Part 10 (1/2)

Now, there is no rest in sin. The wicked know nothing about it. The Scriptures tell us the wicked ”are like the troubled sea that cannot rest.” You have, perhaps been on the sea when there is a calm, when the water is as clear as crystal, and it seemed as if the sea were at rest. But if you looked you would see that the waves came in, and that the calm was only on the surface. Man, like the sea, has no rest. He has had no rest since Adam fell, and there is none for him until he returns to G.o.d again, and the light of Christ s.h.i.+nes into his heart.

Rest cannot be found in the world, and thank G.o.d the world cannot take it from the believing heart! Sin is the cause of all this unrest. It brought toil and labor and misery into the world.

Now for something positive. I would go successfully to someone who has heard the sweet voice of Jesus, and has laid his burden down at the cross. There is rest, sweet rest. Thousands could certify to this blessed fact. They could say, and truthfully:

I heard the voice of Jesus say, ”Come unto me and rest.

Lay down, thou weary one, lay down, Thy head upon my breast.”

I came to Jesus as I was, Weary and worn and sad.

I found in Him a resting-place, And He hath made me glad.

Among all his writings St. Augustine has nothing sweeter than this: ”Thou hast made us for Thyself, O G.o.d, and our heart is restless till it rests in Thee.”

Do you know that for four thousand years no prophet or priest or patriarch ever stood up and uttered a text like this? It would be blasphemy for Moses to have uttered a text like it. Do you think he had rest when he was teasing the Lord to let him go into the Promised Land? Do you think Elijah could have uttered such a text as this, when, under the juniper-tree, he prayed that he might die? And this is one of the strongest proofs that Jesus Christ was not only man, but G.o.d. He was G.o.d-Man, and this is Heaven's proclamation, ”Come unto Me, and I will give you rest”. He brought it down from heaven with Him.

Now, if this text was not true, don't you think it would have been found out by this time? I believe it as much as I believe in my existence. Why? Because I not only find it in the Book, but in my own experience. The ”I wills” of Christ have never been broken, and never can be.

I thank G.o.d for the word ”give” in that pa.s.sage. He doesn't sell it.

Some of us are so poor that we could not buy it if it was for sale.

Thank G.o.d, we can get it for nothing.

I like to have a text like this, because it takes us all in. ”Come unto me all ye that labor.” That doesn't mean a select few--refined ladies and cultured men. It doesn't mean good people only. It applies to saint and sinner. Hospitals are for the sick, not for healthy people. Do you think that Christ would shut the door in anyone's face, and say, ”I did not mean _all_; I only meant certain ones”? If you cannot come as a saint, come as a sinner. Only come!

A lady told me once that she was so hard-hearted she couldn't come.

”Well,” I said, ”my good woman, it doesn't say all ye soft-hearted people come. Black hearts, vile hearts, hard hearts, soft hearts, all hearts come. Who can soften your hard heart but Himself?”

The harder the heart, the more need you have to come. If my watch stops I don't take it to a drug store or to a blacksmith's shop, but to the watchmaker's, to have it repaired. So if the heart gets out of order take it to its keeper, Christ, to have it set right. If you can prove that you are a sinner, you are ent.i.tled to the promise. Get all the benefit you can out of it.

Now, there are a good many believers who think this text applies only to sinners; It is just the thing for them too. What do we see to-day?

The Church, Christian people, all loaded down with cares and troubles.

”Come unto me all ye that labor.” All! I believe that includes the Christian whose heart is burdened with some great sorrow. The Lord wants you to come.

Christ the Burden-Bearer.

It says in another place, ”Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.” We would have a victorious Church if we could get Christian people to realize that. But they have never made the discovery. They agree that Christ is the sin-bearer, but they do not realize that He is also the burden-bearer. ”Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” It is the privilege of every child of G.o.d to walk in unclouded sunlight.

Some people go back into the past and rake up all the troubles they ever had, and then they look into the future and antic.i.p.ate that they will have still more trouble, and they go reeling and staggering all through life. They give you the cold chills every time they meet you.

They put on a whining voice, and tell you what ”a hard time they have had.” I believe they embalm them, and bring out the mummy on every opportunity. The Lord says, ”Cast all your care on Me. I want to carry your burdens and your troubles.” What we want is a joyful Church, and we are not going to convert the world until we have it. We want to get this long-faced Christianity off the face of the earth.

Take these people that have some great burden, and let them come into a meeting. If you can get their attention upon the singing or preaching, they will say, ”Oh, wasn't it grand! I forgot all my cares.” And they just drop their bundle at the end of the pew. But the moment the benediction is p.r.o.nounced they grab the bundle again. You laugh, but you do it yourself. Cast your care on Him.

Sometimes they go into their closet and close their door, and they get so carried away and lifted up that they forget their trouble; but they just take it up again the moment they get off their knees. Leave your sorrow now; cast all your care upon Him. If you cannot come to Christ as a saint, come as a sinner. But if you are a saint with some trouble or care, bring it to Him. Saint and sinner, come! He wants you all.

Don't let Satan deceive you into believing that you cannot come if you will. Christ says, ”Ye will not come unto Me.” With the command comes the power.

A man in one of our meetings in Europe said he would like to come, but he was chained, and couldn't come.

A Scotchman said to him, ”Ay, man, why don't you come chain and all?”