Matthew 11

Matthew 11:1-24

CHRIST’S OF JOHN AND THE JEWS Matthew 11:1-24THIS is December 20th, 1925. Five days hence we will again celebrate the anniversary of our Lord’s nativity. Never since I came to candidly consider that subject, has it been so easy for me to believe in His Virgin Birth, as I find it to be on this Sunday morning. For eighty-four hours this week, I was the comfortable guest of the Santa Fe and Great Western Roads, and as I journeyed from Los Angeles to this city, I gave my time to five books—written by England’s most outstanding rationalist, Joseph McCabe. The writer’s style was attractive; his method of argument most engaging, and his conclusions amazing, to say the least. Beginning with the unproven and unprovable hypothesis of evolution, he concluded with a godless universe and in the process of the argument made me the same appeal in each of the six books, namely, that I believe that the eternal mother Ether gave virgin birth and nourishing development not only to every form of life to be found on the earth, but to every star and system to be found in the universe, a million, billion miles of the width of which is now known, and nearly two million billion miles in depth; and, if there be an infinity beyond this, equally filled, I am still to believe that Ether was the prolific mother of it all, and I am even to accept the statement that Antares, one of her youngest children, Isaiah 400,000,000 miles in diameter, or in other words, occupies more than twice as large a space in the heavens, as exists in the undisturbed distances of our entire solar system.

Talk about the miracles of the Bible staggering credulity! They are reduced to the level of minor incidents when compared with the demands upon faith made by rationalism.

One is compelled therefore, to conclude with that truly great scientist, Dr. Howard Kelly, that it is infinitely easier to believe all the miracles recorded in the Bible than accept this other miracle that somehow mysteriously launched life on a dead globe, and began to “develop it in a definite, determinate direction without the guidance of a Creator”. Bet me join with him in affirming that the demands of rationalism upon my credulity are so great that “my mind balks”.But I am not to speak further today upon the Virgin Birth of Jesus or the creative acts of an infinite God. We have so recently discussed both of these subjects from this pulpit, that we may be pardoned for continuing the even tenor of our way of interpreting the Word of God, as we come to it; and so our study this morning is the 11th of Matthew, Matthew 11:1-24. Tonight we shall consider the remaining verses of this same chapter. And now to the pleasant task.These verses fall naturally under three subjects: The Skepticism of John, The Speech of Jesus, and the Insincerity of the Jews.THE OF JOHNMat_11:1-6.“And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding His twelve disciples, He departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.

Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, He sent two of His disciples. And said unto Him, Art Thou He that should come, or do we look for another?

Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me”. In passing may I call your attention to the fact that Jesus who sent His disciples forth two by two, when He had made an end of His commandments, departed alone. For Him there is no equal; with Him there is no need of an aid. While His human heart craved companionship and He often sought the same, when it came to either works or words, there was absolutely nothing that another could add. So He went alone to teach and to preach. The disciples of John would find access to Him undisturbed and would not be annoyed by the attempts of maudlin men to answer questions possible only to the Son of God. It is not difficult to fully comprehend the occasion and meaning of this record.The dungeon had bred its doubts in the heart of John.

The disciples came not to voice themselves, but their leader instead. They may have shared His anxiety and with Him yearned for knowledge on the subject.

But they brought the question, put into their lips, “Art Thou He that should come, or do we look for another?”The castle, Machserus, was not appointed to optimism. Its dungeons were deep and hot. Fresh air and bodily exercise were alike denied. All opportunities of doing good were taken away, and the future was known to rest with what Dr. John A. Broadus calls “the caprice of a wicked king and a cruel woman”.

It is not difficult for the man who is in health, who is privileged the freedom of his own will, whose lungs are filled with God’s fresh air, whose ears are charmed by the music of birds, whose mind is delightfully engaged, whose domestic, business and spiritual life is prosperous, to be an optimist. But to hold one’s faith when all circumstances are adverse, when every favor and even opportunity seems to have been removed, when the blackness of a penitentiary pit obtains both day and night,—that is different; then faith is difficult and doubts are easy.

It was in the hours when the sun hid its face from the earth that Jesus Himself became a skeptic and cried, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” The marvel of the ages is the circumstance that John Bunyan could keep both his faith and his spirit in Bedford jail. Though for twelve long years he endured, that time he so spent, that this particular dungeon has emitted the rays as of a great searchlight ever since. But John Bunyan was a writer, and work is God’s own appointment against any and all the conceivable curses of sin. John the Baptist was only a speaker, “a voice crying in the wilderness”, and the prison had sealed his lips, scattered his audience, shut off his every opportunity, and its very blackness bred his doubts. The deeds of the devil are the deeds of darkness, and whenever he can extinguish the light from men and women, obscure from them the shining face of the Christ, he can follow that act with an eclipse of faith, and harrow the soul with hard and unanswered questions.Skepticism is no proof that you are not Christ’s. It may be because your health is poor; it may be because your circumstances are hard; it may be because your vision is blinded; it may be because your friends are gone; it may be because your good fortune has come to an end; it may be because your enemies have triumphed.What’s the course to be advised?

