Jesus' Invitation to Rest

[0:00] The scripture reading this morning comes from Matthew chapter 11. Please follow along on the screen, the bulletin, or on your Bible.

[0:15] Starting in verse 25, we read, 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 revealed them to little children.

[0:36] Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 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.

[1:06] 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.

[1:27] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. This is the word of God. Amen. Okay, I think there we go.

[1:53] Thank you, Angie, for reading that, and thank you to the musicians for leading us in worship. It was, man, what a wonderful time. Welcome to those of you who don't know me.

[2:05] My name is Kevin. I'm one of the elder pastors here, and it's great to be with you this morning. To those of you in the community center or at home watching on YouTube, welcome to you as well. A very warm welcome to our church family.

[2:17] We are working our way through Matthew's gospel. We've been doing that slowly over a fair while. Two years ago we started it, and we took a break for two years or so.

[2:29] In the last eight weeks, we've been working from chapter 8 to chapter 11. And today's our last section in Matthew's gospel for a little while, then we'll take a break and pick it up again. And we come to this amazing, amazing passage, very famous passage in chapter 11.

[2:44] But in order to understand this, let's just remind ourselves what's been happening in chapter 11. You'll remember earlier on, chapter 9, there's this kind of famous summary of what's been going on in Matthew's gospel, where Matthew says, Jesus went around in all the cities of Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and affliction.

[3:06] And Jesus is doing this amazing work and ministry, and it elicits a response from various people. Some people, as Chris explained to us last week, are confused and full of doubt about who Jesus is.

[3:19] One of these people is John the Baptist. You remember, John the Baptist came with this fiery message. He says to the religious leaders of his day, you brood of vipers, you bunch of snakes.

[3:31] He says, the axe is at the tree waiting to cut you guys down. And John the Baptist expected that when the Messiah came, he was going to reform the whole Jewish system.

[3:42] He was going to wipe out all the corruption and overhaul the system and start again. And then when Jesus came, he wasn't anything like what John the Baptist expected. And so John is confused, and he sends this message to Jesus saying, hey, did I get something wrong?

[3:57] Did I miss the memo here? You and me are going to come and sort us all out, and you just are doing all sorts of good. And John is confused, and he's full of doubts. Other people are confounded by Jesus because he doesn't dance to their tune.

[4:10] Do you remember there's that amazing little line where Jesus says, the people of this generation are like children who play in the marketplace, and they say, hey, we played a dance song for you, and you didn't dance.

[4:20] We played a dirge, like a mourning song, and you didn't mourn. What's up with you, Jesus? And Jesus says, I don't dance to your tune. I don't march to your drumbeat. And this irritates them and frustrates them.

[4:33] And so they write them off as a heretic and as a lunatic. And what Jesus is saying here is that if you want to experience his grace, if you want to encounter the life-transforming power of Jesus, you've got to come to him on his terms.

[4:48] You've got to come to him as he reveals himself. You can't come to him with your preconceived ideas. You can't try and put Jesus in a box and say, well, this is what I need from a Messiah. You come to Jesus like that, and you're going to be a bitly disappointed.

[5:02] But if you come to him and say, Jesus, I'm willing to learn from you. Who are you? If we come to him on his terms, in that place, we find the life-transforming power, life-transforming grace of Jesus.

[5:15] And so that's what's happening. And so at the end of that passage, we get to this very famous passage in chapter 11. And look at this passage with me. Jesus says this from verse 28.

[5:27] We're going to focus on verse 28 to 30. Jesus says, Come to me, all you who labor, who are weary, heavy laden. I will give you rest.

[5:38] Take my yoke upon you. Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. You will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

[5:53] Friends, if there's one thing that every human heart longs for, no matter what your culture, your background, your ethnicity, your language, or your social status, every human being longs for that rest, that deep soul rest.

[6:07] All of us long to rest in peace, not only one day when we die, but even in this lifetime. And if you've ever been in a difficult relationship, or you've ever been in a relationship that's under strain, you'll know that is the least restful state of being.

[6:25] That is the most stressful position anyone could be in, a relationship where there's conflict. But a right relationship brings rest. And Jesus claimed there that ultimate rest, true lasting rest, peace, the longing that every human heart has, comes only through being in relationship with Him.

[6:46] Jesus, in a sense, is saying, I am the true rest maker. You want real rest? I'm the one that you must embrace. Jesus here is actually quoting from a very famous passage in the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, chapter 6.

[7:01] The nation of Israel is in a relationship with God, but the relationship is very strained. And God says to Israel, He says, Stand at the crossroads. Stand at the ancient roads, paths, and ask for the good way, and walk in it.

[7:17] And when you walk in it, you will find rest for your souls. Everybody wants modern solutions to our ancient problems, right? You want to try Google it, or new piece of technology.

[7:32] We're all looking for modern solutions to our ancient problems. Jesus says that our ancient problems can only be fixed by ancient solutions. God says to the nation of Israel, Go to the crossroads, and go ask for the ancient paths, and walk in them, and you'll find rest for your souls.

[7:47] And what Jesus is saying here is, that ancient path, that for thousands of years, people from every culture have found that has led to peace, is actually the path it leads to me.

[8:01] Look at all the personal pronouns in this passage. Look at what Jesus says here. He says, Come to me, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you.

[8:13] Learn from me, for I am gentle in heart. I am lowly in heart. My yoke is easy. My burden is light. Eight or nine times there, Jesus is calling attention to himself.

[8:25] Jesus doesn't say, Go to God, and he will give you rest. That's what you'd expect from a prophet or a religious guru. Jesus doesn't say, Look within yourself, deal with your issues, and that will find you rest.

[8:39] Almost every modern philosophy will tell you to look within yourself. Jesus doesn't call us to join a religion, to sign up to an institution, or to go on a religious pilgrimage.

[8:51] Jesus tells us that the kind of soul rest that every human being is desperately looking for is not found in a daily practice or a great beach vacation, as wonderful as that is.

[9:02] It's found in coming to the person of Jesus himself. Jesus is always saying things like this. Jesus says things like, I am the bread of life.

[9:15] If you want to satisfy your soul, you've got to come to me. Jesus says, I am the light of the world. Unless you come to me, you'll always grope around in the dark. Jesus says, I am the great physician.

[9:28] Only by coming to me can you be truly healed of your cancer of sin and be made whole. Jesus says in John 7, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

[9:39] Jesus is forever talking like this. Now do you know what that means? It doesn't mean that if you come to Jesus, all your problems will be solved and life will just be rosy, right?

[9:51] Just ask our friends, Gloria and Wilson in Australia. Their five-year-old son going through chemo at the moment. Following Jesus doesn't mean that life is just walking on cloud nine or a bed of roses.

[10:04] But Jesus is saying here that if you have Christ, if you're in Christ, the deepest longing of our hearts and our souls are met. And that apart from Christ, you can have all the treasures in the world, all the money in the world, but there'll still be an empty gnawing in your heart.

[10:22] Augustine famously said, you made us for yourself, oh Lord, and our hearts will forever be restless until they find their rest in you. It's amazing.

[10:34] Our hearts will forever be restless until they find their rest in you. Now, of course, all this talk about how Jesus is the one is kind of what you'd expect from a Sunday sermon at church, right?

[10:46] I hope that's what you'd expect, not something else. But Jesus is not just talking about Sundays here. Jesus is not just saying, listen, on Sunday, don't go and play golf, don't go to the beach, come to church and you'll find rest for your souls.

[11:01] What about Monday to Friday? What about the rest of our lives? What Jesus is saying here is what we sang earlier, Lord, I need you. Every hour, I need you. Monday to Friday, every day of the week in the places of our lives that are most exhausting, most wearisome, most draining in our work life, in our relationships, in our finances, maybe at home, in those relationships that are tough, with our children, in those places, come and find your rest in Him and He will give us what we so desperately need and long for to come and give us the rest of our hearts.

[11:39] We spoke about Augustine a minute ago. Augustine, if you don't know him, he was a philosopher, theologian, hundreds of years ago in the fourth century. And Augustine was raised by his mother to believe and trust in Jesus.

[11:54] But when he grew up, he wanted nothing to do with Jesus. And so he ran as far as he could in the opposite direction. And he was born in, I think, Algeria, Africa. He went to Alexander and Egypt and then to Rome.

[12:07] And he ran as far away from Jesus as he could because he thought Jesus is going to restrain his joy and his pleasure. And so he was on a mission to maximize his pleasure.

[12:18] And he did that primarily through as many relationships as he could. He was famous in his town for being a real playboy. And then sometime in the middle of his adult life, he hits a crisis, he picks up a Bible and he reads Romans 13.

[12:37] And God's word pierces his heart, arrests him on the spot and he gives his life to Christ. He surrenders to Jesus and becomes a follower of Jesus. But listen to what Augustine wrote in his autobiography.

[12:49] It's a little bit wordy, so I apologize, but see if you can follow on with me. He says this, Late have I come to you, beauty so old and yet so new.

[13:01] And yet you were within me all along. I was in the external world and I sought for you out there. And in my unlovely state, I plunged deep into those lovely created things, things which you made.

[13:18] But those lovely things kept me far from you, even though apart from you they have no existence at all. You called and cried out loud.

[13:30] You shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent. Resplendent means exceedingly beautiful. You were radiant and resplendent. You put to flight my blindness.

[13:41] You were fragrant and I drew in my breath and now I pant after you. I tasted you once and now I hunger and I thirst for you.

[13:52] You touched me and now I burn like fire to attain the peace which is found in you. You see what Augustine's saying there? He's saying, I ran all over the place looking for you.

[14:04] I searched in all the lovely things of this world. I looked for sex, I looked for romance, I looked for knowledge, I studied in Alexander, the leading institutions of the age. I looked for you everywhere but those things kept me from the peace I actually needed which is found in you.

[14:21] And I tasted you once and now I burn like fire for the peace that is found within you. Friends, is that you? Are you weary and hungry for rest?

[14:33] Jesus says, come to me. I am the rest maker. I give you peace. And notice, who is it that Jesus is inviting here? Jesus doesn't invite those who have found their self-worth or self-satisfied or self-sufficient.

[14:48] Jesus does not promise rest to those that have earned it through hard work and striving. Jesus promises his life-giving rest not as a reward to the faithful but as a gift to those who need it.

[15:01] All those who are weary and heavy laden, come to me, says Jesus. Friends, Jesus invites the exhausted, the storm-tossed, the poor in spirit, the anxious, the abused, those who carry baggage, those who carry guilt, those who carry scars in life.

[15:21] Anyone who is wearied by life's burdens, Jesus says, come to me and I will give you rest. Now, what does it actually mean to come to Jesus?

[15:34] Jesus says, come to me, but what does that actually mean? Well, look at our passage here. In this passage, Jesus gives us two instructions. The first one is he says, come to me, verse 28.

[15:45] But the second one, verse 29, Jesus says, take my yoke upon you. And that's actually what it means to come to Jesus. Now, you may be familiar with the language of yoke, but if you're not, a yoke is the wooden bar that farmers would put across the soldiers of their oxen or their horses or something to join two oxen together so that they could pull a cart or plow a field that they could work in tandem together and be effective.

[16:21] And so, they would get these two oxen, put this wooden yoke, this bar across their shoulders with a collar around so that they wouldn't drift off separately. And together, these oxen could do what the farmer was needing them to do.

[16:35] Now, what would happen in the ancient world, apparently, maybe still in some countries in the world, is that if you had a new oxen and an older oxen, you would put the new oxen, yoke them together with the older, bigger, stronger oxen to teach them and to train them.

[16:51] And so, a new cow would be yoked together with an older, stronger, bigger one so that he could be broken and learn the way of the farming. But the other thing that I learned recently, Chris actually taught me this, I didn't know this, I didn't know Chris was a farmer, but apparently, that if you've got, that sometimes farmers would have a bigger collar and a smaller collar.

[17:12] And you'd think that the bigger collar would go on the bigger oxen, the stronger one, the older one, and the smaller collar would go on the younger, smaller oxen. But actually, farmers would often put the smaller collar on the bigger, older oxen because that ox could then carry the weight, the burden, and the young ox or cow that is still being broken in could still find its way and didn't have to carry the full weight of the burden on its shoulders.

[17:41] Friends, you see what Jesus is saying here? Jesus says, you anxious, you weary, come and take my yoke upon you. Jesus is saying, ironically, that the only way to be truly free, the only way to really find the rest that we long for, that we so desperately want, the kind of rest that lasts longer than a week or a month or longer than a good holiday, is not found in extended beach holidays, is not found in more leisure activities, it's actually found in being yoked to him and what that means is by surrendering our autonomy, actually coming and submitting ourselves to him, coming under his authority and allowing ourselves to be mastered by him.

