Our God and our Creator, thank you for one more time that you have blessed us with the knowledge and the power of your word. As we come to your presence, we ask you for forgiveness for the sin that is in us. Thank you for the gift of salvation and eternal life through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We ask you to bless us as we study your word that we will receive the meaning of it. Please help us to register it and keep it in our hearts that we may not sin against you. Help us to be obedient to you like Jesus was. Help us to get closer to you and your heart beat and know you better so that we can be more like Christ. Please use us for the sake of the gospel and to reach the lost in this world. Make us all great soul winners. Oh, how much we want to be like Christ. Please bless us with more of Christ in our everyday lives and help us to cast away everything except Christ.

"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 souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matt. 11:28-30

We thank God for another opportunity to be blessed with his living words, the bread of life, the water of life, the light of the world. Any time we come into his presence, he will feed us with his word. He has never turned anyone away from the table of his bread of life, the Christ. The Lord will always bless us with his wisdom and knowledge and fellowship if we are willing o listen to his voice and want to learn of him. Let us pray that we do not get distracted and pay attention with no criticism or objections because this may be the last time the Lord speaks to us. Let us set our mind on his word only. ¹ Let us not look unto man ² and his false doctrine but God only.

Dear friends, we are at a very special time in our lives. A time when our Lord has called us to know him better than before and to make a decision for him. He will forgive all our sins and iniquities ³ and make everything right in our relationship with himself through Christ, our Savior ⁴

Now let us look at the very words of God through Christ from the Scripture. In the reading for this study, Christ says, "Come unto me..." If we look at mankind, we know that there is no rest and peace in his life. ⁵ We know this because we are made of what all men are made of. The unrest and dissatisfaction in man is because of his sinful nature. Sin infected man when man disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden. Man’s perfect nature, which was in the image of the Creator, has been marred by sin. Since then, sin became part of the genetic makeup and structure of man. We know that sin is in us and we are sinners by nature. Even when we know something is wrong, we still do it. ⁶ The worst thing a man can do is to deny that he is a sinner because then he does not realize that he needs the Savior to save him.⁷

Even King David in the Bible knew the depth and roots of sin ⁸ and made confession of it. So we must know this fact that we are born in sin and remain sinners. ⁹ When you come to realize that you are a sinner ¹⁰ and you feel sorry and regret the sins you have committed, you have taken the first step toward the Savior. The Holy Spirit convicts your heart that you have a father who loves you with an everlasting love ¹¹ and wants you to return to him right now. ¹² As the result of sin, the personal fellowship and relationship of man with God has been broken. God will not and cannot ¹³ allow man into his presence in his sinful state unless man comes to him through the Way.¹⁴ After man’s fall, God told him that he will live a hard life on this earth. ¹⁵ God also punishes for sin ¹⁶ and it is because of sin in us that we die and go back to dust where we came from. It is because of sin in man that man does not have rest all the days of his life. ¹⁷ Even some who claimed they are from God have killed many people. How can man do such crimes and also claim that he is doing it for God. ¹⁸ This is because man is a sinner and refuses to come to God and repent of his sins.

God will heal the sinner and give him the nature of the living Christ if he will admit sorrow and regret over his sin and ask the Lord Jesus Christ into his heart. He will give you, a sinner, the new birth ¹⁹ and the new heart he has promised. Who else can you go to for forgiveness of your sins. Giving to the poor and needy, helping the orphans and widows, giving everything you have to God will not even take away one little sin away. So what is the remedy and the solution for restoring a right relationship with our Creator? How can we have a personal relationship with the Creator? How can we hear him talk to us and guide us? Christ is the answer to all of these needs. Christ was made sin for us ²⁰ and Christ paid for our sins by living a sinless life. ²¹ All men have sinned ²² but Christ did not. ²³ This in itself is a miracle that one person did not commit sin. Every moment that Christ lived on earth was a miracle and that is one of the reasons God calls him Wonderful. ²⁴ He was the only one who was able to pay for our sins. ²⁵ Where is Christ now? Was he buried like everyone else and is still in the grave? No, Christ arose from the grave, ²⁶ He is in heaven ²⁷ and He will come back soon. ²⁸ He died a cruel death and he suffered terribly for me and you. He was sent by God to die for our sins because he was the perfect, acceptable sacrifice—He had never sinned. If you believe this, repent of your sins and ask him to come into your heart and to be with you forever. He will do it. ²⁹

Now going back to the word of God at the beginning of this message, we notice that Christ calls us unto himself. He knows that we are tired and weary because of our sinful nature and the tempting world we live in. He is asking us to come to him and he will give us rest. He knows that man cannot give this rest nor can the world. He knows this because he lived on earth as a man and this world disappointed him as well. His only source of happiness in this world was the word of God and his reliance on his Father. And that is why he is pointing us to him. He is asking us to come to him. He is our good father, he is kind and forgiving and humble and he is our rest. Man’s yoke and burden in this life is himself, his sinful nature. Christ’s companionship and fellowship in man will help him get rid of the self, the sinful nature. That is called the miracle of conversion by the Holy Spirit. ³⁰

Would you ask the Savior to save you right now? It is your choice to hear the voice of the Savior calling and respond to him or you may refuse him. He has blessed us by making his word available so that we can read it ourselves and decide. ³¹ We are praying that you will reach for a Bible, the word of God, and study it for yourself. We recommend that you begin with the New Testament, the gospel of Matthew. Christ told us that you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. ³² When you are free, you will be free indeed. ³³ This may be the only time or the last time that God is reaching out to save you. ³⁴ There may not be another chance for you.

How can you be saved? Admit that you are a sinner, repent of your sins by turning away from them, and accept the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross for your sins. ³⁵ Ask Him to come into your heart and save you. ³⁶ When you call Christ your Lord and Savior, you must also make a public confession of your faith, study the Bible regularly, ask Him for all your needs in prayer, attend a Bible-believing church, make offerings to his church, live a Christian life, and witness for him to the world.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray that you have been blessed by the study of the word of God in this edition and have come to know him better. Amen!