The Greatest Weightlifter of All Time. Give Him your Burden.

[0:00] Talking about how to lose that burden. A woman contacted me lately and asked me how do we cast our burden upon the Lord?

[0:16] ! And I hope that I can give you some practical pointers today to help answer just that question. David cried out, cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

[0:34] So this morning it's a bit of a heavy sermon if you like. Heavy in the sense it's talking about burdens. People have got burdens. What are the kinds of burdens people can carry?

[0:45] Some are carrying guilt. They bow down under the leaden weight of sin. Some are carrying sorrows, the heavy loads of sadness, of sickness, of concerns for family.

[0:56] Some are carrying the weights of worries, of fears, of responsibilities, of troubles. Some are carrying the weight of loss, of the burden of losing a loved one, of loneliness.

[1:07] Perhaps it's the burden of disappointment. These are many real burdens that people carry. And perhaps there's some carrying such things even amongst us today.

[1:18] And so I want to empathise with you. And it's hard. It's hard being loaded up and being weighed down. But the Word of God gives us reason for hope. We see it reads in Proverbs 12, verse 25, Heaviness is in the heart of man.

[1:34] It maketh it stoop. But a good word maketh it glad. Heaviness in the heart makes that heart weighed down and stooping. But a good word can make a heart glad.

[1:47] I want to give you a good word this morning. Lots of good words I trust. Words that will make you glad today. The Word of God is a glad word, isn't it? Glad news. Good news. The greatest news. I offer you many good words from the good word.

[2:01] A man called John Bunyan spent 12 long years in jail for his faith. Simply because he didn't belong to the institutional church of his day.

[2:12] And John Bunyan was locked up in a prison cell with his Bible. And he wrote Pilgrim's Progress, a story of a man's journey from home in the city of destruction to the heavenly city.

[2:28] And the pilgrim carried a load, it says. And it pictured his sense of sin, of guilt. It's like how David described his own sin. In Psalm 38, verse 4, For mine iniquities have gone over mine head as a heavy burden.

[2:43] They are too heavy for me. My iniquities have gone over mine head as a heavy burden. They are too heavy for me. Sin is heavy.

[2:54] It loads us down. We cannot bear it. Bunyan writes in his allegory, As I slept I dreamt. And behold I saw a man, clothed in rags, standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back.

[3:15] I looked and I saw him open the book and read therein. And as he read he wept and trembled. And not being able to longer contain, he broke out with a lamentable cry, saying, What shall I do?

[3:32] How camest thou by thy burden? At first, Pilgrim was asked. And he replied, By reading this book in my hand. The first step on this journey to let go of your burden is to see your dire need of Christ.

[3:50] The word opened to this man's eyes, helped him to sense the awful weight of his sinfulness. In order to get rid of his burden, he had to see that he had a burden.

[4:02] That he was carrying one. And friends, the greatest burden of mankind, the greatest burden anyone can carry, is the burden of sin. The burden of sin.

[4:13] The guilt of it, the shame, the horror of it, the weight, the load of it, the sinfulness of it. And here's a good place to start to be able to get rid of such burdens, is to realize your need, the burden of sin.

[4:26] The pilgrim held a book in his hand. It was the word of God. And that was how he came to realize the burden that was on his back. And Romans 7.13 tells in part how sin, by the commandment, the law of God, might become exceeding sinful.

[4:43] There was a Puritan writer of old, Ralph Venning, wrote a book in 1669. And the title of Ralph Venning's book was Sin, the Plague of Plagues.

[4:56] And we've heard tell of some plagues lately, the last couple of years or so. But this is the plague of plagues. Sin, the plague of plagues. And this Puritan wrote this book four years after the great plagues of London.

[5:11] And he described sin as the greatest plague on the planet. And this topic of this man was the just vindication of the law of God. And no less just accusation and condemnation of the sin of man.

[5:26] This book is still in print. I was perusing it. You can look at it on the internet as you can most things. And the book is still in print by the title, The Sinfulness of Sin.

