Open—M. Payette, P. Jennings, D. Rule
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It's saying #275.
Tip #275.
Oh, we're going to slide.
The world fall.
I want you to come to my world that I'm going to show.
Versus suggested part by the him Exodus chapter 15.
15 and verse 23.
When they came tomorrow, they could not drink the water tomorrow, for they were bitter.
Therefore the name of it is called Mara. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? They cried unto the Lord. And the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast in the waters, the waters were made sweet there He made for them a statue and ordinance. And there he proved them, and said, If I will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and we'll do that which is right in his sight. We'll give you here to his commandments, and give all the statutes. I will put none of these diseases upon thee which I brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee.
And I came to Elam where were twelve 12Th waters and three score and 10 palm trees, and they camped there by the waters that the Lord for his help, our God and our Father were just thankful that we could come this afternoon with, uh, open Bibles and anticipation of hearing of thy word. We just do pray that they'll bless it to our souls. And so often we know that we feel that things are bitter around us. Sometimes we lack in our souls and our spirits without able to provide the wells and the palm trees.
And we just do kind of thank the that we can come into thy presence this afternoon and we seek a blessing from above. Thou surely provide for us. Lord Jesus, in thy name we pray to thanks, Amen. Amen.
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Turn to a verse in Luke's gospel.
Chapter 23.
Verse 44.
It was about the 6th hour and there was a darkness over all the earth.
Until the 9th hour.
And the sun was darkened.
I'd like to talk a little bit this afternoon.
About what I feel a little bit on my heart.
Kept me awake.
I mean of science. I want to know how the world was made, and the Scripture tells us how it was made. Made by God's power, by his word.
But unbelievers, we can ask.
The God who made the universe made it a certain way. Why did he make it that way? He had a purpose and making it that way.
Proverbs chapter 8 says when he spread the heavens.
I was there at his side.
That's the Lord Jesus personifying wisdom.
So when God spread the heavens.
There was wisdom.
And how he made the universe, and how he spread the heavens.
And in the creation that we live in.
The brightest object that you have ever seen and that I have ever seen is the sun.
And the universe we live in, where there's life and seasons, is all centered around the sun. Everything revolves around the sun.
And it's wonderful that in English you have the sun and it's pronounced exactly the same. It's just a wonder.
We don't have that in French. You're privileged, the son.
Because I believe that SUN is a picture of the SUN, the sun. So I use the source of light and the source of heat we had in our him. God is light.
And we see the light of creation and how we need it, and we need the light that the Lord Jesus brings to he says, I am the light of the world.
Who are we?
To speak of such a one.
In the book of job it says in job chapter 42 I believe might be 40. I might look at that for a moment.
Zone 42.
Who is he There's three Job 42 verse three. Who is he that hide it counsel from knowledge without knowledge. Therefore I uttered that I understood not things too wonderful for me.
Which I do not.
His job and long discourse of Job and his friends too.
They did talk a lot.
But here Jolie kind of comes to a point where he says.
Who is he that without knowledge hide it counsel?
I mean that means that in my understanding.
Of things that I don't know.
I can be hiding something that I can't. Others can't see because because I've I've.
I've understood it wrong.
So he comes and he says I understood not things too wonderful for me which I knew not.
Many things I don't know and I'm sure everybody here will say.
We know in part.
There are things that we do know. They're clear in the Word of God. Other things.
Perhaps it's hard to define and.
Come to a conclusion on that and, uh.
Surely we can speak about those things, but we need to be careful. We're not speculating.
That we have the word of God.
Well, the basis of what we believe.
And speak to others of.
I thank the Lord I have wonderful opportunities in the gospel.
And I'd like to just share a little bit on.
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Responsibility. We had some thoughts on sovereignty yesterday and.
I'd like to talk to you about my shower doors.
This morning I was in the shower in the hotel.
And my shower has sliding doors, 2 doors.
And yesterday I was in the shower and, uh, I had the doors mixed up.
So the handle I had, I would ending up on the counter so I couldn't get out there. I didn't have the right handle and the other door didn't have a handle. The handle was on the other side. So I did, I did slide it around. But this morning here I am, I come out of the shower, got all the and handle straight and the doors start moving by themselves. They did. They kind of slid back.
In the right position.
I was outside and the handle to get inside was on the outside.
And when I got into the shower this morning, when I was inside, the handle to get outside was on the inside.