Look into the text and learn.John’s doubts were carried directly to Jesus. They said unto Him, “Art thou He that should come, or do we look for another?” What wisdom!

How often men go to somebody else! How often they seek utterly wrong sources! I had a great friend in the South who in his early life experienced a terrible tragedy, so terrible that reverence for his memory forbids my rehearsing the same.His early profession of faith had but emotionally been made. Skepticism had already made inroads before this experience came. Hume, Paine, and Voltaire had already become his favorite authors. He says that in the blindness and bitterness of this tragedy, he turned to these brilliant writers for help and they mocked him.

I shall rehearse the incident in some greater fullness this evening.How like the conduct of many a man desiring information, and seeking it from impossible sources; thirsty, but sinking his bucket in a dry well; consciously lost, but ignoring the fact the one can get his points of the compass from the north star even at night, and can take his bearings from the sun at the broad day. John’s behavior was better.

He sent to Christ. He inquired of Him with whom wisdom is. He looked to the Star of Bethlehem, he faced the Sun! Do we see our way? When Gilbert West was in doubt concerning the resurrection of Christ, he set himself to a study of the Scriptures. When Lord Lyttleton disbelieved in Paul’s conversion, he turned to Acts for more perfect knowledge of that event. When Lew Wallace doubted the Deity of Jesus, he searched out what the Bible had to say upon the subject. When Howard Kelly found himself threatened with the flood-tide of higher criticism, he determined to treat the Scripture as he had other sciences, and after making himself familiar with the Christian text-book, the Bible, passed judgment upon the Christian religion.

The result for each of these men was one and the same. West was converted; Lord Lyttleton finished his study believing in the conversion and inspiration of St. Paul; Lew Wallace was brought to Christ; and the faith of Howard Kelly was utterly confirmed. “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given unto him”.Christ answers doubts with demonstrations. Matthew 11:4-6.“Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me”.There are many self-styled scientists who seem to be so constituted mentally that they can accept a philosophy of nature that finds not a single illustration on the face of the earth or under the earth or in the sea; and they can’t accept Christ, though He never left any position assumed, profession made, or claims uttered, without demonstration.“Go and show John again (when needful Christ repeats His demonstrations) those things which ye do hear and see; The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached unto them”.But that a knowledge of science is not an emetic for faith is proven by the fact that so notable a scientist as Dr. Howard Kelly, and even hundreds of others of kindred accomplishments, can say that “the Virgin Birth is an established fact with abundant collateral evidences”, an opinion equally well entertained concerning the whole life, conduct and character of Jesus. Beyond all question, John the Apostle, had a keen and philosophical mind, yet he boldly affirms demonstrations as a basis of his faith.“That * * which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, * * declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us”.But I call your attention especially to the way that Jesus deals with this doubt. He treats it with no indifference; He holds it in no contempt; He answers it with no sarcasm; He sends back no bitter criticism, but sympathetically points to the proofs. Prophecy had said that “the blind would receive their sight, the lame leap as harts”; history had proven its fulfillment; yea and more, for “the blind had received their sight, and the lame walked, the lepers were cleansed, and the deaf were made to hear, the dead were raised up, and the poor had the Gospel preached to them”.There are thousands of men who think that if God would only show them clearly and positively the way, they would walk in it; but such men are self-deceived.

God has shown them; His finger marks the path; He has flooded the same with the light of His own presence; He has even added “the still, small voice”, saying, “This is the way; walk ye in it”. The man who lives a faithless life and dies a faithless death will never be able to indict the God who “so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”, nor the Son Himself, who demonstrated His Deity by both words and works.There are men who nourish their doubts, who take peculiar pleasure and pride in the same, who seek opportunities of parading their skepticism; and there are even ministers who tell with great gusto how they once indorsed infidelity, waded through its quagmire, fought single-handed its hissing serpents, its raging beasts, but came out victor against them all, and are now on the solid ground pursuing a plain path,—proof of their intellectual superiority!

Christ did not so teach. It is only another form of egotism that deserves rebuke. He said rather, “Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me”.Christ said to Thomas, “Because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet believe”. To the nobleman, Christ said, “Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe”, and to the rationalist might He easily add, “Even though ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe!”There are men who boast themselves scientists, when “science is knowledge gained and verified”, and who accept philosophies of science that are without verification and reject Christianity with all its multiplied proofs. Truly the heart of man is deceitful, for the Son of Man had, has now, and will forever have His sufficient demonstrations.

Every doubting Thomas that comes to Him, in sincerity, will have his doubts dispelled, and by demonstrations that are deadly to disbelief will be convinced into crying, “My Lord and my God!”But I call your attention to the succeeding Scripture and its subjects.Matthew 11:7-15.“And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?

