We are going to look at the words
of the Lord Jesus Christ that are found in Matthew chapter
11, the last three verses in this chapter. And before I read these words,
let me remind all of us of what he said. what the Lord Jesus
Christ himself said about his words in John chapter 6 and verse
63. He said, the words that I speak
unto you are spirit and life. The words that I speak unto you
are spirit and life. So let's read these words. that
are spirit and life. And what we're going to see today
is the Lord Jesus Christ speaks about two different rest, two
different rest in these verses. One rest is given and one rest
is found. And it's important that we say
that both rest while one is given and one is found, that both rest
come from Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's read his words. 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, And you shall find
rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is
light. You, as we read these verses
of scripture, I'm sure saw the two rests. In verse 28, he speaks
of the rest that he would give to those that labor and are heavy
laden. And then in verse 29, he speaks
of those who would find rest, who would take his yoke upon
them and learn of him. So that's the division of the
message. First, the rest given. The rest given. And I would ask
every one of us here today Has he given you this rest? Has he given you this rest? He tells us this in the form
of a promise. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. This rest that
is given, he speaks of now in the form of a promise. And so
let's look at his promise by asking these four questions.
First of all, who promises to give rest? Who promises to give
rest? You recognize, all of us know,
the smallest person here, I'm sure, knows that a promise is
only as good as the one who makes the promise. The promise is only
as good as the one who makes the promise. Who makes this promise? Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Who is it that
makes this promise? Well, we know this is the promise
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we might say of him, first
of all, that he is God Almighty. He who makes this promise, a
promise is only as good as a promiser, and he who makes this promise
is, after all, God Almighty. We recognize that as God, there
is nothing impossible for Him to do. Nothing is too hard for
God to do. He stretched out the heavens.
Don't you like the way the Word of God speaks of the creation
of the heavens? Just like you would stretch out
a sheet maybe over your bed, ladies. So God Almighty, all-powerful,
omnipotent, just stretched out the heavens. And one day He's
going to stretch them up again. He's going to roll them up again.
God Almighty. We might say he's the one here
who makes the promise because the Lord Jesus Christ, he is
God manifested in the flesh. Look with me, keep your places
here, but turn over to the letter of Romans just a moment. Romans chapter four, Abraham, This is what we will
read about the faith of Abraham. But Abraham was 75 years old. Some of you here are not even
15 years old, 25 years old. Some of us here are over 75 years
old, but Abraham was 75 years old and God made him a promise. He would have a seed. He would
have a seed. A man of 75 years of age. He would have a son, in other
words. He would have a child. Had no
children. Been married for some time, but
had no children. And God made him a promise. And
the years rolled by. Over the years, God renewed that
promise at least, I believe, two other times. And then when
he was 99 years old, God renewed the promise. After his body was
as good as dead and Sarah's womb was dead, God renewed the promise
and told him about this time next year, Sarah is going to
have a son. Now, what would cause Abraham
to believe? Oh, he had his doubts. There's
no question about that. Over those years, he doubted
and questioned if it would ever come true. But God doesn't mention
that in the New Testament. God just speaks about his faith. And what God says about his faith,
well, let's read here. It says, Who against hope? Verse
18. Who against hope believed in
hope that he might become the father of many nations. Now the
only way he's going to become the father of many nations, he's
got to have at least one son. And that was a promise. According to that which was spoken,
so shall thy seed be. and being not weak in faith,
he considered not his own body, now dead, when he was about an
hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Saber's womb,
he staggered not at the promise of God." How is that? How is that this
man was not weak in faith? How is it that he did not stagger
at the promise of God? Well, read on. but was strong
in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded, here
it is, that what he had promised, a promise is only as good as
the promiser. And God, God, God Almighty, had
given him a promise, and he staggered not. at the promise. He didn't
consider himself. Now, if he had considered only
himself, he had looked within, looked at his body, looked at
the body of his wife, no doubt he would have staggered. He would
have given up hope. But he didn't. Being fully persuaded that what
he had promised, he was able to perform. Who is it that gives this promise
now in our text this morning? Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. You don't see
anything in yourself to give rest, to find rest, any place
to find rest, and you will never find it anywhere else other than
in Christ. The promise is that of He who
is God Almighty. But secondly, we may consider
this promise as given by Him who is the Son of Man, the most
loving man. The most loving man who has ever
walked on the top side of God's earth, the Lord Jesus Christ. who loved God with all his heart
and with all his soul and with all his being and loved his neighbor
as himself, none ever loved so much as he, so much that he was
willing to come into this world as a man and to take the place
of the guilty and die in the stead of the sinner, so loving
he was willing to put himself under the wrath of Almighty God
as he bore the sins of his people." This is a promise of him who
is God. This is a promise of him who
loves man so much he would never make a promise if he did not
intend to keep the promise. And we may say that he is the
truth, the one who gives this promise. He's not only God Almighty,
not only the Son of Man most loving, but he is the truth.
