Leonard Ravenhill addresses the concept of a restless generation, emphasizing the burdens of sin, guilt, and societal pressures that weigh heavily on individuals today. He reminds the congregation that Jesus invites all who are weary and heavy-laden to come to Him for rest, highlighting the importance of recognizing our need for a Savior amidst life's struggles. Ravenhill contrasts the external appearances of worldly success with the internal peace found in Christ, urging believers to take His yoke and learn from Him. He stresses that true rest comes from a relationship with Jesus, who offers freedom from guilt and the burdens of life. Ultimately, he calls for a deeper understanding of God's grace and the rest that remains for the people of God.

Place of worship. We enter thy gates with thanksgiving, we enter thy courts with praise. We're reminded at this moment that this is the day of the Lord, this is the house of the Lord. These are the people of the Lord and this is the word of the Lord. And we come before thee as our God and we remember that thou art also our King. We come before thee because we love thee, we come before thee where attracted by thy majesty, by thy beauty, by thine authority. One place in your words says other gods have had dominion over us. But we will make mention only of thy name. We come to pay our tributes of gratitude and thankfulness for a week in which you spared us and protected us and fed us, clothed us and inspired us, corrected us, lifted us up when we were cast down and sometimes maybe cast us down when we're too exalted in our own thinking. We thank you for Jesus Christ our Lord and our King. The hymn writer said, the King of love my shepherd is, whose goodness faileth never. I'm nothing like if I am his and he is mine forever. And we're reminded that this season particularly that our King began to reign from a stable. A manger was first his throne on earth. We think of kings of the earth, sometimes we've seen them in their pageantry. We've seen them in their excessive clothing, where their jewels that were worth a king's ransom. We've seen them when men have bowed to them and honored them. But we're reminded that we're attracted by one who wore no jewels and needed no external decoration to draw us to him. We thank you that he wore the garments of meekness because he was meek. We're drawn by his wisdom because he is the King of wisdom as well as the King of love. We're attracted by him because he did no evil. As your word says he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the enemy. And we think of the inheritance the church of Jesus Christ has that she has not yet explored. We think of the possibilities of grace. We think of the staggering fact that not after we die and get this mortal mortality puts on immortality and this corruption puts in on incorruption. But even now we're the sons of God. Somehow let this dawn upon our spirits in a new way today. We remember your word says I will not leave you comfortless or as one translation says I have not left you as orphans in the world. We don't need anybody's patronage. We don't need anybody to legislate to make our Christian way easier. You are our Lord and you are our King and you are our life. And as we come to this word we thank you for it. We thank you for its inspiration. We thank you for its preservation. We thank you that holy men of God speak as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And remember that that same spirit moved over the voice over the waters. We remember he moved over the Virgin Mary and created the Christ in her. And we pray today that you'll move over these hearts of ours. This seems a very common ordinary house. This is a very ordinary day and yet an extraordinary day. And we pray that we may garner some treasure today that will abide with us. Until the day of thy great and glorious coming. We sang earlier in that wonderful hymn glorious things of the spoken Zion city of our God. We wonder that life can ever be dull when we have such a majestic Savior. And when we have such a blessed hope as the soon coming and appearing of the Lord Jesus. And that we have a home eternal in the heavens not made with hands. And we belong to a kingdom that can never be destroyed. And a foundation that can never be moved. And a truth that can never be altered. Lord we pray that as one hymn writer has said we may shake off dull sloth and joyful rise. And pay our regular sacrifice. Give us we pray the ears that we may hear what the Spirit would say to us. And may the word live in us. And though it seems remote in one sense we pray that those millions who are still in darkness. We sang about speeding our way I don't know how much we'll do it. But as we think of those who sit in darkness in the shadow of death. We think of areas of the world where there's still heathenism and some parts cannibalism. And many parts ungodliness not even far from our own doorstead. We pray that somehow some treasure may enter our hearts. Some truth that will so stir us and move us. That we'll feel like the apostle when he said great and wonderful man that he was. I'm a debtor to all men. So help us we pray and we'll give thee praise in Jesus name. The gospel recorded by Matthew. Verse 11 Matthew chapter 11. Surely this 11th chapter and verse 28 is one of the best known. In the whole of the word of God come unto me all ye that are weary. Or 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. I am lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls. As I meditated on that I thought of this simple fact. That these words fell from the peerless fearless lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll do that text in injury if we just lift it out of a historic setting. And bring it up to date. For this simple reason that I think so often we forget the environment in which the Lord Jesus was speaking. Come unto me all ye that are weary. One translation is and heavy laden and I will give you rest. I don't think there's any doubt indeed there's no doubt in my mind that. The generation in which we live could be labeled as a restless generation. We've come through a war not too long ago. We've had the burning and camp on campuses and we've had the upheaval in morals. And we have a very unstable economic situation right now. And it seems that everywhere there's a sense of restlessness. Everybody is restless. And nothing new about it because again Jesus here. Is talking to a people. And again I say if you lift it immediately out of the setting. We lose so much of it of its majesty. I sometimes think that we've done the children an injury. And we've done Jesus an injury by giving them crowning books about Jesus. Because all the crowning books are of a meek and mild and meek and helpless. Jesus with a lamb in his arms. Jesus wasn't like that at all. He wasn't a timid teacher. That's why I say you you've got to push this this scripture into the