[5:40] The Sinfulness of Sin. And as the author wrote, he says, As to the sinfulness of sin, I have indeed handled it most fully as it is against man's good and happiness.

[5:53] He writes of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Venning describes how we ought to see sin for what it is. A most hideous, devilish and hellish thing.

[6:05] I quote, The most wicked, mischievous, virulent, villainous and deadly thing that ever was. Sin degrades man. It defiles man. Think of the folly of it, the misery of it.

[6:18] In contrast, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The exceeding sinfulness of our sin. The great, awesome grace of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

[6:30] We should hate sin. Some don't ever get the pressing sense of it. The conviction of it. And when we realise our burden, as the pilgrim in Bunyan's story realised his burden, then we can realise the one who is the great burden bearer.

[6:47] Let us see our great need of the Saviour. The only one who can release us from it. And the glad news is, friends, today, if you realise that this heaviest weight that is our sin, this heaviest weight, this exceeding sinfulness of our sin, this heaviest weight can be lifted because the greatest weight lifter of all time is our Lord Jesus Christ.

[7:10] Amen.

[7:41] And the people who are going to stumble at, they don't realise this is Christ that is spoken of 800 years before he came. And pilgrim in Bunyan's story came to realise the weight of the burden of his sin.

[7:53] And it tells in Bunyan's story, when pilgrim came by the cross, his great burden fell off from his shoulders. It just plopped off his shoulders like God struck the cords and tore it off his back.

[8:08] It fell down as he saw the cross, as he realised Christ crucified for his sin. And the Lord Jesus invites us to offload, to yield our burden unto him. He wants you to.

[8:19] He will take the load. He promises to. Such promises as Matthew 11, 28 through 30, it says, Our Lord Jesus beckons you. He says to you, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

[8:36] Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. And ye shall find rest unto your souls.

[8:47] For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. He says, Come unto me, take my yoke upon you, learn of me. He says unto you, come and cast your burdens upon me.

[9:01] He says, Cast your heavy burden on my back and take my light burden on yours. There will still be some carrying to do. But with his strong shoulders yoked to yours, he'll carry you through.

[9:14] He knows our need. He's the friend of sinners. He cares for you. He beckons you. He invites you. And he'll take off your heavy load, if you will, but give it to him.

[9:25] Will you give him your burdens? That's the big question. He lovingly and willingly takes our cares. And it's a truth that you cannot get rid of the weight yourself.

[9:37] Some would try through philosophy, through religion, through vain energies of man, but we cannot get rid of the weight ourselves.

[9:48] It's like a story was told of an African woman who was carrying an engine block on her head. As we know in Africa, they have got this amazing capacity to carry heavy objects.

[10:02] She was carrying an engine block on her head. But when she tried to get rid of her burden on her own, she broke her neck. You cannot get rid of the burden on your own. You must let Jesus take your burden.

[10:15] Let the Lord carry the burden for you. Since the burden is too heavy for you, give it to the Lord to carry. Those heaviest burdens may be unseen to others, but he sees it. He sees your burden.

[10:27] So throw it, the Bible says. Cast it. Get a hold of it and throw it. Like Daniel cast into the den of lions. He was cast in. He was thrown in. He was hurled in. Like Jonah who was cast into the sea.

[10:40] Out of the ship, they threw him overboard into the depths. Like John who it says was cast into prison. And it's the word that's used in Revelation 20 verse 10, which tells how the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.

[10:57] Imagine that is how we should cast our cares on our Lord.

[11:12] So again, cast thy burden, thy burden.

[11:27] Cast it upon the Lord. And he shall sustain thee. How do you cast it is the question I was asked.

[11:38] And really, I'd like to make this as practical as I can. Because I know sometimes I can give all kinds of concepts without really making it practical. This is something you can actually apply.

[11:49] I pray so. How do we cast our burden? Go to him in prayer. Go to God in prayer. Pray. Pray through. Speak to him. He wants to hear from you.

