In the sermon 'Rest in the Battle' by Gary Duff, the focus is on finding rest in the midst of spiritual warfare. Duff emphasizes that true rest comes from being yoked with Jesus Christ, who offers a gentle and lowly heart. He explains that this yoke symbolizes a shared burden and partnership with Jesus, providing strength and peace even amidst life's battles. Believers are called to come to Jesus, take His yoke, and learn from Him, which involves submission to God's will and being teachable. Duff highlights the importance of engaging in spiritual warfare with the right mindset and tools, such as prayer, studying God's word, and relying on the Holy Spirit. The sermon encourages believers to rest in the assurance of Jesus' promise of peace and to extend this message of hope to others.

We have a king who's reigning He's on the throne And we can rejoice in his word together, which is powerful and almighty and as you're turning to Matthew 11 there It's a short passage that we'll read I'll just I know there are a few visitors here, so I'm not usually here. I'd like to be here more often actually But sure you and I rejoice that we are here We I'm one of three pastors at Dominion Covenant Church in Omaha, Nebraska which if you don't know where that is it's in the North tundra, you know, cold place. Well you all know about that now I guess. So we are looking at Matthew 11. This is the inerrant word of God.

Come to me, all you 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 Father in heaven This is your inerrant word and we rejoice in it. We praise you for revealing it to us Lord we thank you for calling us now to hear it and I pray that we'd be not only hearers of your word but doers of it, that we would rejoice in it and open our eyes we pray that we might behold the wondrous things out of your law and so we Commit ourselves to you as your people and we ask you father to fill us with your spirit that we might rejoice in your word now And apply it in the power of the Holy Spirit. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen Please be seated Well, as you can see the sermon this morning is about rest, but it's a different kind of rest.

It's about rest in the midst of battle. And I know that seems kind of odd, okay, resting in battle. Doesn't seem to make sense. But I was talking with one of our elders, he's an evangelist, Todd Adams is his name. Some of you know him.

And this is several months ago and he's a counselor. He counsels all over the United States. And I asked him, I guess we were talking about his counseling load and he mentioned, you know I asked him how are things going and he said this is, in his mind, all these years of counseling, he's noticed a sense of unrest that Was larger than he's ever seen and he's counseling more than he's ever seen and so brothers and sisters I believe you know that we are in a battle and it's become clearer this year. I believe or last year And we are indeed in a battle on several fronts. And I'll be talking a little bit about that today.

And I believe that this has caused fear and unrest in a large part of the population. But I believe for those who are trusting in the Lord Jesus. That is not so, at least that's what Barna says, but I believe it because we are seeking to walk in the fear of the Lord, not in the fear of man. So if you ask people, you know, what gives you rest, You know, what do you think they would say or even what is rest and a lot of people? I don't know.

Do we really know what rest is? But frankly, I think that's not a bad question to ask people at this time in our country or what is hope maybe but what is rest? What gives you rest they might say I Don't know because I sure don't have it and it's an opportunity to share the good news There is only rest in the Lord Jesus Christ and in him alone. And so I would suggest that as a question you could ask Some of course if you ask them, they'll think immediately vacation. That's what rest is, you know but I'm not sure about you but we have been on many vacations that we came back and I needed a vacation from my vacation and you all know what I mean and so it wasn't really physically restful but it was a change of pace and a necessary blessing in our country that we have places to go and rest.

And apparently Americans don't rest very well. I did a little study and if you mean rest by vacations anyway, this article said that Italians, for example, Italians average 42 days a year of paid vacation. I was really surprised by that. France is 37, Germany 36, Canada 26, Japan 25, and the US 13. And of which only 57% take all of those.

I don't know if that's the case here I'm hoping that if you get a vacation day you rejoice in it and take it now some people might say that rest is the absence of labor or the absence of any kind of struggle or battles yet God made us to work and To be actively living by faith and to be exercising or training ourselves in godliness in fact We are to be waging war Not to just know about it think about it we're to be waging it against our enemies. And he's made us to be active in the battle with the world and its systems, and with our own sin, the remaining sin in us, the old man, against the devil, against the demons. And he gave us the weapons to do so. Praise God. Now, Dominion Covenant Church, this year, 2021, we've generally, each year we have what we call a theme, I guess.