But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in king’s houses. But what .went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send My messenger before Thy face, which shall prepare Thy way before Thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist; notwithstanding, he that is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear”.THE SPEECH OF JESUS.These words were addressed to the multitude that followed Christ. They were “concerning John”, and careful study will show that he proclaimed John a prophet, He affirmed his fulfillment of prophecy, and He appealed for audience to his plea.He proclaimed John a prophet! “But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in king’s houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet” (Matthew 11:8-9).We shall not attempt at this time to treat John, the Lord’s prophet, with any fullness. That will be done later when we come to the consideration of the 1st chapter of the Gospel of St. John.

But it is impossible to pass this gigantic figure in silence, and it would be stupid indeed not to attend to what Christ speaks when He compliments a man.One appreciates tribute from the noble, laudation from the wise; but when the Lord Himself passed complimentary judgment, we know that it was deserved, and that time will not reverse the decision. Satan accused Job of serving God for profit, and there may have been sinister souls in John’s day who intimated that he was brave, but his courage would be brief, and that his abstemious living was only to attract the crowds that he might finally filch them on a larger scale.

That whole suggestion Jesus holds to scorn. John is no “reed shaken with the wind”, an object of every flutter in the air; and John is no grafter. Such men hang about kings, not common people. Courage, then, was a virtue two thousand years since. Self-sacrifice in the interest of truth has always been properly esteemed and keenly appreciated by the Divine judgment.When I see men, ministers, frightened by every ecclesiastical wind that blows; professed prophets, whose only objective is to wear “soft clothing”, visit the houses of the elite, and play the part of lounge lizzards, I always think of John and wish he were back again,—John—the prophet, God’s messenger, Christ’s forerunner; and when I hear of Baptists who hedge and trim and fawn and forfeit the faith, I lose my confidence in apostolic succession, and yearn that John might be returned and give to those who have chosen to wear his name a fresh start, a new faith, another and a higher courage. Oh, ye men and women, supernaturally begotten by the spirit, intended to be ambassadors for the King, take the velvet from your mouths, practice and preach repentance again, cease from your cringing attitude and stand as erect as John did in the consciousness of a Divine appointment; be done with those veerings of faith that have to do with every wind that blows and “make straight a highway for our King!” He affirmed John to be the fulfillment of prophecy“For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send My messenger before Thy face, which shall prepare Thy way before Thee.

Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.

For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come” (Matthew 11:10-14).Malachi had written,“Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 3:1).A. J. Gordon said, “Prophecy is the mould of history”. The life of John is here running into that mould. Unto that end was he born.

Into that office did the Spirit guide him.But for that matter, why is not every Christian an essential part of God’s plan, and every believer a fulfillment of that prophecy,—“The gates of hell shall not prevail against the church”. In fact, it becomes us to remember that, since John closed the old dispensation, we are privileged the new.

Our characters should reveal yet greater worth, just as our positions and opportunities are above and better than were those of the Baptist himself. He came to complete what Elias had commenced. It is ours to carry on what Christ “began to do and to teach”.Christ appeals for audience for His plea. “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear”. At best, we are but a dull lot. Our indifference is the biggest thing about us. The average announcement is missed by the majority of the audience, so poor is our attention.

It may be so that many of those made by the lips of men are scarce worth the effort to get them; but, when God speaks, how strange that He should need say, “Now, if you have ears, listen!” How strange that men should not be all attention when heaven opens, the dove descends and the voice is sounding. But even this strangeness finds its explanations in the verses that follow:“But whereunto shall I liken this generation?

It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows,“And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.“For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.“The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.“Then began He to upbraid the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because they repented not:“Woe unto thee, Chorasin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you; had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.“But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.“And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.“But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee” (Matthew 11:16-24).THE OF THE JEW.Listen to our Lord’s threefold indictment against him. He charges him with insincerity; He reminds him of unmerited favors; He threatens him with a full and final judgment.He charges him with spiritual insincerity. The superficiality of the children of the market measured the Jewish men of Christ’s day. As they would not dance when their fellows piped, nor mourn when they lamented, so the spiritual interests of Judea lagged even in the presence of John the Baptist. He came as a severe ascetic.

They laid it to satanic possession. Christ had come as a social good-fellow.

They charged Him with “gluttony”, “wine-bibbing” and sinful associations. In other words, it is difficult to provide food for a man who has no appetite, or entertainment for the listless, and even Heavenly Manna is despised by the soul who is dead in trespasses and in sins. Is the age of which we are a part more spiritually interested than was that that Christ condemned? My rationalistic friend of the week’s reading charged it is not. He declares that not one man in ten goes to church, and scarcely one in ten, whose name is recorded on the membership list, is profoundly concerned and seriously engaged in soul-affairs. Well, I can’t share in the extravagance of his insinuations; but I do stand condemned by the indictment just the same, for every honest man must confess that we are more critical than Christian, more sinful than spiritual, more godless than godly.I move across the continent; I preach in many pulpits and talk often with church people.

