The title of the lesson, or the message,
is Coming to Christ. Coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. After our Lord upbraided the
cities, where he performed many of his mighty works. And after
preaching the sovereignty of God and salvation, he now says
that all things are delivered into his hands. There is absolutely
nothing to no one, not in the hands of Jesus Christ. And therefore, because of this,
all things being delivered to him, He turns and He speaks to
those who are laboring and heavy laden to come to Him, to come
to Him. And He promises to give rest. Now verse 27 is a very important
verse. He says, all things are delivered
to me of my father. Everything has been put into
the hands of the man, Christ Jesus. Absolutely everything. As the mediator of the new covenant,
all things have been given to Jesus Christ. As the only mediator
between God and men, There is no coming to Christ or to God. There's no coming
to God except through Jesus Christ. It is absolutely impossible to
come to God apart from Jesus Christ. Absolutely impossible. All things have put into his
hands, and that being so, sinners, sinners, are directed to go to
him a particular people he's speaking here to a particular
people all you all of you that are laboring
and heavy laden he says now you come to me you come to me he's
speaking to a particular class of people all you that laboring
and heavy laden come to me Now he says this, all things are
delivered to me that is all power. All power is given to the Lord
Jesus Christ as the mediator. There is nothing and no one not
under the power of Jesus Christ. He says in John 17, all power over all flesh is given
to me that I might give eternal life to as many as thou hast
given me. speaking to his father. Without
having all power, it would be impossible. It would be impossible
for Jesus Christ to save anyone from the power of sin. Sin's
a powerful thing. You and I cannot get out of his
clutches. You cannot get out of his clutches.
It's like a master whistling horse dog. When it whistles,
we come running. Sin is a powerful thing. It dominates
us. It dominates us. You know, Paul said this, and
this is after the Lord had saved him. He said, when I would do
good, evil is present with me. That which I would not do, I
do. I do. Without all power, he could not
save us from the power of Satan. I tell you what, I'm no match
for Satan. You're not either. You see these
TV preachers, they tell the devil, be gone. Yeah, right. He's in there laughing at you.
Tell him to be gone. You know, the archangel wouldn't
even dispute with him. He said, the Lord rebuked him.
I'm not even gonna get in this mess. I'm not gonna get in this
spitting contest. He said, the Lord rebuked you.
The archangel said that. Now how much less powerful am
I? How much less powerful am I?
With that all power, he could not save me from myself. He could not save me from myself.
I need to be saved from myself as much as I need him to save
me from Satan and sin. I need to be saved from myself. I am self-destructive. The whole
human race is self-destructive. I told you last week, if it weren't
for Christ having power over all things, this would have been
over with a long time ago. We were self-destructive. He
weren't on the throne. Then all power over all governments
is in the hands of Jesus Christ. I was looking at sermon audio
this past week, the downloads. And it's interesting, over in
China, over in China, they listen. There's some people that listen.
And I don't know, it may be like You know how you get it when
you used to get a tape here and several of you sit around and
listen? There are people in China listening to the messages that
are preached from this pulpit. There are people in North Korea
that listen to the messages preached in this pulpit on Sunday and
Thursday. Because that shows the downloads.
Australia, one of the biggest downloads out of this country
is Australia from this pulpit. China can't keep the gospel out.
As much as they'd like to keep it out, they cannot keep it out.
There are people in China listening to the gospel. And other places. Jesus Christ
is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And he's not gonna give
that up to any old earthly monarch, worm, worm. Listen to what our
Lord says to Peter in Matthew 16, 18. He said, And I say also
unto thee, Thou art Peter. Upon this rock, Peter said, Thou
art to Christ, the Son of the living God. And he said, Upon
this rock, upon this truth, I will build my church and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. Here's what it means. The
gates of hell shall not keep it out. They can throw up an
iron curtain. What's that to God? He's on both
sides of it. He's on both sides of it. It says in Isaiah 9 verse 6,
it says the government shall be upon his shoulders. The government of the universe,
not the government of a nation or a state, but the government
of everything that exists. is on his shoulders. And then all power over providence.