But in our shepherding meetings with the men and a lot of our teaching, last year it was on stewardship. This year is on spiritual warfare. And I believe the three of us were clearly led to speak to our congregation regarding the battles that we are facing. And we'll always be battling. We'll always be battling our sinful desires.

And it would seem even more directly now, the world's sinful systems around us. And also fighting against the devices of the devil and of his demons. And that is why we at DCC, we gave a book this year. It's written by the Puritan Thomas Brooks. So it's not a really easy read, But it's precious to read.

It's called Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices. I would recommend it. It's great. We're going through it as a church. We've encouraged everybody to work through it this year slowly.

So that it's in our minds that we do have precious remedies against Satan's devices. And he does have devices. And we need to go to the Word to battle, to be involved in that battle. And 2 Corinthians 2 says we're not to be ignorant of his devices. And I think many in America, many American churches might be ignorant and just consider you know I don't really need to prepare for that anyway Yeah, I battle my own weaknesses and things But we are definitely in a battle and so I would also recommend a book called the Christian in complete armor by another Puritan His name is William Gurnall that is on Ephesians chapter 6 And we also went through that as a church.

Now these books are very helpful, helpful to remind us, I believe, that our enemy is always prowling. And again, we have to acknowledge that in our hearts. He's always prowling. You know, we might have times of relative calm and and those things, but he's always prowling So in this short passage. We'll see what true rest is or actually who in whom it is in whom do we have rest and how we can gain this rest even as we are engaging in battles and what it's like when we have this inner rest.

So the context is our Lord Jesus was speaking to the multitudes in chapter 11 and they were weary. They were weary for many reasons. They were weary. They were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord had compassion on them.

And then he prayed to the Father in their hearing for them. And he began in verse 25. So this begins, this little section here, begins with an invitation. It's basically a calling, the calling of the Lord to those who will hear him to come to his rest, not any rest that is the world would give. And he said, come to me.

He said, come to me. So this invitation is from the only source of true rest, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, to those who are weary and who are burdened, who are heavy laden, and specifically to those who, by His grace, will find rest in him. Our Lord Jesus said, all that the Father gives to me will come to me, and the one who comes to me, I will by no means cast out. And that is a very strong emphatic statement there. If you studied the language, The emphasis here in the negative anyway, it sounds something like I will never never Throw out someone who comes to me I Will never do that or in on another way of looking at I will certainly certainly welcome those who do come to me And so by saying come it's 28 Jesus was inviting people to believe in him and to find rest in him.

And he addressed this to the weak and to the weary and those laboring and who were burdened and they knew it and they were loaded down. Now labor here, that word specifically here means toil to the point of weariness and exhaustion. So not just a little tiredness here it's talking about. Toil to weariness and exhaustion. And this can happen, certainly can happen when we are actively fighting our enemies in the struggles that just seem to go on especially.

And heavy laden here means a really, an unbearable burden really, an oppressive weight. And that's why in the picture there, you might know from where that's from. But that man, Christian, there has a very big burden on his back, very hard for him. But the Lord Jesus was speaking to the very burdened people of Israel, to the multitudes. And there was the burden for them of keeping the ceremonial law.

And the scribes and the Pharisees then, of course, had burdened them with extra demands and minute details and traditions. So they were greatly burdened. And Jesus told the multitudes about the scribes and the Pharisees in Matthew 23 in no uncertain terms. He's very strong. And he said, for they, that is the scribes and Pharisees, they bind heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on men's shoulders, But they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers So it's easy to pile burdens on them and they were doing it all the time Then Jesus went on to say all their works they do to be seen by men That was their motivation Their motivation was full of pride and a desire to control.

And that is what legalists and tyrants do. As Peter already mentioned this morning. Like governors or mayors who pile on mandates, but they themselves do not follow them. But something not burdensome, brothers and sisters, not burdensome are the commandments of God. First John 5.3 says, for this is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome.

