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A praise, brothers, lift your voices, loud your echoes raise. Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus going on before. Like a mighty army moves the church of God. Brothers, we are training where the seeds have dried. We are not divided, oh, on body we. One in hope and doctrine, one in charity. Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus going on before. Onward, then ye people, joy of every thought, Blend with yours your voices in the triumph song. Glory, God, and honor unto Christ the King. Through countless ages, men and angels sing. Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus going on before. Amen, wonderful singing. Let's start our service with a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much, Lord God, for just allowing us to be in your house this morning. We thank you so much for just blessing every person that made it here, Lord God, bringing them here safely. And Lord, we do pray that you would please just bless them for being here. And I pray that you would please also just bless the singing unto you, Lord, your God, as we sing. And I pray that you would also just be with our pastor, Lord God, as he preaches your word, that you would please just fill in with your Holy Spirit, guide him through the scriptures, Lord God, bring to remembrance of the things that he has studied. And I pray that you would also just bless us, Lord God, that we would be attentive during the preaching, that we might leave here changed, Lord God, today, because we heard your preaching and applied it to our lives. We know these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Song number 246. Song number 246, Redeemed. Song number 246 is our second song. We'll see it on that first. Redeemed, now I love to proclaim it, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, Redeemed by His infinite mercy, His child and forever I am. Redeemed, redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, Redeemed, Redeemed, His child and forever I am. Redeemed and so happy in Jesus, No language can rapture to tell, I know that the light of His presence With me doth continually dwell. Redeemed, Redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, Redeemed, Redeemed, His child and forever I am. I think of my blessed Redeemer, I think of Him all the day long, I seek for I cannot be silent, His love is the theme of my song. Redeemed, Redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, Redeemed, Redeemed, His child and forever I am. I know I shall see in His beauty, The King in whose law I delight, Who lovingly pardoned my good steps, And giveth me song in the night. Redeemed, Redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, Redeemed, Redeemed, His child and forever I am. All right, great singing. Thank you for being here this morning. Just a few announcements before we sing our next song, which will be song number 202, My Redeemer. If you want to get that ready in your songbook, song number 202. If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand and one of the ushers can get one for you. Ushers, if we can get some bulletins here, because we have the quarter sheet for the fall program we have to fill out, remember? And so we'll go over that in just a bit. So let me just go over these quick announcements here. Of course, our services are as follows. Sunday morning is at 1030. Sunday evening at 5 p.m. And then of course, we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock. Currently going through the book of 2 Samuel. Hope to see you on Thursday evenings at 7 o'clock. And of course, on the left there, you have the schedule to the fall program. Today is pumpkin Sunday. And so let me just give you some announcements in that regard. It is for children from 0 to 8th grade. And so that will be in the fellowship hall. Now don't just go there and snatch the pumpkins, okay? And don't smash the pumpkins either. No one got that joke. Anyways, brother Alex and his wife, Ms. Tamara, they're going to be distributing the pumpkins, okay? So if you want your children to get pumpkins, just have them line up in the fellowship hall. And then they will distribute it to you as long as you let them know what grade they're in, etc. And so just keep that in mind. That is in the fellowship hall after the service. And then of course, next week on the 23rd, we have the pie baking contest, amen? And we're looking forward to that. Let me just go over the pie baking contest rules, which is a sheet that's in your bulletin. And so number one, pie must be at church by 10-15. Number two, pie must have an accompanying recipe card with both ingredients and instructions. Number three, church will provide numbers. You must number your recipe card and pie. You cannot have your name on the recipe card or pie so that no one becomes a respecter of people and you're paying people off to help you win that contest or something like that. Number four, judging criteria. It's got to look good. Appearance, okay? It's going to be judged on appearance, filling, difficulty, crust, and just overall impression. Number five, filling must be made from scratch, no mixes, canned fillings, pumpkin, fruit, etc. Store-bought pudding, store-bought ice cream, and store-bought whipped cream. And so may the best pie win. That'll be next week. We'll have a first, second, and third prize winner to that. So just keep that in mind. And then on Saturday, October 29th, there's a ladies prayer meeting and cookie exchange. If you have any questions about that, you can see Ms. Janelle Gonzalez for more details. Ms. DJ's baby shower is coming up on Sunday, October 30th. And then in November, we have our annual Thanksgiving banquet on Tuesday, November 22nd. So that'll take the place of our midweek service. Of course, typically we have our midweek service on Thursday. But for that particular week, we're going to have it on Tuesday. And it'll be offsite. The location is right there. And that'll take place of our midweek service. But it's also going to be a time where we have dinner. You can invite your family and friends if you'd like. And we're going to be announcing the first, second, and third prize winners to the fall program. And of course, you know the point system there at the bottom on the left-hand side. Let me give you another announcement here. Just a reminder about our sick policy. If you or your children have had fever within the last 24 hours or are currently running a fever, please don't come to church. If your child starts a fever while you're at church, please keep them away from the other children. Also, it would be best to stay home if you or your children have an uncontrollable cough or are vomiting. And so I mentioned on Thursday, we pretty much have two extremes. We have the extreme where it's like, well, I'm going to come to church even if I'm just projectile vomiting and I'm coughing uncontrollably. And then you have the other one who says, you know, oh man, if you just even look at me wrong, you shouldn't be coming to church or something like that, you know what I mean? It's just like you kind of clear your throat or something and people are like, you know, unclean or something like that. We want to be right in the middle, folks, okay? And so if you, what is an uncontrollable cough? I mean, do I need to explain that? It's just like you can't control the cough. It's just like perpetually coughing and you just can't control it. Okay, I don't know what other way to explain that, okay? If you're doing that, please stay home. And of course, if you're vomiting, that's just common sense. And so right there at the bottom, no food or drink allowed in the main auditorium except for water and coffee. And quiet time, of course, is from 3 p.m. to 4.15 throughout the whole building. Now let's do this real quick. Brother Eric, you want to play that one piece you made? That's the one. All right, go ahead and fill out your point sheet system here. If you need a pen, go ahead and raise your hand. If the gestures have pens for you, go ahead and fill it out. No one should be looking at me right now. Unless you already filled it out ahead of time. You need a sheet? All right, make sure you put your name. What is it that you did last week? Honor system, folks, no cheating. And no, you can't share points with your spouse either. I know twain shall become one flesh, but that doesn't apply during the fall program. We don't have twain gifts for you, okay, so it's just one each. Go ahead and fill it out. And then I think put the total amount at the bottom. We'll give you one more minute to fill it out. It's not hard at all. The gestures come on down with the offering plates. This does not count for your regular tithe, all right? Go ahead and fill it out and throw it into the offering plate. Who needs more time to fill it out? Anybody need more time? You just can't remember if you came to church last week or something like that. Anybody need more time? Look, folks, if you just get the base number 14,000 points by just doing the basics, just get yourself a free FirstWorks hoodie or sweatshirt. So don't miss out on that, especially if you're doing all these things already, all right? And, of course, make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction. During the service, let's go ahead and sing our next song, song number 202, My Redeemer. Song number 202. Song number 202, My Redeemer. Sing it on that first verse. I will sing of my Redeemer and his wondrous love to me. On the cruel cross he suffered from the curse that set me free. Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer with his blood. He purchased me on the cross. He sealed my pardon, paid the debt, and made me free. I will tell the wondrous story of how my lust and sting to save. In his boundless love and mercy be the rest he freely gave. Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer with his blood. He purchased me on the cross. He sealed my pardon, paid the debt, and made me free. I will praise my word for his triumphant power. I'll tell how the victory he giveth over sin and death and hell. Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer with his blood. He purchased me on the cross. He sealed my pardon, paid the debt, and made me free. I will sing of my Redeemer and his heavenly love to me. He from death to life hath brought me Son of God with him to be. Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer with his blood. He purchased me on the cross. He sealed my pardon, paid the debt, and made me free. Amen. Wonderful singing. At this time, our ushers will be receiving the offering. And please turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 11. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Matthew chapter number 11, the Bible reads, And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his 12 disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. And when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again those things which ye do here and see. The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he whosoever 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 one 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. 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 least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffered violence, and the violent taken by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias which was for it to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. 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. 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 wine-bearer, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children. Then began he to abrade the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not. 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 art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down into hell. For if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would remain until this day. But I say unto you, 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 I was hid these things from the wise and prudent, thus 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. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. You shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is lay." Let's pray, dear Lord God, we just thank you for your word. We thank you for this opportunity to assemble here to hear it preached. I just ask you to be with Pastor Mejia now. Please just fill him with your Holy Spirit. Strengthen him to preach a word of boldness and give us ears to hear it. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. All right, Amen. We are in Matthew chapter number 11. And look down at your Bibles at verse 28. It says, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. And you shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." And the title of my sermon this morning is The Yoke of Christ, The Yoke of Christ. And I want to talk about what this passage is referring to. We're going to break down these three verses here in just a bit. But first I want to explain what a yoke is. I remember when I first got saved and I started reading through the Gospels and I came across this passage referring to a yoke. I thought to myself, like a egg yoke? I'm like, what does that mean? Take that yoke upon me? And I really didn't really understand it. I didn't grow up in church. And of course I was in the city so I never even heard of what a yoke was. Or, you know, I didn't grow up on a farm or anything like that. But then obviously later on I figured out what it was. And it's referring to essentially a wooden cross piece that is placed over the necks of animals that really enables them to pull something together, right? To pull a load together. It's an instrument that beasts of burden would use to pull a card of some sort or to plow. And this is the analogy that's being used here in Matthew chapter 11 that Jesus Christ is using. And I'm going to break it down and just kind of explain the spiritual meaning behind the yoke of Christ that he's referring to here. Well, look at verse 28. We're going to look at first and foremost the invitation that he's giving here. It says in verse 28, Now hold your place there in Matthew 11. We're going to go to two other passages. So put a pen there in Matthew chapter 11. We're going to go to Psalm 38 as well as Matthew 23. So Psalm 38 and Matthew chapter 23. And of course we're going to come back to Matthew 11. So go to Psalm 38 if you would in Matthew chapter 23. So the first thing we see here is an invitation. Jesus Christ says, Come unto me. And of course the result of going to Christ, the result of going to Jesus is that we find rest for our souls. Okay. Now the first thing I want to mention is that I believe this is actually referring to a call to salvation. And what he's talking about here when he says, Come unto me, all ye that laden or heavy laden, he's referring to just mankind in general. He's addressing all of mankind. It's an open invitation for anybody to come to him and receive salvation. And one of the reasons we know that is because first and foremost, salvation is for everyone. You understand? You know, the Bible says whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It says in Revelation 22 verse 17, And the Spirit and the bride say, Come, and let him that heareth say, Come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. You see, the gift of salvation is for everyone. Okay. It's offered to all of mankind. It's offered to every man, woman, boy, and girl, every individual in this world. You know, the Bible says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Now given, there are people in this world, and even people who have passed on, where that gift is already forfeited, it's no longer available to them. And there comes a point where someone can essentially not have salvation. Obviously, we understand that when people die and go to hell, it's already too late for them, right? You know, there's no such thing as purgatory. There's no such thing as a holding cell for someone where someone can just pray you out. You know, you can wait until November 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, or whatever, for the day of the dead, Dia de los Muertos, where they can just pray for you. And then, you know, you can just go to heaven based upon the prayers of your loved ones who are still living. It doesn't exist. You know, the Bible says of the rich man in Luke chapter 16 that he died, and in hell he lifted up his eyes being in torment, right? He died and he went to hell, and when a saved person dies, the Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And so we know that it can be too late for some people when they die and go to hell, but it can also be too late for certain individuals who are still living. You know, sometimes there are people who the Bible talks about are reprobates, where they reject the gift of eternal life and they become adversarial towards Jesus Christ. They begin to hate God. The Bible says they don't want to retain God in their knowledge, and then God gives them over to a reprobate mind. They become reprobate concerning the faith. You know, 2 Timothy chapter 3 tells us, Now as Janus and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth, men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. Essentially referring to a person who has rejected the gift of eternal life and salvation is no longer available to them. And obviously that's not everyone. There's a lot of people in this world that are like that, but it's not everyone. For the most part, salvation is available to everyone, and this is the message that he has for everyone. He says, Come unto me. Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Now what does he mean when he says, Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden? Well, heavy laden, laden is not necessarily a word that we use today, but it simply means loaded. Okay, laden is just another way of saying loaded, so if you think about the phrase heavy loaded, another way you can say it is heavily burdened. Okay, and if you think about it, you know, everyone in this world is heavily burdened with something, right? You know, it's people who just have problems. They're burdened. They have the cares of this life upon their shoulders. They're going through a difficult time, but, you know, the greatest burden that mankind faces is the burden of sin. Look at Psalm 38, if you would. Look at verse number 4 of Psalm 38. Here's a great explanation of that. It says, From mine iniquities are gone over mine head, verse 4, as an heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I am troubled. I am bowed down greatly. I go mourning all the day long. So David here is describing essentially what it feels like to be heavily laden, you know, to be heavily loaded or burdened with sin. He says it's heavy upon me. His iniquities have gone over his head. And obviously we know that David's a saved person, but you know what? It's the same thing for those people who are out there without Christ. They're burdened with sin, right? They're burdened with the vices of this world. They're burdened with drunkenness, with, you know, fornication, with sorrow. They're burdened with all these iniquities that they commit that they don't really know what to do with. And you know, the Bible tells us that these people will often go to, you know, false religions or they'll go to the answers of this world to receive peace when in actuality they can just go to Jesus Christ. They can come unto the Lord and they can find rest for their souls. See, everyone's looking for rest in their soul because of their sin so they go to the, you know, the motivational speaker, right? They go to the self-help book or they turn to drugs, they turn to alcohol, they turn to that which they