1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:07,000 You’re listening to a sermon from Pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible. 2 00:00:07,000 –> 00:00:15,280 To contact us, call us at 1-877-0365 or visit our website openthebible.org. 3 00:00:15,280 –> 00:00:17,520 Lets get to the message. 4 00:00:17,520 –> 00:00:18,780 Here is Pastor Colin. 5 00:00:18,780 –> 00:00:25,379 Well, I invite you to join me in another journey into the secret life of the soul. 6 00:00:25,440 –> 00:00:31,959 We’ve been using an analogy to help picture what goes on in your inner life and picturing 7 00:00:31,959 –> 00:00:38,299 your soul as being like a boardroom where the great issues of your life are debated. 8 00:00:38,299 –> 00:00:43,680 The members of the board are heart and mind and will and conscience together with memory 9 00:00:43,680 –> 00:00:44,740 and imagination. 10 00:00:44,740 –> 00:00:48,840 And I’m most grateful this morning to Tracy Stern. 11 00:00:49,180 –> 00:00:56,540 A meeting took place inside his soul in which imagination said, I could draw this. 12 00:00:56,540 –> 00:01:06,120 Will said, do it, and the heart and mind went to work and this is the result. 13 00:01:06,120 –> 00:01:13,540 Here are the members of the board of the soul as you have never quite seen them before. 14 00:01:13,760 –> 00:01:16,019 focusing in on them individually. 15 00:01:16,019 –> 00:01:23,120 Mind is feeling to apply himself to the issues that need to be dealt with. 16 00:01:23,120 –> 00:01:29,639 Imagination is off on a rabbit trail with a new idea that has just occurred to him. 17 00:01:29,639 –> 00:01:34,900 Will is reading the riot act to the other members of the board. 18 00:01:34,900 –> 00:01:41,360 Conscience is singularly unimpressed with what is going on amongst the rest of the membership. 19 00:01:41,480 –> 00:01:45,519 Heart will go along with anything, just so long as it makes him happy. 20 00:01:45,540 –> 00:01:49,940 And memory, of course, is frantically taking the minutes and trying to keep a record of 21 00:01:49,940 –> 00:01:52,059 all that’s going on. 22 00:01:52,059 –> 00:02:00,699 And, of course, the desperate need is for someone to come into this vacant chair around 23 00:02:00,699 –> 00:02:07,139 the board table and to give leadership and to give direction to the soul. 24 00:02:07,300 –> 00:02:13,320 And that we’ve been seeing is what the Spirit of God will do when you come to faith in Jesus 25 00:02:13,320 –> 00:02:14,320 Christ. 26 00:02:14,320 –> 00:02:19,919 It’s a great picture, and it raises for us, I think, profound questions. 27 00:02:19,919 –> 00:02:22,479 And the question is this. 28 00:02:22,479 –> 00:02:32,759 How can you find rest for your soul with all this going on inside you? 29 00:02:32,839 –> 00:02:37,240 Here, after all, is the soul in turmoil. 30 00:02:37,240 –> 00:02:41,500 The members of the board pulling themselves in different directions. 31 00:02:41,500 –> 00:02:46,199 Sometimes even the individual members of the board can’t decide which way to vote. 32 00:02:46,199 –> 00:02:51,720 The Bible says that the double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. 33 00:02:51,720 –> 00:02:57,619 If mind doesn’t know where it’s going, then you’re certainly going to be on an unstable 34 00:02:57,619 –> 00:02:58,619 path. 35 00:02:58,619 –> 00:03:01,759 The will can be divided, we’ve all experienced that. 36 00:03:01,759 –> 00:03:06,940 The affections of the heart can change and fluctuate. 37 00:03:06,940 –> 00:03:14,240 There’s a restlessness within the human soul, and that is why it is possible to have a good 38 00:03:14,240 –> 00:03:20,919 job, a happy home, and at the same time a growing feeling of emptiness. 39 00:03:20,919 –> 00:03:26,759 An inner ache, a restlessness, that goes to the very core of your being. 40 00:03:26,759 –> 00:03:32,419 I wonder if you have sensed that restlessness? 41 00:03:32,419 –> 00:03:35,979 The Psalms give us a great picture of this inner turmoil. 42 00:03:35,979 –> 00:03:43,179 For example, our quote from two psalms this morning, Psalm 131 and verse 2, 131 and verse 43 00:03:43,179 –> 00:03:51,020 2, David says, I have stilled and I have quieted my soul. 44 00:03:51,020 –> 00:03:56,979 And then he gives this wonderful picture, like a weaned child with its mother. 45 00:03:56,979 –> 00:04:05,559 He repeats to reinforce it, like a weaned child is my soul within me. 46 00:04:05,559 –> 00:04:09,500 Think of the young child in the process of being weaned. 47 00:04:09,500 –> 00:04:17,320 Here’s this little scrap and he’s got a good pair of lungs on him and he knows how to scream 48 00:04:17,320 –> 00:04:19,739 and he balls the place down. 49 00:04:20,660 –> 00:04:23,760 Now, David says that’s what my soul was like. 50 00:04:23,760 –> 00:04:25,000 My soul was in turmoil. 51 00:04:25,000 –> 00:04:26,040 It was distraught. 