Christ’s Word with You

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING JUNE 12 1881,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE NEWINGTON.

"Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest." Matthew 11:28.

WHEN THE REGULAR CONGREGATION LEFT THEIR SEATS TO BE OCCUPIED BY
STRANGERS.

ONE is struck with the personality of this text. There are two persons
in it, "you" and "Me"–that is to say, the laboring one and the tender
Savior who entreats him to come, that he may find rest. It is most
important, if we wish to see the way of peace, clearly, to understand
that we must, each one, come personally to Jesus for rest–"Come unto
Me, all you that labor"–and that coming, on our part, must be to a
personal Christ. In effect He says, "Come, yourselves, to Me. Come not
through sponsors, not through men whom you choose to call your priests,
not through the petitions of ministers and teachers, but come,
yourselves, for yourselves."

Dear Hearers, the quarrel is between you and God, and this quarrel can
only be made up by your approaching the Lord through a Mediator–it
would be folly for you to ask another to come to the Mediator for
you–you must trust in Him, yourself. Personal faith is indispensable
to salvation. But the personality of Christ is equally brought out in
our text. Jesus says, "Come unto Me"–"not to anybody else, but to Me."
He does not say, "Come to hear a sermon about Me," but, "come to Me."
He does not say, "Come to sacraments which shall teach you something
about Me," but, "come to Me"–to My work and Person.

You will observe that no one is put between you and Christ. The text
is, "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden"–not to
somebody that will stand between you and Me, but, "Come to Me at once,
and without a go-between." Come to Jesus directly, even to Jesus,
Himself. You do need a Mediator between yourselves and God, but you do
not need a mediator between yourselves and Jesus! Christ Jesus is the
Mediator between you and the Father–you need no one to stand between
you and Christ. To Him we may look at once, with unveiled face, guilty
as we are! To Him we may come, just as we are, without anyone to
recommend us, or plead for us, or make a bridge for us to Jesus. We are
to come only to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whom God has
ordained to be the way of access.

I shall fail at this in setting forth the Gospel if I shall lead
anybody to think that he can get salvation by going to a church, or
going to a meeting house, or going to a minister, or going into an
inquiry-room, or going to a penitent form. No, we are to go nowhere but
to Jesus. YOU, just as you are, are to come to Christ as He is–and the
promise is that on your coming to Him, He will give you rest. That is
the assurance of Jesus, Himself, and there is no deception in it. He
will give you rest us surely as you come to Him. What a blessing it
will be if those who have no rest in themselves should find rest at
once in Jesus while yet this sermon calls them!

Why not? I hope many of you, my Brothers and Sisters, who have found
rest, already, will be praying while I am preaching, that the unresting
ones may come at this good hour and find rest in Jesus Christ the
Savior. You see there are two persons. Let everybody else vanish and
let these two be left alone to transact heavenly business with each
other. Jesus says to you, "Come to Me." Your answer to Him, if it is, "
Yes, Lord, I come," shall be the means of bringing peace to your heart
from this time forth and forevermore! I want, at this time, to set
forth the Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, who sends this pressing
personal invitation to every laboring and heavy laden one in this
place. I wish that I knew how to preach. I have tried to do so for 30
years or so, but I am only now beginning to learn the art. Oh, that one
knew how to set forth Christ so that men perceived His beauty and fell
in love with Him at first sight!

Oh, Spirit of God, make it so now! If men knew the grandeur of His
Gospel–the joy, the peace, the happiness which comes of being a
Christian, they would run to Him! As flies seek after sweet fruit, so
would men seek after the Savior, if they did but know that sweeter than
honey and the honeycomb is the word of His salvation!

I. I first call your attention to THE VALUE OF THE GIFT which, in this
text, is set before weary, laboring men– "Come unto Me, all you that
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Rest of the heart
is worth more than all California! To be at peace–to be no more tossed
up and down in the soul–to be secure, peaceful, joyful, happy, is
worth mountains of diamonds. A man's life consists not in the abundance
of the things which he possesses–many a poor man is vastly happier
than the possessor of large estates–for peace comes not with property,
but with contentment. The music of peace is not the jingle of gold or
silver.

