0:19 I want to begin by singing a children's chorus so that we don't look gloomy anymore or burdened. Uh it's called I'm so happy. 0:38 And here's the reason why. It's just two verses. Please sing with me and mean it because Lord has done a great work for us and sometimes we don't think of it sufficiently because we are so taken up with 0:56 either our failures or where we have slipped up or some other worry in this world and we forget about how much the Lord did for us. So join with me. I'm so happy and here's the reason why. 1:15 Jesus took my burdens all away. Now I'm singing as the days go by. Jesus took my burdens all away. If you know it and you believe it, please sing with me. 1:32 I'm so happy and here's the reason why. Jesus took my burdens all away. Now I'm singing as the days go by. Jesus took my burdens all away. 1:49 Once my heart was heavy with the load of sin. Jesus took that load and gave me peace within. Now I'm singing as the days go by. Jesus took my burdens all away. 2:07 Good. Not only burden but burdens. So which means not only the burden of sin but as we live in this world it's very easy to be taken up with so many other burdens and a burden is 2:26 something that weighs on your heart and mind and um sometimes you can't sleep at night because you're thinking and thinking and thinking about it. Could be a burden that somebody else put upon you, some problem that somebody 2:45 else caused for you. And you think of why that person did it and what you're going to do to remove that burden. It could be a financial burden because of difficult circumstances. But uh whatever it is 3:03 listen to this word in Matthew's gospel chapter 11. Matthew 11 and verse 28. 3:29 This verse is often quoted to unbelievers saying you're weary and heavy laden. The Lord says come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I'll give you rest. See, it's an only an unbeliever who's convicted of sin 3:47 who'll be weary and heavy laden. Most of the unbelievers in the world are not weary and heavy laden. They're quite happy. I mean they may be burdened with financial problems and poverty and other things but they're not burdened with sin. They're 4:00 not burdened because oh, I'm such a sinner and I've dishonored God and displeased God. There's hardly anybody who feels like that. So but when we are born again, the Holy Spirit makes us sensitive to sin. And then it's very easy for believers to 4:19 become weary and heavy laden. You know, I found that particularly in my earlier days where I tried to please the Lord and I couldn't and I was discouraged and when you're discouraged you become weary and heavy laden and 4:36 I want to say that that's not God's will for us. And so we need that word frequently where Jesus says come to me. And it's quite likely I mean if the Lord will lay that on my heart there must be a number of people here who need to hear that word from Jesus to 4:52 this morning saying come to me. Not to some verse which I'm going to quote. Sometimes we go to a verse, okay, I'm going to quote that verse and keep quoting it till I come to rest. No. That's the spirit of the law. It's good. You know, we memorize the 5:11 promises and we memorize the commands. It's all good. But it's possible to memorize a promise without coming to the Lord himself. And then as long as you remember that promise this we are free from anxiety. But then we can't remember it all the 5:28 time. And we forget it and the anxiety comes back. So in the Old Testament they had to remember these things because there was no person they could come to. I mean Moses didn't say come to me. He just gave them the law and said keep it. 5:47 And there were promises in the law as well. There were wonderful promises in Isaiah for example and the Psalms. But you couldn't remember them. What about think of the days when the early Christians had no Bible? It's no use no use quoting a verse to 6:01 them. They didn't have a Bible. And even after the Bible came it was not broken up into chapters and verses till many hundreds of years later. So how did how did God Almighty expect Christians to live lives of rest and free from 6:18 burden cuz Jesus said this 2,000 years ago. He said in verse 29, take my yoke upon you learn from me for I'm gentle and humble in heart and you will definitely find rest for your souls. 6:35 Why is it we haven't found it? My yoke is easy. My burden is light. Why is it so many Christians feel it's a heavy burden God has placed on me? Whether it's a problem at home or a sickness or a financial burden or trying 6:53 to keep the commandments all types of things can be burdens and we say, Lord, is it true your burden is light? It doesn't seem to be. But he's not a liar. His burden is light. I must be taking upon myself some burden which the Lord never gave me. And 7:07 I really believe many many Christians take on themselves, I know from my own experience, burdens the Lord never gave. We, I'm not saying the devil gave it to us. I'm saying we take it on ourselves. And we don't realize that the Lord who 7:23 took away the burden of our sin wants to lift every other burden too. Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden. I've said the story before of this poor man who was walking down the road with a heavy weight of he was a laborer carrying a huge heavy 7:41 weight on his head and some truck passed by and stopped and had mercy on him said climb in at the back and I can take you wherever you're going to go. I'm going the same direction. So he was very thankful and he got in there and sat at the back of that truck 7:57 cuz it was empty. And after a mile or two the driver looked back through the window and saw this man still sitting with the weight on his head. He said, "Why don't you put that weight down?" He said, "Well, you've been so kind to 8:11 give me a lift. I didn't want to add the burden by putting this also on the truck." You think, boy, how stupid could he be? What about how stupid are these believers who feel that the Lord took my burden but this one I have to carry? 8:26 It is no different. If he could take the burden of your sin which is the most difficult thing for even for Almighty God to do. I say it was difficult because it it had to make him forsake his son for 3 hours on the cross. 