I had a handle to come in and I handled the come up.
But the important thing I had a shower.
I don't wanna be funny.
Those two railroad tracks, I've mentioned it to others. It's on my heart. Brethren, I wanna share it with you.
Sovereignty. Responsibility.
But the important thing?
Is the train and the train is crisis.
You hear the gospel.
You're responsible to come in.
You know the gospel.
You're responsible to go out.
And tell them about the Lord, how it happens in the hearts of men. I don't understand. Ecclesiastes said that how how the bones are formed inside.
I know there's a seed and there's quickening life there, and that's what the Spirit of God does with the Word of God. But that's how he does it. He does it by the preaching of the gospel, presenting Christ, the souls.
And we need to feel our responsibility with that.
The Sun here in Luke 23.
It was darkened.
And I'm sure here this morning, every one of us doesn't matter where we our thoughts are we we consider the Son of God.
When he was made sin for you and me on the cross, where he echoed these words, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken thee? That's the center of it all.
That unfathomable person that the Father only knows, who gave himself for you and for me.
You know, in creation God has made times on the earth.
When the sun is darkened.
They had one recently solar eclipse.
We didn't get to see it here, but in Iceland I believe they got. If it was not a cloudy day, they could have seen an eclipse of the sun.
Total eclipse of the sun.
What is before the sun? When there's a total eclipse of the sun, it's the moon.
Who made the moon? God made the moon?
Who gave the orbs so the moon would come and blot out the sun?
God did that and his wisdom.
For the spectators that we are.
And I'm sure many of you in this room, it's not all you have seen.
Through the Lord Jesus on the cross, the eclipse of the sun for you.
I have one record in my life.
Of a real, uh, solar eclipse. And, uh, I didn't really see it because it was cloudy, but they did have warned everybody not to look.
If you stared at the sun, you would damage your eyes. But when there's an eclipse, you it it doesn't glare at you and it doesn't blind you, but if you look, you're gonna damage your eyes.
Of the uh.
Umm, the heavenly bodies. God has made the sun, the moon and the stars. 1St Corinthians 15 we know, Beautiful picture of resurrection, a star picture of the Saints and glory deferring glory from one to another. The glory of the moon. What's particular about the moon? It doesn't have personal glory. It's got reflective glory. It only has glory when it's directing its face towards the sun, and it reflects its glory. And the sun, Well, astronomers don't agree, but the sun to me is the brightest object in that sky.
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That I can look at.
I appreciate start when the sun comes out, the stars disappear. When the Lord appears in glory, we're gonna be manifesting glory with Him. But he's the one that's gonna be seen in US, isn't He?
But I was, uh.
Touched by the fact that, uh, even when the sun is shining.
You can still see them.
And the Lord will manifest in glory that church which doesn't have itself a glorious body. We ain't gonna have glorious bodies, but the church.
Is a reflection of the glory of the Lord Jesus, of the measure of his love. It's a wonderful thing.
But what I want to talk about is, uh.
Eclipse.
What's an eclipse? Well, an eclipse is, uh, interruption.
Of the vision of.
A heavenly body by the interposition of.
Another body, you have eclipses of the moon.
Where the moon reflecting the sun is darkened.
And why is the moon darkened? Because the Earth comes between the sun and the moon.
What's the picture that God gave us in creation? Of what?
Well, I believe our reflection of the Lord Jesus is affected by the earth.
By the earthly things that take up our time, our affections, our resources, and instead of reflecting the glory of the sun, our testimony is darkened.
My dear, makes sense to my soul.
A simple.
What about?
Lunar eclipse.
The sun was blotted out, and Luke 23.
When the light of the world went Into Darkness for you and me.
Is it possible? And brothers sisters for us.
Individually.
Or collectively.
To blot out the glory of the Lord Jesus.
By our partial understanding. By our misunderstanding.
By over understanding of things perhaps too wonderful for us.
In him are his all the mysteries of wisdom and knowledge or intelligence. It's all in him.
And I only know them apart, and so do you. And I'm sure you know what I do. But.
It's only partial.
So I should have been late on my heart recently. I I want to share with my brethren here.
The table of the Lord.
The Lord's Table.
Receiving.
At the large table.
Who receives?
At the Lord's Table.
Hello. It's not the Lord. It's not the Lord's table.
And if it's the Lord receiving at his table through responsible ones, obviously we have responsibility with that it should bear the character of the Lord.
