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So, I want to preach to us tonight on the benefits of bearing a burden, the benefits of bearing a burden. Now when you read this chapter, we see that Paul himself was a man who bear his burden as well as even, we could talk a little bit later, you know, our Lord Jesus Christ, if you look there at the end, he says, from henceforth, let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ, meaning one that the Lord Jesus Christ, we know, bore a burden when he was beaten, when he took the cross, but also, took it up Mount Calvary, but also Paul himself, he's saying, look, I bear those same marks, I'm one who's been beaten of the Jews, they were stoned, he was whipped, I mean, he suffered a real physical pain and persecution for the Lord Jesus Christ, and that was a burden that Paul was willing to bear, because he also knew that was a burden that the Lord Jesus Christ was willing to bear. And that's why in this chapter, Paul is admonishing the church and every man, in fact, every believer, that is, to bear their own burden, that we are to bear, he says there in verse 2, bear you one another's burdens, you know, so we should be willing to bear a burden in the Christian life. He also says down there, every man shall bear his own burden. So we should be, as Christians, not trying to skirt the responsibility that has been given to us when it comes to this bearing of a burden, and make no mistake about it, the Christian life can be very burdensome. There are certain duties, there are certain things that we have to carry out as Christians, there are certain stands that we have to take, and those things can be a type of burden unto us. And even just life itself, just the roles that we fulfill in life, they are burdens that have been laid upon us. Another word for this would be, perhaps, responsibilities. There are certain responsibilities that are laid upon us, all of us, that it is up to us to fulfill, that we have to take them on, or they're going to be undone, and not only ourselves are going to suffer, but others also, if we do not, you know, shoulder up under the burden, that has been laid upon us. Now if you would, turn over to John chapter 19. Now why is it that we should bear a burden? Well, because like the title says, because there is a benefit to it. Now that might not seem that way, and we say, well, what could be beneficial about having to bear a burden or take on certain responsibilities? Well, think about the fact that Jesus Christ, he bore a burden for our sake. That we are benefited from Jesus Christ bearing the burden that he bore. That if he hadn't come and was willing to take on the responsibility that was given to him of the Father, of coming here and living that life that he lived, that perfect life and suffering, you know, shame upon the tree, and laying down his life for the brethren, you know, we would not benefit from that. He had to take upon him a burden in order that others may benefit. You know, had Jesus not done that, you know, we would not have benefited salvation. So we need to bear burdens in our life because of the fact that it benefits others. You know, a lot of times the responsibilities or the burdens that we take on, you know, we're not going to see any immediate benefit to ourselves. But what we will see is that other people are being benefited by us doing so. Now we're there in John chapter 19, will remind us of this with the burden that Jesus Christ bore. If you look here in verse 14, he says, and it was the preparation of the Passover about the sixth hour, and behold, they saith unto the Jews, behold your king, but they cried out away with him, away with him, crucify him, Pilate saith unto them, shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, we have no king but Caesar. Verse 16, then delivered him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him away and he bearing his cross, went forth into a place which is called the place of a skull, which is called the Hebrew Golgotha. So Jesus was willing to go through all of that for our sakes. We should be willing to do the same. The Bible says in Romans chapter 10, for if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled shall we be justified by his life. That was the burden that Christ bore. That's the benefit that we got from it. The fact that we were reconciled unto God, even yet when we were enemies. When there was a wall of partition between us and God, when we were a far off, God brought us nigh. How did he do it? By laying a burden upon Jesus Christ. Not just a spiritual one, not just an emotional one of the things that he suffered in the garden and the attacks that he suffered of the devil. But actually we see here in this passage, even a physical burden was laid upon him. If we study history a little bit, we learn about the cross. The cross was no light thing. This is a very large, rough, difficult thing to carry. He was even willing to go so far as to bear that burden for us. The point being, right out of the gate, is that the reason we want to bear burdens in our lives or take on responsibilities is because of the fact that other people are going to benefit from us bearing those burdens. Now we can think of several examples. Let's go ahead and turn over 1 Corinthians chapter 7. What are some areas in our life that we need to be willing to take on responsibility and bear some burdens for the benefits of other people? One area that comes to mind right out of the gate is the area of marriage. Marriage of course is a very wonderful thing, it's a great thing, but there's also a lot of responsibility that comes into that. When a man marries a woman, what he's saying is, I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to provide for you. Your well-being is going to be laid upon me. I'm going to give you shelter and so on and so forth. And the wife, the