into the into the framework of the day in which he lived. He was a new man around town. He was upsetting everybody. Good preaching always does that of course. And if you think just a little back a little further back in this. Book of Matthew he had preached again the greatest sermon ever preached. By the greatest man that ever lived. The Sermon on the Mount. And then we have the the picture of him in the 10th chapter calling his disciples. Now this is an arrogant thing to do. You're the new man in town. You've already upset everybody. Everybody's gossiping about you. The Sanhedrin is mad. The temple guards are furious about the whole situation. And yet Jesus gathers together a bunch of disciples. And it says that Jesus sent the 12th forth. Commanding them go not in the way of the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans. You see he was very exclusive. The first thing they did was not run to the street corner and preach. Forget all about the lesser breeds without the law. Forget about the Samaritans. Forget he says about the Gentiles. Go first to the house of Israel give them the chance to reject you. Because that's what they did to me. He came to his own and his own received him not. But to as many as received him he gave power to become the sons of God. And so he sends them. And he commanded them to go saying go not to the Gentiles nor to the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go notice the order. First of all we turn it back. He said heal the sick cleanse the leper. He didn't say anything of the kind. The first thing he said was go preach. The essential thing is that the eyes of the blind shall be open. And the ears the inner ear of the spirit shall be unstopped. As you go preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Then he said heal the sick cleanse the lepers raise the dead. Freely ye have received. Freely give. Take no purse. Take no shoes. You'll hear the radio boys tomorrow stressing heal the sick and all the rest. But they won't say please send me no offering. And please don't do this. No no no no no. We've changed it round. Jesus says to his disciples go ye. Freely ye have received. You'll get all that you need. You'll get the air to breathe. My father will see about that. The sun will shine on you. And you'll get food. And he says having food and rain I'll be content with it. But again I say this is a this is this is a courageous thing. Because Jesus is setting up a school in antagonism to the Sanhedrin. And the other teachers who are there. And he says listen let me warn you about something. I'm sending you out into the world. But beware of men. So they will deliver you up to the councils. And they will scourge you in their synagogues. Now that's not the kind of thing you tell to a junior preacher. You usually tell him if he's good. He'll get promoted before long. And he'll get a congregation with twice as many. And they'll give him a bigger income. And he won't be humiliated by driving the Volkswagen too long. He'll really make it socially. Jesus says nothing of the kind. He said you're going to a world that's hostile against everything I tell you. You're going to preach righteousness in an unrighteous world. You're going to preach a holiness in an unholy world. And the only reason that Jesus did that of course was. Because he had done the same thing himself. In the gospel book. In the fourth chapter it begins by saying. And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost. Returned from Jordan. I like that. If I wasn't so modest I'd shout hallelujah. But being modest in this place I don't. But I like it. You know why? Because Jesus has returned from Jordan. And he was led of the spirit into the wilderness. And then it says in verse 14. And Jesus returned in the power of the spirit. You see we preach as though when he went in the wilderness. The old devil kicked him around and did as he liked. And Jesus came out just about on the edge of a nervous breakdown. And if it stayed for another temptation that might have been the end. That's not what he says. He says he returned in the power of the spirit. It's the same thing that in my judgment is spoken by the apostle Paul in Romans 8 37. Where he says we're more than conquerors. And Satan has been opposed on everything that he tried on Jesus. And Jesus returns not weak. And another fact that he returns in the power. Again in the full thrust of the spirit of God. And then he says he went and taught in their synagogues. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. So when he had opened the book. He found the place where it is written. The spirit of the Lord is upon me. Because it anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. And he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. To preach deliverance to the captives. And the recovering of sight to the blind. And set in liberty, set at liberty under the bruised. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Now there were some people that listened to the Lord Jesus. That in the background of their minds must have been as mad, raging mad. You see you and I've got so used to this. We read it in our armchairs. Mothers and daddies told us about it. It's a lovely text to hang around the house. Come unto me all ye that are weary. You know you feel washed up at the end of the day. And this text comes up as a kind of life belt. And you grab at it because otherwise we might be subdued by everything. Again I say let's look at the background. What is Jesus saying here? I'll tell you what he's saying. He's saying what Jeremiah said in the sixth chapter. In verse 16 of his marvelous prophecy. Thus saith the Lord stand ye in the ways. And see and ask for the old paths. Where there is the good way and walk therein. And ye shall find rest unto your souls. And yet Jesus says I will give you rest. And then he says in the next verse. Ye shall find rest. Well what's the difference between him giving rest and thus finding rest? Again I say the background is, is very challenging. In case you forgot let me remind you that when Jesus thought this word. He was speaking to a nation that was in slavery. That if you were going down the street with a burden on your back. And you felt your knees were going to go. A big fellow comes up the side of you says hey. Either drop that load and carry mine or stick this on top and come on. And Jesus says if you're a servant of mine don't argue with him. If a man compels you to go a mile go with him too. Show him you've got the grace of God to pay him back while he's standing there. And if he takes your coat. Give him your undercoat which left him in a little pair of shorts that he had. You see Jesus is constantly making these moral and spiritual demands on people. And I can imagine those people listening there when Jesus says. Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavily. Man that Roman put a burden on me yesterday. My knees are knocking and I was so exhausted when I. And this man is telling me. Oh I know what he means about being heavy laden. And then need I remind you that in those days. Well I'm not as old as this. But I can remember when you didn't buy bread around the corner. At least you didn't buy it sliced and almost ready buttered. I can remember when I used to have to go to a store quite a long way off. And carry what we call in English a 14 pound bag of stone of flour. And stagger home with a great big bag of flour. There are still some people in this country scattered here and there. I know some of them who grind their own wheat every day. They have a pot of stones and they get the wheat. And they put it there and they grind it. And then they go out for something else and something else. And they spend the whole day in labor. Now I'm not saying that's the right way to do it or the best way to do it. But I'm reminding you that in the days when Jesus spoke to these people. They knew something about being weary and heavy laden. They knew something about toiling from sunrise till sunset. They knew something about bondage. They were bound every way. They were not only bound by the Romans. They were bound by the religion of the day. They were oppressed by the priests. They lived in a rigid frame of legalism and bondage. It didn't matter whether it went forward to the sanctuary it was bondage. Or this way it was bondage or the other. They were in captivity in every way. They could hardly think without permission. They certainly couldn't spend money because the tolls were so great. And so Jesus stands up in front of this bunch of people. I don't know who they were. I can't identify them particularly. But I can see Jesus standing there princely dignified. And saying to this bunch of people come unto me. Well there was nowhere else they could get deliverance for sure. And even to come to him in those days was risky. Because if somebody saw you join that group. You're going to be labelled by this group anyhow. And you're going to be in serious strife. And yet Jesus says to these men and I don't know I suppose. Oh women there come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden. And I will give you rest. It's interesting isn't it? He didn't send them on a pilgrimage. He didn't send them to some place. He said you come to me. It's very personal. He didn't say if you come to me. Let me whisper this in your ear. I'm really short of recruits. And I'll make it easy for you all the way. You never have headaches after you come to me. You never have any bills to pay. I'll solve them for you. You'll never be a forgotten number living down the back alley. I'll give you success. I'll give you prosperity. I'll give you fame. Everything you want for. It's all in me. How amazing that he offered them nothing external. Equally to me is amazing that in the great sermon on the mount. He never blessed anything that was visible. He never blessed anything that was material. He says my kingdom you can't see it. My kingdom is not of this world. If it was my servants would fight. His kingdom is an imperishable kingdom. His kingdom is an invisible kingdom. Come unto me all ye that labour. Hey just a minute. Just a minute. You better watch out. You don't invite everybody to come. I think this was one of the offenses of Jesus. He wouldn't let there be any barriers. No color barriers. No race barriers. No social barriers. No intellectual barriers. He threw the door open. If any man here might. You don't say that kind of thing. Don't you know the Jews have a monopoly of God? Don't you know you're speaking in Jerusalem? Don't you know that that temple is hallowed and sanctified? You're going to let anybody come in? Well I'm glad he did. I'm glad he does. There is neither Jew nor Greek. I like that phrase of the apostles. I guess he turned it over a few times before he wrote it. There is neither Jew nor Greek. Born nor free. Male nor female. There is neither Jew nor Greek. Is race distinction. There is neither born nor free. Is class distinction. There is neither male nor female. Sex distinction. There's no sex in Saul. In heaven we're all going to be one. We'll all be men of course. But we're all going to be one in heaven. Well as I've told you before, there are no female angels in the bible. You think it over. All the angels are named the men. And most women want to be men anyhow. So maybe the Lord's going to let them have it at the end of the trip. One lady's screwing her nose up. But that's all right. But isn't it wonderful that Jesus throw the door open like that. And he says come unto me. All ye that are weary and heavy laden. Now if we're not a heavy laden oppressed generation. Tell me this. Why are we so many psychiatrists and psychologists? And why do we swallow more sedatives than any other nation on the face of the earth? We may be living the highest. We're the 40th of all the nations in the world. We're the 40th in health. Isn't that amazing? But nobody else has as much junk to eat as we have. We're the 40th on the health list of all the nations of the world. Our children are the 8th on the health list of all the children in the world. That's because those rich wise smart guys have fed us all the junk that they fed us. But Jesus throws the door wide open. Paul threw the door wide open. Jesus stood in the temple on the last day the great day of the feast. And he says if any man hear my voice that must have riled them. Man alive you don't go into a banquet like that do you? I saw where a certain preacher was invited to the White House the other week. All the celebrities were there. Particularly a bare bosom beauty called Elizabeth Taylor. Boy I'd have given my shoes to have been sitting at that table. I wouldn't let that old Jezebel get away with it. I'd have walked over the table and said listen you not much better than a harlot. I want to tell you you've no more chance of going to heaven than a snowball has in hell. What Mr. Ford have said. Oh I was there to please Mr. Ford. I would have pleased God. I would have said woman you're on the path to destruction you better watch it. You see Jesus was just as hostile as that. He was so uncouth. He was so irregular. He was so uncertain. He was so unpredictable. And here he stands for this mixed multitude of people. He says come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Well that sounds all right doesn't it? Man that's exactly what we want. Somebody to take all our burdens. If they take our bills as well it would help. Take our burdens. Take our bills. Take our problems. Smooth us out. And that's great. But the only thing of course is there's another verse to the text. And it says that you're to take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I'm meek and lowly of heart. But again look at this for a minute. There's a twofold designation here for these people. Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. Labor suggests effort and toil. To be heavy laden suggests burden and endurance. It's not just an hour's toil. It's a continuous burden. It's something from which there's no relief. And surely we're living in a day like this when there are burdens, burdens, burdens everywhere. Oh yes we sing a lovely song. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. But I wonder how often we take them there and leave them there. There's an old chorus that says take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. And yet even these mental burdens that we have that wear us down. Sure we're burdened in every sense. We're getting increasingly burdened with taxation. I think things will definitely get worse before they get better. If they ever get better in the last phase before Jesus comes. And unless we know the secret supply for our strength. You see Jesus says to these people because physically they again they were oppressed. Socially they were oppressed. Religiously they were oppressed. In taxes it was oppression, oppression, depression. And when they saw this man who they'd seen I'm sure do what his servants had done. Heal the sick and cleanse the leper and raise the dead. And somebody says I can imagine and say hey is he for real? Is he for real? Can he do what he said? I mean we've had lots of teachers around here. But how is this man going to impart this strength, this wisdom? Maybe they said even this grace that will help us to cope with the situations. I think the man is smart. I was almost going to say it's a sign of spirituality. When you can carry responsibility without carrying burden. Or should I change it? You can carry responsibility without carrying worry. There's many a man ruins his home life for the simple reason that when the whistle sounds in the shop or the office he takes the factory home with him. He takes his problems home with him. Now they don't pay you to do that in the shop. So if you get a nervous breakdown they've no obligation to repair it for you. There is a place of responsibility. But listen I hear people say you know I'm so burdened. And sometimes I say I want to tell you something you're not a bit burdened you're worried. You won't have a nervous breakdown by carrying by carrying responsibility in God. But worry it eats like a canker. It destroys our inward peace. This is why the higher rate of suicide. This is why people in what we would think the secure places of life. Come to a place of abandonment. A man committed suicide recently. I forget how many hundreds of millions of dollars he was worth. But why couldn't he buy something that would be a sedative? Is there no psychologist that can answer his problem? He got everything he'd been fighting for for about 50 years and when he got it. Nothing in it. Headaches, worry, anxiety. Come unto me all ye that labor. I don't think labor is good for us. I think work is. I think work is a sacrament. I've heard people say sometimes you know I can't wait till the day I retire. And you see them about six months after the trial and they say hey. Do you know where there's a nice little job I could take so many hours a day. Because oh man being at home every day from this time to that it gets me down. Now if you've not been too active that may not. But there are men who've lived to a certain pressure and you discover how many men. You notice wherever you go there are more old ladies than old men. It isn't just they worried their husbands to death. It's because the husbands had more responsibility, more cares. I can say again I believe that these men and women were saying I wonder if this is really true. Oh yes there are bigger burdens than you can see with your eye. Jesus came to solve problems that Samson with all his strength could not solve. That Solomon with all his wisdom could not solve. Because you and I know that really what he's talking about basically here is he's talking about those who are oppressed. And he's talking about those really who are oppressed on in the inside more than on the outside. Come unto me all ye that are weary. There is no burden in the world like carrying the burden of sin. Time and again people have found oh you can commit one sin in a split second that will burn in you for a thousand years and for that matter a million years in hell too. You can do one thing and you can find no way to erase that sin. Well who was that lady or was she a lady? Lady Macbeth huh? With that red spot in her hand and saying what did she say? This damp spot all the perfumes of Arabia are not able to erase it. There's nothing able to take it out. Here it is. Oh she'd washed the spot away all right. The fellow's blood wasn't there but every time she looked she saw it superimposed there because it was there on conscience on her memory. We've institutions filled with men and women today who had nervous breakdowns. Not every one of them but most of them because of sin. The wear and tear the burden and the bondage. What burden is there greater than guilt when you can't run away from it? I'll tell you how to run away from it. It's as easy as running away from your own shadow. Or you can quench it go to a party live it up you'll forget it. And when you come out five minutes after it's eating like a burning fire inside of your spirit. Some years ago a man on the east coast of this country was working along with another man. They used to feed those great big old boilers in the factories you know. And these two men had worked as partners for years. Got on very well. They had a custom one would go out so many minutes before midnight and take some refreshment. And the other man would do his work watch the boilers watch those gauges they didn't get too high or low. And then when he'd had this feed had his particular meal the other man would take over for him. But one night they got into an argument. Got pretty mad about some sport and things and before long one man as he was feeding the coal into the into the fire he turned and hit the man with a shovel intending to knock him down but the corner of the shovel pierced his brain and he was out like a light. There was nobody around so the man said well I can get rid of this all right and he opened the door of that great big furnace and put the man on and he threw him in and then he got this great big long poker thing he had and he pushed the man in the man's head fell back and he saw the dancing flames on the eyeballs of that man. They never found a trace of the man. When the police asked he said well my friend went out he always went out at 12 o'clock at night and he had his drink I suppose and maybe got into a row and somebody robbed him he did carry money. The man was never found never found out. But that thing burned and burned and burned in the man till eventually after a few months when it was safe he got a job in California. Same kind of a job took a partnership with a man another bachelor fellow