Some of them tell me their pastor is too sober, too sanctimonious; that he needs humanizing. That’s John the Baptist.

Others tell me that their pastor is too flippant; puts in too much time on the golf course; is too often found with the lodges and ladies; prefers a pink-tea to a prayer meeting; is not averse to shows, and is sociable even with sinful outcasts. That is not Jesus! But it’s the same spirit that criticised Him. When we look on men, we have no right to expect perfection, and when we think on ourselves, we have a poor standpoint for passing criticism. But when we look on Jesus, we do behold One who made Himself at home with His fellows; who lived the normal life of food and drink; who illustrated His greatness by descending to publicans and sinners, and whose unpopularity is a positive proof of men’s poor judgment of the upright and the true and the good.Human behavior falls under the deeper condemnation when one remembers the times and opportunities in which we live and move and have our being. “Then began He to upbraid the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because they repented not”.He reminded them of His many favors. Every man’s responsibility is measured by his opportunity.

The same law governs cities and countries as well. Chorazin and Bethsaida, they had visited.

The gospel had been preached in their streets. The “great light that lighteneth every man that cometh into the world” had shown on their citizens. Miracles had been wrought full before them, and words more wonderful than even these works had been clearly spoken. “To whom much is given, of him shall much be required”. Oh, children of the twentieth century, think on these things! Was ever a generation so favored as ours? Did God ever reveal so much of His truth to men as is now made clear? Were the evidences of His grace and greatness ever so abundant as now? If it was more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, and even Sodom and Gomorrah, than for Chorazin and Bethsaida, in the day of judgment, what chance for New York, Chicago, Minneapolis and St.

Paul, and the cities of this delightsome land, of this enlightened century? Are we to face a kindred indictment!He threatened them with the full and final judgment. “But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee”.It is little wonder that men are now telling us there will be no judgment. Unless they repent, they cannot afford to believe there’s a judgment day coming. It’s little wonder that men now deny the existence of hell; when Heaven’s favors are spurned, one could wish indeed that hell were not.As we said at the outset, this is Christmas season. Nineteen hundred and twenty-five years ago, our Christ came, “not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance”.

Through all these days, His voice is chimed as a recurring bell, “Come!” The very festivities of this week, filled as they are with gifts and greetings, indicate the joy “God has prepared for them that love Him”. Despise that; reject that; repudiate that; and then tell me if you do not think that “it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee”.

Matthew 11:25-30

THE SOURCE OF AND REST Matthew 11:25-30THE utterance of this Scripture must have struck the crowds with strangeness. For the average man to go suddenly from terrific denunciation to ecstatic thanksgiving, would suggest hysteria; but it may mean only normality for the true man, and Christ was the truest of the true. There was also a logical relation between this denunciation and this apparent jubilation. Proud and favored cities had rejected the Son of God; plain and unlettered people had pressed about Him and believed on Him, and it all sufficed to remind Him of the Old Testament Scripture, in which He was versed as an author is versed in His own writings, “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, Thou hast ordained strength” (Psalms 8:2),and He saw in the rejection of the high and learned and the belief of the humble an illustration of that truth, and gave the Father praise for the fact. Then remembering that He was to believing men the revelation of the Father, He uttered the great and wonderful invitation with which this text concludes,“Come unto Me, all ye that labour 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 ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).These words were addressed to a people in need, to a company living in their own land, their liberties gone, the iron heel of the Roman oppressor hard upon their necks. They were intended to show the true way to peace of soul, and prosperity of body, and above all, to hunger of heart. In the study of this Scripture then, let us notice firstTHE FALSE OF REST The genuine is always being counterfeited; the truth is always being outwitted by falsehood, and the philosophy of rest which Jesus here uttered has been lost to the multitude who have listened to other voices.How many there are who think rest the result of circumstances! Go and stand in yonder street and study the movements of the people,“What means this eager, anxious throng, Which moves with busy haste along?” People say they want money. But they don’t eat money; they don’t wear money; it is not money they want! They want to change their circumstances; they want to live in better houses; they want to wear better clothes; they want to move in a more influential circle, and they have an impression, a deep and abiding conviction—that if only they can accomplish these objects, it will bring them peace, joy, and make life seem well worth living.That this philosophy is deeply rooted in the human heart is evidenced in that men hold it in the face of daily experience and observation to the contrary. They know the unhappiness in the splendid house next to them; they know the unrest of the most successful business man; they often know the sorrow of the society favorite, and yet they go right on working at circumstances to improve them, and if possible, compel them to speak one word— “Peace”, to utter one sentiment—“Rest”! This same crowd has walked by the humble cottage in which there dwelt a happy man surrounded by a happy family, and yet it is not convinced that improved circumstances do not mean increased pleasure and greater peace. Some of them have even heard Jesus say, “A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth”, and yet they do not understand; they do not believe.

