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00:15 ♪♪♪ 00:25 ♪♪♪ 00:38 Rod Thompson: Good morning, everyone, happy Sabbath. 00:43 Whether you are here in the sanctuary with us, whether 00:45 you're watching at home at--in the local area, across the 00:48 nation, or around the world, we want to thank you for coming to 00:52 the Granite Bay Hilltop Church "Sabbath School Study Hour." 00:57 I'm Pastor Rod Thompson. 00:58 I'm going to be leading that study today, and I thank 01:01 you for tuning in with us. 01:04 Before we get started we will have a special music, and I also 01:07 want to point you to our free offer this morning. 01:11 It is titled "Christ's Human Nature," and you can get that 01:16 free offer by calling 866-788-3966 and ask for free 01:23 offer number 703. 01:25 You can also get that if you go to your phone and you text 01:33 "SH017" to number 40544. 01:39 Again, that is "Christ's Human Nature." 01:42 That's our free offer for today. 01:44 But now let's listen to our special music. 01:48 ♪♪♪ 01:58 ♪♪♪ 02:09 ♪♪♪ 02:19 ♪♪♪ 02:29 ♪♪♪ 02:39 ♪♪♪ 02:49 ♪♪♪ 02:59 ♪♪♪ 03:09 ♪♪♪ 03:19 ♪♪♪ 03:29 ♪♪♪ 03:39 ♪♪♪ 03:49 ♪♪♪ 03:59 ♪♪♪ 04:09 ♪♪♪ 04:19 ♪♪♪ 04:29 ♪♪♪ 04:39 ♪♪♪ 04:49 ♪♪♪ 04:59 ♪♪♪ 05:09 ♪♪♪ 05:19 ♪♪♪ 05:29 ♪♪♪ 05:39 ♪♪♪ 05:49 ♪♪♪ 05:59 ♪♪♪ 06:09 Rod: I want to invite you to open up your Bibles to 06:11 John chapter 3, John chapter 3. 06:15 I want to say a special hello to Bob and Nancy from Fremont. 06:18 Thank you for joining us here this morning. 06:20 They're usually watching online. 06:22 Thank you for all of you that have joined us online as well. 06:25 We've got a lot to talk about this morning, 06:28 so let's get right to it. 06:29 Let's begin with a word of prayer. 06:33 Loving Father, Lord, we've opened up the Word of life 06:37 because there we find You. 06:40 And, Lord, we are seeking wisdom and skill and understanding; but 06:43 more importantly, Lord, we are asking You to reveal to us what 06:46 You would have us do, and we ask it all 06:49 in Jesus's name, amen. 06:52 I want to start by reading to you something from the book 06:56 "Child Guidance" page 267. 06:59 Listen to this. 07:00 "When you find your work hard, when you complain of 07:06 difficulties and trials; when you say that you have no 07:10 strength to withstand temptation, that you cannot 07:15 overcome impatience, and that the Christian life is uphill 07:20 work, you can be sure that you are not bearing 07:25 the yoke of Christ. 07:27 You are bearing the yoke of another master." 07:31 I remember as a boy growing up in the Lutheran Church. 07:37 And outwardly I was doing everything right, but 07:43 inwardly I was far from God. 07:46 And consequently at the age of 16 going to church three days a 07:51 week with my mother, I said to her finally, "Why do we have to 07:57 go to church three days a week? 08:00 Isn't one enough?" 08:03 You see, brothers and sisters, I just didn't understand at the 08:06 time and I didn't have--I hadn't had that born-again experience 08:13 that Jesus talks to Nicodemus about in John chapter 3. 08:18 You've got your Bibles opened there. 08:19 Look with me, John chapter 3. 08:21 Starting in verse 1 the Bible says, "There was a man of the 08:25 Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 08:28 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, 'Rabbi, we know 08:31 that You are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these 08:35 signs that You do unless God were with him.'" 08:38 And I love the way Jesus just gets right to the point. 08:42 "Jesus answered and said to him, 'Most assuredly I say to you, 08:45 unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.' 08:48 Nicodemus said to Him, 'How can a man be born when he is old? 08:52 Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?' 08:56 Jesus answered, 'Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born 09:00 of water and Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 09:04 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born 09:07 of the Spirit is spirit. 09:08 Do not marvel that I said to you that you must be born again.'" 09:15 When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they 09:19 lost that Spirit nature. 09:22 They no longer had the Spirit of God in them; and as a 09:26 consequence to that, as their children are being born, they 09:30 are born with only a human nature, a carnal nature. 09:36 They do not have the Spirit of God, and therefore Jesus says 09:41 you must be born again. 09:48 When He is talking to Nicodemus, there He says 09:52 you must be born again. 09:53 You must be born a second time, and it's very interesting how 09:57 Nicodemus responds to Him. 10:00 You know, many times Jesus was speaking to the people, 10:04 He was speaking to them spiritually, but they 10:08 were thinking literally. 10:10 In John chapter 4 Jesus was speaking to the woman at the 10:13 well, and He said to her, "If you knew who it was who was 10:17 speaking to, you would have asked Him and He would have 10:21 given you living water." 10:23 Remember that? And how did she respond to Him? 10:27 She essentially said, "You don't even have anything 10:29 to draw water with. 10:31 How are You going to give me water?" 10:33 She was thinking physically, she was thinking literally, but 10:37 Jesus was speaking spiritually. 10:41 You remember in John chapter 2 that Jesus said that, "If you 10:47 destroy this temple, in three days I will raise it up again." 10:52 And you'll remember the Pharisees said to Him, "It's 10:55 taken 46 years to build this temple. 10:58 How are You going to redo it in three days?" 11:01 They were thinking physically, they were thinking literally, 11:04 but He was speaking spiritually. 