8:45 That was nothing more difficult than that. You think all the other burdens are going to be difficult for God? Not at all. Now the You see you can re- try and remember that. Okay, we heard on Sunday that if he took the burden of our sin he 9:01 all the other burdens are lighter. Okay, you got something in your mind but you'll forget it. Jesus says come to me. I really believe, my dear brothers and sisters we have to get into the habit of coming to Jesus more than to just a verse or a promise 9:19 which is good. I'm not against it. I myself claim promises in the scripture but it's always in relation to Jesus. It is like if I get get a check, it's the person who wrote that check that makes that check valuable in a bank 9:37 not the amount written on it. It's the person. Come to me. So I want to say to all of you, it's not God's will that we should be burdened and heavy laden. And the Lord says if you want to carry something, take my yoke and not this other yoke that the devil 9:56 puts on you with the all the burden of your sins or the burden of sometimes the guilt of past failure. That can also burden many people. I messed up my life so much in the past and even after coming to CFC and hearing these wonderful truths again and again, 10:14 I messed up messed up. That can be a burden, I'll tell you. It can be a such a burden that weighs you down. And it weighs you down because you think you're supposed to be so perfect. How could a perfect man like me make those blunders? Well, I want to say 10:30 to you that you're not perfect. And if you humble yourself and say, "Lord, there's nothing good in my flesh." So, you knew that when you chose me. It was not a surprise for you, Lord, when you discovered there's nothing good 10:43 in my flesh. I'm discovering it slowly. But I believe there's nothing good in my flesh. But I know one thing, I hate it. And I whenever I get light on it, I want to crucify it. I want to judge myself. That the Lord sees. 10:58 So, he says, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I'm gentle and humble in heart. And you will find rest for your soul." So, I see there that this rest comes through learning the humility and gentleness of Jesus. 11:17 I mean, that's pretty clear there. Take my yoke on you. I am gentle. Learn from me. Here's a command and here's a promise. Learn from me how to be gentle and humble, not externally which will give us a reputation. 11:35 We're not here to show others that oh, I'm a very gentle person or I'm a very humble person. I couldn't care less for the opinion of people. That's garbage. I want to be actually gentle and humble, not on the outside, in my heart. 11:50 I want to be humble in my heart, which is before God. You can't see my heart. So, this has got nothing to do with appearing gentle before you or humble before you. That's worth nothing. I want God to see that I'm humble in my 12:03 heart before him. I don't have any high thoughts about myself. That I don't think I'm somebody very important. That if I manage to accomplish something, I don't take any credit for it. I'm quick to give glory to God for it. 12:16 And if I forget to give the glory, as soon as I remember, I want to give the glory to him and not ever take any credit for it. Even for an answered prayer. Sometimes, you know, we pray for something and God wonderfully answers 12:29 that prayer and I begin to think, "Boy, I'm somebody." I I I prayed and God answered. Remain humble, brother, sister. Remain humble. It's the reason I see this from this verse. That the reason for unrest is because I have not learned 12:48 humility from Jesus in my heart. Maybe I'm trying to be humble before others. I got to get rid of that. That'll be a burden. I'll tell you this in Jesus' name. It'll be a tremendous burden for you if you always try to appear humble 13:03 before others. It'll be a burden to try and get a reputation for humility. It'll wear you out. Forget it. Just forget it and say, "Lord, I want to be humble in heart." And that's only before you because no people nobody can 13:17 see my heart. And whatever other people think, it doesn't matter. You know, Jesus was never bothered about what people thought whether he was humble or not. He was humble. He didn't look very humble when he called the Pharisees a generation of 13:30 vipers. He didn't look humble when he called Peter Satan. And he didn't look humble when he took a whip and chased people out and looked angrily at those who didn't want a man with a withered hand to be healed. There's so many 13:43 things we do and say which people may think oh, this guy is not very humble or gentle. If you are free from their opinion and say, "Lord, I want to be humble and gentle in my heart before you." That's all. So much of burden goes away when we are 14:00 not trying to impress anybody with our humility or our holiness or our spiritual accomplishments. Or how God answered my prayer when I prayed for something, God did something. Just forget it. And if somebody else also prayed, then 14:19 give the credit to him, not because you also prayed. Forget it. We really need to steer away from this taking credit for things. You know, secretly we are taking credit for certain things and that's what brings burdens in our life. 14:33 It's a tremendous burden, I'll tell you this, to try and appear spiritual before others. It's a very great burden to always appear humble before others and to appear spiritual before others. You'll wear yourself out. Just forget it. Just be free from the 14:50 opinions of men. And say, "Lord, I want to be humble before you and gentleness." That's another thing. If you try to be gentle before people, you won't do some things that God wants you to do, especially if you're an elder. 15:01 I know as an elder of this church and responsibility others, there are many things I've had to do and ask people to do and I had to write to people which did not appear gentle at all. And if I was concerned about my reputation for gentleness, I would never 15:17 have written those letters. I would never have taken those decisions. I would have let that church go to corruption. Oh, let it go to corruption. Let me not lose my reputation for gentleness. You will never be an elder in a church if 15:30 you're seeking for a reputation for humility or gentleness. You got to just forget it. You got to live before God. I mean, you I mean, apply that in your own level. You're not an elder in a church. Maybe you're a parent. And if 15:43 you're trying to get a reputation before your children for humility and gentleness, they don't understand what humility and gentleness is. Your children will be wayward. You got to be strict with them. So, Jesus says, "It's in your heart 15:55 that's what matters." And learn from me. Jesus never never What can I learn from him? I can learn this from him that he never never sought to appear humble or gentle before people. He didn't wash people's feet to get a reputation for humility. Not at all. 16:11 And we shouldn't be sweeping the floor to get a reputation for humility. Not at all. We shouldn't be cleaning the toilets to get a reputation from anybody. Lord, I want to live before you. This is the primary secret of being free 16:26 from burdens. Because he says, "If you live before me, you'll find in verse 30, my yoke is easy. My burden is light." The Lord never gives a heavy burden. Remember this all your life. Jesus says, "My burden is light." 16:44 Anything he tells us to do is light. Well, when you compare the uh Sermon on the Mount with the 10 Commandments. The 10 Commandments are so easy. I mean, there are even non-Christians who obey most of those commandments. 17:01 But you come to the Sermon on the Mount from the very beginning, it's so tough. And you say, "Lord, your burden is light. It looks as if the law was light and your commandments are so much heavier." That's because we want to live 17:12 before people. If I'm seeking to live before the Lord and say, "Lord, I want to be I want to concentrate on what purity in my heart." That's all. I want to make sure that I love you with all my heart. And if I love the Lord 17:29 with all my heart, I may slip up. It doesn't mean I don't love. Take the example of husband and wife. See, a husband may love his wife fervently and have no interest in any other woman. And really cares and loves for his wife 17:43 like anything, but he will still make mistakes. I mean, haven't you husbands know that? Many of you husbands, I believe, love your wife more than anybody else on earth. And yet you make mistakes. Yeah. Well, the Lord understands that. I can 17:59 love him with all my heart and still make mistakes. But he doesn't jump on me for that. And I hope your wife doesn't jump on you when you make a mistake. If she sees that deep down your heart, you love her or vice versa. 