I suspect that there are many here this morning who already know this morning's passage by heart. I'd even bet that some of you could preach from it better than I could. It has been a resource of comfort and encouragement to many of us at many different times; and many of us know it not just by memory, but also have it written in our hearts by personal experience.

It's a passage that I preached from not long ago. I preached it then, because it had been a strong source of encouragement to me at that time. And I warned you, when I preached from it before, that I just might preach from it again-since it was coming up in our study of Matthew's Gospel. And so, we now come to it once more. I don't apologize for returning to it. I don't think we can ever hear from these words enough. In them, our Lord gives us the greatest invitation that we could ever hear.

Jesus said,

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28- 30).

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These words are so comforting and encouraging that it's hard to imagine that they were spoken in the context of a strong rebuke. But they were. Jesus had just strongly rebuked the Jewish people for having rejected Him.

Our Lord had presented Himself to the Jewish people as their long-awaited King. There was no excuse for not having received Him. Before Jesus was born, for example, an angel announced to His mother that “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David” (Luke 1:31-32). A child was conceived in the womb of a virgin—just as the Old Testament scriptures had promised (Isaiah 7:14); and His conception was announced with the angelic promise that He would be born King of the Jews. And then, not long after His birth, wise men from the lands of the east came to Jerusalem saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him” (Matthew 2:2). Such news as this couldn't be hidden. Everyone knew that the King had been born! There would have been no excuse for not receiving Him and welcoming Him!

And as Jesus grew into adulthood, and when the time was right, God sent John the Baptist to announce Him even further to the Jewish people. John proclaimed the message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). Everyone in Jerusalem, and in the surrounding areas of Judea, and in the regions all around the Jordan River, came and heard John's message. And when Jesus Himself came to be public ally baptized by John in the Jordan, even God the Father Himself confirmed His identity. He opening up the heavens, sent the Holy Spirit to descend upon Him in the sight of all, and announced, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 4:16-17). Who could have missed it?

What's more, Jesus began to show Himself to them unmistakably as their King. He Himself took up the message of John; preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). He preached the greatest open-air sermon ever preached-the Sermon on The Mount; in which He set forth the principles of His Kingdom (Matthew 5-7). It was a very public event; and we're told that “the people were astonished at His teaching” (Matthew 7:28). And then, as if that wasn't enough, He then public ally authenticated His message by performing one miracle after another-ten events in all, as they are recorded for us in Matthew's Gospel.¹

The Bible gives us clear indication that people were aware enough of Him to respond rightly to His call. We're told such things as, “the multitudes . . . marveled and glorified God who had given such power to men” (9:8); or that “the report of this went out into all that land (:26); or that “they spread the news about Him in all that country” (9:31); or that they said, “It was never seen like this in Israel!” (9:33). And even after all that, He followed it all up by giving the power to His twelve disciples, and sending them throughout the land to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to proclaim, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 11:6-7).

Matthew makes it abundantly clear in his Gospel that Jesus had been presented as the promised King of the Jews; and God the Father in heaven had sufficiently authenticated Him to the Jewish people. Clearly, the promised kingdom was at hand, and the King had come. There was no excuse for not knowing this. There was nothing to do but to receive Him and believe on Him.

And yet, the rulers and the religious leaders did not receive Him. They would not repent of their self-sufficiency so as to prepare themselves for faith in Him. They still trusted in their own righteousness. They held an attitude of heart toward Him that would later grow and exhibit itself as they mocked Him in His suffering; saying, “If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him” (Matthew 27:42).

What a lost opportunity! What a tragedy! “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). And so, the time finally came that He spoke the strong words of rebuke that we have been studying over the past few weeks:

Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the 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 to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.”

At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Matthew 11:20-27).

And it's in that context that Jesus speaks these words. He first came to those to whom He had been promised. But He now turns from the leaders of the Jewish people who rejected Him, and offers the invitation to all people who will receive Him: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

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There's a reason why I'm going to such lengths to explain the context of these familiar words of our Savior. And it's precisely BECAUSE they is so familiar to us. We are in danger of responding to this great invitation with the same sort of indifference that characterized those early Jewish leaders.

