In this sermon, the preacher reflects on the rejection of Jesus by the people and the compelling call of the gospel. He emphasizes that the gospel itself has a compelling power that draws people towards it. The preacher also highlights the responsibility of those who have heard the gospel and the judgment they will face if they reject it. He concludes by urging the listeners to respond to the Savior's invitation and trust in Him, warning them of the consequences of continuing to reject Him.

Turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 11. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 11. Verse 20. Then began he to upraid, or scold, the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell. For if the mighty works which had been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable, not tolerable, but more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, that is, wise in their own conceit and prudent as far as they are cautious, afraid, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight, all things are delivered unto me of my Father. And no man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save or only the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. 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 and lowly in heart, and yet you'll find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, my burden is light. Now that is all we're going to read. I think this verse, in particular Matthew 11 28, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, is possibly one of the most commonly preached verses in the gospel. It has literally been called the Savior's welcome, the Savior's welcome. It's very interesting because the background of the verse adds impact to it, and we'll find that really the warmth of the welcome is on the background of the estrangement or the judgment that's found in three words, woe unto thee. Now let me make it very simple for you tonight. Every person's experience in this world is contained in one of these portions of three words. They are either contained in that unexpressible sorrow that the Lord Jesus uses relevant to those that will not respond to his invitation, and he says, woe unto thee, or they will be contained in a response to the provision that is entailed when the Lord Jesus literally reaches out and extends a welcome and a provision to a world, and he says, come unto me. And so it's either going to be woe unto thee or come unto me. You know when you look at the background of this, the setting of the words of the Lord Jesus, you'll find the background is so dark, so dark. He is really scolding or upbraiding cities, and in so doing he is teaching us a principle. He is teaching us a principle. He mentions first of all two cities where in most of his mighty works were done. He mentions really the truth of Chorazin and Bethsaida, one a city, the other a village, township, and he simply brings before them and contrasts them to two other cities on the coast of Syria, Tyre and Sidon. Now Tyre and Sidon were Gentile cities. They were steeped in idolatry. They were cities, as most seaside cities are, that were known for the hardness and the cruelty and the various bitterness and the darkness of the deeds of man. These other two cities prided themselves in the fact that they weren't like these cities on the coast. These were cities largely inhabited by Jews. They were cities that would have turned around and said this, we have heard the teachings of the Old Testament. We have listened to the patriarchs, and we have heard the prophets, and we have had experience the dealings of God in a time past, and we have heard the preachings of this one that is supposedly the Christ in our streets, and we're not like the riffraff down there. People have in their minds that the better living person, the moral upright person, thank God if they are moral and upright, but that individual that really is better off than the down-and-outer, the wretched person that lives on the other side of the tracks, the drug addict, the drunkard, and the Lord Jesus burst that bubble. He deals with that thing and he says this, to those two cities that prided themselves and their behavior and them being model cities, he says, it will be more tolerable for those wretched cities of the Syrians on the coast than it is for you in the judgment that is coming. Then he brings it right down to two cities. He brings it right down to city faces city. He refers to a city that is called Sodom. Sodom today has given us the terminology for that wretched perversion of mankind. God loves sinners, but he hates their sin. And the perversion that has steeped the world even today, the Jews of that day would have frowned upon it. They would have said, look what happened to Sodom and the plains of Gomorrah. Look how the judgment of God and fire and brimstone fell from heaven. Look what took place as God manifested his judgment on this deplorable, perverse, wretched behavior. Let me tell you about another city. There's a city called Capernaum. That city alone was responsible for providing 60% of the apostles of the Christ. That city saw nearly 60% of the miracles of the Christ that are in your Bible, at least if not in it directly, in the area around about it. It heard the preaching of the Christ in its streets. It saw the miracles of the Christ take place. It saw