think can offer rest for their souls. The Bible talks about the peace of this world, but they're not going to find it. They're not going to find it at the bottom of an empty bottle. They're not going to find it in a syringe. They're not going to find it in a joint. They're not going to find it in a blunt. They're not going to find it in a relationship. They're not going to find it in a bank account. They're not going to find it there. They're going to find rest for their souls when they go to Jesus, right? And you know, you often see this corny bumper sticker, and as corny as it is, it's still kind of true. You know, they say, you know, it says, no Jesus, no peace. No Jesus, no peace, right? You guys ever seen something like that? It's like, oh, you guys are pretty witty with that. But it is true to a certain extent, you know. When you get saved and you're known of God and you get to read the word of God, you do find rest for your soul because the greatest war that a human being faces this side of eternity is a war with God. You know, if you're an enemy of the Lord, I mean, it doesn't matter how great you have it in this life. The Bible says that the wrath of God abideth on him, right? And so, but when a person gets saved and they have peace with God through Jesus Christ, they can find rest for their souls. But also look at Matthew 23, if you would, Matthew chapter 23. And by the way, you know, when someone comes to Christ, you know, the Bible tells us that he himself bore our own sins on his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. So instead of going to alcohol, instead of going to some vice or some relationship or some self-help book, Jesus says, well, I've already taken your sins upon my own body. I've already, you know, he's bearing the sins of the whole world. He already bore the sins of the whole world upon his own body. And we can essentially go to him and have our sins forgiven. You know, blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin, referring to the fact that Jesus Christ through his blood forgives us of past, present and future sins. He takes it upon himself. Okay. But think about this, you know, when he talks about those who are laboring and are heavy laden, what's another burden that people face? Well, how about the burden that false prophets lay on them? So what do you mean by that? You know, I'm sure there's a lot of sincere people out there that just go to a lot of bad churches. They're under a lot of bad preaching, a lot of bad churches, a lot of stupid pastors out there, wicked pastors who are false prophets, who place a burden on them for salvation, right? And they'll say, you know, you have to have a relationship with God in order to be saved. If you're really saved, you'll have a relationship with God. But how do you measure that, though? You know, like if you want to get saved, you have to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Yeah, but how do you measure that, though? Like how do I know, you know, if the Bible says with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, you know, if anyone's honest with themselves, they would say, I've never loved God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. There's been times in my life that I love God, but I can't say that I've loved him with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. And let me just say this, no one can, because as long as we have this sin nature, we're incapable of doing so. You know, the Bible says that the carnal mind is enmity with God. It's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. And so we're going to constantly have this old nature that is fighting against us. And so no one can love their way to salvation. You know, Jesus Christ loved us, but our love for God is not necessary for salvation. You know, I hate to like break the news to you. You know, I know a lot of liberal preachers out there want to tell you that and say you got to love God and you got to love. Have you ever just loved God with all your heart? You know, and then you have this self-righteous pastor up there saying things like that. And then you think to yourself, man, this guy is so godly. Like, I can't love God like that. And what are they doing? They're placing on that person, they're laying on that person a heavy burden. Right? Where it's just like, man, I guess I suck as a Christian. You know, you got to fast, you got to pray and you got to love God and you got to follow him. It's like, what does that mean though? I don't know what that means. And how do I attain to such things? And most of these liberal churches apparently the only person who has been able to attain that is the pastor. He's the only one who is able to attain to that status or that standard. But you know what, there's nothing new under the sun, my friends. You know, false prophets always do this. They lay a heavy burden on the people for them to keep. But let me just let you in on a little secret. The pastor hasn't been able to keep it either. Look what it says in verse number 1 of Matthew 23 referring to false prophets. Jesus speaking of the false prophets says, Then speak Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. All therefore, whatever they bid you observe, that observe and do. But do not ye after their works, for they say and do not. Now that's a simple definition of what a hypocrite is. Right? But look at verse 4. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. So they're telling you, you have to fast, you have to love God, you have to do all these things, when they don't even do it themselves. And you know, social media is filled with people like this. I see this on social media almost every day because I'm on there posting content and teaching on there. And I see these liberal pastors where they're just like, You know, you can't just pray a prayer to be saved. Whoever told you to pray a prayer to be saved, they obviously don't know. No, you have to love God. You have to fast. How's your fasting life? How's your prayer life? Do you love God? And then people in the audience are probably like, Yeah, you're right. Maybe I don't love God enough or something like that. But folks, no, you don't have to fast and pray to be saved. You don't have to love God to be saved. You don't have to go to church to be saved. That's a heavy burden that these false prophets will place on them. And guess what? They don't even love God themselves. And in fact, according to the Bible, they hate God. Because they're preaching and teaching for filthy lucre's sake. They don't even believe what they're talking about. They lay heavy burdens on men's shoulders, but they wouldn't even touch it with one of their fingers. So they grab a yoke, this burden, and they place it on a person and say, This is what you have to do to be saved. You have to repent of all your sins. If you truly love God, if you really want to be saved, you've got to turn from that sin. What's that sin that's holding you back? What's that one sin that's holding you back and it's keeping you from that love? It's all theatrical. And it's gross. Because I guarantee you there's sincere people that go to these churches thinking that that's an actual church, thinking that that's a really good pastor. And they hear these great swelling words of vanity being preached unto them. This false message of you have to bear this burden in order to be saved. When in actuality, the Bible says that Jesus Christ has already borne that burden. He kept all of the law. It doesn't matter what Steven Furtick says. God broke the law for love. Are you heretic? To say that God transgressed his... Folks, the Bible says that sin is the transgression of the law. So if Jesus Christ broke the law, that means he sinned. And if he sinned, that means he's not God. You're taking him out of context. You hear that so much and it's just like, when is that ever right to say in any context? Other than if you're quoting someone, but he's not quoting anyone. That's what he believes. So if someone says God broke the law for love, I don't need context that's never appropriate to say in any scenario about Jesus Christ. Unless you're quoting a false prophet. This is the only appropriate context to say it in, is when I'm quoting Steven Furtick. So these people are like, oh, that's out of context. It's just like, folks, you need to realize... Or it's like when John MacArthur said that it's okay to take the mark of the beast and you can still be saved. It's like, you're taking him out of context. Will you explain to me when is it ever right to say that? It's never right to say that. So stop using that dumb card of, oh, you're taking him out of context. Why don't you just say, I don't believe the Bible, I believe John MacArthur. But they bind heavy burdens and this is exactly what the Pharisees were... Brother Glenn, there's someone outside that I think is looking for the church. They're binding heavy burdens. This is what the Pharisees did. The Pharisees essentially were telling people you need to keep the law, you need to be circumcised in order to be saved. You need to make sure you fast twice in a week and you give tithes of all that you have and you have to do all these things or else you're not really saved, you don't really have eternal life. But this is a heavy burden that people bear. And you know what? People bear these burdens today. Where they feel like they've got to repent of all their sins, they've got to keep all of God's commandments. They have to know the Bible front to back and they need to know everything about God in order to be saved. That is a heavy burden and thankfully we don't have to bear that burden. We don't have to bear the burden of keeping all of God's laws. And in fact the Bible says, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. You know, we don't have to bear the burden of turning from all of our sins to be saved because of the fact that at salvation Jesus