Sweeter bells sound in the pardoned heart than ever wealth can ring.
The herb called heart's-ease often grows in tiny gardens and happy is
the man who wears it in his bosom. It is this gift which, for value,
outshines the pearls and rubies which deck an Indian queen, which Jesus
promises to give to all that come to Him for it! Oh, rare peace which
comes from the Prince of Peace! This, if a man gets it, is practically
helpful to him in all the affairs of life. I say that other things
being equal, there is nobody so fit to run the race of life as the man
who is unloaded of his cares and enjoys peace of mind. The man who is
happily restful towards God is the man to fight the battle of life! I
have known a man losing money on the market to quietly step aside and,
getting into a quiet place, breathe a prayer to God and come back calm
and composed. And, whereas before, in his distraction, he was ready to
make bad bargains, plunge into speculation and lose terribly, he has
come back rested and peaceful, and has been in a fit frame for dealing
with his fellow men.

I know this, Brothers and Sisters, having many cares resting upon
myself, that when I can feel calmly restful and quiet before God, I am
a match for anybody! But when once the spirits sink and depression
comes in, then the grasshopper becomes a burden, and a trifle frets the
soul! Bring solid rest to the heart and you have given the man a
fulcrum upon which he may rest the lever with which he can lift the
heaviest weight. But let him always be tossed up and down and he has
nothing to give him force. When a man is afraid to die, he may well be
afraid to live–he who could not look death in the face–yes that could
not look God in the face, is a man who has a latent weakness about him
that will rob him of force and courage in the heat of the battle.

I commend to you, Brothers and Sisters, in this busy London, the
precious gift of my text called, "rest," because it is not only a
preparation for the world to come but for the life that now is. The
peace of God will serve both as arms and armor! It is both battle-axe
and breastplate. It will be your heart's comfort and your hands'
strength. It will be good for day and night, for calm and storm. It has
a thousand uses and all of them are essential to spiritual well-being.
This rest is not found anywhere else but in Christ. Let me tell you
what kind of rest it is, confessing that I now enjoy it and revel in

it.

It is rest to the man's entire spiritual being. Conscience troubles us
till Jesus speaks it into rest. Conscience looks back and cries,
"Things are not right! You were wrong here, wrong there and wrong
altogether! There is no rest for you." Conscience keeps a diary and
writes with heavy pen a gloomy record which we read with alarm.
"Tremble," says Conscience, "for you will see this record again at the
Judgment Day and find yourself condemned by it to eat the fruits of
your doings." Men laugh and say they do not believe it–but they do
believe it. Deep in their hearts they must believe it, for God has a
witness within which blurts out the truth. Conscience perpetually
rouses some men, as a watchdog wakes a slumbering householder. "Down,
Sir," they say, "Lie down, lie down," but this watchdog of God in the
heart will not always lie down–every now and then it begins to howl
horribly–and the man cannot sleep as he needs to sleep. Even if you
drug Conscience, it will have fits of barking in its sleep.

Now, Jesus promises, to those who come to Him, a peaceful conscience
which He will give through pardoning all the past, through changing the
current of the man's ideas in the present and through helping him to
avoid, in the future, the faults into which he fell in the days that
have now gone by–

"Rest, weary soul,

The penalty is borne, the ransom paid, For all your sins full
satisfaction made. Strive not to do, yourself, what Christ has done!
Claim the free gift and make the joy your own. No more by pangs of
guilt and fear distress, Rest, sweetly rest!"

It is a grand thing to have rest of conscience. But then we have
minds–and minds are troublous things. In these days of doubt, it is
not easy for a mind to get an anchorage and keep it. Many are searching
for something to believe or, at least, they long to be quite sure that
it would be the right thing not to believe. Minds are tossed about like
ships at sea, or birds caught in a fierce gale.

My mind was once in that state. It drifted and was carried along, I
knew not where. I, for a while, believed nothing, till at last it came
to this–that I thought my own existence might be, after all, a mere
thought! Having a practical vein in my character, I sat down and
laughed at my own dreams of non-existence for I felt that I did exist!
Up from the depths of doubt and unbelief I rose to feel there must be
something sure. I cast my soul at Jesus' feet and I rested–and I am,
now, perfectly content in mind. Thousands of us can say, "We know whom
we have believed and are persuaded that He is able to keep that which
we have committed to Him" and, therefore, we cannot leave the Gospel of
Jesus Christ!