Tomorrow will find them busy again at the great and never-ending problem of improving their circumstances with the hope of increasing their pleasure. It is in vain to say to them, “Brethren, if we are not at peace in poverty, neither would we be happy with plenty.

If there is not a great calm in your soul in the day when persecutions rage, neither would you enjoy it if all men spake well of you”. They have approached the whole subject from the standpoint of a false philosophy, namely, that circumstances have to do with the settlement of the whole question of one’s joys or sorrows—the determining of one’s peace or ill-content.There are others who depend upon ceremonies for their peace. Their philosophy of life is explained in one word, “Do”. Do this; do that—it is everything; bow before the image; make the cross over the heart; count the beads; say the prayers; commit the catechism; go to the confessional; pay your dues. Henry Drummond thought that if the rich young ruler who came to Jesus, and who declared he had been keeping the ten commandments, had been told that by keeping a hundred more, he might be saved, he would have cheerfully undertaken it, and I do not doubt it. But I have been reading Isaiah and I find that peace does not come through the performance of outward acts, else would every Israelite have had it, and Christ would have looked upon a company of the happy.

Their sacrifices were a multitude, their burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts were piled before the face of the Lord, but He said, “I take no delight in it!”“Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and sabbaths; the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hateth: they are a trouble unto Me; I am weary to bear them.

And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear” (Isaiah 1:13-15).Why? God tells them why. They have been trusting in ceremonies and committing inquity; their “hands are full of blood”. If you are to be His, you must make yourself clean, “put away evil and learn to do well”.No, beloved, it is not in keeping ceremonies. The Mohammedans make many prayers, but it does not improve their lives; the Chinese have many gods— millions of them—many temples and many priests, and ceremonies without end, and yet they are unsaved, and have no peace of God in their hearts. Martin Luther tried that way, and piously did he perform every rite prescribed by that ceremonially cursed institution of the Papacy, and he found not peace—“no peace”!

It was a service of slavery only; and even while he went about the bidding of his master, his ankles ached with the weight of the chains upon them, and his heart was crushed with the conviction of its own iniquity.There are others who are trusting to cerements for their peace. They have come to the grim and awful conclusion that it will never be found this side of the grave, but feel confident that there at last it will await them; for there “the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest”.

But it is not well to build up a philosophy upon a detached text of Scripture. Jesus Christ never suggested that death was necessarily an end of trouble; and in fact, He plainly taught that for many it would be the beginning of that deeper anguish which He voices in the words, “weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth”. As a rule, the wicked man does not expect to find rest in the grave. He talks about it, but he does not believe it; he is afraid of the future into which death will take him with his unpardoned sins upon him.A friend of mine coming into Minneapolis one night was on board a train which quit the track. Every car of the long train went from the rails, but for some strange reason, not a coupling broke and the engine kept the track; the brakes worked, and the train was brought from going at the highest rate of speed to a standstill without scaring a soul. But in speaking about it next morning he said, “I never dreamed before how men would meet death.

I looked into the faces of those passengers; some of them were calm, believing that the end had come, yet facing it without a tremor; and I saw some grow white with fear and let out awful cries”. Why this fear if the grave is to give rest?

Why this cry if we are by it to come into a long-sought possession? The wicked do not believe it. They know that “the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous”. They know it! Wm. Beckwith described the Hall of Eblis, the great house of the hereafter, picturing every man with his hand over his heart; and lo, as you looked, underneath it there glowed a consuming fire, and he presented the awful truth with which sin has made us familiar, “There is no peace here, or hereafter, for the man in sin! There is no rest in the grave for the wicked”. But enough! God pity me that I am compelled to lift this veil; but compelled I am. I have felt recently as I have never felt it before, that men are lost on account of sin, and silence would be my condemnation!And yet I set before you the other side of this subject—there is a solution. This text containsTHE SAVIOUR’S PROFFER. “Come unto Me, all ye that labour 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 ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light”.Three things! The Christ who stood before this surging, suffering crowd and saw its heart, and saw that that heart was eaten out by sin, and saw all the suffering incident to that awful circumstance, said first to them, and says now to you—“It need not be so!” You can have peace as a free gift. It seems to me, here, that the word is better interpreted “peace”. “Rest” carries to our mind the idea of cessation from labor; “peace” is contentment in labor, and the word of Jesus was, “My peace give I unto you”. “Give!” “Come unto Me and I mill give you rest”. You have been trying to merit it; you have been trying to believe that you could get it from God by your good conduct!

You have been doing this and that, and wondering if you could not barter it, but He says, “I will have none of it”. Peace is the gift of God.

