God Gives Us the Greatest Invitations!
The Gospel of Matthew
Matthew 11:28-30; Hebrews 3:7-19; Hebrews 4:1-2
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(Prepared March 8, 2022)
MESSAGE:
*Think about the greatest invitation you could ever receive. For many people it would be an invitation for the best seats at the World Series. For others it would be for the best seats at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, or the 2023 Super Bowl in Phoenix. For many others it would be front row seats to hear their favorite singer in concert.
*But all of those invitations put together times a million couldn't begin to compare to the invitation Jesus gives us in these verses. The Lord gives us the most important, most valuable invitation the world will ever hear. Jesus said:
28. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.''
*This is the Lord's great invitation for us. How should we respond?
1. FIRST: WE MUST COME TO JESUS CHRIST.
*In vs. 28, Jesus calls out and says, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." God calls people to come to Him. He calls people to salvation and safety. Here are a few more wonderful examples:
-In Genesis 7:1, "The LORD said to Noah, 'Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.'"
-In Isaiah 1:18 the LORD says, "Come now, and let us reason together, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
-John 7:37-38 also tells us that "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.''
*Jesus calls people to come to Him. "Come to Me!" Jesus said. Church, that was not some ho-hum, laid-back request. It was a passionate plea from Jesus to come to the only one who can save us, the only one who can give us ultimate rest forever!
*Jesus wants us to come to Him. That's why God even gave us an invitation in the last chapter of the Bible. Revelation 22:17 tells us that "The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!'' And let him who hears say, "Come!'' And let him who thirsts come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely."
*God calls out for all people to come to Jesus Christ. And we know this because 1 Timothy 2:3-6 tells us that God our Savior "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."
*Through His Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ is here right now, calling out for you to come to Him. I promise you that Jesus is here.
*Robert Beringer told the story of Mark and Susan Thomas. Years ago, they were transferred to the Middle East by Mobil Oil. Mark and Susan were excited about experiencing a new culture, but also worried about religious restrictions in their new country.
*On Easter Sunday morning, Mark and Susan held a worship service in their home, and invited some other Christians. As they worshiped, two police officers burst in and warned them to stop holding services or risk getting kicked out of the country.
*But when the officers later wrote their reports, they couldn't agree on the number of people in the Thomas' home. The younger policeman counted one extra person. He insisted that there had been a man "with a radiant look on his face" standing in the corner.
*That night the young officer dreamed that this man appeared to him again and said, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am right there in the middle of them." (1)
*You probably won't see Him, but through His Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ is here! He is reaching out to you today, and He says, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The Savior wants to give you rest: Spiritual rest, emotional rest, eternal rest, every kind of rest you will ever need. But we must come to Jesus Christ. That's how to respond to the Lord's invitation.
2. WE ALSO MUST SERVE TOGETHER WITH OUR SAVIOR.
*This is what the Lord urges us to do in vs. 29, when He said, "Take My yoke upon you." King Duncan explained that "Most of us can visualize the kind of yoke Jesus had in mind. It was a kind of wooden crossbar with two U-shaped pieces that went underneath the necks of a pair of oxen." (2)
*So, Jesus invites us to get in the yoke with Him. He is asking us to make ourselves available to the right master. You see, whether you know it or not, you are going to have to serve somebody. On the wrong side, it may be sin or selfishness, ambition, pride, fun, fame or money. It could be some false religion or even Satan himself. Those ways lead to destruction.
*The only right choice is to serve the Lord! Get in the harness with Jesus. Again in vs. 29 Jesus said, "Take My yoke upon you." Then in vs. 30 He also said, "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.''
*William Ritter asked, "What does Jesus mean by the words 'light and easy?' Are we talking 'easy' as in lots of slack and wiggle room? Walk with Jesus four days out of seven? Live the Christian life nine months out of twelve, and take the summers off? Get a discount on the Ten Commandments? Keep any six out of ten?
*No. 'Easy' does not mean 'soft.' The Christian life is anything but soft. 'Easy' means 'tailored' or 'well-fitting'. . ." Those wooden yokes weren't mass produced like most everything is today. They were expertly carved and smoothed to fit a particular animal just right. No doubt this was some of the work Jesus did when He served in his father's carpentry shop. So what Jesus is saying is that 'My yoke for you fits you well, because it was especially designed just for you.'" (3)
*Brett Blair helped us understand through a legend about Jesus before He started His ministry. The legend said Jesus was a master carpenter in those days. People came from miles around for a yoke to be hand carved and crafted by Joseph's adopted son.
*When they arrived, Jesus would spend much time measuring the team: Their height, the width, the space between them, and the size of their shoulders. Then, a week later, the animals would be brought back, and Jesus would carefully place the new yoke over their shoulders. He looked for rough places and shaped them perfectly to fit that particular team of oxen.
*Brett Blair explained that "The yoke Jesus invites us to take brings rest to our weary souls, because it was made exactly for our lives and hearts. His yokes were always designed for two, and our yoke-partner is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself!" This truth led Lawrence Richards to say, "Being yoked to Jesus doesn't mean so much that we take on His burdens, but that He pulls alongside us, to take on ours." Praise the Lord! (4)
*But also understand that Jesus asks us to get in the yoke with Him, because there is work to be done. There is a cross for us, and there's a cause for us. We must be committed to the cause of Jesus Christ!