You know, every day has its order from Christ. Every day. Every day has its order from
the Lord Jesus Christ. It is written over and over and
over and I believe it's in Job that even the lightning comes
before him and says, here we are. Here we are. What do you want us to do? Where
do you want us to strike? He directs the lightning. Everything
under heaven and in heaven is directed by that man, Jesus Christ. Christ has all authority to save.
He's the Messiah. You know, no one else has that
authority. No one else. has the authority to say. That's
why the Jews would get so mad. He said, your sins are forgiven.
And they said, no one has the authority, the right to forgive
sin, but God only. All right, your sins are forgiven. You're looking at God only. You're looking at God only. He's
the one appointed of God to save. There is no other person, no
other way. to be saved and through the blood
and righteousness of that man, Jesus Christ. And all revelation
is delivered to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's a wise mediator
for he knows both persons. Listen, no man knows who the
father is except the son. No one knows the father fully,
completely except Jesus Christ. And He, to Whomsoever the Son
will reveal Him. No man knows the Father except
the Son. No man knows the Son except the Father. And He, to
Whomsoever their sovereignty. And He, to Whomsoever the Son
will reveal Him. That's why He said to Peter,
Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And
he said, blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for
they hear. He said, flesh and blood did not reveal this to
you. You didn't learn this in the
Bible class. No one is educated into the kingdom of God. You're
born into it. You are born into it. And when new birth is given,
that's when you are given a revelation, an understanding of who God is,
who Jesus Christ is, who and what you are. For the first time
you understand the person and work of Jesus Christ. You understand
it. Salvation comes by revelation.
It is written in the scriptures. Who by searching, who by searching
can find out God? No one, now listen, no one without
the Lord revealing himself. Do you know where he is? Thou
hast hid these things from the wise and prudent. Do you know
where he's hid these things? In his son. They're hid in a
person. They're looking in the wrong
place. They're looking in religion. They're looking in themselves.
If they just look at Christ, they'd find it. They'd find the
truth. It's hid in a person. The Lord
Jesus Christ. Who by searching can find out
God? No one without the Lord revealing himself. God is spirit. God is spirit. You can't see
him. God is immense. He's immeasurable. How can you find out by searching
someone who's immeasurable? God is above. We are below. God is unsearchable. Therefore,
if we are to know Him, Christ must reveal Him. Christ said,
he that has seen me has seen the Father. Study Jesus Christ
and you'll come to know God. You will know God when you come
to know the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he says at the end
of this, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. You would think
that we would be so obsessed with learning of our Creator. Instead, it's tough even getting
up and getting dressed sometimes to come here and hear about Him.
We have to fight this flesh. We have to fight this sin. There's
a lot of things that try to stop you from even coming to hear
about Him. There's so many things that grab our attention to even
think upon Him. Thy Lord must reveal you for
to know Him. Paul said this in Romans 11, 33, Oh, the depth
of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable
are his judgments. Why did God do that? Why does
God do what he does? Why does he do that? Well, I
tell you what, for me, it's unsearchable. If he revealed it to you, wouldn't
you grasp it? I couldn't grasp it. Not in this
life, this body, this body of sin. That's why Paul said we know
in part and we preach in part. It's like looking through a glass,
he said, darkly. Apart from Jesus Christ, God
can't be known. Apart from a revelation, God
can't be known. Remember Philip? He ran up to that eunuch, he
said, you understand what you're reading? He said, how can I except
some man shall read? This is a mystery to me. The
Bible is a, I tell you what, the Bible's a mystery. The Bible
is a closed book until Jesus Christ opens it up. Remember
when they were on the road to Emmaus and he was talking to
them and then he opened a scripture to their mind. He opened it up
and they understood. They understood. He's the key of knowledge. Jesus
Christ is the key of knowledge. You cannot understand any of
the mysteries of this book apart from Jesus Christ. He's the key
of knowledge. I don't go to commentaries first
for the message. I go to the Word of God. And
I try, especially as I've gotten older, I try to read it over
and over and look at it and think, what is the message? The message here is concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. What's the message? Once I get the message, then
I can get an outline. Now this being so, then we must
go to Christ for all we need. In knowledge, in understanding,
in wisdom, Jesus Christ is said to be the wisdom of God. Well,
it would be wise to go to him then, wouldn't it? if he's the
wisdom of God. All that a sinner needs to stand
before God accepted is in Jesus Christ. Pharaoh said, all the
corn in Egypt was, Pharaoh turned everything over to Joseph. Everything. Anything that happened in Egypt,
at one point, everything that happened went through Joseph.