No new doctrines, no novelties, no skepticisms, no fresh information
can now disturb us–at least they can but breathe a
surface-ruffling–all is calm in the soul's deeps. Having found rest of
intellect in the doctrine of Jesus, there will we stay till death and
Heaven, or the Second Advent solves all riddles! But then we have
hearts. I hope we all have hearts, though some are harsh and almost
heartless. Men that have great, all-embracing hearts need a rest for
their love. What a cause of trouble this heart of ours is, for it often
clings to that which is unworthy of it and we are deceived and
disappointed–and heart-break crushes us. The tempting fruit, like the
apple of Sodom, crumbles into ashes in our hand.

Here, then, is rest and remedy for heart palpitations and the anguish
of the breast. Let a man love Jesus and he will crave no other love,
for this will fill his soul to the brim!–

"Him on yonder Cross I love; Nothing else on earth I count dear!"
Christ fills a man's nature to the brim! The Incarnate Son of God, once
known, gives rest of conscience, rest of intellect and rest of heart.
In a word, He brings complete satisfaction to the spirit. Now, I do not
know of any religion that offers perfect rest to the mind except the
religion of Jesus Christ. Men go the world over to try and find this
pearl of great price, but their quest is in vain. I often talk with
religious people who have no idea of being saved, now, and finding rest
at once because they do not understand that Christ came to give
immediate salvation to those who trust Him.

I spoke with one earnest soul a little while ago, and she said, "I have
no rest." I replied, "Have you believed in Jesus Christ? " She
answered, "Yes." "But," I asked, "Do you not know that as soon as you
believe in Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven you and you are saved?"
"I did not grasp that," she said. Yet that is the Gospel–that whoever
believes in Jesus is not condemned. He that believes in Him has
everlasting life, and is saved the moment he believes–becomes changed
from the power of sin and made into a new man–possessing a new life
which can never die! This assurance is worth getting hold of and he
that has it, let him hold it fast and rejoice in it! Yet it is not to
be obtained anywhere except from the dear hands that were nailed to the
Cross. This rest can never come from any lips but those that prayed
upon the Cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

This, then, is the gift which is presented by Christ Jesus at this
moment to all that labor and are heavy laden. If they will come to Him
for it, they shall have rest of soul. Some in this place are panting
for rest. In this great city there must be much trouble, sorrow,
unrest, misery and distraction. When I look on this congregation, I
know that I could not bear to hear the tale of sorrow that would be
unfolded if each man were to tell his inward anguish. We look cheerful,
but many a cheerful face covers a sad heart. The weight of human misery
is enough to make the axles of the earth to break! Oh, what a blessing
it is that there is One who can lift us up–One who can make the
poorest to be better than if he were rich, and the sad to be happier
than the merry–and the afflicted to be more blest than the prosperous!

Jesus is here in our midst with hands loaded with mercy. May He prove
His Presence among us by giving rest to all those who came in here
laboring and laden. Thus have I spoken upon the value of the gift. Oh,
Spirit of God, teach men its value!

II. Bear with me, in the second place, while I speak upon THE LARGENESS
OF THE SAVIOR'S HEART. Oh, that I could stand aside and that He would
come here, Himself, and utter the words of my text with His own dear
lips! "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden." See the
persons whom He invites to come to Him! None but a Man of great soul
would keep such company! If we would be merry, we choose merry company.
Some folks I should be glad to be in Heaven with, but I could dispense
with their company here–for ten minutes with them on earth is enough
to make

one wretched! Only a generous spirit would say, "Come to Me, all you
that are downcast–all you that are despond-ing–all you that are
broken-hearted."

