Matthew chapter 11, verse 28 is our text. Verse 28, let's
read that one more time. It says, Come unto me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Sounds
good, doesn't it? Our title for this message is
Rest and Relaxation. I like that. Our outline for
this message is what, where, who, how, and why. That's our outline. Alright,
so let's start with what. The first word in our outline
is what. Our Lord says in verse 28, Come. Come. Come. Come. Every saved believer knows no
man can come, except the Father draw him, right? So we sing songs, you know the
song that says, draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to Thy
precious bleeding side. I can't come, Lord. I can't come,
but I want to. I want to so badly. I'm willing in the day of Your
power, You have the power to draw me. And I want to come so
badly. Draw me nearer. I want to be,
I truly, honestly want to be safely tucked up under His wing. That's where I want to be. I
want to read this to you. This is a song. that you may
or may not know, but I want to read these words to you. It says, Under His wings, I am
safely abiding. Though the night deepens... You
know bad things happen at night. It seems so bad at night. Though
the night deepens and tempests are wild, still I can trust Him. I know He will keep me. He has
redeemed me, and I am His child. Under His wings, what a refuge
in sorrow! How the heart yearningly turns
to His rest! Often, when earth has no balm
for my healing, there I find comfort, and there I am blessed.
Under His wings, oh, what precious enjoyment! There will I hide
till life's trials are over." We've got a lot of trials ahead
of us. We've got a lot of trials ahead of us. We're in a happy
time right now. We've got a lot of trials ahead
of us. We're in an easy time right now. A pretty blissful
time right now. And we have a lot of trials ahead
of us, and I want to hide up under His wing, and I want Him
to take care of it for the rest of my life. That's what I want.
That's what I pray for. There will I hide till life's
trials are over. Sheltered, protected, no evil
can harm me." If I'm up under there. Resting in Jesus, I'm
safe evermore. Under His wings, under His wings,
who from His love can sever? Under His wings, my soul shall
abide, safely abide forever. That's my hope. That's my desire. That's what I want. I want to
be under His wings. Well, our Lord says, come. Come. What He's saying is, I'm drawing
you. You can't come, but I'm drawing
you. Come. You are welcome to. You're welcome
to. You'll be accepted. Come. That's what. Okay, now the next
word is where. Peter said, where else can we
go? Where else can we go? Our Lord
says, come unto me. Come unto me. Don't come to religion when these
things get hard. People turn to religion. That's
what they do. When life gets hard, they turn to religion.
Don't come to the law. Well, I've got to straighten
up and fly right. That's my problem. I've got to
straighten up and fly right. Don't come to the law. Don't
come to Mount Sinai. We just saw this morning, we
can't keep that law. You'll burn at Mount Sinai. You'll
burn. It'll burn you up. Come to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Come see a man. That's what that
woman at the well said. Come see a man. Come to the Savior
of sinners. Come to Calvary. Come to the foot of the cross.
Come to the source of mercy, the place mercy is made. There's a song that we sing and
it says, there's a place where the Lord Jesus sheds the oil
of gladness on our heads. It's a place than all besides
more sweet. It is the blood-bought mercy
seat. Come. Isn't that refreshing? That seat is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Come. Come to Christ. Alright, now
here's the next word in our outline. Who. Who can come. Our text says, come unto me all
ye. All ye. All ye. Whosoever will, let him
come. I actually believe that. I believe
in election. I believe in God's purpose. I
believe in God's people. But whosoever He gives a heart
to come, can come. Whosoever will, let him come. All ye, come unto Me. Whosoever has a need, let him
come. Don't hinder the little children
from coming unto Me. You let them come. Ho, every one that thirsteth,
Come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price." I don't have anything. You don't
need anything. Come. Turn with me to 1 Peter 2. Now we already said no man can
come. So who will come to the Lord
Jesus Christ? Well, He said one time, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. They're going to come.
They will come. And in 1 Peter 2, look at verse
9. He says, you are a chosen generation. a chosen generation. You're a
royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people that you should
show forth the praises of Him who hath called you." Out of darkness into His marvelous
light. That call says, come. All that the Father chose All
whom He chose to be a gift, a present to His Son, He says, come. You're chosen to be a royal priesthood. All who have been given ears
to hear, let him hear. All who have been bidden to the
marriage supper of the Lamb can come. Wouldn't you love to be at the
marriage supper of the Lamb? I want to be there so badly.
I really do. I want to see that. I want to
be there. I want to see the groom. Come. Come. How is our next question? How
do we approach His Royal Highness? Our text says, Come unto Me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden. How do we approach Him? We approach
Him labored and heavy laden. That's us. That is us. Labored and heavy laden. I'm
commanded to come just as I am. We don't sing that song too much,
but we're going to tonight. Just as I am. Without one plea,
but that Thy blood was shed for me. That's all I'm coming with. All I have is the blood of Christ,
and that's all I need. And that Thou bidst me come to
Thee, O Lamb of God, I come. I come. I'm coming because you
called me, and I'm coming because you're drawing me. I come. How do we come to Christ? We
come as sinners. Labored and heavy laden. We come as sinners in the hands
of an angry God. We come fearful. We come as sinners
in need of a Savior. Sinners. We come as sinners in
need of a substitute, looking to Him for help. If anybody needs
help, come. Come. We come labored over our sins
and worried over our sins. We come burdened, heavy laden
over our sins. That's how we come. We come helpless. We come hopeless outside of Christ. We have no hope outside of Christ.