He is the truth. It's not only that he says the
truth, he is the truth. He is the truth and he cannot
lie. It's impossible for him that
he would give a promise that he will not keep. Well, secondly,
let's ask this question. To whom is the promise of rest
made? It is made to all that labor
and are heavy laden. He uses the word all. Did you
notice that? A-L-L. Come unto me all. All ye that labor and are heavy
laden. And I pointed out that his words
are spirit and life. You say, well, he's talking to
a man who works out here in the field 16 hours a day and barely
makes it home, falls into bed, and he's just tired out. He's
just wore out. Or he's talking to a woman who
sits at a desk and she labors all day with her mind. No. Now, he may be talking to both
of those individuals, but that's not the laboring he's speaking
of here. This is spiritual. His words
are spirit and life. Come unto me all ye that labor. And I pointed out he used the
word all And it may be, I don't know, but it may be he used the
word all here because just above this he had spoken of the doctrine
of election. Look back, if you will, in verse
25. 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 the prudent and
has revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in my sight. It may be that someone may be
laboring and be burdened and stumble over the doctrine of
election. You see the truth is taught in
the word of God. It's plainly declared. Maybe
that causes you to labor, just wonder, burden. Am I one of God's
elect? I know I'm guilty. I know I'm
a sinner and I'd love to be saved, but maybe I'm not one of God's
chosen. Well, you know, just after this,
he gives us an beautiful example of how a sinner should meet the
doctrine of election. And there's no question, my friends,
the Bible is very clear that God chose his people from before
the foundation of the world. There's no doubt about that.
Well, then how should a sinner meet the doctrine of election?
Well, you look over a few pages into Matthew 15, He gives us this wonderful example. Beginning in verse 21, the scripture
says, Then Jesus went thence and departed into the coast of
Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan
came out of the same coast and cried unto him, saying, Have
mercy upon me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously
vexed with the devil. But he answered her not a word.
And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away, for
she crieth after us. But he answered and said, Now
look at his words to this woman who is crying after him, have
mercy on me. I'm not sent but unto the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. She was a Gentile, a Canaanite
woman. He tells her, I am not sent but
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now how does she meet
that? Then came she and worshiped him. How does a person make the doctrine
of election? Her worship, that word means
she prostrated herself before him. She bowed down before him. Recognize that he is Lord. He is Lord. And he has the absolute
authority and right to do with you. what he will. He's God. He can save you or he can send
you to hell. He has that authority. She worshipped
him, but that's not all. She cried again, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, it's
not me to take the children's bread. and to cast it to dogs. And she said, truth, Lord, you're right. That's exactly
right. And that's what I am. That's
it. That's all I am. I'm a sinner. I'm guilty. I don't deserve mercy. And no
one ever has. I don't deserve grace. You can't. Truth, Lord. Yet the dogs eat the crumbs which
fall from their master's table. How did she meet this doctor?
She worshiped him, she cried for mercy, and she acknowledged
that he could give her what she needed. Truth, Lord. And notice what he said. Then
Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. Great is thy faith. Only two
people the Lord Jesus Christ ever told that they had great
faith. This is one of them. And the
other one was also a Gentile. Great is thy faith, be it unto
thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. To whom is the promise made?
