And now my introduction, what a blessing tonight. He is part of our family. I know you're not supposed to, you don't have to introduce family. You don't introduce your wife every time she gets up. And this is my wife, Cindy. I mean, she's just, she's in the house. She's part of the house. And so I have to tell you, we feel that way about Dr. RT Kendall. He is part of the Times Square Church family. I do want to encourage you. I'm going to guess. He can give you the exact numbers. This is probably in the 90s of the books that he has written. His new one has just come out. Pleasing God, the greatest joy and the highest honor. The thing I love about RT Kendall is that Dr. RT has not only been such an incredible influence on my life, he's an encouragement every single week. I hear from him every Sunday. If he's not preaching somewhere, He said, I've listened and just sends me encouraging words. But every book that he has written comes, is literally just elaborates the scriptures, makes the scriptures come alive. And tonight I'm so excited that Dr. R.T. Kendall is with us tonight. I really believe your hearts are gonna be challenged. Would you welcome Dr. R.T. Kendall back? Thank you, Pastor Tim. I would say that the two highlights of my life, one being at Westminster Chapel in London for 25 years, and the other is to have a part in the ministry here at Times Square Church, thanks to Tim inviting me. And the Lord knows I love coming here, maybe too much, but I love to be with you. And thank you for having me, Pastor Tim. I want to read to you from Matthew chapter 11. And the subject I would give is simply learning from Jesus. Or I could have as a subtitle, what they didn't teach me at seminary. From Matthew 11, starting at verse 18, the words of Jesus. Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. That's the first rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart and you will find rest. There's a second rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And then one other verse from Acts chapter four, verse 13. When they observed the boldness of Peter and John, and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus. May God be pleased to bless the reading and the preaching of this, his most holy and infallible word. Brief word of prayer. Heavenly Father, I ask now for the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus by your spirit to rest upon every mind in this place in order that their perception of what I say will be received as you intend. Cleanse my tongue that I will be your transparent vehicle to pass on everything that needs to be said, nothing that doesn't need to be said. Help me to be very, very clear, very, very simple. May this be life-changing and a word that brings honor and glory to your name. I pray in Jesus' name, amen. Let me repeat verse 29. Jesus said, take my yoke upon you and learn from me because I am lowly and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. These are the very words of Jesus. He said, learn from me. It was an invitation. I would say the greatest invitation you will ever receive to get to learn from Jesus. There may be someone here tonight that you need this word coming to you in the nick of time. You're at a crossroads. You're going through a crisis, and you're not sure what to do, and I've got the answer. Jesus said, learn from me. Now, I don't know that everybody needs this, but I can tell you this, something happened to me back in August, three months ago, never happened before, ever. I was in Houston, Texas, getting ready to preach there, and I had a sermon all ready, and an hour before the service, all of a sudden, Matthew 11, 29 came to me as clearly as anything I've ever heard in my life. And I began to get thoughts and thoughts. And I could see the Lord was giving me a word from Matthew 11, 29. I thought, Lord, am I supposed to preach this today and give, not preach the sermon I thought? No, this may surprise you. I knew right then, this word is for Times Square Church. And I've sat on it for three months, knowing that I would be here to preach this word. Now, that doesn't mean it's for everybody. Maybe just for one. You say, would the Lord do just for me? Yes. That's the kind of God he is. He said, I'm meek, I'm humble, and lowly in heart. And so it could be that you are singled out. I may never get to meet you, but I can tell you this, it will be the greatest invitation you will ever get to study from Jesus. You see, you would no doubt prize an invitation to go to Harvard or Yale or Princeton. but it doesn't get better than this, to have Jesus not only as your mentor, but as your tutor. This, of course, is in a sense mentor and tutor, they overlap a bit, but I would say in the main, your mentor is somebody you listen to and perhaps imitate. And possibly you could even imitate the wrong thing about some mentors. We tend to pick up the habits of those we admire, and they're not always good habits. I was just thinking a few moments ago, years ago, at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. By the way, O.S. Hawkins is the chancellor of Southwestern. But many years ago, in the mid-20th century, There was a preacher in Texas who was really a fireball, had great power, and everybody admired him. But he had an eccentric habit that as he would start preaching and sense liberty, his left hand would come up over his ear like this. And nobody knew why