There's nowhere else to go. Peter said there's nowhere else
to go. We come broken. We come wounded. We come sick,
sick over our sin. We come blind. We come halt. We come lame. Dumb. sad, humble, but we come. We come. Our Lord says, all who
come to Me like that, all who labor and are heavy laden because
of their sin, all who have been wrestling with their sin, all
who have been at war with this flesh, And only those who have
been at war with His flesh know what I'm talking about. Our Lord
says, come unto Me, and I'll give you rest from it. I'll give
you rest. The last question in this outline
is, why? Why do we come to the Lord Jesus
Christ? Here it is. and relaxation. I almost hate
to put the word relaxation in there. I don't want it to be
too flippant. That's what I need. That's what I need. I need rest
and relaxation. We need rest. The thing that
every single person on this earth wants is rest. That's what we
want. It's rest. What causes us to
rest? Here's the answer. Seeing His
work. That's what causes us to rest.
When we see His work and see that it's finished, we rest. He says, Come unto Me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I... I will do something about it.
I will do something about it. Come unto Me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will do something. For all who can't,
I can." Turn with me to John 17. John
17 and look at verse 1. It says, these words spake Jesus
and lifted up His eyes to heaven. and said, Father, the hour is
come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son
also may glorify Thee. As Thou hast given Him power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which
Thou gavest Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou
Me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee
before the world was. I have manifested Thy name unto
the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world. Thine they
were, and Thou gavest them Me, and they have kept Thy word.
Now they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given
Me are of Thee. For I have given unto them the
words which Thou gavest Me, and they have received them and have
known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed
that Thou didst send Me. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me, for they
are Thine, and all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine, and I am
glorified in them. He said, Come unto Me, all ye
that labour and are heavy laden, and I will." I will. That leper said, I'm a leper. I'm rotting on the
bone. I'm dying. I'm dead. I stink. No one will come near
me. But if thou wilt, if you're willing,
you can make me clean." And the Lord said to him, I will. I most certainly will. Be thou clean. The centurion
said, Lord, my servant is at home and he's sick of the palsy. Lord, please heal my servant.
Would you please heal my servant? And the Lord said, yes, I will. I'll come to your house. He said,
Lord, you don't need to come to my house. I know you're able. All you have to do is speak the
word. Our Lord said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will,
in no wise, cast out. If they come, needy sinners,
looking for rest, I will not cast them out. I will not cast
them out. Our text says, come unto me.
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give." Grace, grace, God's grace. It's all by grace, saved by grace. It's a gift, and I will give
it. I will give my word. When I come to the Lord needy,
And that's pretty much every day because I'm thinking, I'm
not worthy to stand up here and do this. You know more of this
than I do. What am I going to say to you?
Honestly, that's what I think. I can't do this. Who is sufficient
for these things? When I come to the Lord needy,
worried, I find rest in His Word. As soon
as I see His Word, see His message, see the Lord, I have something to say. I find
rest. He said, I will give My Word.
I will give My Spirit. I'll give it. Lord, we pray,
would You send Your Spirit to us tonight and help us worship?
Yes, I will. Yes, I will. I will give my own
blood. If you need it, I'll give it. I will give my life. I'll give my life. I'll lay down
my life. Greater love has no man than
this and he lays down his life. I'll give it. unto Him that loved us and gave
Himself for us." Even though that's everything, His Word,
His Spirit, His blood, His life, even though that's everything,
that's all we need, He doesn't stop there. He says, I'll give
my angels charge over you while you're driving down the road. I'll put a legion of angels around
your car. The Lord is good. He said, Fear not, little flock,
for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. I'll give you the whole kingdom. He said, My peace I give unto
you. Peace that passes understanding. I will give. Aren't you glad that this verse
is in the Bible? It says, Come unto Me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I'll give you rest. The Lord
said to Isaiah, Comfort ye, comfort ye My people. Cry unto her that
her warfare is accomplished. It's accomplished. Rest. Rest. Rest from these inward
fightings. The old man. The new man. Rest. The war is over. That war is
over. Rest from your struggle with
sin. I struggle with sin. I do. I
personally do. But I'm talking to myself. Rest.
Christ put it away. If I come a needy sinner, if
He drew me, if He chose me, if He called me, and if I come,
Christ put it away. He put it away. Rest from the
burden of this sinful debt you've incurred. Your Lord Jesus Christ
paid the debt. There's nothing on the account.
All the debt you owe, Anytime you become overwhelmed by sin
and by self, this flesh, come to the Lord Jesus Christ and
hear Him say this." These are His words. "'The Spirit of the
Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord hath anointed Me to
preach good tidings unto the meek.'" Is anybody cast down? He says,
I have good news. I have good news. The Lord said,
He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted. Is anybody sad? He said, I've come to bind you
up. I'm going to bind you up. He said to proclaim liberty to
the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are
bound. Does anybody feel like a slave to your own sin? I can't
get away from it. I can't get away from me. I hate
me. I'm tired of me. I'm a slave
to my own sin. Well, the Lord says, your prison
doors are now open. You're free to go. Come to Me. All you that labor and are heavy
laden, and I'm going to give you rest. You want to rest from
this old sinful flesh? Come to Christ. Look to Him. Think on Him. Dwell on Him. Call on Him. Talk to Him. And He said, I'm going to give
you rest. I did it. I gave it. I paid it. So come unto me, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest." Rest
in my word. Rest in my promises. Rest in
my person, who I am. And rest in my work, what I did. There is nothing else to do.
There's nothing else to do. But rest. Rest. I hope the Lord will allow us
to rest. I want you to stand with me and
let's sing this song.