and they they shared this pad together and one night the man who'd committed the murder sat up in bed and he kept saying those eyes those eyes. I can see those eyes they're like two great big balls of fire. I wish I'd never done it I wish I'd never done it. He wakened his friend up and his friend had been told that there was a suspicion that the man had murdered the other man but they never found out but anyhow it wasn't difficult to get the man to make a confession. You know what he said? It's now about 10 years since I murdered that man. I've never had one day of peace I've never gone to sleep safely one night for every time I shut my eyes I see the great big reflection of those eyes as the man burned there. Well blessed is the man that has guilt like that if he confesses it for whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sin God is still a God of mercy. But you see these are the burdens that wear men and women down the burden of sin the burden of guilt the burden of a memory that won't give up it pursues us. They seem to be curses and yet actually they're blessings. They're blessings if they drive us to the place of penitence the place of repentance. Some are oppressed with the burden of poverty there's no question about it being a poverty a burden. Some are oppressed with the with with the burden of of sickness ill health. Some are burdened with the problem of of tragedy. But you see Jesus says here that if we come to him come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. What is the rest? It's the rest from guilt. It's the blessed assurance we sing of in our lovely hymn that Jesus is mine. It's the it's the working of the spirit of God making Romans 8 one will in my mind and in your heart too that there is therefore now no condemnation. It matters not how long the list of your sins are mine whether the sins of the flesh or sins of the spirit, secret sins, open sins. That once we bring that record of guilt and say to Jesus here I am I can do nothing about it. And then maybe you remember a hymn that says something about there is a fountain filled with blood. You ever read a little track called the 40 what we call the 40 mile up in Alaska. I remember some years ago I was out west in Oregon and I was asked to preach in a certain tabernacle. I went on the Monday night there were not there's not such a crowd there. But the man said to me the pastor you know this used to be so-and-so's bible school. Oh yeah this was this was a great bible school. And it was established by so-and-so. I said well wait a minute wait a minute that's the man that the man who had been a preacher. And he got pretty mad with some people and he quit and he went to the devil. He got drunk, he lived in sin. And one day a man said to him I've staked a claim out in Alaska there and if you'll go there for the whole winter now it's a rough winter you'll be snowed in it's a terrible winter. But if you go up there I'll see you have enough liquor I get you a whole hog's head and I'll do this and the other. And he said all right I'll get some fellows and three of them went up there. Well they had nothing to do but just watch and see that nobody came in on that claim. They lived in this log cabin they had plenty of fuel everything was all right plenty of drink. But in the middle of December one of the men got terribly sick. And it looked as though he was going to die. And finally in his sickness he said would you look in the bottom of my old case there there's a book my mother gave me. Would you open it and read it. And the man opened it seemed almost by chance but he opened up Matthew 1 and began to read down at verse 27. For unto us a child is born and thou shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. And the man was half delirious and he said just just just say that again would you. Well you shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. Hey what day is it? I don't know let's see what day is it. It's the 25th of December. Well he said this is the day he was born. This is the day he was born. Would you read it again? And he read it again. He'll save his people from their sins. Well that's my problem it's not my health. My problem is my sins. Oh come on now come on you're getting sentimental because you say no no no no this is the whole thing. I'm a sinner I need a savior. What are you going to do? I'm going to ask him to save me right now. The old fellow struggled on his bed that wasn't so very good and he just put his hands together and said Jesus I know because one time I used to preach like that I know you can save me from my sins, from my guilt, from my anxiety. No no no no no no don't you get the idea because a man lives in a thick storm mansion he has a Maserati and all the things he's got peace rubbish. What does the scripture say? It says that wicked men are like the troubled sea and the sea is restless it's never still though it looks like it and they're troubled and they're anxious and they try to drown this and do something else. Why? Because they're afraid of two things one is that they're sin and their guilt is pursuing them and the other is that hell is opening its mouth at the end of the line for them. And I'm going to tell you that I believe to be in sin is to be insane you can't tell me one sin that's worth doing. Tell me one that will bring your happiness it will bring your happiness for a minute and it will damn you forever. Is any value in there? When the man said be merciful to me a sinner the other man puffed on their pouch for a while one said you know he he looks so peaceful hey I think I'm going to try that. He put his old pipe down by the stove there and he knelt down he said Jesus would you would you receive me as well I'm a sinner. And the old boy there says he will he will. Well it's a bit rough when you're living in a place like that you've no neighbors and relatives and TVs and phones or anything you've got two men saved and you you can't drink the whole hog's head yourself anyhow smoke yourself to death and after a while the other man said you know what I believe I ought to be saved too. And the three men got saved and the first thing they did was open the door and roll that great big thing full of liquor out and they said they took an axe and they split it and it ran down there and at one time they'd have been mad and they watched all that fire from hell go down into down into the snow. They were new men they'd lost their burden they'd lost their guilt they'd lost their worry. It doesn't matter if the mouth of hell is a million miles wide. Oh we talk in these days I I look at those things you know every time you look on TV there's something that's going to make your clothes whiter than white. Isn't that wonderful? Of course 10 years ago they had it this is the whitest thing ever and they've been improving it and changing the label it's the same stuff but they change the label over and over