Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. Here is rest. for restless hearts. 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. Don't you long for that rest? Welcome to the Verdict with Pastor John Monroe. This daily program is a media ministry of Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Do you ever feel restless? And no matter how hard you work or how far you travel, you just can't seem to find peace. Today, we'll discover the only real cure for our restless hearts. To get us started, here's Pastor John Monroe with his message titled, Rest for Your Soul. I know you like receiving invitations.
Today we're considering the greatest invitation ever issued. this invitation comes to you. And at the end of the message, I'm going to challenge you for your response. Yes? The invitation comes from our Lord Jesus Christ, who says, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will do.
Give you rest. If you got a heavy burden, Are you struggling? experiencing some frustration. Whatever it is. Jesus is well able to carry your burden.
and he issues this wonderful invitation. Come to Jesus and find the greatest rest ever. This is a very important message. I'm praying. that you'll listen carefully.
and accept this invitation offered by our Lord Jesus. This I guarantee. That if you come to Jesus, he'll deal with your burden. Absolute burden of sin. His power, his strength, his grace, his love.
are unsearchable. Not only has Jesus all authority, he says, notice verse 27. 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. You say, that's really deep.
It is very deep. Powerful statements that they're only true of Jesus. He is the Son of God who comes to reveal the invisible God. God is spirit. No one has seen God at any time.
And into time, into space.
So that we can see and understand. As the disciples touched Jesus, as they saw him in action, they realized that in Jesus Christ is God incarnate, God with. Uh And the Father reveals these truths to his son.
So that to see Jesus is to see God. He who has seen me It says Jesus has seen The father. Everything that the Father knows is revealed to the Son. Why? He's equal with God, God the Father, and God the Son.
And Says Jesus, the Son chooses to reveal the Father to others. And this is so important, then, that Jesus is the only one. who can reveal God the Father to us. This is why the invitation is unique. That Jesus is the only way to God.
I realize people challenge that. People think we're bigoted when we say that. People say you're not tolerant of other views. Listen. This is God incarnate.
Saying it. This is not my idea. This is God. That to know Jesus is to know God. And so respond.
to this gracious invitation. He is uniquely The one who can say, Come to me, all who are weary, all who are laden, and I will give you rest. Come to Jesus. with these heavy Pardon? She said, How is it?
that the Lord Jesus can deal with our heavy burdens. Because not only is that based on who he is, but based on what he has done. What about this terrible burden of sin? The biggest burden. That any of us can have.
What about that? Isaiah the prophet says these wonderful words. But Prophesies. The death of Jesus. And do you notice in the testimonies that a number of them said?
That Jesus dies for us. for our sins. The gospel, the good news, isn't just that Jesus died. He died for our sins. There's our word again.
Don't try and evade it. He dies for our sin. Isaiah puts it this way, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Do you know anyone else who can? Carry your griefs and your sorrows.
The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Peter writes He himself, Jesus, bore our sins. in his body on the tree. Here is my heavy burden of sin. And Isaiah is saying, that heavy burden of sin is laid on Jesus on the cross.
He who knew no sin is made sin for us.
So John the Baptist Brilliantly points to Jesus and says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away. The sin of the world. How does he take away the sin of the world? He's the sinless one. God incarnate, and so when he dies on the cross, he is dying.
For the sins of the world, dying for my sins, paying the price for my sins, going into the judgment of God and the condemnation of God, which I deserve, not only dying for my sins and being buried, but being raised again on the third day according to the scriptures, so that he is alive.
So it is a living Christ. Who says? Come to me. And I'll give you Rest. Here's another picture from from Pilgrim's Progress.
There he is. F Christian. John Bunyan's character in Pilgrim's Progress. And there he is at the cross. You say, what about his sin?
Do you see it? is beginning to roll away. And Bunyan Right. puts these words in Christians' mouth.
So I saw in my dream, says John Bunyan. that just as Christian came up with the cross, His burden loosed from off his back. and began to tumble. and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre. where it fell in and I saw it no more.
Isn't that wonderful? How do you get rid of this burden of your sin? You come to the cross of Christ. There's Christian, humbly. Acknowledging I've sinned.
And looks to the cross. Where there my Savior paid the price for my sins. And as he comes to Christ, this miracle, yes, this miracle takes place. Says Bunyan, the burden rolled away. And he said, And I saw it no more.
Can you think of this? All of your sins are the past. But when you come to the cross, You're forgiven. And just picture. Your sins is this big, big burden.
Big big package and it rolls and it rolls and it rolls and you will see it no more. We sometimes remember When people Malay nas.
Someone has Made life difficult for you. And you say you forgive them, but you still remember, God doesn't do that. He remembers our sins no more. They're totally. God.
That's what Paul is saying. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old. has passed away, the new has. Come.
