Chapter 6: The Application: Exhorting Sinners to Come to Christ, with Answers to Certain Objections.
The Lord Jesus will glory in this for all eternity. When all the poor burdened souls that He has ever eased are brought before Him and acknowledged before God and His angels, it will be said: "Oh! Here are those many thousands of souls who were under their burdens and ready to perish, and I have eased them." And there they shall rest from all their labours forever. Christ calls sinners for these reasons.
Chapter 6 The Application: Exhorting Sinners to Come to Christ, with Answers to Certain Objections.
APPLICATION.
Now, for a word of application: does Christ call for burdened souls to come to Him that they may have rest? Then those who are burdened should listen to what Christ says in this congregation this morning.
Is there any poor soul ready to perish under the weight of sin, struggling under its load? Christ calls that soul to come to Him. It would be a grievous thing for Christ to come and call out in such a congregation, and there be no one there. Nay, I cannot help but think there may be many in this congregation who will hear the call of Christ.
Christ often calls where there are none to answer. We may say in this case, as our Saviour Christ said in another: "The harvest is great, but the labourers are few." So we may say: the harvest of sin is great, but the labourers under the burden of sin are very few. Many there are
who would cast the burden of sin upon Christ, but they act as the Pharisees did, casting heavy burdens upon others, but not lifting a finger to help carry them. Likewise, many would cast the burden of sin upon Christ, but they do not feel it themselves.
Oh! Let me speak to you: What chamber or closet can testify that you have been crying out to God under this grievous burden? A beast, if it lies under a burden, will roar and cry out for help. Certainly, if your souls were pressed with the burden of sin, there would be mighty cries to God to ease you of that burden. But to most people in the world, sin is very light.
Well, know this: As Christ Himself felt sin to be a heavy burden, so one way or another, you must feel it too—either here or hereafter.
But blessed is the man or woman who feels the weight of sin while there is still time to be delivered from it, lest they be pressed under its weight forever. We read of Pharaoh, when the people of Israel asked for relief, he bid them return to their burdens. What he did unjustly, Christ might do to many righteously hereafter. When you lie on your sickbeds or deathbeds and cry for mercy, Christ may say to you, "Go to your burdens." When anything in God's Word came to press sin upon your souls, you cast it off.
Oh! It is a dangerous condition when men and women not only commit sin abundantly, but also, when any truth of God should confront their sin, they reject it. They think harshly of those truths of God that seek to bind their sins to their consciences and burden them. But it should not be so with us. If those who are burdened with their sins are the ones Christ calls to Him, we should not think harshly of the truths of God that reveal the evil of sin to us. Instead, let us join with those truths of God and labour to burden our own hearts. For you see that those who are burdened are the ones Christ
calls to Him that they might have rest. There are no other burdens we are to bring upon ourselves—rather, we should seek to avoid them
—but as for the burden of sin, we must burden our hearts with that.
We should labour to lay our sins to heart, to press them there, and to charge them upon our own spirits with all the aggravations we can.
Let us join with the work of God's Spirit. When the Spirit of God comes to lay sin upon the soul, let us join with it and say, "Lord, I am beginning to be more aware of my sins than I was before. Lord, humble me through this. Let me remain under Your hand as long as You please, only work Your good work in me."
Objection. But you may say, "We may sink under the burden of sin."
Answer. Oh, no! Those who cast off the burden of sin are the ones most likely to sink under it. Can you think that the Lord will allow such a soul to sink under the burden that burdens itself so that God might be glorified? But those who are unwilling and forced to be burdened, who never become aware of the burden of sin until all the props and comforts of the creature are taken away—those are the ones who will sink. On their sickbeds and deathbeds, then they are burdened with sin. Why? Because the props are taken away. Before, they had comforts, estates, and such things which acted as props, but now God comes and removes those props, and down they fall upon us. That is the reason why many on their deathbeds lie roaring and crying out so bitterly for their sins. Why? Because the Lord has cut away the props, and now sin lies heavy upon their hearts.
Now Christ calls: "Come to me, you who are weary and heavy laden; come to me," says Christ. Know that you are in a far better condition than when you delighted in sin. You are now on the path that God uses to bring in those He intends to bless. I remember in
the Gospel, the poor blind man cried to Christ: "Oh, Son of David, have mercy on me," and still cried. At length, Christ heard the blind man's cry and asked what it was. Now those around him went to the poor blind man and said to him, "Be of good comfort, He is calling you." He might have said, "Yes, but my eyes are still not opened."
Yet, they replied, "Be of good comfort, He is calling you."
So I say to all burdened sinners: Be of good comfort, troubled soul.
Christ calls you. He says: "Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden." He does not say, "Come to me, you who are so burdened beyond measure." No, Christ calls you to Him.
Objection. "Ah, but," you may say, "I have no ease. If I were sure that my sins were pardoned and that I would be saved, then I would have ease and comfort."
Answer. Ah, but, poor soul, be of good comfort, for you are called.
Christ does not say to you, "You are a wretched, wicked creature, depart from me, you cursed," as He will say to sinners hereafter. That might have been your condition, but you did not hear that voice from Christ today, saying, "Depart from me." Instead, today you hear this voice from Christ: "Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden." Christ is near to you; the Lord is near to the broken-hearted;
He is near to the contrite in spirit.
And know this: the longer you are under the burden of your sin, the greater the comfort that will come afterwards. Now, there is a burden of sin upon you, but there will be a weight of glory hereafter.
Scripture speaks of a "weight of glory" as well as a "weight of sin." Be willing to bear the weight of sin patiently. Say with the prophet, "I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against Him." So say you: "It is fitting that my soul should bear a burden."
Be content to wait now; do the same thing that Christ did when He
was under His burden. Mark what He did, as it is written in Hebrews 5:7: "In the days of His flesh, He offered up prayers and supplications with strong cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission."
Go your way, O soul, and enter into the presence of God. Tell Him of your burdens that you feel; make your complaint to Him with prayers, supplications, and strong cries. Tell Him, "Lord, I fear lest my soul should be pressed down to eternal death under this burden." Tell Him of your fears in this way, and it is very likely that your soul will be heard. According to this invitation, surely there is rest for you as well as for anyone. While you are crying out under your burden, for all you know—or any angel in heaven knows—your pardon may already be sealed in heaven. Therefore, do not make any desperate conclusions against your own soul, for your pardon may be sealed, and then the Lord will send a messenger to tell you of this.
Nay, I say to you that a messenger will indeed come. Behold, here in this text, the Lord Jesus Christ comes. The Angel of the Covenant cries to you, "Come, oh come, come freely! Though you have no good in you, there is enough in Me to give rest to the soul that labours under the greatest burden of sin that ever was."
I will now conclude with the same thought that I began with at the start: remember again the connection of these words with those that came before. The one who calls you to come to Him for rest is the same one who has received all things from the Father. And why has
He received them from the Father, if not for such poor souls as these?