Riff's Christian Journal

Back in the 80’s I was an Ordained Elder and, on what was known as “Laity Sunday”, I had been asked to bring the message. So I selected a topic about “Finding Rest In A Busy World” and I preached a sermon on the following verses from Matthew 11:

²⁸ Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ 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.

I felt that it was a good sermon and that it got the point across about resting in Jesus from the hustle and bustle of the busy world. In the years that followed that verse kept bothering me and I kept thinking that I was missing the true spiritual aspect of those verses. Well, the other day it came to me what I do believe is the real meaning of what Jesus was saying.

Yes, we can find rest when we bring all of our cares and woes to Him in prayer, and He will give us peace of such a nature that it will give us relief from worry in a way that allows us to rest in our trust for Him. However, there is more, a much deeper meaning that we find in these verses. The two key words at which we must look, and compare with other scripture verses, are the words “labor” and “rest”.

The word “labor” actually means to be wearied from working hard, toiling, etc. That I could understand but what was missing was working hard at what? What is it that Jesus is talking about from which we should stop working hard in doing? That is the question and it has taken me quite a long time in noticing what it is about what Jesus is talking.

Actually the thought of what it is, to which Jesus is alluding, came to me when I was reading, again for the umpteenth time, from the book of Hebrews in chapter four. First in Hebrews 4: 1 we read the following:

Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.

Then, in verse ten of chapter 4 we read this:

For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

It was at this point that I could feel I was at the very edge of seeing what it is about what Jesus is talking, and it was then that I remembered what Ephesians 2: 8, 9 says:

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast.

There it is… “not of works”… ! Do you see it? When we are saved it is not because of any works that we have done but by faith given to us with which to believe. In other words, we cease or “rest” from our works, or from trying to earn salvation and just trust in Jesus for having done for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

In the salvation of anyone we are to rest from working at being saved and just trust in Jesus for saving us and, in doing so, we will find rest for our souls. We have this promise of entering into His rest just by “resting” from laboring or toiling at our works in trying to be saved. As in Hebrews 4: 10, when we are saved it is because we have “ceased from our works” and just enter into the rest given by Jesus.

By resting from our works of righteousness, that we thought we could do, and trusting instead in the works of Jesus, we will find that by entering into His rest we will find rest for our souls in our salvation.

In short, just stop trying to earn salvation by your works, instead rest by faith in the finished works of Jesus, and you will find true rest for your souls.

Resting is as simple as admitting that we cannot save ourselves and seeing the need to bow before Jesus to proclaim our sinfulness, to call out to Him and confess that Jesus is Lord, and that you want to rest from your sinful works and instead trust in Him for forgiveness. Only by doing so can one have the rest that Jesus promises.

²⁸ Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ 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.

Will you not now stop from your works and look to the rest that Jesus gives? Will you not proclaim Him as Lord and believe that God has raised Him from the grave? Take His love and forgiveness upon you and follow Him. Just trust in Jesus and enter into the rest that only Jesus can give. The promise remains, even to today, for entering into His rest. Do not resist and come up short of entering.

Stop trying to earn salvation. Be released from the feeling of guilt. Enter into the rest that Jesus will give to all who call upon Him as Lord. Only then will your soul find true rest.