DATE: 5th July, 2020
THEME: COME, ALL YOU WHO LABOUR.
SCRIPTURE READINGS
Genesis 24: 34-49
Romans 7:15- 25
Matthew 11:25-30
PSALTER: Psalm: 145:8-14
PREPARED BY: OSOFO YAW DODD
INTRODUCTION
Today’s Scripture alone could answer all the problems in the world. It would solve the failures in the life of every person who turns back from following God. Coming to the Lord will bring victory in any person’s life. This is the loving Saviour speaking to each of us today – He beckons us to “Come” to Him.
■ “Come” – means to LEAVE what you are doing and START doing what the LORD bids you to do. “Take my yoke upon you…..” We then begin doing His work.
■ “Come” – is an INVITATION – it is used nearly 3000 times in the Bible and nearly always it refers to an invitation.
“Go” is a COMMAND – such as “Go into all the world” – but “come” is an invitation.
An invitation for REST. Freedom from all the cares of the world that surround a person who is trying to live for Christ.
“Come” – has a REWARD with it. By coming we receive all the Lord offers.
■ “Come” – indicates a move toward the Lord. You are coming to where He is – or where He wants you to be.
■ “Come” – there is no stipulation as to who can come. Anyone may come. The wealthy, the poor, the famous, the peasant.
SOME NOTES
This invitation: “Come unto me” would strike the Jewish mind that Jesus is not, here, sending sinners to God. Neither is He sending sinners to the Law or to Moses. He is bidding them to come to Him. And, truly, YOU MUST COME TO JESUS FOR SALVATION and forgiveness of sins and cleansing, because the Law cannot save, and Moses cannot save, and your sins prevent you from approaching God.
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Now notice the last phrase of our verse: “and I will give you rest.” More than you realize, this phrase, too, was astonishing to Jewish ears. You see, there was another time when rest was promised, way back in Exodus 33.14, before the children of Israel had entered the Promised Land.
“And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.”.
But in Matthew 11.28, the Lord Jesus Christ promises rest to sinners. Once again, Jesus showed them that SOMEONE greater than Moses was there.
We have, then, a wonderful invitation to come to Jesus. And we have a wonderful promise given by Jesus to those who do come to Him.
BODY
I. THIS INVITATION SPEAKS OF SALVATION
“Come unto me…” The word “Me” is CHRIST JESUS – the Son of God. The same person that said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life….”
Joh 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (KJV) Oh! What a comforting verse…..
The Lord invites each person to come to Him for salvation. “Come” is for any person who wants to be saved. There is no limitation on who can be saved. “Whosoever believeth on Him shall be saved.”
■ “Come” is INCLUSIVE. It includes any and all who will come.
■ “Come” is CONCLUSIVE. He is the Author and finisher of our faith.
■ “Come” is EXCLUSIVE – It rules out any other method of salvation other than in Christ Jesus.
“Come unto me” INCLUDES you if you accept – it RULES YOU OUT if you reject – there is no other One to go to for salvation.
II. WHO IS JESUS INVITING TO COME TO HIM?
The word “ALL ” in this verse, “all ye that labor and are heavy laden,” cannot be fully understood while ignoring the words “ye that labor and are heavy laden,”. It will lead to misinterpretation of the entire verse of what the Lord Jesus Christ is saying.
It is to miss entirely who He is inviting. He does not, in this verse, invite everyone to come to Him. The word “all” could refer to “everyone” if it were not for the qualifying phrase that we are looking at. Jesus does not invite all sinners to come to Him. He invites all of those who “labor and are heavy laden.”
There are some people who have responded by saying, “But everyone labors and is heavy laden in some way.” They insist that this refers to construction workers, to pipe fitters, to teachers, to iron workers, to everyone who works and gets tired. Oh, I don’t think so.
Look at the next verse: “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.” Jesus is offering SPIRITUAL REST, here, not physical rest.
So, this invitation is not extended to those who are physically tired from physical labor. He’s inviting those who “labor and are heavy laden” in a spiritual sense.
III. WHY IS JESUS INVITING ONLY THIS GROUP TO HIM FOR SALVATION?
Jesus is only inviting this group to Him for salvation because only those who are in this group will come to Him. And your refusal to really and truly come to Jesus Christ will continue until your heart is properly prepared so that you will want to come to Him.
A sinner’s heart must be pierced with SORROW, or must be run through with CONVICTION, or must be PRICKED as on the day of Pentecost, or must be opened as was Lydia’s heart, or must be made to quake and tremble as the Philippian jailor’s heart. Each person’s heart is prepared somewhat differently, but prepared it must be.
But such only happens to those who labor and are heavy laden. This never happens to those who are thoughtless about their sins, who are careless about their sins, who are nonchalant about their sins, who are unfeeling about their sins, who are not guilty of their sins, who are unconscious about their sins. With some it happens slowly. With others it occurs with astonishing quickness. But it must, so some degree, happen.
VI. HOW DOES ONE BECOME A PART OF THIS GROUP TO BE INVITED TO CHRIST FOR SALVATION?
Is it not obvious? You have to labor, and you have to be heavy laden. There is an active and a passive part to being in this group.
The active part, the part that you must do, the part that you must play, is to labor.
What does it mean to LABOR? Does the word “labor” refer to manual labor, working a back breaking job? To be sure, there are a number of places in the New Testament in which the Greek word translated “labor” means precisely that. But the context in which the word is found here in Matthew 11.28 shows the word to refer to SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY, not manual labor.
Colossians 1.29, “Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.”
The word “labor” means “to grow weary from toil, to toil on.” But Paul shows that “labour” overlaps in meaning with the word “striving,” which refers to “contending and agonizing.”
This has to do with our sins. We are coming to grips with our sins. We are dealing with our sinfulness. We are struggling against committing sins. We are resisting the domination of sin over every area of our lives. We are slaves to sin, but we are no longer willing slaves.
This labor, this striving, makes us weary. Not weary of body, directly, though there is obviously some of that, but weary of heart and weary of soul.
CONCLUSION
Generally speaking, if a sinner is not alarmed by the preaching there is very little which can be done to guide him to Christ. An adjustment here or a correction there, perhaps. But the heavy lifting by me, must be done during my preaching. The heavy lifting by the sinner must be done after the preaching, as you think and meditate and ponder and weigh and evaluate and consider and chew on what you have heard.
Have you given serious thought to your sins of late? Has it dawned on your consciousness that you are estranged from God, even though you do not fully understand all the details of your condition? Are you aware that you are damned in your sins and by your sins? Then you may be among those who are invited to Christ.
Do not allow the devil to turn you so deeply inward that you fail to look with the eye of faith to the Savior outside you. COME TO JESUS CHRIST NOW. Enjoy the Service. Stay BLESSED
PREPARED BY
VERY REV DR. SAMUEL DUA DODD
CALVARY METHODIST CHURCH
ADABRAKA-ACCRA