he did it, but this was a part of the way he was. And then they made him professor of preaching at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. You could always tell one of his students. Those young men would go all over Texas and Oklahoma, and when they thought they were ringing the bell, their left hand would come up over their ear. They just keep on preaching. They don't know why they did it, but their mentor did it. I told that story at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary years ago. I was invited to do what they call the Northcutt Lectures. So I told that story, hoping to learn more, and it worked. An old professor came out of the gallery after the meeting, and he said, I know exactly who you're talking about. I said, Well, tell me this, why did he put his left hand over his ear? He said, he was hard of hearing. And when he does this, he could hear his voice better. That was the only reason. But everybody else thought it was the anointing. And people will pick up habits. Dr. Mart Lloyd-Jones told me about this preacher in South Wales years ago. He had a habit. As he would preach, hair would get down his eyes. Instead of taking his hand and pushing his hair back, he would just shake it like this. And it was just part of it. And sure enough, there were young preachers all over Wales. They would shake that head as they got going. There was one who was bald-headed, and he also shook the head. You don't know why they do it. Well, the thing is, you can observe a mentor. and listen to their words and possibly imitate their ways. Oh, let's say, what's a tutor like? Well, at Oxford, you write an essay and then you read the essay to your tutor. He listens carefully and then gives immediate feedback with questions and comments. And I had Martin Lloyd-Jones as a tutor. for four years is the greatest honor. I can't imagine any preacher in history being more honored. Dr. Lloyd-Jones, probably the greatest preacher since Spurgeon, and some would say greater than Spurgeon. The point is, it's an honor to sit under somebody like that. Imagine a young physics student being invited to study under Dr. Einstein at Princeton, probably Some would think the greatest scientist ever, whatever. He was certainly highly revered. And yet, what I'm trying to get over to you, there's something better than having these people. And that is you're invited to learn from Jesus. It doesn't get better than that. Now, it's an invitation. It's a privilege, but it's also a command. He says, learn from me. To those who have been weary and heavy laden, Jesus not only invites you, but gives a command. All right. The word rest is mentioned twice. The first, come unto me, you that are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. That's when a person is born again, converted, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, justified by faith alone. And it's a wonderful thing. But then, you see, the thing is, verse 29 follows that. And he says, take my yoke upon you. He's saying it a second time, come unto me. So there's a strong hint that you who have come to Jesus, listen, must keep coming to him. You keep coming to him. And well, what's the purpose of that? Well, you're not only forgiven of your sins, but you're invited to get to know Jesus. The person of Jesus, you get to know him. So, you need to know that when you're converted, he doesn't shake your hand and say, glad to meet you, see you in heaven. No, it's the beginning of a relationship. And the same Jesus who died on a cross for your sins and was raised from the dead is now saying to everybody here, learn from me. I wonder how you're doing in this process. Are you learning from Jesus? It's an invitation. It's a privilege. It's a command. Come to me and learn from me. He promises to let you know what he is like. He says, I am meek and lowly in heart. It's a caution. You should know about Jesus from the beginning what he's like. He lets you in on a family secret. He's not arrogant. He is meek. He is lowly. He's not trying to impress you how great he is. He was born in a manger, and the first people that got to see him after he was born were not the politicians in Bethlehem or Jerusalem, but they were shepherds in the field keeping watch over their flocks by night, and suddenly, The glory of the Lord appeared and the word came unto you this day, a savior is born. Do you have any idea how lowly a shepherd was? They were uneducated. They were at the bottom of the socio class if there was such a thing then, but nobody would respect shepherds. And God in heaven said that they will do nicely to be the first that see my son. That lets you know that there's no social qualifying necessary to get to know and get to learn from Jesus. Education doesn't even help you. It could hurt. And if you are here tonight, for all I know, this is your first time. And for all I know, you could be the one that God has in mind. He's got something to say to you. You may be very insignificant and nobody knows who you are. You see yourself as a nobody. You qualify very nicely for the very kind of person that Jesus wants to meet. So he promises to let you know just what he is like. He doesn't try to impress you. It is his invitation to let him be your teacher. Now here's my point. What have you been learning lately? Who have you been learning from lately? Is it possible that you've been listening to the wrong