There was that famine and there was corn stacked up and they
had for years, they had put it up. It was seven years of planting
and seven years of drought. And every time someone needed
something, Pharaoh would say, go to Joseph. And that's what God Almighty
says. Any sinner who needs mercy, forgiveness, cleansing, he says,
go to Jesus Christ, my son, go to him. Christ as mediator is indispensable
because all things are bound up in him. Now, we're given where
to find rest. He says, come unto me, all you
that labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I'll give
you rest. Now listen, the door is wide
open to everyone who's laboring and heavy laden. under the burden
of sin. It starts there, under the burden
of sin. We find real rest in a person. Not in religion. You know, religion
without Christ is bondage. It's just bondage, it's drudgery. There's no rest there. There's
no rest in just religion. Do this, don't do that. There's
no rest in that. soul rest now listen this is
what we want this is what we need soul rest soul rest soul
rest is what our Lord's talking about I'll give you rest to your
soul he said to have a quiet conscience to have a peaceful
mind that I have in Christ all I need
All things are taken care of in Jesus Christ. There's nothing comparable to
being able to sit down at the end of a day and have a quiet
conscience. To have a quiet conscience. to
stop working my way into God's favor. That young man said to
the Lord, he said, what must I do? What must I do to inherit
eternal life? And the Lord quoted some laws
and some things the law said. He said, all these have I done
from my youth up. Well, then why are you asking
what else to do? What's bothering you? You know,
what's that right there ought to tell you something. What's
bothering you? You said you've done it all. There's no rest. All that he
did gave him no comfort. Keep it, you know, open, turn
it back there to the Ten Commandments. Well, I haven't killed anybody
today. I feel good. I haven't committed adultery. But the Lord
said, when he came along, he said, oh, yes, you have. Look
on a woman to lust after her. God knows the heart. He said,
oh, yes, you have. You hate your brother without
a cause? Prejudice without a cause? He says, you're guilty. And that
young man said, I can't, all this I've done, there's something
missing. I tell you what's missing, Jesus Christ. The place I used
to go to, and I remember I would tell the person there several
times, I said, there's just something missing. I don't know what it
is, there's something missing. It was the Lord. He wasn't there. He was not there. Christ was
missing. When I heard the gospel, when
I found Him, I found rest. I found rest. Nothing's missing
now. Nothing's missing. He fulfilled
the law to every jot and tell in my behalf. This rest, this sole rest is
in Jesus Christ. This coming to Jesus Christ,
He says, come to me and I'll give you rest. You that are laboring
and heavy laden, if you're not, he's not talking to you. That's
just simple isn't it? If you're not laboring and heavy
laden, he's not talking to you. He's talking to those laboring
and heavy laden. And this coming to him, it's
not a physical move. I used to believe when I was
a young man, I heard the gospel that The part of coming to Christ
was coming down the aisle and there was an altar in front of
that building, there was a place there. And you came down there
and you just, you wept and you asked the Lord to forgive you
and you know. Listen, coming to Jesus Christ
is a spiritual move. I think it was Ralph Barnard
who said, don't you move a hair or a hand, don't you move a muscle.
but you come to Christ. It's a spiritual, it's a heart
movement. It is the heart, the affection going out to Jesus
Christ. And if you want to confess Him,
it won't be right up here in the front, it'll be in the water.