You and I have heard all these things about Jesus. But what have we done with Him in response? The truth of who He is and what He has done has been presented to us in a way that is far more clear than it was to the people of those days. We have it all written down and recorded in and orderly account. But how have we responded to what we have been told? Have we really “come” to Him?

We may think that we have “come” to Him because-at a point in time-we have believed in what the Bible says about Him. We have placed an “intelligent” faith in Him in the “long ago'; and we still hold to that faith today. But His invitation is not to have a mere “intelligent” faith. He doesn't just say to us, “Believe in truths about Me.” His invitation is one that concerns the will. His invitation is personal. He says, “Come to Me.”

Have you truly 'come' to Him in that sense? Have you come, not to doctrine about Him, but to Him? Have you come to Him in deep need-as someone who labors and is heavy laden under the burden of your own helplessness before Him? Have you only come to Him “once-upon-a-time”; or do come in such a way as to abide in Him continually? Do you come to take His yoke upon yourself and become His obedient servant? Do you submit yourself to Him as a habit of life? To you come to “learn” from Him?

Let me offer you a little test-directly from His own words-to prove whether or not you have truly come to Him as you should. Having come, do you now have “rest”-not just rest for your body, but rest for your soul? Do you now find that the “yoke” you bear, on the whole, is “easy”? Is the “burden” you bear, on the whole, “light”?

Perhaps it was easy and light at one time, but it isn't now. Or perhaps you find, upon self-examination, it never truly was. Perhaps you have never had rest for your soul. If that's your situation-and you know it is the case; and you long with all your being for it to change, then this wonderful, most blessed of all invitations from the Lord Jesus is for you. Satisfying rest for the soul can be yours if you will truly “come” to Him. Hear His words again:

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Look carefully and you'll see three things in these words: (1) a saving invitation, (2) a sanctifying command, and (3) a satisfying promise. First, then, note that they give us . . .

1. A SAVING INVITATION (v. 28).

Our Lord says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Note who this invitation is for. It's for all those who “labor and are heavy laden”. I believe this is meant-first and foremost-for those who labor and are heavy laden under the horrible burden of trying to earn God's righteousness by works of the law.

There was a man who came to Jesus once under such a burden. He was a prominent man-a wealthy ruler. He was, in this world's eyes, a righteous man who lived in strict conformity to the law of Moses. But he knew something was missing. He was not satisfied inwardly, and he had no rest for his soul. He came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16). He knew that, whatever else he had, he did not have eternal life.

Jesus told the man, “. . . [I]f you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” And when the man—in desperation, I believe—asked, “Which ones?”, Jesus said, “'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'” (vv. 18-19). Jesus told him what he already believed-that if he kept the commandments of God, he would earn eternal life. And yet, the man knew that he did not have it. He told Jesus-and I can almost hear the anguish in his voice-“All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” (v. 20). Oh, how weary of labor and heavy-laden any poor soul is who tries to make themselves perfect before God through the law!

What's fascinating is that Jesus then adds to his labor and burden even further. “If you want to be perfect,” He said, “go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me” (v. 21) And with that, the young man went away sorrowful, “for He had great possessions” (v. 22). If this man wished to know what “good thing” he must do that he may have eternal life-what high price he must pay for such a precious treasure-then Jesus allowed him to realize what an impossibly wearisome and heavy burden it was that he must bear.

I think here of what Jesus said about the scribes and Pharisees. They taught a righteousness before God on the basis of obedience and conformity to the law of Moses. Jesus said that “they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders” (Matthew 23:4). It was an impossible burden to bear; because, as the Bible tells us, “by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified” (Galatians 2:16).

And yet, here's Jesus' wonderful invitation: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” “For”, as Paul writes, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4). This is Jesus' wonderful invitation to all men and women who labor under the impossible task of trying to earn God's favor, and earn eternal life for themselves through their obedience to the works of the law. Jesus invites such a man or woman to come to Him and find rest! For those who take Him up on His offer, the work is already done; “knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ” (Gal. 2:16).

