Matthew 11:25-30

Matthew chapter 11, beginning with verse 25 and reading through verse 30. 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 prudent, and has revealed them unto babes. even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my father, and no man knoweth the son but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever, the son will reveal Him. Come unto me, O ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you, and learn in me, for I am meek and lowly and hard, and you shall find rest under your souls. My yoke is easy, and my burden is light. God blessed to us is sacred and holy word this morning. In Pilgrim’s progress, John Bunyan, as you recall, in the opening of the book, has a man named Mr. Christian, and he he is reading a book, which turns out to be the scriptures, the Bible. And in that book, he finds a heavy burden is laid upon, that the wrath of God is upon. And his concern is, what shall I do? And so throughout the book, or the first part of the book, he has a huge burden on his back. Now, where did Bunyan get such an idea, but from our text, when it talks about those that labor and are heavy laden, he drew it from this passage of scripture. And the idea was that Mr. Christian need to find a way to get that burden off his back, lest it sink him down to the lowest hell. Our text is interesting because there is a, connection here between two important truths. One is the predestination of God, and the other is the responsibility of man. In verses 25 to 27, we see the doctrine of predestination is given a prominent emphasis here. Our Lord has declared the sovereignty of God when it comes to who is revealed the way of salvation. And we find that in verse 25, that the Father has hidden the truth of salvation from some. He has revealed it unto others. Now, Copernium was the city that he preached at, and he mentions in Bethsaida also in verses the early part of verses 20, through 24 here. They did not repent at the preaching of Christ. And it’s because they did not have revealed unto them the way of salvation. They did not understand it when he preached it. They did not come to know the Lord. But it was all up to the Father. It pleased the Father to hide it from them and not reveal it to them. In verse 27, you’ll notice that only of those who come to the Father and can know the Father and can know the Son are those to whom the Son reveals the Father. And so we see this sovereignty of God here. But it’s also interesting that connected with this, in verses 28 to 30, we see the gospel call here. We see the message going out for people to come to Christ. for salvation. We must always balance these two out. We must always hold to both truths that God predestinates, and yet the message is for man to repent of his sins and come to Christ. And so we see the Christ here inviting or calling, I should say, those who are tottering under a heavy load and burden like Mr. Christian to come to him for relief and for salvation. The gospel is always a message for those who are weary and need relief from sin and need salvation. Now, Jesus has already said in the gospel of John, all the Father giveth unto me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I know wise will cast out. The same doctrine as we find here in our text. The only ones who come to Christ are those given to Him by the Father. But the message is all who come will be received. Now when we look at this passage of Scripture, we’re prone to look at it as the initial way of salvation, and certainly that is the emphasis here. But we should also recognize in this text of Scripture that we always, as Christians, need to be coming to Christ for relief from our burden and sin, for we fall into sin every day. And we have to come to Christ to find the rest that he talks about. What is this rest of which he talks about? if we read it carefully, we see that it is a spiritual rest of which he speaks. It’s not rest for the body. It’s not rest with regard to refreshment that we would get, let’s say, from sleep, or rest from some type of physical ailment or disease or sickness that we might have. Coming to Christ is not going to free us from. all our physical ailments, as if coming to Him will be a miracle cure, or there’s some type of divine healing that we will get if we come to Christ. It’s not rest from your trials and tribulations. Christ does not promise that if we come to Him that all our problems in this life will be suddenly erased, and everything will just be wondering. wonderful in our lives. There will have smooth sailing through life and that the ocean that we’re on will be a sea of glass and there’ll be no storms. No, we’re not promised that. Indeed, there is a truth in scripture where the Bible says that those who are followers of Christ shall have tribulation in this life. There’s no promise. here that we will be relieved from any financial burden that we have, as if all our financial worries will be removed and no longer trouble us. But you’ll see that the tax speaks of obtaining spiritual rest, because he talks about you’ll find rest for your soul, not your body, but your soul. This is a rest that you’re not going to find at the doctor’s office. you’re not going to find it the psychiatrist chair or couch. But our great physician is one who can work on the inner man. Christ is able to deal with the soul. The rest of which Christ speaks is the most important rest that there is. And that’s peace within. and right standing with God. It’s a rest that certainly satisfies the heart. Now, there is a weary quest that man is on in this life. We find it in the book of Ecclesiastes, in which Solomon is trying to find satisfaction in this life. And he goes through all right. all these different things that he tries, whether it be mirth or drink or farming, or the pleasures of life, or a harem of women, whatever the case may be, he’s trying all these different things, trying to find some satisfaction in life. But as Isaiah tells us, man is laboring for that which satisfies, not. And before we were converted, we wasted all our energies, wondering and searching for those things which we thought would satisfy our soul, and we got disappointed one after another. We were like the honeybee that floated from one flower to another, trying to suck out the nectar and find satisfaction. But whether it be the new course, car, the new clothes, or the new pool, or the new electric gadget, electronic gadget, or the new house that we have, or whatever it is that we sought after, we find that none of those satisfied. As Jesus said, about all that the world has to offer, whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again. And so this vexation of soul, of which Ecclesiastes talks about in Solomon, talks about can only be found, the satisfaction can only be found in coming to Christ. Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, John 414. The rest of Christ then satisfies the heart. It fills that need for the true happiness that we should have in this life. The Christian never forgets, should never forget, the this world cannot satisfy the heart. So the rest that satisfies the heart is what we’re talking about. It’s a rest here that unburdens the soul, the conscience. It talks about the removal of the burden that we have. The laying down of this heavy load of which he speaks. Only someone. who has been convicted by the Holy Spirit can appreciate what this means. When Mr. Christian felt this burden that was on his back, he had an intense fear of the terrors of the future judgment. And therefore, he had this indescribable anguish of conscience. You remember, he couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t rest. He wasn’t at peace with himself. God’s law keeps ringing in your ear. Thou shalt not and you know you have. You know that you’re guilty. Or thou shalt and you know you have not done. So you stand condemned and you know that. And you cry out with David, there is no rest in my bones because of my sin. Psalm 38, verse 3. Once your conscience is aroused, once it is troubled, it’s not easy. settled down. We’re like on a stormy sea that cannot rest. It’s constantly casting up on the beach of our memory, the mire and the filth of our past sins and wickedness. And there’s fear because of that. Isaiah talks about the wicked being like the troubled sea that cannot rest. But when we come to Christ, all this is altered. He says here in our text, I will give you rest. Any time we have fears and doubts that arise and our conscience is troubled, as believers, we can find a calmness and in quietness for the soul by fleeing to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who says, come unto me. It’s the wonderful truth of substitution that gives us peace in our conscience because we know that we are going to be accepted by God because a full atonement has been made by the Lord Jesus Christ. Our sin is paid in full. The debt is canceled. Divine justice is satisfied. The law is fulfilled. Therefore, we should realize that there is no condemnation to those who are which are in Christ Jesus, as Romans 8 one tells us. Who is he that condemeth? Christ hath died on our behalf, as Romans chapter 8 also indicates to us. So this rest takes the burden off your conscience. It gives peace that passes all understanding. It’s a rest from the dominion and yoke of sin. Now we read here about a a burden, and we have the idea of an old yoke that was on us. You know, our life can be pictured as plowing. The old yoke that we have in our old life was unconcerned here about the glory of God. We were indifferent to how we lived. We had no idea of the sinfulness of sin, which completely dominated us. We were slaves the sin. But we served willingly. We served faithfully. We were addicted to it like a powerful drug. We craved it. It’s only after we’re illuminated by the Holy Spirit that we see the awfulness of our previous condition. Now, we can’t take off the yoke ourselves. We can’t unburden our own sin by our own strength. When Christ can lift it off. And it takes God’s power to do that. Once we serve sin with all our might, but now we are to put our energies into serving the Savior. Being made free from sin, we are to be servants of righteousness. Now notice here, we are to rest from our works for justification before God. There is no longer such that we labor in vain. as Jeremiah 51 talks about. We must realize that all our efforts are called filthy rags in the eyes of God. We never gain acceptance with God because of our good works. Our rest is always found in the sufficiency of the finished work of Christ. I told you about one of the DCI nurses saying to me one day, I’m going to go to heaven. And when I ask her why she thought she was going to heaven, She said she had given a body bath to someone she loath. And she thought, well, I earned my way to, I earned my way to heaven. I’m sure to go there. That her good deed would put her in good standing with God. But I had to tell her that that wasn’t going to do her any good. That that was not going to solve her problem. We who come to know the Lord serve Christ. out of love and devotion to him. And we do good works not to earn our salvation, but because we have been saved. Our rest is found in the perfect work of Christ, who frees us from the burden of our sin. So we gladly take His yoke upon us and are obedient unto him and take a delight in serving God. If we’re trusting in our own work, the scripture says that man at his best state is altogether vanity. So our hope has to lie outside ourselves. It has to rely, we have to rely on Christ. So Christ gives us spiritual rest. Now notice how do we obtain this rest? By coming to Christ, come unto me, he says. You are to trust in the person of Christ to find this spiritual rest. Scripture says there’s no salvation in any other but the Savior. Now, there are many people who are religious. There’s a difference between being religious and coming to Christ. Many people go and they go to church weekly, regularly. They’ve never come to Christ. You remember Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night, who was a ruler of the Jews, always in church, even a teacher among the Jews. This guy was involved in church all the time in church activities. and yet he didn’t know salvation. He wasn’t at rest. He wasn’t at rest. And he couldn’t be at rest and didn’t become at rest until he came to Christ. Inner peace doesn’t come through church attendance, through penance, through fasting, even through some bodily afflictions as some religions teach. It doesn’t come through meditations as the East. and religions promote like yoga or transcendental meditation