Yet that is exactly what the text says! Christ courts the company of
the sorrowful and invites those who are ill at ease to approach Him.
What a heart of love He must have! No, He invites all such to come. You
know two or three that are really cast down are quite enough at a time
for most of us. It happened some months ago, when I was sitting here to
see people, that I had four or five cases so sad–so deplorable–and
which I could render such little help, that, after trying to pray with
them and encourage them, I said to a friend who was helping me, "I hope
the next that comes to me will be cheerful, for I feel my head ache and
my heart, too!" I tried as best I could to enter into these poor
people's troubles till I became troubled myself!

The Savior has such a large heart that He does not forbid the sorrowing
ones to come–none of them. "Come one," He says, "come all. All of you
that labor and are heavy laden may at this hour come to Me." The love
of my Master's heart is so great and the sympathy of His nature with
man is so deep, that if all should come that ever labored or ever
sorrowed, He would not be exhausted by the sympathy, but would still be
able to give them rest in Himself! And what a large heart Jesus has,
that He comes only to do men good and begins by doing good, first, to
those that need it most. Oh, my Lords and Ladies, Jesus did not come to
win your patronage that you might applaud Him! Oh, you frivolous and
high-flying ones, Jesus did not come to win your approbation! It would
be a small thing to Him for you to think well of

Him!

But, O you despised and rejected, you oppressed and down-trod–you
weary, you worn, you sad, you sick, you desponding, you despairing–the
Great Physician of souls comes after you and it is to you He addresses
the invitation at this time–"Come unto Me, all you that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Come, such as you are, and come
all of you! And, He says, come at once! He does not say, "Stop till you
get your spirits raised. Stop till you get some measure of relief," but
come just as you are! There is a notion in some people's minds that
they cannot believe in Christ till they are better. Christ does not
need your betterness! Will you only go to the physician when you feel
better? Then you are foolish, indeed, for you do not need the physician
when you are getting better! The best time to apply to a physician is
when you are as bad as you can be–and the time to come to Jesus is
when you are so bad that you cannot be worse!

You had better come just as you are–He invites you to do so. "Come,"
He says, "all you that now labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest." Stay not to improve yourselves, but come to Him for
improvement! If you cannot come with a broken heart, come for a broken
heart! If you cannot come with faith, come for faith! If you cannot
come repenting, come and ask the Lord to give you repentance! Come
empty-handed, bankrupt, ruined, condemned and you will find rest! Oh,
you that have written out your own sentence and have said, "I shall
perish; there is no pardon for me"– come to Jesus, for depths of
mercy! There is pardon even for you! Only come to the Savior and He
will give you rest! He promises this rest to all who come to Him. My
Master stakes His credit upon every case that comes to Him. He has
already given rest to thousands, no, to millions! And He promises to
each one that comes to Him that He will give rest to him.

If there is in this place; if there is in this country; if there is in
this universe a single person who ever did come to Jesus Christ and He
did not give him rest, I would like to know of it, because it is my
daily habit to declare that Jesus gives rest to all that come to Him
and I do not want to declare a lie! Let us know when Jesus fails. He
says, "Him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out." The first one
of you that comes and He casts you out, let us know of it! We will post
it up on the Royal Exchange–"A sinner came to Jesus and He would not
receive him." Woe to the world in that dark day, for the sun of hope
will be quenched and the night will miss her stars. Till then, we beg
you to remember that Jesus has said, "Him that comes to Me I will in no
wise cast out." Come and test my blessed Lord and see if He does not
accept you!

We stake the veracity of Christ; we stake the Truth of the Gospel upon
the case of everyone in this place who will come to Jesus Christ by
faith and trust Him! Each heavy-laden one must and shall find rest if
he will come to Jesus, or else the Redeemer's promise is not true.

Thus have I spoken upon the largeness of our Lord's heart in promising
rest to all that come to Him for it.

III. But now, thirdly, and but a moment, let me speak to you about THE
BLESSEDNESS OF HIS POWER. Our

Lord Jesus Christ is able to give peace to all that labor and are heavy
laden. He has not outrun His power in the promise

that He has given. He is conscious that within Himself there resides a
power which will be able to give peace to every conscience. Notice
there is no reserve made, whatever–no way is left of backing out of
the promise. "Come unto Me," He says, "all you that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest." No limiting clause is inserted. Some
men will speak what looks to be a very large promise, but a little
condition inserted in it narrows it horribly. But there is no condition
here.

Whoever born of woman that labors and is heavy laden, and will come to
Christ, must have rest. And Christ has said it because He can give it!
There are desperate cases among the myriads of troubled hearts, but no
single one is too far gone for Jesus. You have read the story of John
Bunyan in, "Grace Abounding." Was there ever a poor wretch that was
dragged about by the devil more than poor John was? For five years and
more he could not call his soul his own. He did not dare to sleep
because he was afraid he would wake up in Hell. All day long he was
troubled. He fretted and worried with this and that, and the other.
Poor tinker that he was, he first thought this, and then thought that!
And, as he says, he was "considerably tumbled up and down in his mind."
I am sure such a case as that would have been given up by men–but when
Jesus took it in hand, John Bunyan found perfect rest and his blessed,
"Pilgrim's Progress," remains a proof of the joy of heart which the
poor tinker found when he came to rest in Christ.

Now, if within these walls there is a case in which poverty combines
with sickness and disease. And if that poverty and disease are the
result of vice. And if that vice has been carried on for many
years–and if the entire man is now depressed and despondent, like one
shut up in an iron cage–the Lord Jesus can still give rest in such a
case! It matters not how black or horrible is your condition! If you
believe in Jesus, you shall be delivered. As far as this trouble of
soul is concerned and as far as the venom of sin in your nature is
concerned, you shall be healed! You shall be made pure, though now you
are filthy! You shall be restored, though now you are fallen! You shall
be started again in life by a power that shall cause you to be born
again, so that you shall be as though you were a little child
commencing life again, only under happier skies and holier influences!

My Lord and Master has a power to comfort which reaches to the
uttermost of human necessity. Some go a long way in sin and doubt, but
they cannot rush beyond the uttermost and, therefore, they are within
the boundaries of Divine Grace! Let the wind drive the bird far off the
shore, yet the Lord has a rest for it in another land. Still does Jesus
bid us sound the great trumpet and ring out the notes both clear and
shrill–"Come to Me! Come to Me! Come unto Me, all you that labor and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!" Blessed shall those ears be
that hear the sound if their hearts obey it and come to Jesus–they
will find rest at once! He is able. He is able to give rest. He is
willing to cause joy. Doubt no more! Jesus speaks thus without reserve
because He is conscious of power, for note this–Jesus Christ is God
and He that made men's hearts can make them all anew!

The God at whose bidding sprang that mighty arch of the blue sky–who
poured out the sea from the hollow of His hands and named the stars in
their hosts–He is able to save unto the uttermost them that come to
Him! This blessed God took upon Himself our nature and became Man and,
being found in fashion as a man, He took men's grief and sin upon
Himself and went up to the Cross loaded with it. And there He suffered
in our place to make expiation for our guilt. There is such merit in
His precious blood that no sin can ever overpower it! I can see man's
sin before me–it towers aloft, defying Heaven! It rises like an awful
alp shrouded in a storm of evil! It seems to thread the clouds, to be
higher than the stars! Oh, mighty mountain, what shall become of you?

But, lo! I see Christ's precious blood and merit like an ocean of Grace
poured forth to cover sin! Comparable to Noah's deluge, the power of
the Atonement is revealed till, 20 cubits upward, the tops of the
mountains of our sin are covered and not a speck of them remains–while
on the top of the waters rides the ark of everlasting salvation–and
all that believe in Jesus are safe, and safe forever! Oh, Sinner,
Christ is able to cast your sins into the depths of the sea so that
they shall never be mentioned against you again and thus He will give
you the most serene rest. "Come to Me," He says, "and I will give you
rest."

I wish I knew how to put this so that it would get into men's hearts.
My Master knows that He can save you, for He had reckoned up every
possible case before He spoke so positively. His Prescient eye
discerned all men that have ever lived or that ever shall live–and He
perceived you, dear Friend, whom nobody else knows. You up in the
corner there, whom nobody understands, not even yourself–He
understands you and He is able to give rest to your eccentric mind! He
meant this promise to ring down the ages till it reached you! We have
nearly completed the 19th Century, but if ever we

should get to the 119th Century, His power to give rest will still be
the same. Still will He cry–"Come unto Me, all you that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Oh, the vastness of my Master's power, that in all ages and all places,
to all the children of man He promises perfect rest of heart if they
will but come to Him! Will not you come at once and test that power? Oh
that the Holy Spirit may incline you to do so!