Romans, chapter 14.
Verse 15 rather.
#7.
Wherefore.
Receive you one another, as Christ also received us.
To the glory of God.
Thinking of prodigal son when he came home, he was received before he got home. What a reception he got.
On my phone, he's a father run up to him like this. He had open arms. He was longing for that boy to come back.
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Would the Lord's heart be different?
Welcoming those he died for.
Whether we're receiving them in restoration or receiving them as what they are, truly members of His body.
I am guilty in my soul.
Of failing.
To reflect in my way of dealing with.
This subject.
I'm not truly reflect reflecting the Lord.
And I just like to mention this for our exercise because.
It's not easy.
Two aspects in connection with the Lord's Table is the ground of the one body that includes every redeemed 1 redeemed other precious blood of Christ.
And the authority and the respect due to the person of the Lord Jesus. He's the Lord. And if he's the Lord, we do things the way He wants. He's the Lord. We submit ourselves willfully to what He wants, the prescriptions from His Word. That's how we do things.
First Corinthians, chapter 10.
Verse 16.
Brother mentioned his verse this morning.
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion?
Of the body of Christ.
Whoa, the blood of Christ.
Millions of redeemed ones by the precious blood of Christ.
Members of the body of Christ.
Wonderful.
It's all Christ, his blood and his body, which is a church.
And then he goes on to exhort them about.
The Fellowship.
And I would like to suggest this thought to you in connection with.
My exercise and I I'm really open to be corrected on this. I wouldn't feel free myself.
To remember the Lord.
Anywhere else?
Then had his table.
Where he has drawn us around himself, where we submit his word, where we let the Spirit of God minister the truth to us and lead us in, in songs and worship and, uh, enjoy his person. Where he's the team and the center of it all Like the sun and creation. There's the sun in redemption. He's, he's the center at all. It's all, it's all about him and us and him.
But if one came as a member of the body of Christ, redeemed with his precious blood, and he wanted to remember the Lord in his death, and perhaps was not.
Clear as I would be as to where I would go or not go, but in simplicity of faith, he would want to remember the Lord in his death for us.
I think, I believe, I'm persuaded the Lord would greet him.
On the ground that he washed them with precious blood and that he's a member of his body that belongs to that person that belongs to the Lord, doesn't belong to me.
And so I just suggest this problem because it has enlarged my heart in considering these passages.
That's a table of the Lord, and the Lord's Supper is under his Lordship.
We can say many things in our discourse about the Lord and yet betray His character in how we behave and how we do things. May the Lord help us, dear ones.
It's a lot keep us from anything that we would take out of proportion.
To Eclipse.
His glory.
Is it possible?
That are being taken up with things that pertain to the church.
Would blot out the vision of the sun. That's what the solar eclipse is. The moon gets in the way.
You can't see the sun anymore.
This is the word of God.
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From the first chapter to the last chapter, it has one object.
It's not you, it's not me, it's Christ.
And you and me, and him. Wonderful.
I hope you're on the train.
If you're on the train.
You can help in glory. That's where it's going. You're destined for glory.
How do you get on the train? You believe the gospel?
I am the door by me. If any man enter, you shall be saved.
And if you're on the train, I trust you are.
And your fellowship is with the Father and the Son.
And the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I believe with all my heart that the Lord Jesus loves souls.
He loves the Brethren and he loves souls.
And if you're involved, you put the Son of God and God our Father, you're gonna love the brethren.
You're gonna love souls.
Love puts you to work and that define the Saints, taking care of them, shepherding them, and going after the lost ones in the gospel. May Lord bless His word to our souls and just leave this thought with you. May God keep us, May God keep me. May God keep you from eclipsing in any measure the glory of the sun.
By my partial knowledge.
Uh, on my heart, uh, to share with you all this afternoon is maybe a little different than the message that we just received. Uh, it's, it's my desire to share, uh, a little on burdens. I know that, umm, as.
I'm 50, I just turned 56 by the way. And umm, in my life I've, I've, umm, experienced, uh, burdens, uh, burdens come in different forms, come for different reasons.
And uh.
And yet they're all real to us. We can be sitting in a conference like this with a smile on our face and a very heavy heart.
We can.
Feel.
Like we're just about to the point where we're ready to give up.
And it's my desire to share some of the things that I guess maybe life has taught and I trust as the Spirit of God has worked in my soul to bring me through some of the circumstances of my life.