[12:00] He wants you to pray. Cast your care upon him. Call upon the Lord from your pit. Call out unto him from your heart. Call to him and he will answer.

[12:11] He promises, call and I will answer. He will show you the way. You have a direct communication link with heaven. So cast thy burden. Cast it.

[12:22] Throw it into his arms. Let go of it and give it to him. Cast your burden. Let go and give it to him. He will carry it.

[12:33] He wants you to yield to him your burden. So go to him in prayer. Brother, sister, go to him and yield your need to him. Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall, he shall.

[12:44] He promises, he shall sustain thee. Notice his sustaining power here. Know that God will sustain you, whatever it is. It brings to thought that not only will he deliver us in salvation, but he will sustain us in sanctification.

[13:02] Not only will he save us, he will deliver us. He's our deliverer, but he also is our sustainer, our keeper. He is the deliverer and the sustainer of his people.

[13:13] So know that today. You might think, well, I'm going through some things. There's been some hard things. Even my Christian life is hard and I'm struggling.

[13:25] He is not only your deliverer, but he is your sustainer as well. And he is the deliverer and sustainer of his people. So throw that burden upon the Lord.

[13:36] Really, it's a great relief we can know as we let go of that burden. As Peter puts it, 1 Peter 5, 7, Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.

[13:49] What a relief to know that the Lord Jesus truly cares, that he cares. Know that he cares. What will you do with your burden? Whatever it is, cast it upon the Lord.

[14:01] It's too heavy for you. Will you let him carry it? And when you cast it, he will take it over. It will be his dealing with it from there on.

[14:15] He will carry the burden for you. And he promises to sustain you and to uphold you. Notice it says, He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

[14:30] Whatever your burden is, know that he will never suffer you to be moved. Will you cast it upon him is the big question, isn't it? Let the Lord carry the way for you.

[14:45] When you consider, truly he already has. The Lord Jesus carried that burden of your sin. As he carried the weight of that cross.

[14:57] So our sin was in his body on the tree. That's a gripping thought, isn't it? 2,000 years ago, your sin was there.

[15:09] It was in his very body as it was nailed to the tree. He's already carried the burden of your sin. Let him pardon.

[15:22] Let him grant pardon. Unload that burden of unforgiven sin. Ask the Lord Jesus to save you. And he will.

[15:34] And be relieved of that burden once and for all. Cast your burden upon the Lord. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Take the Lord at his word.

[15:45] Believe what he has said. And know that he loves you. He cares for you, truly. And he will lift that load. So what are the burdens to cast? Of course, salvation is that ultimate burden lifted, isn't it?

[15:58] Of sin taken forever forgiven. As a believer, maybe there's unconfessed sin. There's still some hanging things onto you.

[16:09] There's worries. There's burdens. There's anxieties and cares. As a believer, we can still be subject to unbelief. We can still encounter unforgiveness.

[16:22] We might feel unworthy, even though we're saved. I've known some like that. They're constantly doubting their salvation. Am I good enough? Well, maybe you need to get saved first.

[16:35] Because really, we all have to realize none of us are good enough. We never can be. We can never match up to the glory of God. It's too far out of reach. We can't construct a ladder tall enough to ever attain it.

[16:50] But yet, he grants salvation. And we can know that. We don't have to feel unworthy. Because his worthiness is ours.

[17:04] His righteousness is ours. What are the burdens to cast? It could be fear. Even in the current environment, as things are threatening of sorts, there's fears.

[17:15] We can all be thinking, how am I going to survive when this happens or that? Or how can I manage my bills or the concerns I have, practical things of life?

[17:27] We can all feel like we can't manage. The Lord Jesus says, cast them. Cast thy burden. Cast thy burden upon the Lord. Christ bore a burden that was not his own.

[17:38] He bore the burden of our guilt. The Lord Jesus took upon himself all of it. All the sin. All the evil. Every bit of it. Every part of it. He carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, literally, didn't he?

