Isn't it great to have Anne here
and Tom next week? Tom's gonna be here next week,
isn't he? Okay. Would you turn back to Matthew chapter 11? The Lord Jesus makes this amazing statement Come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. And this has been called the
great invitation. And indeed, it is. And what an
honor and privilege it is to be thusly invited. You know, when someone invites
you into their home, you're honored that they did that. It's a blessing. Indeed, this is a great invitation,
but it's also a command. Come unto me. It's a command,
not simply an invitation, but a command. Come unto me, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Now, the Lord uses this word
when he says, come and dine. You know, if you ask somebody
over to dine with you, you don't say, you gotta be here. No, it's
an invitation. Come and dine. But the Lord also
uses this word when he said to Lazarus, Lazarus, come forth. And that was no invitation for
a dead man to come forth. That was the divine summons,
the divine command that must be obeyed. Lazarus, come forth. Now, if the Lord calls upon me
to come to himself, I will come to him. And you know, coming
to Christ is everything, isn't it? You know that. Coming to
Christ is everything. If I come to Christ, everything's
well. If I don't come to him, there's
no good at all. Now let's keep both of these
concepts in our mind as we consider what our Lord is saying in this
great invitation What an honor to be invited by
him and this great command. And I'm thankful it's a command
because if it wasn't a command, I'd probably figure out a way
to figure out that I'm not invited. But not only is this an invitation,
this is a command to come to him. Now let's read these verses
once again. Come unto me all ye 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. That's the only time the Lord
describes his heart. You'll not be threatened. You'll
not be intimidated by me. I'm meek and lowly in heart,
and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy. It's gracious. And my burden
is light. It's not heavy. Now, who is this one that makes
this glorious promise? Because there's no promise greater
than this. Come to me and I will give you
rest. That's quite a staggering claim. You come to me and I will give
you rest. Who is it that makes this promise? Now look at the first of this
chapter in verse two, chapter 11. Now, when John is talking about
John, the Baptist heard in prison, the works of Christ. Now he'd
been in prison. He was the man that Christ said
there's no body born of women greater than him. He was the
man who was sent by God as the forerunner of the Messiah. And
he saw some things. He saw the dove visibly descend
upon the Lord, showing who he was. He knew who the Lord Jesus
Christ was, but now he's stuck in prison. And he says, he sent
two of his disciples and said unto him, art thou he that should
come? Don't you love that, he that should come? I love that
way our Lord is dressed, he that should come. The one the Father
sent. Are thou he that should come,
or do we look for another? Now, somebody said, how did John
doubt? Well, same way you do. Same way
you do. John the Baptist was, as far
as he could tell, put in prison. He'd been used so greatly and
mightily, and now all of a sudden, he's just by himself. And he
begins to doubt the same way I would, the same way you would.
He's got something called the flesh. And he begins to doubt.
Well, how could he doubt after he saw all the things that he'd
seen? Well, how can you doubt after you've seen the things
you've seen? Me too. I mean, I understand
that. I understand that very well.
And Jesus answered and said unto them, go and show John again
those things which you do hear and see, the blind. receive their sight. Now this
is true physically and this is true spiritually. The blind receive
their sight. The lame, those who can't walk,
walk. Lepers are cleansed. 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. Now that is who makes this claim
come unto me. Look what his enemies said about
him in verse 19 of this same chapter. The son of man came eating, drinking,
and they say, behold, A man gluttonous and a winebibber, a friend of
publicans and sinners. This is what his enemies said
of him in derision. Why, he's not like John the Baptist.
He's a gluttonous man. He eats too much. He doesn't
have any self-control. He's a winebibber. He's a drunk.
He drinks alcohol. Why, he's the friend of publicans
and sinners. Aren't you thankful he's the
friend of sinners? He is the true and genuine friend of sinners. Look in verse 27 of this same
chapter, he lets us know something of his greatness and the glory
of his person in this verse of scripture. He says, all things
are delivered unto me of my father. And no man knows the son, but
the father. Neither knows any man, the father
saved the son and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him. Now I see at least three things
about the glory of this one in this verse of scripture, who
makes this incredible claim come unto me and I will give you rest. Oh, what to God that I might
do that truly come to him. But look what he says about himself.
