AM Matthew 11:1-12:8

[0:00] And welcome to the service of worship here this morning. I've been asked to introduce myself. My name is Ben Fidion. Unusual surname, I know. I spell it wrong sometimes, so don't worry if you don't catch it either.

[0:15] Ben Fidion. I'm from Wales originally. Been living in Scotland the last two years teaching at the Faith Mission Bible College in Edinburgh. And God willing, my application to join the Free Church Ministry will go to the General Assembly later this week.

[0:34] So I'd value your prayers in relation to that. I have some announcements here. Again, welcome to the service this morning.

[0:46] There will be another service this evening at 6pm. A midweek prayer meeting and Bible study this week will be led by Norman.

[0:59] And it is a missionary prayer meeting this week. Next, Lord's Day. The services are at 11am and 6pm. They will be led by the Reverend Douglas Cranston.

[1:13] A summary financial statement for the nine months ending 30th September is available on top of the bookcase as you go out.

[1:26] Please take a copy if you wish to. Thank you. Well, as a call to worship this morning, let's hear these words from Psalm 146.

[1:44] The Lord sets the prisoners free. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down.

[1:56] The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the sojourners. He upholds the widow and the fatherless. But the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

[2:09] The Lord will reign forever. Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord. We're not allowed to sing. So we will listen, first of all, to a psalm.

[2:25] Psalm 23. In Sing Psalms, I believe. The Lord is my shepherd.

[2:38] No one shall I know. He makes me like a man where the green masters go.

[2:51] He needs easy to rest where the calm waters go. My water is my shepherd.

[3:08] He brings back to his way. His strength of righteousness may give me stay.

[3:21] And this is he has come, his great name to display. He has come, his great name to display.

[3:59] In the sight of my enemies, the table you spread.

[4:11] The oil of rejoicing, you bore on my head. My cup overflows and I'm graciously fed.

[4:29] So surely your covenant, mercy and grace Will follow me closely in all of my ways.

[4:47] I will dwell in the house of the Lord, O my days.

[4:59] Our scripture reading this morning is from Matthew's Gospel.

[5:11] And chapter 11. We'll read from the beginning of chapter 11 and into the first section of chapter 12 as well.

[5:28] This is God's word. When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.

[5:43] Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, Are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another?

[5:58] And Jesus answered them, As he went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John.

[6:35] What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing?

[6:48] Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in king's houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, I'm more than a prophet.

[7:02] This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you. Truly I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.

[7:22] Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.

[7:35] For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

[7:48] But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, and calling to their playmates, We played the flute for you, and you did not dance.

[8:02] We sang a dirge, and you did not mourn. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say he has a demon.

[8:14] The son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Look at him, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners, yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.

[8:32] Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. Woe to you, Chorazin!

[8:44] Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

[9:04] And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades, for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

[9:18] But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you. At that time, Jesus declared, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and have revealed them to little children.

[9:41] Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. And all things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

[10:00] Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

[10:22] At that time, Jesus went through the cornfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck ears of corn and to eat.

[10:34] But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. He said to them, Have you not read what David did when he was hungry and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests, or have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?

[11:06] I tell you something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice. You would not have condemned the guiltless, for the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.

[11:22] May God bless the simple, straight reading of his word to our hearts this morning. Now, I didn't realise there would be a few boys here, and I don't know what your practice is, but I wonder if you boys, would you listen to me just for a minute?

[11:39] Because I want you to tell me, am I happy or am I sad? What do you think? Am I smiling at the moment? Or am I frowning?

[11:52] Am I smiling? Or is it hard to tell? It's a bit hard to tell, isn't it? Am I happy or am I sad now? I've changed my face.

[12:04] Am I happy or am I sad? You don't know. Because you can't see. I don't like these masks very much. Do you like these masks? You don't know whether mummy's happy or sad.

[12:19] You don't know whether daddy's happy or sad. Your mummy and daddy can't even give you a kiss with one of these on. Because our faces are hidden. And I don't know if you were listening to the Bible verse that we just read.

[12:35] But one of the verses, it said that God is hidden to a lot of people. They don't know whether God is happy or sad. But it also said that God likes to reveal himself to little children through the Lord Jesus Christ.

