our service this evening by singing
hymn number 307, the tune is Hussington, number 544. And must it, Lord, be so? And must thy children bear such
various kinds of woe, such soul-perplexing fear? Are these the blessings
we expect? Is this the lot of God today?
Shall guilty man complain? Shall sinful dust repine? And
what is all our pain? How light compare with thine?
Finish, dear Lord, what is begun. Choose thou the way, but still
lead on. Hymn number 307, tune Haslingdon,
number 544. ? Lost in the wisdom ? ? Of once
my children ? ? The hills and the woods ? ? And
sorrow and sleepiness ? ? The waves and the birds ? ? Between
the trees ? ? This is the house of God's kingdom
? ? The Lord Jesus of Nazareth ? ? O'er the place of our hearts
? ? Ever more heart and mind ? ? We trust. ? Om Namah Shivayametu Keshavem
Shivayam Shivayam Namo'valokiteshvaraya Dear Savior, still lead us. Lord, lead us, till we say, Father,
thy will be done. And thanks be to you, our days
are now, For thou, evermost truncated heart, Their beauty and profane Shall
soon put us before. Thou who didst do the pain Thou
light of death without. In excellent form, O Lady God,
She hath the way of salvation. May we be helped to read this
evening from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 11. The Gospel of Matthew chapter
11. And it came to pass when Jesus
had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed
thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Now when John
had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his
disciples and said unto him, Art thou he that should come,
or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto
them, Go and show John again those things which ye do hear
and see. The blind received their sight,
and the lame walked, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear,
the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached
to them. And blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me. And as they departed, Jesus began
to say unto the multitudes concerning John, what went ye out into the
wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft clothing
Are in kings' houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you,
and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is
written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall
prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, among
them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater
than John the Baptist, notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom
of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the
Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence,
and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the
law prophesied until John, and if ye will receive it, this is
Elias which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. But whereunto shall I liken this
generation? It is like unto children sitting
in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying, we
have piped unto you, and ye have not danced. We have mourned unto
you, and ye have not lamented. For John came neither eating
nor drinking, and they say, he hath a devil. The Son of Man
came eating, and drinking, and they say, behold, a man gluttonous
and a wine-biver, a friend of publicans and sinners, but wisdom
is justified of her children. Then began he to upbraid the
cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they
repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe
unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which
were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would
have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you,
it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of
judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art
exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell, for if
the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in
Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto
you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the
day of judgment than for thee. At that time Jesus answered and
said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes. Even so, father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto
me of my father, and no man knoweth the son but the father, neither
knoweth any man the father save the son, and he to whomsoever
the sun will reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labour
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. We'll leave the reading there,
friends. May the dear Lord bless the reading
of his own word to us each, and help us to pray. O Lord, we do
beg, as we come before thee once more, that thou wouldst teach
us to pray. O Lord, not just the words that
we think that we should say, but those words that are prompted
or drawn out from us to come unto thee, the majesty in the
heavens. O Lord, may we be found in our
rightful place, thy dear feet. We have come, Lord, to worship
Thee. Put out all the buyers and the
sellers, we do pray this evening, and come into our midst, we beg
of Thee, that we might have true worship of a risen Saviour. O Lord, as we come, may we be
found in a right frame of mind. May we be focused on those things
of Thyself. May our affections be set on
things above. not on things on the earth. Lord
we have failed many times and we have been in the sanctuary
and thought of earthly things. Oh we do pray that thou would
bring us to the side Lord and may we think on heavenly things
this evening that our minds and our hearts might be taken up
with thee. Oh Lord we do pray we beg of
thee that we might have this hour or so in the presence of
Almighty God, in a reality. Lord, we know that we walk in
thy presence continuously. Thou art everywhere, but we do
pray earnestly that as we come into the sanctuary, we might
know thy more immediate presence, shown to thy people through the
Saviour. O Lord, do lift up the light
of thy countenance upon us each, and do us good. Lord, we pray
for the anointing of the Holy Spirit as we come amongst this
people. We pray that thou wouldst enliven
us and open our mouths wide. Oh, we do pray that thou wouldst
take control of the service. And Lord, may something be done
in our own hearts. And in the people's hearts, we
do beg. Oh, that the name of Jesus might
be precious to us. That it might not just be a name
that we've heard from our birth, but it might be a name that registers
in our innermost heart, that call by grace to know the Saviour
and to know His precious voice. Where we come with dear Samuel
of old, Lord, when he was only young, he said, Lord, speak,
Lord, for thy servant heareth. And oh, may it come up and may
it be an echo down through the ages into this time, into this
chapel, where we truly can say, speak, Lord, for Thy servant
here is. We need to be led by Thee, we
need to be guided by Thee, and we need Thee every hour. And
we do pray, Lord, that Thou wouldst help us, each one of us, as we
continue looking unto Jesus, that our way might be in Thee. Lord, oftentimes we think that
we have our own way. Oftentimes we think that we can
go in the way that we desire. Thou hast said, I am the way.
