Christ Jesus came down to this earth from heaven, not for glory but for humble service including descension, humiliation, suffering, and death. 

Third, who is invited by Jesus? Who is it that is invited by Jesus to come to Him? “All ye that labor and are heavy laden,” is His own reply. The Jews before Him were laboring and heavy laden in two ways. They were living under a system of burdensome rites and ceremonies, made still more grievous by the manifold additions of men. But Jesus saw them groaning under the more intolerable burden of sin and suffering, and He longed to set them free. He presented them with a yoke that was easy, and a burden that was light (Matthew 11:28-30). This is, no doubt, a general invitation; but we believe none will avail themselves of it until they begin to feel sin to be a burden. Are you pricked in your heart, and ready to cry out, with Jerusalem sinners, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” The Savior speaks specially to you. Are you feeling that your sins are going over your head as a heavy burden; and that, on account of transgression, you are “brought down to the sides of the pit”? The Savior’s words are spoken to you. (Acts 2:37; Isaiah 14:15). 

Let us look at the words, “labor” and “heavy laden,” and see how expressive they are. The word “labor” here signifies more than mere working. The expression, “Ye that labor,” means, “Ye who have engaged in labor till you are quite spent, toil-worn, and weary.” Men sin against God with as much energy as if they were working for their daily bread. They weary themselves to commit iniquity. They toil in the service of sin as if they thought its wages would be life not death. Are you a toil-worn sinner? Are you feeling exhausted and burdened under the load of your transgressions? Then you will also know what it is to be “heavy laden.” The original reference of “heavy laden” is to the lading of a ship the more it takes in, the deeper it sinks. This represents the condition of an awakened sinner. He has been lading himself with sin, and he has gone on so long, that he feels he dare not take in anymore. His case may be more truly represented by Peter, when, walking on the water to come to Christ, he began to sink, and cried out, “Lord, save me, I perish” (Mat 14:30). If you are sensible of your sins, you will feel yourself to be sinking down to deserved perdition by your own weight. How alarming such a position!

Sinners, in their natural condition, are working at a dreadful task. With hard and impenitent hearts they are daily treasuring up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, Who will render to every man according to his deeds. How awful the occupation! How dangerous the treasure! How miserable the doom! Many toil hard in treasuring up wrath, but never reflect that in the day of wrath they must receive their own fearful accumulation. But some become alarmed at their terrible employment, and tremble. The Holy Spirit takes up the accumulated mass, and for a season lays it upon them, and under its crushing weight they feel as if sinking in a sea of wrath, and are ready to cry out, “Lord, save us, we perish!”

Dear friend, has the Holy Spirit taken up the burden of your guilt and laid it upon you? Ah, then, you will know truly what it is to be “heavy laden!” Thank God for the most awful convictions He may send you of your guilty and lost condition. It is better to bear the torment of a burdened conscience for a little season in time, than in the world to come eternally. If you are in anxiety about your salvation, if you are truly brought low by the Spirit of God, and made to cry, “God be merciful to me a sinner!” (Luke 18:13), then will you enter into the spirit of such passages as these: “Mine iniquities are gone over mine head as an heavy burden: they are too heavy for me. I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs of my head: therefore, my heart fails me” (Psalm 38:4, 6; 40:12). 

How distressing is such a state! But it is very hopeful. Christ was anointed and sent forth to preach the gospel to the poor, and heal the brokenhearted. Is your conscience burdened and disquieted? Then consider, for your relief and comfort, the invitation here given: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Fourth, the invitation: 1) The invitation is gracious. And the first thing I wish you to notice about this invitation of Jesus is its graciousness. It is out of love and mercy that He thus invites lost sinners. Grace brought Him into our world, and out of grace He went about doing good. How His heart must have been moved with compassion when He looked upon the multitude and saw that they were as sheep that have no shepherd! It was out of real mercy that He went about their towns and villages teaching and preaching the gospel of salvation. It was in the hearing of the unbelieving and impenitent from Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, that He uttered this invitation! His grace would embrace the very men who had often despised and rejected Him, although among them He had done most of His mighty works! And how gracious this invitation as now given to us! He is “full of grace and truth.” He has the same compassion now that He had then; and His grace is flowing as fully in the channel of His Word as when He was made flesh and dwelt among us. Is it not a most gracious call the Savior gives you? You are unworthy of His regard - you are yourself thoroughly worthless - and yet He calls you! And He is first in this. You were not seeking Him, but He is seeking you. “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” How gracious! “Come unto me, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:21-23; John 1:14; Luke 19:10). 

2) The invitation is unselfish. The second thing I wish you to notice here is the unselfishness of this invitation. He has no sordid end in calling you. He means your good alone by it. You have only to consider what Jesus has done, to see how self-sacrificing is His love. When He makes proposals to receive and bless you, a lost sinner, you may rest assured that it is from the purest love. Think of Gethsemane and Calvary, and you will perceive how unselfish He is in saving sinners. A selfish character is generally disliked, and shunned, while an unselfish one is all but universally approved of and respected. What man could hear, without approval, of the self-sacrificing labors of the philanthropist Howard, who did so much for the improvement of the condition of prison inmates and the reformation of prisons? And what woman, acquainted with the circumstances, does not feel as if her sex were ennobled by the labors of Mrs. Fry among the wretched women confined as inmates in Newgate? But that man and that woman were but imitators of the Divine Philanthropist, Jesus Christ. They followed Him at an infinite distance.

“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (Philippians 2:5-11). To save enemies, He took upon Him the form of a servant, humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross! Think of the unselfish love of Emmanuel, when He calls you to come to Him for salvation, and remain unmoved if you can!

More Lively Hope

© Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church
14 Bedford Square, Colonel Light Gardens, South Australia 5041