[17:52] And it tells of him that our Lord was made sin for us who knew no sin. That we might be made the righteousness of God in him. To think of it, Christ was made our sin.

[18:05] He was made sin on our behalf so that in Christ we might become the righteousness of God. So, your burden today.

[18:17] We can feel the weight of whatever it is. We can know the exceeding sinfulness of our sin. We might know how sinful we are more than anyone else can. But the Lord Jesus knows that.

[18:30] We can feel the guilt, the load, the shame, the misery. We can be groaning under the heavy weight of it. But then we can realise that we can cast it.

[18:42] The weight can be lifted off. Taken, removed, released, gone, forever gone. Forever forgiven. Forever sustained by his hand.

[18:53] Moody told a story to illustrate. This truth. He tells of two men who are under the influence of drink.

[19:06] And they boarded a boat. And they went down to the dock there. The boat was tied. And they wanted to return home across the other shore.

[19:19] So they got in the boat and they began to row. They rowed hard all night. But they did not reach the other side of the bay. And when the grey dawn of the morning broke, they were in exactly the same spot from which they started.

[19:35] They'd neglected to loosen the mooring line. They'd neglected to loose the line and to raise the anchor. And Moody, the evangelist, used this to illustrate how some people strive for heaven.

[19:49] But they're tied to this world. Cut the cord. Cut the cord. He would urge. Set yourself free from the clogging weight of earthly things. And you'll be headed towards heaven.

[20:01] Of course, our trust in Christ breaks that cord. As we have faith in Christ as the saviour from our sin. As we realise the exceeding sinfulness of our sin was laid upon him and paid in full.

[20:13] That cord can be cut. But unless we cut the cord, we cannot move forward.

[20:25] Cut the cord. Trust Christ today. Trust Christ this morning. Trust him now for time and for eternity. Know that your sin is paid in full. Realise the release of it unto him as your saviour.

[20:37] There was a plane that once crashed in the Bahamas shortly after takeoff. And investigators found that the plane had been loaded with something like twice its maximum baggage capacity.

[20:50] And the investigators believed that it was all that weight that made the plane go down. Too much baggage can cause a plane to crash.

[21:01] In fact, too much baggage can make people crash. When you're carrying around all kinds of emotional and spiritual baggage, it can weigh you down and make it hard for you to fly or to reach your destination.

[21:14] Think of it spiritually. Baggage. Stuff that you're hanging on to. You're still carrying it. A whole lot of baggage.

[21:27] People have hurt you. People are hurting you. I know that. I'm happy. It's happening to me. What's holding you back? You can hang on to that or you can say, I'm going to cast it.

[21:38] I'm not going to let that hang on to me. I'm not going to let them occupy the head space and let them rent space in my mind, as it were. You know, it's that kind of thought, isn't it?

[21:49] I'm going to give it to the Lord. I'm going to give it to my Lord. I'm going to let him take care of it and take care of them, which he will do. What's holding you back? It can make you crash sometimes, can't it?

[22:01] The baggage. The things that you hang on to. Sometimes you've got to have that purge. It's like, I know I relate this sometimes, and I've got to get to that garage one day, my tool shed.

[22:12] Peter's been in it and he's seen what a mess it is. I've got to get there and sort it out one day. And this and that, you know, things that clutter, the things that clutter up, and I just tend to throw the tools in and just shut the door.

[22:25] Not put them away tidily. I'm totally opposite to Julie in that regard. She's such a, you know, what's a nice way of putting it? She's a lovely perfectionist.

[22:38] You know, we can be the opposite, can't we? We can have cluttered lives, cluttered spiritual lives, can't we? The clutter, the rubbish, the baggage. Let it go. Let it go.

[22:50] You know, Julie's going to order a skip bin next week and we've got to just let it all go. That's what we need to do spiritually, don't we? Don't we? Let it go. We don't want to be loaded down with too much baggage.

[23:02] And, of course, we've got the picture of our running race that we're in, Hebrews 12, that familiar one, of the runners on the racetrack, starting blocks there, ready to go.