52 00:04:26,040 –> 00:04:30,260 It was crying out like a screaming baby. 53 00:04:30,260 –> 00:04:37,720 But he says I’ve stilled my soul, like the weaned child. 54 00:04:37,720 –> 00:04:45,000 Here’s the child now, who having been weaned, finding contentment is now in the mother’s 55 00:04:45,000 –> 00:04:47,779 arms, on the mother’s shoulders, but has found contentment. 56 00:04:47,779 –> 00:04:49,079 The screaming has stopped. 57 00:04:49,079 –> 00:04:51,359 The child is at peace. 58 00:04:51,359 –> 00:04:54,600 He has found rest beside the mother. 59 00:04:54,600 –> 00:04:59,299 Now, the great question is how can that happen? 60 00:04:59,299 –> 00:05:04,899 How can that happen with the deepest cries that come out from the inner turmoil that 61 00:05:04,899 –> 00:05:07,220 goes on inside your soul? 62 00:05:07,220 –> 00:05:09,260 How can you find rest for your soul? 63 00:05:09,260 –> 00:05:13,200 How can you find rest for broken heart? 64 00:05:13,200 –> 00:05:17,720 How can you find rest for frustrated will? 65 00:05:17,760 –> 00:05:24,519 How do you find rest for hungry imagination, for unhappy memory, for burdened conscience? 66 00:05:24,519 –> 00:05:29,799 How do you still a confused, perplexed mind? 67 00:05:29,799 –> 00:05:33,799 It’s our question this morning as we come to the Bible. 68 00:05:33,799 –> 00:05:38,000 How do you find rest for your soul? 69 00:05:38,000 –> 00:05:42,399 Now, the whole world is looking for an answer to that question. 70 00:05:42,399 –> 00:05:46,899 That’s what drives the relentless pursuit of pleasure in our culture. 71 00:05:46,899 –> 00:05:52,260 We are looking for ways to quiet the inner cries of our hearts. 72 00:05:52,260 –> 00:05:55,200 How can I bring peace to these distraught members of the board? 73 00:05:55,200 –> 00:05:58,540 How can I get them working in harmony together? 74 00:05:58,540 –> 00:06:04,640 No man or woman can live happily with a restless soul. 75 00:06:04,640 –> 00:06:10,579 Now, the Bible speaks directly to this greatest of all questions in both the Old and the New 76 00:06:10,579 –> 00:06:11,579 Testament. 77 00:06:11,579 –> 00:06:15,100 I give the Old Testament answer first and then we’ll see how it flows into the words 78 00:06:15,299 –> 00:06:16,660 Jesus in the New Testament. 79 00:06:16,660 –> 00:06:22,700 In the Old Testament, you might like to look at Psalm 62 and verse 1. 80 00:06:22,700 –> 00:06:25,660 Psalm 62 and verse 1. 81 00:06:25,660 –> 00:06:31,540 But again David makes this marvelous statement that needs to be etched into our very being. 82 00:06:32,140 –> 00:06:41,480 My soul, he says, finds rest in – now how is he going to finish that sentence – my 83 00:06:41,500 –> 00:06:47,200 soul finds rest in God alone. 84 00:06:47,200 –> 00:06:49,079 Psalm 62, verse 1. 85 00:06:49,079 –> 00:06:56,279 My soul finds rest in God alone. 86 00:06:56,279 –> 00:06:59,679 The Bible teaches us that you are made in the image of God. 87 00:06:59,679 –> 00:07:01,619 That’s who you are. 88 00:07:01,619 –> 00:07:06,700 And God has placed within you thirsts that only God can satisfy. 89 00:07:06,700 –> 00:07:15,140 And your soul, therefore, will find rest in God alone. 90 00:07:15,140 –> 00:07:18,920 Some of you know the story of St. Augustine. 91 00:07:18,920 –> 00:07:22,899 He wasn’t a saint at the beginning of his life, I’ll tell you. 92 00:07:22,920 –> 00:07:30,339 He was a man with a brilliant mind, a driving will, and a wonderful imagination. 93 00:07:30,339 –> 00:07:34,899 He lived in the 4th century, which is a long time ago, but he was exactly like us. 94 00:07:34,899 –> 00:07:38,239 He was looking to find life. 95 00:07:38,239 –> 00:07:45,220 And so as a teenager, 17 years old, he left home, threw himself into a life of indulgence 96 00:07:45,220 –> 00:07:51,339 much to the agony of his mother, a woman by the name of Monica who prayed for him. 97 00:07:51,339 –> 00:07:59,980 He eventually with his soul hungry, and after years of this lifestyle, he read the book 98 00:07:59,980 –> 00:08:03,660 of Romans and he put his faith in Jesus Christ. 99 00:08:03,660 –> 00:08:15,220 And this is what he said to God, he said, “‘You have made us for yourself so our souls 100 00:08:15,220 –> 00:08:22,899 are restless until they find their rest in you.” 101 00:08:22,899 –> 00:08:25,160 He was saying what David said in Psalms 62. 102 00:08:25,160 –> 00:08:29,179 My soul finds rest in God alone. 103 00:08:29,179 –> 00:08:34,979 There is no other place where there is rest for the soul. 104 00:08:34,979 –> 00:08:40,500 Now that leads us directly into the New Testament answer to this question, which of course is 105 00:08:40,500 –> 00:08:41,799 exactly the same. 106 00:08:41,799 –> 00:08:45,280 The whole Bible is one story and it’s united together. 107 00:08:45,280 –> 00:08:50,260 So please turn over now to Matthew chapter 11, which was read for us, and notice that 108 00:08:50,260 –> 00:08:56,719 Christ begins with one of the greatest statements of His deity in the whole of the Bible. 