The gospel is fundamentally a great invitation from Jesus Christ, offering rest to all who labor and are heavy laden. This invitation, as exemplified by the Statue of Liberty's message to immigrants, is enduring and open to everyone, not just the wise and prudent, but the humble and needy. The sermon emphasizes that the true destination of this invitation is Jesus himself, not a church or organization, and that the qualification for accepting it is recognizing one's own need for a Savior. Ultimately, embracing this invitation leads to a life of cooperation with God, where His yoke is easy and His burden is light, providing liberation and salvation.
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Matthew chapter eleven. I'd like to begin reading at verse twenty five. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven, for thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your soul. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. The gospel, first of all, if it is anything, it is a great invitation. Years ago, I heard that invitation, and I responded to it, and you did also, and that's why you're here tonight. The gospel is many things, but first of all, it is an invitation.
It could not be any more beautiful if it was embossed in copper plate and stamped with gold than it is right here. It's the invitation of Jesus Christ that has endured the time and stood through the ages. It's the invitation that the Lord Jesus Christ made nearly two thousand years ago. And it's the same today. Come unto me, said the Lord Jesus. That's the invitation. Come. Unto me, that's the identification.
All ye that labor and are heavy laden, that's the qualification. And I will give you rest. That's a liberation. Take my yoke upon you. That's an obligation. And learn of me. That's an education. For I am meek and lowly in heart. There's humiliation. And ye shall find rest unto your souls. That's a great salvation. For my yoke is easy. and my burden is light.
That's a great cooperation. First of all, we see a great invitation. Standing some three hundred and five feet above the harbor in New York City is a Statue of Liberty. There on the base of that statue carved so many years ago are the words of Emma Lazarus. She said, Give me your tired and your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, send these, the homeless tempest tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door. Some forty-five years ago, my mother sailed into New York Harbor as an immigrant from Iceland, and she saw that statue for the first time. Some of your parents and some of your grandparents, likewise, stood on decks of steam liners as it came into that great harbor and saw that statue. Some are descendants of those huddled masses yearning to breathe free. What a great nation you and I enjoy.
What a great land is America. Now there are some who feel that today times have changed. Because circumstances are different, that that invitation that is carved in the base of the Statue of Liberty is no longer valid. It's no longer legitimate, it's no longer necessary. Some would say that it's time that that were removed. They note economic problems and social problems and political reasons. You might have your opinion and I have mine. And while someday someone might remove that statue and put out its light, And though someday that statue might be whole down in its copper sold for scrap, although that invitation once given to those of foreign shores to come to this great land is removed.
Here is an invitation that will last forever. Jesus says, even today, come unto me. There are those who say that we should tear the old lady down. I don't know about that. But I tell you one thing. The day that the church of Jesus Christ turns its back on the world is the day it ceases to be the church. See, the gospel among many things is first of all a great invitation. And some twenty-five years ago, when I was twenty-one years old, I heard the gospel for the very first time. And there I heard an invitation so lovely.
that my heart was broken and I responded to it and your testimony is similar or perhaps the same if anything if anything the gospel first of all is a great invitation there are some who forget that if you were to look at the Statue of Liberty today you'll notice that she's not standing facing inward she's facing outward looking out across the oceans and her face meets those that come looking for hope and looking for safety and looking for happiness. The day the local assembly turns its face inward and forgets its calling, forgets its ministry and forgets the need is the day that that assembly begins to die.
Oh, we love the fellowship. And oh, we love to sing the songs with the saints. But remember the day that you came. You came in response to a great invitation. And if the gospel is anything, it is that. And we had better never forget that God has given us a sacred charge and that is to deliver to a dying world his invitation of love. I'm so glad that even tonight, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is still valid, still bona fide, still being offered. as a great invitation. Do you remember the day you responded?
Do you remember the day that you came? I do. The Bible itself is a great invitation of God that tells a falling man that he may come. From the beginning of the Bible in Genesis to the final book in Revelation, we find the invitation of heaven and the invitation of God. It begins with Noah, As God turns to Noah and says, Come, thou in thy family, into the boat. Come. And Noah responded, and Noah's family was saved from the wrath of God that fell from heaven, because he listened to and responded to a great invitation.