woman, she takes on certain responsibilities as well. If we look here in 1 Corinthians chapter 7, if you would look down at verse 32, Paul said, but I would have you without carefulness, he that is unmarried careth for the things that belongeth to the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, that he may please his wife. There's a care there, there's a responsibility, there's forethought, there's thinking about caring, having to take care of somebody, and he cares about the things of the world. It matters if you don't pay the bills, because now it's not just you sitting in the dark when the electricity gets shut off. It's not just you as a man going hungry when there's no food in the fridge. There's another human being that is relying on you to provide those things. And that is a burden, that is a responsibility. And now, of course, who is benefiting from that? Well, it would be primarily not just the man, but the woman as well. So again, a lot of the burdens that we bear, the responsibilities that we take on are not for our own benefit, but for the benefit of others. And of course, in that relationship, it goes both ways. Men benefit from that relationship as well. It says, that's why it goes on, and it says there in 1 Corinthians, or I had you, chapter 7, we'll pick it up in verse 34, he says, there is a difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit, but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. So she's doing the same thing, she's preparing the meals, of course, children come into the picture as well, and that's a whole other responsibility. That's another burden that's being laid upon another individual, isn't it? Of course, the husband has his part to play in the child rearing and everything like that, but that responsibility, that burden, it falls primarily on the mother. And if you would, let's turn over to Ephesians chapter 6, Ephesians chapter 6. The Bible says in Proverbs 29, the rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. So when the Bible is saying the person is going to be ashamed of a disobedient and foolish and unwise child is going to be primarily the mother, why is that? Because the burden, the responsibility of child rearing is one that has been laid primarily upon the mother. And you say, well, I don't think that's fair. Well, I don't care if you don't think it's fair, it's biblical, and not only that, it's practical. I mean, if the man is the one that's going out and earning the living and putting food on the table and putting a house over everyone's head and clothes on everyone's back, you know, that takes time. That means he has to be a way out of the house, away from the kids, away from the family. So who's going to raise the kids? Well, obviously, just, you know, logic tells us that it's going to fall on the mother. She's the one that's going to be there, you know, taking care of the home, leading the home, leading the children, instructing them. And that's why the Bible says that when that responsibility is neglected, when that burden is not born, that child, you know, the way they turn out becomes ashamed unto the mother. And of course, we also know that the problem that problems say that, you know, that a father, a fool is a grief unto the father that he has no joy in him. I'm paraphrasing. I'm not saying that the father doesn't bear some responsibility, but primarily that falls on the mother. So these are burdens that we have to bear in marriage, in childbearing. I mean, think about that term alone, childbearing, you know, that's a burden that women have to go through in order to, for what? For the benefit of somebody else, you know, nine months of pregnancy, the morning sickness, the discomfort, not to mention, you know, the trauma of going through childbirth, and then bringing up that child and raising it, you know, that is a real serious responsibility that should not be entered into lightly. And to whose benefit does the mother benefit? Now, of course, we know the parents benefit, you know, we enjoy our children, they bring us joy and happiness, and we can raise up wise children that can do great works for God, but they're the ones that are benefiting from all of this love and care and nurture and admonition. You're there in Ephesians chapter 6, look at verse 4, and you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, admonition of the Lord. That's not something that's just going to take care of itself. That's something that's going to require wisdom. That's something that's going to require, you know, the Spirit of God, discernment. It's going to acquire knowledge and how to properly train up a child. And the Bible explains all these things and how we ought to discipline our children and love our children and not provoke them to anger, you know, give them not to be overbearing, but to also, you know, be reasonable with them as well. And that takes a whole nother, that's a whole nother sermon right there. Why? Because that's a great burden that has been laid upon us. And there is a lot of benefit if we bear that burden. And the reason why a lot of people don't want to bear a burden such as these is because it doesn't directly benefit them in the immediate, you know, it's not an immediate gratification. They don't receive anything right then and there. But I guarantee you, if you as a parent will take on that responsibility and treat it seriously and raise up that child as you ought to, you know, and that child will benefit from that, you also will benefit down the road. You know, I'm sitting here watching my kids play this afternoon and when we got back and I was just, you know, thinking and even, I guess you could maybe even say praying that these my children would not go astray because I imagine myself, you know, and I've known people like this, that they love the Lord, they love God, and maybe they got saved later on