109 00:08:56,719 –> 00:09:02,799 Matthew 11 and verse 27, no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the 110 00:09:02,799 –> 00:09:08,700 Father except the Son, and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. 111 00:09:09,460 –> 00:09:13,619 Now, He’s not saying that he knows the Father in the sense that you might say you know someone 112 00:09:13,619 –> 00:09:15,559 because you met them at a party. 113 00:09:15,559 –> 00:09:24,239 No, He’s talking about a complete and unique knowledge that only He has. 114 00:09:24,239 –> 00:09:28,840 You could enjoy the most wonderful marriage for 50 years. 115 00:09:28,840 –> 00:09:35,479 You could know your husband and your wife, or your wife intimately, but even after a 116 00:09:36,460 –> 00:09:41,880 could not claim that you knew everything about them. 117 00:09:41,880 –> 00:09:47,299 But God the Father knows all that there is to be known about God the Son, and God the 118 00:09:47,299 –> 00:09:50,640 Son knows all that there is to be known about God the Father. 119 00:09:50,640 –> 00:09:53,380 No one else is in this position. 120 00:09:53,380 –> 00:10:00,559 But Jesus says, because I am in the unique position of knowing everything that there 121 00:10:01,500 –> 00:10:08,500 about God, everything that there is to be known about the Father, I am also in the position 122 00:10:09,619 –> 00:10:13,599 to reveal the Father and to make him known to you. 123 00:10:13,599 –> 00:10:16,940 Now put these three simple steps together. 124 00:10:16,940 –> 00:10:20,859 Your soul finds rest in God alone. 125 00:10:20,859 –> 00:10:25,539 So the greatest question you face is how can you know this God in whom your soul will find 126 00:10:25,539 –> 00:10:27,099 rest? 127 00:10:27,159 –> 00:10:30,440 Jesus says, I have the answer to that question. 128 00:10:30,440 –> 00:10:32,479 No one knows the Father but the Son. 129 00:10:32,479 –> 00:10:38,539 I know everything that there is to be known about God, and as you come to me, I will make 130 00:10:38,539 –> 00:10:44,479 that knowledge of God available, I will reveal it to you. 131 00:10:44,479 –> 00:10:50,679 Come to me and I will share my knowledge of the Father with you, a knowledge that none 132 00:10:50,679 –> 00:10:53,799 other can introduce you to. 133 00:10:53,799 –> 00:11:00,919 Come to me and you will know Him. 134 00:11:00,919 –> 00:11:06,159 Now in this most marvelous statement in the New Testament, I want us to notice three very 135 00:11:06,159 –> 00:11:07,159 simple things. 136 00:11:07,159 –> 00:11:09,520 I want you to notice the audience. 137 00:11:09,520 –> 00:11:13,119 I want you to notice the invitation. 138 00:11:13,119 –> 00:11:17,320 And I want you finally and briefly to notice the promise. 139 00:11:17,320 –> 00:11:19,640 First the audience. 140 00:11:19,679 –> 00:11:24,679 You who are weary and burdened. 141 00:11:24,679 –> 00:11:30,520 Now that’s who Jesus is speaking to this morning. 142 00:11:30,520 –> 00:11:35,679 You who are weary and burdened. 143 00:11:35,679 –> 00:11:43,380 I’m not going to ask for a show of hands but if in any sense you relate to the word 144 00:11:43,380 –> 00:11:50,239 weary and burdened, Jesus is speaking to you. 145 00:11:50,239 –> 00:11:54,359 You are the audience. 146 00:11:54,359 –> 00:12:00,000 Come with me into the board room of the soul as we try and unpack Jesus’s words, weary 147 00:12:00,000 –> 00:12:02,960 and burdened. 148 00:12:02,960 –> 00:12:10,619 The members of the board are gathered together in somewhat dejected mood. 149 00:12:10,859 –> 00:12:15,260 I’m anxious, says mind. 150 00:12:15,260 –> 00:12:17,700 Certain recent events have made me more nervous. 151 00:12:17,700 –> 00:12:21,719 I have an increasing awareness of danger these days. 152 00:12:21,719 –> 00:12:27,919 On top of that as I get older I find that there are many questions that I simply cannot 153 00:12:27,919 –> 00:12:29,179 answer. 154 00:12:29,179 –> 00:12:32,299 I used to think I knew more answers than I do now. 155 00:12:32,299 –> 00:12:33,419 I find this disturbing. 156 00:12:33,419 –> 00:12:35,099 It makes me restless. 157 00:12:35,099 –> 00:12:38,580 I’m feeling heavy, frankly, says heart. 158 00:12:39,020 –> 00:12:43,000 I’ve given myself in love and I’ve been disappointed. 159 00:12:43,020 –> 00:12:44,400 I honestly feel betrayed. 160 00:12:44,400 –> 00:12:47,140 I’ve actually been broken. 161 00:12:47,140 –> 00:12:51,919 I sometimes feel it would be better if I held myself in check, says heart, because when 162 00:12:51,919 –> 00:12:58,479 I open myself up I always wonder if I’m going to end up being wounded. 163 00:12:58,479 –> 00:13:01,500 I’m frustrated too, says imagination. 