Christ pardoned us of all sins. We don't have to bear the burden, how about this burden? Persevering until the end. You know, enduring until the end. You just got to be a good Christian all the way until the end and if you don't endure, then you're never saved to begin with. That's a huge burden. That is a heavy burden because of the fact that Christians, they backslide. We backslide, we fall short, we have a moment of weakness, we have moments in our life where we're more carnal than spiritual and so people backslide and all of a sudden it's just like, oh they went out from us for they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have no doubt continued with us. But folks, that's referring to the belief of a person, not the actions of a person. In other words, if a person tells me they are saved but then they like tomorrow they say, you know I'm going to become a Buddhist. Okay, then you were never saved to begin with. A truly saved person is not going to just believe Mormon doctrine or something. Like you know what, I think I'm going to be a Jehovah's Witness now. I don't believe in hell, I believe in soul sleep and Jesus Christ is not really God, He's a God. If they start switching all these essential beliefs, they depart from the doctrines of Christ, then of course that person was never saved to begin with. But if a person gets out of church and gets involved in drunkenness and fornication, which is wicked obviously, we're not going to say that person is not saved, that person is just backslidden. But you know what, false prophets will lay this burden on you and say if you leave the church, if you get involved in sin, if you don't turn from your sin, then you're not really saved. Can you even say that you're really saved? And you know, someone who's notorious for this obviously is John MacArthur. Because I've seen his Q&A, he has like a Q&A in his church where people are allowed to ask him questions and there's people who are just like, I don't know if I'm saved, how do I know if I'm saved? And they're just like devastated, they're like in tears because they're just like, I don't know if I'm saved. And then he's just like, well do you love God? And she's like, I think so. He's like, well do you read the Bible? And he's saying all these things and it's just like, it still leaves that person in doubt, it's so wicked. He's basically saying, do you do what I do? Which I guarantee you, he doesn't. But folks, this is the message of the false prophets in those days, it's the message of the false prophets today. They take this yoke, this burden, and they lay it on men's shoulders and they tell you this is what you have to do to be saved, you have to do all these works, you have to keep God's commandments, you have to repent of all your sins, you've got to be baptized, you've got to clean up your life. But you know what, they haven't even done that. It's like the overweight preacher in the south who tells you you have to repent of your sins, but obviously he hasn't repented of his gluttony. And when he says repent of your sins, it's just like, oh you have to repent of smoking and drinking and stealing. And it's just like, what about gluttony preacher? What about the things that you're apparently struggling with? What about this heavy load that you're binding this heavy burden on me, but I'm not as big as you. And obviously if you're overweight, I'm not getting on you, I'm just saying like preachers who preach or repent of your sins, false gospel, and they tell you you have to repent of your sins, but they're like 300 pounds overweight, they need to check themselves for diabetes first. And two, they need to check their doctrine, because they're a bunch of hypocrites. Go to Hebrews chapter 3 if you will, Hebrews chapter 3. So when Jesus says come unto me, i.e. that labor and are heavy laden, he's referring to people in this world who have been laden with the burden of having to keep all these commandments and repent of all these sins and you have to be just the perfect person in order to be saved. No you don't. You need the righteousness of Jesus Christ to be saved. The Bible talks about the righteousness of Jesus Christ being imputed unto us when we believe on him. He became sin who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And so not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, the Bible says. And he says if you're laboring, you're heavy laden, and you think about a laboring person from a spiritual perspective, this might be a person who's laboring to seek for the truth. All of us here have labored unto salvation. We all labor to find the truth. We labored by asking, by searching for the truth, by going to churches and looking for the way of salvation. We labored in that manner, but God is not forgetful to forget our labor. He sees that and he'll send someone with the truth to you. You see, if someone is truly looking for the truth, they will find the truth. But here's the scary thing my friends, it's just people out there who look for the truth, it brings them to the foot of the cross to believe on Jesus Christ, and they're like, no I gotta do something too though. I gotta make sure I get baptized, I gotta make sure I live a good life, I gotta make sure I do all these things. At that point, you're rejecting the gift of eternal life, and now you're in danger of becoming ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. We're just constantly learning a bunch of vanity, a bunch of heresy, but you don't get saved because you feel like Jesus Christ, his sacrifice is insufficient for your salvation, that you have to do something on your own to get that eternal life. Folks, you're essentially damning yourself. But people out there labor for that. They labor, they work, they go to churches, they try to read the Bible, they try to speak to people about salvation, and it's not that their works get them saved, but it situates them in a position where God sees that they're responding to the light that God is giving to them, and in light of that he's like, well let's send a person with the truth to that person's door. Let's send a person with the truth, a soul winner, to that individual to give them the gospel. And look, all of us, especially if you've gone soul winning for any length of time, you've run into a person who says, Man, I've just been thinking about this. I've been visiting churches, I've been thinking about this, I've been thinking about salvation, I've been struggling with this, I've been doubting my salvation, I've just been kind of seeking, and this is what I tell, I capitalize on that 100%. I'm like, well you know what, this is the answer to your prayer right here. And I especially would do this because I'm a pastor, so I was like, you know what, you know how important this is to God is that he sent you a pastor to come give you the truth. Because I'm trying to tell him, don't waste this. Because I've had people who've wasted that. And I tell him, if you don't get saved, think about this, God sent the pastor to your door to come preach the gospel unto you, and if you reject that, think about that for a minute. But I don't think that's an exaggeration. I think the fact that you're at someone's door who's been seeking the truth is a testament to the fact that God sends people, yes, even to the black African in the jungle, in the Congo, who's looking for God. People always bring up that illustration, right? Will some African kid in the jungle, in the Congo, what if they've never heard of Christ, will they die and go to hell when they grow up? Yes. Because anybody who's truly seeking the truth, God is willing to send a missionary over there. If he knows that in that person's heart that they're looking for God and they're seeking the truth, he will make it happen. He will make it happen, he'll place the burden on someone's heart, he'll open doors, he will send someone to that person to get them saved. Without a doubt. Because he's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Now look at, you're in Hebrews chapter 3, let me read to you from Acts 15 real quick. It says in Acts 15 verse 10, Now therefore why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the necks of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? Because the Pharisees were coming to them and saying, hey, unless you keep the law of Moses and be circumcised, you cannot be saved. And then the disciples are like, why are you putting this burden on them? Why are you putting this yoke on them because we're not even able to do that. So it's hypocritical for these Pharisees to say, yeah, we can keep the law to be saved when it's actually a lie. Because he that keepeth the whole law, yet offended at one point, he's guilty of all. And he's like, we can't bear this burden, we can't bear this yoke, and neither can they, so why would you put this on them? Look at Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 17, this is talking about the children of Israel in the wilderness. And it's giving the spiritual application to salvation because it says in verse 17, But with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sin, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believe not? So from a physical perspective, people were not, the children of Israel were not, many of them were not allowed to go into the promised land, which is also known as the rest, right, because of the fact that they believed not. In other words, they didn't believe in God. Okay, they didn't believe in God, and therefore they were not able to enter into the promised land because of it. He says in verse 19, so we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Now look at chapter 4 verse 1, Let us therefore fear, lest the promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. Now, just a little side note here, does this look like it's a different gospel that they had in the Old Testament? He says that the gospel