again and fool us about it. Is it amazing that one red spot can come to the blackest spot in a human heart and make it whiter than snow? You don't know a miracle like that. Red blood on a black heart producing whiteness. Ah but you see you've got to become helpless, helpless. You can't decoy God because you wear a better suit than I wear or drive a bigger car or have a bigger income. No sorry I'm glad God has no sense of values like that and you know I've discovered now our modern preaching doesn't drive men and women to cry to God for mercy they cry for help. You don't need mercy if you're unsaved. We're afraid to get people oh they might go to bed and not sleep. I'd like to preach at some place one night I preached in a place not too long ago where a lady told me she didn't sleep for five nights. She had a beautiful home and I guess a beauty rest mattress and on the fifth day I saw her in a restaurant and I said she came up and I said oh I've seen you somewhere. She said I've seen you. I said well I think I've seen you. I've been sitting on the front row. I want to tell you Mr Rayneal I hadn't slept for five nights. I said well hallelujah. I hope you won't sleep for five more. You really mean that? I hope you won't sleep for 55 more if it's going to drive you to the place where you recognize you need more than help. You need you don't need a little bit of assistance. I hear people say Lord help me with my temper. Give me a scripture for it. He won't help you. He'll destroy it if you let him. He's not in the helping business. He's in the cleansing business. He's in the purifying business. Come on come on. What's the fever in your heart this afternoon? What's your secret lust? Is it lust for a body of a man or a woman? Is it lust for power? Is it lust for fame? Is it lust for riches? What's there? You don't have a burning fever in your heart this afternoon that Jesus can't heal. One day when I talked to the Pope, I hope I do, I'm going to ask him about that relative of his. It says Peter's wife's mother. I'm going to ask the Pope where his wife is. Well Peter had one. Scripture says Jesus healed Peter's wife's mother. That shows our father off the rock anyhow. Isn't that nice that Jesus can heal fevers? If you've got scarlet fever. They don't have that now. It's gone out. My sister had it. They took her to hospital for seven weeks. Was I glad that she was seven weeks out of the house. She had scarlet fever. It's dangerous. Scarlet fever. Oh they just about cured that. And then there's a what? A yellow fever. And there's a black water fever. And what are the fevers? I don't know. Pardon? But I'll tell you what. If you've got the scarlet fever of temper. Or you've got the yellow fever of jealousy. Or you've got the black water fever of pride. He can cure any of them and all of them. But you see he lays a condition. I'm going to hurry here. He says come, come. There's the invitation. Come unto me. Well isn't that wonderful? Let me remind you what it says a little further. He says you can come without money and without price. I like that hymn that says nothing in my hands I bring. Do you know that's the only way you can come. You can't bring him a gift. You can't bribe him. You can't persuade him. You'll come with nothing. I have nothing. Not the labour of my hands can fulfill thy law's demand. Could my zeal no respite know. Could my tears forever flow. All for sin could not atone. Thou must save and thou alone. Nothing in my hands I bring. I like that. I like that. You see you can go to anywhere, any time, to anybody. Because most of us have nothing anyhow when it comes down to the last ditch. But he says you can come. The call is come unto me. The condition is you're heavy laden. Listen if you're not heavy laden, you're not going to do me a favour by kneeling at an altar. And I want to tell you something. You won't cheer God up by just shedding a few tears. If you're not heavy laden, well go on in your sin till you are. It may break your life. It may break your mind. It may break your heart. I went to a prison colony off the coast of South America a few years ago. I have never been in a hell hole worse than that. I've been in some hell holes. I've been in a black hole of Calcutta. I've been in other places. And as I got off onto this island I said there's no fence around the island. No sir. Only one man ever made it off this island. Man you couldn't make it a hundred yards. There are so many sharks. You'll be in six pieces before you could swim. As soon as they hear the spike. We've no problems here. Every man here is, he's here for life. There's no parole from this island. He stays here. The men were allowed to sit on a stump of a tree. A stump here, just pieces of wood sawn off like so. A stump not near each other. And the youngest was a boy about 17 years of age and the others were incorrigible. Their faces had been slashed and pleated and their eyes. And I don't know how many nations there were there but an awful lot. You know I made the mistake I guess that every guy that goes thinks there's only one thing to preach on when you go to a bunch. You preach on the prodigal and usually they go you know. Everybody comes with the same old story. No I was going to preach on it and then I turned. I thought wait a minute, wait a minute. I guess every guy that comes here preaches. And somebody said to me after, we can't remember when a preacher came in and didn't preach on the prodigal son. I preached on the new birth. And at the end I said if you, if you want to be really born again. Not if you want to get out of jail or feel better or get rid of your guilt. But if you want to really become a new creature in Christ. And have that which will register your name in heaven and give you eternal life. Not when you die but now. In this hell hole. Well I said you come here and I'll stay and I'll pray with you as long as the gods let me. And men started streaming out to that altar. I had a friend with me a couple of friends preachers and they began to deal with some. But you know each man I went with I asked him the same question. Would you answer me a question before I answer your questions? Tell me this. Did you ever dream as a boy you would end up with a life sentence in a jail? Oh no, no, no, not me, not me. I'm too clever. Other guys, not me. Think they're ever gonna get me? Think I don't know when to stop? Oh I don't know that. Did your brakes ever fail? You know you're going down the hill you put your, oh the brakes. You knew when to stop. Why didn't you stop? It's not knowing when to stop it's knowing how to stop. You can put a poison in your spirit, a fever in your spirit, some horrible thing in your spirit and there's nothing on God's earth can take it out. I visited a woman on the west coast of England. I'd written an article in a certain magazine and she she said would you come I'll pay all your expenses please come. Well it meant a