Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1691
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Evening June 12 1881
“Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28.
When the Regular Congregation Left Their Seats to Be Occupied by Strangers
ONE is struck with the personality of this text. There are two persons in it, “you” and “Me”—that is to say, the laboring one and the tender Savior who entreats him to come, that he may find rest. It is most important, if we wish to see the way of peace, clearly, to understand that we must, each one, come personally to Jesus for rest—“Come unto Me, all you that labor”—and that coming, on our part, must be to a personal Christ. In effect He says, “Come, yourselves, to Me. Come not through sponsors, not through men whom you choose to call your priests, not through the petitions of ministers and teachers, but come, yourselves, for yourselves.”
Dear Hearers, the quarrel is between you and God, and this quarrel can only be made up by your approaching the Lord through a Mediator—it would be folly for you to ask another to come to the Mediator for you—you must trust in Him, yourself. Personal faith is indispensable to salvation. But the personality of Christ is equally brought out in our text. Jesus says, “Come unto Me”—“not to anybody else, but to Me.” He does not say, “Come to hear a sermon about Me,” but, “come to Me.” He does not say, “Come to sacraments which shall teach you something about Me,” but, “come to Me”—to My work and Person.
You will observe that no one is put between you and Christ. The text is, “Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden”—not to somebody that will stand between you and Me, but, “Come to Me at once, and without a go-between.” Come to Jesus directly, even to Jesus, Himself. You do need a Mediator between yourselves and God, but you do not need a mediator between yourselves and Jesus! Christ Jesus is the Mediator between you and the Father—you need no one to stand between you and Christ. To Him we may look at once, with unveiled face, guilty as we are! To Him we may come, just as we are, without anyone to recommend us, or plead for us, or make a bridge for us to Jesus. We are to come only to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whom God has ordained to be the way of access.
I shall fail at this in setting forth the Gospel if I shall lead anybody to think that he can get salvation by going to a church, or going to a meeting house, or going to a minister, or going into an inquiry-room, or going to a penitent form. No, we are to go nowhere but to Jesus. YOU, just as you are, are to come to Christ as He is—and the promise is that on your coming to Him, He will give you rest. That is the assurance of Jesus, Himself, and there is no deception in it. He will give you rest us surely as you come to Him. What a blessing it will be if those who have no rest in themselves should find rest at once in Jesus while yet this sermon calls them!
Why not? I hope many of you, my Brothers and Sisters, who have found rest, already, will be praying while I am preaching, that the unresting ones may come at this good hour and find rest in Jesus Christ the Savior. You see there are two persons. Let everybody else vanish and let these two be left alone to transact heavenly business with each other. Jesus says to you, “Come to Me.” Your answer to Him, if it is, ” Yes, Lord, I come,” shall be the means of bringing peace to your heart from this time forth and forevermore! I want, at this time, to set forth the Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, who sends this pressing personal invitation to every laboring and heavy laden one in this place. I wish that I knew how to preach. I have tried to do so for 30 years or so, but I am only now beginning to learn the art. Oh, that one knew how to set forth Christ so that men perceived His beauty and fell in love with Him at first sight!
Oh, Spirit of God, make it so now! If men knew the grandeur of His Gospel—the joy, the peace, the happiness which comes of being a Christian, they would run to Him! As flies seek after sweet fruit, so would men seek after the Savior, if they did but know that sweeter than honey and the honeycomb is the word of His salvation!
I. I first call your attention to THE VALUE OF THE GIFT which, in this text, is set before weary, laboring men— “Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Rest of the heart is worth more than all California! To be at peace—to be no more tossed up and down in the soul—to be secure, peaceful, joyful, happy, is worth mountains of diamonds. A man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses—many a poor man is vastly happier than the possessor of large estates—for peace comes not with property, but with contentment. The music of peace is not the jingle of gold or silver.