Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to the Gospel according to Mark
chapter 6 and reading for our text verse 31. And he said unto them, Come ye
yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while. For there were many coming and
going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. Mark chapter 6 and verse 31.
the Lord seeing the need for his disciples to have a time
of rest, a time of change. And yet, quite amazingly, really
the only time that they had was in the ship with the Lord, when
the others were going on foot, they outran them, and they came
to the other side, then there was all the people there again. And yet the very principles and
what the Lord is saying here remain the same, and in fact
is even enforced so that we could think, well this isn't a word
just for the disciples because it is not fully fulfilled in
them, but this is as the inspired word of God for us to take lesson
from it. and instruction in the same way
as what the Lord spoke to them. In the most solemn passage, this
passage, we read from verse 7, we read of the sending forth
of the 12, sending them forth two and two, and their message
that men should repent, that they should turn, In the course
of these days, their message, it wasn't preaching Christ and
Him crucifying, as yet that was not clear at all. But the message
of John the Baptist, the message of our Lord, the message of the
12 here, was a repentance, a turning away from sin, a turning to expect
the kingdom of God to come. God was on His way. This was
the day that had been foretold through all of the prophets,
that the Messiah should come, that redemption should be found
at Jerusalem. Really summed up as John Baptist
pointed out, behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin
of the world. The preaching, the teaching through
our Lord's ministry and the ministry of those here was to set the
mark on our Lord Jesus Christ as all of the miracles and the
signs to show that He truly was the eternal Son of God, He was
the Messiah, and that they were to be in expectation. Even those
two on the way to Emmaus, though they hadn't recognized and see
it, they did say, we trusted that it should have been He that
should have redeemed Israel. And that expectation is born
right through the preaching of our Lord and the disciples. It is quite remarkable as well
with John Baptist, his ministry was repentance and he enforced
that by actually speaking to those that were walking contrary
as Herod was and who then had taken his brother's wife to be
his own wife. And through John Baptist, reproving
him, calling him really to repent and to not do that, then he brought
about the wrath of Herodias. A solemn thing really for her
daughter, which it would seem is old enough to do the things
that she did in speaking to the king, dancing before the king,
that she was no doubt the daughter of his brother. And it is a solemn
thing to think that she was upholding her mother in going away from
her father and marrying her uncle. You see how far off, and you
think, well, that young girl could have asked anything, any
riches, any pleasures, anything at all, but all she asked was
a head. of John the Baptist, and she was willing to do that
for her mother. A most solemn, solemn situation. A parent not only rejecting the
call for repentance themselves, but dragging a child in with
it, along with it, and making them complicit. And we see the
real hatred that was between her, how she hated John the Baptist,
hated preaching of real repentance. Men do not, as our Lord said,
men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were
evil. And what lengths that they will
go to extinguish those that will set forth the true and right
way. It's interesting as well, there
are some people that would say, well, The law of God is just
for God's people. I've heard it said even in this
town when I have contended for the observance of the Lord's
Day and that we should not have markets on the Lord's Day in
the town. And there were those councillors
that agreed with me and thanked me for making the stand. But
the one that I expected would stand before me, a church leader
in the town, did not stand with me. And his reason was we should
not impose on the world those things that we hold as our standards. As if there's one standard for
the world and one for the church of God. And yet John Baptist
wasn't that. There is Herod, he's a Roman.