Recently I was in the home of a young man and his mother.
And, umm.
This family had lost their father, uh, maybe four years ago or so.
And I was I was there to try to, to be an encouragement to them, maybe get a little some projects done that were hanging over them. I'm sure they were burdens and I'm sure that they were burdens that they looked to the Lord for answers for. And the Lord gave me the privilege to maybe lighten those burdens a little bit. But as I sat at lunch.
Uh, with them one one day.
I tried to help the young man understand.
That there are times when we can take burdens on ourselves that God hasn't given us.
I encourage this young man not to try to be a father in that home.
That there were gonna be responsibilities for him.
That God didn't intend for him to shoulder.
That there were gonna be, there were gonna be circumstances in his life where he would not be able to answer the need for his mother.
And that he had to learn.
That God promises to take care of us.
Maybe there's those this afternoon who are carrying burdens that God really doesn't. The Lord doesn't intend for you to bear completely. I'd like to start by just reading a familiar verse in Galatians chapter 6.
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Because I, I do believe that we want a certain balance to this, to these subjects. And it's not a balance that I can guarantee you. I'm not necessarily one who is known to be, uh, very balanced and no others more balanced than myself. So I'll do the very best that, uh, the Lord enables me. So let's, umm, read and umm, verse five of.
Galatians 6.
Says For every man shall bear his own burdens. You may be bearing a burden today.
And it may not be a burden that you've brought upon yourself. It may not be a burden that you're not supposed to be bearing. God makes provisions for burdens.
You may be a student in a university and you feel like you're up to there in the requirements that are placed upon you.
The answer necessarily isn't to flee or run, or it's to accept the burdens that the Lord has given you and seek grace to help in those burdens.
I specifically want to speak to those who may be burdened.
Beyond the desire of God for your your soul to be burdened.
And yet life has a tendency to press upon us and sometimes we need answers. We need to know how God has provided for us to bear burdens. I like to think of this book as a tool box.
My son recently last year or so, he became a mechanic and mechanic. Mechanics like their tools and I might look in the mechanics toolbox and open the drawers and see see things I I absolutely have no idea what the purpose for is for them.
Umm. But my son, if he has any experience with these tools, realizes that tool has a specific purpose. If I use that tool and if I learn how to use it, I'll be able to skillfully perform the task that.
Requires me to to make a living. The word of God is like that. It's filled with tools that work. They work.
Was never in intended for God. God never intended his children to be overburdened. He told us that we wouldn't be given burdens beyond our ability to get through them. But He gives us tools.
To use in keeping ourselves from becoming overburdened, I'd like to just turn to Matthew Chapter 11.
This is a beautiful passage of Scripture.
Because the Lord Jesus, our example, is the one who's speaking and He is perfectly showing us how we can get through this life, no matter what the circumstances are, and be able to live with certainly a measure of peace. And if I have peace in my soul, I cannot be overburdened. The two don't go together, cares.
An overabundance of care and peace don't belong in the same heart. They don't belong in the same mind. And the Lord Jesus here gives us the key.
That we can apply the tool that we can use, that our life might be kept to a certain degree.
At at Peace and.
You know, when, when there's peace, there's joy. So let's just say peace and joy, they go together. Burdens, cares, that's trouble, that's clouds, it's difficulties. So.
Let's read it verse 25. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, oh Father, Lord of heaven, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and has revealed and has revealed them unto babes. The Lord Jesus had spent his energies.
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Reaching out to those that he loved, he'd been as as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. He had done miracles. He had healed. He had tried to relieve the suffering.
And what did he get?
Rejection.
You got rejection.
And if there was ever a reason why, maybe his soul wouldn't have been at peace. And I speak relevantly because I know him and that's not possible for the Lord Jesus.
But looking at it from our vantage point, you know peace usually comes when things are going well.
But things weren't going well.
Under these circumstances, for the Lord.
And yet, how does he respond?
I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. He thanked his Father for the wisdom of his pathway. That's called submission.
In your circumstances today.
Can I ask you and myself, can we thank the Lord our Father?
For what he has chosen to bring into our path. Speaking to a young brother just a few minutes ago about that, about submission and it's.
Pretty universal forces and we talk about submission, we wanna, we wanna recoil, we wanna, you know, tell, talk about how hard it is.
But submission always brings victory.
