Cast Thy Burden upon the Lord

[0:00] Verse 55 and verse 22.

[0:15] It says, Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee.! He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

[0:28] ! It's a heavy sermon to say. I'm talking to you today about the kind of burdens people carry. Now, in talking with people, preachers here about people's burdens all the time.

[0:47] Burdens that are invisible to the eye. Burdens, heavy burdens. What kinds of burdens? Guilt. Things they've done that they're ashamed of.

[0:58] People weighed down, bowed down under the weight of guilt. Things that have happened. Things that they regret. Things that they're ashamed of. As if they can't shake it. As if they can't shake it.

[1:09] The heavy load of sin. Sorrows. The heavy loads of sadness, of sickness, of family. Unsafe family. Concerns. Sorrows. Worries. The fears of the future. Of making a crust.

[1:20] Of covering the bills. Of responsibilities. Of troubles. That weigh us down heavily. Loneliness. Disappointment. Many burdens we could talk about. And you might have a burden even now. Or know of others with such burdens as these. These burdens that are not hurting. You might have a burden even now.

[1:31] Or know of others with such burdens as these. How do we get rid of such a thing? These burdens that weigh us down. Heavy. Being loaded up with such burdens. To those burdens. To those burdens. To those burdens. To those burdens. To those burdens. To those burdens.

[1:42] To those burdens. To those burdens. Disappointment. Many burdens we could talk about. And you might have a burden even now. Or know of others with such burdens as these.

[1:54] How do we get rid of such a thing? These burdens that weigh us down. It's hard, heavy, being loaded up with such things. Maybe a chip on your shoulder.

[2:05] Some people walk around like this. There's that chip. It's very heavy. Oh, he did me wrong. Oh, and they've got that burden that just eats away at them.

[2:16] Heats them up on the inside. The bitterness that saps their strength. That takes away the joy. Constantly thinking about that person that's wronged them. Or whatever it be.

[2:27] Something that they just can't shake it off. It's hard living a life like that. Laid down. Burden down. Guilt, sorrow, sickness, worries, loss, disappointments.

[2:40] Bitterness. Bitterness. Proverbs 12, 25, it says, Heaviness in the heart of a man maketh it stoop. So it's stooping.

[2:52] Heaviness in the heart of a man makes it stoop. But a good word maketh it glad. Good word makes the heart glad. There's an account of a pilgrim.

[3:05] John Bunyan spent 12 years in jail for his faith. He was a non-conformist. He didn't conform to the establishment of the day. And if you weren't recognised by the archbishop or the cardinal or the bishop or whatever, if you didn't fit with the regime of the popular church of its day, as Bunyan did, did not.

[3:29] He was cast into prison just simply preaching the gospel. Preaching just like I am today. And he wrote a book called Pilgrim's Progress. A story, an analogy of a man's journey from the city of destruction to the heavenly city.

[3:49] And this pilgrim, the story begins as he carried a heavy load, a big burden on his back. And it pictured a sense of his sin, of his guilt.

[4:00] Like David described his sin in Psalm 38 verse 4. For mine iniquities have gone over mine head. As a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

[4:12] What did David go through? He killed a man effectively as he sent him to the front line to die so he could take his wife, who he'd already bedded. Burned man.

[4:23] A heavy, heavy weight of sin because he was convicted of that burden. A heavy burden. Too heavy for me. Bunyan writes in his story, just a man's story, yet full of doctrine too.

[4:42] Pilgrim's Progress. Take a look. I know I've recommended it before. I've found it useful and just captures some little things that helps to illustrate what the scriptures tell us.

[4:54] And Bunyan starts his account with, As I slept, I dreamt. And behold, I saw a man clothed in rags, standing in a certain place and with his face from his own house, a book in his hand and a great burden on his back.

[5:18] I looked and I saw him open the book and read therein. And as he read, he wept and trembled. And not being able longer to contain, he broke out with a lamentable cry saying, What shall I do?

