The Old Gospel for the New Century
(No. 2708)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JANUARY 6, 1901.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
DECEMBER 5, 1880.
"Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest." Matthew 11:28.
You have doubtless already heard several sermons from this text. I have
discoursed upon it, I know not how many times–not so many times,
however, as I intend yet to do if God shall spare my life! This verse
is one of those great wells of salvation from which we may always be
drawing, for we can never exhaust it. Our proverb says, "Drawn wells
are the sweetest." And the more we draw from such a text as this, the
sweeter and the fuller does its meaning appear to us.
I am going, on this occasion, to use this passage in a special way, so
as to bring out just one single point of its teaching. I might speak,
if I wished to do so, of the rest which Jesus Christ gives to the
heart, the mind and the conscience of those who believe in Him. This is
the rest, this is the refreshment which those who come unto Him find,
for we might read it, "I will refresh you," or "I will relieve you,"
and I should have a very sweet topic if I were to discourse upon the
wonderful relief, the Divine refreshment, the blessed rest which comes
to the heart through believing in Jesus Christ. May you all experience
that blessing, dear Friends! May your rest, your peace, be very deep!
May it not be a pretended restfulness, but a rest which will endure
searching and testing! May your rest be a lasting one! May your peace
be like a river that never ceases to flow! May your peace be always a
safe one–not a false peace which will end in destruction–but a true,
solid, justifiable peace which will endure throughout your whole lives
and ultimately melt away into the rest of God at His right hand
forever! Happy are the people who thus rest in Christ–may we be among
that number–and if we are so, already, may we penetrate still more
deeply into this glorious rest!
I might also speak, dear Friends, upon the various ways in which the
Lord gives rest to Believers. And I might speak especially to some of
you who are Believers, but who do not seem to enter into rest as you
ought to do. There are some of us who get worried with the things of
this world, or troubled by our own feelings. We are perplexed and
tossed here and there by doubts and fears. We ought to be resting, for,
"we who have believed do enter into rest." Rest is our rightful
portion–"Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ." But, somehow or other, some who are thus justified
do not seem to realize this peace, or to enjoy this rest as they should
and, perhaps, even while I am talking, they may discover the reason why
they do not have all the rest and peace which they might have.
Certainly, our Lord Jesus Christ did not speak only to one particular
class when He uttered the words of our text. To all who labor and are
heavy laden–whether they are advanced Christians, or unconverted
people–He says, "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest." I shall
indeed rejoice if, as the outcome of what I shall have to say, it shall
happen that some who came in here distressed in spirit, and bowed down
in heart–perhaps even fretful and complaining–shall come to Jesus
Christ over again, drawing near to Him once more, and getting into
touch with Him again, and so shall find rest unto their souls. It will
then be doubly sweet to come and sit around the Communion Table, all
the while resting–resting and feasting–not standing with loins girt
and with staff in hand, as they did who partook of the Passover in
Egypt–but resting, even as they did who gathered at the Last Supper
when the Master reclined in the midst of His Apostles. So, spiritually,
may your heads be resting on His breast and may your hearts find refuge
in His wounds as you hear Him say to you again, "Come unto Me, all you
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
Yet it is not quite that Truth of God about which I am going to speak
to you. I want to pick out just this one thought–the Gloryof Christ,
that He should be able to say such a thing as this–the splendor of
Christ, that it should be possible for Him to say, "Come unto Me, all
you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." These
words, from the mouth of any other man, would be ridiculous and even
blasphemous. Take the greatest poet, the greatest teacher of
philosophy, or the greatest king and who is he, with most capacious
soul, who would dare to say to all the laboring and heavy laden ones in
the whole human race. "Come to me, and I will give you rest"? Where are
there wings broad enough to brood over every sorrowing soul, except the
wings of Christ? Where is there a harbor capacious enough to hold all
the navies of the world, to give refuge to every tempest-tossed boat
that ever crossed the sea? Where, but in the haven of the soul of
Christ, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead! And, therefore,
in whom there is room enough and to spare for all the troubled children
of men!
That, then, is to be the drift of my discourse. May the Spirit of God
graciously help me in following it!
I. And, first, I call your attention to THE PERSONALITY OF THIS CALL.
"Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest."