And Lord, this is hard for the flesh to understand. It's hard
for the flesh to walk out, but they'll just still say, I am
the way. And dear Lord, we believe that
they will bring every one of thy children into that way. And so do help us this evening
as we look into thy precious word. Speak to us, Lord, from
it. Oh, may we have fresh discoveries
of thee. May we see thee in a different
way. Lord, and yet we would not pass on or pass by those places
where thou hast shown us thyself. Show us again, Lord. Whatever
is in thy will, we do pray that we might be found in it. Bless
us each as we gather. We do pray, and we especially
pray for dear Uncle Jave, their pastor. Do remember him at home,
Lord. Thou hast laid him aside. Thou
hast put affliction upon him. We do pray that thou wouldst
bless him indeed, as he is taken to one side to rest a while.
We thank thee Lord that he is making an improvement but we
do pray that it might continue and that he might be strengthened
and made strong in the Lord we do pray and that he might be
enabled to come back amongst his people and to preach the
everlasting gospel. we do pray that fruit and might
follow him the preaching of the word and that he might be encouraged
in his lonely pathway we do pray for him we thank him thank thee
lord for families which are a great support but in his loneliness
we do pray for him lord that they would help him and be with
him and oh may he truly be in thee dear lord and may he have
those sweet times of meditation upon thee. Lord, help all thy
servants as they come in and out of this cause of truth. Be with them and help them, Lord. Speak through them. This is a
great privilege and we do beg and pray that the instrument,
although it is weak and feeble, that it might be used to speak
those words that God would have his people hear. Oh Lord, leave
us not, thou knowest how quickly we would fail, how quickly we
would fall if thou didst let go of us. And so we pray with
the psalmist, hold thou me up and I shall continue, I shall
be held up if thou dost hold us. Oh Lord, do bless the children
here and be with them and help them and go before them in their
lives. and may they each be taught of
the Lord. We pray for the Sabbath school
and the teachers. Remember them, Lord, we do beg. And build up this corner of thy
vineyard, if it be thy holy will, and each cause of truth, Lord,
where thy name is worshipped. We pray that there might be those
that are converted, those that are brought in, that are heirs
of glory. Lord, those that have their names,
in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world.