And yet he is reproved according to the holy law of God. The law
of God is that the whole world might be brought in guilty before
God. It's a reminder to us that we
should be mindful that we are to speak to and call to anybody
to repentance, to turn from wicked and sinful ways and to turn unto
the Lord. We think also of the part that
Herod played, his most solemn character, that he could go this
far, we read in verse 20, he feared John knowing he was a
just man and holy and observed him and when he heard him he
did many things and heard him gladly. Wouldn't we be pleased
to have hearers in our chapels and that responded in that way
and yet we find that the truth and the love of God and the love
of God's law And the willingness to take up a cross was not with
him at all, in a most solemn, solemn character. And we read
when our Lord was crucified that there was made friends over the
Lord in his sufferings and death with Pilate and with Herod. It just shows how far one may
go and yet not have any grace at all and end up turning against
that very person whom he feared, whom he knew was a just man and
knew was a holy man. He was prepared to take his life
at the whim of an evil woman. Now when his life was taken,
John the Baptist, of course we know it was God's appointed time. Sometimes people may be very
offended at what God's method or how he uses to bring one from
this time state unto glory, but this was what God chose for John
Baptist. And of course later on, Our Lord
was to have a long, protracted, agonizing death, and with the
wrath of God upon him for his people's sins at Calvary." Almost a forewarning of the disciples
when the Lord was then speaking of his own death to remember
what happened to John Baptist. There must be many things in
the life of the disciples and in the ministry of our Lord,
that the disciples found very hard, very hard to understand,
to work out what God's will and purpose was. And we may have
those things in our lives, too, that we might struggle with and
wonder, why does the Lord permit this or that? As if the Lord
was not in control. The Lord is in control. He was
here. And he knows why he chose this
method and this way for John Baptist to go from this world
into the immediate presence of God, into that which is to come. The dear disciples, we read that
they heard of it, they came, took up his corks and laid it
in a tomb. And then they come unto Jesus
and tell him all things and tell him what they've done with the
body, what they've done in preaching and teaching and going as he
charged them. And it is after this that then
our Lord says in the words of our text, come ye yourselves
apart into a desert place and rest a while. And so it is these
words that I desire to speak from and especially as we have
those here on Rest and Change and we ourselves are going for
a couple of weeks rest and change. So I want to look firstly at
the invitation. You might call it an invitation,
you could call it a command. But the Lord directing, come
ye yourselves apart. And then secondly the place chosen,
a desert place. Come ye yourselves apart into
a desert place. And the reason for coming apart,
and rest a while. So firstly, the invitation. We
see three things concerning the Lord here. The first is a real
sympathy with his disciples. He knew what had happened. He had been told what had happened. But he felt for them, he knoweth
our frame, he remembereth that we are but dust. There are those
passages in the Word of God that the Holy Spirit has specifically
put in that inspired Word to show to us the Lord's feeling
and the Lord's compassion towards us. We think of at the grave
of Lazarus, Jesus wept. Just two words, but really showing
how much he felt for the sorrow, the distress of those round about. He knew that he was going to
raise up Lazarus from the dead. He knew he turned their sorrow
into joy, but their present sorrow he could feel with and he joined
with. And it's good for us to realize
we have a sympathizing high priest above, the same Jesus here is
above, There He is, our High Priest. There He does make intercession. There He does sympathize. He does know and does know our
frame. He has walked this earth before
us. He's been through these circumstances
before us. We might be in the midst of friends
that are in bereavement, or those that have lost loved ones, and
those in much perplexity and trial, and we see, think, the
Lord was in this situation, and this is how He felt. And this
is the path that he walked. Our Lord is a Lord of sympathy
and knoweth our frame. The second thing is this, that
our Lord instigated what was here. The Lord himself said unto
them. They aren't saying, Lord, we're
tired, we want to rest. Lord, we're perplexed, we need
to come apart. There's much going, we need to
come apart. The Lord instigates it. Now I
know we make plans, we make arrangements, but we might say of this, the
Lord instigated this here, and really in everything that we
go through, the Lord is the beginner of it. He causeth it to come. Who is he that saith, and it
cometh to pass when the Lord commandeth it not? And it's good
for us to realize this, our whole salvation, the Lord is first
in salvation. He instigates it, he begins it,
he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the
day of Jesus Christ. And so may we see in this, with
the disciples here, the Lord beginning a thing. And may we
see in our times of rest and change as well, the Lord beginning
a thing, and it may not be in the very fact of going away,
but some aspects in the circumstances of it, the timing of it, changing
the timing, perhaps fitting in between engagements, or fitting
in between work, or fitting in with something that we're going
and meeting people with, and we see these things falling into
place, and we cannot but see that this is the Lord's And this
is the Lord's timing that it should be at such a time. And
it's good for us to see this. We hope we can see it in many
aspects in our lives, in providence, that we see the Lord's hand. But this is specifically in this,
in having a time of rest and change, to see the Lord's hand
then. And then we have the Lord giving
them direction here. He said unto them, come ye yourselves
apart into a desert place and rest a while. He's giving them
the directions and guidance. I know we don't have it the same
as when our Lord was on earth and not in the days of the prophets
that Lord speaks through the prophets. And we're not looking
to even the word of God for everything that we do here below. But I
hope everything that we do, we commit before the Lord in prayer
And that we observe that in James, that those that were saying we
shall go into this city and that city and buy and sell, whereas
you ought to say the Lord will, we will do this or do that. And
when we do commit it unto the Lord in that way, and the Lord
opens the way and brings it about, we may know this is the Lord's
will. He has appointed this way that
we are to go. And we would be thankful for
the Lord's direction. We think of shut doors and open
doors, things of which shape where we end up and where we
are. Then I want to think of this
word, come. I always like this word, come,
come ye yourselves, is not go, not go and have a rest, go into
some country, The Lord didn't say to Noah, you go into the
ark. He says, come. Well, if someone
says come, they are already there. And they are bidding you come
to them. Come unto me, all you that are
weary and 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. You
shall find rest unto your souls. And it's prefaced with the come.
