Matthew 11:28-29  " Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls."

THE BEGINNING AND THE END OF ALL BIBLE STUDY

Lesson Two

HOW PEOPLE CAN BE SAID TO COME TO CHRIST AND TO BE SERVING HIM ALTHOUGH THEY "WILL NOT" TO COME TO HIM OF THEMSELVES

The action of God to recover humans from their utterly rebellious state and to bring them into friendship with Himself involves a spiritual process conceived, launched, and finished by Him. This is the truth about God's plan of salvation that makes many people angry because it reveals that the Lord has not consulted with humans about how this action will be accomplished.   He also has not left part of this action to some internal, unassisted response by the human who is to be the recipient of it. God knew from the beginning that, left to themselves, humans would never of their own volitionThe act of willing; exercise of the will   seek Him for salvation.  But, because He intended to rescue a people for His name He took the initiative and implemented a way for this to occur.  First, every sin that was ever performed in all of creation had to be punished because the justice of God demands it.  If someone could become sin for peopleII Cor. 5:21 For he hath made him (Jesus Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.  , then God would not require that sinners pay for their own sins.  Jesus Christ agreed to give Himself as the sin offering for His people (Hebrews 10:5-7, 10)Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.... By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. , that the justice of God might be satisfied and that they might be able to possess the righteousness necessary to stand before God without sin.  

To make the work of Christ effective upon the soul of a human, God knew that He would need to alter the will of those whom He purposed to save.  To do this, there had to be divine power exercised over the will Psalms 110:3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.  of His subjects.  This power is exercised  by the Holy Spirit to produce a new birth John 3:7-8 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.  in the individual to whom He comes.  The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ becomes meaningful to such a person because he/she has the new spiritual nature which can comprehend the sin of unbelief, the consequences of it, the reality that Christ died for him/her, and the amazing grace manifested in this reality (I Corinthians 2:12) Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. .  Thus, those so touched by the Holy Spirit experience repentance the Greek word is “metanoia”; sorrow or regret for what has been done or left undone by oneself; especially sorrow and contrition for sin; such sorrow for the past as leads to amendment ofones ways; penitence; contrition; synonymous with compunction which is literally, a pricking stimulation. toward God and faith in Christ resulting in salvation (II Corinthians 7:10) For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. . Once set free from sin's bondage by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit and faith in Christ, we willingly come to Him and have desire in our hearts to follow Him (Philippians 3:10).That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

Believers then, have come to Jesus Christ and trusted Him to take care of their sins.  If this is true then, how does the invitation in our text apply to them?  Why should they need an additional invitation once they have found salvation?  A believer who has faced the world as a new creature for only a short time will have learned that this invitation not only fits his case, but will also have learned that children of God have a very special need for this kind of access to Christ.  He says, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." to His people because we may be distracted or overcome by worldly cares and burdens.  Living in a world in which we are surrounded by things which try men's souls we are in jeopardy of being swallowed up with too many trials or cares.   We have special spiritual needs not found in earthly things.  We are targets for Satan's devices.  We may be targets for merciless or cruel unbelievers who think it is quite amusing to make fun of or belittle us.  All these things cause us to need the rest promised to us by our Savior.  If we use it, we grow to trust Him more and more.  

We also need the invitation to come to the Lord Jesus Christ because believers are tempted to look in other places for relief in times when they are overburdened.  We live in a carnal body in a carnal world where many other kinds of resources and solutions abound.  In our society, these resources are sometimes easy to get, and man-made fixes for an overburdened life appeal to the flesh and may provide what appears to be reasonable solutions that seem like good ones on the surface.  In addition, these fixes are so easily seized on by us that we are often tempted to use those that are perfectly legitimate and acceptable without consulting the Lord before we use them.  It may be perfectly proper to see a doctor when we are ill Matthew 9:12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick, but the real question is whether or not we have consulted the great Physician as part of making plans to do so.  