18:13 So, remember, the Lord looks at our heart and I'm we have to slowly break away from living before people. And very often burdens come because of that. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Of course, Jesus is referring primarily 18:28 to the law which is a very heavy burden for the Israelites to keep. And they were burdened and burdened. They say, "I can't keep it and I can't keep it." Like look what Paul said in Romans chapter 7. He's very honest there when he talks 18:43 about how the law became a burden for him. That which was meant to give life brought death. Romans chapter 7. He says 19:04 verse 15, "What I'm doing, I don't understand. I'm not practicing what I'd like to do, but I'm doing the very thing I hate." Haven't we all had that experience where very often I want to do the right thing. I always want to do the right thing and 19:21 I end up doing something which afterwards I say, "Boy, why in the world did I do that?" I hate it. And yet I happen to do it. Why in the world did I say it like that? I didn't want to say it like that. I wanted to say it in a loving, gentle 19:33 way, but it didn't turn out like that. I ended up saying or doing things which I hate. Well, if I acknowledge that I hate that, then I'm acknowledging verse 16 that the law is good. So then, I recognize that it's not me doing it. It's this sin 19:52 in my flesh that's doing it because I haven't got rid of my flesh yet. And so verse 19, the good that I want I don't do, but I practice the very evil that I hate. So I find this principle verse 21 within me and all of us will acknowledge this. 20:08 That the one who wants to do good, I joyfully concur verse 22 with the law of God in the inner man. Don't you? I believe you do. I believe you read the Bible and say, "It's absolutely right. That's the way I want to live." 20:20 But I find a different law in my members which is making me a prisoner sometimes and making me do things which I don't want to do or which I regret as soon as I've done it as regret as soon as I've said it. And it's from such a man that a cry 20:38 comes out, "Oh wretched man that I am." Now I want to tell you to me that's that statement is one of the marks of the fact that a person is really born again. A person who's not born again can say something and do something and never 20:52 say, "Oh wretched man that I am. Why in the world did I do that? Why in the world did I say it like that?" If you never say it never have that type of feeling, I want to say you're probably not born again at all. But if you had that feeling 21:07 "Oh wretched person, why in the world did I do it like that? Why in the world did I respond like that?" That is one of the clearest indications that you're born again. But that can be a burden where the devil fools you saying, "See, this proves that 21:21 you're not saved." No, it proves that you are saved. Otherwise you wouldn't feel like that at all. You're sensitive. It means you don't have leprosy. A pin prick feel you feel it. People with leprosy, they don't feel anything. You can poke them with a nail, 21:35 they won't feel it. But you're feeling a small thing and the the one mark of growth in the Lord is this that even a small little thing, one word makes you feel like that, "Oh wretched man that I am." So don't let that 21:52 burden you. So he says, "Well, what am I going to do?" Uh I want to thank God through Jesus Christ because I realize that in my mind verse 25, it's very important to understand this verse. In my mind I've decided I'm going to serve the law 22:12 of God wholeheartedly and that includes the Sermon on the Mount. I have decided in my life I want to be completely free from anger. I want to be completely free from lusting. I want to be completely free from any bitterness and complaining against 22:26 anybody in the world. I want to be totally free from hating those who've hurt me. From having an unforgiving spirit towards anybody in the world, from wishing evil towards any human being. I want to be completely free. And if at some of these times the other 22:44 thoughts come up, I'm going to reject them. Because in my flesh verse 25, I'm still loving serving the law of sin. And so these other thoughts and feelings sometimes come up. So what shall I do then? Here my mind is determined to live for God and these 22:59 other things come up and then I get burdened, "Oh I'm such a rotten person." You should not be burdened. It says in the next verse, it's unfortunate that there's a chapter division between that and Romans 8:1. You your mind you're serving God and 23:13 with your flesh you're serving the law of sin, fine. But there's no condemnation. You think there should be condemnation if your flesh is serving the law of sin? No. Therefore, therefore means because of the previous verse. Well, how in the 23:28 world can there be no condemnation when I'm serving the law of sin with my flesh? Because with my mind I'm serving the law of God cuz God sees that deep down in my mind I only want to please him. Do you feel like that? Then there'll be no condemnation for 23:42 you. You should not condemn yourself. Lot of burdens come through condemning yourself. That's why I want to do free you from condemnation. Free you from self-condemnation. I pray that every single person sitting here, if you're really born again and 23:57 you love the Lord and you want to please him, will never have condemnation self-condemnation again for the rest of your life. I lived with a lot of self-condemnation for years after I was born again. And I thought I was being spiritual 24:10 because I felt so condemned about but it hindered me from growing because in all those years I never got any victory over sin. And I'll tell you this, you will not get victory over sin if you keep on condemning yourself. You need to 24:22 recognize that becoming like Christ is a matter of growth. It's not sudden. It's not that one day you're a sinner and the next day you're like Christ. You are not. There's a progression as you judge yourself. And all those years 24:39 your flesh will serve the law of sin. But your mind will serve the law of God. Your mind is set on pleasing God. And in a sense you can say, "That wasn't me. That is my flesh that made me do that. But I hate it and one proof of it I hate 24:54 it is I immediately confess it to God. That's one proof that you hate it. And if you hurt another person, you immediately go and ask forgiveness from that person. That's a proof that you hate it. A person who's not born again doesn't 25:06 feel like that. He just continues, "Oh well, I'm like that." You know, you can take this word like, "Well, my flesh will serve the law of sin." And and completely ignore all the wrong things you do. No. A person whose mind is set on the law of 25:20 God will immediately confess his sin to God and immediately ask forgiveness from the one he's hurt, but he will not condemn himself. He'll say verse Romans 8:1, "There is no condemnation cuz I'm in Christ. And I'm not living after the flesh. 