that was preached unto us was preached unto them, the only difference is they didn't believe it. They didn't say the only difference was they had to add works to it or something like that, they had to do these animal sacrifices. He says they didn't believe it, okay. Verse 3 says, For we which have believed do enter into his rest, as he had said, I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. Look at verse 11, Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. So rest can be essentially symbolic for salvation, because when a person is unsaved, they're heavily burdened with sin, they're heavily burdened with this unreasonable standard that false prophets place upon them, they are laboring because they're looking for the truth, but when we come to Jesus Christ and we believe on him for salvation, we find rest for our souls. Our soul is like, you know what, I'm thankful that I don't have to keep all of God's commandments to be saved. I'm thankful that I don't have to turn from all my sins to be saved, because I don't even know what all my sins are anyways. I mean think about that, when people say you have to turn from your sins to be saved, it's like, I mean have you read it though? There's so many things in here, especially if you're a brand new Christian, you haven't read the whole Bible, there's things that you're probably doing right now that are sinful but you don't even know about it. So I mean that's a heavy burden, but when we get saved, we find rest for our souls because it's a relief that we don't have to do all those things to be saved. I mean think about these Pentecostals out there, where they're in church literally right now, screaming and yelling and foaming out the mouth and rolling on the ground and hala shalaballah and a six-pack dolla, habaranisa nasharabara handa, doing all these wild things in their church and it's all meaningless. I mean they literally wake up thinking like, I gotta make sure I have a form of godliness or something. Right? Like I gotta have a form of godliness, I gotta speak in tongues, I gotta say like five hallelujahs or something like that. I mean that's a heavy burden, that's exhausting. They're basically like doing aerobics in their church like every Sunday, like cardio in their church and it's all meaningless. You know, thank God that when we come to church it's like, I gotta go to First Works because I gotta be saved, I gotta make sure I maintain my salvation. No, you're coming to church to learn the word of God. No, if there's someone here who has not found that rest for their soul, if there's someone here who has been laboring and they are heavy laden, they're burdened with all of these unrealistic expectations that false prophets have of them or that they place on themselves, hey you can find rest for your soul today. You can come unto Jesus, in other words you can believe on Jesus Christ for salvation, place your faith in Him only for salvation, recognize that it's eternal, that you can never lose it and then you find rest for your soul. And let me just tell you right now, it's a great feeling. When you get saved and you recognize what true salvation really is and it's not what these lame churches out there are putting forth, you have to do all these things to be saved, you know that's a great feeling. It's like a load has been taken off your back. Which is why Jesus gives that invitation, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, you're burdened, you have that yoke upon you and I'll give you rest. Now go back to Matthew chapter 11. And by the way in Hebrews when we read there, let us labor to enter that rest, that's basically what I was referring to where people are laboring to seek after the truth. They're responding to the light that God gives them. Now again, if they're continuously laboring and it brings them to the knowledge of Jesus Christ or the gift of salvation and they choose not to get saved, that labor is in vain. That labor is in vain because of the fact that they chose not to receive the gift of eternal life. But after salvation, after you've found rest for your souls, you can have a soul that is essentially restless still. Because salvation, although it changes that which is on the inside, it gives us a new man, it doesn't take away all your problems. This isn't a church where you get saved and you're just a brand new person and your debt goes away or something and now you're never going to struggle with the sins of the flesh and everything is going to be hunky dory. That's not true. Your diseases don't go away just because you get saved. I mean the disease of sin goes away, which is the one that you want to go away the most. But your thought life doesn't necessarily change either. Your habits don't change either. At this point, now you have to yoke up with Jesus Christ in order to make those changes. So we see here the invitation, we also see the command in verse 29, look what it says. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lonely in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden light. Now hold your place there and go to Mark chapter 15. So this is the command. He says take my yoke upon you. Remove the yoke, that burden that has been distributed to you by the world, by false prophets, by your own standard, by false ideologies, by bad doctrine, by heresy. Take that yoke off by believing in Jesus Christ and then he says take my yoke upon you. Now what yoke is he referring to? Well there's a particular story in the Gospels that I've always thought about when in relation to this passage. Look at verse 19. This is Jesus Christ. He's already been scourged, he's been beaten, he's been bruised, he's been spat upon, he's been mocked, and he's being taken to Golgotha, also known as Calvary, to be crucified on a cross. And it says in verse 19, they smote him on the head with a reed and did spit upon him, bowing their knees, worshipping him. They worshipped him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him and put his own clothes on him and let him out to crucify him. Look what it says in verse 21. And they compel once Simon a Cyrenian who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross. So this story is found in two of the Gospels, but it's referring to this guy Simon who the Bible says they compelled him to bear his cross. And if you think about it, the cross is like a yoke. Because if Jesus Christ is carrying the cross on one end, Simon is probably on the other end carrying it as well. It will almost operate like a yoke. And they're compelling him to bear his cross with him. Now, here's the thing is that I believe Jesus Christ, he could have borne the cross anyways, with or without Simon. It's not like he needed help or something like that, but they're compelling someone to bear his cross. And I think this is a picture of believers. Because after salvation, you do have a choice my friends. You have a choice. You can go back to the yoke of bondage. You can be ensnared with the yoke of bondage, with the burden of sin, again, if you want. You can be entangled again with the affairs of this life, the Bible says, or I'm compelling you to take up your cross and follow him. You know the Bible says in Matthew 16 verse 24, go with me if you would to Luke 14, Matthew 16 verse 24 says, Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. So this is a choice. He says if you want to come after me, all right. However, first of all, you got to deny yourself. What does that mean? Well, the Bible also puts it as dying to self, right? Like you got to put your goals and your aspirations and what you want aside. You got to deny yourself. You got to take up your cross and follow Jesus. Now, what does it mean to take up your cross? Well, basically, he took up the cross to die. The Bible says, You know, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies, a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. He's basically telling us, you know, you got to start living for the Lord, serving God, reading the Word of God, putting him first in your life. How do we put Jesus first in our life? Well, by reading the Bible first thing in the morning on a practical level. And I would say this. Everyone who's in here put Jesus first on Sunday by coming to church. So you made a conscientious decision to say, You know what? I'm going to get my rear end in church today. You like sleeping in? Not going to do it. You like watching the game? I don't know what games are on right now. I'm not going to do it. Want to go barbecue? No sun out, so I'm not going to do it. Want to go do it? You know, you're putting Christ first by being in church. But you know what? We see with Simon is that he went all the way. He took the cross all the way to where? To Golgotha, which is being interpreted the place of a skull. And so the goal for every Christian should be that when we're bearing the cross, we bear it all the way when? Till we die. We take it all the way to Calvary. We take it all the way to Golgotha. We bear that cross all the way through and we don't quit. So what if I quit? You're still saved of course, because you can't lose your salvation, but you do lose out on rewards. And guess what? You lose out on God's respect. Think about that. Because the Bible talks about how God wants to honor His children and another way of saying honoring is respect. I mean wouldn't you want to be respected by God? For God to have respect unto us and to honor us and say, you know, well done thou good and faithful servant. But that doesn't happen for everyone. It happens to those who bear their cross all the way to the end. Okay, look at Luke 14 verse 27. And by the way, he says there, ye cannot be my disciple. I'm so sick and tired of liberal preachers redefining what it means to be a disciple. They do this all the time. You know, a disciple, according to the Bible, by the way, Jesus said, you know, if you're going to follow Jesus