Others could have come. they had a hundred and twenty years in which to make up their mind but they didn't the gospel first of all if it is anything it is a great invitation and i'm glad that the bible was still god's invitation to a fallen man john chapter one in verse number thirty nine the lord jesus begins his earthly ministry with an invitation he finds some fishermen and he turns to them and says, come and see. And they begin their journey and they begin a spiritual odyssey by responding to an invitation, a simple one, and yet most eloquent, come and see.
And then in the last chapter of the very same book, the twenty-first chapter in the twelfth verse, the Lord Jesus says, come and dine. And your experience and my experience is as common as this one. First we come and see and then we come and die. Has that been your experience? One day God's word was open to you and your eyes were opened and the scales of unbelief fell from them. And it was this the Holy Spirit of God was testing you and wooing you and said, come and see. Even as the woman of Psycar said to those in the city, Come and see a man that told me all things whatsoever I've done.
If anything, the gospel is an invitation. First to come and see. And then when we've seen that he's far more than we ever imagined. Oh, how great it is to come and dine. The gospel is an invitation. And Isaiah chapter fifty-five, the prophet said, Oh, everyone that thirsteth, come to the waters. Yes, the Old Testament and the New Testament alike, we see God reaching out to a fallen man with an invitation to come.
And when people go by our chapel buildings, if nothing else, they should know that God loves them and we love them and we roll out a welcome mat and we ask them to come and see. because the gospel is an invitation. It's not a private exclusive club. It's the outstretched open arms of omnipotence that reach out to a world that desperately needs God and desperately needs someone to deliver an invitation. In Matthew we see the Lord of Glory describing a great great wedding feast where he invites many guests and they refuse to come Luke chapter fourteen in verse number sixteen tells of that great invitation he said unto him a certain man made a great supper and bade many and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, come, for all things are now ready.
They all, with one consent, began to make excuse. The first said, unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it. And I pray thee, have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of ox, and I go to prove them. I pray thee, have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came and showed his Lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets, the lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, the maimed, the halt, the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded.
And yet there is room. Is there room in your chapel? There's room in ours. And yet there is room. Let's remember that finally when those who were first bidden did not come, then God turned to the Gentiles. And that's you and that's me. The hall, the main, the lame, the blind. And he called us. And we responded. And yet there's still room. First of all, the gospel is a great invitation.
It's an invitation to come. Second of all, I see a great destination and a great identification. For he says, come unto me. You see, we're not inviting people to come to church. We're not inviting people to join a group or an organization. We're not inviting people to come to a building, but to a person. We're not inviting people to join a movement or even a ministry, but to meet the master.
The church ceases to be the church when it forgets that. Jesus said, come unto me. Oh, the destination is Jesus. I like to get people to come to church, but I like more to get them to come to Jesus. And there's a big difference. The wise men set out on a journey to find the Christ. They knew him as the King of the Jews, and as they followed his star that was in the sky, it was but a little light, much smaller than the sun. Perhaps not even the brightest star in the heavens, but it was a star and it was shining and it was leading the way.
And they were obedient to the little light that God gave them. And that light eventually led them to the city of Jerusalem and there they found sitting on the throne was a pretender named Herod the Great. And they stood before this great king with all of his mighty soldiers, and they dared to ask him, where is the king? Did they not recognize the king? Did they not see his throne? Did they not see his riches and his power? No, it was not enough for them. They said, where is the king? We've seen his star. Too many people in this world stop at worldly king's throne.
and they're impressed by the grander and they're impressed by the power and they're impressed by the spectacle and they go no further but these were wise men indeed for they cared not for the material possessions or the things that were before their physical eyes they were looking for a greater king and when the scribes were called in to give an account of where this king might be, they went to the book of Micah. And while we have sixty-six books of God's precious word, they had one word and it was enough for them.