25:37 I'm seeking to please the law of God. And if we live like this free from condemnation verse one, which is very important then you can go to verse two. Which is the law of this Holy Spirit. See, this is in contrast to the law of 25:54 Moses. The law of Moses was a list of 613 commandments. Which is there in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. But the law of the Spirit is not in written commandments. It says 26:10 the law of the Spirit is a life. A life in Christ Jesus. That is this new law. A law of life. See, it's Let me give you an example I've used very often. 26:28 That is when people have leprosy, which is a picture of sin even in Leviticus. It's a picture of sin throughout the Bible. One of the main things that happens in leprosy, there may be other things as well, is that they lose sensation. 26:43 That part of your skin that's got leprosy you can poke it with a nail, you don't feel a thing. Sensation has gone. And that's a picture of a conscience that is dead. And you don't feel anything. And if there was some way in which the 27:03 leprosy could be healed uh one thing would happen is you'd feel like, "Hey, feeling is coming back. That means I'm being healed." So that is the mark of leprosy being healed. So when you don't feel anything means you're dead. 27:20 You can put a one ton weight on a dead man, he doesn't feel a thing. But you can you can feel a weight even if you somebody puts 5 kilos on you. So it's a question of being alive. So the law of Spirit of life in Christ Jesus 27:35 it's by the life in Christ Jesus that I live now, not by a bunch of rules. And but I will not allow myself to be condemned. As I live by this law, I'm gradually becoming free from this other law of sin and death. And 27:53 now verse four this requirement of the law will be fulfilled in us. If we don't walk after the flesh but after the spirit. And that means something very simple. It doesn't mean I'm perfect. It just means that when I feel the prompting of the Spirit 28:12 to confess something to acknowledge something, to set right something or to ask forgiveness from someone, I do it. That is walking according to the Spirit. The Spirit is prompting me to do it. Then the gradually that perfect requirement 28:30 of God's law will be fulfilled in us. So that's the big difference between Old Covenant and New Covenant which we have spoken many times. In the Old Covenant God just gave a commandment and said, "Do it." And for 1,500 years Israel tried to do 28:46 it. And they could not do it. And then Jesus came and said "Learn from me. Learn how I lived keeping the law entirely. It is not by struggling and struggling and condemning myself. No. He lived before his father in simple 29:04 dependence on his father acknowledging, "Father without you I can do nothing. I desire nothing on earth but to do your will. That's all." You got to start there. I mean, I believe one mark of being really born again is that you really want to do the will 29:20 of God from now on for the rest of your life. Because you believe that no matter what plan you make for your life, it can never be better than God's plan. See, that's why we choose the will of God. Some people think, "Oh it's mean 29:33 I've got to never do my own will but do the will of God always?" Sure. Because that will is a million times better than anything you can plan for yourself. Why shouldn't I choose it? Why shouldn't I choose something which 29:46 is far better than what I can plan? If I can believe that God who sees the whole future has planned my life in such a perfect way because he knows all the pitfalls ahead and all the dangers and 30:03 traps that Satan has for me. It's like this you know, this in when you choose to drive using Google Maps uh this Google system is in touch with the satellites. So, it can even tell you, "Hey, there's a lot of traffic up 30:21 there. Don't go this way. Take another way, which is a little bit longer, but you'll reach quicker because part of your road is blocked with traffic." You get that red red space on your Google Maps saying that's not the way to go. 30:35 So, it's something like that. When the Lord the Holy Spirit will say, "Not that way. Go this way. It looks a bit longer and it's more difficult, but it's because the Lord sees there are problems for you along this way." I 30:44 mean, so many people trust Google Maps so much that they blindly obey it. But, they can't trust the Lord. And the Lord will show you the way, "Not this way, but this way." Why can't we trust him? All of you who have implicitly obeyed Google Maps, why why 31:00 can't you trust the Holy Spirit when he tells you not this way, but this way? He he sees the whole future. And he prompts you to go this way. This is the way God wants us to live the Christian life. So, when Jesus said, 31:12 "Learn from me, for I'm humble." The primary mark of Jesus one of the marks of Jesus' humility was he did not choose to run his own life. He lived moment by moment by the prompting of the Holy Spirit. The whole secret of the Christian life is to 31:31 develop the habit of listening to the Holy Spirit. That's why they just could not have this life in the Old Testament because the Holy Spirit had not come. It's not because we are better than them. No. It's because now we have Spirit to 31:47 prompt us and guide us. We don't have to make the blunders that Old Testament great saints made. For example, Abraham even told a lie that his wife was his sister to save his own life even though there was a danger that the king would rape 32:04 his wife. He said, "Okay, it doesn't matter. Let me save my life." Can you imagine any husband doing that today? There are husbands like that, but a husband who's led by the Holy Spirit will never do it. Never. He'll never let me put my wife's life in 32:18 danger to save my own life. Never. They couldn't do that. And David, the man after God's own heart when he looked at a naked woman, he kept looking. And today, a man led by the Spirit will turn away immediately if he accidentally that 32:32 happens. That's the difference. We have the Holy Spirit. We're not better than David. No. We're not better than Abraham. I'll tell you, don't ever read the Old Testament and think that you're better than them. I mean, if you want to compare yourself 32:45 with somebody in the Old Testament, compare yourself with John the Baptist. He was the best of the Lord. We're certainly not better than him. But, even many of these other people, we are not better than them. They were mighty men of God, but they lacked the 32:59 Holy Spirit. To use an illustration one of the greatest scientists of the last one of the greatest mathematicians of the last century was Albert Einstein. But, do you know that today I can make calculations faster than Albert 33:14 Einstein? Well, why is that? It's not because I'm cleverer than him. I've got a computer or I've got a calculator. And I can calculate things in a few seconds, which would have taken him many minutes to calculate. 