Christ, you're going to become a what? A fisher of men. But how many of these pastors actually go soul winning? Think about that. They go soul losing. They make proselytes and then they make them twofold more a child of hell than themselves, because they're not even saved themselves. You know, but if we're really going to follow Jesus Christ, let me just explain something. If you're going to be a true follower of Jesus Christ, and this is where the rubber meets the road right here, you're going to be soul winning. You're going to be preaching the gospel, opening your mouth boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel. Look, I'm not gifted with that. Yeah, but you know what the Holy Spirit is? And guess what? He dwells within you. So, you know, there goes that excuse. And look, yeah, it's uncomfortable to go out there and tell people they're going to hell. And say, hey, you know, good morning or whatever, you know, like, just want to let you know you're going. Obviously, you don't do it that way. I'm just saying, you know, you're speaking to total strangers about salvation. And you're basically telling them on their on their turf, that what they believe is wrong. And that they're going to go to hell and then they believe what the Bible says. You know, that takes a lot of boldness. But thankfully, you know, the Holy Spirit emboldens us to do such a thing. Okay. He empowers us. He enables us to do such a thing. And you cannot be truly a disciple. You cannot say that you're following Jesus Christ if you're not soul winning. You say, well, I follow Jesus. I read the Bible. But do you go soul winning though? Well, I follow Jesus. I go to First Works Baptist Church and I'm a part of this congregation. Hey, great. But do you go soul winning though? You know, yeah, I'm a true disciple because I believe in Jesus. I got a journal and I got the highlighter in there and I put Jesus in big letters and I talk about how much I love him. And you know, all these things. Great. Yeah, that's great. Great, great, great. But do you go soul winning though? Well, that's the one thing I don't do. Well, then you're not following him. Because then you're going to have to change the passage in, what is it, Matthew chapter four, that states that you become a fisher of men once you follow him. You follow him, you become a fisher of men. You know, that's what he told his disciples because they were literal fishers. And then he's telling them, like, follow me and I will make you fishers of men, not fishers of fish anymore. I'll have you fishing souls out of the lake of fire. Look at Luke 14 verse 27. Whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. If you're not dying to self, if you're not, you know, putting in the effort to actually serve Christ, you can't be his disciple. Now, this is not a heavy burden for you to bear. It's a burden, but it's not a heavy burden. Let me explain to you why. Go with me if you would to go to Mark 16. You're like, well, that is hard. Of course it's hard. Here's the difference, though, my friends, is that a yoke is an instrument for two animals, right? So unlike the false prophet that places the yoke upon you, Jesus said, take my yoke upon you. In other words, work with me is what he's saying. This is the great thing about Jesus Christ that separates him from all the lame gods that are out there. He's like, I will work with you. You work with me, I'll work with you. We will be true yoke fellows, as the Bible puts it. That's the great thing. You're not in the Christian life alone. Obviously you have your church, you have your brothers and sisters in Christ, you may have your family with you. But more than that, you have Jesus Christ who is actually laboring with you. He's pulling the cart with you. And let me just let you in on a little secret. He's bearing most of the load. We've got to keep up with him. It's not the other way around. I've seen some deadlifting videos where it's like this ungodly amount of weight, and it requires two people to do it. And I kind of wonder, who's the one who's pulling the most in that lift? Are these guys just equally strong, were they able to just both of them at the same time? There has to be one who's stronger than the other. Well, you know, in the Christian life, Jesus Christ is the one who deadlifts more than us. He's actually the one who's lifting more than us. And thankfully, you know, he still rewards us for the work that we put in. So, as we're laboring for God, we get under that yoke with him, we're bearing that cross, and he does this to say, all right, go ahead, work, slave. And by the way, this is what the modern versions of the Bible try to tell you, and this is what these liberal churches try to teach you. Is that we're slaves for Christ. You're not going to find that in the Bible. That's a modern version translation where the Bible calls us slaves. And this is why people have such a screwed up, misconstrued conception of who God is. Because they're reading a Bible, if they read it, and they're listening to preaching that says, you're a slave for Christ. We're not slaves for Christ. We're servants of the Lord. And think about this, I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but he says, I'm meek and he says, learn of me, for I am meek and lonely in heart. I'll get into that later. It makes me mad. When people, you know, they put forth this image of God as though he's just like some overbearing dictator. Like, you're my slave and you do my bidding. He gives you a choice, my friends. But look at Mark 16, verse 19. This is a great picture here of that yoke. He says in verse 19, so then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere. Listen to this, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following. Amen, the Bible says. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. So what do we see? As they're going out there preaching the gospel, they're not necessarily going alone. I'm sure they have their soul winning partner, but they have the Lord working with them. They are yoked up with Christ to do the work of God. You know, the Bible tells us that for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And again, this is the difference between Jesus Christ and everyone else is that he actually labors with you. He labors with you in soul winning. He labors with you when you're teaching your children. He labors with you when you're homeschooling. He labors with you when you're working at your job. He's laboring with you when you are winning souls to Christ, when you're reading the Bible. He's just there with you. And in fact, the Bible says lo, I am with you all the way until the end of the world. Amen. He says he's with us. He gave us a promise. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Look at 1 Corinthians 3 verse 5. Who then is Paul? Who is Apollos, but ministers by whom he believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted Apollos' water, listen to this, but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his labor. For we are laborers together with God, the Bible says. You're God's husbandry. You're God's building. You see, this is a great principle here that you never have to go into the Christian life alone. It's not like God's like, alright, well here's my rules. Figure it out. Let me know if you need any help or something like that. I hear a phone. Someone answer it. Someone answer it. Tell them I'm busy here. You know, you're laboring with him. So what does he do? He doesn't just slap all these commandments and say just figure it out. He labors with you. You are working with Christ. Yes, you're working for him, but you're also working with him. Now again, what was I talking about when I said the fact that these people put out this misconception of who God is? Well, a lot of these pastors do this because of the fact that they don't know who Jesus is. They don't read the Bible. And this is why Jesus said, learn of me, for I am meek and lonely in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. You know, if they actually read the Bible, they would see that Jesus Christ and God himself, they're not like that. He's not like that. He's not going to impose his work upon you. He's not going to force you to go soul winning. He's not going to force you to read the Bible. He's not going to force you to go to church. He gives you the option of doing that. And if you read the Bible, you would know it. Okay? Go to Deuteronomy 22. Deuteronomy 22. Look, this is why it's important that when we're in church, you bring your Bible with you. Amen? You bring your Bible, you open it up, you go to the passages. We're not going to have a screen up here with five different versions of the Bible and pick the one that really fits what we're trying to say here. Our church is King James only. We don't mess with the ESV, the HIV, the STD, the NIV, you know, whatever. We don't mess with those because those are false versions of the Bible that teach false doctrine. And so, and they put forth a wicked perception of who God is because they're written and translated by wicked people. Okay? But Jesus said, I'm meek and lonely in heart, ye shall find rest unto your souls. Read the Word of God and you'll see that Jesus Christ is long suffering, He's patient, He's merciful, He's gracious, He's kind, He's willing to bear with us, you know, through our infirmities. When you fall short and you're not where you need to be, He's just patient with you. So how do I know that God is patient with me? Well, you're still alive, aren't you? He hasn't struck you dead yet. Okay? You're like, yeah, I feel like I'm near it then, then you better get right, you know? The goodness and forbearance of God leadeth you to repentance. And, you know, God is patient with us and, but there's only way to know this is by learning of Him. You know, the Bible says, ye have not so learned Christ, it so be that ye have heard Him and have been