couple of days trip. I had to go London get a train out of London to the west coast. I went to this gorgeous house on top of a cliff overlooking the sea. When I went in this lady was gorgeously dressed and she opened the door sideways like this and she said please come in Mr Ravenhill and she turned and she walked down the corridor of the home and these great costly paintings all had a sheet over them. All down the corridor and she kept this way all the time and then she said uh please take a just a minute and all her costly furniture was covered with white sheets and the lovely piano was covered everything was covered and she said I've lost all heart living in this house and she talked for a while and then she said Mr Ravenhill I asked you to come because well I do believe God still heals people and I wish you'd pray for me and then she said you see and when she turned she'd no nose at this side was all eaten off from here right up there to the bridge no skin you could see in her head and she said you see I was the matron at Guy's hospital one of the most famous in the world not only London I was a matron at Guy's hospital and I'd always had this little purple spot on my nose and people were teasing me about it one day a friend said listen I know a man in in the city can remove that a doctor he can do it with a certain thing and and just remove it you'll have no problem with it once he said it wasn't too painful but you see what he did not only ate that spot away it began to eat more and more and more and I kept going and saying well you started can't you stop it he said my dear there's no way we I I don't know what to do there's no way to stop it he said now you see it's gone right to my eyeball and it's starting to go here is he going to eat my cheek away where will it stop oh you can't tell smart people what sin will do it as sin it says it's like taking a fire into your bosom it's like taking a serpent into your breast we had a stage hand in England years ago and and his great show was he had an enormous enormous bore constrictor he taught this thing to to to respond to him every time he whistled they bring the the great big cage out there and the man would stand here in his fancy uniform and he would talk about snakes and wild animals and and then he'd give the whistle you know the word and that grey big thing would come out and he would stand to attention and the thing wrapped itself round him and round him and then rested its head on top of his head just his eyes were showing and everybody would smile and give the noise again the thing would unwrap itself go back into its cage boy people said that's a great act I like isn't it amazing what you can do with animals we're going back tonight and the show went on they whistled he whistled and the thing came out wrapped itself around him slowly around his neck then missed the next part and just put its head on top of his everybody laughed and he whistled and nothing happened he whistled again and nothing happened and he whistled a third time and nothing happened he screamed at the top of his voice help and as he did it there was a crushing and every bone in his body snapped in front of that audience just like sin isn't it hmm you pray with it once too long we put off the evil day well I'm not going to die in sin I'm going to repent well it so happened that that guy didn't know that that was driving the automobile that came down the road and so he killed you before you could repent you didn't know you might die in your sleep or some other thing come unto me all either weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest there then is a twofold designation you have to labour and heavy laden there's a twofold invitation take my yoke and learn of me hmm you see jesus isn't just anxious to forgive your sins he wants you to be his disciple he wants you to wear his his yoke upon you madam guillaume said my freedom is thy grand control when I'm free outside of god when I when I want to do my way I'm still in danger but if I'm in subjection to the holy spirit he constrains me when I'm too slow and and he restrains me when I'm too quick and he comes with a spirit of wisdom and judgment when I need it in that critical time take my yoke that's something that happens immediately learn of me that's something progressive and it's continuous and we keep going on and listen if you're a smart christian and I'm not too sure you are but if you're a smart christian before you go to bed every night you'll ask yourself a simple question what I learned about god today what matters if you made ten thousand bucks sells a drunkard down the street what have you learned from god today are we so dumb that we think that somewhere up the road we're going to take a sudden leap and be and be 1500 feet higher than we were when we started wasn't it paschal that said life that perfection is made up of trifles but perfection itself is no trifle this is why the sami says teach me to number my days you say how can I number my days I don't know how many there are ahead of me well why not start counting back some of us are doing that right now I don't know how many I've got to live oh yes I do I know the promise is you can live three score years and ten now how much of that have you lived are you happy with the way you've lived it really excited about it lord I've lived up full steam for god you've never asked me to do a thing because of course I'm under bondage to you you know in the old testament they used to let the slaves go free and some of them refused to go why because I said I'll never get a better master here than I have that happened in this very country slaves were treated sure they were through the British empire too but there were some who were treated so well that they refused to go free why because they said I food I've clothing I've a good master and I'm gonna stay here and the only thing the apostle Paul asks is that he may be a bond slave of Jesus Christ take my yoke upon you learn of me and it's not an easy school and don't you for a minute think everybody sitting next to you at the desk is going to answer the same question and do it the same way they're certainly not and you know what god almighty isn't interested in what you think about the progress they're making or vice versa it's between you and god what are you learning of him he is the source of wisdom he's made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification god pity us I got a letter from my friend the 95 year old saint there in England just yesterday and in his letter he said brother Raven and I I think the problem with us modern Christians is this we we don't want to get any further than John 3 16 we don't want to get any further than I'm saved my name's in heaven we don't want to be mature in God I'll tell you what if you're getting bondage to Jesus you'll discover it's a glorious bondage and he'll start taking you ways he