If you look at the text carefully, you will notice that there is a
double personality in the call. It is, "Come you–come you–to Me, and
I will give rest to you." It is two persons coming near to each
other–the one bestowing and the other receiving rest. But it is not,
in either case, a fiction, a figment, a phantom, a myth. It is you,
you, YOU–YOU who really labor and are heavy laden and who, therefore,
are real beings, painfully conscious of your existence–it is you who
are to come to another Being who is as real as you are–One who is as
truly a living Person as you are living persons. It is He who says to
you, "Come you to Me, and I will give rest to you."
I want you, dear Friends, to have a very clear conviction of your own
personality, for, sometimes, people appear to forget that they are
individuals, distinct from everybody else. When there is a guinea to be
given away and the jingle of it is heard in the distance, most men are
conscious of their own personality–and each one looks out for himself
and tries to secure the prize. But I find that, often, in the matter of
eternal things, men seem to lose themselves in a crowd and they think
of the blessings of Grace as a sort of general shower that may fall on
the fields of all alike–they do not especially look for the rain upon
their own plot, or wish to obtain a blessing for themselves. Now, then,
you, you, YOU–you who are heavy laden, wake up! Where are you? The
call of the text is not to your sister, mother, husband, brother,
friend, but to you–"Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest."
Well, now, you have shaken yourself up and you feel that you are a
distinct personality from everybody else in the world. So next comes
the most important thing of all, you are to come to another
Personality. "Come unto Me," says Christ, "and I will give you rest."
Here I ask you to admire the wonderful Grace and mercy of this
arrangement. According to Christ's words, you are to obtain rest of
heart, not by coming to a ceremony, or to an ordinance, but to Christ,
Himself! "Come unto Me." He does not even say, "Come to My teaching, to
My example, to My Sacrifice," but, "Come unto Me." It is to a Person
you are to come–to that very Person who, being God, and equal with the
Father, laid aside His glories and took upon Himself our human flesh–
"First, in our mortal flesh, to serve. Then, in that flesh, to die."
And you are to come to that Person. There is to be a certain action on
your part, the movement of yourself to Him who says to you, "Come unto
Me"–a movement away from every other confidence, to Him–a movement
away from every other ground of reliance, or door of hope, to Him, as
the Person whom God has appointed and anointed to be the one and only
Savior, the great reservoir of everlasting Grace, in whom it has
pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell! O glorious Man, O
glorious God, who can thus speak with authority and say, "Come unto Me,
and I will give you rest." I entreat you to lay aside all thought of
anything except the Christ, living, dying, risen again and gone into
Glory–for He points you, not to the House of Prayer, nor to the Throne
of Grace, nor to the baptistery, nor to the Communion Table, nor even
to the holiest and most sacred things which He has ordained for other
purposes–not even to the Father, Himself, nor to the Holy Spirit–but
He says, "Come unto Me." Here must your spiritual life begin–at His
feet. And here must your spiritual life be perfected–in His bosom–for
He is both the Author and the Finisher of faith! Let us adore the
Christ in whose mouth such words as these are fitting and full of
meaning! He cannot be less than Divine who can thus speak to us, "Come
unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest."
II. Now, secondly, I want you to notice THE LARGENESS OF CHRIST'S
HEART, as illustrated by this text, "Come unto Me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
Notice, first, the largeness of His heart in singling out such needy
ones to be the objects of His loving call Did you ever notice the
picture that our Lord has drawn in these words? "All you that labor."
That is the picture of a beast that has the yoke upon its shoulder. Men
think to find pleasure in the service of Satan and they permit him to
lay his yoke upon their neck. Then they have to toil, and slave, and
labor, and sweat in what they call pleasure–but they find no rest and
no contentment in it! And the more they do in the service of Satan, the
more they may do, for he uses the goad and the whip, and always urges
them on to fresh exertions. Now Christ says to these people who are
like beasts of burden, "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest."
But they are in a worse plight even than I have described, for they not
only labor like the ox at the plow, but they are also heavily laden.