11:06 He was speaking of His body as the temple of the Holy Spirit. 11:10 He was alluding to His resurrection. 11:14 And then you go to John chapter 6 and Jesus said something that 11:18 really got people stirred up. 11:20 He said, "You must eat My flesh and drink My blood." 11:24 And the people were looking at that--they were listening to 11:27 that and they were thinking literally, and you can imagine 11:32 they were thinking to themselves, "This guy 11:34 is cannibalistic." 11:37 But He wasn't speaking literally, He was 11:40 speaking spiritually. 11:42 And then Jesus is talking to Nicodemus here in John chapter 3 11:46 and He says, "You must be born again." 11:49 And, again, Nicodemus is thinking literally and he says, 11:53 "How can a man enter into his mother's womb and be 11:57 born a second time?" 12:01 Now, friends, it is so easy for us today, after the fact, to 12:09 look back with hindsight, to look at John chapter 2, chapter 12:13 3, chapter 4, chapter 6; to look at these things that Jesus said 12:17 and look at them and understand that these are 12:21 spiritual things. 12:24 But I--you know, I wonder do we think of the people of Israel, 12:31 "What is wrong with them? 12:32 Why didn't they get it?" 12:35 But, you know, I'm going to suggest to you that we have the 12:38 same problem even today, that we sometimes 12:43 take things literally as well. 12:46 We are starting a brand new Sabbath study, new quarterly 12:51 called "Rest in Christ." 12:55 And today our topic is "Come to Me." 13:00 We're in lesson number 5 of 13, and that--those words, come to 13:06 me--that title comes to us from something that Jesus said in 13:11 Matthew chapter 11. 13:12 I want you to turn there with me. 13:14 Matthew chapter 11, and let's take a look at it. 13:18 Matthew chapter 11. 13:20 Now, if your Bible is like mine--you know, all the Bibles 13:23 that we have today are broken up into the books of 13:26 the Bible, the chapters, the verses. 13:28 But there are some Bibles like mine--I love this little Bible 13:33 for preaching because it has the verses along the left edge and I 13:37 can find them quickly, but it also has titles 13:41 over certain sections. 13:43 Like, if you look at John chapter 11, verse 1, it's-- 13:45 the title over it is "John the Baptist Sends 13:48 Messengers to Jesus." 13:49 You can look at the next 19 verses, and that 13:52 is where that story is. 13:53 You go to verse 20 and it says, "Woe to the Impenitent Cities," 13:57 and He talks about those cities. 13:59 And then in verse 25 it has a title over it: 14:03 "Jesus Gives True Rest." 14:05 Now, that's what we're studying this quarter, "Rest in Christ," 14:08 and so Jesus giving true rest is something we want 14:12 to take a look at, right? 14:14 So look with me, verse 25. 14:15 The Bible says, "At that time Jesus answered and said, 'I 14:19 thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have 14:21 given these things from the wise--kept these things from the 14:26 wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. 14:30 Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. 14:33 All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one 14:38 knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father 14:41 except the Son and the one--or those whom the 14:47 Son wills to reveal Him." 14:49 And then He says those words. 14:50 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, 14:54 and I will give you rest." 14:57 And that's where we get the title of our message today: 15:01 "Come to Me." 15:03 Brothers and sisters, isn't it comforting to know that 15:07 our God is approachable? 15:12 He says, "Come to Me." 15:15 He invites us into a relationship. 15:19 Aren't you glad that we don't have to jump through a bunch of 15:22 hoops, we don't have to perform a bunch of ritualistic 15:25 activities to come to God? 15:28 And God is very particular. 15:31 God says that He has a certain way that He would like us to 15:36 come to Him, and I want you to notice it. 15:38 So turn with me to 1 Timothy chapter 2, 1 Timothy chapter 2. 15:45 And the apostle Paul is speaking to Timothy, he's speaking to us; 15:50 and notice what it says starting in verse 1. 15:55 Paul says, "Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, 16:00 prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all 16:03 men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a 16:07 quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence for this 16:11 is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who 16:14 desires all men to be saved and to come to 16:17 the knowledge of truth. 16:19 For there is," what's that next word? 16:21 "There is one God and there is one mediator between God and 16:26 man, the man Jesus Christ who gave Himself as 16:29 a ransom for all." 16:31 Here we see that Paul is telling us that we have a mediator. 16:37 But, brothers and sisters, mediators can be very helpful. 16:41 Mediators are there in order to bring two parties together. 16:46 They are there to help them to work out their differences, and 16:51 it says there that Jesus Christ is our mediator. 16:56 He is the one that can bring us to and connect us 17:01 with God the Father. 17:03 In John chapter 14, verse 6 Jesus said, "I am the truth, 17:07 the way, and the life; and no one comes to the 17:11 Father except through Me." 17:13 It is very narrow. It is very particular. 17:18 God says, "This is how you can come to Me. 17:21 You must come through My Son Jesus Christ." 17:24 In the Gospel of John Jesus said, "I am the door. 17:29 I am the way in to the presence of the Father." 