[18:24] And that's completely counterintuitive and countercultural. Jesus says that only as we come to him and allow ourselves to be mastered by him, submit to him, do we actually find the freedom that we want.

[18:38] Now Jesus was not the first one to come up with this analogy. In the first century, all rabbis spoke about the yoke of their teaching. And what they meant by that was come under my doctrine, my teaching, and you'll take my yoke.

[18:50] But Jesus points out what everybody knew but was too scared to say. In Matthew 23, Jesus says this, he's speaking about the religious leaders and he says, these religious leaders, they preach but they cannot practice what they preach.

[19:04] They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and they lay them on people's shoulders but they themselves cannot even bear those burdens that they put on others. He says, they do all their deeds merely to be seen by others.

[19:19] And what Jesus is saying is that every religious system in the world, every moral philosophy in the world that is divorced from a relationship with Christ himself is ultimately going to become a burden because it necessarily becomes reduced to rituals, to performance, to practices, to duty.

[19:38] Jesus says, only as you marry me, as you come into a relationship with me, do the things I call you to not become a heavy burden but actually become life-giving. Friends, is your Christianity exhausting?

[19:55] Does it wear you out? Does being a Christian feel like a burden on your shoulders? It means that, if that's the case, it means you've divorced it from the person of Jesus.

[20:09] Your faith in Christ has merely become a religion and that is forever going to be exhausting. Jesus says, come to me. But do you know what? The secular worldview of our day which promises rest and hope and peace is just as exhausting.

[20:26] It's the ultimate bait and switch. Do you know that phrase, bait and switch? It's like, when somebody baits you with something, they offer you something, this golden carrot and then as you take it, they switch it with something else, right?

[20:38] They say, buy this house and, or they advertise like this beach holiday and all food and beverages are included and you go on the beach holiday and you find it's like half a star restaurant, the food is off, it's the ultimate bait and switch.

[20:52] They seduce you with a bait and then they switch it with something else. Friends, every, our culture, the secular cultures of our age promise us rest in a thousand ways but in the end they're exhausting, they're wearisome.

[21:08] Friends, how many of us are weighed down with exhaustion trying to prove ourselves, trying to be someone great, trying to prove whether to our parents or ourselves that we're not a failure, that we're somebody, that we've got the goods, that we can make the great.

[21:22] I plunged myself into those lovely created things which you made but those lovely things kept me far from you. Tim Keller said it like this, in ancient times the gods were bloodthirsty and hard to please.

[21:37] Even today they still are. Friends, isn't that why in Hong Kong we all work such exceedingly long hours, always taking on more projects, always taking on more assignments, always taking on more work?

[21:51] Friends, isn't that why how many of us live under the constant yoke of people's expectations, whether it's our boss or our parents or Facebook or Instagram? Friends, how many of us work harder and harder at school projects and assignments and we're so overwhelmed we carry this burden trying to prove ourselves, whether to our parents or our peers or to ourselves, that we're somebody, that we've got the goods?

[22:16] Friends, isn't that why we find it so hard to say no? In ancient times the gods were bloodthirsty and hard to please. Even today they still are. And Jesus says that if you want to find life, if you want to find the rest that He promises, the way to do it is to actually give up your life.

[22:34] You've got to abandon all those other things that you've yoked yourself to. You've got to abandon those other things that you've surrendered yourself to. If you truly want to be free, you have to surrender your autonomy to His authority.

[22:47] You've got to join yourself, so join yourself that you're actually at His mercy. And that's a remarkable claim. Now here's the question. Why should we trust Him?

[22:59] Why should we trust Him? What Jesus is calling us to here is radically significant. He says the only way you're going to find the rest that you long for is to actually die to yourself and to come to Him, to surrender yourself to His yoke, to His experience.

[23:13] If you really want to find the life-transforming grace that He promises, Jesus doesn't say come and drop coins in the offering or go on a homely pilgrimage to Israel or join a siege.

[23:24] He says you've got to abandon yourself to those things that you've yoked yourself to and you've got to come to Me. Why should we trust Him? Why should we do that? Well, as we come to close, I want to give us three simple reasons.

[23:38] Three reasons why you can trust Jesus. The first is this, because He knows you the best. Look at what He says here in verse 27.

[23:51] Jesus says, All things have been handed over to Me by My Father. Another way of saying that is all authority in all the world belongs to Me. And Jesus says, Nobody knows the Father like Me and nobody knows Me like the Father.