He says, I am so incomprehensibly great. that the only one who
can know and comprehend me, comprehend me, is the Father. That's how
great I am. The only one who can truly know
me is the Father. And I'm so great that I'm the
only one who can truly know the Father. Now there isn't any Higher claim
a man can make than that. The God-man makes this claim.
I'm the only one who truly comprehends God. And I'm the only one that
only God can truly comprehend. Don't you know that about the
Lord? When you think of the Lord, we know him a little bit, if
we know him. We know him a little bit, but we know it's just a
little bit. Just a little bit, just a glimpse. But oh, the Father
knows him completely. And he knows the father completely. Notice in verse 27, he says,
all things are delivered unto me of my father. This speaks of his authority.
All persons are delivered unto me. He said in John 17 too, thou
has given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou has given You're in his hands right now.
Your eternal destiny is up to him. He has power over all flesh. He has power over all persons.
He has power over all providence. He controls everything. He has
power over all blessings of salvation. It's all delivered into me. You
come to me and I have this ability. I will give you rest. He's the revealer of the father.
Look in verse 27. Neither knows any man the father save the son
and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him. The only way
you and I are going to know God is if Jesus Christ the Lord is
pleased to make him known to us. Revelation. Now that's how
great this one is. Look down in verse 29 of this
chapter. Who is this one? This one who
is so indescribably unspeakably great, no adjective suffices.
And yet he says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me for
I am meek and lowly in heart. And you shall find rest unto
your souls. Now what I see about the Lord
in this, he's like nobody else. As great and glorious as he is,
he is meek and he's lowly, and you'll never feel intimidated
by him. You know what it's like to be
around someone that you're intimidated by. Sinners were never intimidated
around him. He was the friend of public citizens
and sinners. Now, Pharisees didn't like him,
but sinners were always comfortable in his presence, not feeling
threatened not feeling judged, not feeling condemned. This one
who is so high and holy is meek and lowly in heart. He says, come to me and you will
find rest for your souls. Now, who is it that this one
calls to himself? That's very important. He says,
come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. Now, that word labor, when an
engine is laboring, what's it doing? It's about to break down,
isn't it? When a woman has a baby, men
don't know anything about it, I realize that, but they tell
me it's the most painful thing that anybody ever experiences.
And what do they call it? They call it laboring. Laboring. Laboring is the, it
means literally beaten and struck down. The toil that comes from
laboring. And what comes with that? Heavy
laden. Burdened. Now this is the one
the Lord invites. and commands to come to him. That one who labors and is heavy
laden. You labor under a sense of sin,
under a sense of inability. There's nothing you can do about
your sin. You can't make it go away. And
what a burden your sin is to you. When have you ever done
enough? You have no assurance of God's
favor. You have no satisfaction in your
religion. You feel unrest, disquieted,
laboring, and heavy laden. This describes the sinner who
has never trusted Christ. This describes the believer who
is failing. to rest in Christ, laboring,
wearisome toil, burdened under a sense of guilt and shame, weary,
heavy laden. And I love the word in verse
28, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. Are you laboring and are you
heavy laden? I'm not asking you if you're
a believer or if you're not. I am asking you this. Are you
laboring? You're about to break down. Heavy
laden, burdened over your sin. This glorious one, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the one who has all power and all things are delivered
unto him. He says, come to me. and I will give you rest. Come unto me, not come to church, not come
to Bible study, not making some resolve. I'm going to change and things
are going to be different with me from now on. I'm turning things
around by the grace of God. I'm not going to be that way
anymore. You ever said that? You ever thought that? He doesn't say go and do. Go and get your life straightened
out. Start doing this and stop doing
that. He doesn't say come to the front
and and accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior or anything
like that. None of this stuff. He says, come unto me. Come unto me and I will give
you rest. Come to me, the one who has all
authority, the one give sight to the blind. I'll give you sight. You'll be able to see who I am
and who you are and how I save the one who causes the lame to