Bring them in, dear Lord, we do pray. We do not ask for numbers
just for numbers sake. We ask that thy children, the
heirs of glory, might be brought into these places so that they
might continue until thou dost come again. O Lord, forgive us
as people, as thy people, where we failed thee. Thou failest
not, we thank thee for it. Thou art ever the same, there
is no change has taken place in thee, it is all in us. We
pray for the deacons here, do remember them and be with them
and help them in those things that come upon them and in the
concerns of the fabric of this church, we pray for them earnestly
that thou would help them Lord, be with and may they bear up,
and we believe they do, but we would pray, Lord, that they might
be given strength to, afresh, bear up the arms of their pastor. And we pray for all their servants,
wherever they are, preaching this evening, be with them and
help them. They may be resting at home, help them there, Lord,
for we know and really believe that the burden of the word never
leaves them. and so do help them continuously,
we do pray. Oh, we do ask that thy name might
be honoured and glorified amongst us this evening, that poor flesh
might be laid in the dust and a precious Christ exalted. We
pray for the young people, Lord, here. Do be with them and help
them and lead them, guide them in those things that they need
guiding, in employment, in partners in life. Lord, we do pray that
they might lay these things before thee, and that they might wait
for thy voice, that they might wait for thy choosing. Lord,
help them and encourage them. We pray for the dear friends
from Holland. Be with them and help them, and especially as
they go home tomorrow, take them safely. And may they go in the
convoy of thy love. And may they truly, dear Lord,
have had their souls fed and watered while in England. Do
go with them, we pray, and bless them indeed. And Lord, we do
pray for any that are unwell, any that are laid aside or even
in hospital, of thy people, we pray for them earnestly, that
thou wouldst come down and that thou wouldst give them help.
For help is needed, Lord. Help is needed every day. And
we believe that we can never wear out that little prayer,
Lord, help me. Oh, the thousands of times thou
hast heard it, dear Lord, but our mercy is the thousands of
times that thou hast sent help and deliverance. So be with us
each, we do pray, we thank thee for bringing us safely until
now. Hitherto the Lord hath helped
me, and may we be enabled to say he will help us all our journey
through. May we truly, dear Lord, lay
our concerns at thy dear feet, and thou have all the glory.
For the Lord's name's sake, amen. Continue our service by singing
hymn number 917, the Junior's Evening Hymn number 709. Cease,
O believer, cease to mourn, return unto thy rest return. Why should thy sorrows swell? Though deep distress thy steps
attend, thy warfare shall in triumph end. With thee it shall
go well. Though trouble now thy heart
appalls, and deep to deep incessant calls, no storm shall injure
thee. Thy anchor, once in Jesus' cast,
shall hold thy soul till thou at last hymn face to face shalt
see. Hymn number 917, tune evening
hymn number 709. ? Thy rest return ? ? Thy shepherds
on the stand ? ? And in its trance ? ? Thy saviour stand ? My home, my nation, in joy I
find, In thee we show the way. ? And God has sent his righteous
word ? ? To guide the righteous in the righteous way ? ? The sins he brings ? ? Now let
thy voice ? ? As the heavens sing ? ? Long may his song ?
? Shall go repeating ? ? And I look up ? ? And bow to
the moon ? ? And hear it tell me ? Resurrected in Calvary ? And the cross ? ? Which Jesus
crossed ? ? Shall open soon ? ? Till love at last ? ? Gives grace
to grace ? May the dear Lord help me to
say a few things this evening from the chapter that we read,
the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 11 and verse 28. The Gospel of
Matthew, chapter 11 and verse 28. Come unto me, all ye that
labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Chapter
11 in the Gospel of Matthew, verse 28, come unto me, all ye
that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Just in verse 27 it says, all
things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth
the Father, no man knoweth the Son, but the
Father. Now isn't it a wonderful thing
that these Precious words and they are so precious these first
three words come unto me And now I would like to start off
by asking you each a question personally Why did you come to
Jesus? What was the reason you came
to Jesus? Have you got a reason? Is there
something that the Lord gave to you that you had to come back
to him? We don't just come to Jesus,
friends. We can't just come to Jesus. I couldn't. Hell, they come to
Jesus today, I do not know. Where they just come to Jesus,
friends, you have to have something to come. The reason. You've got to have a reason. Otherwise, you'll never come.
