Good morning and welcome in today. Today we’re going to take a look at a passage of scripture but before we do that I wanted to tell you a little story.
My family and I have always enjoyed camping and exploring new areas. One beautiful summer weekend we decided to go up to Ely Minnesota to go canoeing. We left on a Friday afternoon and got there that evening just in time to set up our tent at a campground. We woke up the next morning around 6:30 am and found a spot to put the canoe in on the far east side of burntside Lake. We had never been on this lake before but our plan was to camp that night somewhere on Twin Lakes.
We started our canoe trip that morning trying to keep an eye out for the river that was the access point to twin lakes. We steadily paddled along until we found a spot that narrowed and started to head north. We kept paddling into the early afternoon until we were almost exhausted. We stopped to rest for a while and I looked at my map again.
I thought we were on Twin Lakes but I slowly began to realize that we had gone approximately 6 miles in the wrong direction. We had ended up on the far end of the north arm of Burntside lake. The only thing we could do was turn back around and try to find the river access that we had missed. Before dusk we eventually found it and made our way up river to the campsite.
It wasn’t until the next day that I realized that we could have saved ourselves approximately 9 hours of canoeing if we had simply parked our car and went in through Everett Lake. It would have only been a mile and a half to our campground. Instead of being a very grueling Saturday, it could have been very simple and easy.
This family experience always reminds me of the Old and New Testaments. That day reminded me that there’s a hard way to do something, but there’s also an easy way. The paths that people take in this life can be very difficult but the Lord Jesus wants to make it easy for us to get to where we want to go, by granting us divine grace.
Matthew 11:28-30
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Jesus wants to give us rest for our souls. Rest is an instance or period of relaxing or ceasing to engage in strenuous or stressful activity. We are in the age of grace. Instead of being yoked to the demands of the Old Testament, Jesus frees us from it and makes it easier for us. In Acts chapter 15 we read this.
Acts 15:5
5 But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
Listen to what the Apostle Peter told them.
Acts 15:10-11
10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
The Bible clearly teaches us that we are not saved by works but rather by God’s grace and the works that Jesus completed at the cross.
Eph 2:4-5,8-9
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
As I’ve said many times in the past you cannot combine Judaism and Christianity together. We cannot be saved through the works of the law because the truth is nobody kept it. It was added simply to show us that we’ve all sinned.
Acts 13:39
39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.
Judaism is based on law while Christianity is based on grace and forgiveness. As a born again Christian, Jesus frees us from the yoke of the Old Testament, so that we can be yoked to Him in the New Testament. He abolished the Old to make way for the new.
Eph 2:15
“Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;”
Remember the Old Testament law does not produce life but rather, death. That’s why it’s referred to as the ministry of condemnation. We are free from the judaic law so that we can be yoked to the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2 – Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Bearing other’s burdens shows that you are Christian in your heart because you are obeying Christ’s law. A burden is a heavy load that is carried. Spiritually speaking, the burden each of us carry is the heavy load of sin in our hearts.
How many of you parents have watched one of your young children struggle to carry something very heavy outside? Didn’t you walk out to take that burden from them and carry it yourself? This is exactly what Jesus has done for us at the cross, he carries a burden that wasn’t his own and makes it easier for us to obtain salvation through his forgiveness and grace. Thank God for making the path to heaven so much easier for us. His mercy endureth forever!
Let’s think about those things for today and Lord willing we’ll talk to you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.❤
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