* * * * * * * * * * *

Not only is this a promise for those who have worked hard to try to earn God's favor; but it's also for those who know that they have failed miserably, and who feel the horrible burden of guilt and shame. King David spoke of this in Psalm 38. He said,

There is no soundness in my flesh Because of Your anger, Nor any health in my bones Because of my sin. For my iniquities have gone over my head; Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me (Psalm 38:3-4).

Here, what comes to my mind is the picture of the poor man in John Bunyan's classic Pilgrim's Progress. The man in that story read the book of God's word; and when he did, he encountered the guilt of his sin. And as a result, a horrible “great burden” was found to be upon his back.

That burden was the heavy weight of the condemnation of God's judgment for that poor man's sin; and it only fell off when—at long last-he himself fell before the cross of Jesus! Jesus Himself bore the guilt of our sin on His own sinless Person; and personally paid the full price for the guilt of our sin. And now, the promise of God is, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).

And so, for every man or woman who has ever felt the horrible guilt of sin-a guilt that no amount of good deeds would ever undo or erase-we have a wonderful invitation from Jesus: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

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But there's more. I believe that this wonderful invitation is also good news for those of us who labor and are heavy laden under the everyday trials of life! Paul said, “For we who are in this tent [that is, in this body of flesh] groan, being burdened” (2 Cor. 5:4).

We are burdened every day by trials and temptations. We are burdened by weaknesses of the flesh. We suffer times of sickness, or pain. We are burdened by circumstances that come upon us and that are outside of our control. We're burdened by cares, and sorrows, and disappointments, and frustrations. And what's more, we often suffer the attacks of our enemy the devil. Just think of how much we labor and are burdened by the troubles and trials of life!

Jesus knows about all of it. And He invites us to find relief by coming to Him and casting all our cares upon Himself. He wonderfully cares for us. We're told, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

Jesus' promise applies to the everyday trials of life as much as to the profound matter of righteousness before God: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

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Notice to whom the promise is made: to “all” who labor and are heavy laden. It doesn't matter who they are. It doesn't matter if they are Jew or Gentile. It doesn't matter if they are the world's most outwardly moral Pharisee or the world's most despicable sinner. Jesus extends this invitation to “all”.

And above all else, notice what it is an invitation to do: to come to Him! “Come to Me”, He says. Don't come to the law. Don't come to “religion”. Come to a wonderful, divine Person! Come to Jesus. Come to the Son of God who has said, “All thing have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” He is the Person to go to. Come to Him. Come to Him directly and personally. He invites you. He welcomes you.

Can you think of a more wonderful, more satisfying invitation than this? Have you truly taken Him up on it?

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Next, please notice that there's not only a 'saving invitation' in these words; but there's also . . .

2. A SANCTIFYING COMMAND (v. 29a).

The next words Jesus gives are in the form of a command. Did you notice that His invitation is an invitation to come to Him and obey a command. He says, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me . . .”; and in the original language, those words are spoken in the form of a command to be obeyed. And I suggest that we see this as a “sanctifying” command; because it's one in which we grow closer to Jesus and are made to be more like Him as we obey it.

First, Jesus commands those who come to Him to take up His “yoke”. We aren't as familiar with what a yoke is in our culture as those were who lived in Jesus' times. A yoke was a large wooden crossbar that was carefully carved to fit over the necks of beasts of burden-like oxen. They were made to hold two animals together, bound by leather straps, so that the animals could be made to carry a burden together or do some kind of work together. It was an instrument that curbed the will of the animal and bought it under the master's control.

And there's a couple of interesting things to notice about this. The word “yoke” was sometimes used in Jesus' day as a figure of speech. Sometimes, the word was used to symbolize a heavy burden. The Bible uses it as a figure of speech for the heavy burden of the law of Moses. We see this, for example, in Acts 15:10; where the apostles insisted that it was wrong to place the burden of the law of Moses on to the new Gentile believers. They said to those who sought to do so, “[W]hy do you test the God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” The apostle Paul felt strongly about this. He wrote about it to the Galatian believers. They were seeking to return to the law of Moses as a means of making themselves more righteous in the sight of God; and Paul urged them not to place themselves under that old burden again; saying, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1).

Sometimes, the word “yoke” was used as a symbol of being under submission to someone else-of being in a state of servitude under the authority of a master. Paul wrote to Timothy and instructed Him to teach servants to honor their master's authority; saying, “Let as many bondservants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor . . .” (1 Timothy 6:1).

So what is Jesus commanding us to do when He invites us to take up His yoke? First of all, He is inviting those who are weary and heavy laden under the unbearable burden of the law to put off one yoke and take up another. He is inviting them to come out from under the burden of trying to find righteousness before God on the basis of their performance in the law, and to take up another yoke which is easier and a burden which is lighter.

Jesus does not invite us to come to Him in order to be “yoke-less”. We come under a yoke when we come to Him. And make no mistake: it's a demanding yoke indeed! In Matthew 10:38, He said, “And he who does not take up his cross [that is, an instrument of our dying to self] and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” The yoke that our Lord places us under is one that demands our all! But nevertheless, it is a yoke that is far easier and lighter than any we could place ourselves under. There is no more freeing place to be than under His service.

When we take up Jesus' yoke, we are trading away an old burden-that is, the burden of the law-that meant our death before God. We could never keep it or find favor with God through it. It would only condemn us and bring us under a curse-“Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them” (Gal. 3:10). Instead, when we come to Jesus, we take up a burden that gives us life. We enter into a relationship with One who kept the law perfectly on our behalf; and now, we walk in life when we walk in union with Him through the Holy Spirit.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has made us free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:2-3).

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And a second thing that Jesus is calling us to do when we take up His yoke is to deliberately let ourselves become instructed by Him. In the days of Jesus, to come under the direct teaching and instruction of particular Rabbis was often referred to as 'taking up their yoke'. It meant, 'to become one of their students'. And Jesus is here commanding us to become His student-His disciple.

Jesus here says that we are not only to take up His yoke, but also “and learn from Me . . .” The Greek word that is used (apo) can either mean to learn “from” Him-in the sense that He is our divine Teacher; or to learn “of” Him-in the sense that He is the divine subject. I believe both are true. When we come to Him, we learn from Him and of Him. He is both the reason we learn and the lesson we are taught.

Jesus, in His great commission, commanded us to go into all the world and make disciples; “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you . . .” And there's the subject-we learn what He commands us. But then He added, “. . . and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). And there's our Teacher-Jesus Himself, the very one whose commands we are to be taught to obey.

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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; when we accept Jesus' wonderful invitation, we come to obey a command. We come to put on a yoke. But what a blessed yoke it is! It's a yoke that is nothing less than a relationship with the wonderful Savior Himself.

He puts us to work as His followers; but it's a work that is a delight to do because of what a wonderful Savior He is. He has done all that is necessary for us to be in the favor of His Father. He has purchased our pardon at His cross, and earned our righteousness by His own obedience. And now, we live holy lives in His service-not to earn God's favor, but because we are already in God's favor. And we enter into a lifetime of learning from Him and of Him as His disciples. There is no more satisfying and fulfilling place to be than under His yoke.

Have you truly come to Him in that sense? In coming to Him, have you truly taken up His yoke and learned of Him? If so, than He tells us in these words of . . .

3. A SATISFYING PROMISE (vv. 29b-30).

He says to take up His yoke and learn from Him; “for I am gentle and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

First, we have a promise about Himself. We will always find Him to be a Master and Teacher who is not like the heavy taskmasters and burdensome teachers of the law. Jesus said that “they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men”s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers” (Matthew 23:4). He said to them, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in” (v. 13). There's no grace to be found in them.

Instead, Jesus lets us know that He is “gentle” or “meek”. He is not harsh or rough on those who come under His yoke. He doesn't beat His servants. He loves them, and is good to them, and is kind to them. This speaks of His manner toward us.