people? Is it possible you're learning from the wrong people? And for all I know, I've come to you at this moment to stop you in your tracks that you begin to see what you need is to learn from the real teacher who knows exactly what you need. And when you respect that teacher and only are thrilled and impressed when he is pleased with you, you get your joy from knowing that he is proud of you. You may not know about this. Some years ago, In London, there was a child prodigy pianist, 15 years old. Word got out about him. They were saying he's good as Albert, not Albert Einstein, Arthur Rubinstein, who was at that time considered the greatest pianist in the world. This 15-year-old, they were saying he was that good. And the day came, they decided that he would have a concert in the Royal Festival Hall in London. And when the tickets went on sale, they were all sold out the first day. So people were there to see this child prodigy, 15 years old. They were, as it were, on the edge of their seats just to see, is it true? Well, he performed. He was brilliant. And people were amazed. And when they finished the concert, they not only clapped, but they cheered. And they stood to their feet and clapped and clapped and clapped while the curtains were closed. And they kept clapping. And they kept on and on. And the station manager came up to the pianist and said, hey kid, go out. They want you to take a bow. He said, no, I won't. What's the matter with you? Every person in the auditorium is on their feet. Just take a bow. No. He said, they're not all on their feet. What do you mean? So he peeked through the curtain and said, you see that man on the second gallery, the third row, just before the end? You see that old man? He's not standing. Well, the station manager said, who cares about that old man? But the boy said, but you don't understand. That man's my teacher. And when he stands, I'll take a bow. And this is the thing. To think of Jesus standing. I know of only one person where that happened. I think next to the Apostle Paul, I admire most Stephen, maybe more than Paul, I don't know. I've often thought I'd rather have his anointing than anybody I can imagine. Stephen preached with such power. He spoke that people were not able to resist his wisdom. And then he was called before the Sanhedrin, and his sermon is in the seventh chapter of Acts, probably one of the longest recorded sermons in the whole Bible. And when you look at it, it is all scripture. Stephen was a word man. That's all he wanted to do, is preach the word, the Bible. And as he was preaching, the Pharisees and the Sadducees got so angry, they gnashed their teeth at him, and they were getting ready to pounce upon him, when all of a sudden, all of a sudden, Stephen said, I see Jesus, and he's standing. He's standing at the right hand of God. And to think that you would please the Lord that much that he would stand. And the way Stephen took his bow, they stoned him to death. And his last words were, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. You see, there's a person who only wanted to learn from Jesus. And so you may ask, well, what will he teach me? I can tell you. He can teach you what you need to know. Now maybe you see Jesus as a vehicle to pick up on a certain knowledge you've always wanted or a certain kind of success. You say, well, maybe he will teach me how to get rich. Maybe he will teach me how to be a leader. Well, maybe he will teach me how to win friends and influence people. I can tell you this, he will teach you what you need and what you need to know is what you may not realize. He knows what you need. You may have a goal and you say, if I do this, I'll reach that goal. but Jesus may have a different goal for you. And a way to get to that goal, it's not by the way you have thought all these years. And he says, learn from me. Well, what is it he will teach you? Well, three things. First, his word. Psalm 138 verse two. You've magnified your word above all your name." Now, that's what the Hebrew says. Your word. Now, his name, we know, is magnified. I mean, God honors his name. He wants you to honor his name. We pray the Lord's Prayer. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. But his name refers to his reputation. His word refers to his integrity. and his honesty, and he's magnified his word, even above his name. You see, one day he will clear his name, and he can wait for that. In the meantime, he wants you to honor his word. He will teach you his word, he will teach you his ways. You see, the Lord has ways. We all have our ways. My son, TR, knows my ways. Louise knows my ways. Cindy knows Tim's ways. And when Moses was told one day, I'm pleased with you, therefore, what would you like? I've often asked this question, Suppose the Lord came to you and said, I'm pleased with you. What would you like? Name it. What would you say? What would you ask for? When you consider what Moses asked for, he could have had anything. He said, Lord, if you are pleased with me, show me your ways. Moses, the greatest leader in the history of the world. God wants to show you his word, his ways, and his wisdom. The wisdom that comes from God, it's getting his opinion. Do you realize that God has an opinion on everything? The trouble is we don't want his opinion because we know what we want. I can tell you, whoever you are, The smartest thing you can do is to give