[5:41] A man there said, How camest thou by thy burden at first? And Pilgrim answered, By reading this book in my hand. The first step on this journey of the pilgrim was to see his dire need of Christ and to recognise that weight of his sin.

[6:03] As the word was opened, he realised his sin weighed him down. The awful weight of his sin, of his sinfulness. The greatest burden of all is sin.

[6:14] The guilt of it. The shame of it. The reproach of it. The horror of it. The weight, the load, the sinfulness of sin.

[6:29] Some don't ever get that pressing conviction. I've sinned before an almighty God. I have sinned. It's where salvation begins when we realise that.

[6:42] There's nothing good in me. I cannot claim heaven by my own works. The conviction I need of Saviour to save me from my sin. I need the one who can release me from its burden, from its penalty.

[6:57] And the glad news is that if you realise it, the burden of your sin, the greatest weight that can ever be lifted, and there's only one who can take it off you.

[7:14] Only one. Only one can take that weight. Only one. Only one Saviour. He's the greatest weight lifter of all time. The greatest weight lifter of all time.

[7:26] The burden bearer of sin. And he offers you to take it off your back. He offers you. I can take your burden of sin. Of him it is said in Isaiah 53, Surely he hath borne our grief and carried our sorrows.

[7:44] The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. And when Pilgrim came to a place in his journey, as he came figuratively to a cross, it brought the blood of Jesus before his face.

[8:06] He saw the bleeding, dying one. He saw the blood was shed for him. For his saving. And the burden fell from his shoulders.

[8:16] And this same Lord Jesus invites us to come. He says, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

[8:30] I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart. And ye shall find rest for your souls.

[8:43] For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. He says, Come unto me. Come unto me. Take my yoke upon you.

[8:54] Let go of your own and take my yoke. I will help you. I will carry that load. My light burden will replace your heavy burden.

[9:05] And there are still some carrying to do through life. As a Christian, there's still some carrying for you to do. But with his strong shoulders, he'll take the heavy end of that yoke, as it were, that device that joins you to him.

[9:18] As you labour, as you go forward with him, he will carry that heavy side of the yoke. He'll carry you through. He knows your needs today.

[9:29] He knows your burdens. Whether you've got some of those burdens still that we talked about before. He knows where you're at. He knows your burden. And he cares for you. This one, the friend of sinners, he cares for you.

[9:41] He beckons to you. He invites you. He will take off your heavy load if you will but give it to him. Give it to him. Some people want to keep that chip on the shoulder.

[9:53] Oh, I hate that. That's what they've done to me. I saw someone in the course of my day today, and I said, he's talking about church.

[10:05] And he said, Oh, I'll never go to church. I saw that thing over pedophiles. Maybe he was hurt. Maybe he's still got a burden. Maybe he was personally hurt, or he knows others that are.

[10:17] But don't wipe off Christianity because of some dirty, rotten, foul people. But there's a burden there in that man. He's burdened down. There's something there that's eating away at him.

[10:30] God help him. But this one who beckons to you, he can take off that heavy load if you will but give it to him. He lovingly and willingly takes our cares, our burdens. But you cannot get rid of the weight yourself.

[10:44] There's a story about an African woman. You know, in Africa, they carry things on their head a lot of the time. And she was carrying an engine block on her head, of all things. And when she tried to rid herself of her burden, she broke her neck.

[11:00] You know, you can't get rid of that burden yourself. You've got to get, let him get his hands on it and give it to him. Release your burden to him. Let him take your burden. Let the Lord carry your burden for you.

[11:12] Since the burden is too heavy for you, give it to him and he'll carry. He'll take it away. Those heaviest burdens may be unseen to others. You know, what does he say about sin?

[11:22] He buries it in the midst of the sea, doesn't he? The sea of forgetfulness. It's gone forever. It's like the MH370. You know, they can't find it anymore. It's gone.

[11:33] It's gone. It's totally blotted out. It's totally destroyed. And so the heaviest burden may be unseen to others. But he sees what it is. He sees your burden. You know a lot of burdens that you've never told anybody about.