[23:14] We've got to lay aside every weight. And the sin, which doth easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. It's called the thought of the weights. The weights.

[23:25] It might be good to wear some weights while you're doing some practice running. But, friends, we're in the race now. Put aside the weights. Let it go. What's weighing you down?

[23:36] Release it. What's your weight? What's your baggage? What's weighing you down and holding you back? Could it be a grudge? You're holding. Hard feelings. You're harbouring.

[23:47] Resentment about whatever. You've allowed it to grow and you've not let it go. Let it go. You've let the sun go down on your anger too many times.

[23:58] It's weighing you down. God doesn't want you to carry that. The weight of your bitterness is darkening everything around you. I had a picture of a chip on a shoulder there.

[24:10] And we can carry some chips on our shoulder, can't we, that weigh us down? It's really that unforgiveness at times, isn't it? But think of the release that you could have of forgiving.

[24:22] The release of forgiving. It's truly liberating. And I know I was at some self-development thing a few years back. And this was a secular commentator that was talking about the power of forgiveness.

[24:37] Mind you, he was a Christian, but it was in a secular training presentation. And he was talking about the power of forgiveness. It's totally powerful. It's really powerful, isn't it?

[24:48] And without forgiveness, it's a weight. It's a weight. And weights can be questionable things that we just haven't let go of.

[25:00] And there was a preacher called Griffith Thomas. He suggested three tests to apply to things to see if they're weights that we ought to lay aside. So three tips on whether something is a weight for you.

[25:15] Firstly, we'll be uneasy about them. It'll be something we'll be uneasy about. Second, we continue to argue about them with our consciences. It's occupying that thinking.

[25:27] And then third, we ask others perhaps again and again whether they think these things are wrong. Anything that keeps us from a higher spiritual efficiency is wrong. Lay it aside. So if there's something that's causing you doubt or concern, something that you know is not dealt with, go to God in prayer.

[25:44] Lay it on his shoulders. Cast it upon the Lord. He wants to sustain you. He wants to take that off of you. And he's going to lift you up. Now man-made religion does the opposite of that.

[25:56] Matthew 23, of course, the context. Our Lord's speaking to the hypocrites, the establishment of his day, the religious, religionists of his day.

[26:08] In Matthew 23 verse 4, he tells how they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

[26:21] It's talking there about religiosity like the vain religion of men that would burden people with this or that. The Lord is the opposite of that. Rather, let us be mindful of those that are burdened down.

[26:35] How should we respond to someone who is burdened? Let's be mindful of others that are burdened. Sometimes we don't always realise it.

[26:50] I can think for myself of there's a couple of people that come to mind who committed suicide.

[27:02] And they were believers. And it's very sad. Very sad. Very sad. Could I have been more perceptive?

[27:13] What was happening for them? Sometimes you have that thought, don't you? When you know, you hear someone that passes away. Could I have been a bit more understanding?

[27:25] Could I have put a bit more thought into that person? And you feel that sense of, could I have done more for them? And there could be people carrying burdens amongst us that we don't even realise it.

[27:40] They might be on the edge. If that's you, reach out for help. Don't let it overwhelm you, please. Don't let it overcome you today.

[27:51] If you ever come to that place in your life, reach out. Reach out to people. Reach out. Don't carry it. Don't let that take you to that place. That dark place.

[28:05] But Paul writes in Galatians, he says, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou be tempted.

[28:16] Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. Paul's saying here, you that are spiritual. You the spiritual ones.

[28:27] When you see someone, they're overtaken in a fault. You that are spiritual. You see someone overtaken in a fault. What did you do? You whisper, you gossip.

[28:46] Oh, did you know so-and-so did such and such. That person that's overtaken in a fault. Whoa. Not me. I'm just them.

[29:00] You that are spiritual, restore such a one. Reach out to them. Reach them for Christ. Show the care of Christ.

[29:12] Show the love of Jesus. Take the trouble, the care, the effort, the pains, the love to restore such a one.

