land of the Palestinians
and they're oppressing the Palestinians?
And he starts going off on all these things, right?
And I look at him like, yeah, that's jacked up.
That's why I'm all about Free Palestine, amen?
I'm like, these people are wicked.
And then he looked at me and then he went over to my other family member.
He's like, you know, he's like all about this anti-Semitism now.
So it's just like, he's like, he hates Jews.
It's like he just wanted to fight.
So it doesn't matter what side I chose.
They're either going to call me a devil or I'm going to be a drunkard and a winebibber,
a gluttonous man and a winebibber.
So this is essentially showing us that it doesn't matter how hard John the Baptist preached
or how soft he preached, they're always going to have the same opinion about him.
Because at the end of the day, it's an implacable generation.
That's why we as Christians, we're just supposed to preach it and just as is, amen?
Unfiltered, say what the Bible says unapologetically,
because no matter what, they're going to lie about you anyways.
And so that's what he's referring to there.
Now let's get into these unrepentant cities right here.
And I was studying this passage, I think it was two nights ago,
and I found something very interesting in this rebuke that we see here of Jesus Christ in these cities.
It says in verse 20,
Then began he to abrade the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not.
The word abrade means he began to scorn them.
So as he's preaching all these things, he just starts calling out cities.
He's like the mighty works were done here, and he's like rebuking these particular cities here.
He says in verse 21,
Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida!
For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you.
And thou, Capernaum, which are exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell.
For if the mighty works which had been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained unto this day.
But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee.
Now it seems pretty self-explanatory, right?
But let me show you some cool things here that just reinforce what we believe, okay?
As a church, according to the Bible, he's rebuking Chorazin, he's rebuking Bethsaida,
and he's basically saying, you know, if Tyre and Sidon had the same privilege as you,
had people preaching God's Word and doing these works,
they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
Now, that should come as no surprise because we see instances in the Old Testament,
for example, Nineveh, right?
Where Jonas goes and he preaches, and they repent in sackcloth and ashes,
and that nation just gets right with God, right?
They get right with the Lord, they repent.
What he's saying here is it's like, if it's much effort, and if these cities had,
if Tyre and Sidon, which in the Old Testament is referred to Tyre or Tyrus, okay,
if they had these works, they wouldn't have been destroyed, okay?
They would have repented sackcloth and ashes.
But I want you to notice that when he references Sodom,
he does not say that they repented or that they could have repented in sackcloth and ashes.
Look what it says in verse 23.
And thou Capernaum, which are exalted into heaven, shall be brought down to hell.
For if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom,
it would have remained unto this day.
Now you think to yourself, well, isn't that the same thing, though?
You know?
Pented in sackcloth and ashes remain unto this day.
I mean, it's just kind of a different way of saying it.
Well, no, actually it's not, okay?
And the reason we know that is because of the fact that we have the account of Sodom being destroyed in the Old Testament, right?
Now, in Genesis chapter 18, since we're almost done with June,
let's go ahead and just talk about this a little bit, okay?
In Genesis 18, when God reveals unto Abraham that he's going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah,
what does Abraham say?
You know, does he say, wait, if the unrighteous repent, will you spare it?
Is that what he says?
No, in fact, he says if there's 50 righteous people, will you spare it?
And he says 45 righteous people, and he says 40 righteous, then he says 30, then 20.
But notice he never says, if the unrighteous repent, will you spare it?
Which is exactly what was done to Nineveh.
They repented in sackcloth and ashes, they were spared.
But notice that Sodom was not spared or given the chance to not be destroyed based upon the repentance of the Sodomites.
You know why?
The Sodomites can't repent.
If there was righteous people in the city, it would have remained unto this day, though.
That's different.
It's not a matter of the Sodomites repenting, if there's 50, if there's 45, if there's 40, if there's 30, 20 righteous people,
it would have remained, God wouldn't have judged it.
That's what Abraham said.
Now, shame on Abraham, right?
Abraham, why didn't you say, you know, what if these unrighteous Sodomites, these perverts repent?
You know why? Because Abraham knows doctrine.
He didn't even mention the Sodomites.
He didn't even care about the Sodomites.
All he cared about was the righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah.
He never mentions Sodomites repenting, getting right with God, because they can't do it.
Because Sodomites are reprobates and they can't be saved.