people reach that they knew and spoke to every day and the reality of a salvation that was found in the person of Christ. They saw this. They witnessed it. And in their smugness they thought this. We're not saved, but we're not as bad as they are. And the Lord Jesus bursted that bubble when he says this. Oh Capernaum, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and the judgment than for you. That city you despise and all its immorality and wretchedness will not, no it won't be tolerable. Hell and judgment will not be tolerable, but they will have to be tolerated. The Lord Jesus is teaching us this lesson. He is teaching us a lesson that sometimes you'll hear preached from a platform. You'll hear men say it and people will say, can you justify it? Can you qualify it? I will. You know we have an old saying at home and it goes like this. Why do you put the high diving board on the deep end of the swimming pool? Well of course you know why. The height from which you fall determines the depth to which you go. The height from which you fall determines the depth to which you go. And the Lord is simply teaching that to whom much is given, much is required. Those that will suffer most terribly the judgment of God in hell and the lake of fire are not necessarily wretches that were drunkards, though it will be suffering for them and their sins, but those that have had the opportunity of salvation. You know it's real and you've gone on into your sins without it and you're still without Christ in a land that has had the gospel preached from shore to shore and coast to coast. Oh privileged nation of England that heard the gospel by some of the mightiest gospel preachers that ever stood on a platform. What a heritage this country has. Think of countries, think of those countries that are found over in the Ukraine where they heard so little gospel and if they die without Christ it will be more tolerable for them than for you that have been raised in the cradle of the gospel. Deeper down than Tyre and Sidon shall the Christ rejecter go. The Lord Jesus uses this term. He says you have been lifted up, you have been lifted up with privilege to the very door of heaven. You shall be Luke's gospel thrust down to hell. That's what the Lord Jesus is telling them. Then as he leaves this coast for the last time, he turns around and makes the warmest appeal that you'll ever find in the gospel. And you know what? They're going to reject him. You know in this meeting tonight you're going to do one of two things. Let me be straight with you folks. Front to back. All across. When you leave this gospel, the bottom line is this. You're either going to respond to the Savior that we're preaching and trust him or go out of here as you came in, in your sins without Christ, more responsible than you have ever been before. He's going to be rejected. He's going to be rejected. You've done pretty good rejecting him so far. You've put him on the back burner for so long that you're not even interested anymore. You know I remember, nobody wants to be rejected. I remember when I was a little pup, oh excuse me, a little boy, I remember we used to go out and play baseball in the backfield. Now kids in Canada play baseball, you all play cricket and soccer. You're awake now. And they're one of the game baseball. I was never very good because I couldn't throw the ball very good. I never could hit it and had trouble catching it. So but other than that I was a pretty good player. And we have a, what we used to do is pick teams and you get two guys. They were normally the biggest guys because they kind of bullied their way into the position. They said well we'll be the team captains, we'll pick teams. And they threw a bat back and forth and I don't know how it goes. Whoever grabbed it near the end, they got to pick first. And I can still remember some of those kids and one of them say well we'll take Bobby Dockrell because he was a good player. He could drive a hard fastball, he could hit and he could catch. And then they'd say we'll take Jimmy. We'll take, I'll take Wayne. And you know how it goes down the line. There were three, actually two girls. I can't remember their last names but they lived on our street and they were a little bit of tomboys. They weren't, they were just at the age where they liked to play some of the games the boys played. They were probably eight or nine years old and I was eight year old. And they would come to and they had their own baseball gloves and everything. And as the picking went on, now this is nearly 45 years ago, it would get down to just three of us in the end. Me and two girls. And as the picking went on, it was just me. And then it went sort of like this. No, you can have him. No, no, you can have him. No, no, you can have him. No, we insist, you take him. And I used to take my little bat and the plastic martial glove and put it on my shoulder and just kind of walk away and say I didn't want to play dumb old baseball anyway. But you know what, I still felt the sting of that. Because everybody wants to be wanted, nobody wants to be rejected. Here's a son of God and he's standing and he is availing himself, making himself available to every individual. And they have rejected him and they want him to leave. And he turns around, instead of just leaving a stinging remark with him, he turns