[29:24] In the spirit of meekness. That could be me. He could be me. I could be him. That fault could be mine.

[29:36] And I've got faults. Don't worry. He's just got overtaken in his fault. And the spirit of meekness is what we should have, isn't it? Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

[29:48] So easy to say, his fault. And you think, wow. I'm just as guilty. I'm just as needy. Just as unworthy.

[29:59] But the point here is bear one another's burdens. And so fulfill the law of Christ. Think of the burdens. Burden. As I say, we can be, sometimes we can have the blind spots. This person needs a bit of prayer.

[30:11] This person needs a bit of care. This person needs me to show love and reach out to them, to touch them, to encourage them, to comfort them, to help them.

[30:22] But we're so blinkered that we don't always see people loaded down. We should come alongside them to help. Let's help them, the others that are burdened.

[30:33] Let's have their eye to not just me, me, me in our own little echo chamber, in our own little, you know, isolated world of me, me, me, myself and I. I think, actually, it's others need help.

[30:46] Bear one another's burdens. It's an even better thing to do, isn't it? Not only to cast your burden, but come and help some others that have got some burdens, too. So that's a good thing to do. Help them with prayer and care.

[30:58] Are you still carrying your burden? Let it go today. Let it go. Let it go right now. By faith, all of it. Cast all your cares.

[31:09] All your cares. Not just some of them. Sometimes we throw just some of the cares. He wants you to cast all of them. Some carry their burdens to their grave, don't they?

[31:20] They put them in the box and they've still got a burden. They put the man in the box and he's still got some gripe, some grief, some unforgiveness, some something that's never resolved, some difference, some clash, some conflict.

[31:36] It's never laid to rest, even while they're in their coffin. It's too late. It's too late then. Stop carrying them.

[31:47] Yield, surrender, give it over. You know, there's people you need to get right with. Make it right. It's not saying that they're right and you're wrong. It's saying, well, I need to get right by saying, hey, I'll forgive you, whatever it is.

[32:01] If you've got people in your life that they know you've got a problem with them or there's some unforgiveness happening, say, look, I just wanted to make that call. Get your phone out after church or before you get in your car.

[32:15] Get your phone out and talk to that person and say, look, I know this happened. I just wanted to reach out to you and say, I forgive you. I don't hold anything against you, whatever it is.

[32:26] That's a good thing to do, isn't it? That's a purging thing. That's a cleansing thing. That's a getting free thing. So I urge you, if there's things like that, get it right with other people. Don't take it to the grave.

[32:37] So when you're in the coffin, it's all gone. It's all forgiven. It's all done and dusted. There's no skeletons in the cupboard. There's nothing that you're going to hang on to that you haven't dealt with.

[32:50] Our Lord isn't about weighing people down like the religionists of the day, but he's in taking the sin away. Now you've heard of furniture restoration.

[33:01] I've got a picture here. I know there's some lovely people getting a house lovely redecorated and repainted and refurbished and they've pulled all the kitchen apart and all the kitchen drawers and scrubbed them and polished them and sanded them and repainted them and it looks pretty swish now.

[33:22] What was a bit run down has now been restored. We can think of that spiritually too. What about our spiritual lives? You've heard of furniture restoration.

[33:33] See some people, they get that thing off the side of the road even. You know, there could be someone's trash becomes treasure, doesn't it? That old cabinet and they take it and they sandpaper it and polish it and paint it.

[33:51] Furniture restoration. Some people are into car restoration, aren't they? They get their car and they just make it shine. Car restoration.

[34:02] I put to you this morning that he is in the people restoration business. Amen. He's able to restore. He's able to restore. And so we should have the heart of God too.

[34:14] That even those, that one, overtaken in a fall, they can be restored. They can be restored. Even that brother, that sister that you think, they're a, what's the word?

[34:25] They're beyond redemption. Well, actually redemption is wide open. I don't think there's anyone beyond redemption as far as God would reckon it. That his hand is not shortened, his arm is not shortened, that it cannot say.

