God -- Sermons; Jesus Christ -- Sermons; Sermons, English -- 20th century
Why does He invite the weary ones to come to Him? because He felt in
Himself such joy in this close fellowship with God, He wanted every one to
have it too. He felt that His experience of what the Father was to Him was
so rich, He longed for them to come and share it, "I will give you rest."
It is as if He said, "I will give you the same rest I have when I am tired
and hungry and thirsty; the same comfort that I have when I am
misunderstood and reviled; the rest, the comfort, the peace I have in My
Father."
We have the same assurance when the Holy Ghost says in St. Paul's letter
to the Corinthians, "Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and
from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort."
[Footnote: 2 Cor. i, 2, 3.]
How can you and I know what the Lord Jesus found in His Father's love? He
has graciously made it known to us in the four Gospels. There the veil is
drawn aside and we see how all through His life He was in close fellowship
with the Father.
We can hear the very words which the Son spoke to His Father in the hour
of deep agony: "O My Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from Me;
nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt." [Footnote: St. Matt. xxvi.
39.] The last words on His lips when He was dying on the Cross were,
"Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit." [Footnote: St. Luke xxiii.
46.] He said to His disciples the last night, "You will leave Me alone;
and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me." All through His
life He spoke of His oneness with the Father and the joy of doing and
finishing the work which He gave Him to do.
We too can have the sense of God's Presence in our souls at all times. A
Christian woman who was suffering from neuralgia told me that one night
when she could not sleep, a voice seemed to whisper softly to her, "Like
as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him,
for He knoweth our frame, He knows all about our poor bodies, for He made
them," [Footnote: Ps. ciii. 13, 14.] and with those words of comfort in
her mind she fell into a refreshing sleep.
If you will turn to the 6th chapter of St. Matthew again you will see in
the 8th verse that our Heavenly Father knows about something else. "He
knows what things we have need of before we ask Him."
The secret of what it is to have God as our Father, and the sweetness of
it, comes out in these three homely questions, What shall we eat, what
shall we drink, what shall we wear? And Christ says, [Footnote: St. Matt,
vi. 31, 32.] Take no thought, that means, do not be anxious about these
things, for your Heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these
things. Yes, if He knows, that is enough, and then we have only to trust
Him for all.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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