17:34 And Jesus is desiring to restore us to a relationship with God so 17:41 that we can have a living connection with Him. 17:45 And in John 15, verse 5 Jesus says that, "Without 17:48 Me you can do nothing." 17:52 We need that mediator, Jesus Christ, to bring us 17:55 to the Father. 17:57 In Matthew 19, verse 26 then He says, "But with God 18:01 all things are possible," amen? 18:03 In other words, if you come to Jesus, He will connect 18:08 you with the Father. 18:11 If you repent of your sins, surrender your life to Him, ask 18:15 Him to come in and be your Lord and Savior, forgive you of your 18:19 sins, He then writes His law in your mind and in your heart. 18:24 And, brothers and sisters, if God writes His law in your mind 18:28 and in your heart, are you going to want to keep it? 18:30 Absolutely you will because He has put it there. 18:34 He has put that desire in your heart, but more than that, He is 18:38 also--the Holy Spirit comes, takes up residence on the inside 18:43 of you, and now He begins to clean you up from the inside 18:47 out, now He changes your heart, now He gives you desires. 18:51 Now He gives you the power to not only repent to be forgiven 18:58 of your sins, but now He's going to give you the power to live a 19:01 righteous life; and you do that by keeping the 19:05 commandments of God. 19:06 It's very unfortunate that there are many Christian people today 19:10 that want to say the law of God has been done away with, but 19:14 rather God is giving us the power to keep that law and not 19:20 to do away with it and now you begin to exhibit fruit. 19:26 There should be evidence of a changed life. 19:30 Good works don't save us. We know that, don't we? 19:34 But they are evidence of a transformation 19:37 that has happened. 19:38 James said, "Faith without works is dead." 19:42 You show me your faith; I'll show you mine by 19:45 what I do, amen? 19:47 And so we must have that born-again experience. 19:52 And when we do, we start exhibiting that fruit of the 19:56 Spirit; and Galatians chapter 5, verse 22 tells us what that is: 20:00 love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, 20:05 faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 20:07 Now you have the Spirit of God working in you and through you 20:12 to transform you in--more and more into the 20:16 character of Christ. 20:17 And here's the thing, friends. 20:19 It is not you doing the work; it is Christ in you, 20:27 the hope of glory. 20:29 It is not you trying harder to be a better person. 20:34 I've talked to people, and I've been talking about spiritual 20:36 things and I've had people say to me, "I just got 20:40 to try harder, pastor." 20:42 And my answer to them is, "You have missed the message." 20:47 Because it's not about you trying harder, it's about you 20:51 surrendering your life to Christ and allowing Him to do in you 20:56 what you can't do in yourself. 20:59 And I want you to notice there that He says, "Come to Me." 21:06 Praise God He has already invited us, amen? 21:10 We don't have to seek for Him, we don't have to get cleaned up, 21:14 we don't have to change, but He accepts us just as we are. 21:19 But He loves you too much to leave you the way that you are. 21:22 He's going to begin to clean you up. 21:24 And He says, "Come to Me." 21:27 But I want you to notice that that is not a physical coming 21:30 that He is inviting us to. 21:33 We can't go up into heaven and go to the city of God and knock 21:38 on the gates and say, "Here I am. 21:41 Jesus told me to come to Him, and I'm here. 21:44 Let me in." 21:46 We can't do that, can we? 21:47 But rather He is inviting us to come to Him spiritually. 21:53 He says essentially, "Come to Me in the manner 21:58 prescribed by God." 22:00 And that's coming to Him spiritually. 22:02 God is spirit, and we must worship in spirit and in truth. 22:08 John chapter 14, verse 1 Jesus said, "Let not 22:10 your heart be troubled. 22:12 You believe in God, believe also in Me. 22:17 In My Father's house are many mansions. 22:19 If it were not so, I would have told you. 22:20 I go there to prepare a place for you. 22:23 And if I go there, I will come again. 22:25 I will receive you unto Myself, that where I am 22:28 there you may be also." 22:29 There will come a day where we will be physically with Jesus, 22:34 but for now He is inviting us to come to Him 22:37 in a spiritual sense. 22:40 Matthew chapter 11, verse 28 Jesus said, "Come to Me." 22:46 And then He adds to it, "All you who are heavy laden." 22:51 Brothers and sisters, are you heavy laden? 22:53 Are you weighed down with the burdens of the 22:57 things of this life? 22:59 There are a lot of burdens in this life, aren't there? 23:02 In Genesis chapter 3, verse 19 when Adam and Eve sinned, God 23:07 said to Adam, He said to him, "By the sweat of your face you 23:16 shall eat bread." 23:18 In other words, "It's going to be harder for you. 23:22 Life is going to be difficult. 23:23 Where there used to be richness and vibrancy in the soil, now 23:27 there is going to come weeds and burrs and troubles, thistles 23:34 that are going to choke it out." 23:36 And so it is natural for us when Jesus says, "Come to Me, all you 23:43 who are heavy laden," to think of that in a literal sense, that 23:50 we are heavy laden; that we have heavy loads, heartaches, 23:55 trouble on every side. 23:57 But I'm going to suggest to you that it's more than that. 24:02 He's talking about those who have more than just physical 24:07 burdens, but He's talking about those who have been heavy-laden. 