[34:39] That God can say to the uttermost. He can say to the gutter most. There's no one outside of the reach of his hand. It's just man in his defiance, in his selfishness, in his pridefulness, won't bow the knee.

[34:52] But friends, Christ is in the restoration business. And so we can be free from unwanted weights and burdens. The Lord Jesus says, if the Son, therefore, shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.

[35:05] Friends, I want to tell you this morning, there's a great burden bearer, a load lifter. And you can lay hold on the promises of God, including this one. The heaviest burdens.

[35:17] You can give your heaviest burdens unto him. Your burdens, your anxieties, your guilt, your care. Lay them upon the burden bearer. There was a time where an evangelist was approached by a woman and she said, oh, it's all very well for you to say about this light heart.

[35:36] But you're a young man. And if you had a heavy burden like me, you'd talk differently about it. I could not talk in that way. My burden is too great. But the evangelist said, but it's not too great for Jesus.

[35:50] Oh, I cannot cast it on him. He says, why not? Surely it is not too great for him. It is not that he is feeble, but it is because you will not leave it to him.

[36:04] You, like many others, they will not leave it with him. They go about hugging their burden and yet crying out against it. What the Lord wants for you is to leave it with him. Let him carry it.

[36:16] And then you'll have a light heart. Sorrow will flee away. There will be no more sighing. What is your burden? That you cannot leave it with Christ. She said, my son is a wanderer on the face of the earth.

[36:29] And she was worried about her son. And he says, go tell Jesus, ask him to do it. To deal with it. And she went away comforted. And ultimately, God restored the boy to her.

[36:42] Friends, no burden is too big for God. Whatever it is that's bothering you. No load is too much for him to carry. And so friends today, cast thy burden upon the Lord.

[36:54] He shall see you through. He'll keep you and he'll keep standing by you. We can know the greatest blessing. The weight of glory is ahead. And you might say, well, preacher, look, I've got this burden.

[37:07] I know I'm going to carry it to my grave. We've got this sickness, this situation, this problem. Sometimes we will have some burdens that we will have to carry.

[37:22] Paul tells us this. He says, our light affliction worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. So Paul says, yes, there's going to be some affliction, but in the scheme of things, in the scale of things, it's going to be light.

[37:37] A light affliction. And it says, one day, it's a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. So find God's strength to bear that, if that be your situation.

[37:53] It could be you'll bear some trials. You'll bear some adversities. We think of our brothers and sisters in other lands. We think of the martyrs of old that went to the torture stake, to the flames of the fire of burning at the stake.

[38:12] There could be some great griefs and sorrows and trials. But you have the presence of Jesus. You have his presence.

[38:23] And one day, there'll be a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. It'll make it all seem as nothing. It'll seem so light then. What matters is Christ, that you know him.

[38:37] There was a Romanian pastor who spent 14 years in prison, simply for preaching the gospel. 14 years. And they inflicted him, inflicted so much torture and suffering.

[38:53] They smashed four of his vertebrae. They cut or burnt 18 holes in his body. But they could not defeat him. And he testified this. He writes this.

[39:04] Alone in my cell, cold and hungry and in rags, I danced for joy every night. And during this time, he turned to a fellow prisoner who he led to the Lord before they were arrested.

[39:16] And he asked, Have you any resentment against me that I brought you to Christ? And he wouldn't have been in the prison if he not got saved. And this man, the fellow prisoner says, I have no words to express my thankfulness that you brought me to the wonderful Saviour.

[39:31] I would never have it another way. And the supernatural joy that believers have experienced even in the most pressing of times, even during severe persecution.

[39:46] Friends, as we look at light affliction, which is but for a moment, we see the eternal weight of glory that lies just ahead. We can find strength for today and hope for tomorrow that will last forever.

[39:59] So we don't have to be defeated by troublesome circumstances. We can cast it upon the Lord. We can know sustaining power that he might sustain us in it. He might sustain us in that burden.