Come to Jesus. There's none like him, nor will there ever be anyone like him. And if you come with humility, He will forgive you. Notice how Jesus describes himself in one of his few self-designations. He says in verse 29, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.
Don't be afraid to go to Jesus. You say, I've messed up. taking his name as a cushion He doesn't he doesn't want me. I'm gentle. And Lawley.
You don't need to hide anything from Jesus. He knows it all. Every single thing about you. But Jesus says, The one who comes to me, I will in no wise. Cast out.
If you come home, If you come with repentance, If you come believing that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, was buried and rose again, and receive him into your heart as your Savior, He will forgive all of your sins. He will not cast you out. You will never ever be disappointed with coming to Jesus. His grace. His love.
It's compassion. are infinite. He will receive you. This is why I say this is the greatest invitation Evergiven, it's come to me. All, all.
Who labor and are heavy laden? That's one of the great words of the gospel. Come to me. Can you hear Jesus speaking to you? Put your name there.
Come to me. I heard. The call of Jesus, come to me. When I was twelve years old. at a Christian camp where I went to play soccer.
Come. To me. It's a boy of twelve. I came. I knew I'd sinned.
And I came to the cross. And that burden on my back rolled away, and I've never seen it again. It's gone. And I received the forgiveness of God. I received his peace, I received his joy, and for all of these years, with his help, I have followed Jesus Christ.
And anyone here? who has come to Jesus and is following him would never ever say they were disappointed. They would never say they regret it. come to me. Heavy burden, unique invitation, finally the greatest rest.
Here is rest. for restless hearts. 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 and that wonderful rest, peace. He will give you rest. What a promise. Don't you long for that rest?
I trust you've realized as you've lived your life. With the ups and downs, the joys and the disappointments. Your mistakes, things beyond your control, that you understand that. things of this life. That the possessions, your portfolio.
that your education That your achievements, that your pleasures, that your enjoyments are not lasting. Are you restless? The answer is yes. Think of it this way. If you have a fever, It produces restlessness, doesn't it?
You're in your bed. and you just can't get a comfortable spot. You blame the pillow. You blame the blankets. You blame the mattress.
You blame the noise. You blame a room temperature. They're not the problem. What's the problem? You got a fever?
Makes you restless. We are restless people, but you see, God created us in a certain way. Augustine got it right. He says in that wonderful prayer, to God. Thou hast created us for thyself.
And our hearts can never rest until they rest in. day. Do you understand that God created you? God created you with a spiritual dimension. And if you ignore that, you live life on the physical level.
only concerned with this world Putting yourself at the very center of your universe, you're missing the whole point. Of course, you're restless. We heard some of the testimonies about that restlessness that is within us, and people turn to alcohol or drugs or. Uh Sexual experiments, money, unbridled freedom are used to hide and to deny and to escape this sense of restlessness.
Someone left the other day. But I was a a copy of uh the People magazine. No, I confess I don't buy it, right?
Some of you do. That's one of your sins, but we're not going to ask you to identify yourself. But I was reading it. It's not heavy reading, most of its pictures. And it's about these celebrities.
I mean you think who cares? Obviously a lot of people do care. But their lives are a mess, aren't they?
Somebody's on their fifth marriage.
Somebody is trying to get their life together. They're forty-five years old. They're they're successful. They've been in all of these movies. They're one of the beautiful celebrities in life that so many people want to be like, but their life is a mess.
Oh, that was a little better. But you wonder how long that's going to be. Restlessness. Jesus says, come to me. And I'll give you I want you to understand this.
Restless hearts. Only find the rest in Jesus Himself. God made you for Himself. And therefore your true rest. The true center of gravity, the true north in your life is not yourself.
Don't make yourself as the captain of your life. Surrender it to Jesus. Horatius Bonner, a Scottish hymn writer, writes in 1846 this beautiful line. I heard the voice of Jesus say, Come unto me and rest. I'm praying.
That many of you here will hear the voice of Jesus. Not the voice of John Monroe, the voice of Jesus. I heard the voice of Jesus say, Come unto me and rest. Lay down, thou weary one, lay down your head upon my breast. Notice what Horatius Barner writes.
I came to Jesus. As I was. It's not my place. You don't need to clean up your act. You come with your brokenness, you come with your sin, you come just as I am.
I came to Jesus as I was. weary and worn and sad. I find in him What? A resting place. My rest.
And he has made me. Glad. Will you come? And then says Jesus, my yoke is easy. Verse 30.
My yoke is easy and my burden Is like some of you are saying, Well, it's wonderful to come to Jesus and have your sins forgiven, and know when you die, you're going to heaven. But I don't know I want to be restrained by anyone. I don't like this idea of a yoke. What's a yoke?