You'll never, ever come. Unless you've got a reason. And
one of the reasons is that he gives it to you. If he never
gave you a reason to go to him, then you have no reason to go
to him. It's common sense, isn't it? But the creature can't learn
it. Only the godly come to Jesus. Only poor, sinful, seeking sinners
come to Jesus that have the work of the Holy Spirit in them. Without
the work of the Holy Spirit, we have nothing to do with Jesus
at all. We cannot get near him, we do
not know him, we shall never know him. Unless we have the
work of the Holy Spirit and then you and I can come into this
text. Come unto me. Aren't they beautiful words?
They're beautiful because it means to the people of God. They
have something to go, somebody to go to. Come. Really friends, this word come
stands alone. And in the respect of all invitations,
all invitations in the gospel, this one word stands alone. It's like a pillar in all the
invitations. You take this one pillar out
and there's no invitations. Nothing. You've got to come. by the Spirit. This one pillar
is holding it all up in all encouragements to the people of God. Come. Oh, this precious voice. If you've
ever heard it in your heart, you'll know what he meant when
he said come. It's also the outstretched hand
of love and mercy extended to a sinner, a poor sinner, one
that is hell deserving, one that has nothing And the hand of mercy
extends to them. It says, come, come. It's a lovely thing naturally,
isn't it, if somebody asks you to come round to their house
or come with them. Moses said it, didn't he, to
his father-in-law or his brother-in-law, one of them, he said, Hoseb,
or whatever his name was, he said, come with us, come with
us. It's a beautiful thing, isn't
it, when you have the invite of someone else, but friend,
this is totally different. This is totally different. When
the saviour of sinners says, come unto me. They're the most choiceless words
that a poor, hell-deserving sinner can ever hear. That there is
an invitation. Something that you never knew.
An invitation you didn't know invitations were in the Bible. I didn't. I didn't know this
was a book of invitations! I didn't know God was inviting
his people to come! Until he works in your heart,
and then you'll be looking for every single word, every single
word that has accessibility on it, that has something of the entrance
on it, something where the Lord will be merciful, This is what
we want, isn't it? We don't want to just keep coming
in like the door on its hinges to and fro. We need food. We're hungry souls. We need feeding. And while your dear pastor's
laid aside, he needs feeding. Pray for him. Pray for him. Not just to get better and start
feeding you again. Pray for him, that he'll be fed. He needs food, continuously. The souls that are found in this
text are hungry souls, are thirsty souls. All these precious word
of coming to the dear Redeemer. You know, the psalmist said these
things are too high for me. The depth, the height, the love,
the mercy, the compassion, the sympathy. Friend, could you stop
that list of what Jesus is to his people? How are you ever
going to know what he is? Unless he says come. If he says
come to you, oh that the Holy Spirit would seal this upon our
hearts, you know, you would go out of here refreshed for your
life to come. Come unto me. Peter says, to whom else can
we go? You know, why don't we learn
from what the disciples say? Jesus said, well they'll also
go away, and he said, to whom else can we go? He proved there
was nowhere else. Why do we look somewhere else?
Why do we? You say, well we don't. We do,
friend. We look to our own arm of flesh. We look to our own
heart. It shall deliver me. It won't,
it'll never deliver you. Your arm of flesh will never
deliver you. There was only one. Peter said,
there's nobody else. To whom else shall we go? Don't
you love this language? Isn't this a language that you
really want to take hold of and learn it by grace? These few
words come unto me are like the most precious view that you could
ever see. And you know, don't you, you've
travelled around and you've seen some beautiful views and you're
astounded at them, aren't you? You're sort of staggered that
God should allow poor sinful eyes to feast on a view. And yet when you get here, the
view is more beautiful and the view is not, it really isn't
as beautiful as you thought. It's beyond what you can think.
It's absolutely beyond it. You go to any mountain and you
see a view, it's nothing compared with Christ. The gospel in its
beauty is only half the story. It's only half the story, friends.