[40:12] He might sustain us in that pressing time. But one day there will be a better world when it will all be resolved and it will all be made clear. His purpose. So go to the word today.

[40:24] As a practical pointer today as well, let his promises carry us through. Promises like this one. He says, I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee.

[40:37] He says to you this morning, Brother, Sister, I will help thee. It tells us another promise. The righteous cry and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles.

[40:50] He shall sustain thee. He shall deliver thee. He's the same yesterday, today and forever. He loves you and he cares for you.

[41:04] He wants you to trust him. And friends, just a little verse here that I know I've referred to it before, but it speaks very deeply about the grace of God and about his sustaining power, about how you can trust him this morning.

[41:21] And it goes like this. It says, He never fails. He never fails the soul that trusts in him. Though disappointment come and hope burns dim, he never fails.

[41:33] Though trials surge like stormy seas around. Though testings fierce like ambushed foes abound. Yet this my soul with millions more has found.

[41:45] He never fails. He never fails. He never fails the soul that trusts in him. Though angry skies with thunder clouds grow dim, he never fails.

[41:57] Though icy blasts life's fairest flowers lay low. Though earthly springs of joy all cease to flow. Yet still tis true with millions more.

[42:08] No, he never fails. He never fails. He never fails the soul that trusts in him. Though sorrow's cup should overflow the brim, he never fails.

[42:20] Though off the pilgrim way seems rough and long, I yet shall stand amid yon white-robed throng. And there I'll sing with millions more this song.

[42:32] He never fails. He never fails. Let us pray. Lord, we thank you that we can cast our care upon you. Most of all, we ask, Lord, for you to burden us with the conviction of sin.

[42:47] That we might sense our burden, our need of you. That we might realise our ultimate, greatest burden is our sin. And that only you can rid us of that burden. Lord, that you would take that burden from each heart today.

[43:01] That we would know that you are the great burden bearer of our sin. That you save us for time and for eternity. That you save, that you deliver us. And not only so, but you sustain us.

[43:13] Lord, help us to see, to realise the truth of it. That you never fail the soul that trusts in you. Help us, Lord, if there's burdens that we're carrying. Maybe unforgiveness, chips on our shoulder, resentment, hurts, sorrow, grief, sadness.

[43:29] Lord, help us to get that burden into your hands by prayer. Help us, Lord, to take hold of your promises that are yea and amen. That we can trust your keeping and sustaining power.

[43:43] Help us, Lord, to let go of any unforgiveness that we have about anyone from our past or present. That we would let it go. That we would yield it entirely into your hands.

[43:55] That we won't hold it in our hearts and our minds any longer. Lord, help us to have that heart. Help us, Lord, too, to have a sense of those burdened ones that are around about us.

[44:07] Those that might be laid down with care and concerns. Lord, help us to be perceptive where someone might be at risk of injuring themselves, Lord.

[44:19] That we might have a heart to reach out to them. Help us, Lord, to have a heart to restore those that have fallen. To restore them. Lord, not to look down upon them, but to realise our own need before you.

[44:32] Lord, help us to see those that are at fault as people that need our care. And that they can be restored by your grace. Lord, help us to have such a heart that wants you to take all of our burdens.

[44:47] That we won't hold any burdens any longer. That we'll cast all our cares upon you. For you truly care for us. We thank you, Lord, for these truths today. Pray if there's any present here this morning, yet to trust you for the very first time, our Saviour and Lord, that today would be that day.

[45:06] They'll say, Lord Jesus, I trust you to take that burden of my sin. That you've paid for it at the cross. You've paid for it in full. And I receive your forgiveness and I trust in you as my Lord and Saviour right now by faith.

[45:22] And that they'll know that is true for their soul. And they'll tell others that this is their decision by faith, by your grace, to trust you today. Lord, help us to walk in that truth.

[45:33] That you are the one who sustains your people. And we thank you for it, Lord. Help us as the burdens of life come and go. We'll know that we can always cast them upon you. Because you care for us.

[45:44] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.