Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew chapter 11. I won't keep you long, I don't
think. I called Tia this morning and
told her she better do her ordering a little early. I know she's used to doing that
according to her pastor, but I'm not near long as he is. I don't know if it's a good thing
or not. Probably not. Matthew chapter 11 and I want
to verses 28 through 30 I want to read those and then
I want to come back and try to make a few comments on them. The Lord said you in verse 28,
come unto me, all you 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 you shall find
rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden
is light. And I was thinking this morning
when I was reading those words coming to me, I thought of what
Brother Pruitt said the other night. I was listening to him,
a message. And he mentioned the two words, I believe it was,
three words maybe, blessed are your eyes, blessed are you that
hear, and what comfort there is for the believer in just a
few words that the Lord has recorded in His Word for us. And here
we find them in this right here. Come unto Me, the Lord says.
Many, no doubt, have often repeated these words. And thousands have
been comforted by these words. Come unto Me, the Lord Jesus
Christ said. The words of the Lord Jesus brings
joy to the heart of the true believer, doesn't it? Not all
the time. You know, lots of times when
we read, the Lord is for some reason pleased to hide things
from us. And then another time when we're
reading, it just seems like the words just leap out at us, doesn't
it? just leaps out at us. And that's
what happens when the Lord opens His words that we have in this
book to our hearts. It brings joy to our hearts.
And we can never exhaust the music that they sound forth,
can they? You know, the Lord's had preachers
through all generations, declaring the gospel. And what's happened? They have never, never, never
exhausted this word. It cannot be done. It cannot
be done. We've heard the statement, I'm
sure all of us have, that it's music to our ears, things that
we hear. How much more so when we hear
the gospel of Christ? How it brings music to our ears. It brings contentment to the
heart. Though it be sounded and resounded,
and that's what happens when men preach to us, they rehearse
over and over. I need repetition, don't you?
I mean, it seems like so many times when I hear a message I've
no sooner heard it then I forgot all about it. I need that repetition. I need the repetition. Though
it's sounded and resounded, it brings music to the believer's
heart. When rest can be found nowhere
else, rest can be found in the Lord Jesus Christ and in His
words, can't it? And we notice here in our lesson
here, Who is invited? And I hesitate, really, to use
that word invited. I'd rather think it's more of
a command. Command. To come to Christ. But
who is invited to receive this rest? The Lord said, Come unto
Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. All. All ye that
labor. And there's a need for the insertion
of that wide word all. You know, and I'm afraid that
the religious people of our day, when they read this word all
in the scriptures, they automatically include everybody in with it.
But it's not so, is it? We have to see and qualify from
what the Lord gives us who He's talking about. And He says here,
come unto me all ye that labor. All year they're heavy laden.
If you're not laboring over your sins, if your sin is causing
you no problem, the Lord's not talking to you. You have no concern
of Christ, do they? The one that's not laboring over
their sin, they haven't seen their need of Christ. They don't
want Him. You know, there were some people
in the Lord's day, they said, we will not have this man to
reign over us. People are saying that today.
So the Lord qualifies. I don't have to qualify it. The
Lord has done it, hasn't He? All, come y'all unto Me. Who? All that labor. All that are
heavy laden, come to Me. Had not the Savior said a little
bit before in verse 25 there. He says, I thank Thee, O Father.
And hear who He's talking to. You know, the Lord makes a distinction
between people, doesn't He? He told his people that, Pharaoh
I think it was, that he made a distinction between the Egyptians
and the Lord's people. He made a distinction. He said
in verse 25 there, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and
prudent But He's revealed them unto babes. He made a distinction,
didn't He? And He still does. We're not
making the distinction. It's the Lord Himself. It's the
Word of God that makes the distinction, didn't He? Some of these people here, no
doubt, that had been listening to Christ might have said, The
Father then has determined to whom He will reveal Christ. Yes, amen, I say amen to that.
He has hasn't he? He's determined to who he's going
to reveal Christ to. He hasn't revealed him to everybody.
