Isn't it great to get an invitation to an event that says, just bring yourself and come as you are, no formal attire. No gift required, just show up and enjoy.
Well, today on Truth for Life, Alastair Begg examines Jesus' gracious invitation and explains why we can and must Come to him. and trust in him.
Well, let's just read twenty-eight to thirty of Matthew eleven. Jesus says, Come to me. All who labour 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 in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy. And my burden is light.
So we come now for the third time to what is referred to this little passage as comfortable words in the prayer book. This is, of course, familiar territory. It is as well known as many a passage in the Bible. It is clear. It is unmistakable.
It is universal in its appeal. and it is clearly personal in its application. Let me ask you a question. Do you think you need to clean yourself up in order to come to God? Do you think you could ever clean yourself up enough?
How clean would you need to be? to meet a holy God. Entirely clean. Then on what basis could you possibly come? And yet he says, Come, Because in his voice of coming there is enabling.
His voice sounding out stirs in the hearts. of those who are weary. And laden down and burdened, whatever it might be. And the call is not, as we've said, to a philosophy. It's not to a program.
It's not your religious expression. It's just to a person. I heard the voice of Jesus say, Come unto me and rest. And I came to him. That is Christian testimony.
That's the testimony. It's not I heard the voice of Jesus saying I went to church. That's fine. I heard the voice of Jesus say and I thought I should clean up my act. Fair enough.
No. I heard the voice of Jesus say, Come unto me and rest. And I did. I heard the voice of Jesus say, I am this dark world's light. And I stepped out of my darkness and into his light.
I heard him say, I'm the living water, and I drank of it. That is the testimony of genuine believing Christianity. And that is the call that sounds out from Jesus in this invitation. That's why, as a church, we're committed to one another, to saying we want to see unbelieving people. become the committed followers of Jesus Christ.
And that starts. With this invitation. Oh, very well, you say, I hear you, I hear the urgency in your voice, and so on. But I'm not sure. I have a couple of questions.
My first question is this: Who is he? Who is this person who issues this call?
Well, of course the answer is it's Jesus. But who is he? That's the question that you find on the lips of Saul of Tarsus, remember. Recorded for us in Acts 9. And if you were doing the McShane readings this morning, rehearsed once again in Acts chapter 22, where Paul gives his testimony.
And he describes how he had warrants in his baggage as he heads towards Damascus in order that he might find these crazy followers of Jesus and disavow them. Of this notion that they are presenting to the world that Jesus is none other than the Messiah of God. As an Orthodox Jew, he is done with that notion. His monotheism is such that he cannot wrap his head around it. And then what happens to him?
He heard the voice of Jesus. Saying, Saul, Saul, Why are you persecuting me? And you can read the story for yourself. It's so wonderful. Remember what his answer is when he is confronted by this bright shining light?
He says Who are you? Lord Who are you?
Now you may be still asking that question. It's not only in the lips of Paul, but here actually in Matthew chapter 11, you find that this was the exact same thing that John the Baptist was wrestling with. But at the beginning of Matthew 11, if your Bible is open, you can check and see if it's there. When John heard in prison, verse 2, about the deeds of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, Are you the one who was to come? Or should we be looking for someone else?
Who are you? What was the problem?
Well, John couldn't understand how he could be in prison if the Messiah was establishing his kingdom. The two things didn't fit. I mean, if he's come to bring freedom and everything, how in the world did I get stuck in here? And so he finds himself In a very honest way. saying the same thing.
I must be sure who Jesus is.
Now, somebody will immediately say, Well, of course, I'm not John the Baptist, I never met him, and I'm certainly not Saul of Tarsus, I haven't had a blinding light or anything like that. No, no, those things are unique to the circumstance. But The individual reality of coming to Jesus contains the same elements. When you go back and read in Acts chapter 9, Luke tells us that something like scales. fell from the eyes of Saul of Tarsus.
It's a picture, it's a metaphor, something like scales. He couldn't see, and then he could see. And then he arose and he was baptized. See, he heard the come. And then he understood, take my yoke.
The obligation to follow Jesus in discipleship. And so he was baptized. And then he proceeds through life. to learn about Jesus. That's what's happening.