164 00:13:01,500 –> 00:13:06,179 I’m constantly looking for new possibilities for the future but as soon as one of my dreams 165 00:13:06,239 –> 00:13:10,679 is achieved it seems to disappear from view, and I have to think of another one. 166 00:13:10,679 –> 00:13:16,760 The rest of you keep telling me, imagination, you say, come up with a big idea that’s worthy 167 00:13:16,760 –> 00:13:20,919 of the full devotion of our lives and I’ve come up with lots of ideas and you lot are 168 00:13:20,919 –> 00:13:22,219 never satisfied. 169 00:13:22,219 –> 00:13:28,719 You’re pretty hard to please, nothing is good enough for you. 170 00:13:28,719 –> 00:13:31,760 Conscious is also struggling. 171 00:13:32,320 –> 00:13:36,299 He is aware of some things that have been done that should not have been done. 172 00:13:36,299 –> 00:13:41,219 He’s tried to get them on the agenda for discussion with the other members of the board but he’s 173 00:13:41,219 –> 00:13:43,679 consistently been told he’s out of order. 174 00:13:43,679 –> 00:13:49,419 He finds himself frustrated and burdened because he is living with issues that the board refuses 175 00:13:49,419 –> 00:13:53,820 to discuss. 176 00:13:53,820 –> 00:13:56,719 Memory has a different problem. 177 00:13:56,719 –> 00:14:00,539 The board listens to him but not of them is able to do anything about the problems that 178 00:14:00,539 –> 00:14:01,539 he raises. 179 00:14:02,119 –> 00:14:05,900 Memory shares his regrets. 180 00:14:05,900 –> 00:14:08,479 Memory talks about the things he wishes were different. 181 00:14:08,479 –> 00:14:13,679 Memory says I wished that had never happened and Mind says I agree. 182 00:14:13,679 –> 00:14:16,080 And Heart weeps. 183 00:14:16,080 –> 00:14:20,640 And Will says he wishes it hadn’t happened too but at the end of the day, nobody can 184 00:14:20,640 –> 00:14:22,700 do anything that makes any difference. 185 00:14:22,700 –> 00:14:27,460 So says Memory where am I to go with my burden? 186 00:14:28,380 –> 00:14:32,820 Well, just as I don’t get missed out says Will, I’m frustrated too. 187 00:14:32,820 –> 00:14:34,979 And I’ll tell you why. 188 00:14:34,979 –> 00:14:40,820 I know what I want but as often as not I don’t get it. 189 00:14:40,820 –> 00:14:43,020 And that’s why I get angry so often. 190 00:14:43,020 –> 00:14:47,080 I’m tired of being told by the rest of you on the board, try harder. 191 00:14:47,080 –> 00:14:51,940 I’m fed up living under the burden of this word, ought. 192 00:14:51,940 –> 00:14:52,940 Ought! 193 00:14:52,979 –> 00:15:01,780 Any of that going on in your soul? 194 00:15:01,780 –> 00:15:06,780 Jesus speaks to the weary and the burdened. 195 00:15:06,780 –> 00:15:11,340 That’s the audience. 196 00:15:11,340 –> 00:15:19,219 And if you know anything of restlessness of soul, He’s speaking to you. 197 00:15:20,140 –> 00:15:23,340 That’s the first thing, the audience, weary and burdened. 198 00:15:23,340 –> 00:15:25,719 Here’s the second thing. 199 00:15:25,719 –> 00:15:28,539 The invitation to you. 200 00:15:28,539 –> 00:15:34,580 Jesus says to you come to Me. 201 00:15:34,580 –> 00:15:38,500 Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened. 202 00:15:38,500 –> 00:15:44,700 And you will find rest for your souls. 203 00:15:45,679 –> 00:15:53,799 Now I think that there are some of us who have got to the point where we believe this. 204 00:15:53,799 –> 00:15:59,500 It makes sense to us that we’re not going to get it sorted out without God. 205 00:15:59,500 –> 00:16:00,500 But here’s our problem. 206 00:16:00,500 –> 00:16:05,940 We’re not really sure what it means to come to Jesus. 207 00:16:05,940 –> 00:16:08,979 That’s where we’ve got stuck. 208 00:16:08,979 –> 00:16:11,320 How would you do that? 209 00:16:11,419 –> 00:16:16,520 And what would it actually look like? 210 00:16:16,520 –> 00:16:18,440 David wrestled with that issue in the Old Testament. 211 00:16:18,440 –> 00:16:24,179 He recognize that his soul would find rest in God alone, but he wanted to press beyond 212 00:16:24,179 –> 00:16:26,299 the theory. 213 00:16:26,299 –> 00:16:29,539 It couldn’t just remain out there as something that he believed. 214 00:16:29,539 –> 00:16:32,919 And he says again, in Psalm 62 in verse 5. 215 00:16:32,919 –> 00:16:38,479 He says, find rest, oh my soul, in God alone. 216 00:16:38,679 –> 00:16:42,719 He’s not just believing something now, he’s doing something. 217 00:16:42,719 –> 00:16:47,280 He’s speaking to his soul, he’s bringing his soul to God. 218 00:16:47,280 –> 00:16:51,559 Now it seems to me that that’s where some of us have encountered problems. 219 00:16:51,559 –> 00:16:57,080 I want to try and open that up just using our model in a way that I hope will be helpful 220 00:16:57,080 –> 00:16:58,080 this morning. 221 00:16:58,080 –> 00:17:03,140 Let me introduce you to two representative characters who I’ve named at random, John 222 00:17:03,140 –> 00:17:04,300 and Mary. 223 00:17:04,300 –> 00:17:07,780 See if you recognize them. 224 00:17:08,540 –> 00:17:13,540 John was brought to church when he was young. 