If you want to confess Christ, you confess Him by baptism. That
is a scriptural way of confessing Christ, is by baptism. It is looking to Christ in faith.
When Moses, you remember in the Old Testament, they were bitten
by the serpents and they were dying. And God told Moses to
put a serpent upon a pole and he carried it through the camp.
What was it Moses said? Look. Look. Look and live. God says in Isaiah,
look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth I'm
God and there is none else look to me coming to Christ is the
same thing as looking to him in faith trusting him believing
on him it's a hard work it's a hard work now as I said earlier he's speaking
here to a particular people This doesn't apply to everyone in
general. It applies to those who are laboring under a burden
and sin and guilt. Guilt lies heavy on the conscience.
As that one therapist said, he said, if I could just get rid
of guilt, I could get rid of over half my practice. If I could
just get rid of guilt. If I just had a pill to just
get rid of guilt. There's only one thing that will
quiet an accusing conscience. And that's the blood of the lamb.
It's the blood of Jesus Christ. That's the only thing that will
quiet an accusing conscience. It's the blood of Christ. If anyone is interested in getting
rid of their sin and guilt, Christ says, come to me, come to me.
The door's wide open. He says, come to me. You've got
a sin problem? He says, come to me. He's the
savior of sinners. And he promises rest to all who
come. To all who believe, whatever
you're laboring with. You see, this is not just to
those who have not confessed Christ. This is to us. You say,
well, I came to Christ 40 years ago. Well, I hope you came to
Him this morning. This coming to Christ is a continual
thing for this whole life. There's a time I've come to Him
in the beginning. and I've never quit coming to
him since. Whatever it is you're going through,
whatever it is your burden is, take it to the Lord and leave
it there. Leave it there. If it's sin, take it to the Lord
and leave it there, whatever it is. You know in Hebrews chapter
4 verse 11, the apostle says, tells us to, and this is a This
is a paradox. Labor to rest. We actually have
to labor to rest. We have to labor to quit trying
to do something in order to feel like we're pleasing God. Labor to rest in Christ. The believer, the believer, the
true believer, does what he or she does out of love to Christ,
not trying to find acceptance, but out of love. You know, it's
out of love. And here's the promise, I'll
give you rest. It's His to give. Now you go to some priest in
a box somewhere, and he can't give you rest. You go unload
all your filthy sins on him, and he, he's just as rotten as
you are. But this one, this priest, can
give rest. He can give rest. He said, my
peace I give unto you. Christ can be taken at his word. All the promises of God in him
are yes and amen. We can come to him. And he said,
I'll give you rest. No one else can give this rest,
but he can. It's his to give. And he gives
us something to do. And in giving us this something
to do is how rest is given. It's how we obtain rest. Take
my yoke upon you and learn of me. Rest comes from knowing Christ. And Christ is known only through
his word. I said earlier in the Bible class,
you can't separate the written word and the living word. That's
why he says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. Christ is
only known in his word and rest and peace only comes through
knowing him. Peace, Paul said in his epistles, all the time
he said, peace be multiplied to you. How? Through the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through the knowledge. This matter
of coming to know, you can never exhaust the knowledge of Christ,
don't ever think you can, so I know all I need to know about
him. You ain't even scratched the surface. He's God. He's God. The more we learn of
Christ, the more we find rest in Him. Do you not find that?
You older ones here. I'm talking about older in the
faith. You've been around a while. You believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Do you not find it easier now
to find rest in Christ? and taking him at his word that
you did years ago. You learn to take the Lord at
his word and rest. You learn to be quiet, be still,
and know that I'm God. You learn more about that as
you grow older. Then we have the character of the mediator.
