for the unprecedented third time and second to
have a speaker back at Bristol.
I've never done that before, but God wanted
it, so he just went right along with
his will to have back our brother Dr.
Carl Armending from Dallas.
He had another thing in his favor.
He's a right fair singer too, as well
as preacher, you know, so if they hadn't
invited him back as a speaker, I was
going to recommend he come as a soloist.
Anyway, so we would get him back one
way or the other, but it's my pleasure
to again present to you one of God's
choice servants indeed, our brother Dr. Carl Armending.
For our meditation at this time, will you
please turn to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 11.
Matthew's Gospel, chapter 11, and commencing at verse
15.
He that hath ears to hear, let him
hear.
But whereunto shall I liken this generation?
It is like unto children sitting in the
markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying,
We've piped unto you, and ye have not
danced.
We've mourned unto you, and ye have not
lamented.
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and
they say, He hath the devil.
The Son of Man came eating and drinking,
and they say, Behold, a man thoughtless, and
a wine-bibber of friend of publicans and
sinners.
But wisdom is justified of her children.
Then began he to upraise the cities wherein
most of his mighty works were done, because
they repented not.
Woe unto thee, for raisins!
Woe unto thee, but say that 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 have been
done in thee have been done in Sodom,
it would have remained unto this day.
But I say unto you, it shall be
more tolerable for the land of Sodom at
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 in
the wise and the prudent, and hast revealed
them unto me.
And
I
will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of
me, for I am meek and lowly in
heart, and ye shall find rest unto your
souls, for my yoke is easy, and my
burden is light.
I call your special attention to the question
raised by our Lord in the sixteenth verse
of this chapter, where he says, But where
unto shall I liken this generation?
Our Lord was accused of many things when
he was here on earth.
We find some of these accusations right here
in this chapter, but he was never accused
of not being contemporary.
This is something which is hurled at us
sometimes by some of our contemporaries.
They say we're not contemporary.
They think we're either talking too far back
in the past, especially when we talk about
the Lord dying upon the cross 2,000
years ago, or we're too occupied with the
future.
We're looking ahead, but we haven't anything to
say, so they say, for the presence in
which we live.
This is an accusation which one hears quite
frequently, especially from those of us who are
known as fundamental preachers.
But our Lord is very contemporary here.
He takes a look at the generation that
was then living, and he asks this question,
What is this generation really like?
And I think his answer to his own
question would fit well the day in which
we live.
But you notice that the Lord Jesus doesn't
take a home scene here to answer his
question.
He doesn't say, Let's go into their homes
and see how they live.
He doesn't say, Let's go into the synagogue
and see how they worship.
He says, Let's go to the marketplace.
Let's go to their place of business and
see how they behave themselves there.
You notice that?
He says they're like children, and the word
which he uses here for children is one
which really means immature.
An immature generation who are sitting in the
marketplace, the place of business, the place where
you'd expect them to be really serious about
what they're doing, and here they're sitting down
and making a sort of a theatrical performance
of life, both in its joys and in
its sorrows.
And I don't need to labor the point
to say that we believe we're living in
a generation very much like that today.
To them, if you really want them to
work, they feel insulted because you're interfering with
their liberty.
And some of the ads that we hear
over the radio, for example, or see on
the television, seem to confirm this.
Not so long ago, sitting in my apartment
in Dallas, I listened to a little sales
talk, you know, which comes in in those
five-minute news periods when about three minutes
is devoted to the commercials, and one of
the commercials went like this.
There's a man, he wants to hire a
secretary.
Girl comes in, he says, can you write
shorthand?
She says, no.
Can you typewrite?
No, but I use none too bright toothpaste.
You're hired.
Now, this is the thing, making a sort
of a play of life, and this was
on prime time right after six o'clock
in the evening.
Imagine the American public being fed with this
kind of stuff of one of the leading
broadcasting companies in our country.
So, I don't think that I'm unjust or
unfair in saying that we have here a
verse which really describes the generation which we
live, for the most part, making a sort
of a theatrical performance of life, typing and
dancing and so on, and disturbed because some
of us don't respond to this.
They claim they can't be heard, they claim
we don't listen.
But, you notice how the Lord Jesus turns
this on themselves when he points out that
when there were certain ones who came to
them with a message, they entirely misrepresented and
misjudged them.
For example, here's John the Baptist comes to
them with a very solemn message.
You remember his real text was, repent ye
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,
and they said this man's off his rock.
He's got a devil, he's got a demon.
They don't like this kind of preaching, and
so they resort to the manner in which
many people do when they've lost a real
argument.
They make an attack on the person himself.
You can always tell when a debater has
lost an argument, he begins to attack his
honorable opponent.
That's exactly what they do here.
Then, the Lord Jesus comes along, who really
socializes, and he sat down with publicans and
sinners and ate with them.