33:32 You see the difference? Even though I'm far inferior to him I can do things quicker and better than him because I have access to something he did not have access to, a computer. Same way today we can do things better than the man 33:49 after God's own heart and Abraham and Elijah and even John the Baptist, the greatest prophet of all, because we have access to the Holy Spirit, which even John the Baptist did not have. He had the Holy Spirit upon him, but we 34:02 have the Holy Spirit within. David had the Holy Spirit upon him. We have the Holy Spirit within. So, when the Holy Spirit was only upon, they didn't clean up their heart. That's why they all fell into sin. So, remember this. 34:17 If we live according to the Spirit like it says in verse four, this requirement of God's law will be fulfilled in our life. So, this is the meaning also of this may be elementary for some of you, but some of you may it may be new. So, 34:32 let me repeat it. Turn to Hebrews in chapter 8. This well-known passage that we often quote in relation to the new covenant, Hebrews chapter 8. This new covenant, verse 8 middle I will affect the new covenant. It's referring to the church. 34:49 Not like the covenant which I made with the old Jewish people when I had let them out of Egypt. Now this is the covenant I'll make. I will put my law into their mind and write them on their hearts. 35:07 In the old covenant, he wrote it on two tablets of stone with his finger. 10 Commandments. Now, the two tablets are inside us. Our mind and our heart. God writes. And in in the New Testament, the finger 35:27 of God is called the Holy the Spirit of God. Jesus said, "If I cast out demons by the finger of God or by the Spirit of God." He used both expressions. From which we know the finger of God is the Holy Spirit. It's by the Holy Spirit 35:40 that he wrote those commandments on those rocks. And he says, "Now, with that same finger, the Holy Spirit he's going to write God's law in my mind, which means he's going to give me a desire to do all of his will, to fulfill his perfect plan 35:59 for my life." If any of you have a desire to do all of God's will don't ever try to take credit for that. That you are better than somebody else. No. The Holy Spirit wrote that desire in your mind. Humble yourself 36:18 and give God the credit for it. Sometimes we don't come into God's life because we take the credit for what God did. We think I'm better than that guy. I've got a desire to do God's will. He doesn't. But, who gave you that desire? 36:31 I hope it is not you yourself. Because you yourself decided something, it won't last long. A lot of people I've seen even in CFC churches, their their holiness sense of wears out after some time. In some situation, they do something so 36:46 utterly stupid that they say, "Where was all that holiness?" It's all disappeared because deep down in their heart, they thought they are the ones who were having a passionate desire to follow the Lord. They were not humble enough to 37:00 acknowledge one simple thing. Even the desire to follow Jesus is not from me. It's he has written it in my mind. God gave me that desire. None of us would, for example, take the credit for the forgiveness of our sins. We will not say, "Oh, by my cleverness I 37:19 got forgiveness of our sins." No. For that, we understand clearly it was 100% what Jesus did on the cross. I can't take credit for the forgiveness of my sins. I want to tell you in the same way you cannot take credit for the desire to do God's will. 37:37 You got to humble yourself and say, "Lord I cannot take any credit that I'm better than that other person who doesn't seem to have a great desire to do God's will, but I do." Well, God gave it to you, brother. Keep it, but always acknowledge God gave 37:54 it to you. Learn from Jesus, who was humble of spirit humble in heart and dependent on the Father all the time. And the second thing he says, "Then I'll write it on your heart." Writing in the heart means God is going to give me the strength to do it. First, 38:14 the desire and then the strength. Those are the two tablets on which God writes his laws today in my mind giving me the desire to do God's will and in my heart giving me the ability to do God's will. See, that's the difference between mind 38:28 and heart. In the mind, I get a desire and in the heart, I get the ability. See, Hebrews This is where grace Where does grace come? Hebrews 13 and verse nine. It says "Don't be carried away by strange 38:47 teachings." There's so many theories and doctrines in Christendom today with so many different groups. Don't get taken up with all those things, it says. Don't be It's a really a word needed today. There are so many messages and 39:03 theories floating around in charismatic circles and different different groups. Each person coming up with some new theory. Don't get carried away with all that. The main thing is verse nine, Hebrews 13:9, "Your heart must become 39:17 strong with grace." Strong for what? To do God's will. God writes his law into my mind, gives me a desire and then it's good for grace to come and strengthen what? Strengthen my heart to be able to do God's will so that sin 39:34 has no power over me. It's like God's grace comes to me that even if a Goliath of sin comes against me, he's knocked down in a second. David knocked down Goliath in 1 second. That wasn't in his power. It's a picture of what grace can do. 39:51 When a mighty sin that's knocked you down for so many years. There are many people who have been knocked down by a giant called pornography for years. Or a drinking habit or some other habit that's worn them down. Anger is like a 40:06 huge giant like Goliath that's always frightened them, knocked them down. And God says if your heart is strengthened by grace like David, you can knock him down with one blow. Believe him. Come to the Lord with humility and say, "Lord, you who gave me 40:20 the desire in my mind will also give me the strength in my heart. Give me grace now to overcome that." See, that same truth is repeated in Philippians in chapter 2. I'm just showing it to you in scripture so that you know this is not some theory 40:34 I'm preaching, but it's exactly what the apostles preached, which most Christians have not understood. And this is why we have so many burdens. Philippians 2 and verse 13. 40:53 God is at work inside you. And whenever it says God is at work inside you, it's always referring to the Holy Spirit doing two things. One, in your mind to make you will his his will, his good pleasure. Second, in your heart to work his good 41:11 pleasure. It's the same thing here. It's exactly what we read in Hebrews 8. He works in my mind to choose it. And then he works in my heart to do it. And so, what should I do then? That's said in my in verse 12, last part. You 41:27 work out your salvation from all sin with fear and trembling. Lord, you're working in me to desire it. You're giving me the strength to do it, but I'm not a robot programmed to automatically move around and live a holy life. No, I have to 41:42 agree with you. I said, "That's all God says." Give your will to me and say, "You agree with me. I'll give you the desire and the ability." Dear brothers and sisters, we have preached on this for years. But I find sometimes truth needs 41:59 repetition so that we are gripped by it. Haven't you sometimes read a verse in scripture for years and years and years and one day it hits you? I remember way back, I think the first time I asked