24:13 Now, let me show this to you. 24:15 Turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 23, 24:19 Matthew chapter 23. 24:22 And I want you to notice what Jesus is saying 24:26 here to the Pharisees. 24:28 Matthew chapter 23, look with me in verse 13. 24:31 Jesus says, "But woe to you, scribes and 24:34 Pharisees, hypocrites. 24:35 For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you 24:38 neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those 24:42 who are entering to go in. 24:44 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; for you 24:47 devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. 24:51 Therefore you will receive greater condemnation." 24:54 Verse 15, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; for 24:57 you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is 25:01 won you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves." 25:06 Go down to verse 23. 25:07 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; for you 25:10 pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have neglected the 25:14 weightier matters of the law: justice, and mercy, and faith. 25:17 These you ought to have done without leaving 25:20 the others undone. 25:21 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. 25:24 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; for you 25:27 cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are 25:31 full of extortion and self-indulgence. 25:34 Blind Pharisees, first cleanse the inside of the cup and the 25:37 dish, that the outside of them may be clean also." 25:42 And He continues on with more woes. 25:44 But Jesus is simply saying to the Pharisees, "You are putting 25:51 all of these burdens on the people. 25:54 You weigh them down with your rules and your legalities, and 25:59 you're making it impossible for people to come to God. 26:03 And when they do try to come to God, then you pull 26:06 them away from the truth. 26:08 You pull them back into your forms and your rituals. 26:12 You look good on the outside, but you are corrupt 26:18 on the inside. 26:19 You're far from God." 26:21 And so Jesus is saying to us, "Come to Me, all of you who are 26:28 trying to earn your salvation, all of you who are weighted down 26:35 with trying to do good in your own power. 26:39 Come to Me, you who are heavy laden," and then He adds to it, 26:44 "and I will give you rest." 26:48 Now, here again we have the opportunity to look at what He's 26:52 saying and think of this in a physical sense, that He's 26:55 offering us physical rest. 26:57 And certainly as Seventh-day Adventists we understand that at 27:02 the creation of the world even before there was sin God knew 27:06 that we were going to need one day a week for physical rest, 27:11 and the Bible does talk about physical rest. 27:14 If you go to Deuteronomy chapter 12, verse 10 it says, "But when 27:17 you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord 27:22 your God has given you to inherit, and He gives you rest 27:26 from all your enemies round about." 27:29 Here we see that God is offering a physical rest. 27:33 There's another verse like it in 1 Kings chapter 5, verse 4 that 27:36 says, "But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side. 27:40 There is neither adversary nor evil occurrence." 27:44 So, again, we see there is this element of a physical rest, but 27:49 I'm going to suggest to you that God is offering us 27:52 more than physical rest. 27:55 He's offering us spiritual rest. 27:58 Exodus chapter 33, verse 14 says, "And He said, 'My presence 28:02 will go with you, and I will give you rest.'" 28:08 Here we see that God is offering us a spiritual rest. 28:12 And, friends, when you are in the presence of God, it is rest 28:17 for your soul, amen? 28:19 Jeremiah chapter 6, verse 16 says this: "Thus says the Lord, 28:24 'Stand in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where the 28:30 good way is and walk in it, then you will find 28:37 rest for your soul.'" 28:39 So as we are walking in Christ, as we are living a godly 28:45 life, He will give us rest. 28:49 Now, if we are going to understand what Jesus is saying 28:52 here in Matthew chapter 11, verse 28 where He says, "Come to 28:56 Me, all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," we 29:01 really need to put it in the proper context, and in order to 29:05 do that we've got to go back and see what He was 29:07 talking about before that. 29:08 So turn with me back to Matthew chapter 9, Matthew chapter 9, 29:14 and notice what the Bible says starting in verse 9. 29:18 Matthew 9, verse 9, "As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a 29:24 man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, 29:27 and He said to him, 'Follow Me.' 29:28 So he arose and followed Him." 29:30 Here we see that--this is the beginning of Jesus's ministry, 29:35 and He is seeking and searching out and inviting people 29:40 to be His disciples. 29:42 And He invites Matthew. 29:43 Then verse 10 says, "Now it happened as Jesus sat at the 29:48 table in the house that behold many tax collectors and sinners 29:50 came and sat down with Him and His disciples. 29:53 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, 'Why 29:57 does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?'" 30:01 Now here we see Matthew is invited to become 30:04 a disciple of Christ. 30:05 He invites Jesus to his house for lunch or dinner, and then he 30:11 also invites others. 30:13 Brothers and sisters, when you come to Christ, you should not 30:16 be able to help yourself, but invite others 30:19 to come to Jesus, amen? 30:21 And so he invites them. 30:23 And then the Pharisees see this and they say to each other--or 30:29 say to the disciples, "Why is your master hanging out 30:36 with the wrong kind of people." 