Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden.
The burdened directed to Christ
I. The person’s whom our Lord here addresses.
1. As burdened with convictions of sin and the keen remorse of a wounded conscience.
2. That sinners under these circumstances labour to be released from their burden.
(1) They resolve in their own strength to forsake their sins.
(2) There are others who are ignorant of the righteousness of God, and go about to establish their own righteousness.
(3) In looking to the mercy of God irrespective of Christ’s propitiatory sacrifice.
II. Our Lord’s tender solicitude for the happiness of such.
1. The invitation is condescending.
2. It is extensive and unconditional..
III. The promise annexed.
1. Rest in your conscience from the dread of Divine wrath.
2. Rest in the will from its former corrupt propensities.
3. Heavenly rest for the people of God. (R May.)
Rest in Christ for the heavy-laden
I. What it is. “Rest,” not rest in sin, not rest from trouble. It is rest from sin-its guilt, misery, power. It is rest in trouble.
II. Of whom is this blessing to be obtained. The conscious greatness these few simple words indicate. Have you ever tried to comfort a troubled heart? Beyond your power. It is the prerogative of Him who made the soul to give it rest. There is more power in Him to comfort than in the world to disquiet.
III. Who may obtain this rest from him-”All that labour.” These words express the inward condition of man. We do indeed toil. Some weary themselves to work iniquity. The world has worn some of you out. The burden of affliction; guilt-our corruptions.
IV. How they who desire may obtain it-“Come.”
1. Literally, when lie was on earth.
2. Faith in operation. Hagar went to the well and drank, and was saved. Those who have found rest in Christ, remember where you found it. See on what easy terms we may find rest. Some know they are sinners, but are not weary of sin. (C. Bradley.)
Rest for the weary
1. The promise is faithful.
2. It is a precious promise.
3. It is an appropriate promise.
4. It is one of present accomplishment. (D. Rees.)
The way of coming to Christ
1. The most obvious is Christ historically taught.
2. Men seek to come to Him speculatively. Who can find out a being by a pure process of thought?
3. There are those who seek Christ by a sentimental and humanitarian method. This will not fire zeal. How then are men to come to Christ? Through a series of moral, practical endeavours to live the life which He has prescribed for us. (H. W. Beecher.)
Christ’s word to the weary
There are three sorts of trouble.
1. There is head-trouble-to do what is right.
2. There is heart-trouble. The interior grief.
3. There is soul-trouble. Christ gives rest from these. (W. G. Barrett.)
A special invitation
1. It is personal-“Come unto me.” God directs to Christ, not to His members.
2. It is present-“Come “ now, do not wait.
3. So sweet an invitation demands a spontaneous acceptance.
4. He puts the matter very exclusively. Do nothing else but come to Him.
Arguments which the Saviour used:-
1. Because He is the appointed mediator-“All things are delivered unto me of My Father.”
2. Moreover the Father has given all things into His hands in the sense of government.
3. Christ is a well-furnished mediator-“All things are delivered unto Me.” He has all the sinner wants.
4. Come to Christ because He is an inconceivably great mediator. No man knows His fulness but the Father.
5. Because He is an infinitely wise Saviour. He understands both persons on whose behalf He mediates.
6. He is an indispensable mediator-“Neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Invitation based on saving power
In a previous verse our Lord had said, “All things are delivered unto me by My Father: meaning that all power is given unto Him for the instructing, ruling, and saving of mankind; from whence He infers those comfortable words in the text.
I. A gracious invitation made by our Saviour.
II. The persons invited.
III. A promise of ease and benefit.
IV. The way and manner of coming to Christ.
V. A farther encouragement hereunto, from an inward sense and feeling of the promised rest.
VI. A good reason to back and enforce it-“My yoke is easy.” (Matthew Hole.)
Ways of coming to Christ
Coming to Christ and believing, are in Scripture used to signify one and the same thing.
I. The first step in coming to Christ is by baptism.
II. The next step is by prayer.
III. A farther step is by repentance and confession of sin.
IV. We are said to come to God by hearing His Word, and receiving instruction from Him.
V. Also by receiving His Holy Supper: and-
VI. By putting our whole trust and affiance in Him, relying upon Him for salvation, and placing all our hopes and confidence in His merits and satisfaction. (Matthew Hole.)
Coming to Christ
This implies three things.
I. Absence: for what need is there of oar coming to Christ unless we are previously at a distance from Him? Such is the condition of every man. Naturally, all are without Christ as to saving influence; as to a proper knowledge of Him, love to Him, confidence in Him, and union and communion with Him.