[11:46] He knows. And he'll deal with it. Just let him have it. Get a hold of it and throw it. What does it say? Cast thy burden upon the Lord. I was talking on a similar line once and I happened to find a cigarette packet in the car park and it said, Cast that rotten thing.

[12:04] Cast it. And I chucked the cigarette packet. It was just an example. Just grab a hold of it and throw it. Like you never want to see it again. Like you're trying to cast your rod into the ocean.

[12:15] Cast it. Get a hold of it and chuck it away. Get rid of it is the sense of it. Get a hold of it and throw it. Cast it. Cast it.

[12:26] Like Daniel was cast into the den of lions when the king wanted to pay him to pay. Like Jonah who was cast into the sea.

[12:38] They knew he was the problem. They had to get rid of him. Like John the Baptist who was cast into prison. Cast thy burden. That's very personal, isn't it?

[12:51] I'm not just saying cast your. I'm saying cast thy. Thy, thy, thy, thy, thy, thy. Your personal burden. Your individual burden. Cast thy burden on the Lord.

[13:03] Cast. It's the same word found in Revelation 20 where Jesus our Lord will cast the devil into the lake of fire and brimstone.

[13:14] I'd imagine the Lord Jesus won't just. He'll get a hold of that rotten scumbag or the nape of his neck. And he'll go like that and he'll give him a kick on the way.

[13:24] Amen. That's what Jesus is going to do to the devil one day. He's going to cast him into the lake of fire and brimstone forever and ever. He will pay. And Jesus is going to grab that devil and he's going to fling him into the lake of fire and brimstone.

[13:39] And that's what you need to do with your burden today. Cast it. Cast it. Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. Get rid of that burden this morning.

[13:51] This evening rather. And tomorrow morning. Grab a heart and sling it. Throw that burden upon the Lord. It's a great relief to know that he can take care of it. Where do we throw the burden?

[14:02] Throw it again upon him. Upon him. Casting all your care upon him. For he careth for you. Casting all.

[14:14] So you might think, I'm going to cast my burden, but you want to keep a little burden here or there. No. Cast all your care. All your worry, all your anxiety, all your care. Cast it upon him.

[14:25] How wonderful to know why we cast it upon him. For he careth for you. He cares for you. Whatever it is, cast it. And so it's too heavy for you.

[14:36] Will you let him carry it? Or will you keep cherishing it? Like it's your own little burden, you want to hang on to it? No, get rid of it. He will sustain you. He promises to uphold us. So we cast it upon the Lord.

[14:48] Why? Because he shall sustain thee. Sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. He shall sustain thee. And whatever your burden is, will you cast it on the Lord tonight?

[15:03] Cast it upon him. Give it to him. Unload it. It's too heavy for you. You know, when we go through life and something weighs us down, pray. Pray.

[15:14] Don't forget to pray. As a Christian, we still have burdens. I get a few burdens. I get burdened down. You know, I get a few, throw a few things at me. And it's easy to think, well, I could do without that.

[15:28] I really could. You know, usually it's the people I've spent time with and loved and prayed for and counseled and yet you still get kicked in the guts.

[15:39] It happens. You get that too. You help people. You think, oh, they become your worst enemy. Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall not suffer thee to be moved. Give it to him.

[15:50] It's too heavy for you. Receive your pardon today from his hand as he offers it to you. Cast thy burden upon the Lord. Let him carry the load. Take the Lord in his word.

[16:02] Believe what he's promised for you. He loves you. He cares for you. And he will lift that load. What is it? What is your burden today? What is your burden? Unconfessed sin.

[16:15] I've never really talked to the Lord about that thing. Unconfessed sin. Could be things that you think, well, I need to talk to the Lord about that. I need his help. Worry.

[16:27] Fretting, anxious about something or other that's happened or will happen or you think will happen. Unforgiveness. That can be a heavy burden. I just can't forgive that person.