And here's the thing, we say, well, you know, what about just sparing the city if they repent from their sodomy?
Look, folks, Sodomites can't repent of their sodomy.
They're reoffenders.
They always go back to that filth and nonsense.
They're like dogs.
That's what they do.
They go back to their vomit.
That's what the Bible teaches.
They've been given over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient.
And the Bible tells us they're laden with sins.
They have eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin.
Which is exactly why Abraham didn't mention them in his intercession.
He didn't say, hey, you know, if the unrighteous repent, will you spare it?
He's just like, just spare for the righteous.
And so, and look, God didn't correct them either.
He said, well, Abraham, don't you mean if the unrighteous repent?
And you're getting your little terminology mixed up there.
You're lacking some love, Abraham.
You know, I know you're the father of faith, but you've got to start acting like the father of faith.
Okay?
We don't see that in our Bible, right?
We see he's like, yeah, I'll spare it for the righteous.
Yeah, I'll spare it for 45.
I'll spare it for 40.
I'll spare it for 30.
But obviously, there's not that many people there because at the end of the day, not many mighty works were done there
because the only person who was righteous there was Lot.
And he's backslidden.
He's not doing any works there.
He's not being a light there.
Okay?
And therefore, you know, it didn't remain.
And look, you look at the other accounts where this is stated, it's stated in the same exact way.
There's not a parallel passage to this particular account where it says, if Sodom repented.
You know, Sodom would have repented long ago on Sakhaloth and ashes and never says that.
It literally says it would have remained unto this day.
And folks, that's not an accident.
It's stating that because it's implying and it's assuming that the reader knows that Sodomites can't repent,
which is why God had to destroy it.
So what's the principle here that we see?
Well, what we see is that he's basically saying, look, you have Jesus Christ, disciples, preaching God's word,
doing all these works, and you're still rejecting the truth.
And so Tyre and Sidon will be judged at a lower degree than you are because you actually have more truth.
You have more works being done there.
And I mentioned this last week, but this essentially means that America's screwed.
Because at the end of the day, America has way more works than what was done in Chorazin or in Bethsaida,
or even in Capernaum.
We have hundreds and hundreds of churches, thousands and thousands of believers,
people going out preaching the gospel.
And so, you know, our country is not necessarily a righteous country.
You know, it's not turning back to God.
It's not, you know, worshipping the God of the Bible.
There's believers within America, but in general, America is still a wicked place.
And so, you know, it's not going to remain.
So we see that there, it says in verse number 25,
At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord in heaven and earth,
because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.
All things are delivered unto me of my Father, 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.
And then he closes off his dissertation here in verse 28 with an invitation.
He says, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
And obviously we could take that as a salvation verse in the sense of, you know,
the unsaved are heavy laden with sin.
They have the burden of carrying their sin and recognizing that, you know,
they're not going to be able to have eternal life based upon their own merit.
And so what's the answer? The answer is to go to Jesus and find rest in Jesus,
which is why Jesus Christ is our Sabbath, right?
We rest in Jesus Christ. We rest from our works as God did from his during the six day creation period there.
He 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 lonely in heart,
and ye shall find rest into your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Now, a good practical application we get from this particular passage here is that as Christians,
there's two yokes that you can take upon.
You could either live as backslidden as the day is long, and then you carry the yoke of sin,
the yoke of, you know, the consequences of your sin, the yoke of having to make your own decisions,
the yoke of just God's punishment on your life because you're backslidden.
I mean, that's a heavy yoke. Or you could just stay right with God,
and then you yoke up with Christ, and he carries most of the burden for you.
Because a yoke is essentially an instrument for beasts of burden, right?
Where you're essentially, there's like a wooden yoke where you're kind of coupled with another animal,
an animal's coupled with another animal, and you're pulling a heavy load.
But when it comes to being yoked up with Christ, he carries most of that load.
Because you're working with him, you're abiding in the vine.
So, you know, I'd rather just stay right with God, bear the burdens of others,
bear the burden of being a Christian, you know, bear the burden of persecution,
bear the burden of having to be disciplined and have character to exercise spiritual disciplines in my life,
than bearing the burden of being a backslidden Christian.
Look, the burden of being a backslidden Christian is extremely heavy,
and in fact, you really don't have anybody to bear it with either.
And this is why the Bible says, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
I'm talking about marriage here.
He's like, don't yoke up with an unbeliever.