[12:54] And if you look at the Lord Jesus Christ, do you know what you see? You see the God of heaven smiling at you and wanting to you to know that he loves you.

[13:07] Okay? And we're here today and every Sunday to worship God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Because we know in Jesus Christ, God is showing us his love without a mask on that we can know his smile.

[13:24] Okay? Can you remember that? A bit too much maybe. But thank you for listening. Okay. Shall we pray? Shall we pray? Shall we pray? Almighty God and our heavenly Father, we thank you for your word that you have been pleased to reveal yourself to little children.

[13:49] Lord, we know that often times in the church you make yourself known to boys and girls whilst they're very, very young.

[14:00] Whilst they're so young that they will never remember a day in which they did not believe in you. and for the children here this morning, Lord, we pray that that would be their lot.

[14:13] That you would lay claim to their hearts and to their lives whilst they are young. And so preserve them from many of the awful sins which are so accessible in the world today.

[14:29] But Father, those of us who are grown, we need to come to you with a childlike spirit. Lord, this is not natural to us.

[14:39] We can be stiff-necked and proud people. We can hear your word and resist it because we wish to go our own way.

[14:50] We can hear your word and distrust it because we have grown cynical with age and doubtful of your promises. Lord, we need your spirit this morning.

[15:04] To cause your word to shine into our hearts. But also, Lord, to melt our hearts by your love and your grace. To put us in that position of being childlike before you.

[15:20] Open and receptive. Willing to obey and to believe. Because you are our heavenly Father. Help us then as your people as we seek to study your word together.

[15:37] Lord, may your Holy Spirit come with power to our gathering today. We are few in number but we are not gathered as a social club where numbers matter.

[15:51] We are gathered together because you call us to worship you. Lord, Lord, honor this sacred hour with your manifest presence we ask.

[16:06] Lord, we do not know one another's hearts. We do not know who is burdened and who is struggling. Lord, we do not really know who has true faith and who may yet be outside of your kingdom.

[16:23] Lord, if there is anyone here today who is seeking you we pray that you would reveal yourself to them through your word.

[16:35] Show them their need of Christ. Give them grace to repent and to believe because Lord, only you can do this. We are sinners before a holy God who created us, who sustains us and provides for us, who showers his love upon the righteous and the wicked.

[16:58] The sun shines and the rain falls and we have all that we need. But Lord, we rebel against you. The Holy One, the Lord God Almighty, the Lord of hosts, the King of Heaven, before whom angels fear to stand.

[17:18] Lord, we come to you with impure hearts and impure thoughts, knowing that we can only be accepted through your gracious sacrifice that the Son of God sent to this earth to take human flesh, to live and to die on our behalf, that we might then wear his righteousness as we come before you.

[17:47] Lord, we are of all men and women the least deserving of your grace and yet we are the most blessed and privileged people for in Christ we have every spiritual blessing in heavenly places.

[18:06] And so we bless you this morning, Heavenly Father, that we can call you our Father and that we have experienced your smile in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[18:19] Lord, we are in a needy world. Our governments prove again and again that human wisdom cannot solve moral problems, that human wisdom cannot help men spiritually, that Lord, often even the science, the best science of the day proves unable to help and advise on political need.

[18:50] Lord, we are living in difficult times, many things going on to upset and to concern. Lord, we are facing these things often in isolation from friends and family, feeling lonely, unable to access normal services.

[19:11] And Lord, perhaps afraid of facing another period of lockdown restrictions. So we pray, Lord, for our government.

[19:24] We ask for wisdom to be given from on high. We know that the government is yours, just as the whole of creation. You rule the kings.

[19:36] You are the king of kings, just as you rule the church, your people. And so we ask, Lord, that you would direct even the mistakes of our government to grant days of peace to your people, days in which the gospel can advance.

[19:57] We ask that you would give us, Lord, a pure ministry. We pray for men who are pure in heart and pure in doctrine and pure in life to be sent forth as holy flames into the neediest parts of Scotland to bear witness to the gospel of grace.

[20:20] Lord, send out those of your choice, we pray. We ask, Lord, for days in which your church would be revived and refreshed with renewed evidence of the Holy Spirit's power among us to draw sinners to Christ and to save them and to change them.