in life, they didn't know everything, but their children grow up and go astray and it breaks these people's hearts. And I say, Lord, I don't want that. You know, I don't want my children to break my heart when I get older, when they grow up and they go out on their own to forsake God. You know, I don't care what they do with their career, I don't care what they do with their life as long as they love God. That's the most important thing, that they serve God and love God, that they marry in the Lord, that they serve the Lord, and that they're faithful to the Lord. Those are things that matter. You know, so I might not benefit from my parenting today. You know, my wife might not directly benefit today from her parenting. Now, there is benefits when you parent correctly because the kids stop driving you nuts, right? That is an immediate benefit. You get to, you know, start running the ship a little smoother and things like that. But ultimately, the kids, whether they realize it or not, they're the ones that are benefiting. They're the ones that are being taught, instructed the things of God. They're the ones that are giving a good education. They're the ones that are being shielded and protected from the world. You know, and let me just go off here for a little minute. It's so stupid when people say of home-skilled children, they'll say, oh, you're sheltering them. You better believe I am. Absolutely, I'm sheltering them. I mean, when bombs are falling, where do people go? To a shelter. And there are serious bombs falling out in the world today. In our culture, even in churches, I mean, you know, people are being blown to bits, spiritually speaking. So of course, I'm going to shelter my children, and they're the ones, whether they realize it or not, that are going to benefit from that. And as they grow older and they start to understand how the world works more and more, they'll see that and how much they truly benefited. Now, my benefit as a father will come many, many years down the road when my children grow up and they serve the Lord, when they do not depart from the Lord in their adult years. That will be the benefit, that I don't have a broken heart, that I don't have children that are a grief to me or a shame. So we could see that there's areas in our life that we have to bear a burden in order to benefit not ourselves, but other people. There is a benefit to bearing a burden. Think about employment. This is a great example. We of course benefit by a paycheck, but employers are not hiring people to benefit you. You didn't get a job because they want to be nice to you. They're trying to benefit from putting a burden on you and making money. They benefit from the fact that you're going out and doing a task that they've laid upon you. Now, of course, there is a benefit. You get the paycheck and everything like that and get to earn a living, but that's another example as well. Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. There's all these areas in life that we can think of where we have to bear burdens. We might not be the ones that benefit from it, but we need to bear them all the same because there are people that are gleaning from it. Another area besides employment or parenthood or even marriage would be the area of the ministry, the church. If you would, look there in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 in verse 14 where it says, Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be burdensome to you. For I seek not yours but you, for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. Paul was a guy who was willing to take on burdens for the benefit of others. He says there, I will gladly be spent. I will spend and be spent for you. He's willing to say, look, I'm willing to put myself out there and be used and whatever come what may, whether people betray him, whether people love him or hate him, whether they embrace what he has to say or reject what he has to say, he's going to do, he's doing all of this for their sake. He's willing to put himself out there. And that really is the heart you have to have, you know, if you're going to go into the ministry. You know, if you're going to be somebody who is in a ministry position, you have to be, you know, basically it just comes down to this, you have to love people. But if you don't love people, this is not the place for you. Because that's all this is, is people. You know, it's preaching to people, instructing people, teaching people, you know, leading souls to Christ, helping people to become better Christians. It's all about people. That's what the ministry is. And you know, people are going to do other people dirty. You know, people are going to connive and back, I'm not saying everybody, but it happens. You know, we don't have to look very far these days to see where people, you know, will start to falsely accuse a man of God, they'll start to rail on a man of God. And even though that man of God has put himself out there and is willing to spend and be spent for their sakes and love them, though he be not loved in return, though the more he loved, the less abundantly they love him. So that's part of the ministry. What is the ministry? It's bearing a burden to the benefit of others. It's so that you're taking on the responsibility and willing to put yourself out there so that other people can benefit. I mean, think about that with soul winning. It applies perfectly. You know, the weather's pretty nice right now, isn't it? It's not really too much of a burden, right? You know, especially when I'm serving up tacos, you know, every Sunday we're having a big feast and enjoying some delicious tacos before we go out there. It's a very pleasurable experience. But let's see how it goes in August when it's 115 degrees outside. Let's see, hey, is this a little bit of a burden? Now of course we understand it's a privilege and it's an