taught by Him as the truth is in Jesus, that ye put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. If we're going to learn who Jesus Christ is, get this, I know this is really novel, you have to read the Bible. Search the scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are which testify of me. That's what the Bible says. And so, when you come to church, you're coming to learn about Jesus. When you open up the Bible throughout the week, every single day, you're learning about Jesus. And you know what you'll find? He's meek and lowly in heart. He's not going to say, get this yoke on you right now, you slave. Do my bidding, slave! I mean, this is what the Calvinists believe. This is what these reformers, you know, they like to say, we're slaves of Christ. And you know, he's our, yes, he's our master, but he's not like these Roman masters or Greek masters or these worldly Gentile masters out there. They want to make you a slave. No, he's actually a benevolent dictator. He's kind, he's loving, he's patient. He says, I've loved him with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness will I draw them. So he says, I love you with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness I will draw you. You know, the god of the Calvinists, the god of these false religions, they're just like, no, you're my slave and I'm going to force you to do this. God says, I'm going to draw you with loving kindness. Now, here's the thing is that as a Christian, you have a choice obviously. You can either take the yoke of the cross. Even as a saved person, you can take the yoke of the cross or you can be under the yoke of bondage again if you want. But no matter what, you're going to be under some yoke though. So it's not like, well, I don't want to really serve God. I don't really want to serve the Lord. I don't really want to be under that yoke. I want to, I just want to be saved and still have like the other yokes. You can do that if you want. It's not very wise to do it and I'm going to explain to you why in just a bit. But what I'm saying is that you have a choice of which yoke you want. But look at Deuteronomy 22 and verse number 9. Because if you choose not to be yoked up with Christ, you're basically saying I want to be yoked up with someone else. I want to be yoked up with my old buddies. I want to be yoked up with my girlfriend. I want to be yoked up with my boyfriend. I want to be yoked up with my unsaved associates. I want to be yoked up with my unsaved family. I want that yoke more than this yoke. Well, look at Deuteronomy 22 verse 9 says, Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with diverse seeds, lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown and the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled. Verse 10, thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. Now this was literally something that they had to do in the Old Testament. And from a practical perspective, he's basically saying don't plow an ox and an ass together for two reasons. One, on a practical level, an ox is a lot stronger than an ass. So it's just going to kind of like, they're just not going to agree together, you understand? But secondly, because the ass is an unclean animal. And so this is a spiritual principle here for the New Testament that as we're plowing as ox, we shouldn't be yoked up with the ass. And you know what the problem with a lot of Christians is? They want to be yoked up with the asses of this world. You know, you're an ox, you're a child of God, you're not an unclean beast, you're not an unclean animal, but for some reason, you still like to be yoked up with the ass. The donkeys of this world, the idiots and the fools of this world. And you know what the Bible tells us? That he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Why would you be yoked up with the asses of this world when they have nothing to offer you? You're going to be bearing most of the load. You're going to be paying for their, you know, you're the one with character. You're going to be paying for their meals. You're going to be bearing their burdens. You're going to be, you know, assimilating to their way of life and getting their sins and all these things. They're going to destroy your life. So, you know, forget the asses of this world. And it's interesting that the Bible uses this animal like, oh, you're cussing. An ass is a donkey, my friends. But there's a reason why the ass is an unclean animal. And there's a reason it's called an ass. There's a reason why today we use that term to describe someone who's an idiot. Because, you know, the people in this world without Christ, they are asses. The people in this world who try to get you to, you know, deviate from the road that God has you on and try to get you to deviate from the Bible and deviate from your family and try to get you to leave your spouse and leave your wife and leave your husband and just kind of do your own thing. Get away from the ass. Kick the ass out of your life. I mean, this is, I'm just using what the Bible is using here. Don't plow an ox and an ass together. You're the ox, my friend. You're the one who has the strength, you're strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. You actually are, you know, you're built different. Right? You're built different, you're built to work for the Lord and then you're just going to yoke up with an ass? You're going to get an ass of a girlfriend? That's what it is. Some girlfriend who's going to lead you astray, get you out of church, you know, cause you to stop reading the Bible, get you to fornicate, get you to just waste your life. You know, have a bastard child, oh there goes another cuss word that the Bible uses. Have a bastard child just live an unprofitable life. Why? Because an ox got with an ass. Which, by the way, the Bible also forbids that as well. You know, you're going to stick with your ass of a boyfriend who still plays video games, is not in church, is not a believer, plays video games, watches anime, has a mullet, I'm just kidding. Hey, I'm for the mullet for children, my friends, okay? I still stand by that. I'm still trying to convince my wife to allow my little ones to have mullets because it's cute. I don't care what anybody says. But for a grown man to have a mullet, come on now. You know, doesn't have a job or has a part time job but is depending on you still, right? That's an ass of a boyfriend. But that's what you're choosing to get yoked up with. And then, you know, you just have those asses out there who are your friends, who are just kind of watering you down, causing you to be lukewarm in the Christian life. You know, they are destroying you spiritually, get away from them. Get away from the donkey, get away from the ass. You need to yoke up with another ox. Hey, you need to get yourself an ox of a man. You need to get yourself an ox of a woman. I know that sounds weird but, you know, it's like, I'm just saying like a legitimate, you know, get a believer who's in church, who loves the Lord. Don't plow with an ox and an ass together. Don't yoke up with the unclean people of this world. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 6. 2 Corinthians chapter 6. Don't tell me the Bible doesn't have a good sense of humor. You think that's there by accident? I don't think so. That's what it says. I just think that's inappropriate. Then just say the Bible's inappropriate then. And stop using the world's terminology to define what the Bible says. Okay? This is what the Word of God says. I remember someone came up to me and was just like, I don't use the King James because the King James uses a bad word. I'm like, what bad word? Ass. I'm like, that's an animal. You're like, really? I'm like, yes. You don't even know it's an animal? But it's fitting. It's fitting to describe the unclean people of this world. Look what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 6.14. Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Now, let me just say this is that this doesn't mean you can't, because yoked obviously is an instrument of burden to do work. This doesn't mean you can't work with unsafe people. Okay? Don't take this to the extreme. You say, well, how do you know that? Well, because the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 5, he says, I wrote unto you in an epistle not to accompany with fornicators, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or with the extortioners or idolaters, for then must he need to go out of the world. So he's not saying like, you know, you can't work at the same job. Everybody at your job has to be a Christian. Everybody at your job has to be like a pastor, a missionary, or evangelist, or something like that. You know, that's not what the Bible is saying at all. It's essentially saying you shouldn't associate with, fellowship with, you know, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather approve them. He says there, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Why? For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? What concord hath Christ with Belial? He's like, why? First of all, you should ask yourself, why do you have so much in common with an unsafe person? Because what fellowship is there with righteousness and unrighteousness? He says, what communion hath light with darkness? And he's just like, what concord hath Christ with Belial? You know, if you have like a fag for a friend or something like that, he's just kind of like, why are you hanging out with the fags of this world? With sodomites who hate the Lord. He says, what concord hath Christ with Belial? And the Bible talks about sodomites being the sons of Belial. Look it up, Judges chapter 19. What part hath he that believeth with an infidel? What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God, as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Listen to this, verse 17. Wherefore come out from among them and be, separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you. What is he saying? Stop yoking up with the ass. Yoke up with Christ who's the line of the tribe of Judah. Yoke up with Jesus Christ and work for him. Actually do what God has commanded you to do. Now, here's the last passage I want to go to. Go to 1 Kings chapter 12. 