They're not burdensome. Like we find our rest in our peace in his precious word. So keeping his commandments and pulling in the yoke in the direction the Lord is going is not a burdensome thing, it's a freeing thing. And in James the word is called the law of liberty. And So actually we are liberated by being yoked with the Lord Jesus.

And then we are free, truly free. Then we're able to keep the commandments and to face our enemies then. Now the invitation to come to me is the good news, really. You all hear it, really, every Lord's Day in many ways. Maybe you don't Reckon that but you do you hear the good news many ways Already up to this point in the service and certainly when we come to the communion table see it every time you come to the table of the Lord.

Now the call of the gospel is to be proclaimed, of course. We are part of that. And there is hope and there is life and there is redemption in Jesus alone. He alone can take away the burden and the penalty of our sin. The Lord Jesus is also speaking to us now in this, of course, we who have come to Christ, and he is still saying, come to me.

He's still saying to you, now, come to me. Jesus alone can give us rest from our burdens. Rest from the enemy's relentless attacks upon us, and the world's hatred and its enmity toward us, and then the weakness of our own sinful nature, still unsanctified out of us. So the invitation to come to Jesus is also to all who labor and are heavy laden, to the multitudes, who are harassed and helpless again, like sheep without a shepherd. You see them all around you.

I mean, I pray that we have eyes to see that. And I think it's even more obvious in the times we're living. They're like sheep without a shepherd But Jesus alone can give us rest from our burdens and His calling is Effectual in his children He says come and we come by his grace. It's all by his grace. And we are his sheep.

Now regarding this labor and being heavily burdened, it says all you who labor and are heavy laden. I was thinking of Christian, that's why I put that in the notes there, in Pilgrim's Progress. He had this huge burden on his back and he He came to the cross and the burden fell off and he finally had freedom and the journey that was very hard for him To the celestial city it was very tiring in fact impossible with the burden of his sin and guilt and our spiritual battles can indeed cause us to be weary they can wear you out if attempted on your own certainly if you don't cast those upon the Lord leave them at the cross so the question I would ask here I ask questions every once in a while but brothers and sisters are you weary from the battle against the world against the own your own flesh and against the devil Are you trying to find rest in your battles without coming to Jesus? Not going to work. Only with Him can you find a soul level of rest.

Yes, there might be temporary times of rest, but the soul level is what it's talking about here. And are you telling others who are burdened around you, those not yoked with Jesus yet, as far as you know, that they can only find rest in Christ alone? There are many open doors now, like I said, to this. We have the joy of being messengers, of passing on this invitation through the gospel that we have in the Lord Jesus and may the Lord Give us compassion on those around us who are burdened and we have eyes to see those who are burdened with fear and grief and guilty conscience And many of you know there's been a lot of studies up to this point of what last year did and what the media did in fomenting fear. There's been a huge increase of suicide.

There are many hurting people in this country. They only have one hope, brothers and sisters. They only have one rest possible. And for those who do not know Christ, in Revelation 14 it says this, and it's good for us to keep this in mind, about the sheep who are harassed and helpless, those who die without the Lord, it says, they have no rest day or night. That's Revelation 14, 11.

They have no rest day and night. That's hell. Revelation 14, 13, two verses later said, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works follow them Praise God, you know gives us rest and then what we do in that rest our works follow us Those who die in the Lord have an eternal rest from their labors And the result of their labor with the Lord, while they are yoked with Him, will follow them. This is how you lay up treasures in heaven, I believe.

You labor with the Lord in His yoke, and your works will follow you. And so we've been invited to come to Christ and to rest in him and we can also invite others to come to him The verse 28 continues and I will give you rest. It's a promise Rest in the Lord is a gift of his grace He is the source of our rest, as I've mentioned. He is the source of a quiet soul. When you have a quiet soul, it's because He has given you grace to have that.

Psalm 23, as our shepherd, it says that He restores our soul. This is the rest at the soul level. No matter what is happening around you. You have a soul level of rest. Verse 29 also promises similar words.

It says, and you will find rest for your souls. But what is this rest like? This rest that only he gives. Well, this rest is, as I mentioned before, it's not a complete rest from labor or from battles here and now Nor does it nor is it a time when there are no afflictions and when you have no trials no pain but it is actually an inner rest even during these things and The trials these trials often force us again to realize where our rest is from. Many of the saints of old and the martyrs and the persecuted, even now as we read in the voice of the martyrs in other magazines, We see that they can experience a rest and a peace beyond understanding.

It is beyond understanding from the world's perspective. Another question, do you need restoring? I guess that's a rhetorical question. We all need restoring. Do you need refreshment in your soul rest from your weariness whatever those may be you individually having?

Strengthen the struggles that you are facing So whether for salvation or for sanctification you cannot carry the burden alone You might think so You might have seen it kind of work sometimes, but you cannot achieve rest without the Lord Jesus Christ. You must come to Him. Paul in Galatians said, having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? In other words, do you think you can come to Jesus and answer his call by his grace and then find rest without him after that? So one of the major ways we learn to rest and we experience rest is as we rejoice together on the Lord's Day.

Lord knew and knows how much we need this day of rest and why it is called Sabbath, which means to cease from your labors. Should be able to come here and be restored and and rejoice together be refreshed This is the day actually that every day when we go home. We should say that what a blessing it was a day that Helps me to understand what my eternal rest will be like may that be so here John Piper in desiring God called our time on earth a vapers breath of preparation for eternity Vapors breath of preparation for eternity And this day should be a taste of and a preparation for our future rest and a time to rest from the battles that we all face and to be reminded of how to face those. But for those in Israel during this time the passage that when this passage was written the Sabbath had become much less a day of rest and a day of joy. It had become a burden, in fact, with so many regulations to keep.

And following this passage in Matthew 12, Jesus deals with the legalism of the Pharisees regarding the Sabbath. He said they had turned the Sabbath into a very unrestful day. And the word rest in the Bible is also used of our final rest or our death, the expression he rested with his fathers. And we do rest when we die, praise God, in the Lord, according to what I read in Revelation 14, where we rest in His presence, rest unhindered by sin. It's true rest.

But Jesus is also our resting place now. And part of our rest now is in knowing that we will really, fully understand rest in our eternal home with him. It's a wonderful promise, a wonderful expectation of rest with him. And we are beginning now to experience our ultimate rest. Deuteronomy 33, 27 says, the eternal God is your refuge.

In other words, he is your rest, he is your dwelling place. You run to him to find this rest and underneath are his everlasting arms The restful place to be and so we have been invited brothers and sisters to rest to come to Him who is the only source of true rest, our Lord Jesus Christ. And we can't have this rest, it's promised here. It's by faith, only by faith in Him. Second point is our responsibility.

We have a responsibility as we walk and as we engage in the battles that we will face. And that is to submit. To submit to the Lord's will and to His authority. Verse 29 says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. Take my yoke and learn from me and so besides come These are the two really main key action words in this passage take learn Come the crowds Jesus spoke to would have clearly understood about yolks they'd seen them they grew up with them you know that's how things are done there and maybe Jesus even made some with his earthly father so the yolk if you look at that picture there that's just one kind of yolk there are many kinds so the yolk was used to connect animals to an implement or a plow, something like a plow or a wagon, to be able to be more productive for the master.

And we're told here to take his yoke in order to serve him. Take his yoke And we're to take up our cross also, which is another wooden item. Matthew 16, 24, Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, follow me. The cross is an instrument of death, of death through our selfish and sinful ways. So the Lord is saying, come and die.

Come and deny yourself. But the yoke is a wooden again, but it's a symbol of constant union with the Lord and of submission to him in order to serve him until he calls us home. Now, I'm not an expert on yolks. My expertise about yolks is from the Little House and the Prairie series. If you've read that book.