II. Accessibleness. We come to Him; we can find and approach Him. Not to His bodily presence. As man He is absent; as God He is still present. He said to His apostles, “Lo, I am with you always; even unto the end of the, world.”
III. Application. For this coming to Him is to deal with Him concerning the affairs of the soul of eternity. (W. Jay.)
Christ’s rest
I. A negative description.
(1) Rest, not lethargy. A condition in which the powers of the soul are quickened, rendered alive to its capacities, duties, and privileges.
(2) Rest, not inactivity. Release from weariness rather than from labour.
(3) Rest, not confinement. Not isolation or routine.
(4) Rest, not leisure. Not a brief season of relaxation, but a lasting state of peace and strength.
II. A positive description.
(1) Rest, that is, peace. Conscience is at ease. The mind is satisfied. The heart is filled with love.
(2) Rest, that is, fearlessness. Not only is there present satisfaction, but assured confidence in the future.
(3) Rest, that is, fortitude. The burden may not be removed, but Christ gives us such a temper that we are as happy with our burden as though we were without it.
(4) Rest, that is, security. He shields us from every adverse power. He gives us ground for our confidence. (Stems and Twigs.)
Christ relieving us of natural burdens
1. Spiritual burdens.
2. Mental burdens.
3. Providential burdens.
4. Physical burdens. (Bishop Simpson.)
Christianity lightens physical burdens
Go to-day into heathen countries, into Mohammedan lands, and what do you find’? The village on the hill top, the old wails, the spring down near the roost of the hill, the water carried by hand, the pitcher, the goat skin-just as it was in ancient times. The burden is borne by men upon their backs. Go to China, and travel from place to place. It is difficult, and oftentimes the traveller must be carried by men, and, if not by men, by a rude cart. When I was in Palestine, a year ago, there was only one wheeled vehicle in the whole territory, and that had been brought there by the Russian Embassy. Burdens were borne on the back, and in the simplest way-. Turn to Christian lands, and what are they? See what you call civilization-that is, Christianity affecting the minds and occupations of men-how it works! How is this city of a million and a quarter supplied with water? A great engine pumps it up from the river; iron pipes carry it to every house. You turn the tap and have it in almost every room. There is no broken back or burdened frame carrying from some spring this water. Go into countries partly civilized, and you find a few public pumps or wells, and the multitudes go there. It is a mere physical thing, you say. Yes; but it is God working in the subjugation of nature to man’s comfort. Moreover, you turn these taps in your room without thinking of it; and yet you have here a proof that God is taking care of the labour-burdened, and ought to remember how Christ has said, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Go out into the fields. What was the old way? Men, bowed down in the heat of an August sun, took the sickle in hand, and tried to reap the harvest. Now the reaping-machine, drawn by horses, moves into the field, throws out its bound-up sheaves without human toil: and the harvest is gathered without man being bowed down to the earth. What is it? “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Go into the house: long ago, needlewomen, from early morn until night, and late into the night, stitched carefully, slowly, regularly, on their endless task. Now look at the sewing-machine, and see the amount of work that can be done without, comparatively speaking, human toil. Turn your eyes over to this light, and whence comes it, and how? Look at the little lamp of old, with its lard and wick, then the tallow candle; and now, wandering through all these pipes, comes this air or gas to be lighted, and what a change in human labour i From the darkness, from the atmosphere around us, men are gathering this electric fluid, and throwing light over the darkest of streets and alleys of your city, and thus enabling thousands of men to work as by daylight in your manufactories. What a change in human labour! There must still be labour, but it is not to be of that toilsome character that it once was. (Bishop Simpson.)
It is not a local coming to Christ, which is now impossible, but a movement of heart and mind to Him.
I. The class of persons that our Saviour wan supposed to have in view.
1. Such as were laden with the burden of ceremonial obedience. The observances of Christianity were few and simple, neither occupying much time, nor incurring much expense. They recommended themselves by their significance and force.
2. Such as are oppressed and burdened with a sense of guilt.
3. Such as are endeavouring to erect an edifice of righteousness out of their own performances.
4. Those who are overwhelmed with worldly calamities-the victims of worldly sorrow.
5. Those who are engaged in a restless, uncertain pursuit after felicity in the present state.
6. Those who are heavy laden by speculative pursuits in matters of.religion. (Robert Hall, M. A.)
A word in season to the weary
Causes of weariness.
