This Sunday

The subject upon which we are to address you this afternoon is “The Priceless Gift of Rest”. I invite you to consider with me the text found in the Gospel according to St. Matthew, Chapter 11:28: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

The present state of universal restlessness, caused by both external and internal disturbances, makes this topic most timely. Travel where you will today, consult with whom you may—the statesman, the business or professional man, the rich, the poor, the healthy, the sick, even the Queen on the throne, or the President in his high office, the element you will find to be wanting in one and all, if they have not already found it in Christ, is true heart rest. Surely it takes but a moment’s reflection to convince any one of intelligence that we live in a weary, heavy-laden world. Everywhere we go we meet men and women with heavy, troubled and broken hearts who daily sigh for relief. Some within the hearing of my voice may be asking the question: “Is there anybody to whom we can look for help?” My text, dear friend, supplies the answer. Jesus Christ claims the ability to give the weary rest. It is He who spoke and still speaks these words: “Come unto me and I will give you rest.” Millions of people in all ages bear testimony from their personal experience that this text is true. If some heart-burdened seeker were to come to Jesus Christ today He would discover to his utmost joy and satisfaction, that the Saviour makes good every promise and he does, in reality, give rest to the anxious soul. Do not fear that you will be turned away when you come. “Him that cometh to me,” said Jesus, “I will in no wise cast out.”

What, may I ask, is meant by this phrase? What are we to understand by “coming unto Christ”? Does it appear to you, my hearer, as something shrouded with mystery? I quite agree that an explanation is necessary, because, on account of the awful vagueness, many well-intended exhortations “to come to Christ” are utterly wasted. The very metaphor used makes the meaning perfectly clear and plain. In the days of our Lord is was custom for the disciples to gather around their respective teachers and follow them daily wherever they went. By this practice they bore public testimony of their attachment to these masters and their adherence to the doctrines they taught. Coming to Christ means to do exactly the same thing in relation to Him. It will be understood by all, of course, that our approach to Christ is spiritual. None could suppose it to be physical for since He has been, in His bodily presence, received up to heaven. That would be an impossibility. “It is the flight of the soul to Christ”. Nor is it merely coming to a church building and sitting under the preaching of the gospel; nor is it attending the Communion Service where He is remembered by the bread and wine. All these things, we recognize, have their place. But many do all of them, who never actually come, or even get any nearer, thereby, to Christ. It is a drawing near with the heart. “Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh unto you.” This coming implies Faith. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” Again, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” It presupposes conviction of sin and a sense of need. Hence, the soul, in the exercise of faith, simply trusts Christ for salvation, which includes pardon and deliverance from the condemnation of sin, and has confidence that He will not fail in the undertaking. By all such comers the Lord Jesus Christ is acknowledged in all His offices as the only Saviour, Prophet, Priest and King. You are invited by the Lord Himself to thus come, and in coming you not only obtain mercy but become a true disciple.

We are next attracted in our text to a description of the persons to whom the invitation is addressed. They are those that labour and are heavy-laden. Doubtless many of those to whom Jesus was at that time speaking had drunk deep of the cup of sorrow. With full knowledge of their sorrows and perfect acquaintance with their grief His loving heart of compassion went out to them in tender sympathy. “He is ever touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” With outstretched arms He bade them come unto Him for rest. Physically speaking, Christ has only changed His position. He has not changed. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever.” In His divine presence He is everywhere. He still sees and addresses the multitudes. If you will receive it He is the One addressing you now. It is His message we are proclaiming; His invitation we are extending; and as His humble servant we do but speak to you in His name.

Probably we have the ear of many this afternoon in different parts of Canada who answer to the description “the labouring and heavy-laden”. With some it may be a burden arising from a disturbing domestic problem. This is a trying day for parent! Indeed, also for children! Others are crushed in heart with the weight of some personal sorrow. The Psalmist declared, If any men should live beyond their allotted time of three score years and ten “yet is their strength labour and sorrow”. To all such the Lord extends His gracious invitation, “Come unto Me and I will give you rest.” “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” Still others, if they are hones, will trace their uneasiness to sin. To these has come an awakening. They have come to see the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Has sin become to you, instead of a thing of pleasure as it once was, an object most odious and terribly shocking? Have you come to tremble at the thought of meeting a just God? Then sin is the cause of your anxiety, and it has become to you a very great burden. Will you follow Bunyan’s Pilgrim who, with a heavy load upon his back, went to the cross, and as he stood before the cross his burden loosed from off his shoulders and began to tumble and so continued to do until it came to the mouth of the sepulchre where it fell in, and “he saw it no more”?

II. A PRECIOUS PROMISE

The blessed Saviour does also give men rest from sin. He does it in grace by forgiving and blotting out our transgressions. He “once suffered for sins the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” “He was delivered for our offences.” While on the cross He cried with a loud voice, “It is finished.”

Christ invites you, sinner friend, to come. Do you confess yourself a rebel? A prodigal? I have good news for you. Jesus Christ brought with Him from heaven the olive-branch. He carries in His hand the certificate of forgiveness. “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Then being justified by faith you have peace with God. Through life as you bring daily your burdens to Him you enjoy, not only peace with god, but “the peace of God which passeth all understanding.” Oh, how can we describe this rest? It is God’s rest. It is a rest which arms us with fortitude against the trials of life; it also affords us consolation with respect to the future. It gives us the joyful prospect of eternal rest which “remaineth for the people of God.”

In all my visits to the sea-shore and my travelling over some of the great oceans of the world, I have never seen the sea quiet or at rest. Neither can the man who has not come to Christ be quiet or at rest. I implore you: take Christ now and know the tranquility, the rest and peace of soul He gives to all who by faith come to Him. Will you not express your coming in the words we shall now sing: