109SermonsbyJCRyle (continued)
Reader, if you have never come to this point yet, you must come to it at last, if you mean to be saved. You must apply to Christ as a sinner; you must have personal dealings with the great Physician, and apply to Him for a cure. Why not do it at once? Why not this very day accept the great invitation? Once more, I repeat my exhortation. COME—COME TO CHRIST WITHOUT DELAY!
4. Reader, have you found the rest which Christ gives? Have you tasted true peace by coming to him and casting your soul on him? Then go on to the end of your days as you have begun, looking to Jesus and living upon Him. Go on drawing daily full supplies of rest, peace, mercy, and grace from the great fountain of rest and peace. Remember that, if you live to the age of Methuselah, you will never be anything but a poor empty sinner, owing all you have and hope for to Christ alone.
Never be ashamed of living the life of faith in Christ. Men may ridicule and mock you, and even silence you in argument; but they can never take from you the feelings which faith in Christ gives. They can never prevent you feeling, "I was weary until I found Christ—but now I have rest of conscience. I was blind—but now I see. I was dead —but I am alive again. I was lost—but I am found."
Invite all around you to come to Christ. Use every lawful effort to bring father, mother, husband, wife, children, brothers, sisters, friends, relatives, companions, fellow-workmen; to bring all and every one to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Spare no pains. Speak to them about Christ—speak to Christ about them. Be instant in season, out of season. Say to them, as Moses did to Hobab, "Come with us—and we will do you good!" The more you work for the souls of others, the more blessing will you get for your own soul.
Last, but not least, look forward with confidence to a better rest in a world to come. Yet in a little while, and He who shall come, will come, and will not tarry. He will gather together all who have believed in Him, and take His people to a home where the wicked shall cease from troubling, and the weary shall be at perfect rest. He shall give them a glorious body, in which they shall serve Him without distraction, and praise Him without weariness. He shall wipe away tears from all faces, and make all things new. (Isa. 35:8.)
There is a good time coming for all who have come to Christ and committed their souls into His keeping. They shall remember all the ways by which they have been led, and see the wisdom of every step in the way; they all wonder that they ever doubted the kindness and love of their Shepherd—above all, they shall wonder that they could live so long without Him, and that when they heard of Him they could hesitate about coming to Him.
There is a pass in Scotland called Glencoe, which supplies a beautiful illustration of what heaven will be to the man who comes to Christ. The road through Glencoe carries the traveler up a long and steep ascent, with many a little winding and many a little turn in its course. But when the top of the pass is reached, a stone is seen by the wayside, with these simple words engraved on it, "Rest, and be thankful." Reader, those words describe the feelings with which every one who comes to Christ will at length enter heaven. The summit of the narrow way will be won—we shall cease from our weary journeying, and sit down in the kingdom of God; we shall look back over all the way of life with thankfulness, and see the perfect wisdom of every little winding and turn in the steep ascent by which we were led; we shall forget the toils of the upward journey in the glorious rest. Here in this world, our sense of rest in Christ at best is feeble and partial; but, "when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away." Thanks be unto God, a day is coming when believers shall rest perfectly, and be thankful.
Reader, the invitation is now before you. Will you accept it? "Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden--and I will give you rest."