[16:38] What have they done to me? It's a burden. You might not realise it. It's a burden. Let it go. Let it go. Let it go. Feeling unworthy.

[16:50] I'm not worthy. There's these things in my life. I can never fully serve the Lord. I've done some shocking things. Don't measure up. Give him your unworthiness.

[17:02] Give it to him. Your fear. Whatever it be. Cast thy burden. Thy burden. Whatever it is. Your burden. The Lord Jesus himself took all of our sin.

[17:13] All of the evil. Upon himself, as it were. And he became sin for us. Sin for us. He made a transfer. He became your sin.

[17:27] And you became his righteousness. Wow. What a deal. What a transfer. What a transaction. You can't understand. Why would he do that?

[17:38] Credit his righteousness to our account. But you've got to give your burden. Feel the weight of it. Like the pilgrim did.

[17:48] The load of it. The shame of it. The conviction. The misery. The heavy weight of your burden. If you're not a Christian today, it starts with this.

[18:01] I'm a sinner. I'm clean. Condemned. Unrighteous. I've got a load of sin. And I don't know how to get rid of it.

[18:13] I don't know how to be saved. It starts with that. As you groan under the weight of it. And when you become a believer in Christ, he takes the weight.

[18:25] He takes it off. He takes the weight. Now some... Some will say, well replace your burden with something else. Okay? So you get saved.

[18:37] And then they'll put another burden on your back. Oh, you've got to do this now. You've got to do this now. You've got to do this now. No. He takes your burden.

[18:49] He might give you some burdens, but they'll be light burdens. They won't be man-made burdens. He will take the weight. He'll take it. He'll remove it. He'll release it. But we've got to give it to him.

[18:59] There was a story about two men who had a bit too much to drink. They were under the influence of drink. And they got into their boats.

[19:13] They stepped off the dock into their rowboat because they wanted to go to the other side to go home. And they rowed hard. Hard.

[19:23] All night. Oh. They rowed hard. All night. But they did not reach the other side. And when the grey dawn of morning broke, they were in the same spot that they started out.

[19:42] They'd neglected to loosen the mooring line and raise the anchor. They were still tied to the dock. You know, religion is like that, isn't it? Oh, I've got to work.

[19:54] I've got to flagellate myself. Flagellate myself. Punish myself. I've got to crawl over rocks and I've got to say so many Hail Marys.

[20:08] I've got to do this. I've got to pay that. I've got to go give charity. And I've got to sweat and bust myself to get good enough.

[20:20] You'll never be good enough. You're like those men. You'll never be good enough. You're still tied. You're still tied to the dock. Break it off.

[20:30] Shake it off. Loosen that tie. Let it go. Let God sever that cord and set you free. Moody used this same talk and he said, cut the cord.

[20:45] Cut the cord. Set yourself free from the clogging weight of earthly things and you'll be headed towards heaven. There's a weight there. There's a tie there. It's got to be severed. It's got to be cut. Just as the burden of the pilgrim had to be cut off his back.

[21:01] There's a plane that once crashed in the Bahamas shortly after takeoff and investigators looked at this and they wondered, this is a perfectly good aeroplane. But it was loaded. Twice its maximum baggage capacity.

[21:16] And what caused the plane to crash was it was too heavy. The investigators found that all the weight was such that it caused the plane to crash.

[21:28] And you know, that weight of our sin, that emotional, spiritual baggage can weigh us down, can make us crash just like a plane. It can stop us from reaching our destination, really.

[21:42] And a lot of people are carrying around, as the phrase goes, a lot of baggage, aren't they? A lot of baggage. Now you might have been through some religious experiences and have a lot of baggage, a lot of hurts.

[21:54] Maybe like that man we talked about before. A lot of emotional baggage. Things that have happened to you or others you know. Things that are holding you back. Christianity, your experience of Christianity might have been very off-putting.

[22:07] Very off-putting. And it's very, very sad when I hear such stories. I mean, oh, if only, if only, we could have reached them before they were so disappointed by such things.