IV. Now, fourthly, and this is a very important point, I want you to
notice THE SIMPLICITY OF THIS INVITATION. It only says, "Come to Me,
come to Me, come to Me, and I will give you rest." The call is, as we
say, plain as a pikestaff–it has not a fine word in it. What is the
way of salvation? If any minister replies, "I should need a week or two
to explain it to you," he does not know the way of salvation because
the way of salvation which we need must suit a dying man, an illiterate
man and a guilty man, or else it will be unavailing in many cases! We
need a way of Grace which will answer all occasions–a mode of
salvation suitable to all conditions!

Our Lord Jesus Christ proves how willing He is to save sinners by
making the method of Grace so easy. He says, "Come to Me." "Well," asks
one, "how am I to come?" Come any way. If you can run, come running. If
you can walk, come walking. If you can creep, come creeping. If you can
only limp, come limping–come any way–so long as you come to Jesus.
"But what is coming to Him?" asks one. "If He were at York, I would
walk to York, tonight, to get at Him." He is not at York any more than
He is here. We are not to come to Him with our persons, or with our
legs and feet by a visible motion. How, then, can we come to Him?
Listen, you Friends in the front gallery, how can I come to you, and
yet stand here? Why, by thinking about you, knowing about you and then
confiding my thoughts to you, as I am now doing!

If you, over yonder, are a business man, I resolve in my mind that I
will commit my affairs into your hands–and in so doing I have mentally
come to you. We are to do with our Lord Jesus just what we do with a
physician. We are very ill. It is a bad case. We hear that a certain
eminent doctor has great skill in one particular disease. So, we go to
him at once. Our physical going is not so much required as our mental
resort to him, by putting our case into his hands. We say to him, "Sir,
here is my afflicted person. I will tell you all about my state as far
as I know it. Ask me any questions. I will make a clean breast of all.
Whatever you prescribe for me, I will take. Whatever regimen you lay
down as to diet, I will follow. I place myself entirely in your hands
because I have faith in your skill. You cured my mother of this
disease. You cured my brother and I believe you can cure me." Such is
faith in Christ!

A man says, "Jesus, You have died to save men, and You have revealed
Yourself as a Savior. I need saving. You have saved a great many like
I. I now put myself into Your hands. I will do what You bid me. I will
follow any directions You may lay down, I confide myself to You." Now,
if this is a genuine surrender and a hearty confidence, you are already
a healed man! Your power to trust Christ is evidence of spiritual
sanity–you would not have been able to trust the blessed Jesus if a
sound work of restoration had not already commenced in you. "Oh," says
one, "do I understand, then, that if I trust Christ, I may do as I
like?" Stop, stop! I never said that!

Listen and learn! Here is a ship which cannot get into the haven. The
pilot comes on board. The captain says, "Pilot, can you get her into
harbor?" "Yes, Captain, 1 will guarantee it. I will guarantee that I
will get the ship into harbor if you leave her with me." The captain
goes to the helm, or gives orders as to steering the vessel, and at
once the pilot objects that they are not trusting to him. "Yes, I am,"
says the captain, "and I expect you to get me into harbor, for you
promised to do so." "Of course I promised," replies the pilot, "but
then it was understood that I should take charge of the ship for the
time being." He orders the helm to be changed and the captain declares
that it shall not be done. Then cries the pilot, "I cannot get you into
the harbor and I will not pretend to do so! Unless you trust me, I can
do nothing, and the proof that you trust me is that you obey my
orders."

Now, then, trust Jesus, so as to be obedient to Him and He will pilot
you safely. Yield yourself up to follow His example, to imitate His
spirit and obey His commands and you are a saved man! Your ship shall
not be driven out to sea while Jesus steers it. But do not go away
under the delusion that you have only to say, "I trust Christ," and
that you are saved. Nothing of the kind! You must really trust
Him–practically trust Him, or there is no hope for you. Give yourself
up to Jesus; renounce your old sins; forsake your old habits; live as
Christ will enable you to live and immediately you shall find peace for
your soul! You cannot enjoy rest and yet riot in sin! Shall the drunk
have rest and yet drown his soul in his cups?