walk, you know, coming to Christ. There's spiritual motion in that,
isn't there? That's the motion of spiritual
life. You're moving when you're coming, aren't you? And he'll
cause the lame to walk to him and come to him. He is the one
who cleanses lepers who are filled with the leprosy of sin and just
completely unclean. He cleanses those people. This
is the one who says, come to me. This is the one who causes
the deaf to hear. You can't even hear the gospel
and he causes the deaf to hear. The only way you and I are really
going to hear with hearing ears is if he gives us those hearing
ears and causes the deaf to hear. This is the one who raises the
dead. That's what I need. I need him to raise me from my
death. This is the one who preaches the gospel to the poor. Those
who have nothing, not one thing to recommend them to God. The
gospel is preached to the poor. This is the one who is called
the sinner's friend. The one who is meek and lowly
in heart. The living Lord says, come unto
me. Well, whatever that means, I'm
going to do it. Don't you? I want to come to
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're told to come, not wait, not wait for something to happen,
not wait for some kind of experience, but right now come as you are
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this thing of coming to
Christ, it's not physical. It's not some kind of physical
move. And really, there's a very real sense when this thing of
coming to Christ isn't even intellectual. It's not hearing certain propositions
and say, well, I agree with those and I believe those. It's more
than that. It's a spiritual move to him. Would you turn with me for a
moment to John chapter six? And while you're turning there,
I want to quote Revelation 22, 17. The spirit and the bride
say, come. Now that's God, the Holy Spirit's
message to you. Come. That's the message of the
church to you. The bride, come. And let him
that heareth say, come. And let him that's a thirst,
come. I think of what our Lord said,
if any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. Whosoever will,
let him take the water of life freely. In John chapter six, beginning in verse 26, Jesus answered them and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw
the miracles, not because of any conviction of who I am, but
because you did eat of the loaves and were filled. That's why you're
seeking me. And that's not the reason to
seek me. Now he says in verse 27, labor not for that meat,
which perishes. but for that meat, which endureth
unto everlasting life, which the son of man shall give unto
you. For him hath God the father sealed. Then said they unto him, what
should we do that we might work the works of God? You're talking
about laboring. What do we need to do? Jesus
answered and said unto them, this is the work of God that
you believe on him whom he hath sent. And you know what it is
to come to Christ? It's to believe on him whom he
hath sent. Look in verse 35 of this same
chapter. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. and he that believeth on me shall
never thirst." Coming to Christ and believing on Christ are the
exact same thing. If you want to know what it is
to come to Christ, it means you believe on Christ. Now, go back
to verse 30 of John chapter 6, they said, therefore unto him,
What sign showest thou then that we may see and believe thee?
What dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness, as it's written. He gave them bread from heaven
to eat. And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, Moses
gave you not that bread from heaven, but my father giveth
you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. Then said
they unto him, Lord evermore, give us this bread. And Jesus
said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me
shall never hunger. And he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. Now you want to know what it
is to come to Christ? It's to believe on him. so that you're
not hungry or thirsting for something else. And if you're still hungry and
you're still thirsting, you have not come. When you come to Christ, you'll find satisfaction. Verse 36, he said, but I said unto you
that you also have seen me and believe not. All that the father giveth me
shall come to me and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise
cast out. And here's why they won't be
cast out and coming to me. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father's will,
which has sent me, that of all which He has given me, I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
That's why they'll come to me. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone would seeth the Son. You see that I
am God, man, the only Savior of sinners. That's what it is
to see the Son. You see, let me tell you when you'll come
to Christ. When you need Him. And when you see that He is the
only one who can do you any good. That's when you'll come to Christ.
