Chapter 23: The Doctrine Arising from the Dependence of the Promise upon the Invitation
Now, secretly say, Lord, I come. And when you go into your closet, in a more solemn manner, when you are alone, resign your soul to Jesus Christ and say, Lord, you have invited me this day to come to Christ. Now, Lord, I give up myself—all that I have and all that I am
—to You. My estate, my body, my honour, and all that I possess, I give to You, to come to You. Then not only will all these good things be made good, but the promise as well. Christ will give you rest.
These are times of distress, and therefore it is timely to hear of rest.
Whatever troubles may arise, if you come to Christ, you shall be safe in Him. Christ has engaged Himself to give rest to your soul.
And so much for the invitation itself.
Chapter 23 The Doctrine Arising from the Dependence of the Promise upon the Invitation: That God Will Have Us, When We Are Coming to Christ, to Have Respect to Ourselves Now, the next thing that follows is the promise that Christ makes to poor, burdened sinners who come to Him: He will give them rest.
And I will give you rest.
It would be too bold for any creature to make such a statement.
Indeed, it would be too much presumption for all the angels in Heaven to claim these words as their own and to say, "Come to us, all you who labour and are heavy-laden, and we will give you rest."
Yet here, in this text, it is not only one greater than Solomon
speaking, but one greater than all the angels in Heaven and all men who have ever lived upon the earth. He says, "Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." These are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, who is equal with the Father, God blessed forever. He says, "Come to me, you who labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." This is what we now come to consider—the gracious promise that Christ makes to draw souls to Himself, that He will give them rest. "And I will give you rest."
What more fitting or timely argument could there be in this present moment? We know this is a time of trouble, a time of disturbance, with much perplexity and distress in our nation. What could be more welcome to us than hearing of rest? This is what Christ promises to all who come to Him and believe in Him: He will give them rest.
Before I proceed to open up this gracious promise, which is exceedingly full of richness and nourishment, as we shall see when we come to examine it more closely, I will first draw your attention to one brief note from the connection of these words with the previous ones: "Come to me, you who labour, and I will give you rest." You see that Christ, in order to draw sinners to Himself, makes a gracious promise of what He knows will benefit them deeply—He promises rest. From this, we can take the following general observation:
God would have us, even when we are coming to Christ, to have some concern for ourselves, and Christ encourages us in coming to Him to have some aim for our own good.
This is the clear point we can take from the connection of the words.
Before we open the promise, "I will give you rest," note that Christ propounds that which He knows will touch the hearts of sinners,
presenting it as a great good to draw them to Himself. From this, the point is clear: in our coming to Jesus Christ, it is lawful for us to have some regard for our own good. Indeed, not only is it lawful, but we ought to do so. We are to look upon Christ as He presents Himself to us, and it is not just permissible to look at Him this way—it is our duty to do so.
When Christ presents Himself as an object to draw our hearts to Him, He does so as One from whom our souls will gain abundant good, as One from whom we will receive much. Now, though it is true that we should strive to rise above our self-interest as much as possible, and labour to deny ourselves in a certain sense, this does not mean we are not to seek our own good in coming to Christ.
I could show you this from numerous Scriptures. For instance, in the very first commission that Jesus Christ gave to His apostles after His resurrection, as recorded in Mark 16:15, He says to them: "Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." Clearly, Christ would have us, in our first act of believing, to have an aim at our own good.
We also see this kind of promise in Jeremiah 6:16: "Thus says the Lord, 'Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it, and you shall find rest for your souls.'" Here we see that God propounds duties alongside promises.
The Lord knows what is best for us and what will work most upon us.
Therefore, if we think we must have no concern for our own good in coming to Christ, and believe it is merely self-love to come to Christ for our own benefit, this is a temptation.
I speak to this point because I know how useful it is to many poor souls whom the Lord is drawing to Jesus Christ. The Lord has taken their hearts away from sinful self—they no longer find joy in the lusts
of the flesh as they once did. The Lord has made them willing to deny their own opinions, their own wills, their own affections, and their former ways. They now deny themselves in the comforts of this world, prizing Christ and His ways, the way of Christ, more than they value their very lives here in this world.