It is too valuable to be bought. It is a boon so far beyond comparison with the best that we could do for God; it is utterly useless to think of buying it of Him. As well might the little child of the street take all of his pennies and walk up to the mansion of a millionaire and say, “I want to live in your house; I want to enjoy its luxury; I want the advantage of its education; I want the wealth of life which it might grant me, and here I have brought you my all, and I want to buy it”. What are a few pennies in the eyes of this man who counts his millions? And what are the few pennies as compared with what the child requested?Oh, men, incapable of a single act that is perfect before God, out with the thought of bringing to God a price for peace—His best gift! You cannot do it!

It is as unreasonable as unscriptural; and, thank God, it is as unnecessary as unreasonable! He says, “I will give it to you!” Do not underestimate it; the world is not worth living in when one is without it!

If you ever had it and lost it, you know perfectly well how empty are all honors; how unsatisfactory all offices; how meaningless all riches! Poor Cowper wrote what every other such a man has felt when he said,“Where is the blessedness I knew When first I saw the Lord? Where is the soul-refreshing view Of Jesus and His Word? “What peaceful hours I then enjoyed! How sweet their memory still! But they have left an aching void The world can never fill”. And lo, He answers you, crying, “Come, and I will give it”. “Ye that have no money, it is to you without money and without price”. It is the gift of God.“There comes to my heart one sweet strain, A glad and joyous refrain, I sing it again and again, Sweet peace, the gift of God’s love. Peace, peace, sweet peace. Wonderful gift from above, O wonderful, wonderful peace. Sweet peace, the gift of God’s love”. Again, it is proffered to all who are in need. “All ye that labour and are heavy laden”. What is your condition today? What is the great problem of your life? If today I knew your hearts, knew them utterly, knew them as God knows them, what would I find there as the one problem pressing for solution? In an audience like this, no man can imagine the problems. Every heart knoweth its own bitterness. With one it may be a financial problem, and yet so sore that sleep goes from the eyes at night; with another it may be a problem, professional; with the third, a domestic problem; with the fourth, a problem of personal sin; and with the fifth, a problem of a man or woman sinned against; or it may be a problem of faith in God or His Word! “Oh, what shall we do?” How often God hears that cry! When the time of sleep comes, and men and women, following possibly the custom taught at the mother’s knee, make a prayer to God the last thing before lying down, how the ear of God will be smitten with that cry, “What shall I do?”I bring you the answer! I am so glad to be the medium of the message—definite, clear, strong—“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”. All ye! All ye! All ye!

Do not imagine you are left out tonight! God had you in mind when He set me to preach this sermon. I do not know your difficulty; I have not described it because I knew it. I have described it because He knew it, and He gave me the words. How often people have come to me and said, “Oh, if my heart had been an open book and you could have read it, you could not have smitten me harder”. It was not open to me; it is open to Him; and He sent me with words to bring you the solution of your problem.

Won’t you have it—the gracious words of Christ, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”?“Come trembling sinner, in whose breast A thousand thoughts revolve; Come, with your guilt and fear oppressed, And make the last resolve:— “I’ll go to Jesus, though my sin Hath like a mountain rose; I know His courts, I’ll enter in Whatever may oppose. “Prostrate I’ll lie before His throne, And there my guilt confess; I’ll tell Him I’m a wretch undone, Without His sovereign grace. “Perhaps He will admit my plea, Perhaps will hear my prayer; But if I perish, I will pray; And perish only there. “I can but perish if I go; I am resolved to try; For if I stay away I know, I must forever die”. This rest is offered on the easiest condition! “Come”. That is your part; and that is your whole part; God asks nothing else of you than, “Come”.I say that is the easiest condition; and yet I know it may be, for some of you, a very difficult condition. It means to quit the Adversary’s service and He will not readily release His hold; it means to give up your loved and blighting sin, and the lust of the flesh will oppose it. It means to take upon you the yoke of Christ, and your untamed spirit fears it. And yet, it is the easiest condition that can be imposed! Christ cannot offer you better than that “Come”.

However hard it may be for you, He cannot soften the condition. It is His best and you must “come”; and I say to you that every man who debates between the idol or idols which have held his heart and this proffer of the Son of God, decides while he debates, and crucifies the Son of God afresh, and had rather retain them. Apples of Sodom as they are, glittering today with beauty, destined to be ashes of tomorrow; sweet under my tongue at this moment, sure to become an adder’s sting the next; I know it, and yet, knowing all, I decide that I will keep them and decline your invitation. Dare you? Esau had such a day! He beheld right on the one side, and a mess of pottage on the other.