30:39 Right? He's hanging out with sinners. 30:42 You know, there's a very similar story in Luke chapter 7. 30:46 Jesus once again is at another Pharisee's house and He's 30:49 eating, and there is a woman who comes in who's a prostitute 30:53 and she is weeping. 30:55 She is washing His feet with her tears; wiping His feet, drying 31:01 it with her hair, and putting perfume on Him. 31:05 And the Pharisee whose house this was, he's thinking to 31:08 himself, "If this man were truly a prophet, He would know what 31:14 kind of woman that is." 31:16 And so they're looking at Him in a physical sense and they're 31:23 thinking that He is hanging out with the wrong kind of people, 31:26 and Jesus rebukes those Pharisees. 31:29 He essentially ask them the question, "Who loves more; one 31:38 who's forgiven much, or one who's forgiven little?" 31:41 And, of course, they answer correctly. 31:42 They say the one who has been forgiven much. 31:45 And I can imagine in my mind Jesus sitting there going, 31:50 "Hey, this is it, this is what it looks like. 31:52 This is a woman who has been forgiven much." 31:55 But Jesus goes on from there in chapter 11, verse 20 through 24 32:01 and He is now rebuking the cities that He has been through 32:07 and done many miracles and the people there have not believed 32:12 in Him and that He is the Messiah. 32:15 And so He's rebuking him--rebuking the people, He's 32:19 rebuking the cities; and you can imagine that tensions 32:22 are sort of running high. 32:24 And then Jesus is going to make His point, and He--and the 32:29 lesson hits its crescendo and He says in chapter 11, verse 27, 32:35 "All things have been given unto Me." 32:38 And you can imagine at that point the Pharisees in turmoil 32:41 within themselves thinking, "Who does this guy think He is that 32:44 all things have been given Him?" 32:47 And then Jesus does something that only Jesus can do. 32:53 Jesus not only ramps that up and gets them really going, but now 32:59 He's going to step into the middle of it; and now He says to 33:04 the people that are there, in thinking about all of these 33:08 people that haven't believed, that have been weighed down by 33:12 the teachings of the Pharisees. 33:13 And Jesus says, "Come to Me, all you who are heavy laden, and I 33:20 will give you rest." 33:25 Brothers and sisters, we understand, don't we, that 33:29 Jesus's ability to give us rest is based on His divinity and His 33:37 oneness with the Father. 33:42 His rest for us is based not on our righteousness, 33:47 but on His own. 33:49 And He offers spiritual rest. 33:51 Stop trying to get yourself to heaven through your rituals, 33:55 your ceremonies, and through the traditions of the church. 34:00 He is essentially saying to us, "Believe in Me 34:05 and I will get you there. 34:08 I will do the heavy lifting. 34:12 If you surrender your heart to Me, I will clean you 34:15 up from the inside out. 34:17 I will give you the power to overcome sin." 34:21 And Jesus doesn't stop there, though. 34:23 Look with me Matthew 11, verse 28 again. 34:25 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, 34:28 and I will give you rest." 34:29 But then He continues on, verse 29, "Take My yoke upon you and 34:35 learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will 34:38 find rest for your souls; for My yoke is easy 34:42 and My burden is light." 34:46 I want you to notice there in verse 28 Jesus 34:49 says, "Come to Me." 34:52 Notice He doesn't say, "I suggest that you come to Me." 34:56 But rather it is a command. 34:58 "Come to Me," He says. It's an imperative. 35:03 It is important. It is essential. 35:06 It is urgent. It's vital. 35:09 It's crucial. It's critical. 35:11 We must come to Him. 35:13 In other words, Jesus is saying coming to Him is a precondition 35:21 to finding rest. 35:23 Did you catch that? 35:26 And then He adds two more essentials. 35:29 He not only says, "Come to Me," but then He says, 35:33 "Take My yoke upon you." 35:36 And then He says, "And learn from Me." 35:40 Did you catch that? Three things that are essential. 35:45 And again, we can look at taking His yoke upon us and we can look 35:51 at that in a physical sense. 35:53 And there are people that do and they think, "Oh, man, Jesus is 35:58 calling us to a life of bondage." 36:02 Notice in Galatians chapter 5, verse 1 the apostle Paul says to 36:05 the Galatians, he's saying to us, "Stand fast therefore in the 36:10 liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled 36:16 again in a yoke of bondage." 36:19 And there are people that look at that verse and they say Jesus 36:24 came to fulfill the law, and to fulfill the law means that He 36:31 has done away with the law. 36:33 And therefore if you try to keep the law, you're 36:37 putting yourself under bondage. 36:39 But, brothers and sisters, that is a slaughtering of the text. 36:44 That is not what Jesus is saying there. 36:47 He's not speaking physically. 36:49 He's speaking spiritually here, and He is essentially saying to 36:55 us, "I want you to come alongside of Me and unite 37:02 yourself in My purposes." 37:07 Now the spiritual yoke, if we look at it in a spiritual sense, 37:12 is a tool that God can use. 37:15 If we think about the physical, we think about in days of old 37:18 where they had an ox and they put a yoke between two of them, 37:23 and the idea was that two of them could do twice as 37:26 much as one by itself. 