And, instead of approving of this, they say
here's a man that's gluttonous and a wine
giver, a friend of publicans and sinners, exactly
the kind of people he came to call.
So that, you see, they're never satisfied whether
it be the solemn message of judgment to
come, and a calling upon people to repent
of their sins, or if the Lord comes
with a gracious invitation, he also is misrepresented.
And then, our Lord launches in to one
of the strangest and most solemn passages in
the scripture.
I know of no other place, unless it
be the 23rd chapter of this St. Book
of Matthew, where our Lord Jesus displays his
greatest fight.
For he began to abrade the cities, verse
20, wherein most of his mighty works were
done.
And we have mentioned here one city, Chorazin,
which they can't even locate the ruins of
today.
It's gone.
And, Bethsaida, and the Lord Jesus says some
of his mighty works were done in those
cities.
He says, and if those mighty works which
are done in you had been done in
Tyre and Sidon, Tyre and Sidon, two cities
on the Mediterranean, on the coast of what
is known as the Holy Land, Tyre noted
for its commerce, its business, Sidon a sort
of a sister city.
The Lord said, if these cities which were
devoted so much to their own interest, if
they had had the mighty works done in
them that have been done in you, they
would have repented in sackcloth and ashes long
ago.
And we need only to mention this, dear
friends, to show how applicable this is to
the day in which we live.
Where is there a generation who has ever
had a greater demonstration of the power of
God than the generation in which you and
I live?
I'm talking now not about God's power in
creation.
They're exploring that constantly.
What they'll find when they actually put their
feet on the moon, if they ever do.
This is not what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about God's power to save precious
souls.
And even though we don't see a revival
in our own country, thank God we are
seeing it in other parts of the world.
There's a revival going on right now in
the great country of Indonesia.
People simply cannot account for it.
A great revival going on in the very
heart of Africa, where we have assemblies which
far outnumber any assemblies in the United States
or Canada.
God doing a mighty work among these people.
Yes, God is saving souls, even though you
and I don't see very much of it
where we live.
As a matter of fact, sometimes we're quite
inclined to refer to our towns as a
sort of a saint's rest, instead of the
devil's roost.
But, anyhow, dear friends, this is typical of
the age in which we live, and the
Lord Jesus is here making this comparison.
But, he goes on to make a comparison
which is even more unfavorable when he singles
out the city of Capernaum as he does
in verse 23.
And, Capernaum, as you know, was a city
which our Lord specially chose as his residence.
There are three places outside of Jerusalem which
are very intimately connected with the life of
our Lord.
There is, of course, Bethlehem where he was
born, and there's Nazareth where he was brought
up.
But, Capernaum was the city which chose himself
to make his residence there, and I have
no doubt that it's for this reason that
he said, "...and thou, Capernaum, which art exalted
to heaven."
Imagine having a man like the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Lord of Glory, as one of
their chief citizens.
He says of Capernaum, this highly favored city,
and I'm going to use it this morning
as an illustration of many of the cities
in our country who have known the power
and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.
"...thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, if
the mighty works which were done in thee
had been done in Sodom."
What'd you say?
Sodom?
That city which has one of the worst
reputations of any city mentioned in the holy
scripture?
That city which has given its name to
one of the most unnatural sins that men
commit?
You mean to say that Capernaum is going
to be contrasted with the city of Sodom?
Yes, and we could say the same, dear
friends, of many cities in our own country.
Yes, they might well be compared with Sodom.
"...if the mighty works had been done in
Sodom which were done in thee, it would
have repented long ago."
Oh, think of this!
This tells us, dear friends, that you and
I are living in a privileged age where
we've seen the power of God in a
marvelous way.
Don't think for one moment, dear friends, that
we're being allowed to enjoy the privileges which
we do as a so-called Christian nation
without some responsibility being attached to it.
We shall certainly have to answer for all
the privileges which we have had, and God
help us in that day when we see
people standing before the throne who have never
heard the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and hear God saying to us that because
we've had the greater privileges, we shall have
the greater judgment.
How does the Lord know this?
How could he say it'd be more tolerable
in the day of judgment for the land
of Sodom than for thee?
How could he say this?
Because he's the judge.
He's going to conduct that case, dear friends,
and this is a solemn fact to remember
here this morning, and I address myself now
particularly to anyone present who may not yet
know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
Remember, dear friends, the very one who is
offering you eternal life, who is offering you
the pardon of your sins and peace with
God, is the very one that you're going
to have to face as your judgment if
you don't take advantage of this day of
grace.
Yes, it's going to be more tolerable for
the land of Sodom in that day, it
says, the one who's going to be the
judge.
Then, strange to say, having delivered this awful
solemn statement here, our Lord now changes into
a mood of gratitude.