[24:06] What's Jesus saying there? Jesus is saying that I have existed from eternity past to eternity in the future. I know you better than yourself. I know everything about you. If there's one person you can trust, you can trust Me.

[24:21] Friends, have you ever bought a new gadget or appliance? What does it always come with? It comes with instructions, right? And there's always a little line that says, For best results, follow the maker's instructions.

[24:33] Is that right? Okay. Maybe not your appliances. And what is the problem with most guys? We throw the instructions away and say, I know how this thing works.

[24:45] And our wives are always looking off the instructions and helping us when we get it wrong, right? How many have ever tried to build an Ikea cabinet or cupboard and you say, There it is, love.

[24:56] It looks great. And she opens the door and you realize you put the door in the wrong way or something like that, right? For best results, follow the maker's instructions. Jesus is saying here, I am the maker.

[25:09] I'm the one who made you. I know you the best. If you really want to find life, you've got to come to me. I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where you've heard kids, little kids, having a conversation.

[25:21] It's very funny, right? And sometimes you'll hear a kid, let's say, four years old and one kid will say, My dad's car can drive the speed of light.

[25:34] And another kid says, My dad's car can drive as fast as lightning. And this kid will say, My dad's car can fly to America. And the next kid will say, Well, my dad's car can fly to the moon, right?

[25:49] And they're kind of like all these exaggerated things. And some of them even believe it. I remember when I was a kid, I had a friend in kindergarten that pointed to a car and said, You see that car? It's called a ninja car.

[26:00] It can fly. And I totally believed him. Friends, every system of the world is making radical claims like that. You want true rest?

[26:11] Buy that holiday home. You want true rest? Put your kids in this university. You want true rest? Invest in this vehicle. You want true rest? The rest that your heart is longing for?

[26:21] Buy this gadget. Friends, all of it is like kids in the dark. They don't know what they're talking about. But Jesus comes along and he says, I know you the best and I love you the most. And I was there at creation and I know what's good for you.

[26:33] You can trust me. Remember what Augustine said? Our hearts were made for you and will always be restless until they find their rest in you. Friends, how can you trust him?

[26:43] Jesus is not just one of a plethora of kids in the car making these radical, ridiculous claims. Jesus is the one who knows you the best and he knows what your heart is made to function on. Here's another reason why I can trust him.

[26:55] Because of the cross. Jesus comes to us and he says, take my yoke upon you and you'll find rest for your souls. And sometimes that can feel like we're dying inside.

[27:07] But friends, Jesus doesn't ask us to die ultimately. He asks us to die to ourselves because he says, in that place you'll find true life. How do we know that he's true? Because Jesus really did die for us.

[27:20] Jesus didn't just put on his shoulders a yoke, a work instrument. Jesus put on his shoulders an instrument of death. The yoke that oxen put on his shoulders is an instrument of work. Jesus put on himself the instrument of death.

[27:32] He put on himself the rugged cross. And he said, I'll go to the cross. I'll die for you so that when I say you come and follow me, it might feel like death but actually it's the way to life.

[27:43] Jesus died, friends, that we can experience true life. Martin O'Jones used to say it like this. He said, you'll never experience peace of God until you're at peace with God.

[27:57] You'll never experience the peace, the rest that God promises you until you've come to peace with God. In other words, until you die to yourself and you experience the life that Jesus wants for you. But here's the final thing.

[28:09] And this is a couple of minutes. Why should we trust Jesus? Jesus because of who he is. Look at what he says here in verse, actually I'll read the whole thing.

[28:20] Jesus says, come to me you who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me and then he has to keep it. For I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls.

[28:37] Many Bible commentators have noted that this is the only verse in the Bible where Jesus tells us what his heart is like. Only verse in the Bible where Jesus reveals his own heart.

[28:49] He says, this is what my heart is like. Dane Autlan says that the one place in scripture where the Son of God peels back the veil and lets us peer down into the deepest recesses of his heart, what we find is that Jesus is not austere and severe in heart.

[29:06] Jesus is not high and dignified in heart. The one place where Jesus peers back the veil and invites us to peer into his very heart, the depths of his heart, what we discover is that Jesus is gentle and lowly in heart.

[29:25] The word gentle means meek and meekness means constrained strength. Strength that has been constrained that you experience gentleness.