honor to go out and, you know, that we are ambassadors for Christ and to be able to go out and preach the gospel. But you know, the flesh will probably be a little bit more likely to want to just stay in that day and say, you know what, maybe, maybe not today. Maybe let me take a little time off. Let me wait till it cools off a little bit and then I'll go back out. Why? Because that's a burden that has to be borne. Now, do we directly benefit when we go out and see other folks say, well, of course we do to some degree where, you know, it gives us the joy of the Lord. It gives us a sense of purpose and meaning of what we're doing here. You know, it's the greatest responsibility that anybody could ever have carrying out the greatest message that could ever be preached and reaching lost people that would otherwise go to hell. So of course we receive all the blessing from that. But who really benefits the most from us taking upon that burden of ministry? It's the sinner. It's the lost person who's just hanging out of their house, their air conditioned, you know, cool, shady house on a hot Sunday afternoon. They're the ones that are benefiting. But that is the ministry, you know, and that is life. Life is bearing burdens for the benefit of others. That's what responsibility is. And that's really what adulthood is all about, is being willing to take on the responsibilities that you need to take on, not for your own benefit, but for the benefit of other people. I don't want to have it come across that, you know, we bear burdens and we don't benefit it from it all. Of course we do. You know, especially we as men, men are designed to carry a load. We need that in our lives. Why do you think there's so many men today that are just wandering around aimless, you know, hooked on all kinds of different things? You know, the drugs and the alcohol and the pornography and the video games and everything else that's out there. They're trying to fill some void. They're just wandering around aimlessly in life. No direction, you know, nowhere, you know, they're just basement dwelling dweebs with nothing better to do with their life because no one's laid a responsibility on them. And that's what we need as men. We need somebody to need us. You know, we need somebody to say, hey, you better, you need to take care of me. Hey, you need to help me raise these kids. Hey, you need to, you have a mission to go out. God has given you a task to go out and preach the gospel to every creature. You know, we hear that we're to go to the, you know, uttermost parts of the world and some people would shrink back and say, oh, it can't be done. Other you know, the response, the proper response is let's do it. You know, give me that responsibility. Give me some great task. Give me some dragon to slay. You know, give me some great task as a man, some mountain to conquer. Give me something that's going to challenge me. Give me a responsibility. Give me a burden. Men need that in their lives. People benefit from being burdened in their life. Think about the burden of hard preaching, right? You know, the go look up the word, you know, the burden of the Lord to Israel, you know, the burden of the Lord of Isaiah to the, you know, that's over and over again where a man of God is coming and bringing a hard message and laying it upon a rebellious and stiff necked people. And he's burdening them with that message. Why? So that they'll get right. You know, we need to be burdened with hard preaching, you know, would be a good example of that because it helps us, you know, it helps us get right. So we do benefit from bearing burdens. I mean, think about how do you get stronger physically by putting on a load on your back and squatting it, right? By lifting heavier, you know, heavier and heavier your weights, you begin to get stronger and stronger and stronger. That's a physical burden that you're bearing. You know, we need that spiritual in our lives too. We need people to say, hey, I'm glad you've grown this far in the Lord. Let's take it to the next level. You know, we need that spiritual, physical trainer to come into our lives and say, it's time to take it up another notch. You know, let's put a bigger burden on you and get to the next level. It makes us stronger Christians when we have a burden put upon us spiritually. Not only that, but bearing burdens, and if we would turn over to 1 Chronicles chapter 15. When we bear burdens with other people, when we share in a burden, that brings those people together. I mean, think about, you know, the closest earthly relationship you can have, you know, would be that of marriage. And what are you sharing in? You're sharing in the bearing of a burden. You know, one for another, but also for the children that come into the picture. You know, you're in that thing together. And that brings those people closer, at least it should. You know, they start to dream, they start to strategize, they start to discuss how they're going to do things, how they're going to accomplish this, how they're going to accomplish that, what it is they want for themselves and for their children. That's a bearing of a burden. But they, you know, in order to accomplish that, they talk about all these things that brings them closer together. If you're there in 1 Chronicles chapter 15, I think I've pointed this out before, but I always like this story. Of course, this is when they're bringing back the Ark of God into the land, back into Israel from the Philistines that had been sitting in the house of Obed-Edom, if you recall, Uzzah had died, and then so on and so forth. If you're familiar with the story. So they're bringing it back. It says in verse 26. And it came to pass when God helped the Levites that bear the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, that they offered seven bullocks and seven rams. So if you remember, they didn't