Shall an adulterer have rest and wallow in his filthiness? Shall a man
blaspheme and have rest? Shall a man be a rogue and a liar and have
rest? Impossible! These things must be given up by coming to Jesus
Christ, who will help you to give them up and make a new man of
you–and then you shall receive rest in your soul. Come to Him, then,
in spirit and in truth. Oh, that you would come to Him while I am
speaking–and find instantaneous rest for your souls!

V. I must not keep you longer and so I want, upon the last point, to
briefly call your attention to THE UNSELFISHNESS OF THE LORD, JESUS
CHRIST, "Come unto Me," He says, "and I will give you." That is the
Gospel. "I

will give you." You say, "Lord, I cannot give You anything." He does
not need anything! Come to Jesus and He says, "I will give you." Not
what you give to God, but what He gives to you, will be your salvation!
"I will give you"–that is the Gospel in four words. Will you come and
have it? It lies open before you. Jesus needs nothing from you. Suppose
you were to become Christ's disciple and serve Him with all your might
throughout your life–in what way would that enrich Him? He has died
for you! How can you ever pay Him for that?

He lives in Heaven to plead for you and He loves you–how can you ever
reward Him for that? Our hope is not in what we can give to Him, but in
what He gives to us! Weak-minded men have taken pleasure in
flagellating themselves, starving themselves, shutting themselves up in
monasteries, lacerating their bodies and torturing their minds–to what
purpose were these pains? Did the loving Jesus require this of them?
Could such miseries afford His tender heart the least pleasure? Not at
all! He has no pleasure in human misery, but He desires that His joy
may be fulfilled in us that our joy may be full.

I see before me a springhead from which the clearest crystal water is
always leaping with a gladsome sound. A little stream, which this
spring creates, runs down the meadow–you can track it by the long
grass, reeds, rushes and tangled wildflowers which drink their life
from it. In summer and in winter the crystal fountain never ceases to
pour forth its treasures. Come here when you may, you shall see the
silver jet spurting forth and splashing up, again, from the stones upon
which it falls. How musical the sound! Listen! The spring is pleading,
quietly but plaintively. It would become a greater blessing if it could
but gain the means, and so it sighs and whispers, Buckets! Pitchers!
Goblets! Cups! It longs to fill them all! Look, here are a couple of
pails, but they are empty. Yes, they are all the better for the
purpose–full buckets would not help the spring to dispense its water.

Here is a cup, but it is a very little one. Never mind, fill it and
bring many like it. This girl has brought a jug, but it is spotted with
dirt. We bid her take it away, lest she pollute these sparkling waters.
Not so, the spring pleads, and this is its pleading–"Bring it here, I
will cleanse it and then fill it to the brim." Need I expound the
parable? I hope not! Come and act it out, you little ones or great
ones, you empty ones or unclean ones! Thus shall you know more surely
and more sweetly than words can tell you how free and full is the Grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ! The emptier you are, the better can you
receive from our overflowing Savior! He longs to bless you for your own
sake. His yearnings are all unselfish– they are yearnings to give,
longings to bestow favor.

He cries, even now, to laboring and laden souls, "Come unto Me, and I
will give you not only rest, but all you require." Friends, have you
learned well the lesson that there is nothing good in yourselves with
which to attract Jesus, but all the good is in Him to attract you? Is
it not clear enough that physicians do not come to heal healthy
persons? I saw a carriage dashing down the street with a doctor in it
and I felt morally certain that he was not coming to my house, for I am
in perfect health. I dare say he was hastening to see a poor creature
who was on the brink of the grave. When I see the chariots of mercy
flashing with winged steeds through the air, I know that they are not
speeding to you who are good and righteous and think you do not need a
Savior–they are hastening to such as are sinful and crave forgiveness,
to such as are guilty and require a change of heart–for these are they
that Jesus comes to bless!