The Queen of Sheba, she came to Solomon and she said, only
half was told me, only half. If you've seen Christ in the
ministry, friends, only half has been told you. If you have
this view, when you come unto me of him, it'll swallow you
up. And such a view is only in glory. It's only in glory will you ever
see this view that is endless and eternal of a precious Christ.
And what will he say there? Come unto me. I've been saying
it all your life. I've been telling you since you
was a child. And I mean a child in grace. A child in grace, you know an
old man can die a child, can't they? 100 years old. You see
when the Lord begins with his people, he starts bringing them
to himself. We don't know it, we don't realise
it. Some do, some don't. The work is so different. But
the moment you're born again and you're brought into gospel
liberty, the Lord is saying come unto me. He's saying it. Come unto me. And this is where
our desire should be. Away with all this false stuff. Away with all these things that
are so fleshly. It will do us no good. No good
at all. We will not be able to stand
in our flesh before God. We will not. We will only stand
in Christ. Only in Christ, friends. It's
not how big we are, how good we are, how well off we are,
how well we've done our qualifications. It's nothing to do with that.
Come unto me. Oh, these dear people. Oh, friend,
don't you want to be one of them? Don't you want to be one of them?
Come unto me. What a saviour we have, don't
we? In this coming, It's a beautiful
place to come unto me in the dear Lord Jesus. And if you've
been there, you'll understand what I mean. But a sinner coming
to a savior. There's no better place you could
ever go on earth than a... What focused him? What focused
him? And what focuses you and I? When
you start to sink. The ground's not good beneath
me. It's not good beneath me. It's not good beneath you. There's
no ground that can hold you, friend. Nothing. He needed to
get back on the foundation. And he couldn't do it. He needed
to get back on solid ground and he couldn't do it. Only by doing
something that the Lord allowed him to do, he cried. He cried. Come unto me. Save me, Lord. Save me. This really teaches us, doesn't
it? I'm not getting anywhere with this, but save me, Lord.
He could see that he couldn't save himself. He couldn't. He
was lost. the dear extended arm of Jesus
now this is what I want to come to come unto me here we see the
very words in practice come unto me and the dear Lord
stretched his arm out stretched it right out he wasn't going to let Peter
sing he won't let you sing you think he will Sometimes you think
you'll sink, you never let anybody sink. He stretched out his arm,
we're not even told how deep Peter had gone. He had enough
out of the water to cry, Lord, save me. So his mouth must have
been out, but his body might have been right in. The Lord
was teaching him, take your eyes off me, Peter, and you'll sink. And the dear Redeemer took hold
of him. look at the whisper, Peter I
said come, I said come. Everything was focused. He was
back on the foundation. He was, although he hadn't left
the foundation spiritually, he was back on the foundation physically. The Lord picked him out of the
water. Come unto me. I better move on
but there's so many accounts isn't there where the Lord has
come to his people where he's come to them. Do you need to
come to him? Like I said in the beginning
what is your reason for coming? What was your reason for coming
unto him? And then he says there's two
conditions, just two conditions that this soul is found in. There'll
be thousands of conditions that the souls are found in but he
just states two here and that is all ye that labour Or were
you that labour first? Labour is hard work, isn't it?
It's something where, you know you get some, you do get some
workmen but they're quite idle, aren't they? They don't use their
strength, do they? They don't use every muscle they've
got in their body to do their job. They literally just do it
half-heartedly and take what they can. The Lord won't have
that. He won't have it. Not in the
kingdom of grace He will not have half-hearted people. Come
unto me all ye that labour, and believe me, you'll labour. You will labour with every muscle
in your body for the Lord. You will labour under what He
puts you. You'll labour in prayer like
you've never laboured before. You know your pray? Really, we
cannot teach each other to pray. The Lord teaches us. Yes, we
can copy our parents. Yes, we can copy the men at chapel. We can do that. That's easy,
isn't it? We can quote phrases and terminology. We can all do that, can't we?
That's not labouring. That's not labouring at all.