But I learned that usually one of two animals, which are yoked together, and maybe more, I suppose, they're yoked because one is stronger or wiser or calmer than the other one and the inexperienced horses or oxen are yoked with experienced ones and they they are trained in a sense by by the experienced ones so they then there won't be injury and they will be more productive and We begin to take his yoke by faith as we are enabled by his grace By the Holy Spirit to repent and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ And we continue to take his yoke We must continue to take it in other words to accept it We are yoked with him, but we accept it by obedience and by submission Which is also by faith so as paradoxical as it may seem true rest and true freedom in other words true strength in the battle those are only found when you are yoked. So praise God you are yoked. Thank the Lord for the yoke that you're in with him. Battling without this kind of rest, this depth of communion with the Lord Jesus would be a dangerous thing, it would be tiring certainly, and largely ineffectual.

Charles Spurgeon said, do all that lies in you for the extension of his kingdom who has given you rest in this yoke He's given you rest and you shall find that rest that the rest of your soul shall lie in your doing all you can for Jesus." In other words, while you are in that yoke with Him, you are serving gladly and you're not pulling against the yoke. So this kind of true and lasting rest is not by inactivity again or lack of service or laziness or retreat from the battles that we are facing we are now responsible and able again by the Lord's mercy to take initiative in this to walk by faith to walk in the spirit and to make our calling and election sure and to attack the enemy we're to attack the enemy storm the gates of the enemy which cannot prevail to come and and realize we have we are serving the conqueror and We are yoked with him and then the third action here after coming to Jesus and taking his yoke upon us or accepting it learning Is to learn from him. This is the word for a disciple To be a Learner one who walks in the yoke with his master to learn and learns to act as his master acts and think Even as his master thinks Another question are you learning now at this part in your walk with the Lord?

Are you learning willingly now or are you pulling against the yoke in some area by not learning by not being teachable and not listening do you have a teachable art one submissive to what the Lord wants you to learn now and what he is teaching you in the yoke now. Now we usually I believe are somewhat blind to our being teachable. Somebody asked you are you teachable? Well sure yeah I think so. And so we need to let others speak into our lives.

Otherwise I'm not sure how unteachable we reckon ourselves to be. To train ourselves in godliness we are to train ourselves in godliness and we're to be willing to be trained by him and also to allow others to be involved in that training or to learn from him or to continue to grow in grace and to train ourselves in godliness and may you be willing to be trained by him and to have others speak into your life Learning as a disciple in the Hebrew way of learning is not just academic, it's not just intellectual. You have to know things, of course, but it involves following and taking action. Resting in the Lord goes with working with the Lord. A disciple is always actively applying his learning.

A true disciple doesn't learn for the sake of knowledge. Knowledge puffs up. Love builds up. So as God's sovereign, yes, are you responsible to grow in him? And does this involve labor and learning?

Yes. If you think you can find rest in the Lord by not laboring or not disciplining yourself or submitting to discipline or being a learner or being active in spiritual warfare, you will not be walking in the depth of rest which the Lord promises you. And so you gain rest daily by submitting and obeying as a servant, and by submitting and obeying as a student, as a disciple. So take his yoke, learn from him. And the third major point Is then you will become like him?

You become like the Lord as you labor and do battle being yoked with him and you will find rest for your souls The problem is you will find rest The character of our Lord is being developed in us praise God as we walk with him and we will be more Christ-like as we are close to him and draw near to him we will be more like the Lord who knew perfect rest of course in doing the will of his father verse 29 says for I am gentle and lowly of heart I am gentle he said and lowly of heart now this is I believe one of the few places in the New Testament where Jesus tells us what kind of heart he has this is the kind of heart the Lord is telling us he has I am gentle and lowly of heart he's meek And he deals with praise God he deals with repentant and obedient hearts gently and compassionately and we should do the same we should deal with each other with gentleness and meekness. Ephesians 4 makes it clearer to be kind to one another tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave you.

We're to be kind and tender-hearted. And about six months ago, I picked up a book called Gentle and Lowly, and it was written by Dane Ortland. And I don't think I was continuing having joyful quiet times, but I think I was not. I felt led because I thought my quiet times, I'm enjoying the word, I believe I'm drawing near to the Lord, but I want to be closer. I want to understand the Lord Jesus.