[29:36] When Jesus says he is lowly, lowly means of humble origins, of humble, of low social status. What Jesus is saying here is that there is nobody who is not good enough, not rich enough, not strong enough, not educated enough, not religious enough to come to me.

[29:56] Jesus says, I'm not one step above anybody else. I have so lowed myself, so humbled myself, so taken on the nature of a servant that anybody, no matter what your status, your bank account, your ethnicity, no matter what anybody in culture or society says about you, you can come to me and I will not reject you.

[30:17] You come to me with your sin, I won't reject you. You come to me broken and weary, I'm here for you. You come to me exhausted and worn out, I'm here for you.

[30:28] I'm lowly and gentle in heart. Now friends, of course, that doesn't mean that Jesus is weak. Look at what he says in verse 27. All authority has been given to me.

[30:41] Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the one who is seated on the right hand to God the Father in the glory of heaven, clothed with glory, the one who Revelation says his eyes are like fire, they pierce to our hearts.

[30:54] Revelation says out of his sword comes a mouth, his word cuts to our hearts. Revelation says that Jesus is the captain of the armies of heaven and one day he will come and he will vanquish and destroy his enemies.

[31:07] Psalm 18 says this, to the merciful you are merciful, but to the crooked you seem torturous. Jesus is not weak by any stretch of the imagination.

[31:18] As tender as his mercy is towards those who come to him, so severe will his judgment be to those who reject him. So when Jesus says I am gentle and lowly, he doesn't mean weak and frothy or light and weak.

[31:34] But for those who come to him, to those who do not refuse him, to those who yield to him and surrender to him, friends, we will find that even our worst sins, even our greatest failings, even our moment of greatest insecurity, even our supreme weakness and doubts and anxiety will never drain or deplete or limit or exhaust his tenderness, his gentleness, his mercy and his rest for those who come to him.

[32:08] Friends, when you think of Jesus, what comes to mind? Dane Orton says it like this, Jesus is not trigger happy. He's not harsh and reactionary.

[32:19] He's not easily exasperated. I was thinking about it this way, this week. Can I make a confession? I get easily exasperated. Jesus does not get easily exasperated.

[32:32] The posture most natural to Jesus is not a pointed finger pointing out your faults, but open arms saying, come to me. Gentleness is not one way Jesus occasionally acts towards people, towards those that have got it together.

[32:50] Gentleness is who he is. It is his very heart. Friends, when we come to Jesus exhausted and worn out, weary and anxious, Jesus doesn't hold his nose at us.

[33:03] Jesus doesn't say, let me put on the latex gloves and I'll deal with you. Jesus doesn't sanitize his hands or ask us to sanitize our hands. Jesus comes with the most welcoming of open braces and says, come to me, you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.

[33:22] Friends, can you take him up on it? Let me ask you finally, how heavy is the junk that you're carrying on your back? Seriously, the things that we look to and trust and how heavy are those things?

[33:33] Have any of those things given us rest? Friends, have sexual relations given us rest? Friends, have all sorts of relationships that kill a boyfriend, that kill a girlfriend. Have those things really given our heart rest?

[33:45] What about the things that we buy? That holiday home, that home entertainment system, that new watch. Have those things really given us rest? Friends, what about that first class honors? That straight A grade?

[33:57] 100%. Have those things given your heart rest? Friends, Jesus Christ, the sovereign God of all creation, he makes a radical claim. He asks you to come and take his burden.

[34:10] Following Jesus is the hardest thing you'll ever do. There's a yoke to embrace. You must submit to his authority. You must surrender to his ways. But I'll tell you this, it works.

[34:20] Jesus gives you rest that nothing in this world will give you. He brings rest to every human being. The rest that only comes by being in right relationship with him. Let's pray together.

[34:35] Oh, sovereign Lord, wonderful maker, magnificent God, gentle and lowly king. God, we come to you this morning because we know that in you our hearts truly find rest.

[34:49] We come to you this morning because as we sang earlier, God, we need you. Every hour, we need you. Father God, so many of us have, like Augustine, God looked in a thousand places to all the lovely things that you've created for the rest that can only be found in you.

[35:10] And God, our souls are exhausted. Our souls are depleted. Jesus, we come to you this morning. Come and give us your rest, we pray.

[35:24] Father God, as we come to you in confession and repentance, as we come to you in faith, won't you match our simple faith with your magnificent bounding leaps of grace.

[35:40] Come and have your way, we pray. Amen.