Jesus to come into my heart when I was 42:17 probably 13 years old, and I never knew whether he came. I used to read the Bible. I used to pray every day. But I would never knew, was I saved or not? No no change. And one day I just read a verse probably which I read many times 42:33 before. John 6:37, him that come to me I'll never cast out. And I remember that so vividly. It was in July 1959. I remember where I was in my room 42:51 in the naval base in Cochin. Morning, reading the Bible. Him that cometh to me I'll never cast out. And it's like a anchor. You know, a ship drops an anchor and then it cannot move. That's what happened. I dropped an 43:07 anchor that day and for 60 years now my ship has not moved. Assured I am a child of God. I'm born again. I didn't live perfect from that day. No. I mean, the ship at anchor keeps swinging this way, that way, that way, 43:25 but it doesn't move from that spot. So, that was my life. But it's something that God But I had to agree with it and I said, "I accept it." The same thing when I was seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Years later 43:42 defeated, defeated, frustrated, praying, nothing happening till one day I just believed that if God has called me to serve him, he will not refuse to give me his power. It's not a great profound truth. 44:00 But one day it just hit me. And I believed it. And I tell you, like that first thing 60 years ago changed the direction of my life, this other faith in this that simple promise changed the direction of my life from a defeated Christian 44:18 led me in the path of victory 45 years ago. And led to planning churches and so many other things. So, I find it's that, you know. God, I give the credit to God. He put a desire in my heart and gave me the 44:38 ability to do it. Come to Jesus. There you will not And I remember the years before that, before I had that experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit, I used to be so frequently discouraged, condemning myself because I was 44:53 defeated, condemning myself, "Oh, why can't I get victory? I I know these things, but I'm not able to get victory. I'm defeated, defeated, frustrated." I feel there are people sitting here like that. Dear brother, sister, don't give up. 45:09 Say, "Lord, please put faith in my heart. Help me to believe that you will make me will." You've already done that. "That you will give me the grace to do it. I want to learn from you. I want to look at Jesus all the time and see how 45:24 you did it and learn from you. And I want to believe that none of your commandments are a burden." That's important. The devil will always tell you that God's commands are a burden. You know what he told Eve in the Garden 45:40 of Eden? Listen to this command of God. You can't eat from this tree. Such a beautiful tree and makes your mouth water when you look at that fruit. And God is strict. God says you can't eat it. What 45:59 a burden. And Eve believed like a fool. She believed it. Yeah. That's a burden. God's commands are a burden. And that's how she fell. And you begin to believe that God's commands are a burden, you'll fall, too. And you'll keep on falling 46:17 till you believe the word of Jesus. My burden is light. My yoke is easy. And if you find something heavy, that's not the burden of Jesus. It's a counterfeit, another Jesus the devil's put upon you. The real Jesus, his burden is light. 46:36 His yoke is easy. He does not give us commands and torture us when we can't obey it. He's there to help us. Learn from me. And he's come right there to help us through the Holy Spirit. Very important, dear brothers, sisters, 46:52 seek for the help of the Holy Spirit continuously. Lord, give me that power. I pray for that frequently. Lord, give me the power of your spirit now. I need it. Every time. See what John says in 1 John chapter 5. 47:09 The first epistle of John chapter 5. I've often said this is what John said at the age of 95. 60 years, 65 years after the day of Pentecost. Having obeyed God, suffered for the Lord, tortured, persecuted, all types of things. I've heard that 47:28 they threw him in a pot of boiling oil and he came out without being hurt. And then they exiled him to Patmos and there he's all alone in Patmos with no human being. And suffering for the Lord's sake. You know what he says in 1 John 5:3? 47:43 His commands are not a burden. I like that. A man who has suffered so much for the gospel. 65 years he says I've obeyed the Lord and not one command of his is a burden. I hope we'll have that testimony when we come to the end of our life. 48:02 For so many years you may you'll testify your testimony should be like this. For so many years I thought of God's commands as a burden. And so many of my prayers he didn't seem to answer. That was another burden. And some other things, it was a burden, 48:16 a burden, a burden, but a day came in my life when I realized that's all a lie of the devil. Jesus' commands are light. His burdens are light. His yoke is easy. And I'm not going to lose my joy worried over why I can't do this or I 48:34 can't do that. You'll have a testimony. Also, from that moment you'll be able to say till the end of my life I can now say his commands are not a burden. I hope we'll begin that pathway now to learn that none of God's commands are 48:48 a burden. And no situation that he brings into your life will ever be too much for you. It says in Psalm 55. Uh this is a 49:13 Psalm of David, I think. Where he's It says in verse 3, "The voice of the enemy, the pressure of the wicked. They bring down trouble upon me. They bear a grudge against me. Verse 4, my heart is in anguish. The 49:32 terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling, verse 5, have come upon me. I'm overwhelmed and there are believers like this facing pressure and who will also say, "Oh, I had wings like a dove. I could just fly away from here to 49:45 someplace where I can be at rest." Lord, please confuse these people, verse nine. And uh And sometimes it's our friends who let us down. If it was an verse 12, if it was an enemy who reproaches me, I could bear it. 50:04 But if it is someone who hates me. But this is a brother in the church. A sister in the church who treated me like this. You, my companion, verse 13, my friend. We had such sweet fellowship when we went to church together. 50:21 And you've deceived me, you've let me down. I will call on the Lord to save me. And he, verse 18, he'll redeem my soul. Verse 19, God will hear and answer to my prayer. Verse 22, this is the verse I want to 50:40 come to. He says, "From my experience, I'll tell you something." David says, "Cast your burden upon the Lord." Take that as a word. He will sustain you. What is your burden today? The burden of sin is gone. Praise the Lord. 50:59 Some other burden? What you feel God God can't handle? Cast it on the Lord. He will sustain you. He will never He will never never allow the righteous to be shaken or as the margin says, 51:18 totter. And you won't totter on your feet. You'll be rock steady. He will not allow it. What a wonderful word. Please remember Psalm 55:22. Cast your burden on the Lord. It's been a verse that's been on my mind for many many years. 