I want to relate with him as closely as possible. So I picked up that book, it's been a great blessing. And he pointed out in that book that the key thought here in this passage is that our Lord Jesus is accessible. He's accessible. This is his quote, for all his resplendent glory and dazzling holiness his supreme uniqueness and otherness No one in human history has ever been more approachable than Jesus Christ In 1651 Thomas Goodwin another Puritan he wrote a book called the heart of Jesus and it was on Hebrews 415 or maybe just the part of Hebrews 415 and he wrote a big Burke on part of Hebrews 415 and That's where it says we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses And he said in that we are apt to think that he that is Jesus being so holy is Therefore of a severe and sour disposition against sinners and not able to bear with them No, so see I am meek gentleness is my nature and my temper Rejoice the Lord has this heart for you And we must know that I believe I mean it's easy to think that yes I deserve punishment, but he removed that and yes, I need to be disciplined But he is gentle and lowly of heart to those who you know to his people to his sheep And he lovingly trains us he trains our hands for war in fact and our fingers for battle like David And so as we labor with him in the same yoke would become more like him being yoked with the Lord of all might and the captain of our soul being yoked with the Lord of hosts Who defeated all our enemies Satan sin and death is the safest place to be in battle?

And being in the oak with him is the place of strength The first Peter 3 refers to in a similar way refers to the heart And the impact of a submissive wife Regarding and it was called a gentle and quiet spirit there So rather than an outward show the lord through peter said this let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty or the imperishable jewel of a gentle and quiet spirit which is very precious in the sight of God. This heart is obviously very precious in the in the sight of God. It's the heart of the Lord Jesus. To be gentle and lowly of heart. The Lord desires this kind of heart in all of us, and he's developing it in us as we come to him, as we take and accept his yoke, and as we learn from the one who has all the experience and all the power and all the wisdom and the holy purpose that we need to defeat our enemies.

But if we chafe, brothers and sisters, you know, chafing at the yoke, you know what that means, you know, Lord Jesus going this way, we can chafe, we can pull the other way, We can try to go our own way and pull against him, but we will become weary again until we submit Till we know the joy of submission. He disciplines those whom he loves and he will train us by his yoke. He is a faithful trainer, and he has a gentle and lowly heart in that training. And praise God, he teaches us very different than the world teaches or worldly teachers teach. It's much easier to learn from a teacher who is gentle and humble, yet firm and loving.

And I would offer that I am thankful for your pastor here. He is this kind of man. Our Lord Jesus is the Almighty One, yet gentle and humble, and being yoked with him Can be a joy and bring freedom from burden now Yoked with him we need not carry them alone Which is very important to think about we need not and certainly should not even try to engage in spiritual battle and in spiritual warfare alone We are able now to work with power and with godly purpose as we delight in being yoked with him But the flesh it seems always wants what it calls freedom, which is really no freedom at all its Subjugation Jesus is not harsh. He's not overbearing and oppressive in his teaching like Pharisees were but he was meek He was gentle in his education in his discipline his laws are reasonable They're not burdensome and we can learn from him without fear Now if we become particularly rebellious at some point in our Christian walk, and unwilling to learn a lesson, he will discipline us. And praise God for that.

But he'll do it in love. And we should be thankful that our teacher is gentle and humble, And he's compassionate when he trains us especially as we are not always the most willing students And as we learn from him we will become like him And then we will teach as he teaches and we will defeat our enemies as we learn to do as He did Hebrews 12 There's a section on discipline there verse 11 says now no Chasening or no discipline seems joyful for the present but painful. It's painful when you're going through that In a good sense nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. That is a blessed result of going through in the yoke, going through discipline. The peaceable fruit of righteousness was increased in your life.

So the fruit or the result of growing in righteousness as a result of discipline and being yoked with the Lord is peaceable It's restful which we can experience even as we face our enemies So being yoked with Jesus is being in a loving training program if You want to look at that way? Sometimes tough, yes, but because of his grace, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. And we can claim that. It's a promise. Growth in godliness, blessed service in the kingdom, victory in our battles for which we should give him all praise and thanks.