God said to him, “This is a priceless treasure; perish rather than part with it”. Satan on the other side said, “Enjoy yourself for this moment in this mess of pottage, e’en though it cost you your inheritance”. There comes a time in every man’s life, and in the life of every woman when Esau’s experience is re-enacted and choice between an abiding inheritance or a passing pleasure must be made. Remember, oh, let me entreat you to remember, that when he made that choice, though afterward he sought diligently for the place of repentance, he found it not; and let me entreat you now, ere it is too late, to make the wise choice.THE KINDS AND OF REST. There are two kinds of rest here. There is the rest of faith and the rest of assurance.The rest of faith! “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”. No man ever trusted Jesus, but He found it. It is a part of the sentence of justification which God passes the moment a soul believes. It is the experience into which Martin Luther came, when, with a burning heart, ascending Pilate’s staircase at Rome, crawling on his knees that by his humble attitude he might propitiate God, he suddenly remembered the Scripture, “The just shall live by faith”, and believed it. Instantly, instantly, the “peace of God that passeth understanding” possessed his mind and heart in Christ Jesus. It is the experience of which John Bunyan speaks in his “Pilgrim’s Progress”, when at the sight of the Cross and believing the words of Evangel, suddenly the great burden rolled from his back, and an indescribable peace took possession of his heart.“Oh, Lord, how happy should we be If we could cast our care on Thee, If we from self could rest; And feel at heart that One above, In perfect wisdom, perfect love, Is working for the best! “How far from this our daily life, How oft disturbed by anxious strife, By sudden wild alarms; O, could we but relinquish all Our earthly props, and simply fall On Thine almighty arms! “Could we but kneel and cast our load, E’en while we pray, upon our God, Then rise with lightened cheer; Sure that the Father, who is nigh To still the famished raven’s cry, Will hear in that we fear!” And there is the rest of assurance!“Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light”.The world looks upon a yoke as an intolerable burden. You all know the uses of it. It binds two together. In the South, we used to plow with oxen on my father’s farm; and, when an untamed one was put into the yoke, he rebelled against it, refused to keep step with his elder, and often injured himself in his attempts to wrench his head from it. What an illustration of the unhappiness resulting from trying to tether an unregenerate life to the Son of God!But when that same unruly ox had been tamed, how different!

Then, wherever the leader went, he walked with joy, as if it were the very place of his choice; whatever the leader did, he delighted in. It is positively beautiful to behold this tamed spirit as he watches the leader and discerns that he desires to go to the brook to refresh himself.

You can almost hear him answer in his mind, “Good, I would like to go there myself”. It is wonderful to see them “roll their great soft eyes to each other” when, through work, they have grown weary, and want to lie down and rest. The tamed mate answers by similar action, and down they lie. That yoke only means sweet communion now, and when at work it is but the medium of making what burdens, they had to bear, the more light.Ah, that is the picture Christ had in mind when He said, “Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me”. Come, put your head beside My head; be willing to let Me think for you, be willing to think after Me; be willing to let Me set you an example, be willing to follow it; be willing to let Me lead, and walk at My side. Oh, beloved, do you not know, you who believe, that you have a better peace than when you first came unto Him, the peace of assurance.

Oh, the joy that I may be so linked up with Him that I will not have to settle problems; that I will not have to meet the difficulties of life; that He will be there to win the victory; that I will not even have to face death alone, He will be there to put the last enemy under His feet! The peace of assurance!

That is the peace of which the poet wrote when she said,“Loving Saviour, gracious Lord, Ever trusting in Thy Word, Day by day I’ll follow Thee, Tho’ my way I cannot see; ’Tis enough that still I know, All my journey Thou wilt go. “In my weakness, Thou art strong; In my sadness Thou my song, Tho’ the billows o’er me roll, Thou, the refuge of my soul; O, how sweet that still I know, All my journey Thou wilt go. “All my footsteps Thou wilt guide, Till I reach the swelling tide; Then upon Thy loving breast, Thou wilt bear me home to rest; There, what joy ‘twill be to know, Why my Saviour loved me so”. And now one word more on the character of this rest:It is complete. When Christ said, “My peace give I unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you”, He uttered for us a profound truth. The world has its pleasures, but they are all partial; it has its moments when it seems to be at peace with us, but they pass away. God’s peace is perfect; it is permanent and positive. That is the great offer of this text, and that is made to men in need of it. How sore the need of some may be I cannot tell. Sometime ago, a great southern preacher, a mighty man of God, sent me a volume of his sermons. In the opening chapter is a sketch of the infidelity which characterized his early life.

He rehearses how it grew upon him; how, though as a lad he was urged into the church, he was more unbelieving than ever, and spent his time reading Hume, Paine, Volney, Bolingbroke, Voltaire, Taylor, Rosseau, Gibbon, and others. But at last there came into his life one awful hour! It was through no sin on his part, but it left him in Egyptian darkness and seemed to blight all his life. Speaking of it he says, “The battle of life was lost, and in seeking the field of the army, I sought death. In the hour of my darkness, I turned unreservedly to infidelity. This time I brought to it a broken heart and a disappointed life, asking for light and peace and rest”.It was while studying these skeptics in earnest research, that it broke over him that these philosophies were all mere negatives, destructive and not constructive.