The invitation, no man cometh unto me except the Father which
sent me. Draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
A blessed thing to be drawn in that way. We think at last, come ye blessed
of my Father into the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation
of the world. It's a beautiful word, has come.
When we hear it, when we know the Spirit, speaking to us through
the Word of God. May we know that blessed come
in life and in death, to know it then. And then the personal
nature, it is come ye. He's speaking to the disciples
here, but may we know this also ourselves personally, come ye. No, we don't just want generalities
in the preaching of the Word. We want that the Word came expressly
unto me, and that we hear, my sheep, they hear my voice and
they follow me, and that it be a personal faith. We often have
to emphasize this, and in our evangelistic leaflets as well,
to emphasize you need a personal faith. It's not enough just to
have a general belief in doctrines, not enough that you just have
a Bible and you just read it and every now and again, but
never think that you need to personally trust and have faith
given you by our Lord, a faith that centers in the Lord Jesus
Christ and trusts in Him. But then we have ye yourselves.
And as I was thinking on this word, I thought there is a real
significance in this. Yourselves. Not all your home,
not all your stuff, but yourselves. If you've ever been on an aircraft
and you get told what you should do in the event of a smash or
emergency, you are to leave your belongings, You're not to get
them from overhead lockers or anywhere, you're to just go outside,
evacuate the plane, just yourselves, nothing else. And so the picture
here is yourselves, body, mind and spirit, but you're not bringing
any cumberance with you. If we think of the account of
Martha, And with Mary, Mary was sitting at the feet of our Lord,
hearing his word, but Martha was comforted about with much
caring. Caring for the Lord, religious
things, busy things. And because of that, she couldn't
sit at the Lord's feet and hear his word. Now if we went aside
to rest a while if we went away to have a holiday. But we still
had all the things that Martha had. It wouldn't be no profit. We need to be like Mary. So there
is just Mary and the Lord and those things that specifically
were a cumberance and keeping us from the Lord or sitting at
his feet. Those things specifically I speak
to myself here, no doubt my dear one will remind me of this sermon,
that they must be left behind, otherwise there's no purpose.
And I think with this word, yourselves, yourselves. You know, when Joseph,
he spoke to his brethren to go to his father and to come to
Egypt, he said, regard not your staff. You just come. You leave
your stuff. There's everything here. You
don't need to bring all this. Now I know we pack up, we go
away on holiday, but you know what I mean. Those things that
have been caused why we could not rest where we are and in
our home, that it is those things, those things that are to be left
behind. It is yourselves. This is for
you. This is for your person. This
is not for others you've been ministering to, working for,
laboring under, concerned about, and burdened in your mind. This
is for you. And may we think of this word
in this context, this invitation, this what the Lord says, come
ye yourselves apart. Separate, away from those things,
a separation. This is what the Lord is, is
speaking in this instance, which you might say didn't last for
long with the disciples at all. It certainly was while they were
in the ship. And I thought this driving back from Salisbury this
afternoon. in a brother in the ministry
at Biddendon and we had two and a bit hours there in the car
together, no one else, it was just us and we could converse
and speak and yes we had to concentrate on the driving a bit but otherwise
it was a time apart and on the ship that is what they had. We don't read of anything that
happened, we do later at other times in the ship but not this
time. but they were alone together
with the Lord. But the principle for us is in
the words here of our text. He said unto them, Come ye yourselves
apart. I want to look then at the second
place, the place that is chosen. The place the Lord chose was
a desert place. Desert place. The Lord's design, the Lord's
purpose. It was to be such a place. Not
adding to our burdens and sorrows. We picture a desert. There's nothing there that's
going to add the coming and going, the toing and froing, the people
The desert place. How often it is in the word,
isn't it? Here it is here. It was with Moses, they had to
be brought out into the desert, into the wilderness. It was with
Philip going to the desert, which is Gaza, the desert. There is the Ethiopia. And these
places that there is really nothing of this world and the things
of this world. and is where the Lord worked
miracles. In the wilderness, he gave them
food from heaven, and he gave them water out of the rock, and
here in this place, when the people all followed him, there
they were, and he worked the miracles with the loaves, and
the fishes, And that was in this desert place. The miracles in
the wilderness with children in Israel, the miracles in the
wilderness here, the miracles in the wilderness with Ethiopian
eunuch. He was called by grace, he was
blessed. He was blessed under the same
scripture that at first he couldn't understand at all. And Philip
began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. how
we need to come apart with an expectation the Lord will work
miracles in this place. The Lord will give us that bread