To me, it's very interesting to watch the
mood of our Lord Jesus in this passage
of scripture, the way in which it changes.
Do you notice that now he begins to
address his Father as we have it here
in verse 25?
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 the prudent, and hast revealed
them unto thee, even so, Father, for so
it seemed good in thy sight.
There's a Lord Jesus giving thanks for something
that you and I probably think is rather
strange.
Why shouldn't he give thanks that people have
another opportunity?
But, he's talking here about another class of
individuals when he says, thou hath revealed them
unto babes.
This is a different word from the children
mentioned there in the 16th verse when he
says he likens them to children, or immature
people.
The word here used for babes is a
word which means people who have not been
spoiled, people whose minds have never been, shall
I say, defiled by any of the philosophies
of men, and I wouldn't be surprised that
the wise and prudent to whom the Lord
Jesus makes reference here are those great philosophers
who had their day before he came into
the world.
You know, we have two of these schools
of philosophy mentioned for us in the book
of the Acts where Paul is preaching at
Athens, and the Epicureans and the Stoics were
there.
Two leading schools of philosophy.
The Epicureans were practically atheists, practically that.
They had lots of gods, but they didn't
recognize any particular one as being supreme.
They were the kind of people that of
whom we would say nowadays they're living it
up, living it up.
They live for pleasure.
This was their philosophy of life.
Of course, they will tell you if you've
studied the philosophy of Epicurus, they'll tell you
that Epicurus never intended for anybody to indulge
in a pleasure that cost too much.
There always had to be a pleasure that
he'd never regret.
That, of course, is basic to his philosophy,
but how many, instead of counting the cost,
they live it up.
And again, we have a perfect illustration of
what many people are doing today.
The Stoics, on the other hand, were people
who attempted to shut out of their lives
anything that would disturb their peace, and if
they had to go through any kind of
an unpleasant experience, they looked upon it more
or less as something they couldn't do anything
about.
It was the will of the gods.
They were pantheists.
They believed that God was imminent in everything.
God is in this desk, he's in this
microphone, what have you.
He's in the seat on which you sit,
he's in the clouds, he's in the birds.
Pantheism, which we have a modern illustration in
Christian science which is a pantheistic system, and
also a Stoical system.
And, in addition to these two schools of
philosophy mentioned for us in the Bible, we
have, of course, the honored names of Socrates,
Plato, Aristotle.
All of these lived in the five centuries
preceding the Christian era.
They were the wise and the prudent, and
I have no doubt that Saint Paul had
them in mind when he wrote that first
chapter of 1 Corinthians when he said, when
the world by its wisdom or by its
philosophy knew not God, it pleased God by
the foolishness of preaching to save them the
belief.
And yet, men in these days are turning
again to these philosophies.
Today, we have a school of philosophy which
is very popular at the moment.
It's called existentialism.
I've often been asked for a definition of
that.
Well, I've tried my level best to find
a simple one, but about all I can
come up with is something like this.
There are people who believe in the here
and now, but they haven't much time for
the there and then.
The there and then may refer to the
past, the there and then may refer to
the future, but they are living entirely for
the present.
One of their great leaders, a Frenchman by
the name of Descartes, years ago expressed his
philosophy in three Latin words which translated are,
I think, therefore I am.
But, he didn't tell you what makes you
think.
So that you're the you're the result of
thinking, not of creation, not of some being
who brought you into being such as you
and I as Christians believe.
All of these were the wise and the
prudent that had had their day when the
Lord Jesus stood up and made this statement.
And yet, dear friends, here nearly 2,000
years after the Lord Jesus made this statement,
the 2,000 years or so after Saint
Paul wrote those words to which I referred
in 1 Corinthians, the first chapter, when the
world by its wisdom knew not God, it
pleased God by the foolishness of the preaching
to save them that believe.
They're still at it, still teaching our young
people the same thing.
And, I've been in these institutions of learning.
I thank God the one with which I
was connected for some 14 years is very
careful to point out to its students the
failure of these philosophies to give man that
for which his heart craves.
Or, as Saint Augustine put it one day,
his words have been variously translated, but it's
something like this, our hearts are restless till
they rest in thee.
And so, we find our Lord having given
expression to this, and having thanked his Father
that he'd hidden these things from the wise
and the prudent, and revealed them unto babes,
those who were willing to come in all
their innocence and simplicity to hear what God
has to say.
And now, we come to that which is
one of the sweetest passages in all the
Word of God.
Look at these words in verse 28 and
follow us now.
Come unto me.
How simple.
You know this word, come, a word of
one syllable.
It's one of those words that we teach
our babies almost from the beginning of their
lives, don't we?
What father or grandfather has not bowed over
the crib of a precious little child, and
held out his fingers and said, come?
And, you're using God's simple language to a
sinful soul.