isn't taking somebody else take my yoke upon you and his promise is what I will give you rest yes as soon as you trust him as your lord and savior he'll give you a rest from worry he'll give you a rest from guilt he'll give you a rest from condemnation he'll give you a rest from fear of the devil he says I will give you rest and then he says he shall find rest did we used to sing a chorus there is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of god a place where sin cannot molest do you know what that is I'm going to deal with it next time next Sunday it's the rest of faith the rest for the sinner is a rest from his unbelief and sin and fear and guilt but there is a rest it says there in uh hebrews 4 9 there remaineth a rest for who the people of god and he says you strive to enter into that rest oh we talk about the second blessing about being baptized with the holy ghost about the sanctified life hey I think it's about time we began to talk about the rest that remaineth for the people of god uh do you remember what they used to call the quakers the shakers the quakers but eventually they gave them another name they called them the friends in england they still do you said you go where do you worship do you worship with appendicostals no I go to the friends meeting house oh you go with the friend they took that you know because it's the greatest title in the world it was given to abraham the friend of god isn't that great some people say they're friends of mine I wouldn't own them people say you must have thousands of friends you'll be around the world you preached all these years no I don't no I don't I have thousands of acquaintances a friend is a man you can open your heart to and the dearest friend is one who knows the worst about you and loves you just the same there's only one who loves like that and jesus is his name he's wonderful wonderful you don't know your wife pardon me saying that and husband doesn't know the wife doesn't know that not in the secret part you're an entity there's something in you which is between you and god there remaineth a rest do you know let me say this and i'll have to quit I don't want to but I will but there remaineth a rest for the people of god you know what it does it takes all the furrows out of your mind you don't have to take sedatives you don't need a psychiatrist my rest is in thee the favorite hymn of one of the greatest men england produced hudson taylor was a hymn that's in our other in book we ought to learn it sometimes jesus i am resting resting in the joy of what thou art i am finding out the greatness of thy loving heart thou has bid me gaze upon thee and thy beauty fills my soul for by thy transforming power thou has made me whole jesus i am resting resting in the joy of what thou art i'm resting in what i'm resting in his faithfulness you know i've made a discovery i've discovered that god who holds the world up and runs everything can manage my life isn't that wonderful oh we don't live like that we live as though well i'll have to do this that and the other and i'm worried now i'm anxious and i hope it'll turn out right now i front four people and i've asked so and so come on come on we had an archbishop in england in the archbishop of canterbury years back his name was tate and he had a very marvelous son who was a very godly man and the son married and had a beautiful wife and it pleased god to give them five children in about eight seven or eight years and sickness came to the country and the baby died and they buried it they were mystified and misty eyed and they stood at the grave and said well we don't understand they'd hardly got home from the cemetery when the maid came to say the other baby died and within about three weeks he stood beside one two three four five open caskets and the graves were so fresh that if you'd gone you wouldn't know which was done the first and of course people came and said well you know dear brother the lord gave and the lord has taken it away always easy to bear the other man's toothache isn't it keep itching up god knows what he's about hey but you nearly panic when you lost one never mind five you lost your watch and thought all have not to stop every gabriel come searching for it after all it's your watch and you got it on your wedding day that's important and people came around and said do you do you i mean i mean if you're a you know that man down the street he's a drunk and he beats his wife and he he creates hell every saturday when he gets drunk and do you know what he's one of the most prosperous men in town and and his kids are wild but but he hasn't lost any children and and they began you know to use all the wisdom that folk can use the young man never flinched well how do you feel have you been back to the cemetery yes and i counted one two three four five somebody said that you were you were standing there with your hands up like this and you were arguing with god no well you were talking yes what were you saying well he said i confessed i i happen to be a daddy and i do have some things called nerves and emotion and stuff in there and he said the tears were coming down my face and uh but you know i i i'm resting in his faithfulness and i just looked up even though my eyes were closed and and he said i just said uh even so father for so it seemed good in my sight devil didn't get much change out of that did he you know i've heard you sing it so watch out you sang it joyfully many Sundays we've been here when all around my soul gives way he then is all my hope and stay but when it starts going what is it look lord hold hold that don't don't let that go oh it's going to the other no do you know six people that could pray for me out of this hey wait a minute wait a minute that might be needed but what do you say do you look up and say lord i'm resting not worrying not anxious was it willow mean uh wilcox that wrote the little ditty you know said the robin to the sparrow i would really like to know why these anxious human beings rush around and worry so said the sparrow to the robin my friend that it must be that they have no heavenly father such as cares for you and me my the sparrow that robot deserved a great straight a but it hits us on the spot doesn't it all the testing all the trial and again all he's doing it for is our dross to consume and like i'm glad tonight i don't know too much but i'll tell you what i'm not worried i'm not anxious about my sins they're all under the blood i'm not buried about being found out my guilt has been removed my conscience has been cleansed i know i have a home eternal in the heavens i know in whom i have believed there's rest for you if you're still a sinner still worried still trouble still guilty still condemned and all of it can go and there remaineth a rest for the people of god so let me play on the word and say you'll get the rest next time we're going to preach on it okay