Now, it seldom happens that men make a horse or an ox to be both a
beast of draught and the carrier of a load at the same time, but that
is how the devil treats the man who becomes his servant. He puts him in
the shafts of his chariot and makes him drag it along, and then leaps
upon his back and rides as a postillion. So the man labors and is heavy
laden, for he has both to draw the vehicle and to carry the driver!
Such a man labors after what he calls pleasure and, as he does so, sin
leaps on his back, and then another sin follows, and yet another till
sins upon sins crush him to the ground–and yet he has to be pulling
and tugging with all his might at the same time! This double toil is
enough to kill him. But Jesus looks in pity upon him–laboring under a
sense of sin, and yet toiling to get pleasure in sin–and He says to
him, "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest."
Does Christ want the devil's hacks, then, when they are used up in
Satan's service? Does He want to persuade them to leave their old
master and come to Him? What? These sinners that are only tired of sin
because they cannot find strength enough to go on sinning–or who are
getting uneasy because they do not enjoy the pleasure they once did in
wickedness–does Christ call them to come to Him? Yes! And it shows the
largeness of His heart that He should be willing to give rest to such
laboring and heavily burdened ones.
But the largeness of His heart is seen in the fact that He bids all
such sinners to come to Him–all such sinners, I repeat! What a great
deal that little word, "all," includes! I believe that, generally, when
a man uses big words, he says little things, and that, when he uses
little words, he says great things. And, certainly, the smallest words
in our language are usually those that mean the most. What does this
little word, "all," mean? Or, rather, what does it notmean? And Jesus,
without limiting its application, says, "Come unto Me, all you that
labor and are heavy laden." Oh, the magnificence of the love and Grace
of Christ, that He should have invited them all to come to Him! Yes,
and He invites them all to come at once. "Come along with you," He
says, "all you that labor and are heavy laden. Come in a crowd, come in
great masses! Fly to me as a cloud and like doves to their windows."
There are never too many coming to please Him. He seems to say, "The
more, the merrier." Christ's heart will rejoice over all the multitudes
that will come to Him, for He has made a great feast and He has bid
many, and He still sends forth His servants to say, "Yet there is room.
Therefore, come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden."
Remember, also, that Christ's promise is personally addressed to every
one of these sinners. If each one of them will come unto Him, He will
give rest to each one. To everyone that labors and is heavy laden,
Jesus says, "If you will come unto Me, I–I Myself will give you
rest–I will not hand you over even to the care of My servant, the
minister, that he may look after you, but I will undertake the work
Myself. I will give you rest." Christ does not even say, "I will take
you to My Word and there you shall find comfort for yourself." No. He
says, "I, a Person, will give rest to you, a person, by a distinct act
of My own, if you will but come unto Me."
That personal dealing of Christ with individuals is indeed blessed.
There is a poem of Tennyson's, which is, to my mind, the sweetest he
has ever written. It is concerning a little child in a hospital who
heard that she was about to undergo an operation, through which it was
not likely that she would live. So she asked her young companion in the
next bed what she had better do. She bade her tell Jesus all about it
and ask Him to take care of her. And then the child enquired, "But how
will Jesus know me?" The little ones were rather puzzled because there
were such long rows of beds in the children's hospital and they thought
that Jesus had so much to do, that perhaps He would not know which
little girl it was that wanted Him to take such special care of her. So
it was agreed that she should put her hands out of the bed, and when
Jesus saw her hands, He would know that she was the little girl who
needed Him. The scene, as the poet describes it,
is most touching. I do but mar it in the telling, for, in the morning,
when the doctors and nurses passed through the ward, they knew that
Jesus had been there, and that the little one had gone to Him without
any operation. He had taken care of her in the best possible way–and
there lay the little hands out of the bed.
Well, now, we need not do even as much as that, for the Lord Jesus
knows each one of us and He will come personally to each one of us and
give us rest. Though it is quite true that He has a great deal to do,
yet He can still say, "My Father works, and I work," for the whole
universe is kept in working order by His almighty power and He will not
forget anyone who comes to Him. Just as a person who knew that he had
abundant provision, might say to a great crowd of hungry people, "Come
along with you, and I will feed you all," so Christ knows within
Himself that He has the power to give rest to every weary soul that
comes to Him. He is quite certain of it, so He does not say, "Come to
Me, and I will do the best I can with you." Or, "possibly, if I exert
Myself, I may be able to give you rest." Oh, no! He says, "Come unto
Me, and I will give you rest." It is quite a matter of course with Him,
for, let me tell you that He has tried His hand upon millions and He
has never failed once! So He speaks with an air of unwavering
confidence. I am certain, as my Master was certain, that if there is
any soul among you that will come to Him, He can and He will give rest
unto that soul. He speaks with the consciousness of possessing all the
power that is needed and with the absolute certainty that He can do the
deed which is required.