Matthew Henry wrote this about Jesus' yoke. He said, it is a yoke that is lined with love. It's an interesting picture. So he picks this yoke, it's probably very uncomfortable, but our yoke is lined with love, Matthew Henry said. And he went on, so powerful are the assistances he gives us, you know, in the yoke, meaning he is always helping us.

So suitable are the encouragements, he's always saying I'm with you, and so strong the consolations, in other words, he says, I will comfort you, to be found in the way of duty, that we may truly say it is a yoke of pleasantness. The way of duty is the way of rest. Verse 29 goes on, you will find rest for your souls it's again the promise you actually experience true rest as you are yoked you can actually find it you can appropriate it not just know about it and the result will be joy and peace in the Holy Spirit and direction and power in your labors in his kingdom. Each day he guides us by his gentle, love-lined yoke as we submit to him. Sometimes we have to repent and quit, trying to pull in the wrong direction.

Pulling against the yoke is what it means, I believe, in 1 Peter 5. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And in my life, in the early 70s, that's the 1970s, in case you think I look older than I am. So early 1970s, the Lord opened my eyes, I was regenerated, and I was really desirous of rest, because I think I was under this big burden, because I didn't know what my life was for. I Didn't know what I was supposed to do.

I believed it was in the book the book that I'd grown up with but didn't know how to how to move forward and So I was I was struggling and I run it I wanted rest so I so overjoyed to be yoked I didn't know exactly that that is what was occurring, but Many of you can have that have that same testimony And I learned the blessing of being yoked and and yet I have pulled Against that yoke a few notable times in my walk with the Lord for almost 50 years I have pulled against that and I can tell you how that came out and I one of them was in the 90s Sherry and I were in Japan for nine years with the navigators and You know I was set to be there The Lord clearly led us to be there. My graduate degree's in missions. I was as ready as I... And I wanted to go. We certainly were obedient, I believe.

And yet after that time period ended, I wanted to stay, but the Lord was leading us to go back. And I had a really hard time, brothers and sisters, to just even have a quiet time. And so when I finally submitted to that, we did come back to the States, and he was leading, he was pulling, I was trying to go this way I was kind of miserable actually and So Lord in his grace gave me peace and rest as I submitted to him Well verse 30 concludes For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So this burden is nothing like the burdens of man-made so-called salvation, which are just different forms of slavery. The word easy here is translated in other places, kind, in other contexts.

Again, like Ephesians 4.32, be kind to one another. Be easy on one another, you could maybe say in our Terminology and while the Lord's yoke is not the Crippling burden of a guilt-laden conscience we are yoked But it is light it is a kind yoke and we are never alone in carrying it and everyone is yoked by the way People are either a slave to sin or they're a slave to righteousness Romans 6 so being yoked through any other than Jesus is frankly torture and For some being yoked to or controlled by the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life Is probably some something like hell on earth? Now the enemy of our souls gladly cleverly tries to yoke People to something else someone else He tempts people to take other yokes, which only enslave them to misery and brokenness. Robert Coleman in the Master Plan of Evangelism said, no one knew better than Jesus that the satanic forces of darkness against them, that was his disciples, no one knew that the satanic forces of darkness against them were well organized and equipped to make ineffectual any half-hearted effort of evangelism and they all died They weren't half-hearted And he went on they could not possibly outwit the devilish powers of this world Unless they gave strict adherence to him who look who him who alone knew the strategy of victory Praise God we are yoked with Lord Jesus and then through being in his body we are yoked with other Christians and this kind of yoke is referred to related to marriage and close relationships it's in 2nd Corinthians 6 we're not to be unequally yoked So rejoice greatly dear saints that you are yoked by faith to a kind and loving master and teacher and that you are yoked to each other.

Praise God you are yoked to each other. You are yoked together in Christ. You are yoked fellows, bearing one another's burdens and so fulfilling the law of Christ which is the law of love And you're yoke fellows in the battle too and in raising up more warriors in for the kingdom and like to Read something from a book called The Church is God's Armory, written back in 98 by Pastor Brian Abshire. It's really encouraging. I mean, just the title alone is a great.