That's doing it to please the ear of the people that are listening.
Remember, it's God that's listening. Come unto me, all ye that labour.
and sometimes the labour in prayer exhausts you. It really does. When the Lord lays his spirit
works within you, you will be exhausted in prayer. It's easier
to go to work than it is to pray, before the Lord I mean. It's
easier to do a day's labour from early morning to late at night
than it is to labour in prayer. But the Lord will have it so.
He'll have you labour, and he'll have you labour, and he'll have
you labour, in all sorts of different things. Prayer, exercise, one
for another, and look, he still says, when you're at your weakest
point, your weakest state, I think that one of the hymns
says this, doesn't it? When they are at their weakest,
they aren't dear to man. They are close to me. When you're
weakest, it's so different to what we understand in our nature. We think the stronger we are,
the more like him we are. No friend, the weaker you are,
the closer you are. It's like that. So these that
labour, and you might be labouring under sadness, sorrow, sin, guilt,
there's so many things that the Lord makes us labour under. But
it's all to bring us to Him. It's all for us to understand
that He is inviting us to come to Him. Are you laboring under somebody
that you love? Are you really laboring for them?
Listen, He says, bring them along too. You know, friends, we miss
out on so much, don't we? Unless the Lord show us Bring
them too, come unto me. This is the place where everything
is sorted out at the feet of Jesus. Everything is sorted out
friends, not just some things. Whatever you have and make sure,
well it will be if you come to him, but I was going to say make
sure it's a hard case because it will be. He only takes on
the hardest cases, he does. I don't misunderstand me that
if you've got something easy he'll help you. He'll help you
turn a tap on if you're old and you can't. He'll help you undo
a nut or a bolt if you can't do it. He'll help you lift something
if you're unable to. He will do all that. But when
he takes on the hard case of the soul that really needs him. Those that are laboring. You know, when I was working
on the building you could tell There was one man especially that laboured more than the rest.
He laboured far more than the rest. Oh, I can see him now. He only just sat down, had one
sandwich and he was gone again. And the men couldn't understand
it. They said, why is he doing it? Because that was him. It
was nothing to do with Christianity. It was nothing to do with God.
That was his bit maker. But you know, since I've thought
about that and I've thought what a beautiful example it is to
you and I. Idle hands bring mischief. You know, the Lord will never
have his people idle. Even when he went to the market
and he saw them standing idle, he didn't say we'll carry on
and have the rest of the day off, did he? What did he say?
Go and work in the vineyard and I will give thee thy labour.
You see, if we're coming to the Lord Jesus, we will be amongst
these labourers. All of them! He went up into
a mountain and he looked down and he saw the disciples toiling
and rowing. What did he do? Let them struggle. Let them struggle. See if they can put it right.
See if they can do it themselves. I'll give them a little bit longer. Do you know what compassion is?
Do you know what sympathy is? All I can say is, friends, it's
Jesus. It's Jesus. He hasn't got some
sympathy. He hasn't got some compassion.
He is sympathy. He is compassion. When we talk about people on
earth, we say they're so sympathising, but they're not sympathy itself.
He is. And he saw them, the moment he
saw them toiling in rowing, he goes to them, comes straight
to them. And perhaps you're toiling in rowing. It's labour, it's
labour. Come unto me, all ye that labour. Look, just a few points. And
heavy laden, heavy laden, friends. Do you know sometimes you feel
like you're carrying yourself, don't you? If you understand
what I mean, It's hard enough just living, but when you have
to carry yourself, that's heavy laden. And when you have to carry
others, and perhaps the Lord has given you a burden, and you
have to carry that as well. And you ask the Lord, why? Why
have I got this burden as well as what I'm already carrying?