from heaven, that true manna which is the Lord, and he'll
give us that water out of the rock, the living water. Blessed
to have that expectation. Here we are to receive that which
doesn't come from earth. It doesn't come from the things
of this world. We are not to think, well, we're
going for a rest and change. We're going to forget about the
chapel services. We're not going to bother attending
anywhere. We're not going to have our reading
and prayer. We're going to have a nice change, a nice... We're
going to forget everything, just do everything different. The
Lord's people don't leave their God. The God doesn't leave them. And the desire for that change
is not to run away from the Lord or his word or his people, but
to have that fellowship and that union and that blessing that
they had so interrupted before. The disciples here said that
they had no time so much as to even eat, but they did eat miraculously
in the desert there. But they certainly hadn't got
that time to speak and commune and have fellowship with the
Lord. And so really, we would trust
in this. The Lord knows, knows the places
where we go. He knows what places are appointed
for us and for our good. I hope that we could trust the
Lord more in His choice. You say, yes, but I had to make
the decisions and I had to search and I had to work these things
out. Are we really in control? Is not the Lord above it all?
Is man that makes these things, but is God that overrules it?
The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof
is of the Lord. And so we notice then that place,
and may we notice those places, like the hymn writer says, dost
thou mind this spot and place where Jesus did thee meet? where
the Lord has appointed for us to go. I hope when we try to
make those plans that we don't leave the Lord out of them, don't
trust that the Lord has been not only in them but the instigator
and leader and director in these things. I want to look then thirdly
at the reason for coming apart, to rest a while. Come ye yourselves
apart into a desert place and rest a while. Rest has always been ordained
of God. In the creation, and remember
this is before man fell, there was night and there was day. There was even rest then. Before
man fell, there was one day in seven. It was a hallowed day. It was not a day for recreation
and pleasure. It was a day sanctified and made
holy for the worship of God. Six days for man to do all his
work and labor and pleasure, but one day for the Lord. One day in seven to think of
heaven. And again, some would say, oh,
that's Old Testament. That doesn't apply today. The
Lord's people, there's no such thing as a Christian Sabbath.
You hear so-called Christians saying that. They say every day,
every day is the Lord's Day. We can worship every day. And
in effect, they worship no days. It's a great privilege to have
morning, afternoon, evening, If you have afternoon, whatever,
we meet together as a family or loved ones meet together for
reading and prayer and devotions. But that's not the same as a
day apart and a day of rest. And it's such a blessing that
we do have the one day in seven. Many times that Satan will try
and tempt us, we have a time for reading and prayer, say,
oh, you've got to do this, you've got to do that. But when it comes
to the Lord's Day, we can clearly say to Him, no, this is the Lord's
Day. You be silent. You have no jurisdiction
here. You can't tell me here, because
this is what the Lord has given me. And the Lord has instituted
that. When the Lord rose from the dead,
He rose on the first day of the week. And it was in that day
that He met with the disciples. And when Thomas wasn't there,
Thomas had to wait for another week. And then the Lord read. The Lord was sanctifying that
day, as what John says in Revelation 1, as the Lord's day. We read
of the Apostle Paul preaching the Word on the Sabbath days. And the Bereans, they searched
the Scriptures daily whether these things were so. But Paul
wasn't preaching all the week through, but they were meditating
on what they'd heard. And so, though of course, when
the churches were first formed, They met on the Saturday, what
we call the Saturday, the seventh day, but as the churches were
full, they met on the first day of the week, remembering the
day the Lord rose from the dead. The Lord has instituted that
time of rest and time of rest that is spent in worship in time
with himself. But there are also those times
when he calls his people to come apart and to rejuvenate. I don't know how many times,
brethren, we meet with some of them that have been twice as
long as me in the ministry, or nearly twice as long. They always
exhort to be very careful in the ministry of not over-exerting,
not becoming so drained that you end up having a breakdown
and finished and just cannot continue at all. And it is a
wonderful then provision where we can have a rest, where we
can hear the Word of God. Rest. But then we have this word
a while, is not for ever, is not for a
long time, it's just an appointed time, a while. And I felt as
meditating upon this, that we should lay hold upon this, and
hedge about that little a while, and say to ourselves that after
this a while, I'm going to be back with my labours, with my
toil, whatever I'm doing, will be there waiting for me. But
during this a while, I'm not going to be doing that. That
little a while is going to be with the Lord, is going to be
free from these other things, is not permanent, but is for
this a while. So that we can truly enjoy the
awhile and make full use of it, we are warned, take no thought
for tomorrow, the deeds of tomorrow shall take thought for themselves.