[22:19] and so they crashed like that plane into the ground. But God tells us in Hebrews 12, let us lay aside, lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

[22:36] Lay it aside. You can't run with that weight. What's your baggage like? Have you got some baggage? Maybe today's a good day to say, I'm going to give it to God.

[22:47] That thing I've been hanging on to, that chip, that pain in the neck, whatever it be, I'm going to give it to Him tonight. In prayer, I'm going to not hold back. I'm going to cast it like I mean it.

[22:59] Like Jesus is going to cast the devil. That's what I'm going to do with my sin. That's what I'm going to do with that weight of conviction, of that grudge, of that resentment, of that unforgiveness, of that bitterness that I'm harbouring.

[23:11] I'm not letting go. You've heard it said in the Word, let not the sun go down on your wrath, on your anger. So, what it's meaning is, get it sorted. If you've got a problem with someone in your life, there might be someone in your life, they've done you wrong and they know it, tell them you forgive them.

[23:35] Let them know, I forgive you. They don't have to deserve it, but it's going to help you, isn't it? That's what matters. That bitterness, you're going to let it go. That's darkening everything around you, that's weighing you down just a little, but it ends up weighing you down a lot.

[23:49] And that release of forgiveness, the release of forgiveness, it makes a brand new beginning. And it's the only way to keep from crashing. We sometimes can think of weights as questionable things, questionable things.

[24:05] There was a preacher that suggested three tests to think about whether something is a weight for me that I ought to lay down.

[24:15] Three considerations. Is this thing that I'm just maybe thinking of, is it a weight for me? Firstly, we'll be uneasy about it.

[24:29] Something that you're uneasy about. You're constantly kind of uneasy about it, thinking about it. Secondly, we continue to argue with this thing with our conscience.

[24:43] Trying to weigh it up with your conscience. Is it right? Is it wrong? Is it something I need to sort out? Thirdly, we ask others perhaps again and again whether they think these things are wrong. Something that's weighing you down, you keep asking, is this wrong?

[24:56] Is this wrong? Maybe it is a weight for you. You've got to deal with it. Get it sorted. Anything that keeps us from a high spiritual efficiency is wrong. Lay it aside. Lay aside every weight.

[25:08] The Lord Jesus isn't going to weigh you down. He's going to lift you up. Lift you up. He tells of people who will weigh you down. A bit like I was trying to explain before.

[25:22] Speaking of the scribes and Pharisees, for 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.

[25:34] Now, religion. Religion will be like a burden that's just too grievous. It's too hard. It's impossible to do it.

[25:47] You know, you see some religions where they're just constantly doing good works, but there's no salvation there. And Christians can make that mistake.

[25:58] Christians can make the mistake and think, I've got to be good enough. No. He's the one that's good enough. You need His righteousness. You need that transfer. Of course, we're created in Christ Jesus unto good works.

[26:11] We should be zealous of good works, but the good works follow His saving grace. It's not about being good enough. We'd be like the Jehovah's Witnesses.

[26:23] It's how many doors are you? How many hours? They've got to keep strict register. Oh, you didn't do enough hours this week. That's what they'll tell you. You'd better get out there and do some more hours next week to make up for it.

[26:39] It's a burden, isn't it? It's a weight. You know, I knew a friend back in school. He was a Mormon missionary. He had to dedicate two years of his life, rock solid, two years of his life.

[26:53] Part of his earning his salvation. The Lord Jesus doesn't say that to you. Yet we want to be His servants, don't we? Gladly, not out of a burden, not out of a condemnation.

[27:07] And the Lord Jesus isn't about weighing us down. He's about setting us free. He's about letting you loose. He restores us to where he's designed us to be.

[27:19] You know, we hear about furniture restoration. Think of that piece of furniture that looks like it's totally added. It's fit for the truck to take it away off the street.

[27:31] But someone takes that piece of wood that is falling to bins and they get the sandpaper out and they get the furniture polish out.