Because I said, come unto me. And what do you do with this
burden? What are you gonna do with it? Do you really really
think that if he said come unto me and you arrived at his feet
he wouldn't take it off you? Do you really think that? You
say well I go to his throne of grace and I feelingly lay it
at his feet and then I take it away. Why? Why? It's you that
takes it away because you haven't let go of it. That's the problem. You haven't let go. You can have
grace to let go of your burden. And I mean by grace, friends. The dear Lord takes it on. He
took it on before you were born. I'd love that scene in Pilgrim's
Progress. Heavy laden, where the dear man
walks up the hill difficulty. We went and had a look at that
hill difficulty in Bedford. It's quite a hill, and the poor
man with all his pots and pans walking up the hill he was heavy
laden and he portrays it doesn't he in Pilgrim's Progress of carrying
all the all his burden on his back and no one would help him
no one could untie it no one could unstrap it it was his it
was his burden there was only one that he'd heard of could
do it but he hadn't got it relieved he'd heard of it He'd heard there was one that
could untie it for him, undo it for him, and relieve him.
But he had to get there. And where did he go? Lovely little
account, you can read that afresh, even just that one paragraph,
or that one page. It goes up the hill difficulty,
doesn't it? It goes up the hill to the cross. He ventures near
the cross, doesn't he, by faith. And what happened? The Lord untied
it for him and it rolled right down into an empty tomb. It's
gone. His burden, heavy laden, come unto me. And this is really
the invitation from the dear Lord Jesus to the souls of his
people, and only his people, where they can find real relief. Real relief, friends. Because
he tells us, look, he says, and I will give you rest. You and I have proved, haven't
you, there's no rest in self. There's no rest in our minds,
there's no rest in our hearts. You might have a few moments,
and if you have a few moments, then the devil knows, he knows.
He knows he won't let you rest at all. Once he does, the sea
starts getting boisterous, doesn't it? And he starts telling you
all sorts of things. Why? Because he doesn't want you to
rest. Not physical rest, rest in Christ. Do you know, dear old Jacob,
when he went to, he left and went to Laban's house, didn't
he? But on the way, he laid down
on a pillow and pulled up all the stones for his pillow. He
went fast asleep, fast asleep. Why? He was resting in Jesus. He had all his trouble, he had
everything, but think of the rest he got. And in that rest,
he saw the Lord. He saw the Lord clearly, the
ladder set up, the Lord at the bar above, above everything,
come unto me. You know, this beautiful rest.
There is a hymn, isn't there? There is a rest that remains
for the people of God. I used to walk round the graveyard
of the Dicca and I could not understand what this meant, this
word that was written on the tombstones. They rest from their
labours and their works do follow them. I couldn't understand that.
As a little boy, I didn't know what it meant. Having been taught a little bit
by the Lord, I understand what that word means. How they laboured
here below. They laboured, laboured for souls. Not for the benefit of themselves,
not for the benefit of profit, they laboured for the souls of
God's elect. And the Lord took them into rest.
He took them into rest. And now they have rest forever. And their works do follow them. And you know some of us are the
works of them that laboured. Some of us are. Them that laboured
here below for the Lord's people and now the works, the works
follow them. Are you, friend, are you the
works of God from those that have laboured? Because the Lord
uses instruments. He could come down and he could
use his own hands to do the work. But he uses instruments of poor
dying men. Oh, rest is sweet to a labouring
man, isn't it? It really is, isn't it? Real
rest is so sweet to a labouring man. Now if you've been labouring
and sometimes you labour, don't you? At work or at home, wherever
it is. You really labour, don't you? And when the Lord, he comes
with just a sweet word, doesn't he? Perhaps a line of a hymn,
perhaps a text, perhaps just a beautiful knowing that he's
there in his presence. And what does it give you? It
gives you rest. You can leave it all, can't you? Lovely word,
you know, I will leave it, but I don't want to just leave it
on the floor. I want the Lord, I'd really desire that the Lord
do something with it. our hearts because this precious voice in your heart
can never be forgotten and we are never to forget what it cost
him to say these three words. It cost him something. This isn't