It always brings peace. It doesn't change the circumstances.
It doesn't make the failures right, it doesn't necessarily change our immediate circumstances, but what it does is it interjects peace.
And brings peace in times of difficulty. You know some some things in life.
Are extremely difficult.
To take.
There might be sin in our life. There may be a failure.
And we may have to acknowledge that God had to allow that to happen in our life so that we could learn a lesson, get from this stage of growth to the next, from get getting from this phase of being made into the image of Christ.
I don't like to say talk about sin is necessary in in any in any circumstances, but it it is allowed of God because there's a, there's a, there's a, there's a process.
Maybe it's not sin. Maybe it's not sin in our lives. Maybe it's maybe it's sin in the lives of our families, our loved ones, our brethren.
Can we?
Say.
I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth.
Under those circumstances, can we can we realize God is in control?
And that circumstances have that circumstance has been allowed.
Because God in his wisdom.
Has seen it necessary.
Sometimes burdens come.
In our lives because.
We feel the shame.
We feel the shame. Shame is something.
That is extremely painful.
And shame is something that Satan uses.
To keep us burden.
We may have committed a sin years ago.
It may have been dealt with according to the Word of God, but for some reason it's hard for us to get rid of the shame in connection with it.
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I'd just like to share a well known verse in Hebrews.
If your fever is chapter 12.
This is.
The Lord is our example.
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
And for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.
Despising the shame.
Did the shame of the cross hinder the Lord Jesus?
From obedience in answering.
To God's.
Work that God had placed before him.
He would not allow the shame.
Of the Cross to hinder him.
From completing the work which God has for him to do now.
Are we going to go through life with the burden?
Of Shane and allow it.
To hinder.
Fruit bearing for God.
There might be a little.
Pride in that.
We don't like to think.
That were connected with something that.
Is shameful.
Not to make light of sin in any way. Sin is shameful.
The Lord Jesus.
It says.
Despise the shame.
And it's set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Are the burdens that you bear this afternoon connected with?
Some shortcoming, Something in your life, Something in the life of of of your loved one.
I just wanna share it. Not sure if this will mean anything to you, but it has meant something to me.
Umm.
And my my mind is gonna draw a blank, but that's OK.
We know no man.
After the flash.
We know not Christ after the flesh. We know no man after the flesh.
Often times, brethren, our reputations.
Are connected with what?
We are in the flesh.
Scripture says we we know no man after the flesh. We're in a new creation. We're in a new family.
We've lost our connection.
With.
Adams Race.
Do I suggest that?
A good name isn't to be chosen rather than riches.
Again, I'd like to put this in balance. Scripture speaks of valuing a good name.
That means we.
We don't carelessly tarnish a name.
But when it comes down to it.
We're part of a new creation.
We know no man after the flesh.
It's that truth.
Rests firmly in our souls.
It'll help for the burden to be lifted.
It might be connected with something that may have in some way tarnished.
My name.
You know.
We're all pretty broken.
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And if we allow our brokenness in any way to burden us.
Down.
We're not gonna get very far.
I want to encourage us.
Are there going to be burdens?
We're told to each bear our own burden.
But God give us grace to know when we're trying to bear something God has not asked us to bear. I wanna give you an example of what I think that is.
Sorry, time.
I know of a little family with a mother I don't know, over time, maybe six or seven kids.
A mother and six or seven kids, obviously there's something missing there, isn't there?
Very.
Important component. It's called the Father. But like I said, we live in a broken world, don't we?
It's nice if you sit here, haven't had the experience of having a mother and a father. That's normal, that's God's design. But we live in a broken world, and this dear little family had a mother in about six or seven kids.
And as I watch this dear family that I love grow up, each one of the kids would get to the point where they were the oldest in the family, the one that the oldest one that was left.
And the burden?
Of trying to be the father, the responsibility of being the oldest one in that family.
Ended up when they got to that point they took off.
Because it was a burden they thought they had to bear natural. Here I am, I'm the oldest one in the family and all these things are happening all around me. And some of these things are happening and they're, they're wrong and they're, and the burdens became so bad. They said I got to get out of here. And they did. And it, it didn't end up in much blessing. I mean, I, I believe God's bringing much blessing, but sometimes it may not appear that way. Why they didn't understand.
Those were burdens God wasn't calling them to bear.
But if you're in that situation, what if your family has come apart?
Is it your responsibility to fix it?
Let me suggest that you go to the Lord if you're in a situation.
That is completely not Mayo is intended to be. Don't take that situation on yourself. Don't try to become a.
13 year old 14 year old father.
Go to the Lord and say I can't be the father of this situation, but.
I'm I'm willing to be used of you, Lord. I'm willing to take as much as you ask me to bear. I'm willing to go to you and do all I can, Lord, with your strength.
And so let's be careful with the burdens.
You'll have them.
God is there, remember whatever it is.
First of all, do what the Lord Jesus did. Father, I thank thee.
The way you've chosen.
For what you've ordered.
I think the submission brings peace.
Well, I trust that starts a little bit of an encouragement to you.
We're gonna look to add to what's just been said.
Uh, from the aspect of REST.
All of us.
Some part of our being appreciate rest.
Hopefully we experience some of the rest last night after we went to bed.
Our bodies require it and Scripture recognizes it, and I would like to.
Look with you a little bit at rest in connection with peace and burdens. So turn with me to the beginning of the Bible, Genesis chapter one.
Chapter 2, Genesis chapter 2, verse one. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them, and on the 7th day God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the 7th day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the 7th day and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested.
00:50:28
From all this work which God had created and made here in here in the very beginning of the word of God, we find that God went to work.
And he spent six days working, and on the 7th day he had come to the point where he had finished the work that he was doing, and he rested and he set that day apart.
He hollowed it. He he set it apart as something really holy.
That he has never given up.
From that day to this, and he will not that purpose of his own.
And so there is that in every life that God orders. That is the period of work.
Followed by rest.
God orders the proper amount of work and the time when that work is accomplished to be followed by rest. Makes me think, and I think it's France many years ago if I'm right in my memory, but one of the European countries decided, I'm going to put it this way, they were a little smarter than God and so they thought they could accomplish more. And as a consequence they decided instead of a.
Seven day week they have a 10 day week.
And uh, so people would work 9 days and then they would have a day off.
Didn't work. They went back to the seven day week.
You don't. Things don't work right when you change God's order.
And go ahead and order. He established an order in which he created us, and he expects us to stay within that order. And things go the way they should in contrast to ways they should not.
However.
God's still working today.
And he's not resting.
He's not resting.
You and I necessarily take periods of rest.
But I submit to you that God doesn't.
When the Lord Jesus was here, he said, My Father worketh here unto, and I work.
Why was that statement made?
Because God cannot, will not rest.
When there is sin.
Before his eye, God cannot rest in the presence of sin.
It is.
Unacceptable to his eye.
And so he cannot rest.
He will not rest.
Until it keeps on working to the point where there is no longer.
Sin.
And Zephaniah chapter 3, it says he shall rest in his love. There is coming a time when God will rest.
Not to work again.
That time is seen in Revelation. God's rest was broken in Genesis 3.
And his rest will be restored to him.
In what's described to us in Revelation chapter 21 where it says.
Righteousness shall dwell.
Right now we live in an unrighteous world and righteousness suffers and God can't live looking upon a a creation of his own that he had made, that he declared very good and watched man.
Act and behave and the consequences of it in the creation itself and in the animals and so on. And so God is at work.
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Because of that.
But when He has removed from his eye all that sin is, and all that sin has brought, when he has created a new heavens, or made a new heavens and a new earth.
And righteousness dwells, and God will enter into rest.
And that rest will remain for eternity.
Turn to Isaiah.
Chapter 57.
Verse 16. Isaiah 5716. For I will not contend forever, neither will I be always wroth. For the Spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. For the iniquity of His covetousness was I wroth, and I smote him, and I hid me, and I was wroth. And when He went on forwardly in the way of his heart, I have seen His ways, and I will heal him.
I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips. Peace. Peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord, and I will heal him.
But the wicked are like the troubled sea, which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
There is no peace, saith my God.
To the wicked.
God made you and I in His likeness and in His image.
There are certain ways in which we're like God, even naturally speaking.
Well, that's the way God created us.
And it's important to realize.
Not like God.
You will not find rest.
In send.
Man is like the troubled sea.
That cannot rest.
Sometimes in our personal lives, there's no rest.
Why?
Because the waters are casting up mire and dirt.
Because there's that going on within the soil.
In which there can be found no rest.
Sometimes we need to ask ourselves such things, because very often.
The real issues are not in the circumstances, they're in the salt.