Well, we have a picture of it. It's a wooden bar. Used for joining two animals. In this case, oxen. They're going to plow a field, they're going to pull a cart, and they're yoked together.
They've got to work in harmony. They've got to go in the same direction. They're yoked. Jesus says Take my yoke upon you. And learn from me for I'm gentle and lowly in heart And you'll find rest for your souls.
Take. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. A yoke may seem very restrictive to us. It may seem bondage. It may stop us from going our own way.
Why would we be yoked to Jesus? Uh I can't think of anyone else I'd like to be yoked to eternally. Yoked to Jesus. Not the burdensome yoke of the Pharisees. Not the burdensome yoke of a legalistic religion.
No. Yoked to Jesus, drawing on his strength, his wisdom, his gentleness, his love, his joy. That's the promise of this invitation. You come to Jesus. and you will be in him.
In Christ. Learning from him, this is then true freedom. Not going your own way, but rather be. Yoked to Jesus, surrendering your life to Jesus, living as God intended, and as you do that, Here is a paradox of the gospel. You try to save your life, you'll lose it.
If you lose your life for the sake of the gospel, If you surrender your life to Jesus Christ, in fact you'll find it. A way of joy, the way. Of rest. When you come to Jesus, You're fine dressed. For your soul, he'll never leave you.
The mountaintop experiences is with me. The valley is with me. In the humdrum of routine life, He is with me. He's promised never to leave us, and when we wander, We're prone to wander, aren't we? as followers of Jesus.
We sometimes get a bit off track, don't we? Don't don't we?
Some they say yes. Yes, of course you you do, right? When you get a bit off track Isn't it wonderful that we have a Saviour who gently brings us back? Right. Say no, John.
That's not the way to go. That's not the way to speak. That's not a way to act. And we confess our sins. And we get back.
and continue to walk. With Jesus. Not only are there joys in this life. There are joys of the eternal reward because Jesus says, I give you eternal life and you will never perish. And this.
is offered. This rest is offered to you without money, without price. You don't pay for it, but it comes. at an infinite cost as Jesus gave himself For us. One.
The cross. The question for you as I conclude is this: it's a simple one: Have you come to Jesus? If not, what's preventing you, your pride? What someone will think. Your future Leave it in his hands.
Claim the promise. I will give you Rest for your Soul. The world can't give you that. This is supernatural. This is Christ within us.
There is no other place in heaven or on earth where you can find that rest. For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved today. Listen to Jesus. He's graciously speaking to you. Do you hear his voice?
We have we here? Come to me. All you who are weary and heavy laden. And I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I'm meek and lowly in heart, and you'll find rest for your soul.
For my yoke is easy. And my burden. It's like we come to Jesus with the burden of your sin. Will you come to Jesus with these burdens that are on you now? And claim.
Let's rest. Will you pray with me? If you have never yet opened your heart to Christ, will you do that as we pray? He says, come to me. Our father You who are the Lord of heaven and earth.
You who know our hearts, you who made us. Forgive our pride. Forgive our sin. Have mercy upon us this day. I pray for those who have never yet come.
Perhaps they've embraced A form of religion. But it's never penetrated their heart. It's never made a difference. and their life. May they even now Open their heart.
And come. to Jesus.
Some are here with heavy burdens. to do with her family. to do with health. to do with work. Personal struggles, whatever they are.
We bring them to you. for the precious invitation. and for our wonderful Saviour. We thank you. And his dead, they left.
This is the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us. From matters of truth and identity, to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever. but to find truth and certainty about who we are and find peace, we must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God. To help you do that, John wrote a booklet titled Eternal Security, Finding Certainty in a Chaotic World.
Through this special resource, John shares his personal testimony, along with a careful examination of Scripture, to offer us clarity on matters of eternity. Get your copy today by visiting our website at theverdict.org. While you're there, consider making an investment in this Bible teaching ministry. Whether it's $5, $50, or more, your gift today helps cover the cost of sharing these gospel messages to listeners around the world. And if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe to the Verdict Podcast, featuring John's weekly podcast exclusive called Avizandam.
It's available wherever you get your podcasts, or simply go to our website. Again, that's theverdict.org. The verdict is a ministry of Calvary Church in South Charlotte. We're located on the corner of Highway 51 and Ray Road. If you've been looking for a church home or a community to help you grow in your walk with Christ, We invite you to join us for our Sunday services.
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Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well What's your vandict? I know you have a heavy burden, a sadness, a struggle. But do you believe that the Lord Jesus Is able to give you rest, rest for your soul? I believe that this is the greatest invitation ever. Only Jesus can deal with the burden of your sin.
you may be full of shame and guilt. But the Lord Jesus can take them all away. He's the Lamb of God who takes away all of our sin.
So today, come to Him. He says, come to me. Will you come? Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies.
Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