When we study the Bible on our own, When we study together. But I got one other one. Surprising, and we mention it from time to time as it is, it's there in the scriptures. Do you think that you could have lived in the company of Jesus for virtually three years? And Still not being as far forward as Philip was himself.
John chapter fourteen. John chapter 14. We can't read it all. It's the part that begins: Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me, and so on.
And in the course of that, Jesus declares He's the way, the truth, and the life. And nobody can come to the Father except through him. Come to the Father, it said through him. And he says, you know. If you had known me, you would have known my father also.
From now on you do know him. And you have seen him. Response by Philip. Lord, Show us the Father. And it's enough for us.
I would have said to him. Give me a break, Philip. How much, I mean, how much clearer can I possibly be? I just told you. He who has seen me has seen the Father.
Sit down, Philip. That's the kind of school teacher I would be. I would be horrible, absolutely horrible. Jesus doesn't teach that way. When you learn from Jesus, you can ask dumb questions.
Jesus said to him, Have I been With you so long. And you still do not know me, Philip. You don't know who I am.
Well, let me ask you. Do you? Separated from the invitation by Unbelief. Separated from the invitation. By the fact that you are just not sure.
Separated Because it's just not clear.
Now, this is only the beginning of this address, but I need at least to say this. Come to him. involves cat. That is cat with a K. All right.
What is this cat business? K. for knowledge. Knowledge. Coming to Jesus is not irrational.
Coming to Jesus involves our minds. It involves our thinking. It involves our consideration of the material that is presented to us. We need a knowledge of what it is. that we are supposed to respond to.
That's K. A A cent. In other words, that we actually believe the things. We believe the facts to be true. And then T Trust.
Trust. Knowledge? Assent Trust. And If you are a Christian today, If you are, have come to Jesus. Then your hope does not rest on your belief.
Your hope rests. on the object of your belief. You don't have faith in faith. Do you? You have faith.
In the Lord Jesus. Oh, well, if somebody says that's fair enough, I get that. I'm tracking with you on that. But I have a second question. If that's who he is, What does he do?
What does he do? And of course, we have already pondered some of this. We notice that he promises rest to the weary and to the burdened. He delivers men and women. from futile attempts to please God by our own endeavours.
He sets men and women free from the rotten tyranny Of trying somehow or another to make sense of our existence by bowing before substitute gods. And the one who does these things, the one who issues these invitations. Hangs around with the people. that need his message. He wasn't big.
on religious clubs. In fact, you will see that he in Matthew chapter 11, still in our text. In the tenth, about the nineteenth verse, I think it is. Uh you will find it there. He is accused of being a glutton.
and a drunkard. He's He's actually Um He's a friend of strange people. Yes, strange. Strange friends. John came neither eating nor drinking, and he said he is a demon.
The Son of Man came eating and drinking. And they say, look at him. a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. The scribes and the Pharisees, of course, grumbled and complained. that Jesus moved in these circles.
But he says, of course I move in these circles. These are the people That I have come to save. It'd be very strange if I wasn't in the company of those who need me. I haven't come to call the righteous. But sinners to repentance.
Well, how wonderful is this? Because you see, it is only in Jesus, the one who issues the invitation, the one who calls us to the obligation of obedience, the one who instructs us. It's only in Jesus that the restlessness of the human heart is addressed. And the rest that he promises, of course, is not Just uh A trip? Tranquility, ease is far more significant than that.
Because he is going to go on and die on the cross. And his disciples observing that scene. and later writing in their own letters, would explain what was happening there. Peter writes that Christ died for sins, suffered for sins. Once for all, what was he doing?
While the righteous one was dying in the place of the unrighteous. That he was making it possible for sinful people to come to a holy God. But let me say this as I come to the third and final question. Only When a person is confronted by the reality of our sin, Will we acknowledge our need of a saviour. People say, well, I'm not bobbing up for the third time.
You don't really know me, Alistair. I'm actually pretty secure. Pretty secure myself. Financially. intellectually I don't really get any need of this at all.
That's what I said at the beginning. We are by nature self-reliant. Self-assertive. In fact, All the clubs and memberships that we've been able to become parties to have all been about what we've been able to do. Bring.
Believe. Understand. Contribute. And you actually find it offensive. that Jesus says.
Come. Just as you are. What can I bring? yourself. Just as I am.
without one plea, Just yourself.