37:28 And if we think of that in a spiritual sense, Jesus is 37:32 saying, "Come alongside of Me, unite yourself in purpose with 37:36 Me, and I will do the heavy lifting. 37:40 I will do the work for you, in you, through you that 37:45 you cannot do yourselves." 37:48 And now instead of carrying that burden of trying to get to 37:52 heaven, that burden of overcoming sin in our own power, 37:57 now with Christ in you now it's easier. 38:02 And so He says, "You must come to Me." 38:06 And then He says, "Take My yoke upon you." 38:10 And then He says, "Learn from Me." 38:13 And, brothers and sisters, when we spend time with Jesus, when 38:17 we study the Word of God and we start doing the things that 38:23 Jesus did through the power of God, now we become His 38:28 disciples, now we become His students. 38:34 Now, I don't want to get ahead of myself and I don't have a lot 38:39 of time left, but we are heading to a place--and I think it's 38:46 going to be in lesson number 11 where we're going to look at 38:49 this a lot deeper, but I just want to lay a foundation today. 38:52 So turn with me in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 3. 38:57 Hebrews--we're going to look at Hebrews 3 and 4, and quickly I'm 39:02 going to try and lay the foundation for that. 39:05 You'll remember that God was going to bring the children of 39:09 Israel out of Egyptian bondage, and you'll remember that God 39:15 made essentially two promises to them. 39:19 "I'm going to give you a land flowing with milk and honey, and 39:25 I'm going to give you rest." 39:28 But you'll remember what happened. 39:30 The children of Israel came out of Egypt. 39:32 God took them to the borders of Canaan, the Promised Land, and 39:37 Moses sent 12 spies into the land. 39:40 But you'll remember that ten of them came back with an evil 39:43 report and they basically said, "There are giants in the land, 39:49 are fortified cities. 39:50 They're bigger than we are. 39:52 We're like grasshoppers in their sight. 39:54 They--if we go up against them, they are going to destroy us, 39:57 they're going to kill us, they're going 39:59 to kill our children." 40:01 Because they were looking to do it in their own power. 40:04 They had forgotten that God had promised them that He would 40:07 drive out their enemies before them. 40:12 And there were only two spies that gave a faithful report: 40:16 Joshua and Caleb. 40:18 And notice what it says in Hebrews chapter 3 40:21 starting in verse 16. 40:26 "For who, having heard, rebelled? 40:29 Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt led by Moses? 40:35 Now with whom was He angry 40 years? 40:37 Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses 40:40 fell in the wilderness? 40:41 And to whom did He swear that He would not--they would not enter 40:46 His rest, but to those who did not obey? 40:49 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." 40:55 Now, if we put our spiritual glasses on and we look at this, 41:02 we see, we know, don't we, that the children of Israel that came 41:07 out of Egyptian bondage were not able to enter 41:10 into the Promised Land. 41:11 They were not able to get in there physically and they were 41:15 not able to have physical rest, and we can see that 41:19 from that passage there. 41:21 But I want you to notice that 40 years later that their children 41:30 did go into the Promised Land, didn't they? 41:33 And God did give them physical rest. 41:37 So what we see here is that that promise of God was not just for 41:45 that generation that came out of Egypt, but it was for all 41:52 successive generations at well--as well. 41:57 It should be evident to us that entrance into the literal Israel 42:03 or Canaan is only one aspect of the promise that God had made. 42:10 He's promised us more than an earthly Canaan. 42:12 He's promised us a heavenly Canaan. 42:15 He's offered us more than physical rest. 42:17 He's offering us spiritual rest. Because here's the thing. 42:22 God desired that once He had the children of Israel established 42:28 in the Promised Land, He purposed to qualify them as a 42:34 nation to be His chosen messengers of salvation to the 42:39 world; and yet centuries later in the time of David, they had 42:46 still not entered into that aspect of rest that God had 42:51 promised, not a spiritual rest. 42:53 In fact, they never entered into it. 42:56 Look with me in Hebrews chapter 4 and I'll show that to you. 43:00 Hebrews chapter 4, look with me, starting in verse 6. 43:07 "Since therefore it remains that some must enter it--" 43:12 What is the it there? 43:14 That is that promised spiritual rest, right? 43:17 Let me say it again. 43:18 "Since therefore it remains that some must enter into that 43:21 spiritual rest, and those to whom it was first preached did 43:25 not enter in because of disobedience, again He 43:29 designates a certain day, saying in David, 'Today,' after such a 43:33 long time, as it has been said: 'Today, if you will hear His 43:36 voice, do not harden your hearts.' 43:38 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not 43:42 afterwards have spoken of another day. 43:45 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 43:52 For he who has entered His rest," that's God's rest, "has 43:55 himself also ceased from his works as God did Himself." 44:02 Here we see that even though Joshua later--40 years later did 44:07 bring the children of Israel into the Promised Land and he 44:11 did give them physical rest, that wasn't God's rest. 44:15 That wasn't the rest that God desired, and they were not able 44:20 to enter into that rest because of disobedience. 