1. Wounded affections.
2. The disappointment of our desires.
3. Vacancy of mind and the sense of monotony.
4. The load of a guilty conscience is fatiguing.
5. The burden of earnest thought and noble endeavour. (E. Johnson, M. A.)
Desire outruns faculty anal causes weariness
The result would be something monstrous if their energies and abilities grew as fast as their aspirations or their ambitions. As the eye carries the mind in the flash of a moment over a space of country which it would require hours to traverse in the body, so the hot speed of human Desire outruns our slow and pausing faculties. And this a great cause of fatigue; we cannot keep up with ourselves; one part of our nature lags behind another. Or, no sooner is the goal which we had thought a fixed one reached, than another starts up in the new distance, and Desire is still goading us on refusing us rest. (E. Johnson, M. A.)
Rest not found in mere ceremonial observances
Both the Wesleys, and Whitefield also, fell for a time into the same mistake. In their endeavours to obtain peace of conscience, in addition to attending every ordinary service of the church, they received the sacrament every Sunday, fasted every Wednesday and Friday, retired regularly every morning and evening for meditation and prayer; they wore the coarsest garments, partook of the coarsest fare, visited the sick, taught the ignorant, ministered to the wants of the needy; and, that he might have more to give away, John Wesley even for a time went barefoot. And yet, with all this, they did not obtain the peace for which their souls craved. (R. A. Bertram.)
The reality of rest
“Come,” saith Christ, “and I will give you rest.” I will not show you rest, nor barely tell you of rest, but I will give you rest. I am faithfulness itself, and cannot lie, I will give you rest. I that have the greatest power to give it, the greatest will to give it, the greatest right to give it, come, laden sinners, and I will give you rest. Rest is the most desirable good, the most suitable good, and to you the greatest good. Come, saith Christ-that is, believe in Me, and I will give you rest; I will give you peace with God, and peace with conscience: I will turn your storm into an everlasting calm; I will give you such rest, that the world can neither give to you nor take from you. (Thomas Brooks.)
Rest only in God
Lord, Thou madest us for Thyself, and we can find no rest till we find rest in Thee! (Augustine.)
The weary welcome to rest
A poor English girl, in Miss Leigh’s home in Paris, ill in body and hopeless in spirit, was greatly affected by hearing some children singing, “I heard the voice of Jesus say.” When they came to the words, “weary, and worn, and sad,” she moaned, “That’s me 1 That’s me i What did He do? Fill it up, fill it up!” She never rested until she had heard the whole of the hymn which tells how Jesus gives rest to such. By-and-by she asked, “Is that true?” On being answered, “Yes,” she asked, “Have you come to Jesus? Has He given you rest?” “He has.” Raising herself, she asked, “Do you mind my coming very close to you? May be it would be easier to go to Jesus with one who has been before than to go to Him alone.” So saying, she nestled her head on the shoulder of her who watched, and clutching her as one in the agony of death, she murmured, “Now, try and take me with you to Jesus.” (The Sunday at Home.)
Rest for all
There are many heads resting on Christ’s bosom, but there’s room for yours there. (Samuel Rutherford.)
Rest not inaction
It is not the lake locked in ice that suggests repose, but the river moving on calmly and rapidly, in silent majesty and strength. It is not the cattle lying in the sun, but the eagle cleaving the air with fixed pinions, that gives you the idea of repose with strength and motion. In creation, the rest of God is exhibited as a sense of power which nothing wearies. When chaos burst into harmony, so to speak, God had rest. (F. W. Robertson.)
Rest In trouble
I say that men want rest from their troubles, and that the only worthy rest is rest in our trouble. We have our first real impression of what toil is, when we begin, as an apprentice, to learn some trade. Our first real impression of toil brings the first real desire for rest. But all the rest the young man thinks of is the rest of laying down his tools, and leaving the workshop or the warehouse to spend the evening in manly sports. He has no thought yet of that higher rest, which will come, by-and-by, out of skill and facility in the use of tools. (R. Tuck, B. A.)
Resting on the Bible
In Newport church, in the Isle of Wight, lies buried the Princess Elizabeth (daughter of Charles the First). A marble monument, erected by our Queen Victoria, records in a touching way the manner of her death. She languished in Carisbrook Castle during the wars of the Commonwealth-a prisoner, alone, and separated from all the companions of her youth, tilt death set her free. She was found dead one day, with her head leaning on her Bible, and the Bible open at the words, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The monument in Newport church records this fact. It consists of a female figure reclining her head on a marble book, with our text engraven on the book. Think, my brethren, what a sermon in stone that monument preaches. Think what a stunning memorial it affords of the utter inability of rank and high birth to confer certain happiness. Think what a testimony it bears to the lesson before you this day-the mighty lesson that there is no true rest for any one excepting in Christ. -Happy will it be for your soul if that lesson is never forgotten.