do it right. They put it on a cart. And now they got it right. They got the priests going. The sons of Levi were to be the ones who bear the Ark upon the staffs, the golden staffs that were in the side of the Ark. They figured out how to do it right. And you know, it took some men working together to move that Ark, right? They didn't have, you know, they all had to be in unison. Who has ever had a job moving furniture? How about that? All right, I can relate to you now. And I've had to work in a furniture moving company. I did that for like two years. And you learn real quick. And that's basically bearing a burden. Or even if you've just moved furniture, you know, you don't have to be a professional like I was. Right. You know, you know, if you've ever had to pick up something heavy that required more than one person, like, oh, I don't know, a piano. I know several guys here that have helped me move several pianos in this church alone. You know, I remember the first piano I ever moved was for my sister. And she had one of those kitchen islands and it was an upright piano. And the kitchen island was so close to the counter, we couldn't get it through. So four of us had to lift that piano, not just up off the ground, but up over a kitchen island and walk it over the island and then set it down. And nobody in the house played piano. So how do you think I felt about that? You know, somebody getting lessons? Someone's getting lessons. You know, but the point being is that, you know, when we had that piano up in the air, we all had to work in unison. One guy couldn't just be like, oh, I got a call, you know, and drop out real quick. Or, you know, we had to move at the same time. If you ever moved furniture upstairs, you know, there's a whole way to go about that. You know, we used to mess with each other. In fact, when one guy was in the lead, you would stop short and the guy would run into it. And there's all kinds of ways you could mess with people when you're moving furniture. But the point being, when people bear a burden together, they work in unison. They use teamwork, right? And it brings them closer together, just like these men here were bearing the ark of the Lord. They had to move at the same speed, at the same pace, to do the work of God. They had to bear that together. They had to communicate. And what's great about it is so many times, and I love this picture here, is that we look at the responsibilities that we have to bear. We look at the burdens that have been laid upon us as husbands, as wives, as parents, as Christians, as soul winners, as ministers, whatever it might be. We look at that and we say, it's too much, I can't do it. We want to draw back. We say it's just too much to have to bear. But if we'll just step up and we'll just take it on, what happens? The Lord helps. Isn't that great? That's what it says there. And it came to pass when God helped the Levites that bear the ark. I think sometimes God wants to just see us man up, so to speak, and take on the responsibilities that we have in all of these areas of our life. And then he'll step in and just make it real easy. If you recall the ark, that thing was wrapped in gold, it had wood, have you ever picked up a piece of gold? I remember just recently someone had donated a piece of gold to the church and it wasn't that big. But man, that thing was heavy. You always hear about how heavy gold is, right? That's not a myth. I'm flying off the cuff here, I don't know if they have the numbers in front of me, but it's very dense and it's very heavy. Look at how heavy this ark would have been for these men to have gotten under it, lifted it up and put it on their shoulders. When they did that and God saw that they were doing things his way, that they were willing to shoulder up under the burden that he had laid upon them, that's when he reached down and helped them. And all of a sudden they go, oh man, did you just feel this thing get lighter? Like, hey Levi, you been working out? Or he's looking over to the other guy, Zachariah, is that you? You been hitting the gym lately? Nah, it's not me, man. You know me, I don't go to the gym, right? It's God, he's reaching down and saying, let me help you with that. And I think that's what we would find in our own life, that even if it seemed like it was some burden that we couldn't bear, if we would just understand and say, you know what, I know it's too much for me, I know it's not going to be the easiest thing for me to do, but I know and understand that other people are going to benefit from me bearing this burden in my life. And if you would just do that, God would bless it and reach down and say, well, let me help you with that. Let me just take that ark off your shoulder a little bit. You know, everyone around you is going to look at you, I mean, the Levites are walking by and they're like, everyone's like, wow, look at them carry that heavy ark and little do they know, they're just, you know, it's light as a feather to them. And people will see us doing things in our life for the Lord and bearing up under our responsibilities and say, wow, how do you do it? How do you do all that? How do you take all that on? How do you run a house and a church and go soul winning and serve God and raise these kids that way? How do you do all this responsibility? How do you shoulder up under all that pressure? Well, it's because God helps me. This is God just reaches right down and says, well, let me help you with that because we're doing what we're supposed to do. Then God meets us there. So the part of that teamwork is the Lord. He's on our team as well. You know, he's going to help us with that. Now why preach this? Why, why even bring this up? Because human nature is to shy away from responsibility. Human nature is to back down and say, well, I don't want to bear a burden. I'd rather just take it easy, right? We all have that in us. That's what we tend, human, human nature is to, tends towards the path of least resistance. You know, we, we like to just go around objects and just go with the flow and not, you know, cause, you know, not have to take on too much, but that's not the Christian life. And people need to be encouraged to bear the burdens that they've been called to bear in this life and take on the responsibilities that they need to take on in this life in spite of the fact that they're hard. You know, and I said this a while ago and I'll say it again, you know, I'm glad the Christian life is hard. You know, getting saved is easy. We all understand that. Salvation is by grace or faith. I don't need to get up here and preach that. Everyone in this room, I'd be shocked if anybody in this room, you know, of age wasn't saved. We all get it. Okay. But the Christian life is not easy. It's hard. And I'm glad for that. I'm glad that it's a challenge. I'm glad that it's not a cakewalk. Cakewalks are boring, right? Here's this, who's ever done a cakewalk? You know, they have the numbers on the floor that you walk around and you know what I'm talking about? Like there's any skill involved in that. Like I remember winning that in the, in the elementary school fair, you know, everyone brings a cake and you pick, you give them your little stupid tickets and you walk around. There's a bunch of numbers, you know, one through 10 or whatever on the floor. And then the music plays and then it stops and then they draw a number out of the hat. Oh, number eight. Oh, I'm on number eight. You win a cake. The cakewalk, right? Mom, I won a cake at the cakewalk. Oh, I'm so proud of you. You know? No. Why? Because there's no effort. I just, it was a complete chance, right? I'm glad the Christian life isn't just a cakewalk where I just walk around for a while and then God gives me a cake. You know, the Christian life is like the rock wall. You know, you want to reach the top. You got to, it's going to take effort. It's going, it's like a climbing wall. You're going to have to get a hold and a grip and you're going to slip and you're going to fall and you have to try again. You have to grow stronger. It's an upward battle. You know, it's an uphill battle. It's not just this, you know, you know, tiptoe through the tulips, you know, it's, it's, it's a marching through a battlefield. That's the Christian life and we're, we should be glad for that. Otherwise it would be incredibly boring and we wouldn't want to do it anyway. But it is hard and we would, let's turn over to 2 Timothy chapter two. People, that's why people need messages like this. You know, don't tell me there aren't a lot of bum dads out there that don't want to raise their kids, that don't want to take on that responsibility. You know, they're, they're a dime a dozen. You know, they, you know, they, they, they abandon their kids, they ignore their kids, they don't take care of their kids. You know, mom's the same way. You know, they'll, they'll, they'll have these kids and then they'll just let them go to the devil. They don't care, just put a screen in front of them, you know, and they'll get a screen in front of their face and stare at it for hours and just let the public school system raise them and let, let's see how they turn out that way. You know, that's, that just let, you know, let, let, let, let somebody else take on all the responsibility and the burden that God has put upon me. People don't want to do it. Why? Because it's hard. Because it is a burden. But that's what we're here to do, to bear these burdens. If we would shoulder up under them, God would help us. I mean, Paul had to admonish Timothy here to do the same. Look here in second Timothy chapter two, verse one, therefore my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses, the same thou commit to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure softness, no hardness, endure hardness as what? As a good soldier of Jesus Christ. You know, soldiers are given responsibilities. They have to be hard. They have to be strong. They have to be willing to go through some great difficulty in order to carry out the orders that are given them. And Paul is likening the Christian life that he's, to that of a soldier. He's saying, look, Timothy, if you're going to accomplish everything that needs to be accomplished, you're going to have to endure hardness like a soldier, like a good soldier of Jesus Christ, not like a bad soldier who's just going to tuck tail the first time a bullet whizzes by his head, you know, or the first time he goes, oh, I got to climb through that mud pit under that barbed wire fence. No thanks. That's not a good soldier. You know, the good soldier is going to get in there. He's going to get after it. He's going to charge the oncoming fire and he's going to get something done. He's going to carry out his orders. That's what Timothy or Paul is saying here. And he's saying that in the face of, you have to remember that Timothy was with Paul, you know, and when Paul came in after he split, I'm kind of losing track of the story, but we all know that Timothy followed Paul for many, many years, that he was, you know, his protege. He was his right hand man. He was a helper and a servant to Paul, meaning this, that Timothy saw everything Paul went through. He saw all the persecutions. He saw all the afflictions. He saw all the betrayals. He saw all the difficulty and the hardship that Paul had to suffer when serving Christ. And it would have been really easy for Timothy when Paul said, hey, your turn. You know, my departure is at hand. You know, I'm ready to be offered to the Lord. I'm ready to go home. I'm leaving. I've run my, I've finished, I've run my, I've run the course. I've finished the faith. I've, you know, I've kept the faith, you know, and now it's time for me to go, Timothy, it's