Yet, for all this, they face the temptation that says: "You seek Christ only to free you from Hell and to save you, and therefore it is merely self-love. It is not true grace, because you are aiming at yourself rather than Christ."
The devil cannot prevail with a heart that is drawn to Christ by saying, "You prize your lusts more than Christ," or "You value your ease more than Christ," or "You prize your estate, liberty, or even your life more than Christ." If the devil tempts such a soul in this way, it could, in some measure, answer him and appeal to God, saying: "Lord, You who know all things, know that it is otherwise.
Though my heart once went after my lusts, the world, ease, and liberty, and I followed the common course of the world, making those things my greatest good and comfort, yet, Lord, You know it is otherwise with me now. My heart is set on Christ, and I can say from the depths of my soul, like the blessed martyr Lambert, 'None but Christ, none but Christ.'"
When the heart reaches this point, one would think that the soul would be beyond the devil's reach and might even come to assurance.
But the devil will still say: "Though you have come this far, and you dare not commit any known sin, and though you seek after Christ more than your estate or liberty, there is one thing more—your heart is not fully taken off from seeking your own good. You seek
Christ to save you from Hell and to bring you to Heaven. That is why you seek Christ, and therefore your heart is not right after all."
This is a temptation that seizes many. Now, I confess, this is a temptation that is beyond many men's understanding; they do not even know what this temptation is. The idea of seeking Christ only to avoid Hell and gain Heaven is a temptation beyond the ordinary course of the world. Even among ordinary professing believers, this temptation is scarcely understood.
But the Spirit in this text answers the temptation: "Come to me, and I will give you rest." Many poor souls come to Christ because they want rest, but then the devil whispers, "Oh, but you are coming to Christ for your own good."
Now, to help against this temptation, know:
1. At the time of conversion, the Lord ordinarily makes use of the creature's self-love, but this is a self-love for eternity, which is a higher degree of self-love than most people in the world attain to. Some people love themselves only in regard to this present life, but when God causes a man or woman to love themselves for eternity, it is a good sign that the hand of God is upon the heart, and that the Lord intends good for that soul. When the Lord begins to make you love yourself truly for eternity, to love what is true and of eternal value, it is a sign that God intends to do good for your soul.
2. When the Lord not only begins to make you love yourself for eternity, loving that immortal soul He has given you, but also shows you where your true good for eternity lies—that it lies in being delivered from the wrath of God, not being cast out of His presence, but instead being brought into union with God, living in His presence to the praise of His grace for all eternity—this is your true good. This, you regard as your happiness: that you may be delivered from being cast out of God's presence and that
God would bring you to Himself, to live with Him and join with the angels and saints in praising His infinite grace in Christ for eternity. When this is revealed to you and your heart is drawn to Christ for this reason, this is faith, and it is true grace. For here,
God has intertwined (if I may put it this way) the glory of His own name and the good of His creature together, both joined as one, so that the heart may be drawn to both at the same time.
3. Furthermore, let me tell you, when your heart looks at this as your own good, and when this is the rest you seek—when you see that by your sins you are cut off from God and can have no peace or rest, and when you see that your happiness and the rest of your soul is in having union with God, from whom your sins have cut you off, so that you might live forever to the praise of the infinite and glorious first Being of all things—then, even though you are seeking your own good, before you are fully aware of it, and even though you may reason with yourself, saying, "I do regard God above any good in myself," yet your heart is focused on this end: that you might have union with the Father and live eternally with Him to the praise of His grace in His Son. In this act, even though you may not fully grasp how you are placing God above yourself, God sees it. There is a work of God in your heart that raises Him above yourself.
Therefore, for those poor sinners who are much afflicted under the burden of their sins, let them strive to focus on God, looking to Christ as the Mediator between God and them, to bring God and their souls together. Aim at this, and you need not trouble yourself further with answering the temptation that says, "I come to Christ only so that I might be saved." I do not know anywhere in the entire Word of God
(and I give you this one note on the matter before moving on from this point) where it is presented as a mark of a hypocrite that they