225 00:17:13,540 –> 00:17:17,000 He can’t remember a time when he didn’t believe. 226 00:17:17,000 –> 00:17:19,280 He believes in God and in Jesus Christ. 227 00:17:19,280 –> 00:17:24,180 He believes Christ died for his sins and on the third day rose again. 228 00:17:24,180 –> 00:17:28,219 John did well at school and then he launched himself into business. 229 00:17:28,219 –> 00:17:31,719 After ten years he started his own company that has been successful. 230 00:17:31,719 –> 00:17:35,560 His business is the biggest thing in his life and though he has a wife and three kids whom 231 00:17:35,579 –> 00:17:40,719 he loves dearly, it remains the most important. 232 00:17:40,719 –> 00:17:46,560 John still attends church and he finds it interesting, but he finds it difficult to 233 00:17:46,560 –> 00:17:53,160 get motivated he says and yet there is a great hunger within his soul. 234 00:17:53,160 –> 00:17:59,020 Now let’s just think for a moment about what has actually happened in John’s soul. 235 00:17:59,260 –> 00:18:08,780 Early on in life, mind came to believe in Christ but at least from the information 236 00:18:08,780 –> 00:18:17,020 here, imagination has never been captured. In fact imagination is pursuing another 237 00:18:17,020 –> 00:18:26,660 dream that he’s embraced. Heart has never been engaged and so will finds it hard 238 00:18:26,660 –> 00:18:32,300 to get motivated. So what’s going on inside John is that there is a division 239 00:18:32,300 –> 00:18:37,939 in the boardroom of his soul. Mind believes, but the rest of the board have 240 00:18:37,939 –> 00:18:44,599 never been persuaded. So instead of the whole soul coming to Christ, what happens 241 00:18:44,599 –> 00:18:50,219 is that the rest of the board members of John’s inner life regard his faith as an 242 00:18:50,560 –> 00:19:01,880 interest of the mind. And so the soul itself remains restless. Now let me give 243 00:19:01,880 –> 00:19:07,420 another variation of that. Let me introduce you to Mary. Mary went to the 244 00:19:07,420 –> 00:19:12,199 youth program in church, where she made some good friends. Over the years, a 245 00:19:12,199 –> 00:19:18,420 number of folks in the group spoke about coming to Christ. Some were baptised, some 246 00:19:18,500 –> 00:19:24,140 gave their testimonies. When Mary heard them speak, she wished that something 247 00:19:24,140 –> 00:19:30,319 special would happen to her like it had happened to her friends. She prayed about 248 00:19:30,319 –> 00:19:34,219 it, but for a long time, nothing seemed to happen. 249 00:19:34,219 –> 00:19:42,699 Then, one weekend, she was at a camp. And it happened. The crowd were sitting 250 00:19:43,099 –> 00:19:46,859 around a campfire and everybody had been singing. 251 00:19:46,859 –> 00:19:54,119 Then some began sharing and Mary just knew, in that moment, that God was real. 252 00:19:54,119 –> 00:20:00,660 She could feel the love of God flowing over into her heart. It was wonderful. 253 00:20:00,660 –> 00:20:05,020 She prayed a prayer of commitment and she told her youth leader and her 254 00:20:05,020 –> 00:20:09,719 friends. Everyone was thrilled. It was one of the greatest nights of her 255 00:20:10,619 –> 00:20:17,920 life. That was 20 years ago. Now she is raising three young children and although 256 00:20:17,920 –> 00:20:24,619 she enjoys being a mother she has a restlessness in her soul. Sometimes she 257 00:20:24,619 –> 00:20:31,199 says God seems terribly far away from her and now she has begun to wonder if 258 00:20:31,199 –> 00:20:36,420 what happened that night at the youth camp was just a youthful rush of 259 00:20:37,420 –> 00:20:43,579 perplexity? Now let’s look at what’s going on inside Mary’s soul she came to 260 00:20:43,579 –> 00:20:48,300 Christ with her heart there was no doubting the authenticity of that 261 00:20:48,300 –> 00:20:54,000 experience but her problem was, at least from the information here, that her mind 262 00:20:54,000 –> 00:21:02,119 was never engaged. Listen to this from Ozz Guinness who puts it so perceptively 263 00:21:02,319 –> 00:21:09,699 The understanding was not in control at the time of faith so it was not in 264 00:21:09,699 –> 00:21:15,400 control at the time of doubt either, the emotions were everything when faith was 265 00:21:15,400 –> 00:21:21,180 there, and now that doubt is there the emotions are still everything. All that 266 00:21:21,180 –> 00:21:26,020 really is different is that they have changed sides in other words what Mary 267 00:21:26,020 –> 00:21:31,520 has known despite the authenticity of her emotional experience is simply that 268 00:21:31,560 –> 00:21:36,560 she has had different experiences at the emotional level which is another way of 269 00:21:36,560 –> 00:21:45,680 describing mood. She’s responded to Christ with her heart but not with her 270 00:21:45,680 –> 00:21:51,959 mind so there’s a division within her soul in which heart says it’s real I 271 00:21:51,959 –> 00:22:00,699 