[27:43] and before you know it, it's a work of art. It's an antique. It's been restored. And the Lord Jesus is in the people restoration business. He doesn't write anybody off.

[27:56] Sometimes people do. I try not to be like that. I don't want to be like that. I don't want to write anybody off. I don't want to write anybody off. But God is in the people restoration business.

[28:07] You might think, oh, I'm fit to be put out on the curb for the recycling truck to smash me up and use me as, I don't know. But no, he comes and he lovingly restores us to where he wants us to be.

[28:22] He reshapes us. He converts us. He makes us what we're meant to be. That's what he does. He sets us free from the burden of sin. And you can be free from all your unwanted burdens and be free from that weight today.

[28:35] The Lord Jesus says, if the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Indeed. Free indeed. And your heaviest burdens can be given. Your burdens, your anxieties, your guilt, your care, lay them upon him, upon the burden bearer, the greatest weightlifter of all time.

[28:55] Give it to him and he'll take it. He can carry your load and he can deal with it. Bring it to him in prayer. There was a preacher on one occasion who had been talking this way and a woman came forward and she said, oh, Mr.

[29:08] Preacher, it's all very well for you to talk like that about a light heart, but you are a young man and if you had a heavy burden like me, you would talk differently. I could not talk in that way.

[29:19] My burden is too great. The preacher said, but it's not too great for Jesus. Oh, she said, I cannot cast it on him. Why not?

[29:31] 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. You're like many others.

[29:41] They will not leave it to him. They go about hugging their burden and yet crying out against it. What the Lord wants is for you to leave it with him, to let him carry it for you. Then you will have a light heart.

[29:53] Sorrow will flee away and there will be no more sighing. What is your burden, my friend, that you cannot leave with Christ? She replied, I have a son who is a wanderer on the face of the earth.

[30:06] None, but God knows where he is. The preacher said, count up Christ, find him and bring him back. She said, I suppose he can. The preacher said, then go and tell Jesus and ask him to forgive you for doubting his power and willingness.

[30:21] And you have no right to mistrust him. And so she went away comforting. And I believe she ultimately had her wandering boy restored to her. No burden is too big for God.

[30:32] No burden is too big for your Lord. No burden is too much for him to carry. Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee, thee, thee, thee.

[30:48] For he shall not suffer the righteous to be moved. The greatest blessing we can know is salvation. Well, 2 Corinthians 4.17 it says, for our light affliction, it just endures for a moment.

[31:03] It works for us as a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. There is a weight of glory and it's a good thing. And one day we'll see him face to face and all the times we've had to push ourselves somewhat, it'll be a weight of glory.

[31:22] And so what effort you expend in serving him, those times of hardship and trial maybe as you serve the Lord, it's a light affliction and there's an eternal weight ahead.

[31:37] So Paul could see life's greatest blessing was God's grace and saving power. Personal salvation with its provision of the present and the future.

[31:50] For Paul, nothing else mattered. He constantly looked beyond his trials and persecution, adversity to know the Lord was with him. The Lord was with him. With him, in it.

[32:04] And heaven was just around the corner. We think in our days of others who've gone through such things. There was a man, people would know, a man Wurmbrand was the one preacher in Romania.

[32:18] He spent 14 years in prison. Simply why? For preaching the gospel. And although his captors smashed four of his vertebrae in his backbone and either cut or burn 18 holes in his body, they could not defeat him.

[32:38] He testified, alone in my cell, cold, hungry and in rags, I danced for joy every night. he saw that his slight affliction, which endured but for a moment, was an eternal way of glory, glory, glory.

[32:59] And during this time, he turned to a fellow prisoner, a man he led to the Lord before he was arrested, before they were arrested, and he said, have you any resentment against me that I brought you to Christ?

[33:10] If you hadn't brought him to Christ, he wouldn't have been in that horrible cell. And the man's response was, I have no words to express my thankfulness that you brought me to the wonderful Saviour.