It's made to those who labor and are heavy laden. Those who
labor, let's say this morning, deluded, deceived. They labor, hoping to find rest,
hoping to have the guilt of their conscience removed by their own
works, and they are laboring. And every time some other preacher,
some quack tells them something else to do, they run and they
try to do that. And they afflict their bodies
with pain and anything and everything. They labor to find rest for their
soul. And they have a burden. And the
burden that they have is the burden of sin. But notice that
the promise the Lord Jesus Christ gives here is, I, come unto me
and I will give you rest. I love to hear there's someone
here today. Someone in this congregation
today. That's burdened. Burdened because of your sin,
which is against God and which means that you merit the wrath
of God. Here's the third question. How
is the promise of this rest obtained? Well, it's, I've already said,
it's coming to Christ. It's ceasing to labor. It's ceasing to labor and to
enter into His rest. That's what it is. Isn't it important
when you look at this promise, when you consider this verse
of scripture, isn't it very important that all of us today have a very,
very clear understanding of what it means to come to Christ? Come unto me. What does that
mean? Come unto me. Well, it certainly
doesn't mean come to church every Sunday. It doesn't mean come to the mass
every day. It doesn't mean come to confession
every Friday. It doesn't mean come and be baptized. It doesn't mean come to the Lord's
table to receive something called a sacrament by lost individuals? No. What does it mean to come
to Christ? Coming to Christ is coming to
him with the heart. With the heart, man believeth
unto righteousness. As one old preacher used to say,
without moving a hair. Without moving a hair. Come to
Christ. I remember reading one time a
message by Charles Spurgeon. He said he was trying his best
to illustrate it, and he was very good at illustrating, but
he finally said just faint. Just faint. Just faint into the
arms of Christ. That's what it means. Come unto
Christ. One old preacher said, when a
man turns to Christ empty, that he might be filled. Sick, that
he might be healed. hungry that he may be satisfied,
thirsty that he may be refreshed, needy that he may be enriched,
dying that he might have life, lost that he may be saved, guilty
that he may be pardoned, sin defiled that he may be cleansed,
Confessing that Christ alone can supply his need, then he
comes to Christ. Looking to Christ alone. And here's the fourth question.
When is the rest of this promise given? Immediately. Immediately. As soon as you come to Christ.
That's when you find rest. That's when it's given. The Apostle
Paul said, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God unto salvation unto everyone that believeth. When does a person who's heavy
laden and burdened with sin find rest? Immediately upon coming
to Christ. Now the second rest, notice this
in verses 29 and 30. The first rest is given. The first rest is given. The
second rest that he speaks of is found. 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. For my yoke is easy and my burden
is light. There are four things about this
rest I call our attention to. First of all, this rest is the
rest of a person who already has rest. This rest that is given,
you see, or rather this rest that is found is the rest that
is given to a person who already has rest. When we speak of finding something,
our Lord said, you shall find rest. When we speak of finding
something, usually the context in which we use that word is
that we are looking for something. We're looking for something and
we find it. But that's not always the case.
And that's not the case here, I don't believe. That's not the
case here. When a person first comes to
Christ for rest from the guilt of his sin, he probably, she
probably, I know this is so, know probably about it, we do
not realize what all Christ is to us. We come to him and we
see that he is the sin bearer, that he is the one who takes
away our sin, but oh, We find rest. We find that he's much
more than that. He's much more than a sin bearer. He is that, and thank God for
that. One preacher tried to illustrate
it by an example of something like this. A person maybe is
given a chest, or let's just say a little cabinet, and It's
beautiful on the outside. It's all decorated with pretty
woodwork and polished and all of that. And he treasures that. He treasures that. But one day,
he opens that lid on that box. And inside, he finds treasures
that he never knew was there. Inside, he finds some diamonds,
some rubies, beautiful jewels, gold and silver. And so when
we first come to Christ, we find that, yes, he is the one who
has taken away our sin, but as we go along through life, we
find he's much more than that. Oh, yes, he is. We find he's
our advocate when we sin and our conscience is troubled. Oh, he's more than just a sin
bearer to take away our sins at the beginning of our life.
He's our advocate. He ever lives at the Father's
right hand to make intercession for us. Maybe we, as we go along
life, we experience things and we're lonely. We feel like we're all alone. We find out he's a friend that
sticketh closer than a brother, that he's our constant companion. And as we go along, we need help.