of some sort. Christ is the only one who can give us peace. So you have to come to the person of Christ by faith. And we should mention here that this is a continual coming to Christ that we need. I trust that those that I addressed this morning already know Jesus Christ. They’ve already come to Jesus Christ for salvation. But this coming to Christ is something obviously we need to do all the time in the sense of we are always having to deal with our sin. We are always having to find forgiveness of our sins. And so it doesn’t necessarily have to be a single act, but a continuous coming. First Peter 2.4 says, to whom coming, meaning again and again, as unto a living stone. So even if you’ve been a mature Christian for 30 years or 60 years or whatever the case may be, it doesn’t really matter. We need Christ just as urgently now, and you and I both do, as we did when we first came to Christ for salvation. How do you come to Christ as a Christian? Well, you come to Christ continually by searching the scriptures. Search the scriptures, Jesus said, for they test. of me. If you want to learn something of Christ, if you want to know of Christ in his way of salvation, if you want that, you have to come to the scriptures. Even the Old Testament scriptures, for Jesus said that Moses spoke of him. So even in the Old Testament and picture and type, as well as specific mention, Christ is there. We should come to Christ continually by prayer. Don’t we come in Jesus’ name? Don’t we ask in his name? Don’t we come through him as the high priest? Come unto the Father by him. Do we not? We should come to Christ continually through the Lord’s Supper. Do this in remembrance of me, Jesus said. Now, we don’t come to Christ continually through the Lord’s Supper. We don’t figuratively, I should say, eat of Christ. We eat the man of heaven and the drink from Emmanuel’s veins. These things are not literal, I should say. We don’t literally eat and drink of Christ. Well, we figuratively see Christ portrayed in the Lord’s Supper, and it speaks of our fellowship with Christ. that we may remain spiritually healthy, we come to the table of the Lord. That we might be strengthened in soul and in spirit. And notice also, not only do we obtain rest by coming to Christ, but we obtain rest by yielding to Christ here. He says, take my yoke upon you. Now, in order to come to Christ, we have to turn our backs on the old way of life that we used to engage in as Isaiah 557 says let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him Christ bids us to take his yoke upon him. It’s as if we are going to be yoked together with Christ if you would. Back in the days when oxen were used for plowing fields, had this wooden collar that would connect two oxen together and they would plow the field as a unit. It kept them going in the same direction, you know, working together toward a common goal. Also kept them in step one couldn’t get ahead of the other, and they had to work together. Christ is saying, I’m upholding, you know, I’m holding up one end of the yoke on my shoulders. you come under the other end of the yoke yourself. Let us work together in fellowship with one another. There is a peace that each step we take in our life is such that Christ is plodding along with us. He’s with us always, even under the end of the world, as the scripture says. Peace and rest come. while we’re working in Christ’s vineyard. We’re working in the vineyard of the Lord, and we’re serving alongside him. Unrest is when we were rebellious and we refused to do so. We obtained rest by yielding to Christ, and we obtain rest by learning from Christ, for he says here also, learn of me. Here we have the duty to be students. of Christ. You know, Peter says in 1. Peter 221, he left us an example that we should follow his steps. No man how, no matter how wise or how holy or godly they may be is a perfect example for us. Or if you read through scripture and even the best of men, you find Abraham lying on several occasions. You find David. even the man after God’s own heart committing terrible sins, such as… We find Moses had put a man to death, lost his temper with the people of God, and could not go into the promised land because he struck the rock when he should have spoken to the rock and so forth. Peter, as great as he is in the scriptures, is still a man who denied the Lord, even though he’s a great speaker for the Lord on the day of Pentecost and afterwards. So the standard that we have here is not another man per se, but the God man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is perfect in all his ways. He says, learn of me. We’re to aim high here and not settle for learning from learning from someone else per se. Learn of me. Be not afraid to come to Christ for instruction and for help. He says, for I am meek and lowly of heart. It’s not a hard task to master. We don’t need to hesitate to come for Christ as a friend of sinners. And he’s able to solve every problem we face. He’s able to sympathize with us because he is touched with the feelings of our infirmities. You know, we often fail to learn from his example. He says he’s meek and lowly of heart, and yet how many Christians do you know who are meek and lonely of heart? How often we fail to learn of Christ and have that same spirit about us as we see here. As God said about Israel of old, Ephraim is a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. He’s fighting instead of learning. And sometimes that’s the way we are, because of we’re not. we are proud in spirit and our wills are still stubborn. And we can’t have rest for soul unless we’re bowed in subjection to Christ and willing to serve him. And so we come to this passage this morning. I hope that we will see here something not just for the sinner who needs salvation. And the need to come to Christ initially here to get the burden of salvation. sin off his back and the condemnation of the law. But even as Christians, we see the need to consider Christ’s atoning work and come to him that whatever burden of sin we may find upon ourselves may be relieved. And as we come to Christ, there is also the need to take his yoke upon us and learn of him. He says his burden is his burden is his. Yoke is easy, is burden as light, and so we should do so willingly and eagerly. Well, let us close with the work.