*In today Scripture Jesus passionately called for people to come to Him. Now, it's our job to call people to Christ. That's why Revelation 22:17 tells us "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!'" Christians: The "bride" is us! We are the Bride of Christ, working together with the Holy Spirit, calling people to come to Jesus Christ. We must serve together with our Savior. That's how to respond to the Lord's invitation.
3. WE ALSO MUST LEARN FROM OUR LORD.
*Again in vs. 29 Jesus said, "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." The Lord wants us to learn from Him. And when we do, we will learn that He is gentle, humble, merciful, and kind. We will learn that Jesus is full of forgiveness and love for us.
*And Jesus wants us to learn. The Lord wants us to learn vital things, crucial things, truths that we can't live without, truths that we can't learn without Him.
-For example, Jesus wants us to learn the truth about our sin. From Romans 3:23, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
-Jesus also wants us to learn about the seriousness of our sin. In Romans 6:23, "the wages of sin is death." There the Apostle Paul was not talking about physical death, but spiritual death, eternally separated from God
-That's why Jesus also wants us to learn about His sacrifice. Jesus wants us to learn that He really did die on the cross for our sins. As Paul said in Romans 5:6-8:
6. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
8. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
*Up at the church in West Monroe, we had a Prayer Room off the foyer. It had a few chairs and a little cabinet for storage. One day I was looking for an Operation Christmas Child brochure, and I reached way back in the drawer without looking. I did not know that after Easter, someone had stored a life-size crown of thorns in that drawer. But I found out when I ran one of those thorns about halfway down into my thumbnail. "Yeow! -- What was that?" I thought.
*It was just a little stick from a thorn. But it hurt, and I thought, "How much more did Jesus hurt for me?" He wore the crown of thorns. He suffered the agony of the cross. He took all of the punishment for our sins!
-Jesus wants us to learn about His sacrifice, and He wants us to learn about our salvation. Jesus Christ rose again from the dead! And He will save anyone who will turn to Him and trust in Him as their Lord and Savior. So, in Romans 5:9-11 Paul went on to say this to all born-again believers:
9. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
10. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
11. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
*The Lord wants us to learn from Him. And there is a lifetime of learning in this book! God wants us to learn good things, not just in our heads but in our hearts. We need the same tone and testimony David had in Psalm 25:4-5. There David prayed, "Show me Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day."
*Then in Psalm 25:8-12 David also said:
8. Good and upright is the LORD; Therefore He teaches sinners in the way.
9. The humble He guides in justice, And the humble He teaches His way.
10. All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth, To such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.
11. For Your name's sake, O LORD, Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.
12. Who is the man that fears the LORD? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses.
*These are some of the wonderful things we can learn from God. And everybody needs to learn from the Lord Jesus Christ! That's how to respond to the Lord's invitation.
4. BUT WE ALSO NEED TO RECEIVE GOD'S REST.
*Twice in these verses, Jesus promises rest for us. In vs. 28 He said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Then in vs. 29 Jesus said, "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."
*Jesus Christ wants to give us rest, but we have to receive the Lord's rest by faith in Him. In Hebrews 3, God's Word contrasts the faith we ought to have as Christians with the unbelief that plagued the Children of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness with Moses.
*In Hebrews 3:7-19:
7. . . The Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you will hear His voice,
8. do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness,
9. where your fathers tested Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years.
10. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, 'They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.'
11. So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'''
12. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;
13. but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today,'' lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
14. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,
15. while it is said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.''
16. For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?
17. Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?
18. And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?
19. So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
*Hebrews 4:1-2 then says:
1. Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.
2. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
*Jesus Christ wants to give us His rest. The Savior wants to give us physical, emotional, and spiritual rest in this world. Best of all, Jesus wants to give us eternal rest with Him in Heaven. He wants to give us every kind of rest we will ever need. But we have to receive the Lord's rest by faith in Him. Receive God's rest by responding to the Lord's invitation. Go to Jesus and receive Him as your Lord and Savior.
CONCLUSION:
*Years ago, Mot Richey told me about a close friend their son Mark had in high school. His name was Charlie. Charlie was a good boy and a strong Christian, but sadly, he was diagnosed with bone cancer.
*After doing all they could to fight the disease over in Houston, Charlie lay in the bed unconscious for days. Then one day, he sat up in bed with a big smile in his face. Then Charlie stretched out his arms and said, "I see Jesus!"
*His mother said, "Go to Him Charlie!" And that's exactly what he did! Charlie laid his head back down and died. But he is not dead. Charlie is in Heaven, resting forever with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
*Take great comfort in that truth. And make sure you have responded to the Lord's great invitation. One more time, Jesus said:
28. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.''
*Let's find our rest in the Lord today, as we go back to God in prayer
(1) Source: "Dynamic Illustrations" January, February, March 2001 - Topic: "God"
(2) Sermons.com sermon "Anyone Feeling Tired?" by King Duncan - Matthew 11:25-30
(3) Sermons.com sermon "The Yoke's on You" by William A. Ritter - Matthew 11:25-30
(4) Sources:
-Adapted from Sermons.com sermon "The Burden Bearing Christ" by Brett Blair - Matthew 11:25-30
-Richards, Lawrence O. THE 365-DAY DEVOTIONAL COMMENTARY - Colorado Springs, CO - Chariot Victor Publishing, 1990 - p. 656 - Found in Sermons.com sermon "Living in Sin or Synergy" by King Duncan - Matthew 11 28-30