44:23 But, brothers and sisters, today you and I can enter into 44:28 that rest, amen? 44:30 We can enter into God's rest as we surrender our heart to Him, 44:35 as we allow Him to do those things in us that 44:37 we can't do in ourselves. 44:40 And that's why as a 16-year-old boy going to church three 44:45 days a week with my mother I said to her, "Why do we 44:47 have to go three days, isn't one enough?" 44:50 Because I was trying to do it in my own power. 44:53 To me it was work. It was a burden, right? 44:57 But years later when I gave my heart to the Lord, I've had that 45:01 born-again experience, now I want to be in church three days 45:06 a week, now it's not a burden to me, now I want to go to 45:10 prayer meeting every Wednesday night, now I 45:13 want to go to Sabbath school. 45:15 I want to be in the worship service. 45:17 I want to be involved in the activities of the church because 45:21 God is doing the work, and for me it's not a burden. 45:27 It's a joy. It's a peace. 45:30 It's what God wants for us, to enter into that spiritual rest 45:36 that He has offered to us. 45:39 So I want to finish with where we started a little while ago. 45:45 Listen to these words in "Child Guidance" page 267. 45:51 "When you find your work hard, when you complain of 45:57 difficulties and trials; when you say that you have no 46:00 strength to withstand temptation, that you cannot 46:04 overcome impatience, and that the Christian life is uphill 46:09 work, you can be sure that you are not bearing 46:15 the yoke of Christ. 46:17 You're bearing the yoke of another master." 46:19 You're trying to do it in your own power. 46:22 And so Jesus says, "Come to Me, all you who are heavy laden. 46:30 All you who are weighed down with trying to do it in your own 46:34 power, you can't do it. 46:36 But come to Me and surrender your life to Me. 46:40 Allow Me to do those things in you that you can't do 46:43 and I will give you rest." 46:46 And now the Christian life rather than being a burden, 46:51 rather than it being about a bunch of rules, now it's about a 46:56 relationship, now it's a joy. 47:00 He promises, "I'm not only going to give you life, I'm going to 47:03 give you an abundant life. 47:05 I'm going to take away all those things that ensnare you, all of 47:09 those things that pull you away, and I am going 47:13 to give you rest." 47:15 Brothers and sisters, do you want that kind of rest; to be 47:19 able to rest in Jesus, to have joy and peace and thanksgiving? 47:24 Amen, well, I want to close with reminding you of 47:28 our free offer today. 47:29 It is "Christ's Human Nature." 47:32 This little book is offered to you free if you dial 47:36 866-788-3966. 47:40 That's 1-866-Study-More, and ask for offer number 703. 47:48 If you're outside of North America, you can go to 47:52 study.aftv.org or you can use your cell phone and you can text 47:57 the code "SH," Sabbath Hour or Study Hour, "017" 48:05 to the number 40544. 48:08 And that, again, is "Christ's Human Nature." 48:12 Do you want to have that kind of rest? 48:14 Do you want to have that kind of peace and joy 48:17 and enter into God's rest? 48:20 If you do, I want you to pray with me now. 48:24 Oh, loving Father, such a joy and a privilege to 48:28 be the children of God. 48:30 But, Lord, in our carnal nature we often have the tendency to 48:33 try and get to heaven our own way; but You are inviting us to 48:39 come to You, You're inviting us to take Your yoke which is easy 48:46 and light, You're inviting us to learn from You and 48:51 to do things Your way. 48:54 Lord, everyone who arrives in heaven is going to get there 48:56 with their freewill still intact. 48:58 We freely surrender ourselves to You and ask You to do those 49:02 things in us that we cannot do in ourselves. 49:04 Thank You for beginning a good work in each of us. 49:07 Lord, we pray You'd bring it to completion. 49:10 And we ask it in Jesus's name. Amen. 49:16 male announcer: Don't forget to request today's 49:17 life-changing free resource. 49:19 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, 49:21 you can download a digital copy straight to your 49:23 computer or mobile device. 49:25 To get your digital copy of today's free gift simply text 49:29 the keyword on your screen to 40544 or visit the web address 49:33 shown on your screen, and be sure to select the digital 49:36 download option on the request page. 49:38 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word with 49:42 Amazing Facts wherever and whenever you want, and most 49:45 important, to share it with others. 49:51 male: I grew up in a church-going family. 49:54 I mean, we were at every meeting. 49:55 I sang in four of the choirs there, I directed three. 50:00 Very involved, very active. 50:03 It almost seemed like busy work sometimes, you know? 50:06 I went to Sunday school, I knew about God, I knew 50:10 about Jesus. 50:12 But I didn't have a personal relationship with 50:14 Jesus Christ. 50:16 My senior year in high school I got the news that 50:21 my father had been murdered. 50:25 Now, I played it off well. 50:27 No one really saw that I was struggling with it. 50:33 It just really felt like there was a hole that 50:36 needed to be filled and I tried to fill it with 50:38 drugs, with alcohol, with partying. 50:42 After college, I just stopped going to church altogether. 50:49 One day, on a Sunday, 'cause I didn't feel like 50:51 going to church with my mom, I thought, you know, 50:55 "I should get a little bit of Word." 50:59 She had the satellite system hooked up and I'm 51:01 flipping through channels. 51:02 And then the logo pops across, "Amazing Facts Presents." 