You'll come to Christ when you have nowhere else to go. You'll come to Christ when you've
got no choice If it's something you can just choose to do or
not do, you don't even know what it means to come to Christ. You'll
come to Christ when you have no choice and you're driven to
it. Look in verse 44 of this same
chapter. No man can come to me except the Father which has sent
me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. Now, you know when you're going
to come to Christ? When you're drawn by the Father. What's your
response to that? Well, I'll just wait till he
draws me. No, that won't be your response.
Not if you're somebody who truly comes to Christ, you'll say,
Lord, draw me. Draw me in your presence, draw
me to yourself. That's when you come to Christ.
You come to Christ when you find that you can't come and then
you have to come and you have no choice but to come and you
have nowhere else to go. That's when you come to Christ. The Lord says back to our text
in Matthew 11. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and look at this incredible promise. He
says, I will give you rest. Now, how can I know if I've come
to Christ? Well, I'll rest. I'll rest. If I'm not resting,
I haven't come. Because if I come, I'm gonna
learn something about this thing of rest. Now he says, I will
give you rest. You see, he's got the power to
do this for you. He's got the power to do this
for me, to give me rest. And he says, I will. I will. Do you know that he is
not only able to give you rest, He is willing to give you rest. Don't worry about His willingness
that He'll throw you out and cast you out. You come to Him
as an empty-handed sinner and He makes this promise, I will. And I love the next word. He
says, I will give you rest. He's not asking for a thing out
of you. You don't have anything to give anyway. You realize that?
You don't have anything that he would take. If someone says,
give Jesus your heart and blood, what would he want with it? He'll
give you a new heart. You see, everything he does,
he gives. I love that scripture where it
says, it's more blessed to give than to receive. And the Lord
is always the more blessed one. he gives and all his power to
give. I will give freely, graciously,
let him take the water of life, whosoever will let him take the
water of life freely, freely. That means you don't have to
find a reason in you as to why you'd have it. I will give. If you knew the gift of God,
Our Lord said, and who it is that sayeth to thee, give me
to drink, thou would have asked of him and he would have given
you living water. I will give. Oh, thank God for that salvation,
just what he gives. You don't have to have anything
to pay for it either. Not a thing. He gives. And he says, I will
give you. Don't talk about somebody else. I will give you rest. Rest. What a glorious thing rest
is. No more labor. Where there's
no labor, the burden has been removed. Let me quote a couple
of scriptures to you. Listen to the scripture. In John
chapter 19 verse 30, the Lord said from the cross, it is finished. Now, what does that mean? That
means there's nothing for me to do. I think it's so sad that most
preachers, most churches, most religious people, All they're
hearing is this is what you need to do. This is what you need
to do. Beloved, it's done. It's done. It is finished. In Hebrews chapter one, verse
three, we read that he by himself, That means no contributions from
you, no help from you. He by himself purged our sins,
put them away by himself. So in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30,
we read of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Now, what else
more could you need? Turn with me to Hebrews chapter four, verse nine. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. And this is the rest that the
Lord is talking about giving for he that's entered into his
rest. He hath also ceased from his
own works as God did from his. That's what it means to rest.
You've ceased from your own works, just the way God did from his.
Now, how did God cease from his works? Turn back to Genesis chapter
one. This is at the end of creation, verse 31, and God saw everything that he had made. Remember that scripture, he hath
made him to be to us. He made him salvation is what
he made it. If I'm saved, it's because he
made me saved. And God saw everything that he
had made and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the
morning were the sixth day. Thus, the heavens and the earth
were finished. and all the host of them. And
on the seventh day, God ended his work, which he had made. And he rested on the seventh
day from all his work, which he had made. And God blessed
the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it, he had
rested from all his work, which God created and made. Now there are three words I want
you to pay real careful attention to in that passage of scripture
we just read. The first one is finished. Finished. He finished the work. The next word is ended. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth. And the third
word is rested. Because it was finished, because
it's been brought to an end, chapter closed, it's done. There is rest. He that's entered
into his rest, this rest of an end, of finished, nothing else
to be done. He's ceased from his own works. Now, this is what you do when
you rest. You cease from your own works and rest in his. There remain at the rest for
the people of God. He said, come unto me and I will
give you rest. Now go back to our text in Matthew
chapter 11. He says in verse 29, take my yoke upon you. and learn of me." Now I want
you to think about a yoke. When we think of a yoke, generally
we don't think of it as being something good. Being yoked to
something, it almost implies you're bound to it. Like a yoke,
it's a coupling. It brings two things together,
two oxen. They're yoked together and there
they pull. You think, well that means I'm
bound to something. But let me ask you a question. Wouldn't
it be a good thing to be yoked to Christ? Wouldn't it be a wonderful? That means you're yoked to him.