Because once you're yoked up with an unbeliever, you want to go right, he or she wants to go left,
and you're faced with this extreme burden of wanting to serve God later on down the road,
but your spouse or whatever doesn't.
And that's a heavy yoke.
So why don't you bear the yoke of getting yourself a Christian spouse, amen?
A fundamental Baptist spouse, amen?
A saved person.
Oh man, but that's like burden, because then I have to like, you know,
I have to like be like a good Christian guy.
I have to be like modest and change.
Well, you know, that burden is way better though.
And yeah, there are burdens that come with having to get a Christian spouse,
but you know what?
In the long term, at least you and your spouse will be going in the same direction.
You're not fighting each other.
You're pulling the load of Jesus Christ.
You're bearing your cross as you should, which obviously the cross,
you know, the Bible just talks about taking up your cross daily.
That's like our yoke that we bear, okay?
And so he says, take my yoke upon you.
Learn of me.
For I am meek and lonely in heart, and you should find rest unto your souls.
So just remember folks, you know, whenever the Christian life gets hard
and it gets heavy and it seems very difficult, just remember it could be a lot worse.
It can be a lot worse.
There is a yoke out there that's even heavier and worse
and it makes what you're doing just look like, you know,
what you're doing is basically a walk in the park, okay?
And the longer you're a Christian, sometimes you can have the tendency
to want to revert back to putting on that old yoke.
But what you need to do is remind yourself and listen to a sermon,
read the Word of God and see what does the world have to offer you?
Absolutely nothing but pain and sorrow and grief and embarrassment
and sadness and lamentation and destruction and AIDS and, you know,
sexual diseases and poverty and just the worst possible things ever.
That's waiting for you out there.
No thank you.
Send me a pizza any day.
I'll take pizzas any day.
I'll take the world hating me, reviling me.
I'll take the death threats.
I'll take the emails and the messages.
I'll take the bombings.
I'll take the broken glass any day over that nonsense over there.
Because with that nonsense you get no rewards for that.
You get no rewards for suffering for your own stupid self.
You get zero rewards for bearing that yoke.
So with this yoke that you get to put on for Christ, the yoke of Christ,
you do get rewarded.
So yeah, you might get a couple splinters.
You might get, you know, some blisters on your neck
and it might hurt and, you know, it might be heavy,
but at least you get rewarded for it.
And the longer you do it, the more you actually begin to enjoy it.
And then you realize, I'm not even pulling the majority of this load.
Jesus Christ is pulling it because I'm yoking up with Christ.
That's how we got to view it. Amen?
And so that's your weekly reminder to stay in the fight,
be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.
Keep that yoke on you, which is the cross.
Carry your cross daily.
And if you get tired, then rest in the Lord.
Learn of Christ and find rest for your soul. Amen.
That's it. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your word
and thank you for the yoke that you've placed upon us, Lord.
Your burden is light because at the end of the day,
we can cast our care upon you for you care for us, Lord.
And I pray that you'd help us to be reminded of that
and recognize that our light affliction, which is but for a moment,
it does pale in comparison to the glory that shall be revealed in us, Lord.
And I pray that you'd help us to do so, help us to recognize that
and welcome the persecution and welcome the tribulation.
Obviously, it's not fun when we're going through a trial,
maybe a personal trial. It's not easy.
And sometimes we've got to take it day by day.
But Lord, help us to do so, Lord, and to rest in you and to learn of you
and to take advantage of that season to draw nigh unto you.
And I pray that you'd help us to do so.
Lord, we love you so much and we thank you.
We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right. We have one last song.
Song 120.
Jesus, Savior, pilot me.
Song 120.
Everyone all together nice and strong.
Jesus, Savior, pilot me.
Over life's tempestuous sea.
Unknown waves before me roll.
Hiding rock and treacherous roll.
Chart and compass come from thee.
Jesus, Savior, pilot me.
As a mother stills her child.
Thou can touch the ocean wild.
Hoistrous waves obey thy will.
When thou sayest to them, be still.
Wondrous sovereign of the sea.
Jesus, Savior, pilot me.
When at last I near the shore.
And the fearful breakers roar.
Twixt me and the peaceful rest. Amen.
Then while leaning on thy breast.
May I hear thee say to me.
Fear not I will pilot thee.
Amen. Wonderful singing. Harder songs.