An instance in this modern time where believers are tempted to find relief  without divine guidance is in regard to finances. Making a living may be dragging us down and we may be looking all around for something to help us meet those monthly bills.  There are dozens of ways to seek rest from nagging debt, but no way is appropriate for a child of God until he has consulted with the Master who owns the cattle on a thousand hillsPsalms 50:10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.  and owns the thousand hills in addition. Our Lord owns all the money on the earth, and His eyes are upon the righteousPsalms 34:15 The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.  to help them in time of need Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. . So, let us remember to talk to Him about our financial plans.  Moreover, when we talk to Him about these things, let's remember that He is a far better financial planner than we.  It may be that you are in a financial difficulty right now because you failed to speak to Him before you took past action in regard to money matters.  In this materialistic age it seems to almost be a status symbol to be in debt beyond our means.

This materialism is the poison of the age and is born of too great a focus on earthly things.  The magnitude of this obsession with earthly possessions and comforts has reached a pace that the world has never known before.  Well-meaning, people are buying things they want, and too often I fear they are not consulting the Great Counselor, Jesus Christ about these purchase decisions.  The end result is disastrous for many, and if unwise spending is practiced by God's people, it is simply because they did not seek counsel from the Lord.  The result from this may be as damaging as for those who do not care about the Lord's things and would not consult Him if they were encouraged to do so.  In 2005, there were 1.64 million bankruptcies filed in the U.S. Perhaps many of these were professed believers. It is tragic that such an end could be avoided by seeking the wisdom of God about the use of money.  Our Father has provided things on this earth for our use and even our comfort, but to pursue money and the things of luxury and gain in a spirit of materialism is to embrace sorrow (I Timothy 6:10).For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.  So, as children of God, let us remember that solutions for our unrest lie in coming to Christ.  He will give us the rest we need Matthew 11:28-29 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. and hunger for if we will only look in the right direction (Matthew 6:33)But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. and heed the guidance of Him who holds the key to rest.  

There is yet another reason why the Lord's people need the invitation from Christ, "come unto me...."  That is, believers have a difficult time fully understanding, appreciating, and embracing the truth about the empathyaffection, passion; in feeling; the projection of one’s own personality into the personality of another in order to understand him better; intellectual identification of oneself with another of Christ for His people. We are worms, and this is our Great God and the Lord Jesus Christ bidding us to come!  We can hardly comprehend that the exalted God would make such a gracious offer to one so despicable!  This kind of thinking causes our belief to be corrupted.  We just can't get our arms around the idea of Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory being so concerned with our laboring along under a load of care that He is freely holding out a promise that we may simply reach for and possess.  How many times have we as the Lord's people failed in our full understanding of the incomparable ability of our Savior to empathize with our condition?  How hard it is in our human frame to understand fully what is meant when scripture tells us that He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows Isaiah 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. .  How difficult it is to seize on the wonderful truth that every pain of life, every agony of cruel experience, every sorrow of loss, and every physical  or mental wounding we will ever endure He has an intimate, personal awareness of!  He has felt the tiredness, the defeat, the despair of soul that tries to overwhelm us (Hebrews 4:15) For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. , and not just that which a single human might feel. Rather, He has felt all of these for all His people in one life and death experience! But, He has risen up in the power of His might and smothered them all with the victory of His resurrection!  His vesture is dipped in blood Revelation 19:13 And he (Christ) was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. , but that vesturethe Greek word is “himation”; a garment; a robe; a vestment; apparel.  has a name on it "KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS ," (Revelation 19:16) And he (Christ) hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. because He has overcome all the forces of the world for us. He stands and says "come unto me...." because He knows our frame that it is but dust and He knows that we must have respite.A temporary period of relief or rest, as from pain, work, duty, etc.; interval of rest.  He says "come unto me...." because He knows that He can provide the rest we need.   He is our great High Priest Hebrews 4:14 - Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. in heaven, with power to give us all things Romans 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? .  Rest is assured if we only come to His throne of grace boldly to find mercy and grace to help in time of need.   In Lesson Three we will  look in more detail at the invitation from Christ to go even further in our relationship with Him after we have come to Him.