51:37 I say, "Lord, I don't know what uh I don't know what burdens are going to come in the future, but I'm going to follow that verse." I'm not going to carry it. Do you know like that person I told you sitting in the truck carrying that burden on his 51:47 head? And the truck driver says, "Listen, I carried you. I can carry that burden, you put it down." That's what the Lord says to us. I took away your sin. I saved you. Put that burden down. I can handle that. If I can handle you, I can 52:00 handle that burden. Don't carry that burden. Cast it upon the Lord. See, 1 Corinthians in chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13. 52:21 This is You know, every promise is dependent on God's faithfulness. We know that. Every promise in the Bible is dependent on the fact that God is faithful. But when it comes to this particular promise, he particularly says in the 52:34 middle, "God is faithful." Why does he emphasize that? Because in this temptation, we can begin to wonder, "Is God faithful or not?" He will not allow you to be tempted beyond your ability. He will never never never 52:53 allow a test to come to you which is beyond what you're able to bear. Think of a man who had one of I what I think is one of the greatest tests any human being can face. Job. In one single moment 53:10 within about 1 minute after each other, two messages came to him. One, "Your property is all gone." That means you've become bankrupt. Not you lost most of your money. You lost all of your money. Okay. That's enough to knock out most 53:29 most even more most believers. But 1 minute later, he gets a message, "All your children are dead." And that man in the Old Testament, there's only one thing he had. He didn't have the Holy Spirit. 53:48 But he had a fear of God. You know, through the years as I've watched so many people who talk about, "I'm filled with the Holy Spirit and I speak in tongues and I do this." I've heard so many people and they are defeated by sin. 54:04 I've come to see that the primary one of the primary marks of being filled with the Holy Spirit is you begin to fear God. You read that in Isaiah 11, "The spirit of the fear of the Lord will be upon him." Upon Jesus. The same 54:20 spirit is upon us. That brings a tremendous reverence for God. And that reverence for God will say, "Okay. He decided to make me bankrupt not in 1 month, but in 1 moment. All my money's gone. 54:37 My property is burnt up. And within a minute later, I hear that all my children are dead." Now, think of this in your own mind. In a few moments, you get the message that you're bankrupt and all your children are dead. Can you picture that in your mind? 54:57 When I was a young Christian and I said, "Lord, I want to be dedicated completely to you." I I pictured this in my mind. I saw myself standing in a church service in CFC with five coffins. Yeah, I pictured five coffins. My wife 55:11 and four sons in coffins. And me standing there. See, we have used our imagination for all types of filthy things in the past. Why not use our imagination for some good things? And I said, "Lord, what will I do now?" I want to do what Job did. 55:29 I'll fall down before you and say, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Praise the Lord. Lord, give me the grace to say that." It's because we are attached to so many things that they become a burden. Detach yourself from that. 55:50 And learn from Jesus who was detached from everything. Now, just because you hand your children over to the Lord doesn't mean he's going to kill them tomorrow. No. They They'll live according to God's plan. But you will be detached and you'll 56:05 become a better person. Your children won't die. No. God will take care of them. But you'll be detached and you'll be at rest. Those burdens that you have will go. Or it could be a job. Say, "What will I do if I lose my job?" 56:21 I'll tell you what, God will provide some other way to care for you. I mean, think of that story of the six uh sorry, 600,000 men, 2 million people including women and children wandering for 40 years in the desert. What a story the Bible begins with in 56:38 Exodus onwards. God taking care of 2 million people wandering in a desert where there were no shops, no place where you could buy food. And you had to wear the same clothes and wear the same sandals for 40 years. And the Bible says their 56:57 sandals never wore out. And the amazing thing among all those 2 million people, it says there was not one lame person among them. It says in the Psalms. Because if there's a lame person, then what a problem he would be. 57:11 Go to walk in the wilderness. And can you imagine walking in that hot sun? And God provided a cloud as a shadow for them. And that's how the Bible begins with the story of how God redeemed Israel from Egypt and say, "Does God love us less than that?" 57:28 Is he going to leave us stranded when he's brought Jesus promised that if you seek God's kingdom first, everything you need for your life will be added to you?" I had a great desire when I left the Navy and I gave away all my income to God's work 57:44 and started with zero in my bank account. I said, "Lord, I want to prove one thing." I wasn't married then. I said, "Lord, I want to prove one thing in my life that I when I come to the end of my life, I want to be able to say I never asked 57:57 anybody for money. I never gotten in debt. I never borrowed anything. I never made my needs known. But I really to the best of my ability try to seek God's kingdom first. And I want to say at the end of however long my life is." 58:12 And now it is more than 50 years since I quit my job. Those who seek God's kingdom first will find everything they need added to them even if they have no friends and a lot of enemies. You know, you don't have to leave your 58:27 job to do that because many of you are in jobs in good jobs getting good salaries and you still have pressures. You have pressures financially. You have pressures with sickness in your children. You have pressures with all 58:38 types of things in the home. And you should be able to say at the end of your life, "I sought God's kingdom first in every situation. I put God first. Not my wife, not my children, not my home, not my needs. I always put God first. I put 58:52 Christ first in everything. Even if it meant loss for me." And I want to say toward here at the end of my life after 50 years of being a believer, he never let me down. He was faithful. 1 Corinthians 10:13, "God is faithful. 