And He also lets us know that He is “lowly” or “humble” of heart. Now, understand: He Himself is never “lowly” or “humble” in His being. Far from it! He is the King of kings and Lord of lords-terrible in His majesty and fearful in His wrath! But to those who come to Him weary and heavy laden, He is “lowly of heart”. This speaks of His approachability.

What a wonderful Master and Teacher He is. We need never fear to take Him up on His great invitation. We can come to Him and draw as close to Him just as we are. We can draw as close to Him as we are willing to draw. He will always welcome us and love us. He will never give us more than we can bear; but will always strengthen us and enable us to bear the burden He places upon us.

* * * * * * * * * * *

That's the satisfying promise He gives us about Himself. And then, notice the satisfying promise He gives us concerning His command. He tells us that, in taking it up, we will find “rest for our souls”.

I wonder if you have ever been tired down to your very soul. It's not like weariness of the body or of the mind. It's not the kind of weariness that can be relieved by merely getting a good night's sleep, or by taking a vacation. It's a weariness that is down to the deepest level of your being. It's a weariness from which you cannot relieve yourself. It's a feeling of being consistently out of place-consistently a square peg in a round hole.

Well; Jesus makes a promise about those who truly come to Him and take up His yoke and bear His burden. They discover-much to their delight-that it gives them rest at the most deepest level of their being. They find “rest” for the soul.

I was told the other day about a man who used to repair shoes in our community. He was a man who began repairing shoes when he was just a little boy. When a pair of shoes was brought to him for repair, he would hold them, and rub them, and examine them, and almost love them. He would be able to look at the customer and say, “These are good shoes. These are fine shoes.” He knew shoes well; and it was almost said that he could “heal” a damaged shoe (no pun intended).

I was told that he once exclaimed, “If I couldn't heal shoes, I don't think I could live.” It was something that he loved to do so much-and was so wonderfully good at-that it was his very life. He loved to get up each work-day and go to work in his shop. He found “rest” in his labors because it was what he was meant to do.

In the same way, I believe that Jesus lets us know that those who take up His yoke and bear His burden will find “rest for their soul”-not because they cease from doing anything, but because they begin to do the right things. They will be-at last-where they were meant to be; because He made them for Himself and knows exactly what they need to be doing.

* * * * * * * * * * *

And finally, He assures us of the nature of the burden He places upon us. He tells us that His yoke is “easy”; and that means “well-fitted” or “agreeable” to us.

The Bible commentator William Barclay writes that when an ox was brought to a craftsman, it was first measured for the yoke. And then, the yoke was roughed out and the ox brought back to try it on. Then, the yoke was adjusted and shaped again, so that it would fit “easily” or “agreeably” to that animal-so that it wouldn't hurt the animal to wear it.² And Jesus does the same for us. He knows us well; and will not place a yoke of service upon us that is not “easy” or “agreeable” to the way He has made us. He tailor-makes His yoke for those who come to Him.

And second, note that His burden is “light”. It is not something that we cannot carry. It's not something that will crush us or destroy us. It's something that He Himself gives us the strength to bear.

We cannot bear it in our own power. But we are not meant to bear it in our own power. Paul writes, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Eph. 3:20). He writes, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). His burden is light; because it is He who gives it to us, and He who indwells us and empowers us to bear it.

* * * * * * * * * *

So; have you come to Jesus? Have you taken Him up on His invitation? Have you truly come to Him?

There's one way to know for sure; and that is, if you now experience a prevailing spirit of rest—down to the very core of your being:

¹The ten events, as recorded by Matthew, are the cleansing of the leper (8:1-4); the healing of the centurion's servant (8:5-13); the healing of Peter's mother-in-law (8:14-15); the healing of the many brought to Him at Peter's house (8:16-17); the calming of the storm (8:23-27); the healing of the demoniacs of the Gergesenes (8:28-34); the healing of the paralytic (9:1-8); the healing of the woman with the issue of blood and the raising of the daughter of the synagogue ruler (9:18-26); the healing of the two blind men (9:27-31); and the healing of the deaf and mute man (9:32-34).

²William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2, p. 17.

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