[20:44] Lords, we pray this for our own nation here. We pray for other free church congregations around the country and in London too and ask, Lord, for the ministry to be given your divine approval, your rubber stamp, with the evident presence of your Spirit.

[21:10] But, Lords, the gospel kingdom is wider than our church and our denomination, so wherever Jesus Christ is being faithfully proclaimed today across the world, whether that be through pastoral ministry in the local church or evangelistic missionary efforts, we ask, Lord, that you would sustain your servants and give fruit for our labour.

[21:42] Hear our prayers today, grant encouragement to all through your grace, for we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen.

[21:53] Let's listen to another psalm, this time Psalm 18, I believe the section is verse 28 through to verse 35 from the old psalter.

[22:09] I'm getting a nod. Thank you. the Lord will light my candle so that it shall shine full bright.

[22:30] The Lord my God will also make my darkness to be light.

[22:44] By these truths of men I will have been discomfort all.

[22:58] And by my gold have said, save me I over me have all.

[23:14] Oh, but the Lord is gone not me who is our hope and same since and her will suit him in which that tookесть as very theves in life he hopes of thee semiconductor Thy light hath held me up and wish thy kindness made me go.

[24:10] If you wish to follow in a Bible, we'll turn back to that chapter we read, Matthew chapter 11.

[24:32] And the words in this chapter that I want to focus on, is Jesus' statement that he is gentle and lowly in heart.

[24:45] And I want us to keep those words in our minds. The chapter really covers a series of events that happen back on back in close proximity.

[25:00] There are indications through the chapter that we'll start in something new. Verse 1, when Jesus had finished doing this. Verse 2, now when John heard that.

[25:12] Verse 7, as they went away, Jesus says this. Verse 20, again having talked about John, then Jesus began to denounce their cities.

[25:24] It's quite a quick moving chapter with these discourses linked in close proximity. And then in verse 25 and chapter 12, verse 1, it says, At this time, whilst all these things were going on, whilst this was happening, that was happening too, at this general time, something specific happened.

[25:50] At what time then did Jesus declare, I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, in verse 25 of chapter 11?

[26:03] At what time? The word declared means to speak up, but it also has the idea of continuing a discourse.

[26:13] So having talked about John and having denounced the cities at that time, Jesus continued to speak and to say, I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth.

[26:30] We see the attitude of the crowds towards John, which Jesus challenges. We see the personal challenge of verse 11 through 19.

[26:45] Have you responded to John like these children who cannot be satisfied? We see a corporate message of rebuke in verses 20 through 24.

[26:59] And at that time, Jesus continued to speak on this subject with a prayer to God, verse 25 and 26, which blends in verse 27, 28, 29, into an invitation to all who labour and are heavy laden.

[27:23] We see something in the prayer of Jesus Christ's intimacy with his Father. His oneness with the Father. On every issue regarding salvation, there is harmony between the Father and the Son.

[27:43] The Son is the Father's appointed agent in salvation. All things have been handed over to me, Jesus says, by my Father. And no one knows the Son except the Father.

[27:57] And no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Jesus has this intimacy with the Father in the work of salvation.

[28:10] And then in the invitation that Jesus offers, we see that it is his set purpose to take his access to the Father and the authority that he has in salvation and to use that to save sinners.

[28:29] It is not his intention to keep this authority to himself, to withhold good from those who need it. It is not his intention to hold salvation out of reach, too high for us to grasp.

[28:46] Jesus' purpose is to take his intimacy with the Father, all the grace that is bound up in that, and to use it to actually save people.

[28:59] And so he issues this general invitation to all who labour and are heavy laden.

[29:14] He knows that it is the Father's will that the wise and the understanding will not see their need, might not respond, but those of a childlike spirit will be drawn to Christ through this invitation.

[29:33] Come to me all who labour and are heavy laden. God's will is thoroughly grace-based. Jesus calls it a gracious will in verse 26.

[29:50] Those who think they deserve it, those who think they don't need it, exclude themselves. It is not Jesus' invitation which excludes them.

[30:04] His invitation is to all. They only exclude themselves, and yet the needy receive freely. The needy are received freely by Jesus Christ.

[30:20] In Jesus, then, we see someone of transcendent power and glory and authority and authority over all the issues of salvation.