around, here's what he says. Come unto me, all of you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. I'll give you rest. I want to think of three things about that call. Number one, it was a compelling call. It was a compelling call. The gospel is a compelling call. It's compelling. There is something in the preaching of the gospel that is not with the preachers. It's in the very fiber of the gospel itself, as though the very volume of the voice of Christ sounds. That literally caused people, they are drawn to it. That's what he meant. If I be lifted up from the earth, I'll draw all men unto me. There is a drawing, a compulsion in the gospel. And when you hear the gospel, there seems to be something within us that starts to be drawn out as if to think like this. Maybe it is really for me. Maybe he really did that for me. Maybe I really could be saved. Maybe I could be the one in this meeting tonight that is going out rejoicing, singing that song. It's a compelling call. I remember my fellows, just a little guy. And I used to come home from work when I worked at secular employment. I think that's how you spell it. And I'd come home and, you know when they're little fellows that are just learning to walk. You have to put your ornaments up on the higher shelf. And I'd see them and I used to go get down on my knees when I'd come home and I'd just hold my hands open and say, come on Nathan, come on son, come on dad. And you'd see him, he'd kind of pull himself up and he'd be hanging onto a coffee table or the corner of the wall or a bookcase. And you'd see him standing. You know the way they're just starting to learn to walk and they're wanting something to hold on to. You'd be surprised the number of people that are going to be in hell because of something to hold on to. And he'd hold on to it like this. And sometimes I'd get down there and say, come on boy, come on son. And he'd almost start to reach out with one hand and then he'd pull back. I remember the time. I'd come home just like every other time. And I got down on my knee and opened my arms. I said, come on boy, come on to papa, come on. And you could see that in his eyes, just for a moment, the hesitation. You mean let go of everything I've got, all my religion? You mean let go of all my good works to get me there? Yeah. And then I'll go. And he finally just let go of everything and took that first step. Do you think I let that boy fall? Do you think I let that boy fall? Soon as he made that step, I was right out there to reach out and catch him and hug him to myself. That's the compulsion. That's the compelling call of the Christ. Listen to what he's saying. Come on to me. You see, I don't understand very much about the gospel. You understand this, that you'll be in hell without salvation. And Christ died at Calvary to become your savior. And as this message is preached tonight, it's the words of the Christ himself. Get beyond the preacher. And he says, come on to me. All you that labor and are heavy laden, your sins are like a great weight. You're laboring trying to make yourself fit for heaven and you'll never do it. Come on to me. It's a compelling call. It's a compassionate call. There was a man I preached with sometimes named Bob McElwain or Robert McElwain. One time Robert and I were having meetings together and Robert preached on the great white throne and the lake of fire. I'll tell you one thing he didn't do. Never closed his fist. Rather, never preached hell with a closed fist. And as he began to preach, the power of that message and the tears running down his face as he preached about the truth of sinners dying in their sins, going down to a real hell, to rise and fall into the wrath of God forever. And he just stood there sobbing. I remember saying to him afterwards, Robert, you were very moved when you preached about hell tonight. I said, really, it really seemed to have a hold of you in a sense that I've never experienced anybody preach it with that sensitivity. He said, Peter, remember way back when you were first saved and I was in the plane accident and the plane came down, rather than dump the load of chemicals, he rode the plane down. In the process, landing in a field, his clothes caught fire, the plane exploded, his jacket burning, his hair burning. He actually crawled out of the cockpit, got onto the wing of the plane and just stood there on fire. And he realized just for an instant that the plane was taking the air, so robbing him of the ability to reason things out. And he just literally dropped and he fell off the wing of the plane. He fell onto the ground and using his elbows, he dragged himself until he was within a distance away. So when finally the fuel tank went on the plane, he was without reach of it, although some of the debris that was on fire fell on him. The ambulance got there quickly. One of the ambulance drivers, possibly he was a Christian, one of those drivers took him and you know what he did? He actually held him like a baby. He actually held him like this. His clothes were burned, they were all melted, 60% of his body would be burned. Even to see him today, you can see what they call the burn mask, the skeletal face through the burn. He's burned. And as he was crawling along, and they finally picked him up and that man took him. Robert started moaning something and he kept saying