59:08 He will never allow you to be tested beyond your ability." Like I've often said, the class teacher will not give you an examination paper for a higher class. You will get an examination paper only for your class. Your brother who's in a 59:23 higher class will get a tougher examination paper. But you are in a lower class, you'll get examination paper for your class. God will not give you a test beyond your ability. If you walk with the Lord few years from now, you'll get a tougher test. That's 59:38 means you're promoted. But it's so true. But And when the test comes, he'll provide a way to escape. You know, this is amazing. If you take the example of a written examination, you're sitting in the third standard and you're absolutely sure you will not get 59:54 a fourth standard question paper. You get the question paper, it is the third standard question paper. But even that third standard, which is your class, question paper is tough for you. So here's the other promise. The teacher will come and sit beside you 1:00:09 and give you the answer to all the questions. What What do you want? That's the meaning of the rest of that verse. First of all, you won't get a question paper beyond your level. And even if that is tough, he'll make a way of escape that you can endure it. 1:00:21 That means you'll be able to pass the exam because the teacher will come and sit next to you. Let me show you that promise in the Old Testament. It's wonderful. I like to see it like that. Then I pass through different tests and 1:00:35 I tell you I passed through a number of tests in my life. And whenever I pass through those tests, God has told me This is what God's told me. This is to prepare you for your ministry. Your ministry doesn't come through Bible 1:00:50 study alone. Your ministry will come through the trials of life that you have to face so that you know how the Lord sustains you and then you can help others. See Isaiah and chapter Isaiah chapter 33. 1:01:27 Sorry, not 33, 30. Isaiah 30 and verse 20. Isaiah chapter 30 and verse 20. Listen to this. Although the Lord has given you the bread of privation and the water of oppression, that means you went through a tough time. 1:01:45 Your teacher, let me paraphrase it, will sit beside you and give you the answer to the questions. You will see the teacher. He will not hide himself. Your eyes will see your teacher. And when you come to the next question, 1:02:02 verse 21, he'll tell you this is the answer. And you write something wrong, he'll say, "No, not that way, this way." That's the meaning of that verse. Don't turn to the right or left. You're writing the wrong answer and the teacher 1:02:13 say, "No, no, no, that's the wrong answer." And he gives you the answer. And at the end of it, you get 100% in your examination. Can you take the credit for it? No. I studied hard, but still I found some of the questions tough. 1:02:25 But wonderful, the teacher sat next to me. And in this particular examination, that's permitted. It's not illegal. God himself allowed it. What a wonderful thing. Your teacher will see your teacher. And he'll tell you, "This way, not that 1:02:40 way. Write this, not that." What a wonderful life the Christian life is. How the devil has fooled people that the Christian life is a burden and a burden through this business of victory over sin and all these things that are taught 1:02:52 in CFC. It's so heavy. It's not, brother. It's because you've not believed that your eyes will see your teacher. And that the Holy Spirit will whisper in you, "Not this way, this way. Do this and I'll give you the strength to do 1:03:06 it." Whatever the situation, he took away not only the burden of our sin, but every burden. He never wants us to be live with a burden. "Take my yoke upon you all." And then the Listen to the word of Jesus this morning. "Come to me, 1:03:25 all you in CFC who are burdened and heavy laden." Jesus is in our midst right now. He's here. Talk to him. He says, "Come to me." Don't just listen to what brother Zac 1:03:43 said. Jesus says, "Come to me. I will give you rest." It's not a message that's going to give you the rest. "I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you." Jesus says, "And learn from me. Let your daily habit, not just reading the Bible, but learn 1:04:01 from me." I read the Bible to learn from Jesus. I don't just read the Bible. "Learn from me and you will find rest. You won't be restless at night with those burdens. You won't be restless throughout the day. 1:04:20 In my presence, the Lord says, "There'll be fullness of joy. Fullness of joy. Always." It's not a once for all type of thing. There'll be pressure that'll make you a better person. Pressure is like the gym where you go to 1:04:34 work out. Any person who wants to build muscles go to the gym and God says, "I'm going to put you into the gym and where you have to work out. I'm not going to make you a fat, flabby, useless Christian. I'm going to make you a 1:04:46 muscular Christian. And even if you don't want to be one, I'll put you into the gym. If you rebel against it, then you can go." What a wonderful life it is. In his presence is fullness of joy. So my brothers and sisters, 1:05:04 let's learn to live without burdens. Cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you. Whatever your burden is this morning, whatever it is, maybe something I didn't even mention, something which is special for you and 1:05:16 your family. I want to take it. Think of that man sitting in the truck with his heavy weight down, sweating. And the truck driver says, "Put it down, man. If I can take you, I can take that also." And that's what Jesus saying to 1:05:29 you. "Put that burden down. I'm carrying you. Why can't I carry that burden? Leave it to me. Trust me. I cannot do anything for you if you don't trust me." Remember that word in Matthew's gospel, 13 last verse? Jesus could not do 1:05:47 many things in that town because of their unbelief. Don't let that verse be written about any of you here. Jesus could not did many things for many brothers in CFC, but he could not do something for that brother and that 1:06:03 sister because they would not believe. They heard the same message, but they would not believe it. And so Jesus could not do it for them. Can you imagine a statement saying, "Jesus could not do it"? That's what it says in the 1:06:16 last verse of Matthew 13. He could not do it because of their unbelief. Let that word never be written. I prayed that many times. I said, "Lord, when I stand at the judgment seat of Christ one day and you show me the history of my life, 1:06:33 I don't want you to point out certain places in my life where you said, 'You know, I couldn't do something for you here because you wouldn't trust me. You tried to handle it all yourself and you tried to claim promises and all 1:06:47 that, but you did not learn from me. You did not come to me. You came to a verse in the Bible. You came to a printed ink. What the printed ink said there, "Come to me." There's a lot of difference between going to the Bible and going to Jesus. 1:07:02 The Pharisees went to the Bible. Jesus said, "Come to me." I hope you've learned that lesson and I believe it can change your life. It can make your life completely different from today. Cast your burden on the Lord. He will 1:07:16 sustain you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. Please help us to live according to it 1:07:33 every day to cast our burden upon you and to be free from unrest, turmoil. Pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Can we sing that chorus once again which we sang at the beginning? 1:07:51 I'm so happy. And here's the reason. Not because I got all that I wanted. Not because I made money or I'm healthy or everything's okay at home or everything's okay at work. No, no, no. Jesus took my burdens all away. And 1:08:08 let's make it burdens, plural. I'm so happy and here's the reason why. Jesus took my burdens all away. Now I'm singing as the days go by. Jesus 1:08:28 took my burdens all away. Once my heart was heavy with a load of sin. Jesus took that load and gave me peace within. Now I'm singing as the days go by. Jesus 1:08:46 took my burdens all away. Jesus took my burdens all away. Amen.