[30:31] Inviting the small and the weak and the vulnerable and the broken to come to him and to receive what they would never earn or could never deserve.

[30:50] And so we might ask a question. Let me put it to you like this. Would a mouse have the courage to approach a lion?

[31:04] Would a condemned criminal have the courage to approach the judge? Would a poor man in his rags have the courage to approach a king?

[31:20] Would a poor, broken, vulnerable sinner have the courage to approach the one who bears authority over all things in heaven and on earth?

[31:36] In the parable, the sinner would not even look up to heaven but was bowed down in prayer, crying out for mercy in fear and reverence.

[31:53] Jesus taught that it was this poor man who received mercy. The proud, self-confident, religious man. And so here, it is the oppressed, the downcast, the childlike who he expects to come.

[32:12] And to ensure that they do come, he wishes to subdue their fears with a promise and an assurance.

[32:24] Come to me for although I have all this power and authority, all this intimacy with God the Father in heaven, yet come to me because I am gentle and lowly of heart.

[32:41] It is this that he expects to win people over to him. Take my yoke and learn from me, not because I am superior, not because I am stronger than you or I have power to judge or because my will is dominant or because I am a threat or I am a tyrant.

[33:02] Come to me because I am gentle and lowly of heart. Come to me, Jesus is saying, because of the beauty of my character, because of my willingness to stoop and meet you where you are, because of my charity and my compassion and my generosity towards the lowest and towards the worst.

[33:29] come, Jesus says, because although I am infinitely above you, I am stooping to you, I am meeting you at your point of need.

[33:42] The word here used for gentle in the original languages carries the idea of not being overly impressed with your own importance.

[33:53] Jesus is of supreme importance, he is fully consciously aware of his relationship with God the Father and his role in salvation.

[34:06] But it didn't go to his head. It did not make him aloof. He was, he is preeminent and superior.

[34:19] But he never had a superior spirit where he would look down his nose at people. The phrase lowly of heart means that he was unpretentious.

[34:34] He was humble. He was modest. And that was not as a show or an act. This was not Uriah Heep, oh so humble, oh so humble.

[34:46] It wasn't a surface thing at all. He was lowly of heart. This was true of the essence of his personality. And so his invitation to come for all to come is bound up in the character of Jesus.

[35:07] He invites you to come as someone who is willing to receive. Someone who is humble enough to come down to the level of the child and the needy.

[35:21] someone who is not easily offended or put out. And in the chapter that we read we see Jesus' gentleness and lowliness fleshed out in his interactions with real people.

[35:39] In the first few verses verse 2 through 6 of chapter 11 we see John the Baptist. He's imprisoned, soon to be executed.

[35:49] Jesus must have been grieved because John was a family member. He was also a spiritual ally and a ministry colleague. There was a special bond between them and from Jesus' perspective John was the greatest of men so far in history.

[36:08] And yet it seems that at this point John is beginning to crumple under the pressure, beginning to doubt, experiencing a battle. Is Jesus really the Christ?

[36:22] Did I get it right? He's a great man but he is still a man. Locked in prison he's unable to come to Jesus himself.

[36:33] He does the next best thing and sends his disciples asking for reassurance and for confirmation and at that time Jesus declared take my yoke for I am gentle and lowly in heart.

[36:50] At that time when this true believer was struggling with doubt Jesus was not too high to respond to John's childlike need.

[37:04] Jesus was not too busy to encourage someone who surely should have known better. Jesus is gentle and lowly towards John.

[37:17] Christians the greatest among us are just men and just women. You are prone to doubt.

[37:29] I am prone to doubt. We are all vulnerable to temptation and to discouragement. John's response is exemplary. He had faith.

[37:42] His faith was under pressure but he had enough faith to come to Jesus. The gentle and the lowly one. And there he found that assurance that gave him rest for his soul in the promise of blessing.

[37:59] Blessed is the one who is not offended by me. Verse 6. The second group of people we see here are people who are critical and fault-finding.

[38:14] In verse 7 through 19. These are not people who are indifferent to religion. These are not the sort of people who never darken the door of a church.

[38:25] These are people who like listening to preaching. They listen to John. And now they are listening to Jesus. But they don't like listening to preaching in order to trust and obey God.