your turn to take on the mantle and do the work of God. And Timothy's recollecting likely everything that he saw Paul go through. And that, you know, I'm not saying this is how it was, but maybe there might've been a oop, uh oh, here we go. Now it's my turn. And that's why he's being admonished here by Paul. He's saying, look, endure hardness and go through it, Timothy. You have to do this for me, you know, carry on, don't quit, endure it. Take on the burden, bear the responsibility that has been given to you. Even a man like Timothy had to be provoked to not shrink away, to not shy away from the burden of living the Christian life. Now if you would turn over to second Corinthians chapter four, you see people naturally, they shy away from burdens and that's why, you know, sermons like this have to be preached to remind us that, you know, the Christian life, you know, it's not going to just be tacos every Sunday. Now as far as I, if I have anything to say about it, it will be tacos every Sunday. But you know what? This church will go through hard times. You will go through hard times as a Christian. You will suffer to some degree for the Lord. All they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, right? So we have to understand that, that there is going to be some burdens that we have to bear along the way. And we have to be admonished to do that because people who bear burdens, they must not faint. You know, failing is not, now I understand we're all going to stumble, we're all going to trip, we're all going to, you know, have weaker days than others, but we don't want to faint. You know, we don't want to just completely collapse and fall out of the way and have to have somebody drag us off the path and, you know, revive us. You know, we don't want someone to have to bring us, you know, the oxygen tank and everything else and, you know, do the spiritual CPR and everything like that. We don't want to just completely collapse under the load. Look here at 2 Corinthians, you're going to 2 Corinthians 4, the Bible says in Galatians 6, and let us not be weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. You know, we will reap. There is a benefit for us down the road if we bear this burden, but it's only to those that faint not. Not to people who just say, I can't do it anymore and quit halfway there. No one gets a prize in a race for quitting halfway. No one runs a marathon and gets, you know, three quarters of the distance to the finish line and raises their arms and say, I did it. Where's my t-shirt? You know, no, no t-shirt for you. You didn't cross the line. You know, and there is a benefit, you know, we will reap if we faint not, you know. So this message is to be kind of a wake up call, you know, if we've grown lackadaisical and to remind us of the fact that the Christian life is burdensome and that life itself, just if we're going to live it right and do right, you know, by society and, you know, and God and man, you know, we're going to have to bear responsibility in our lives. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 13. The Bible says, we having the same spirit of faith, according as is written, I believe, therefore have I spoken. We also believe and therefore speak, knowing that the Lord which raised up, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus Christ shall raise up us also and shall present you with us for all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God for which cause we faint not. Look, he's saying there's going to be a time when that God is going to reward us. God is going to raise us up and shall present us with you. You know, we're all going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ, that every man shall receive those things which he had done in his body, whether they be good or bad. You know, every man shall receive a reward. You know, Jesus said, behold, I come quickly. My reward is with me to give every man according to his works and that we're going to be tried. And you know, that's why we should not faint, that that's going to be a good day, right? It says there for all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. You know, in that day, there's going to be a lot of praising of God going on. When people are being rewarded for their works, God is going to be glorified. But it's only going to come to those in verse 16, for which cause we faint not. You know, if we faint on the way there, no reward. We don't get that. You know, there's no prize for quitters in the Christian life. So we don't want to be that. Now let me just wrap up here. We've looked at the, what are we talking about tonight? We're talking about the fact that people benefit from bearing burdens. Now primarily the people that benefit are those that we bear burdens for. You know, we bear burdens as husbands and wives and parents and as Christians, as soul winners. We bear these burdens wise so that others can be benefited. We also see here that we also will benefit in due time if we faint not, and that bearing a burden brings us closer together as people who are sharing in a similar burden, whether that's husband and wife, or whether that's going out into some highway or byway with a brother in Christ and trying to reach some people with the gospel. I mean, we went on that res trip just this last week when we were driving many miles between houses out on these two tracks and off-roading trying to knock these doors on these obscure tracks of land on the Navajo reservation. You know, and it wasn't, it was a lot of fun, I'm not going to lie about that. But you know, there were some difficult times, you know, but those things brought the guys that we were with, you know, that brought us closer together. We shared in that burden. You know, the point being this, that when you share a burden with somebody, you're brought closer to that person because it requires