The Church is God's Armory, you know. We believe in that. Believe in raising up warriors here. And this is, I just like to read this, it's not extensive, but, it is time, he said, to raise up a new generation of Christian warriors, dissatisfied with a defeatist religion that is catering to the sentimental affectations of traditional business as usual Christianity. The church needs warriors who are convinced and confident of victory and therefore willing to make the sacrifices, the discipline I referred to, they're willing to make the sacrifices necessary to see that victory won.

Such warriors will not be trained in seeker friendly broad evangelical feminized churches fearful of battle and trying to accommodate an implacable and resolute enemy. We need churches that see themselves as God's armory Committed to equipping and training his troops for battle and eventual victory May that be even more so here. I know that's happening here may be even more so So just to conclude In conclusion there are basically three action words come to me. Jesus said you're commanded to come You have the open door to come. Please come to him.

Go near to him daily. Go near to him. This is a continual invitation. So as you did at your conversion, so you must do daily. If you already experienced true rest.

Rest for your soul. And have strength really to victory in battle daily battle secondly take his yoke accept it submit to him obey as well as pulling if you will You are responsible to pull with him in the yoke. He doesn't need your pulling strength, by the way. But it's all by his grace, again. He could do all the pulling by himself, of course.

But that is not his way, not the way he trains and sanctifies his disciples. If we are steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, our labor will not be in vain. It cannot be ever in vain because we're a yoke to him. Do you daily commit yourself to pulling with him, to obeying his will, submitting, confessing when you don't, pulling in his direction, doing battle as he leads. And then last, learn from me, he said.

Learn, be teachable. We're to grow as disciples. Your pastor to me is an example of a learner He greatly encourages me in my learning path I'm very thankful for him Well secondly I believe we should learn again from others in the body and I think it's okay, yes, certainly from your elder, from elders and you know the men, older men, you know you should be learners, you should be committed to learning from them, but also from an older friend, from your parents, certainly, or to learn, or to be actually committed. And I have often counseled people who would leave our church, I said, I'm just gonna give you one bit of advice. When you go to talk to that new session, tell them that you're committed to serving, by the grace of God, with them.

You're willing to learn. You want to serve. You want to be teachable. So do you daily ask the Lord to give you a teachable heart the heart of a learner the heart of a disciple and do you take action in disciplining yourself you're called to discipline yourself yes you have plenty of help here and that will please your master and make you a stronger warrior So the disciplines just in case you wonder what I mean by spiritual disciplines Basically for the intake of the Word of God. So you need to hear, read, study, memorize, and meditate on the Word of God.

You got to get the Word of God into your mind, so it can get into your heart. And then secondly, prayer and fasting. Are you steadfast in that work of the Lord? And by the way, I think if you're in battle and not on your knees in fact I believe we go forward in battle if you picture this on our knees we must be much more in prayer fasting Are you consistent in fellowship with the Lord in other words your devotional life? Are you coming to him and are you consistent here in fellowship with your dear brothers and sisters your yoke fellows?

And then are you witnessing again look at our the world we live in right now, inviting others to come to Jesus. So dear yoke fellows, if you come to him and draw near to him constantly, if you take and accept his yoke and you work and you fight with him and you don't pull your own way, And if you learn from him how to engage in spiritual battle the promise here is sure You will find rest for your soul even as you engage in spiritual warfare. Let's pray The lord jesus it It amazes us that you would yoke yourself with us. What amazing grace we here know. Lord, thank you for allowing us and for calling us to come to you and for the promise of true rest of rest for our souls.

Oh Lord, we want to grow as disciples who are teachable and want to learn from you and become like you. Oh Lord, forgive us for trying to pull another way as foolish as it is. Fill us with your spirit, we pray. Help us to rejoice in our labor with you. To rejoice in defeating our enemies for your glory.

And for the eternal rewards awaiting us all by your grace. In the name of our master and our Lord Jesus Christ we have come. Amen.