And while they were brilliant in expression, they had no answer in them to the cry of the heart. “They looked down on my bleeding heart as the cold, distant, pitiless stars have ever looked down on human suffering. Whoever in his hour of real need makes abstract philosophy his pillow, makes cold, hard granite his pillow.

Whoever looks trustingly into any of its false faces looks into the face of a Medusa, and is turned to stone. They are all wells without water, and clouds without rain. I have witnessed a drouth in Texas. The earth was iron and the heavens brass. Dust clouded the thoroughfares and choked the travelers. Water courses ran dry, grass scorched and crackled, corn leaves twisted and wilted, stock died around the last water holes, the ground cracked in fissures, and the song of birds died out in parched throats. Men despaired. The whole earth prayed: ‘Rain, rain, rain!

O heaven, send rain!’ Suddenly a cloud rises above the horizon and floats into vision like an angel of hope. It spreads a cool shade over the burning and flowing earth. Expectation gives life to desire. The lowing herds look up. The shriveled flowers open their tiny cups. The corn leaves untwist and rustle with gladness. And just when all trusting, suffering life opens her confiding heart to the promise of relief, the cloud, the cheating cloud, like a heartless coquette, gathers her drapery about her and floats scornfully away, leaving the angry sun free to dart his fires of death into the open heart of all suffering life. Such a cloud without rain is any form of infidelity to the soul in its hour of need.“I had sworn never to put my foot in another church.

My father had died believing me lost. My mother—when does a mother give up her child?—came to me one day and begged, for her sake, that I would attend one more meeting. It was a Methodist camp meeting, held in the fall of 1865. I had not an atom of interest in it. I liked the singing, but the preaching did not touch me. But one day I shall never forget. It was Sunday at 11 o’clock. The great, wooden shed was crowded .

I stood on the outskirts, leaning on my crutches, wearily and somewhat scornfully enduring. The preacher made a failure even for him. There was nothing in his sermon. But when he came down, as I supposed to exhort as usual, he startled me not only by not exhorting, but by asking some questions that seemed meant for me. He said: ‘You that stand aloof from Christianity, and scorn us simple folks, what have you got? Answer honestly before God; have you found anything worth having where you are?’ My heart answered in a moment: ‘Nothing under the whole heaven; absolutely nothing’.

As if he had heard my unspoken answer, he continued: ‘Is there anything else out there worth trying, that has any promise in it?’ Again my heart answered: ‘Nothing; absolutely nothing. I have been to the jumping-off place on all these roads.

They all lead to a bottomless abyss’. ‘Well, then’, he continued, ‘admitting there’s nothing there, if there be a God, mustn’t there be a something somewhere? If so, how do you know it is not here? Are you willing to test it? Have you the fairness and courage to try it? I don’t ask you to read any book, nor study any evidences, nor make any difficult and tedious pilgrimages; that way is too long and time is too short. Are you willing to try it now; to make a practical, experimental test, you to be the judge of the result?’ These cool, calm, and pertinent questions hit me with tremendous force, but I didn’t understand the test.

He continued: ‘I base my test on these two Scriptures: “If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God”; “Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord” For the first time I understood the import of these Scriptures. I had never before heard of such a translation for the first, and had never examined the original text.

In our version it says: ‘If any man will do the will of God, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God’. But the preacher quoted it: ‘Whosoever willeth to do the will of God’, showing that the knowledge as to whether the doctrine was of God depended not upon external action and not upon exact conformity with God’s will, but upon the internal disposition—’whosoever willeth to do or wishes to do God’s will’. The old translation seemed to make knowledge impossible; the new, practicable. In the second Scripture was also new light: ‘Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord’, which means that true knowledge follows persistence in the prosecution of it—that is, it comes not to temporary and spasmodic investigation.“So, when he invited all who were willing to make an immediate experimental test to come forward and give him their hands, I immediately went forward.“I gave no public expression of the change which had passed over me, but spent the night in the enjoyment of it and wondering if it would be with me when morning came. When the morning came it was still with me, brighter than the sunlight and sweeter than the song of birds, and now, for the first time, I understood the Scripture which I had often heard my mother repeat:‘Ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands’ (Isaiah 55:12). “When I reached home, I said nothing about the experience through which I had passed, hiding the righteousness of God in my own heart; but it could not be hidden. As I was walking across the floor on my crutches, an orphan boy, whom my mother had raised, noticed and called attention to the fact that I was both whistling and crying. I knew that my mother heard him, and to avoid observation, I went at once to my room, lay down on the bed, and covered my face with my hands. I heard her coming. She pulled my hands away from my face and gazed long and steadfastly upon me without a word. A light came over her face that made it seem to me as the shining face of Stephen; and then, with trembling lips, she said, ‘My Son, you have found the Lord’”.