[38:40] They come wanting to judge the preacher. And they are impossible to please, verse 16 through 19 tells us. They are untouched by the gospel message preached by the greatest Old Testament prophet.

[38:58] When he came with a dirge, they wouldn't mourn. and they are also untouched by the teaching of the Messiah.

[39:09] When he came with a joyful celebration tune, they wouldn't dance. And at that time, Jesus said, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden.

[39:25] Take my yoke, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. At that time, when people were rejecting him personally, Jesus was not easily offended.

[39:39] Jesus was not one who would hold a grudge. Even at that time when everyone was rejecting him, Jesus gives this invitation to any and to all who would feel their need, realize their need, to come to him.

[39:58] He was gentle and lowly enough to receive and welcome even those who were rejecting him. Perhaps you are a regular hearer, someone who often comes to church to listen to preaching.

[40:14] You've heard the gospel before, maybe you enjoy church, you enjoy the experience, but you are deep down quite hostile to God, to Jesus, a critical and fault-finding in relation to his servants.

[40:29] you're judging the Son of God, perhaps, on whom your eternal salvation depends. You've heard his entreaties many, many times, but you refuse to come.

[40:43] Perhaps you've been doing that for years, whatever your surface appearance is of religious respectability, at heart you've never answered this call.

[40:56] And perhaps you're thinking, how can I come now? I've rejected him, I'm just like these people, I can never be pleased. He won't accept me now, and yet at this time, when you are like that, when you are just like these people, Jesus still calls and says, come, come to me with the assurance that if you come as a child, you'll find him gentle and lowly, willing to overlook the faults of the past, to forgive you even your indifference and your hostility as you turn to him, because he loves sinners and has died to pay the price of sin.

[41:44] There's a third group of people here, a third situation in which we see Jesus' gentleness and loneliness fleshed out. You see in verse 20 through 24, there are whole cities who have resisted the gospel.

[42:02] Their rejection of Jesus was widespread and determined. Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum, these were the most privileged cities in history.

[42:17] They had heard the Messiah, the Son of God incarnate. they'd heard him speak in their streets. He'd left his footprints in the dust on their roads.

[42:31] He had healed their sick relatives, their friends and their loved ones. They had seen miracles that had never been performed before.

[42:45] And Jesus says here that these signs, had they been done in the pagan cities, Tyre and Sidon, Sodom. Had those signs been done in the pagan cities, they would have turned to God.

[43:00] But those signs had no effect on the religious people of Israel. Jesus denounces them. But this is not a damnation.

[43:14] It is a warning that damnation is imminent. great displays of divine power have been resisted by stiff necked and self-satisfied, self-deceived, self-righteous people.

[43:31] And at that time, Jesus declares, come to me all, all who are weary and heavy laden.

[43:42] Take my yoke for I am gentle and lowly at heart. At that time, when there was nothing more that God could do for these people to demonstrate his power and accredit this gospel, at that time, Jesus was not so insulted as to refuse another chance.

[44:08] He issues another invitation to these people. He affirms his willingness to receive even these gospel-hardened souls if they will just bend, yield to him and be taught.

[44:25] Perhaps you're a hardened sinner, whether you're a moral sinner or a moral sinner, whether you are a religious sinner or an irreligious sinner.

[44:37] Perhaps you have come to see something of God's power and you have deliberately closed your eyes to that. Maybe you've seen God at work in your friends and in your relatives, the way he's changed their lives as they come to Jesus.

[44:55] Maybe you've seen God at work in your circumstances, you have seen prayers answered, perhaps you've even seen a miracle and yet you still refuse to come to him.

[45:10] Jesus is not weak, you know his power and yet he has the strength of character to call you, even you now, though you've been deliberately resisting him.

[45:28] He's willing, my power won't change you. He's willing to win you with his gentleness and with his lowliness, not compiling you with force and ever greater demonstrations of power but saying I am lowly, I'm humble of heart, even you come to me now.

[45:54] There's a fourth group of people at that time, chapter 12 verse 1 says, at that time there was a religious elite who were making unbearable demands on ordinary people.

[46:11] The Pharisees, they pick a fight over, nibbling a bit of grain on a Sabbath. They'd taken God's commands, the Ten Commandments and God's laws and they added to them, expanded them.