And that one word was Bethlehem. That was God's word. And they believed it. And they set out for it. And they found the Christ. They believed one word that came from God and it made all the difference in their life. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Are you satisfied to stand before the herods of this world as the glitter of their crowns and the brightness of their thrones?
distracted you from the most important journey in Odyssey you'll ever be on. Most of you can say, ah, by experiences I've passed that and I've gone beyond the worldly kings and I found the king of kings. Well, let's never forget that that's our goal, not to get people to come to church, but to come to Jesus. I don't remember the first day I went to church. I was born into the world that you were born into a church, and when you were born, you were baptized immediately. Then you were confirmed at age thirteen, and I did all of those things. And they even taught me about God, but I didn't know God.
And then one day I heard the blessed gospel, God's word, and it made all the difference. I don't remember the first day I went to church. But I remember the day I came to Christ. Now there's somebody sitting here tonight saying, Brother, I don't remember the day. Well, you don't have to know the day. But you better know the difference. And something happened in your life when you had an encounter with God Almighty.
And he changed you from the inside out. Let's remember that our goal is to get people to come to Jesus. Jesus said, come. That's an invitation unto. That's the destination, me. That's the identification. You see, those wise men recognized a true king when they saw one. He had no throne. He had a cradle. He had no crown but swaddling clothes. He had no riches, but his parents were in poverty. But they knew a king when they saw one.
And my Bible says that they bowed down and they worshipped him. Have you come to the place where you've bowed down and worshipped him? Jesus said, come unto me. not a church not a group not a movement not an organization but unto him and in our assemblies jesus christ must be the centerpiece and he is the only celebrity he is king of kings and lord of lords he is the purpose for our meeting He is the center of our adoration and worship.
Coming to church is okay, but coming to Jesus far exceeds it all. And that's our goal for Christianity is Christ. Peter said, neither is there salvation in any other, for there's no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And so we want people to come to Jesus. Do you remember the day that you came to Jesus and you saw him as your Savior and as your Lord? In John chapter one and verse number forty three, the Lord Jesus saw Philip and said to him simply, Philip, follow me.
That's Christianity in a nutshell. follow me they were impressed with religion and were impressed with the temple so much so when they took Jesus there they said look at this building it's a wonder it's a marvel and it's been all these years in construction and everyone was proud of it and everyone was happy to see it and walk in its courts and Jesus said not a single stone here will remain You see, that's why the goal of our journey, that's why the object of our devotion, that's why the center of our worship is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus said very simply, follow me. Not a tradition, not a man, not a minister. Follow me. And isn't it wonderful that we can never go wrong? following Jesus and men like Peter forsook their nets the Bible says and they followed him have you done that are you following him has he led you has he led you to this place is that why you're here Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
We want people to follow Jesus. The third, we see a great qualification. Who partakes of this Christian experience? What do you have to do? What do you have to do? Jesus said, O ye that labor and are heavy laden. That's the only qualification. Those are those that partake in the kingdom of God. Those are those who share in the kingdom of heaven. Those that recognize their need for a deliverer. And they came by droves.
Not the wise and the prudent, supposedly, so here in verse twenty-five. They couldn't see for all of their pride. But the lowly came, the brokenhearted came, the poor came, the humble came. What's the qualification, said the rich young ruler? I have certificates and diplomas and accolades from many. What must I do to place this trophy on my mantelpiece and to inherit the kingdom of God on top of it all? It was MacCheney who said it takes a brokenhearted sinner to receive a crucified Christ.
And any man who thinks that they're worthy betrays their own unworthiness. For until we come as poor and broken, we're not qualified. The great physician came for the sick. Do you remember the day you woke up and felt sin sick and said, I don't want to live like this anymore. And when you felt that pain there, suddenly God sent the physician and he made you whole. Jesus Christ is that great physician.
And the only qualification is you see yourself a sinner. in need of a Savior. You don't have to be an Einstein. You don't have to have a PhD. All you have to do is see yourself in need and come to the one who can meet that need. Sometimes we forget where God found us. And we are nothing more than sinners, saved by grace. That's the qualification. And I will give you rest. That's the great liberation. Why are you so happy?