For, mark you, Jesus gives this promise knowing all about the cases
that He describes. He knows that men are laboring and that they are
heavily laden. There is not a grief in the heart of anyone in this
house which Jesus Christ does not know, for He knows all things. Your
thoughts may be twisted in all manner of ways, and all your methods of
judging may be like a labyrinth, a maze of which you think no one has
the clue. You may be sitting here and saying to yourself, "Nobody
understands me, and I do not even understand myself. I have become
entangled in the meshes of sin and I cannot see any way of escape. I am
perplexed beyond all possibility of deliverance." I tell you, Friend,
that Christ does not speak without meaning when He says, "Come unto Me,
and I will give you rest." He can trace the thread through the tangled
skein and He can draw it out in one straight line! He can follow all
the winding of the labyrinth till He reaches its very center! He can
take away the cause of your trouble, though you, yourself, do not know
what it is! And what to you is shrouded in mystery–an impalpable grief
that you cannot get at or grapple with–my Lord and Master can chase
right away! He speaks of what He knows He can do when He gives this
promise, for His wisdom is such that He can perceive the needs of each
individual soul, and His power is vast enough to meet all those needs!
And so He says to every laboring and burdened spirit within this house,
"Come unto Me, and I will give you rest."
Be it also remembered that when Christ gave this promise, He knew the
number of those who were comprehended in that word, "all"Though, to us,
that, "all," includes a multitude that no man can number, yet "the Lord
knows them that are His." And when He said, "Come unto Me, all you that
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," He did not speak
without knowing that there are tens of thousands, and millions, and
hundreds of millions that labor and are heavy laden–and He meant to
speak to all that vast throng when He said, "Come unto Me, and I will
give you rest."
Am I making you think, dear Friends, of the vastness of my Master's
power and Grace? Am I causing you to adore Him? I hope I am. My own
soul desires to lie prostrate at His feet, lost in a sweet sense of the
greatness of that Grace which can speak thus, and yet which speaks not
beyond the truth when it says to the whole race of ruined men, "Come
unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will"–to an
absolute certainty–"give you rest."
It must not be forgotten, also, that what Christ promised was intended
for all time. Here is an individual speaking who was "despised and
rejected of men." Let Him stand out clearly before your eyes–the
carpenter's Son, the Son of Mary, "a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with
grief–yet He said to those who gathered around Him, "Come unto Me, and
I will give you rest." But He looked right over the intervening
centuries and He spoke to uswho are assembled here, and then He looked
on all the multitudes of this great city, and of this country, and of
all the nations of the earth, and He said, "Come unto Me, and I will
give you rest." In effect, He said, "Till I shall come again to the
earth, to sit upon the Throne of Judgment, I promise that every heavily
laden soul that comes to Me shall find rest in Me." The sorrows of men
are as many as the stars of Heaven for multitude–and the men,
themselves, are innumerable. Count, if you can, the drops of morning
dew, or the grains of sand upon the seashore–and then hope to number
the children of Adam from the beginning of time! Yet our Lord Jesus
Christ, speaking to the vast mass of the laboring and heavy laden
children of men,
says to them, "Come unto Me; come unto Me; for he who comes to Me I
will in no wise cast out. And whoever comes to Me shall find rest unto
his soul."
It shows, also, the vastness of Christ's power and Grace when we
remember the many to whom this promise has been proved to be true. You
know that throughout all these ages up till now, not a single laboring
and heavy laden soul has come to Christ in vain. Even in the utmost
ends of the earth there has not been found a criminal so base, or a
soul so closely shut up in the dungeon of old Giant Despair, but, on
his coming to Christ, the promised rest has been bestowed upon him and,
thereby, Christ has been magnified!