We somewhat wrongly at times, think if only, and then we describe the proper set of circumstances in our lives. If only I had this, if only he wouldn't do that. Something somebody outside of us is doing that's affecting us in a way that we don't appreciate and we don't want, if we even say.
In young people growing up, at least if you were anything like me. And I think I'm looking face to face in water.
It's only my dad. My mom would let me do this or that. Everything would be great.
I wasn't made that way, nor were you.
It cannot rest.
Let's remember that.
We all appreciate rest.
But as God's presently working in the presence of sin.
So we too must recognize that if there's to be peace or rest in our souls.
It has to be without the activity of sin.
Let's go back to Matthew 11 That we were looking at. Add a little bit to it.
Matthew, Chapter 11.
Verse 28.
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
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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.
First, I want to talk about the person who said these words at this time.
In the beginning of Matthew's Gospel, the Lord Jesus.
Grew up.
The Messiah had come.
And when the time came, at approximately 30 years of age, he began what we call his public ministry. He began his work.
And as Matthew presents it to us, he went out preaching.
Most of us are familiar with chapters like chapter five and six, what we call the Sermon on the Mouth, and he presented to man a great message.
We would say we hope it was well received. It was a wonderful words.
It was his work.
It was rejected.
It was rejected.
By the general population to whom it was presented.
Lessened. Some of them at least.
But they didn't receive.
He went on to do.
If they wouldn't receive his words, then he presented his works. And so he went on working healing.
Doing miracles feeding.
And so on.
They hated them.
They started talking about putting him to death.
Bit of a burden, right? Not a very easy thing to accept.
In such a system circumstances.
How would you feel if you felt God had given you a message from himself and you had presented it and you had been enabled of God to do miracles and reinforced your message and your love of the love of God that you are presenting and people started to talk about how to get rid of you?
Sometimes it's not easy.
To reach consciences.
It's easier to talk about love and encourage things like that.
But sometimes it's necessary if one is to be faithful.
To warn and so earlier in this chapter in verse 20, it says then he began to upbraid the cities where in most of his mighty works were done because they repented not.
You ever warned anybody and found yourself upset in the process of doing it?
Lots of us have been parents here, and not so always parents, but you know, it tends to be pretty upsetting.
To say something, even if it's a word that's faithful and necessary.
But.
Might produce conflict.
And it's it's difficult. People normally don't feel very comfortable about it if it's done in the right spirit.
Yes, I know in the wrong spirit some people seem to enjoy telling people off, but that's not what we have here and that's not of God.
So here we have this person presented to us.
Who has already been said one of the very important keys to his person was what he said, which we've had and I'll just repeat it in verse 25. At that time Jesus said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth.
He submitted.
To the will of another in these circumstances and has already been set as a point of peace, very important point of peace.
What I wanna add to that?
In the verses that we read.
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What else does he say concerning himself?
He says in verse 29, I am meek.
And lonely.
I am meek and lowly.
To be submissive to God.
To be meek and to be lovely.
Our ingredients of rest.
The Lord Jesus himself wasn't talking about something he hadn't experienced or didn't know or didn't understand, but he thought it was a good thing to say.
He was speaking as we know.
The truth. He was the truth.
And he was Speaking of one who submitted.
One who was meek.
Big persons don't tend to give offense.
Lowly, Lowly persons don't tend to take offense.
There are those who.
You ever told somebody something and they didn't take it the way you thought they should and you were put out by them, as we say, upset because they didn't respond to you correctly. Or someone said something to you that you didn't like and your response was in kind?
Neither of which are characters of meekness or loneliness of heart.
So Lord Jesus gives us here something that helps us into that place where our souls can find rest. He says learn of me, but first of all, come to me.
Come to me.
You're burdened.
Whatever you're burdened about, there's a person that can help you.
Talking.
Uh, earlier today about a couple of people that.
Are troubled and things in their lives and uh.
Sometimes it's.
Hard for people to listen.
We think we have something to say to them and we kind of expect that we'd like them to receive it, but somehow we think they won't accept it from us.
Sometimes can't help because of that. Perhaps the problem is in US and not being able to help.
But we can always encourage someone to go to one that never is unable to help bring rest into a soul. Come unto me.
And I will give.
There are really no conditions placed here in this first step. Come to me and do this and this and this and this and I will.
The 1St and essential thing is simply the coming.
In my own soul when I see this passage.