He hasn't revealed Christ to everybody. And he has determined,
then there's a number chosen according to the Father's good
pleasure to whom the gospel is revealed. There again we say
amen, don't we? Because he has. Could this not
be implied from verse 25? It sure is. It sure is. He said
that He'd hid it from the wise and the prudent, but He's revealed
it unto babes. He's revealed it. And the babes
are those that the Father gave His Son before the world ever
began to be redeemed. Those are whom Christ died for,
aren't they? He didn't lay down His life for everybody. If He
did, then all the multitudes in hell Christ would be made
a mock, a mocking failure if that be true. But thank God it's
not true. He has accomplished salvation
for people that his father gave him. He has. We can rest there. That gives me rest to know that.
That gives me comfort to know that Christ has laid down his
life for a people. Another might say, there's no
invitation to me or for me. There is no hope for me. I need
not listen to the gospel's warning and invitations. So Christ, as
to discourage such thoughts, words, his invitation as such,
come unto me, all you that labor and heavy laden. Are you, are
you laboring over your sin? Is your sin causing you a problem?
Have you found out what you really are? Then the Lord says, Come
unto Me. Come unto Me. Let it not be supposed that election
has excluded any from the invitation of mercy. It hasn't had it. Had it not been for election,
what would have happened? We wouldn't none of us be saved,
would we? If God had not elected a people to give to Christ, He
would have damned the whole human race. He would have damned us
all. And rightfully so. But He says, all of you who labor
are bidden to come. Come unto Me. Come unto the Me. These are the words from Christ.
That ought to encourage a man to come to the Lord Jesus Christ,
shouldn't it? and whatever the doctrine or
predestination may involve. Rest assured that it by no means
narrows or diminish the extent of the gospel invitation, does
it? It don't do it. The good news or the gospel is
to be preached to every creature. See, we don't know who the Lord's people is, do
we? We don't know those for whom Christ died. That's not been
brought into the fold yet. Therefore, we're to preach the
gospel to every creature. To every creature. There are many, and they do it
because they miss who the Lord is speaking to here. Come unto
Me, all you that labor and heavy laden. There are many engaged
in seeking salvation. They believe that by obeying
the law, they will be saved. Not so. Christ said, Come unto
Me. Not the law. We don't invite
men to come down to the front, do we? No. Christ said, Come
to Me. Come to Me. You know, I've heard
it so many times when people have talked about their coming
to Christ. It's coming to an altar or coming
down front to shake a, I call them a six foot icicle's hand.
But Christ said, come to me. If a man has truly been brought
to Christ, that's what he's going to say when somebody's asking
about his experience of salvation. I came to Christ. I came to Christ. I saw my need of Christ. I didn't
come down front. We come to Christ, don't we?
I'm glad it's that way, and I know you folks do too. But you cannot be saved by keeping
the law. I remember talking to a person
one time, and they said, I asked them about, they was talking
about keeping the law. I said, are you keeping it? No,
but I'm trying to. How sad, how sad. If we do not,
the scripture tells us that if we fail to keep it just in one
point, just in one point of God's law, what does it say? It tells
us that we are guilty of the whole law. We're guilty of it
all. So we don't find salvation that
way, do we? And they are endeavoring to the
utmost to keep it. but to keep it in vain. They
cannot. They cannot keep it. I think
I could safely tell them this, if you can keep God's law, all
of God's law in every point and not fail in any place, then God
will accept you when you stand before Him. But it's not going
to happen, is it? The law only tells us what we
can not do. It only condemns us, doesn't
it? It's set to drive us to Christ if we see that we cannot keep
the law. Some have been told that performing
the performance of certain rights and riches will also save them.