know it’s real because I felt it and mind says I don’t think so. And then heart 272 00:22:00,699 –> 00:22:06,079 says we’re right enough I don’t feel it now and it won’t be long before heart 273 00:22:06,079 –> 00:22:13,640 gives into mind because the heart can’t embrace what the mind won’t believe now 274 00:22:13,640 –> 00:22:16,479 do you see where we’re going with this analogy you could spin it in all kinds 275 00:22:16,479 –> 00:22:20,560 of ways with different members of the soul who individually come to Christ but 276 00:22:20,560 –> 00:22:28,339 the point I want to make is this that when Jesus said come to me he was 277 00:22:28,900 –> 00:22:36,719 you’re speaking to your whole soul and not part of it the Holy Spirit may 278 00:22:36,719 –> 00:22:44,739 begin a work at any level in Lee Strobel for example who’s written wonderful 279 00:22:44,739 –> 00:22:49,300 books The Tribune Journalist who was on staff at Willow Creek and now out west 280 00:22:49,300 –> 00:22:54,739 wonderful Ministry of Writing the Spirit of God began a work in him in his mind 281 00:22:55,560 –> 00:23:00,579 but it didn’t end in his mind, it just began there the Spirit of God may begin a 282 00:23:00,579 –> 00:23:04,359 work in Mary’s heart round the campfire with a true experience of the 283 00:23:04,359 –> 00:23:10,439 outpouring of the love of God but it can’t end there. Conversion is not the 284 00:23:10,439 –> 00:23:14,260 persuasion of one member of the boardroom of the soul conversion is the 285 00:23:14,260 –> 00:23:19,380 bringing of the whole soul to Jesus Christ and that is where we find rest 286 00:23:19,380 –> 00:23:24,180 and some of us have never found rest because we’ve never known what it is to 287 00:23:24,260 –> 00:23:28,979 come to Christ with our whole soul we just believed it since we were a child 288 00:23:28,979 –> 00:23:33,640 which is a function of mind we just felt it when we were at some convention which 289 00:23:33,640 –> 00:23:37,359 is a function of art I’m not doubting the authenticity of these things I’m 290 00:23:37,359 –> 00:23:45,859 questioning the adequacy of these things there is no rest within your soul until 291 00:23:45,859 –> 00:23:53,680 the board is agreed if the board is not agreed the board cannot act 292 00:23:53,819 –> 00:24:00,140 listen to a Moses put it in Deuteronomy chapter 30 in verse 10 turn to the Lord 293 00:24:00,140 –> 00:24:10,140 with all your heart and with all your soul that’s the only way you can come to 294 00:24:10,140 –> 00:24:18,819 the Lord with all your soul Jesus said come to me you were weary you’re a 295 00:24:18,839 –> 00:24:25,180 burden this is what you’ve got to do come to me but not a part of you the 296 00:24:25,180 –> 00:24:34,479 whole of you all that is within you. okay he said that makes sense to me I can see 297 00:24:34,479 –> 00:24:38,339 why there wouldn’t be rest for the soul unless the whole soul comes to Jesus 298 00:24:38,339 –> 00:24:43,040 Christ but what does that look like when Jesus spells it out right here in 299 00:24:43,719 –> 00:24:52,680 look at it two things take my yoke upon you that’s the first thing and learn of 300 00:24:52,680 –> 00:24:57,719 me that’s the second that’s what it looks like to bring your whole soul to 301 00:24:57,719 –> 00:25:06,520 Christ take my yoke upon you, now the yoke was a harness really that tied two 302 00:25:06,520 –> 00:25:12,380 animals together to keep them in line when they were plowing a field and once 303 00:25:12,380 –> 00:25:19,079 you were in a yoke you couldn’t get out of it so when Jesus invites you to take 304 00:25:19,079 –> 00:25:26,939 his yoke on you he’s inviting you into a relationship that is binding now there 305 00:25:26,939 –> 00:25:32,140 are some people who want to walk with Jesus but they also want the freedom to 306 00:25:32,140 –> 00:25:36,579 depart from Jesus when he takes a difficult path and if that’s where you 307 00:25:36,579 –> 00:25:39,180 are there will be no rest for your soul in 308 00:25:39,979 –> 00:25:44,500 no rest for the soul comes to those who ready with our whole selves to yoke 309 00:25:44,500 –> 00:25:50,280 themselves to Jesus Christ coming to Jesus means I bind myself to him 310 00:25:50,280 –> 00:25:58,920 wherever you go I go whatever you lead I follow whatever you say I do not only is 311 00:25:58,920 –> 00:26:02,780 it a binding relationship when Jesus uses this picture of the yoke it is an 312 00:26:02,780 –> 00:26:08,359 exclusive relationship think of these two animals being harnessed together you 313 00:26:08,359 –> 00:26:14,500 cannot be yoked to many people at the same time take my yoke upon you says 314 00:26:14,500 –> 00:26:21,560 Jesus you get bound to me now if I’m to yoke myself to Jesus that does mean that 315 00:26:21,560 –> 00:26:27,579 I’ve got to detach myself from other yolks and the problem for some of us is 316 00:26:27,579 –> 00:26:32,680 that we never