You ought to be the most enthusiastic person you know in the world. Why? You were once lost and now you're saved. Once the Lord of Glory came by and opened up your prison cell and said you're free. Once God Almighty took your sin dead and threw it into the depths of the deepest sea. It's a wonder we're not hysterically happy. every minute of every day. God is so good. And as we go back on our own experience, we can almost hear the Lord of glory coming with the keys to the prison, dangling from his belt. He opens the door and says, you're free. I'm so glad that he's still setting people free.
D-Day celebrates. VJ day, hallelujah. But oh, the day that God took your sins from your soul at Calvary. Happy day, happy day when Jesus took by his sins away. A great liberation. But Christianity is more than that. And we enjoy that and we come each Lord's day to remember that like so many of the lepers to thank the Lord.
But it's more. Christianity is also a great obligation for he says, take my yoke upon you. Yes, it's an invitation. Yes, it's a liberation. But it's also an obligation. Take my yoke upon you. Somebody says, if you get saved, they're going to make you go to church. Brother, when I got saved, they couldn't keep me out. Take my yoke upon you. Christianity is an obligation that God places on us and we see what we've done before we were saved and how we served ourselves and served the world and served sin.
And now, as the Apostle Paul said, we want to serve him. If that's treason, make the most of it. But we want to serve him, not in order to earn heaven. And every saint of God who realizes what God has done for them wants to serve the master. And every saint that's walking close in fellowship with him can't do enough. As a matter of fact, when we're walking right, some other brother has to say, now, brother, you're just doing too much. You have to let somebody else do something. because we want to serve him. It's a great obligation. Also, number six is a great education.
Jesus said, learn of me. When we become a Christian, we enroll in God's school. We become his disciple and we learn of him. He's the curriculum of Christianity. He said, learn of me. And oh, we gladly went to school that day, and we sat at Jesus' feet, and every day we want to learn of him. And every time I open my Bible, and every time you open your Bible, our prayer that we offer up to God is, may we learn of him. And every text becomes a path into his presence.
That's the way it should be. We open the blessed book, which is the catalyst in the fountain of our faith, which is the classroom into which we matriculate as a student of the Almighty. And we say, Lord, let me learn of you. Let me see you. We open John. We look for more than words. We look for him. In chapter one, he's the eternal word. In chapter two, he changes water into wine. In chapter three, he's a teacher come from God. In four, he seeks the soul of mine.
In five, he is a doctor. In six, the living bread. In seven, he's the water. And eight, makes thin white. So scarlet red. In nine, he dispels the darkness and gives the blind their sight. In ten, the good kind shepherd. Eleven. resurrection might. In twelve we shout Hosanna, for there we see him king. In thirteen he teaches me how to serve. In fourteen how to sing. In fifteen the vine is he. In sixteen the world is overcome. In seventeen he kneels to pray for me. In eighteen the judgment has begun.
In nineteen he's my Savior hanging on a tree. In twenty he leaves behind an empty tomb. In twenty one a victory. When I open my Bible I want to see him and learn of him. It's an education. There's more. I am meek and lowly. That's the humiliation. And there we see the great price that was paid in order for us to be a part of this great salvation. He died on the cross for you and for me. Then there's a great salvation where we find rest in our soul, that innermost being.
And then there's lastly the great cooperation. My burden is, my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. In other words, you can't live it without him. There's a yoke, and there's two places on that yoke. And we try to live the Christian life or go through the Christian experience on our own, how we struggle. But when we participate in the great cooperation and gladly place our neck in the yoke of God, of His will for our lives, oh how easy and how pleasant it is.
Paul said, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. A great cooperation. Are you cooperating with God? Are you letting God be God? Is that yoke easy in that burden light? If you're cooperating, He gives you strength day by day. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this great salvation. Thank you for the Lord Jesus. Thank you for each and every one who has come to know Christ as their personal Savior and Lord.
If there's someone here who is still outside, I pray that they might hear that invitation is for them. They might come. If there's someone struggling, may they cooperate in yielding, letting you be the one who carries the weight. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.