And they are performing them with great care, but to no avail. To no avail. Some are laboring
in prayer. Christ said, come unto me. Come
unto me. Some are self-denial and mortification. But as a whole, they are awakened
to the fact that their conscience is still not satisfied. And I
have been there myself, seeking God when I was lost. My conscience
was screaming, Do, do, do. Couldn't do enough. We can't
do enough trying to keep God's law. But what happens when we
come to Christ and we find rest in Him? We find peace in the
Lord Jesus Christ. What do we find? We find the
words done. Don't we? Done. Christ has done
it all. He's done it all. A soul which has to bear the
load of its own sin and load of divine wrath is indeed a soul
that is heavy laden. While they hope at first that
if they labor enough, they will gradually diminish the mass of
their sin, it happens that their laboring adds their awareness
beneath its pressure. They cannot no rest be found
seeking Christ in such a way. Their laboring has not brought
them rest. It has not, it never will. But only a burden of despair. Their conscience screams, do
more, do more. But in Christ, the conscience
says, with a settled peace, done. It's done. It's done. We see these are undeserving. The people that the Lord is talking
to here, come unto me. They're undeserving of rest,
aren't they? Christ said, come unto me and I will give you rest. Why did He say, I will give you
rest? Because it's to be found nowhere
else but in Him. Come unto Me. A gift is not a
merit, but of grace, isn't it? A gift. Wages and rewards are
for those who earn them. But a gift, what is it? It's
a matter of charity. It's charity, isn't it? That's
what we receive from the hand of the Lord. We're not worthy
of any of this, are we? He gives it to us. He said, come
and buy without money. Without money. Some people, maybe there's some
here, maybe you're too proud to receive charity. Well, that's all that we can
receive from the Lord, isn't it? If so, one that thinks that
way will never have the rest that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
For this rest is given. That's what he said here. He
said, I will give, didn't he? I will give. It's given and it's
not merited. And notice the word here, come. It don't have no after or before. I'm not saying that right, I
know. But it's a present tense. Come. Come. It's a continual thing. When you find the three letters
on words in the scriptures, E-T-H, cometh, believeth. It's not a
one time thing, is it? It means that we continually
do that. We continually do that. Come unto me, a simple word, but very full
of meaning. To come is to leave is to leave
one thing and to come to another. If I'm coming to Christ, then
I'm walking away from something else, aren't I? If one comes
to Christ, they're leaving something to come to Him. And they need to do that, or
the Lord would not have said that, would He? To come unto
Him, come unto Me. Come ye, laboring and heavy laden,
leave your own labors, leave your self-reliant efforts, leave
your sins, leave your presumptions, leave all in which you have trusted,
and come to Christ. I'm just simply saying, rely
upon the Lord Jesus Christ and nothing else. Nothing else. There's
no hope in nothing else, is there? There's no hope of nothing else.
Let your thoughts be of Him who bore the load of sin upon
the cross. Let your minds, let us consider
Him who received, who endures such contradictions of sinners
against Himself. The Lord didn't say, come tomorrow, come next week,
but he said, come, come now, come now, come now, at once. The load of sin which we carried
when we came to Christ could not be removed by us. If it could have, if we could
do anything about it, the Lord would not have commanded us to
come to Him. To come to Him. Come to Him for
rest. Come to Him for peace. But it
had to be removed by another. Come to Christ. He is the only
one who can give you rest from that heavy load that He just
mentioned. All you that are labor and heavy
laden. Come, you need it. Come and take
the rest that you need. Come without money. It can't be bought, can it? It
can't be bought. It can't be bought. Come without
merit. We can't do enough to receive
it. Come without your merit. Come without preparations. Don't
say, well, I'll come tomorrow. I'll come when I get better.
No, Christ says, come now. Come now. Come now. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. That's what he says there, wasn't
it? Learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart
and you shall find rest. There's rest in no other, my
dear friend, than the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one that
can give a heart, a soul that's full of sin, that's heavy laden,
that's laboring. He's the only one that can give
that rest in Him. Come to Him and you shall, not
might, not maybe, but you shall find rest for your soul. Isn't
that wonderful to know that? To experience such a thing as
that? That when we come to Christ,
oh my, why did I wait so long? What rest? You can put your head
on your pillow at night and rest. Rest in Christ. Knowing that
your sin is all gone. He didn't just pay for some of
them, did He? If He had them, we'd be in a world of hurt. But
He put them all away. They're all cast into the depths
of the sea. Christ bore them all away. He
bore them all away. Come unto me, for I am meek and
lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. For
my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Come unto me, and I
will give you rest. Let us stand, if you will, and
be dismissed in a word of prayer.