Okay, last question. Who is he? What does he do? And what is he like? What is he like?
I'm supposed to learn from him. What kind of teacher is Jesus? This is the only place in all of the Gospels where we are told what Jesus is like. where he actually says Learn from me Four This is what I'm like. You can say, well, you know this person, you know what that person does, but the person says, yeah, but what is he really like?
What is she like? You know, when you get to the core of things. He doesn't have a C V A resume? A list of qualifications. No, he says I am gentle.
and lowly in heart. At the center of his being, he is the teacher par excellence. He is available. He's accessible. He's reachable.
He's understandable. And he invites us to learn from From him. In light of What he's actually like. I I think we would have to say and I flip to the other side of the equation. that the people who've been the best teachers to us are the ones who have been gentle.
Um leaders and teachers Uh Uh we tend to Take or be given. a superior place. as if somehow or another But not Jesus. He doesn't play display impatience. With the slow student?
He doesn't give an expression of intolerance to the ones who stumble. Hence his response to Philip. Hence his wonderful restoration of Peter.
Some of us, if you put it in a business situation or an education situation, whatever it might be, you say, well, this one is definitely going to have to go. I mean, he was pretty good for a while. He came across with some wonderful things. But that Threefold denial. We will have to remove you.
Mm. Why doesn't he? Because he's gentle. And he's lowly. in heart.
That is exactly who Jesus is. Think of it in terms of the upper room. Disciples His friends. The routine Um having been set aside or avoided, the feet have not been washed. Jesus takes a towel, he wraps it around himself, and he washes their feet.
What kind of Messiah is this? Who is this? What is Jesus really like? It washed Phillips. Wash Peters.
Washed. Judas. He stoops. to wash the feet. For one.
Who betrays her? You should not be at all ashamed. about telling your friends and your neighbors. And your children. about Jesus.
He is altogether Lovely. He is the fairest of ten thousand. He is the balm for the sadnesses of the human heart. He is the one who answers the peculiar longings that people can't even articulate in themselves. And he is the one.
Who, when confronted with all that is before him in the garden of Gethsemane, In the grip of the terror that is before him. reveals the fact That he didn't come to do what he wanted, he came to do The Father's will. In short order, and in no surprise, Jesus embodies the one of whom the prophets spoke. And we've touched on this before, and we can finish with this this morning. But Isaiah 42, where again, we've often talked about how Isaiah is writing under the direction of the Spirit of God.
And so he does 42. I'm sure he didn't tell his wife, he was on chapter 42. But he wrote, Behold, my servant whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations.
And what will he be like? He will not cry aloud. or lift up his voice. or make it haired in the street He will be unobtrusive. He will be such that that people have a difficult time determining who he is out of the group.
Because of what he's really like. Do you know? Jesus? He Doesn't break bruised reeds. He doesn't snuff out faintly burning wicks Because of who he is.
The invitation is to come. The obligation is in taking. The education is in learning. And in the school of Christ, to which we come in Jesus. Our curriculum is not a law book.
full of perplexities. Our curriculum is Christ himself. Exemplum Christie. Only Jesus. Pupils in the school of Christ.
Learn In the gathering of other pupils. We are here primarily this morning. to first of all hear from God. to give worship to God in our praise. It is impossible.
to come to Jesus. and not take on the yoke. and not learn in his company. Is there a uniform? Yeah.
Is there a uniform in this school? The the pupils in Christ's school all wear different things, they all look different, some wear ties, some keep their jacket on, some take their jacket off, some do this, some do that. That's not the issue, but all of them Pupils in the school of Christ. display something. of the disposition of the Lord Jesus.
who though he was in the form of God, Didn't consider that. Equality with God, something to be hung on to. But he made himself of no reputation. Taking upon him the form of a servant in giving himself up even to death on the cross. And in our broken, restless, dysfunctional world.
People need to meet. Jesus. You are writing a gospel. a chapter each day. By the deeds that you do.
and the words that you say. And men read what you write. distort it. or true.
So What is the gospel? According to you. You say, well, why are you saying that to us? No, no, I said that to the mirror earlier. You're listening to Truth for Life with Alastair Begg.
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Thanks for joining us today. There is a divine promise for all who embrace Jesus' invitation. Tomorrow, we'll find out. Just what that entails. The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life.
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