III. Now follow me while I dwell, for a few minutes, upon THE
SIMPLICITY OF THIS GOSPEL.
Jesus Christ says to all who labor and are heavy laden, "Come unto Me,
and I will give you rest." This invitation implies a movement–a
movement from something to something. You are bid to come away from
whatever else you have been trusting in and to move towards Christ and
trust to Him. And when you do so, He will give you rest. How different
this simplicity is from all the complex systems that men set up! Why,
according to some people's teaching, in order to be a Christian–and to
carry out all the regulations of public worship–you would need to have
a little library to consult so as to know at what hour you ought to
light your candles, and how to mix incense, and the proper way to put
on your millinery, and in which direction you should turn when you say
a certain prayer, and in what other direction you should turn when you
say something else–and whether your intoning, or your chanting, or
your mumbling will be most acceptable to God! Oh, dear, dear, dear! All
this complex machinery of man's inventing–the so-called "baptism" in
your infancy–the confirmation in your youth–"taking the sacrament,"
as many call it–all this is a wonderful hocus-pocus, full of mystery,
lies and delusion! But, according to Christ's teaching, the way of
salvation is just this, "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest." And
if you, dear Friend, have come to Christ, and trusted Him, you have
received that rest and peace which He delights to give–you have found
the kernel of the nut, you have reached the essence and the root of the
whole matter! If your heart has abandoned all other confidences and is
depending upon Jesus Christ, you have found eternal life! And that
eternal life will never be taken away from you. Therefore, rejoice in
it!
And, further, this invitation is in the present tense–"Come, now." Do
not wait till you get home, but let your soul move towards Christ now.
You will never be in a better state for coming to Him than you are now.
Nor will you be in a worse state for coming to Him, unless it is that
by postponing your coming, you will be more hardened and less inclined
to come. You are now, at this moment, in need of Christ, so come to
Him! You are hungry–surely that is the very best reason for eating!
You are thirsty–that is the best reason for drinking! Or it may be
that you are so sick that you do not hunger–then come to Christ and
eat of the provisions of the Gospel till you get an appetite for them.
I like, sometimes, when a sinner says to me, "I do not thirst for
Christ," to say to him, "Then come and drink till you do thirst," for,
just as it is with a pump that will not work, you must first pour water
down it, so is it with some men. When they get some Truth of God into
their souls–though it may seem, at first, to be but a very imperfect
reception of the Gospel–it will help them, afterwards, to a deeper
longing for Christ and a more intense enjoyment of the blessings of
salvation.
At any rate, Christ says, "Come now," by which is implied that He
means, "Come just as you are. Just as you are, come unto Me, all you
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. You labor,
so, before you have washed those grimy hands of yours, come unto Me,
and I will give you rest. You are faint, feeble and ready to die, but
it needs no strength to come to Me! Faint into My arms. Die on My
bosom, for so you have already come to Me." We do not come to Christ by
the exertion of our own power to come, but by the cessation of the will
to stay away! When your heart just yields itself up, drops everything
that it is holding, and falls into the hands of Christ, it is thenthat
the act of faith is performed and it is to that act that Christ invites
you when He says, "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest."
"Well," says one, "I never did understand the Gospel. It has always
puzzled and perplexed me." Well, then, I will try to set it before you
very plainly. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived and died for
sinners–and you are bid to come and trust Him. Rely upon Him! Depend
upon Him! Hang your whole weight upon Him! Come unto Him and He will
give you rest! Oh, that He may, of His infinite mercy, reveal this
simple Truth of God to your heart and that you may be ready to accept
it right now! I want to glorify my blessed Master who brought into the
world such a simple plan of salvation as this. There are some men who
seem to be Parson Puzzle-Texts, for they like to lose themselves amid
difficulties and mysteries, and to display before their hearers the
fruits of their great culture and their wonderful learning. If their
Gospel is true, it is a message only to the eliteand the many would
have to go to Hell if they were the only preachers! But our Lord
Jesus Christ gloried in preaching the Gospel to the poor–and it is to
His honor it can be said that, even to this day, "Not many wise men
after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called: but God
has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and
God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are
despised, has God chosen, yes, and things which are not, to bring to
nothing things that are: that no flesh should glory in His Presence."