We can have the best intentions, we've come apart, but we've still
got a rope here and we're still holding onto this here or something
there, and it spoils that awhile, intrudes in it. But if we can
say to ourselves, no, the Lord has given us a while, and I'm
going to take full advantage of that, because after that a
while, then I'm going to be back. And if I make full advantage
of that a while, then I'll receive the benefit of it ready for coming
back, refreshed and strengthened again. So in the words of the
text, there's many aspects of it. I believe we can really get
help and strength to make full use of the time that the Lord
gives us. He has told us to redeem the
time for the days are evil. And we have examples in many
things that we do when we come into the house of God. What would
we think if you got the minister and he's just for the while,
for the hour and a half service, he's supposed to be reading and
praying. But he's busy thinking and doing
all sorts of other things. He's got something on the side
doing it. We're used to the need to try
and concentrate fully on what we're doing. I know many times
we get things intruding. But in this context of rest,
it's to be aware. that those other things do not
intrude. And you say, what other things?
Well, the disciples here, we are told of those other things
that had been happening. We're told as those things that
many were coming and going. They had no leisure so much as
to eat. They'd had their sorrows, they'd
had their funeral, they'd had these things they walked through.
These were those things especially and you and I, you know, I think
we could write a piece of paper and you write down all of the
things that's been in our mind and in our life and all the things
we'd worried about and burdened with and you put that list and
you say, now they're the things I'm going to lay aside for a
while. This is what I'm coming apart from, these things. May the Lord make it a help.
This is what belongs to here below, but what a prospect we
have above. That won't be a while, will it?
That will be eternally. That will be eternally. Eternal
rest. There remaineth a rest, a keeping
of Sabbath to the people of God, but there remaineth an eternal
rest, when all of the burdens, the trials, may that help us
in our rest. These things are but for time.
They are hard to lay aside. I remember my dear mother on
her dying bed and she used to take care of all the finances
and the farm and now she is blind and she was dying of cancer.
But there she was, she was worried about paying the workers and
doing this on time and that on time. Not right at the end, but
it really struck me. And my father also, before he
died, you know, he wanted to put his house in order or get
things sorted and done. And even with eternity before
us, this world, it holds and it tries to drag us back and
tries to involve us. But in the end, we must lay everything
aside. Someone else took care of the
workers. Someone else did the things my
father wanted done. And someone else will do the
things that we're so burdened thinking we're the only one that
can manage it and do it, and someone else will manage it,
and within a few years we'll almost be forgotten, and life
will go on, but where will our soul be? What a mercy of here
below. We've often had our thoughts
and affections set on things above, and had those times that
remind us there shall come a time It may not be far from any of
us that we do have to lay aside all these things. The Apostle,
speaking of the type of running a race, he said, let us lay aside
every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us, let
us run the race set before us, looking unto Jesus. Or may that
be that we do not lose sight of our Lord Jesus Christ, These
dear disciples were not too. The very text, it begins with
the come, and the Lord is before them. And that is who they are
aiming for and coming to. And so as we began, may we at
last hear that blessed voice, come ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation
of the world. May the Lord add his blessing
Give us that time of rest and change, bring us in peace and
safety back here at the appointed time. Amen.