You're yoked to his strength. You're yoked to his righteousness.
I want to be yoked to him, don't you? This is a good yoke. Any other kind of yoke. We might
not think of the other. This is a glorious yoke, to be yoked
to the Lord Jesus Christ so that I'm joined to him. And you know
what happens when you're yoked to Christ? He says, learn of
me. If you're yoked to Christ, you can't help but learn of him. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. I'm meek as opposed to intimidating,
ferocious, and imposing. I'm lowly in heart. I, the one
The high and lofty one who inhabits eternity. I'm lowly in heart. You know that same word is translated
of low estate. Remember when Mary talked about
her being of low estate, this one who is so glorious is of
low estate. He's the, he is the one, he's
the only one who really knows me. knew me like he does, I guarantee
you wouldn't come listen to me preach. And I'm the same way. If I knew
you altogether, if I knew you, everything that went through
your mind, although I'm no different, I wouldn't have anything to do
with you. I mean, that's the way we are, but he's not like
that. He does know you. He knows everything
about you. He knows you infinitely better
than you know yourself. He sees all the wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. He knows you, yet he identifies
himself as meek. and lowly in heart." You know
that no sinner that was ever around him ever felt intimidated
by him. They never felt threatened by
him. They never felt condemned and judged by him. He said, I'm
meek and lowly in heart. Isn't that glorious? His character
is so altogether glorious. There's no one like him. There's
no one that can be compared to him. This one who is high, holy, The High and Lofty One is meek
and lowly in heart, and He says, come unto me, I will give you
rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. What rest that He gives. You'll find rest to your souls
in coming to me. You'll find rest to your souls.
You know what that rest means? Well, Colossians chapter two,
verse 10 says, you are complete. You're complete. Nothing missing, nothing lacking,
nothing else you need. You are complete. You can't get any more saved.
You can't get any more lovely. You can't get any more righteous.
You can't get any more holy. You can't get any more perfect
than you are in Christ Jesus. And you know what I do when I
hear that? I rest. I rest. You shall find rest for
your souls. And then he says in verse 30,
for my yoke is easy. Now that word easy means gracious,
kind. Isn't this an easy yoke to be
yoked to him? And my burden is light. I love what Paul said, our light
affliction, which is, but for a moment, worketh for us a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look not on
things which are seen, the things which are not seen, but the things
which are seen are temporal. They're just temporary. God's
going to burn all this up, but the things which are not seen
are eternal. Now, our Lord, invites you. What a high honor for the God
of glory to invite you. But lest you think he's not inviting
me, he also commands you. You are commanded to come to
Christ and your right to come is with the command. This is
more than an invitation. Mithras, come forth. And he that was dead came forth. Now, how can I know if I've actually
come to him? Because I want to know. I don't
want to be deceived in this thing. I don't want to go through the
motions of religion and never actually come to the Lord Jesus
Christ. I don't want to come to a new understanding or a new... No, I want to come to him. How
can I know if I have come to him? There's only one way of
knowing. You'll rest. You'll cease from your own labors
as God did from his, and you'll look to him only. May God give me and you the grace
to come to him. Let's pray together. Lord, we ask in Christ's blessed
name And Lord, what confidence we
have in his name. We ask in his blessed name.