He says, come to me, I'll give you rest. I'm meek and lowly
in heart. He's approachable. He's approachable. One of the charges the Pharisees
laid against him was this, this man receives sinners and he eats
with them, yeah. I hope he's doing that this morning.
I hope our Lord is here with us
this morning. I pray that he is. Feast him with us. He's approaching, he's the savior
of sinners. I tell you what, you know what
keeps men and women away from Christ? More than anything, more than
anything, self-righteousness. Sin, if the Lord gives us a real
conviction of sin, it'll bring us to Christ. We will run to
Christ to get rid of it. But self-righteousness will keep
you away from it. The Pharisees never had anything to do with
Him. They wouldn't do it. They were about to establish
their own righteousness. They were not about to submit to His. And here's what you'll find if
you come to Him. If he brings you to him, himself, here's what
you're gonna find. Rest for your souls. That's priceless. I tell you what, and I'm careful
saying it, because right now my body's not hurting, but I
would rather my body be in pain than my soul. I want my soul
to find rest in Christ. Like that dove did, you know,
when Noah Let it out the ark and it, you see it was dry ground
and that dove flew around. And that dove came back because
it found no rest for the sole of its feet. No rest. That raven, it went out there
and just found some place to lie it on that dead flesh and
started eating. But that dove couldn't do it. It had to come
back to the ark. That was her rest. Lord Jesus
Christ is the rest. He's the rest that the soul needs
and looks for if God gives you a real conviction to sin. Anybody need soul rest this morning?
Anybody need soul rest? Anyone? The Lord said, come to
me. We take all kinds of sleeping
aids to help us rest. But there's no sleeping aid that
can give soul rest but Jesus Christ. He's the only one. And I tell you what, if you have
soul rest, if you really have soul rest, you can lay down at
night and go to sleep. You can lay down and go to sleep. And he's an easy lesson. The
Lord Jesus Christ is an easy lesson. I'm gonna close here. He said, take my yoke upon you,
for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Could there be a better
study than Jesus Christ? There's people who give themselves
to studying math, people who give themselves to studying science,
all kinds of things. But there's not a better study
than the man, Christ Jesus. It's the study of God. If you
want to learn theology, don't go get you a good commentary.
Open the Bible. and study God, study Jesus Christ. If you want to do, study theology,
study him, study him. Religion by itself is not easy,
it's not light. But the Savior of sinners, he's
an easy study. I tell you what, he's easy to
serve too. He's an easy master. You know, it's easy to serve
someone that loves you and that you love, isn't it? It's not
hard to learn. It's not hard to serve someone
you love and someone that loves you. Go over and read the story of
Boaz. I thought, man, I'd like to be an employer, an inhabitant
employer like him. He rides up to the field and
he says, the Lord bless you. And they said, the Lord bless
you. How'd you like going to work like that every morning?
When your employees say, the Lord bless you, and your employer
says, the Lord bless you. Well, that's our Lord. Boaz is
a type of Christ. I am meek and lowly of heart.
Come to me, I'll give you rest. I'll give you rest. Those Pharisees, they took that
adulterous woman, threw her at his feet. Waiting for the stone, they were
just like, I mean, they packed their lunch. They'd go watch
this. You ever watch this old western, everybody comes out
all dressed up and watch it hanging? I thought, that's beautiful. I don't wanna go watch anybody
go to bed. Even if they deserve it. Because in reality, we all deserve
it. It could be me. All things, our Lord says, is
delivered to Him as the Mediator. As God, He has all things. But
as the man, the Mediator, everything put into the hands of Him. God,
listen, God Almighty does absolutely nothing apart from that man,
Jesus Christ. All revelation delivered to Christ.
You want to know God? Go to Him. SOUL REST IS GIVEN
TO HIM YOU WANT SOUL REST? GO TO HIM WHAT A SAVIOR WHAT A SAVIOR WHAT
A MEDIATOR I PRAY THAT THE LORD WILL ENABLE
US TO COME TO HIM