We get ourselves into situations and, and, and what do we say? We're just, we don't know what
to do. He's our help. You see what I'm
saying? Come unto me, take my yoke upon
you, and learn of me, he said. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find
rest unto your soul. We find rest. Isn't that the testimony of every
believer here today? It should be, every child of
God. I know it is mine, I've found I found a friend in Christ. It's everything to me. Everything. I found rest. And each day, that
doesn't mean that I enjoy perfect rest every day, 24 hours a day,
seven days a week. I'm not saying that. But I find
rest. I find rest. And secondly, this
rest is the rest of one who is serving. Did you notice that? Take my yoke. Now a yoke, we
know, is used to hook two animals together to do some work. The child of God doesn't find
rest in doing nothing. That's one of the problems I
believe that some of God's children have. They never have the peace
and joy and the contentment they could have if they would get
busy. They'd take His yoke upon them
and learn of Him. You know, in heaven, you read
this in the book of Revelation, but two things are told about
those who are in heaven. First of all, they rest from
their labors. Well, you might think, well,
if they're resting from their labors, they're just idle, they're
just sleeping, they're just doing nothing. Oh, no, no, no, no.
They serve Him day and night. But at the same time, they rest
from their labors. When the Lord Jesus Christ revealed
Himself to Saul on the road to Damascus, You know, the second
question he asked was, Lord, just as soon as the Lord revealed
unto him who he was, he said, Lord, what wilt thou have me
to do? He was served. Take my yoke upon you. A child of God is never happier
and never more at rest than when he is serving his Lord. And then
this burden, you notice, for my yoke is easy and my burden
is light. What is that burden? Well, it
is the cross. It is the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look over in Matthew 16, over
just a few pages. Matthew chapter 16 and verse
24. Then said Jesus unto his disciples,
if any will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his
cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake
shall find it. The burden is the cross, that
is the message of the cross. The cross is still offensive. That's not offensive to you if
you're a child of God. You glory in the cross. You're
like the Apostle Paul. God forbid that I should glory
in anything save the cross of Jesus Christ. He's not talking
about that wooden piece that the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified
upon, but he's speaking about what the cross symbolizes. Take up your cross. The cross
of Jesus Christ is still offensive to lost men and women because
the cross of Jesus Christ declares the sinfulness, the wickedness
of every man. And the cross declares there's
one answer. Not all these religions and all
of them are going to end up in the same place. that we all worship
the same God just by different names? Forget about that. Take
up the cross. Bear the burden. There's one
way to God, and one way only, and that's through the Lord Jesus
Christ and His precious blood, His finished work. And number three, this rest is
the rest of him who is learning of Christ. Learn of me. And notice the two things that
he tells us to learn. Oh, this is so important. This
is so important here. Learn of me. You want to find
rest? Learn of me. I am meek and lowly
in heart. You can't serve Christ long before
you're going to be criticized. You're going to be criticized.
Someone's going to find fault with the way you are serving
Christ. Someone's going to find fault
with your service. You're not going to be appreciated.
You're going to be disappointed. You're going to be criticized.
and all of the other that goes with serving Christ. And my friends,
it will be very, very easy to get your feelings hurt. Get your
feelings hurt. Oh, they don't appreciate me. Well, I'm gonna tell you something.
You learn of Christ meek and lowly in heart. And then these
criticisms and these disappointments and lack of recognition and all
of those things that you will experience, you will find rest,
just like he said. you will find rest. We sing a
hymn, and we're going to sing it in just a minute, the Lord
willing, that conveys this truth, I believe. The title is More
About Jesus. More about Jesus would I know.
Would we? You know when Paul said that
I may win Christ? Is that our prayer today? Not
to just know more doctrine, more truth. That's important. I love
the truth. I love doctrine. I study. But I tell you, it's not so much
in learning and knowing in our head as it is in being conformed
to the image of Christ. Oh, that I might win Him. That
I might possess Him. that I might be like him. Take
my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in
heart." The hymn writer said, more about Jesus would I know,
more of his grace to others show, more of his saving fullness see,
more of his love who died for me. More about Jesus let me learn,
more of his holy will discern, Spirit of God, my teacher, be,
showing the things of Christ to me. And lastly, this rest
is one that grows out of our spirits being conformed to the
Spirit of Christ. Learn of me, and you shall find
rest. This is a rest that's not dependent
upon our circumstances. This is a rest that a person
may enjoy in the midst of the greatest turmoil, in the midst
of the greatest Christian conflict and battle. It's not dependent
upon our circumstances because the rest that is given and the
rest that we find come from Christ. I suppose that's the most important
thing I've said here today. Recognize, recognize that both
of these rests, they all come from Christ. Look to him, look
to him, trust him, believe in him.