It is so blessed to think that there is a Gospel that will suit the man
who cannot read–and that will suit the man who cannot put two
consecutive thoughts together–and that will suit the man whose brain
has almost failed him in the hour of death–a Gospel that suited the
thief dying upon the cross–a Gospel so simple that if there is but
Grace to receive it, there needs no great mental power to understand
it! Blessed be my Master for giving us a Gospel so simple and so plain
as this!
IV. I want you to notice one more thing and then I will close my
discourse. It is this–THE UNSELFISHNESS OF CHRIST'S AIM.
Come, you dear ones who love your Lord, listen while I repeat to you
these sweet words of His, "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest." "I will give you." He does not
say, "Come to me, and bring me something," but, "Come unto Me, and I
will give you rest." It is not, "Come and do something for Me," but, "I
will do everything for you." This has, perhaps, been your trouble, dear
Brothers and Sisters, that you wanted, today, to bring Christ an
acceptable offering, and in the Sunday school, or in some other form of
service, you have been trying to honor Him. I am glad of it and hope
you will keep on trying to do so. But take care lest you fall into
Martha's mistake and get "cumbered about much serving." For a while,
forget the idea of coming to Christ to bring Him anything–and come
now, you laboring and burdened one–and receive a blessing from Him,
for He has said, "I will give you rest." Christ may be honored by what
you give Him, but He mustbe honored by what He gives you! There cannot
be a question about the goodness of what you shall receive from Him if
you come to Him, so, just now do not think about bringing anything to
Him, but come to Him that you may receive from Him!
"I want to love Christ," says one. Well, never mind about that just
now–try to feel how much He loves you. "Oh, but I want to consecrate
myself to Him!" Quite right, my dear Friend, but, just now, think of
how He consecrated Himself for you! "Oh, but I desire never to sin any
more!" Quite right, dear Friend, but, just now, think of how He bore
your sins in His own body on the tree. "Oh," says one, "I wish that I
had an alabaster box of very precious ointment, that I might anoint His
head or His feet, and that the whole house might be filled with the
sweet perfume." Yes, that is all very well, but listen. His name is as
ointment poured forth–if you have not any ointment, He has! If you
have none to bring to Him, there is plenty that He will give to you!
When my dear Master calls any to come to Him, it is not for His own
gain that He bids them come. When He presses His favors upon them. When
He comes with great promises of rest, it is not a bribe with which to
buy their services. He is too rich to need the best and strongest among
us! He only asks of us that, of our great charity, we will be kind
enough to take everythingfrom Him! This is the greatest thing we can do
for God–to be emptied, so that His fullness may flow into us. That is
what I want to do when I go down to the Communion Table–I want to just
sit there and not try to think of anything that I can offer to my
Master–but to open my soul and to take in all that He is willing to
give me! There are times with you shopkeepers when you are dealing out
your goods, but there must also be times for bringing in, you know. So,
now, open the great warehouse door and let the goods come in wholesale!
Let the whole Christ come into your soul.
"I do not feel," says one, "as if I could enjoy my Lord's Presence."
But why not? "Because I have been so hard at work for Him all day, and
now I have so much care, and I am so heavy laden." You are the very one
whom He especially calls to come to Him! Do not try to do anything
except just open your mouth wide, and He will fill it. Come now, and
just receive from Him, and glorify Him by receiving! O sun, you give
light, but not till God makes you shine! O moon, you are gladdening the
evening, yet not with your own brilliance, but only with borrowed
light! O fields, you yield your harvests, but the great Husbandman
creates your grain! O earth, you are full, but only full of the
goodness of the Lord! Everythingreceives from God and praises Him
because it does receive. So let my weary heart lie still beneath the
showers of love. Let my heavy ladened soul rest in Christ and gladden
Him by being glad in Him.
God bless you all, and may Christ be glorified in your salvation and
your sanctification, for His dear name's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: MATTHEW 11.