it over and over again. And the man turned around and he said to him, Robert, what are you saying, Robert? What are you saying? And Robert McElwain, 60% burned, said this, what must hell be like? What must hell be like? What must hell be like? Friend, there's a real hell. And if you die, if you are without Christ, you have to go there. There's no alternative. If you die without Christ. And the Lord just Jesus knowing of a real hell, where sinners must go. The flames never cease and nobody ever crawls out of that fire, crawls away from it. He said this, come on to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Finally, it was a confident call. When I was in the thrives of my addiction, and I'm going to tell more about that on Thursday evening. When I got out of prison one time, my Uncle Peter, who I love very dearly, always used to say to me, Peter, when you hit the bottom and you got nowhere to go, come to me. You come to me. I remember getting out of doing my second bit, couldn't get a job, hitchhiking across parts of Canada where the temperature is about 45 below, with an old suitcase and newspapers in that I took out, started a fire on the side of the road. Finally, a truck came along. It was almost freezing to death and took me in outskirts of Ottawa. I only had $1.25 on me. I used a quarter of it to call my uncle and also said to him, Uncle Peter, I'm here. I'm in Ottawa. And I got nowhere to go. And he said, stay where you are son, I'll be right over. Stay where you are son, I'll be right over. And he came over. He took me home. He washed me up. He bought me new clothes. And he tried his best to help me. But finally, three weeks later, with an addiction that no human relationship could ever solve, and the effect it was having on his own family, he had to ask me to leave. Here's what he said to me. I thought I could do something for you, Peter. But I can't son. I can't. It would be six years later that I would come to Christ. And I want to tell you this. He never turned me away. He never turned me away. I just came as a poor, lost, hell-deserving sinner, because that's what I was. That's what you are. And I just came looking for deliverance. And as he has said, listen to the words of Christ. This is the Son of God. This isn't some preacher that can let you down. This isn't some dignitary of earth. This is the Son of God from heaven. Come unto me. All ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will, I will, I will give you rest. A friend of mine, Renny Sears, often tells how he gets saved. I'm always reminded of what he said. Very concerned about his sins. A very nice French-Canadian chap. Sweet accent on him. And he turns around and he said to me, Peter, I was so concerned about my sins, I went to this big evangelistic meeting in a tent, mind you. And he said, the man we're preaching, and the man was preaching, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Great message. That's the words of the Christ. You know what happened during that meeting? Renny was kind of mixed up. He'd never been to an evangelistic meeting before. And the man said, come unto me. He got out of his seat and walked down the old aisle, come up to the place at the bottom of the thing, standing like a man. You know what the man said to him? God bless him for saying it. He said, son, I can do nothing for you. I'm just preaching about one who can't. Go to your seat. As Renny went home from that meeting in the car, a drunkard, in prison three or four times, as miserable as sin could make him, empty inside and looking for peace. He came out and he literally got down on his knees in front of his parked car. Here's what he said. Lord Jesus, I'm coming to thee. Don't throw me away. Don't throw me away. Lord Jesus, I'm coming to thee. Don't throw me away. You know what he said? He didn't. He never would. In this meeting tonight, you turn to Christ. You trust the Savior that died at Calvary to meet your needs. That's what it means. Come unto me. Simply put your eternal welfare into his capable hands and thereby receive eternal life. And the Savior says, come unto me, all ye that labor under a heavy laden. Isn't that your description tonight? And I will give you rest. My, you've tried everything else. You've gone everywhere else and it's not helped. Why don't tonight you just simply come to Christ just as you are and he'll give you rest. God bless his word. Our Father, we thank thee for thy Son, the Lord Jesus. And pray thy blessing upon thy word. Ask thee, Lord, to remember each one here tonight, those that have trusted Christ, those that are still in their sins. The Savior's words might not only ring through this tent, but ring through their hearts. And there might be souls in this meeting tonight who simply will trust him, let go of every other hope or expectation, and simply rest there all for eternity on the person and the finished work of Christ, the one who loved them and gave himself for them. We ask thy blessing in his worthy and his precious name. Amen. Now we're just going to sing a few verses, number 128. 128. You know what? I don't want you to stand up for this because I want you all sitting down so you can think about what you're singing. Okay? So you don't need to stand up for this one. Just think about what you're singing. Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come.