really get yoked to Jesus because we are already yoked 317 00:26:32,680 –> 00:26:42,040 Christ says take my yoke upon you and we say sorry Lord I’m already yoked to 318 00:26:42,040 –> 00:26:48,979 pleasure I’m already yoked to popularity I’m 319 00:26:48,979 –> 00:26:55,180 already yoked to success or perhaps worst of all I’m already yoked to 320 00:26:55,180 –> 00:27:01,959 myself now Christ says you’ve got to break up that yoke there’s an 321 00:27:01,959 –> 00:27:08,319 intentional decision there and you take my yoke upon you this is a binding 322 00:27:08,319 –> 00:27:14,920 exclusive and purposeful partnership because of course the purpose of the 323 00:27:14,920 –> 00:27:18,680 yoke is to make sure that these two animals keep together in ploughing the 324 00:27:18,680 –> 00:27:23,479 field there’s a purpose to it and the yoke makes it possible for you to play 325 00:27:23,479 –> 00:27:29,699 your part in His purpose it delivers you from doing your own thing out there in 326 00:27:29,939 –> 00:27:33,500 the field and missing the purpose for which God brought you into the world 327 00:27:33,500 –> 00:27:43,000 take my yoke upon you says Jesus and there will be times when in this yoking 328 00:27:43,000 –> 00:27:50,439 to Christ you pull against the cord that binds you to him there’ll be times when 329 00:27:50,439 –> 00:27:55,020 it hurts there will be times when you say I wish I could go that way and he 330 00:27:55,060 –> 00:28:02,619 says you’re yoke to me I’m going this way but I will tell you but on the last 331 00:28:02,619 –> 00:28:16,739 day when you see Jesus Christ you will be so glad that you are yoked to him 332 00:28:17,380 –> 00:28:27,459 take my yoke upon you and then he says here’s another thing that’s involved 333 00:28:27,459 –> 00:28:41,479 learn of me get yoke to me start learning from me now Jesus is using 334 00:28:41,479 –> 00:28:46,180 again a very simple picture here he’s saying you have to enroll as a pupil in 335 00:28:46,180 –> 00:28:52,699 my classroom learn if me now some of us have a problem there because we would 336 00:28:52,699 –> 00:28:59,579 rather see ourselves as sitting on the board of examiners you see we want to 337 00:28:59,579 –> 00:29:05,800 come to God with our questions as if he needed to pass our test we have 338 00:29:05,800 –> 00:29:12,339 questions for you we say we’re the Board of Examiners and we hope that you can 339 00:29:12,339 –> 00:29:15,359 come up with some good answers because we’ve got a pretty tough test that we’ve 340 00:29:15,540 –> 00:29:24,439 set for you there are people who come to God like that and God will never 341 00:29:24,439 –> 00:29:30,560 answer you if you come to him like that he never will he does not need to sit 342 00:29:30,560 –> 00:29:35,479 your test and as long as you try and approach God as if you were his examiner 343 00:29:35,479 –> 00:29:42,199 you will never find rest for your soul no says Jesus this is how you must do 344 00:29:42,199 –> 00:29:47,060 it if you’re gonna come to me then it’s got to be on this basis just resign from 345 00:29:47,060 –> 00:29:52,760 your supposed position on the board of examiners and enroll as a pupil in my 346 00:29:52,760 –> 00:30:01,760 class take my yolk upon you and learn of me you ready to learn from Jesus you’re 347 00:30:01,760 –> 00:30:05,760 ready to let him be your teacher you’re ready to let him decide what he will 348 00:30:05,760 –> 00:30:11,439 teach you now rather than you setting all the questions for him will you allow 349 00:30:11,439 –> 00:30:19,000 him to lead you into all truth through his word which is the truth Christ will 350 00:30:19,000 –> 00:30:28,300 not answer your every question but when you are ready to learn from him he will 351 00:30:28,300 –> 00:30:37,020 show you the father and he will give you rest for your soul 352 00:30:37,500 –> 00:30:42,020 the audience are you weary 353 00:30:42,020 –> 00:30:52,339 burdened here’s the invitation Jesus says come to me come to me not a part of 354 00:30:52,339 –> 00:30:57,739 you but the whole of you all that’s within you and here’s what it’ll look 355 00:30:57,739 –> 00:31:03,020 like it’ll be a taking of my yoke upon you a binding exclusive and purposeful 356 00:31:03,020 –> 00:31:07,479 partnership together and it’ll mean you’re residing from the Board of 357 00:31:07,479 –> 00:31:11,780 Examiners and being ready to be a pupil and allow me to teach you through my 358 00:31:11,780 –> 00:31:21,000 truth learn of me. Finally and very briefly here’s the promise I will give 359 00:31:21,000 –> 00:31:30,579 you rest. That’s his promise and he will not fill that promise 360 00:31:31,020 –> 00:31:40,380 if you will come to him as he’s invited you to come so in these last moments I 361 00:31:40,380 –> 00:31:43,800 want you to imagine Christ himself coming into the boardroom of the soul 362 00:31:43,800 –> 00:31:47,260 where the members of the board are