[33:25] I would have it, never have it another way. These two men exemplified the joy in Christ that believers know, even on the edge of death, even when beaten to the very ends of their lives, that they knew the eternal weight, the eternal weight of glory, glory.

[33:46] And so, as a believer, when you're weighed down, when you carry some burdens, and you might have burdens in prayer for people, there's some good burdens you can have, as God burdens you to pray, as God burdens you for revival, as God burdens you to serve, to be his vessel, that you need not be discouraged or deterred, that no matter how troublesome your circumstance, when you know you're saved, you've got that assurance, God is at work, he's doing a work on me, I might be that clay in his hands, and he's going to do a bit of punching and prodding and squeezing and building a game and making me the vessel that he wants me to be, and he's doing a work in me.

[34:31] So just two further closing thoughts to leave you with, where do we find the good timber? The good timber, the good timber, let me read this little description of where you find the good timber.

[34:48] The tree that never had to fight for sun and sky and air and light, that stood out in the open plain and always got its share of rain, never became a forest king, but lived and died a scrubby thing.

[35:05] The man who never had to toil to heaven from the common soil, who never had to win his share of sun and sky and light and air, never became a manly man, but lived and died as he began.

[35:24] Good timber does not grow in ease, the stronger wind, the tougher trees, the farther sky, the greater length, the more the storm, the more the strength.

[35:37] By sun and cold, by rain and snows, in tree or man, good timber grows. Where thicker stands the forest growth, we find the patriarchs of them both, and they hold converse with the stars, whose broken branches show the scars of many winds and of much strife.

[35:58] This is the common law of life. So what it's saying is the good timber is found where the storms and winds glow. It's saying there the more the storm, the more the strength.

[36:13] And God's shaping you. Could be those tough times when you're feeling like you're getting kicked in the guts, that God's strengthening you for what lies ahead. And you won't see nothing yet.

[36:25] Like Pastor Adam said, it goes with the territory. The Christian life can be challenging and ministering and being a rock solid Christian can be a tough thing when you stand for Christ, you stand against the tide and you stand against those that mock.

[36:42] But the more the storm, the more the strength. Don't be discouraged. Brother, sister, if you're going through it even now, the more the storm, the more the strength.

[36:53] Just one last little poem here. cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

[37:07] You'll never let the righteous be moved. You're going to be strong, rock solid. He's never going to suffer. He's never going to permit. He's never going to allow. He's never going to let the righteous to be moved.

[37:18] You can trust him on that. Trust him. Trust him now with your burden, with your life. I've used this before, but I'll use it again. It's a very meaningful poem.

[37:30] He never fails. He never fails the soul that trusts in him. Though disappointments come and hope burns dim. He never fails.

[37:44] Though trials surge like stormy seas abound. Though testings fierce like ambushed foes abound. Yet this my soul, with millions, more has found.

[37:55] He never fails. He never fails. He never fails the soul that trusts in him. Though angry skies with thunder clouds grow grim, he never fails.

[38:08] Though icy blasts, life's fairest flowers lay low. Though earthly springs! Springs of joy all cease to flow. Yet still tears true, with millions more I know.

[38:21] 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.

[38:33] Though off the pilgrim way seems rough and long. I yet shall stand amid yon light-robed throng. And there I'll sing with millions more this song.

[38:47] He never fails. He never fails. I urge you today to trust him. Cast. Cast it. Let it go.

[38:59] Get it out of your hand and throw it. Cast thy burden. Is it guilt? Is it your sin? Are you saved?

[39:10] Give him your sin. He'll gladly take it from you and set you free. Is it unforgiveness? Bitterness? Works. Cast it.

[39:23] Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee. He's the one who does the sustaining. Trust him. Stop trying and start trusting.

[39:37] Stop the doing and trust his done. Stop the working for your salvation and trust the finished work. Finished work.

[39:50] Trust him now. He never fails. Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous need need need need need need need need!

[40:05] Thank you.