[46:31] They'd put an extra countless number of rules and regulations and this had crystallized as tradition. They couldn't even keep these rules themselves but they were pitiless with people they perceived as weaker or as more sinful.

[46:55] Like Pharaoh who wouldn't give straw to make bricks, they wouldn't lift a straw to help the weak and the needy.

[47:07] Their laws and their rules were not God's laws, they were fences designed to keep the obvious sinners away from God.

[47:22] Human religion, layers and layers of it to keep sinners from the God who saves. and at that time Jesus declares take my yoke all who are weary and heavy laden for I am gentle and lowly of heart.

[47:44] At that time when the blind were leading the blind and both were falling Jesus gives this general invitation an invitation to those false teachers who had devised these laws, an invitation to them even to come and be taught the true ways of God.

[48:07] An invitation to the sinner who had been crushed, experienced nothing but rejection and exclusion, judgmentalism, moralism, legalism, in the church of the day.

[48:23] Jesus issues the invitation come to me. Come to one who is gentle and kind to sinners.

[48:36] Come to one who promises a lighter load than the one put on your shoulders by the legalists. Just because religious people are too proud to welcome you, to Jesus will refuse you.

[48:55] I don't know what your hidden sins are. We all have skeletons in the closet and I've been in the church long enough to know that sometimes Christians have dark things in their past.

[49:11] They're broken and they know that if they would share those things, even other Christians might reject them. and yet Jesus offers this general invitation to all to come to him knowing that he is lowly and gentle with people just like you.

[49:34] He calls you to come to him to rest in his grace in a way that you will never be able to rest in the law and in your own righteousness and religion.

[49:51] Jesus then invites you to come. He invites me to come. And to close we need to consider what does that mean? These people could for the most part have gone physically to Jesus and spoken with him and burdened their hearts and obviously we cannot do that.

[50:14] Perhaps we can learn from John's example. He couldn't come physically to Jesus. He did the next best thing. He sent his friends.

[50:27] And friends, brothers, sisters, we can't go physically to Jesus but we can send him our prayers as our friends to speak to him from our need to unburden the deepest concerns of our hearts.

[50:48] It is by prayer and in faith that we must come to Jesus to tell him exactly how our burdens, to tell him how hard our hearts are, to tell him how often we have rejected him, to tell him our fears that he will now reject us, to remind him of his promise, that he is gentle and lowly and will receive the worst and the weakest, that he will receive all because he invited all.

[51:27] Have you come to Jesus? That is what our faith is ultimately about. Thank God for the church, thank God for well ordered religion, thank God for good preaching and Bible studies and all the religious things that we enjoy.

[51:47] But have you come to Jesus? Have you come to him? Have you heard this invitation? Some of us have grown up in the church all our lives and we perhaps don't realize that there is more than the outward structures of religion, that Christianity, even you having grown up in the church all your life, you still need to come to Jesus personally by faith.

[52:19] Have you come to Jesus? Jesus' promise is that he is gentle and lowly in heart that whoever you are and whatever you have done and no matter how long you have resisted him, even now if you respond to him in faith, you will find him as good as his promise.

[52:44] Rest for your soul an easier burden than the law can ever offer because you will be carried by his grace and changed by his spirit and your heart will be filled with his love and his joy making religion that was a burden into the most blessed and joyful thing as we experience intimate fellowship with the father and the son through the holy spirit.

[53:19] Amen. May God bless the exposition of his word to our hearts today. In closing we will listen to a recording of the hymn I heard the voice of Jesus say come unto me and rest.

[53:36] Thank you. I heard the voice of Jesus say come unto me and rest.

[53:54] Lay down O weary one upon my breast I came to Jesus as I was so weary worn and sad I found in him a resting place and he has made glad I heard the voice of Jesus say behold I freely give the living water thirsty one stood down and drink and live I came to

[54:55] Jesus and I drank of that life giving stream my thirst was quenched my soul revived and now I live in here I heard the voice of Jesus say I am this dark world light look unto me your morn shall rise and all your day be bright I looked to Jesus and I found in him my star my star and in that light of life

[55:56] I'll walk till travelling days are done now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and ever more Amen