seated around the table and now Christ 363 00:31:47,260 –> 00:31:52,859 comes into the boardroom and he looks each one in the eye round the table 364 00:31:52,859 –> 00:31:58,459 looking at your mind your heart your imagination your memory your conscience 365 00:31:58,560 –> 00:32:11,060 your will and he has something to say to each one mind he says to your mind come 366 00:32:11,060 –> 00:32:21,859 to me and let me from this day be your teacher will he says to your will come 367 00:32:21,859 –> 00:32:26,579 to me and let us get you up together 368 00:32:27,500 –> 00:32:35,859 imagination come to me and embrace a new dream that’s bigger than your work 369 00:32:35,859 –> 00:32:40,699 bigger than your family bigger than your pleasure in fact your work your family 370 00:32:40,699 –> 00:32:44,500 your pleasure will all be subservient and offered up to this dream it is the 371 00:32:44,500 –> 00:32:49,160 greatest dream a man or a woman can ever know to live your life for the glory of 372 00:32:49,239 –> 00:32:56,219 God who made you and with whom you will spend all eternity embrace that dream 373 00:32:56,219 –> 00:33:04,219 imagination memory I want you to come to me 374 00:33:04,219 –> 00:33:12,219 chrisis can you hear him say this to your memory the past is the past and you 375 00:33:12,219 –> 00:33:17,780 cannot change it but the past doesn’t need to be your prison house it can be 376 00:33:17,900 –> 00:33:23,119 your launchpad he says to you I can redeem your past I can take everything 377 00:33:23,119 –> 00:33:27,040 that has happened to you what you wished had never happened to you and I 378 00:33:27,040 –> 00:33:33,520 can make that the place where God’s glory his redeeming power is made real 379 00:33:33,520 –> 00:33:39,199 in your life I can make that the backdrop against a new work of God that 380 00:33:39,199 –> 00:33:45,479 will be for his glory and for his honor conscience I want you to come to me I 381 00:33:45,680 –> 00:33:49,739 want you to bring that burden what matters is not whether you can forgive 382 00:33:49,739 –> 00:33:54,160 yourself not whether someone else will forgive you but what matters most is 383 00:33:54,160 –> 00:33:58,400 will I forgive you and conscious if you will bring that burden of your guilt to 384 00:33:58,400 –> 00:34:08,379 me I will forgive you and I will give you rest and heart I have something to 385 00:34:09,179 –> 00:34:24,560 show you see my hands see my sight. I love you and I want to pour that love 386 00:34:24,560 –> 00:34:31,139 that I have for you into you so that you may reflect it back and so that it may 387 00:34:31,139 –> 00:34:37,260 radiate from you out into a broken and wounded world the members of the board 388 00:34:37,260 –> 00:34:43,860 how strangely quiet for the first time they glimpsed a possibility that none of 389 00:34:43,860 –> 00:34:50,179 them had ever seen before if the whole soul were to come to Christ the whole 390 00:34:50,179 –> 00:34:55,300 soul would be united together if every member of the board were under 391 00:34:55,300 –> 00:34:59,979 his lordship there would be a whole new basis for operation a whole new ground 392 00:34:59,979 –> 00:35:04,159 of agreement the whole new vision purpose and direction 393 00:35:04,500 –> 00:35:09,939 there’s so much I don’t understand says mind but I do believe what he’s saying 394 00:35:09,939 –> 00:35:17,419 to me and I want to start learning from him I’m tired of small dreams says 395 00:35:17,419 –> 00:35:20,780 imagination this is the first time I’ve ever been invited to be part of 396 00:35:20,780 –> 00:35:28,280 something bigger than myself I’ve been thinking says will that if I yoke 397 00:35:28,320 –> 00:35:34,260 myself to him I tie myself to the power of God and if I align my will with his 398 00:35:34,260 –> 00:35:41,899 will then that will will get done it never occurred to me before says memory 399 00:35:41,899 –> 00:35:48,060 that the pain I live with could actually become the place where God is glorified 400 00:35:48,060 –> 00:35:53,719 what better thing could I do with what is wretched in my past then offer it up 401 00:35:53,719 –> 00:36:03,899 to him and ask him to redeem it I’ve tasted love says hard sometimes it was 402 00:36:03,899 –> 00:36:10,899 sweet sometimes it was bitter but I have never tasted anything like this I’ve 403 00:36:10,899 –> 00:36:14,560 carried my burden too long says conscience I’ve tried to forgive myself 404 00:36:14,560 –> 00:36:22,760 but the burden is still there I longed to be able to lay it down the motion 405 00:36:22,800 –> 00:36:32,879 was that we come to Christ let’s call the question the motion was carried 406 00:36:37,239 –> 00:36:41,500 You’ve been listening to a sermon with Pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible to 407 00:36:41,500 –> 00:36:45,120 contact us call us at 1-877-OPEN365 408 00:36:45,120 –> 00:36:50,820 or visit our website OpenTheBible.org