teamwork. And people need to not shy away from that. People need to take on these burdens so they can reap these benefits in their lives and others can as well. But you know, probably one of the best benefits of bearing a burden, one of the greatest benefits that you'll have if you take on the burden that God has given us as Christians, is that it will bring you closer to God. And I don't know that there's anything I want else for my life than to be closer to God. I mean, there's just times where I feel so distant and far away and those are miserable. And we as Christians, we should desire to be as close to God as we can get. We should want that for our lives. I mean, to think the fact that we, little ole us, you know, just regular normal people, can draw nigh to the very God of heaven, the creator of the earth and everything there is, and all his magnificence and his glory, that we can draw nigh to God. That's a wonderful thing. Now, how are we going to do that? By bearing the burden that he's given us. By getting, you know, by getting under the burden that he wants to lay upon us. By obeying the commandment, right? By obeying the commandments and doing what it is that he's told us now. If you would turn over to Luke, I'm almost done, but we'll go over to Luke, Luke chapter 9. And one of the benefits of bearing a burden is that it will bring you closer to God. If you bear the burdens that God has given us, it's going to bring you closer, you know. If we bear the burden of going out and preaching the gospel to every creature, God's going to look down just like he looked at those Levites, and he's going to want to help us. And he's going to draw closer to us. And he's going to, he's going to say, hey, you're doing what I told you to do. You know, he's going to be pleased with us that we're endeavoring in his work. We're going to draw closer. Look here in Luke chapter 9, in verse 23, of course, this is a familiar passage where Jesus said, and he said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whosoever will lose his life, save his life, shall lose it. But whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. So he's saying, look, part of the Christian life is not just, you know, the fact that Jesus bore a cross for you, but he says, now it's your turn. I did all this for you. You know, I brought you salvation. I bore my cross. I bore my burden. You benefited from it. Now it's your turn. Now it's your turn to bear your cross, to do the things that he has called us to do. Now if you would turn over to Matthew chapter 11, we'll close there in Matthew chapter 11. Now you think about, you know, I think about the fact that the disciples, they did that, you know, they bore their cross. They did that daily. I mean, they lost their life. When Christ said, come follow me, there was no hesitation. They immediately left all and followed him. They forsook everything else and followed Christ. And that was their burden to bear. That was their cross that they had to bear. But what also did they not draw closer to God? I mean, who else was closer than the 12 disciples? Nobody. I mean, even within that, you know, there was three that got to see the Christ transfigured on earth. They got to see a glorified Christ. They got to see Moses and Elijah and hear a voice from heaven speaking to them. The Father speaking to them. You know, why did they get to do that? Because they were willing to bear the burden of following Christ, of bearing their own cross and following him. If we're going to get close to God, it's going to come at a price. It's going to come at us having to bear the burden that we need to bear. And you know, of course, Jesus, he calls us to bear that burden. And if you look here in Matthew chapter 11, let's go to verse 28. He says, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And we like that first verse, don't we? We like, oh, no labor, rest? We like that part. All you that labor and heavy laden, come unto me and I will give you rest. And it's true. He does give us rest. But here's the thing. Getting saved is not retirement. It's a change of employment. You know, instead of going and doing the world's bidding and the devil's bidding, you know, instead of being in that yoke, you get out of the devil's yoke and you go over to Jesus. And yes, he gives you rest because the way of the transgressor is hard. But it's still a yoke. That's why he says there, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. You shall find rest unto your souls. So the rest is not just a life of leisure here on earth. It's a rest unto your souls, knowing that we're saved from sin and hell, but we're still entering into another yoke. You know, there's, and I, you know, he's saying, take my yoke upon you and you're getting in the yoke with Christ. You know, that's, that's how you get close to God. You want to get close to God? Why don't you get in the yoke with him? Why don't you share that burden that he has? And that will draw you closer to God. You see, we're going to learn more about God. We're going to know more about Jesus and understand more about his word when we begin to share in his burden by taking on the responsibilities that he has given to us in all these areas of life as, as husbands, as parents, as wives, as parents, even as children and as Christians, as soul winners. So let's not shy away from bearing these burdens. They're important, you know, and let's not let the fact that maybe we aren't the ones that are immediately benefiting from it, you know, give us, let's not use that as an excuse to say, well, if it's, you know, if I'm not going to get anything out of it, why bother? Because that's the burden. That's your responsibility. That's what you're supposed to do. And you will reap in the long run if you're willing to get under the load and bear the burden. And if you faint not, let's go ahead and pray.