51:07 I've listened to a lot of different ministers but 51:09 this was the first time that he's actually saying 51:12 something where I had to grab my Bible and actually 51:14 pick it up and I've never heard this before. 51:17 Let me look through and find this. 51:19 I went through all the historicals, I went 51:21 through all the study guides and I just 51:23 couldn't get enough. 51:24 And then the Sabbath came up and he's going through 51:27 the appeal and I'm just going, "Lord, I hear You. 51:31 I have to go to church." 51:32 So I show up. 51:34 It was funny, I didn't feel like I was going to 51:36 be judged, anything judgmental, anything. 51:40 And I walked in the door, and I just felt at home. 51:43 But there's still a problem. 51:46 I'm still partying. 51:48 I was still going out to the bars. 51:50 At this time, I was selling cocaine to pay my rent. 51:55 Sixteen days later, I find myself in a life or 51:58 death situation. 52:00 I had just came back from a liquor store and I 52:02 grabbed a bottle of vodka. 52:05 And there I am, high off cocaine, with my Bible in 52:09 hand, trying to do a Bible study. 52:13 And I heard an audible voice, "Just look at yourself." 52:20 And I did, and I was, like, "What am I doing?" 52:25 And I got on my knees and I said, "Lord, if You do 52:28 not take this away from me now, I'm going to kill myself." 52:34 I was going to continue this lifestyle and I was 52:36 going to end up overdosing, having a heart 52:39 attack, whatever it was. 52:42 "You have to take this away, all of it." 52:48 And that day, He lift it all up and away from me. 52:52 It was all gone. 52:54 When God does something in your life, He does it complete. 53:00 ♪♪♪ 53:08 ♪♪♪ 53:24 announcer: "Amazing Facts" change lives. 53:33 male: I'd have to say that I had a wonderful childhood 53:35 growing up. 53:37 I went to a private school up until the seventh grade, till 53:39 junior high. 53:41 I believe it was at that point in junior high that my life 53:45 began to change. 53:47 Going from a Christian education into a public school was a 53:50 big difference. 53:52 There was a lot of secular influence, peer pressure. 53:57 And for me it was the music. 53:59 I started listening to heavy metal music. 54:02 Every concert that would come to town, I was there. 54:04 That had a profound effect on me. 54:07 I started using marijuana, probably at the age of 14. 54:12 I started drinking, using a lot of cocaine, and that led to 54:16 methamphetamine, and that completely changed my life. 54:19 I dropped out of high school my sophomore year and went to work. 54:25 I would get off of work, and we'd go into the bar until 54:29 two o'clock in the morning. 54:31 I'd get back up at five and I'd go back through it again six, 54:33 seven days a week. 54:37 At the age of 20, I lost my dad to a heart attack. 54:43 I didn't know how to handle the loss, so I tried to mask my pain 54:46 with alcohol and drugs. 54:49 I got three DUI's in one year. 54:51 I was arrested, and they gave me a year in the county jail. 54:56 And the moment I got out, I went back to doing the same thing, 55:00 hanging with the same people, the same crowd. 55:03 I was involved in a hit-and-run motorcycle accident, and I was 55:06 charged with a felony DUI. 55:08 Even though at the time of the accident, I was not under the 55:10 influence, I still had methamphetamine in my system. 55:14 At my sentencing day, I left the courtroom, and I didn't come 55:18 back, and that left me with a felony warrant. 55:21 And I'd fallen asleep at a park, and I woke up to a park ranger 55:27 knocking on my window. 55:29 I knew I was wanted, and I knew that I was not going to just 55:32 turn myself in. 55:35 I turned to him and I'd made the comment, "Not today," and I 55:37 took off. 55:40 I led five different agencies on about a 35-minute chase, and I 55:44 realized at that point that I wasn't going to get away and 55:47 that this was going to end up either me killing somebody 55:50 or myself. 55:53 And so, I made a decision to pull over. 55:55 At that point, everything that I had, I lost. 55:58 I was sentenced to two years in state prison and it was there 56:02 that God got a hold of me and it was through Amazing 56:08 Facts Ministries. 56:11 I remember listening on my radio Pastor Doug Batchelor. 56:15 I wanted to get to know the Bible. 56:17 I wanted to know God. 56:19 And so, my Aunt Marilyn sent me the Amazing Fact study guides, 56:24 and it was there that my relationship with Christ began. 56:30 I had called home and I knew my mother wasn't doing well, but I 56:36 didn't realize that she had cancer. 56:40 She had about a 30% chance of making it through her surgery. 56:47 She had told the doctors that she was not going to have chemo, 56:50 and she was not going to have radiation, that if her God was 56:52 going to save her, then He would save her. 56:55 I remember hanging up the phone to what I thought was my last 56:58 conversation with my mom. 57:03 I turned around, I got down on my knees, and I prayed to God. 57:08 I said, "God, if you're there, please save my mother, and 57:11 wherever You lead me in life, whatever You want me to do, I 57:15 am Yours." 57:17 And I had a feeling of such peace that I knew that my mother 57:22 was going to be okay and that my life was going to change. 57:27 There are no words that I can adequately express to Amazing 57:31 Facts and to Pastor Doug to say thank you. 57:34 To all those people who support the ministry, I am a product of 57:37 your support. 57:39 My life has changed because of this ministry, and I 57:43 thank you from the bottom of my heart. 57:48 ♪♪♪ 57:58 ♪♪♪ 58:08 ♪♪♪ 58:18 ♪♪♪ |
Revised 2021-07-20