See, then, how the unselfishness of His Character comes out in His
inviting to come to Himself those who cannot benefit Him, but must be
pensioners on His bounty! "I will give you rest." Men, brothers, women,
sisters–all of you– this is the final word. The day is coming when we
shall all sigh for rest. We need it badly, now, and if we have it not,
we are leading a pitiful life. Those poor rich people in the west end
that have no Christ, how can they bear their irksome idleness, the
satiety and disgust of unenjoyed abundance? Those poor people in the
east end that have no Christ–what they do without Him, I cannot tell.
Alas, for their poverty and suffering, but what are these to their
wretchedness in being Christless?

Those of us who have all that heart can wish, still feel that we could
never be happy if we were not resting in our dear Savior! How, then, do
the starving exist without Him? But we shall soon die and what then? A
young man said to his father some little while ago, "Father, I am
prospering in business wonderfully! If I get on at this rate, what will
it come to?" "Come to a grave," said his father. And so it will. All
things of earth end there. Oh that we were always ready to die, for
then we should be ready to live! He that is ready to live tomorrow is
ready to die tomorrow. There is no need that death should be a hitch in
our existence. Life ought to run on as a river pursues its way and
widens into the sea. Our existence, here, should glide into our
existence there, but that cannot be unless we get on the right track
while we are here. If we are on the right track, now, which is
believing, loving, fearing, serving and honoring God, we shall go on
loving, fearing and honoring God forever and ever!

"Come," says Christ, "Come to Me." What will Jesus say at the Judgment
Day to those who so come? Why, He will say, "Come"–"Come, you blessed
of My Father. Keep on coming. Come and inherit the Kingdom prepared for
you from before the foundations of the world." Ah, my Hearers, you will
prize this coming when death and eternity are near you! I am glad to
see this great company gathered here, but before I came into this
house, I felt much heaviness of heart and it has not gone from me even
now. To stand here and look into familiar faces from Sunday to Sunday
is infinitely more pleasant than to look upon so many, the most of whom
I have never seen before, for you cause me new anxieties that I may do
good to you, also.

This was my thought–"I shall see them all, again, at the Judgment Day,
and I shall be accountable as to whether I preached the Gospel to them
with all my heart." I shall not have to answer for the blood of you
all, because there are more Sabbaths than this one and more
opportunities of hearing the Gospel than this. And on other Sundays,
others preach to you, and these share the burden, or else you ignore
the holy day–and in that case your blood will be on your own heads!
Still, for this one service I mast answer to God for you all. If I have
not preached Jesus Christ simply and plainly–and from my heart–if I
have been cold, and dull, and dreary when speaking upon a theme that
might arouse any man to burn and glow with seraphic flame, then I shall
be censurable by Him that shall judge the quick and dead!

If you think there is nothing in what I have said, reject it! I have no
authority to preach it of my own head, for I am no great philosopher. I
speak in the name of God and if you think I do, and believe that God
has sent me, then I beseech you to lay hold of the Truth of God which
has been held up before you! The most important thing a man can do is
to attend to that which is most important–your soul is of more
importance than your body and, therefore, your eternal life ought to
secure more attention than your mere temporal existence. A man said the
other day that he would die like a dog. Let him, if he likes, but I
have no ambition in that direction. I want to live like an angel! If
any man is content to be a dog, well, I know not what I can do for him
but give him a bone–I did not know that he would care to come here, or
I might have sent to the butcher's for fit food.

But he that wishes to live forever should, at least, consider where he
would live, with whom he would live and how he can secure happiness in
such a life. If there is a God–and that there is a God is written in
the very skies–I devoutly desire to have Him for my Friend. I think,
as I look up to the stars, "I love the God that made those shining
worlds. I worship Him, I desire to serve Him, I wish to be at peace
with Him." And what has made me desire to serve Him and obey Him? Can
it be a lie which has done this? Does a lie make a man love God and
desire to serve Him? No. It is the Truth of God, then, that has made me
be of obedient heart! The Gospel must be true, or it could not thus put
men right with their Creator.

O, my Beloved, trust your Savior! Lay hold on Jesus! Oh, may Christ lay
hold on you at this good hour and cause you to enter into His rest!
Amen and amen.
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"Without Carefulness"