1 Kings chapter 12. Because remember, he says, my yoke is easy, my burden is light. Right? And you think to yourself, I don't know, the Christian life is not that easy. It's kind of hard sometimes. I mean, wouldn't you agree with that? Isn't the Christian life kind of hard sometimes? I mean, to keep God's commandments and to serve the Lord, it's kind of hard. You know, it's hard to go sowing him when you don't feel like going sowing him. It's hard to love your wife as Christ also loved the church if, you know, if you're having difficulties in your marriage. It's hard to reverence your husband when he's irreverent or something. It's hard to do those things. It's hard to just be a good Christian sometimes. It's hard. However, the reason he said his yoke is easy and his burden is light, listen to this, because it's easy by comparison. That's why it's easy. Obviously, it's hard. If it was that easy, everyone would be doing it. Right? But the reason he says it's easy, the reason he says it's light is because it's easy and light by comparison, because of what? What you get out there. Because what you get out there is hard. The Bible says the way of the transgressor is hard. You know what's hard? Waking up on Saturday or on Sunday with a hangover and your own vomit. That's hard. Waking up, your head's hurting, you got to get a clomato, you got to get a soup and you're just feeling like trash the entire day. That's hard. You know what's hard, ladies? Waking up on a Saturday, are you getting raped or not? That's hard. Having a child out of wedlock with some person who's not even saved, that's hard. Getting an STD, that's hard. Right? So yeah, I guess it is easy to serve Christ in, right? By comparison, yeah, it's hard to get your butt up in the morning and come to church sometimes on a Sunday morning, but it's a lot easier than having to wake up on a Sunday morning with a hangover. Yeah, it's hard to go out there and preach the gospel to every creature and be bold, but you know, it's a lot harder to please your unsaved, worldly friends and to mess up your conscience by doing things you're not supposed to be doing, by laying on yourself the burdens of your sins and doing things that you know are not pleasing unto the Lord. That's hard. It's hard when you have God working against you. So think about this. Yes, the Christian life is hard, but by comparison to what you get out there, it's easy. And this is a story that I thought about when I was thinking about this particular concept here. Okay? Look at 1 Kings chapter 12. Solomon has just given his king, obviously he's passing off the scene, he's given the kingdom to Rehoboam. Rehoboam is just a really bad leader. He just doesn't really know what he's doing. And look what it says in verse number one. It says, And it came to pass when Jeroboam the son of Nabab, who was yet in Egypt, heard of it, for he was fled from the presence of King Solomon and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt, that they sent and called him and Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came and spake to Rehoboam saying, Thy father, referring to Solomon, made our yoke grievous. Now therefore, make thou the grievous service of thy father and his heavy yoke which is upon us lighter and we will serve thee. So what are they saying? Man, it was hard being under Solomon. His yoke was hard. It was grievous. It was just difficult, it was hard. Make it lighter for us and we'll serve you. Skip down to verse eight. So, you know, Rehoboam, he goes to the young man and the young man gives him some really bad advice. He goes to the old man to give him good advice but he forsakes the counsel of the old man and he goes with the advice of his friends. Verse eight, But he forsook the counsel of the old man which I had given him and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him and which stood before him and he said unto them, What counsel give ye that we may answer this people who have spoken to me saying, Make the yoke which thy father did put upon us lighter? And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him saying, Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy but make thou it lighter unto us. Thus shalt I say unto them, And now, whereas my father did laid you with the heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father hath chastised you with whips. I will chastise you with scorpions. So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day as the king had appointed saying, Come to me again the third day. And the king answered the people roughly and forsook the old men's counsel that they gave him and spake to them after the counsel of the young men saying, My father made your yoke heavy and I will add to your yoke. My father also chastised you with whips. I will chastise you with scorpions. So you know what Jeroboam is thinking? We should have just like it was really good under Solomon actually. I guess the yoke that Solomon had on us wasn't really that bad. Because at least when he whipped us he whipped us with whips. Whereas this guy's gonna whip us with scorpions. We thought we had it bad but compared to what we're gonna get now it was actually good in comparison. So think about this for a second. Think about this story the next time you want to complain about the Christian life. Oh the yoke of my heavenly father is so bad. He chastises me when I do wrong and I suffer the punishment of my stupid actions and it's just so difficult to come to church on Sunday and go soul winning and just live a righteous life and love my husband and love my wife and do all these things. Okay, you can go out there though and get chastised with scorpions. You can go out there and get something heavier and I guarantee you, when you decide to walk out and not be yoked up with Christ you're gonna recognize actually I had it made under the yoke of God. I had it made when I was yoked up with Christ. I had it made when I was under Solomon because by comparison the yoke of Jesus is lighter and it's easy. You see we don't want to always compare but the only thing we want to do is when we're comparing what we have in here in God's will compared to what you can get out there. Of course it's gonna be hard but here's the difference is that when you're out there and you're serving your own lust and you're doing whatever and you're yoked up with the world you get no payment for that. There is, listen to this, listen to me, there is no reward for your suffering out there. There is no reward for your suffering out there. No reward. You suffer, you take that yoke, you take that burden, you get nothing for it. Here in God's will if you bear that yoke, you bear that burden, you serve God, you suffer for righteousness sake guess what you have a great reward waiting for you because Jesus Christ who is laboring with you he's a good boss and he pays really well too and you know what the Bible says that our suffering is not in vain but it is in reward. He repays us for it. And so what's the sermon this morning? The sermon is this, yoke up with Christ. Don't yoke up with your friends with the asses of this world. Don't yoke up with your unsaved boyfriend or girlfriend. Don't yoke up with the things of this world. Take his yoke upon you. His yoke is easy, his burden is light, it's worth it and you're not gonna regret it. Amen. Let's pray, Father we thank you so much for your word. Thank you so much for the yoke that you offer to us. Help us to remain under that yoke all the days of our life and we would assume that Simon essentially helped Jesus Christ bear that cross all the way up until Gogotha and I pray that we would have that same testimony that we would bear our cross all the way up until death and help us to be faithful unto death as it says in the book of Revelation, Lord I pray that you would help us when we're weak, Lord help us to remain under that yoke and whenever we get discouraged or just kind of fed up with just serving or just tired of growing weary and well doing, help us to remember that we shall reap in due season if we faint not but also that by comparison we have a way better here than what people have out there. We love you Lord and we thank you. Pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Song number 112, Be Still My Soul. Song number 112. Song number 112. Be Still My Soul. Seen on that first verse. Be still my soul. The Lord is on my side. Bear patiently the cross of grain or pain. Leave to thy God to order and provide. In every change a faithful will remain. Be still my soul. Thy best, thy heavenly friend. Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end. Be still my soul. Thy God doth undertake to guide the future as He has the past. Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake. All now mystique and glorious shall be bright at last. Be still my soul. The waiting will still know His voice who rule them while He dwell below. Be still my soul. The hour is gaining on when we shall be forever with the Lord. When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone, sorrow foregone, love's purest joys restored. Be still my soul when change and tears are past. All safe and blessed said we shall be at last. Great singing. Just a few announcements real quick before we dismiss. First, don't forget to take your kids to the Fellowship Hall for the pumpkins. Brother Alex and his wife will be out there to distribute that for grades 0 to 8. And then also make sure you clear out of the main auditorium by 1230 because the Christmas program team will be here practicing for the Christmas player.