Verses 1-3. And it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His
twelve disciples, He departed from there 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, Are you He
that should come, or do we look for another?Had John's faith begun to
waver? It is possible that it had. Elijah had his times of trembling
and depression. Then, why might not the second Elijah have the same
sort of experience? Possibly John wished to strengthen the faith of his
followers and, therefore, he sent two of his leading disciples to
Jesus, that they might make the enquiry for themselves as to whether He
was the Christ or not.
4. Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again those
things which you do hear and see. For the works of Christ are the
proofs of His Messiahship. His teaching and His action must always be
the seals of His mission.
5. 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. This is the last, but not the least, of
the signs of His Messiahship, that Jesus Christ preached so that the
poor understood Him and delighted to follow Him wherever He went. Many
despised His preaching for this reason, but the Savior mentioned this
among the signs of His being sent of God–"The poor have the Gospel
preached to them."
6-11. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me. And as they
departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What
went you out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?
But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold,
they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went you
out to see? A Prophet? Yes, I say unto you, and more than a Prophet For
this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send My messenger before
Your face, who shall prepare Your way before You. Verily I say unto
you, Among them that are born of women there has not risen a greater
than John the Baptist: notwithstanding, he that is least in the Kingdom
of Heaven is greater than he. His position was a very high one. He was
the evening star of the old dispensation, and the morning star of the
new–but the light which shines after the sun has risen is brighter
than any that the morning star can bring. He who has the Gospel to
preach has a greater thing to do than John the Baptist, who did but
herald the coming of the Savior.
12-15. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of
Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the
Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you will receive it,
this is Elijah, which was to come. He that has ears to hear, let him
hear Let him listen to what the Heaven-sent messenger has to say! Let
him especially pay attention to his words when he says, "Behold the
Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world."
16, 17. 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, andyou have not danced; we have mourned
unto you, andyou have not lamented. ' 'You would not join in our games.
Whichever we chose to do, to imitate a festival or a funeral, you would
not take part with us."
18, 19. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, He
has 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 by her children. There was no pleasing
them–they were prepared to find fault with any sort of man, whether he
lived an ascetic life, or mixed with others as a man among men. "But
wisdom is justified by her children." She sends the right sort of men
to do her work, and God will take care that those who reject them shall
not be without guilt– "wisdom is justified by her children."
20. Then He began to upbraid the cities wherein most of His mighty
works were done, because they repented not. That was the point that
Christ aimed–their repentance. He did not seek to dazzle them with
wonders and marvels, but to break their hearts away from their sins.
This is what His mighty works ought to have done, for they proved Him
to be the Messiah–and those mighty works also warned those who
witnessed them that God had come near to them–and that, therefore, it
was time for them to turn from their evil ways.
21-24. Woe unto you, Chorazin! Woe unto you, Bethssaidda! For if thee
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 you, Capernaum, which are exalted unto
Heaven, shall be brought down to Hell: for if the mighty works which
have been done in you, 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 you. There is a
great depth of mystery, here, which we cannot hope to fathom. The
Gospel was not preached to those who would have repented if they had
heard it, and it was preached to those who did not repent when they
listened to it even from the lips of Christ Himself! Upon this latter
class, the sole effect of the Gospel preached to them was to plunge
them into yet deeper depths of guilt because of their refusal of it. It
is not for us to solve the mystery–it will be our wisdom to see that
being ourselves favored with the plain declaration of the Gospel, we do
not put it from us, lest we perish even more miserably than those who
never heard it!
25. At that time Jesus answered and said. So he had been talking with
His Father–"Jesus answered." Very often, no doubt, the Savior spoke
with God when it is not recorded in the Gospels that He did. But here a
plain hint is given that Christ was in intimate communion and
fellowship with God. At such times great doctrines which, to the
shallow minds of those who live at a distance from God, seem dreadful,
become delightful, and are lit up with unusual splendor! At that time
the Doctrine of Election was specially upon the heart of Christ because
He was dwelling near to God, Himself. "Jesus answered and said."–
25-30. I thank You, O Father, Lord ofHeaven and earth, because You have
hid these things from the wise andpru-dent, andhave revealed them unto
babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things
are delivered unto Me by My Father: and no man knows the Son but the
Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and He to whom
the Son will reveal Him. Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of
Me; for I am meek and lo wly in heart: and you shall find rest unto
your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.