up your ways and what you thought was the right thing to do. Humble yourself and get to know His ways. Well, is there a reward for this? Well, yes. You know what Jesus said? You will find rest. to your souls. You see, John Wesley taught something that a lot of people don't seem to know about or want to know. He talked about a second rest. Hebrews 4, 9, there remains a rest for the people of God. He that has entered into his rest has ceased from his own works. So John Wesley taught that there is a conscious heartfelt experience with God by the Holy Spirit and its rest of soul. I heard the brother say tonight, when God meets you, you'll know it. Well, when you come into his rest, it's indescribable. Martyn Lloyd-Jones called it the sealing of the Spirit after you believe. Some call it the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Some call it full assurance. Some call it God's swearing an oath to you. But it's a further consequence of learning from Jesus where you find out how real God is, how real Jesus is, and how true the Bible is. That's what this will do. So Jesus said, having given you the first rest by forgiveness of sins, He says, don't stop there. Now, learn from me. Learn from me. I'm meek and lowly in heart and you will find rest to your souls. So, it is when you have graduated from the seminary of the Holy Spirit, it's when you've graduated from the seminary of Jesus, you will be laughed at, You will be put down all because you're not a university graduate, you're not a Harvard graduate. But what is it that you do have? Well, I can tell you. There are things which the best of people cannot teach you. I could write a book on what they didn't teach me at seminary. You wanna know what some of them are? soul winning. Didn't hear a word about it. Not one word. They didn't teach me how to lead a soul to Christ. They didn't teach me how to pray. And how to experience the presence of God. They didn't teach me wisdom. They didn't teach me authority. They didn't teach me fearlessness. These are the things that are needed at the present time. Do you realize what the world is going through right now? In my lifetime, I've not seen anything like it. And every time you turn on the news, it's getting worse and worse. The time has come that we need those who see the need for lost people being saved. I've taught for years. Your pastor agrees with me. Carter Conlon agrees with me. There is coming an awakening. There's coming a revival like the world has not seen. But I'll tell you, there will be no superstars in the next great awakening. God is going to use people just like some of you. You haven't been to seminary. Maybe you haven't even finished high school. I don't know. But what is going to be needed is boldness, people that are unafraid, people who believe the Bible, people who believe that there is a heaven, there's a hell, and people need to be saved. That is what is needed. And so, you'll be laughed at, you'll be put down, all because you don't come up to expectations of the masses. But listen to this. This is what they said about the disciples in the book of Acts. When they observed the boldness of Peter and John, and realized that they were uneducated and untrained, but were amazed and recognized that they'd been with Jesus. They learned from Jesus. Well, how hard is all this? Well, Jesus said, my yoke is easy, and my burden is light, and those who will just wait on him and learn from him, they're going to find out that God enables you to do what you never thought you could do. You will have a boldness before the rich. You'll have boldness before the famous, before the politician. It wouldn't matter who they are. The same Peter who was a coward when Jesus was being crucified, Now because of the Holy Spirit come upon him, and now he had such power that nothing, nothing bothered him. He had such boldness. Why? He learned from Jesus. And God offers that to you this very night. So how do you learn? Two ways. First, from the Bible. How much do you read your Bible? How well do you know your Bible? I don't mean to make you feel guilty, but I'm saying if you need this, start now. You ought to have a Bible reading plan that takes you through the Bible in a year. You see, you may recall that when Jesus said, When the Holy Spirit has come, he will remind you of what I've taught you. Now you may say, well, R.T., I read the Bible, but I can't remember what I read. Or I hear preaching, but I can't always remember what I heard. Jesus said, the Holy Spirit will remind you. Now here's the thing. You say, well, what I need is for somebody to lay hands on me and I fall to the ground. Listen, if you're empty-headed when you fall, you'll be empty-headed when you get up. But for those that have bothered to learn, because you have sought to know His Word, He will remind you of things, things you've forgotten. The Holy Spirit will do that, and He will use people that you never thought could possibly be used. How will he teach you? Through the Bible and from the Holy Spirit. The immediate and direct witness of the Holy Spirit, where God will make you see how real he is. I have to say that the Holy Spirit can be grieved, and when he's grieved, then you cut off the sense of hearing from him. because he won't bend the rules for anybody. And if you've got unforgiveness, that will make it all counterproductive. Be sure that you've forgiven everybody. This was the secret of Stephen. Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. If there are people that you're wanting to see punished or get exposed and you're living for vengeance, I'm sorry. this anointing will pass you, but it doesn't need to. It doesn't need to pass you, because God wants to use you, but give up that grudge, forgive that person, because that's the way God forgives you, all your sins. And so it means a life of forgiveness, heart devoid of bitterness. Jesus said to the Church of Laodicea. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. I have no way of knowing whether anyone tonight has felt rebuked or chastened, but if you have, congratulations. God loves you. He's on your case. And he wants you to come to the place that you narrow all your desires down to one. David said, one thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after. That is to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. When learning from Jesus means more to you than anything in the world. I mentioned Albert Einstein earlier. Some say the highest IQ of anybody. I don't know that that's true. But he was a very learned man. Changed the world in many ways. And one day, Einstein was on a train, not far from here. He lived in Princeton, New Jersey. He was on a train and lost his ticket. And he was on the floor of the train, crawling around looking for his ticket. And the conductor came in collect the tickets. And Einstein was embarrassed. He said, I can't find my ticket. The conductor said, I know who you are, Dr. Einstein. I know who you are. Don't worry. Einstein replied, I know who I am too, but I don't know where I'm going. Question. Do you know who you are? Do you know where you're going? Do you know for sure that if you were to die this night, would you go to heaven, do you? And if you were to stand before God, you will. And he were to ask you, he might, why should I let you into my heaven? What would you say if God says, why should I let you in? Do you know what you would say? Because there is an answer. There's a reason He should let you in. Do you know what the answer is? What would you say? Think for just a few seconds and be as honest with yourself as you know how, and you're now standing before Almighty God, and the answer you give will determine whether you go to heaven or hell. It's not going to be a chance to look to your friends. They can't tell you if they knew they couldn't Whisper the secret you're going to know for yourself. What would you say to God? If it has not come to your mind to say, because Jesus died for me on the cross, I would have to say to you, I wouldn't want to be in your shoes for anything in the world. But that can all change. I can give you a prayer to pray if you're willing. Say these words. You don't need to say them out loud. God will see your heart. If you did not say in your heart, because Jesus died for me, then you need to pray this prayer right now. Lord Jesus, I need you. I want you. I know I'm a sinner, and I'm sorry for my sins. Thank you for dying on a cross for me. Wash my sins away by your blood. I welcome your Holy Spirit into my heart. And as best as I know how, I give you my life." That's it. That's the prayer. Did you pray that prayer? I think maybe somebody did. The question is, are you ashamed that you prayed that prayer? Why on earth would you ask that? Because Jesus said, if you're ashamed of me, I'll be ashamed of you. If you prayed that prayer, I'm gonna ask you to do something that perhaps you were not prepared for. But if you prayed that prayer, in the next 20 seconds, I'm gonna ask you to stand up. You see, in front of all these people, yes. Oh, this is gonna be hard in front of all these people. If you prayed that prayer, you're not ashamed. Five, four, three, two, one. Stand to your feet. Stay standing. Stay standing for just a moment or two. Now, chances are, there's some standing, you've been saved before tonight, but you just embraced the gospel. You did the right thing. But there's somebody here, you've never prayed this prayer before or confessed Him openly, and you've just done it. Do you know what just happened to you? You've just been born again. Happy birthday. God bless you. Wow, what a word, amen. Let's all stand together. Oh, my heart is full. What a powerful—I want to learn from Jesus. Anybody with me on that? All in favor say, I. Yeah, I'm with you. I want to kneel at his feet, and I want to learn from Jesus tonight. Let's just begin to pray before we get ready to close tonight. Father, thank you. for what you have taught us tonight. Thank you for that word tonight, Lord. God, bring us. We want rest. There's so much unrest. And we pray people would find rest at the feet of Jesus. Lord, we thank you for this word tonight. Now Father, as RT gets ready to go to Summit, they leave tonight, I pray that you would cover that vehicle as they get ready to go. I pray that as he invests in our students up there at our Bible college, may the Holy Spirit give them the right words for tomorrow. And I pray that there'd be a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Summit. Lord, we just thank you and pray that, God, you would just begin to use him mightily. Thank you for our team. Thank you for his son, TR. Thank you for the ministry and the relationship that we have. Bless them in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen and amen and amen.