I somehow visualize the Lord being such in the low place that we've got to come from our high place, if you will, down to get to where He is. And sometimes we're not willing to come down to that low place where He is to find the answer, the need. So it's perhaps in a figure sense at least it's come down unto me and I will give you rest.
Another aspect of it is already been mentioned. Take my yoke their submission in that.
As well, except my yoke.
And I'll say it this way, and I'm the more experienced of the two in the yoke, so if you get into yoke with me, I'm gonna take the lead.
And you have to submit to that lead of mine.
But if you will take that step with me.
Lord's gonna teach without you having to be occupied with it. Meekness and loneliness.
No, I was quite fascinated in Sunday school this morning.
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A lot of little kids sitting beside his dad, and he sat there and had the handbook open and he had the handbook out. And I doubt that he could read. I'm sure he couldn't read a word in it.
But he sat there, and he watched.
He watched the little girl across the aisle from him. He watched the bigger kids.
When it was time to get up and go around the illustration.
He was encouraged to get up and he went there and he stood in the back. I doubt that he saw a thing, but he got up and he he at least he went that direction and.
What's that little child learning? He's learning to imitate.
You're learning to imitate. He's gonna learn to talk by imitation.
Sometimes his parents may be very happy that my imitation he becomes a little bit like them, and maybe at other times he wish they might wish he didn't imitate them.
But there is that process of learning that comes from occupation with something, and he's not consciously imitating what he is imitating.
This is important comment to me about it.
You can't rest.
Being occupied with sin.
There's nothing in the activity that produces Lost in Us that produces rest. There may be excitement, there may be thrill, there may be pleasure, but there's no rest.
But occupation with the Lord Jesus.
Produces rest.
Because.
It's occupation with what's perfect.
What's holy, What's pure? What's loving? What is joy?
What is gives long-suffering?
In that occupation.
God does whatever he does to transform.
Through it to produce results.
And in his person here.
It brings rest.
Quickly like to turn over to Galatians 6.
Adding again a little bit to what we've already had there we had verse.
Five, where we should not. We were taught this afternoon not to take on burdens that God has given to someone else to bear, and he doesn't want us to try to bear them. They're not ours, and it's a mistake to try. But notice verse one, brethren, if any man be overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual.
Restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted, bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself, and so on.
Here it talks about helping somebody else.
There are some burdens that we are instructed to help others to bear.
What I want to emphasize or note for you here is first one says weakness, spirit of meekness.
We don't really want to look at ourselves and say, well, I'm spiritual, Yep, I can handle this. I'll go bear somebody's burdens. I'll tell them how to live or whatever.
But notice this person I'm going to suggest to you has been in Matthew 11 in their soul and come to the Lord Jesus and been yoked with him in such a way that they have learned thickness.
By observation and by God's work in them in seeing himself.
He that verse three if a man think himself to be something.
Uh, is that?
Loneliness being described.
And thinks himself something. No, that's not loneliness. It's really the opposite. Man wants to be something. He wants to think of himself something even may want to think of himself as a a good encourage or a good helper or a good doer of managing other people's lives besides his own and so on. But that's not really God's way. And so that which enables, you might say, in between here to bear one another's burdens is.
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First of all, we ourselves have to go through, if I can say, the joyful, beneficial, rest giving experience of what Matthew 11 gives to us, and then the Lord may say, I'm going to use that vessel.
To help someone else.
To help someone else in their burden and in that way help them to bear it.
May the Lord help us to learn.
And to bear.
And whatever the outward circumstances are, the Lord Jesus was a man of rest. In spite of all the pressure and all the burden that he bore in his life, He was also in his soul with God, a man.
Who had rest?
May the Lord help us to more enter into and enjoy that rest of soul as we head toward the resting day. As it says in Revelation 14 about some who have given their lives says they had rested from their laborers. We'll never be able to fully rest in the presence of sin, but we can't find rest in our souls if we are occupied with that person.
Who is the perfect object?
Of our souls in every respect, including rest.
Verse 3-4 and five of #27 in the back.
And ourselves, the most gracious God, our Father, we thank thee for food for our souls this afternoon. And our God now we pray that what we have, uh, had before us, that it might get into our lives and make a difference. So our God, we thank thee. They are so good to us. We thank thee for it. We ask thy blessing in the balance of our time together. In Jesus name, Amen. Amen. Amen.