Way back in the reason together said the
Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow.
Though they were red like crimson, they shall
be as wool.
Come.
The woman at the well learned the same
thing, when after having tasted the living water
from the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ,
she went into the city and said to
the men, come.
Come, see a man who told me all
things, whatever I did is not this, the
Christ.
I can't think of any words simpler than
this, unless it be the word look.
Look unto me and be saved all the
ends of the earth.
Oh, how simple the gospel is, isn't it?
Have you ever thought of this, and I'm
sure some of you have, that the verse
which is probably better known than any other
verse in the New Testament, John 3 16,
that the first 10 words in that verse
are words of one syllable, for God so
loved the world that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whoso believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life.
Oh, that's putting it down where the simplest
of us can understand it.
Yes, God's word is simple.
Come unto me.
Yes, but sometimes we wonder who the speaker
is who could use words like these.
Years ago, listening to the late Dr. Ironside,
he's telling a story of a Japanese convert
in the city of Los Angeles.
This Japanese was so thrilled that God had
reached his heart with the gospel of his
grace that he wanted to leave a testimony
in his cobbler shop where he was a
cobbler.
So, he thought he'd put these words into
Japanese, which he did.
Come unto me, all ye that labor and
are heavy laden, I will give you rest.
And, his Japanese customers came in and saw
this text on the wall, and they got
to arguing among themselves.
Who said this?
Did Buddha say this?
Buddha, by the way, he also lived some
five or six centuries before the Christian era.
Yes, he's got a lot of adherents today
in the Orient, and some even in our
own country.
But, as they looked at these words and
said, I don't remember anywhere that Buddha ever
said anything like that.
And, along comes a Confucianist, and he says,
well, I don't remember that Confucius ever said
anything like that.
And, along comes a Muslim, and he looks
at it, and he says, and I don't
remember that Muhammad ever said anything like that.
And, then they turned to the cobbler, Mr.
Yamaguchi, and they said, who said this?
And, he looked at them in astonishment, he
said, who could say it but the Lord
Jesus?
Friends, this is unique.
This belongs to one person only.
This belongs to the blessed son of God,
who says to a sin-sick, tired soul,
like you may be here this morning without
the Lord Jesus that has come to me,
I'll give you, I won't sell you, I'll
give you rest as a gift.
And, you know, dear friends, back of this
is all the mighty work of Calvary, for
our Lord was here anticipating the day when
he was going to take the very load
which he invites you to roll upon him.
He was going to bear that load on
Calvary's cross to you and for me.
Oh, what a load was thine to bear
alone in that dark hour.
Our sins in all their terror there, God's
wrath and Satan's power.
Yes, he bore that in order that he
might be able to say to you and
me this morning, come unto me, come unto
me all you that labor and are heavy
laden, I will give you.
What it costs the son of God to
make that good, dear friends, is not revealed
in this passage of scripture, but it is
revealed before you get to the end of
this gospel.
And sometimes when one sits down and meditates
on a text like this, it's one of
the best things you can do is to
ask yourself, how could he make such a
statement?
How could he do it?
To invite whosoever will let him come.
He doesn't put any restrictions here except to
say, all you that labor and are heavy
laden.
And dear friends, I wouldn't limit this this
morning to those who have never come to
the Savior, but I've discovered as I come
to conferences like this that many of God's
children are bearing burdens today.
Oh, and some of them have real burdens.
These are days when Satan is making a
bid for our children and our grandchildren, the
like of which I don't think I've ever
seen in all my life.
If there's one thing I'm burdened with as
I pray from morning to morning, is I
remember not only my children, but my 18
grandchildren, to bring their names to him and
think of these young people, some of them
in schools of learning where they're exposed to
all kinds of infidelity.
Talking to a grandson of mine just last
February down in Altadena, California, and he's attending
a school which is a religious school where
they have to take Bible studies.
He says, you know, Grandpa, we learned in
school that the Israelites never crossed the Red
Sea, like it says in the Bible.
They just went across the mud flat.
I said, well, but the Bible says something
about the standing up on either side of
them like a wall, and it's in the
same chapter.
Oh, well, he said, it just looked like
that in the dark, had all the answers.
They get these answers from these infidel professors
who are actually teaching in these supposed Christian
schools of learning, and teaching a young lad
in his early teens this kind of stuff.
And then he went on further to say,
and you remember the story about them crossing
the Jordan River?
I said, yes, I remember the story well.
I said, what do you got to say
about that one?
Well, he said, you know, there must have
been a landslide up the river, and the
land slid down, stopped the water from coming
across, and that's how the Israelites got across
the Jordan.
I said, remarkable, that happened just when they
wanted it to happen.
And it stayed long enough for them all
to get across, and very deliberate, even after
they were all across, there were certain ceremonies
which still had to be carried on.
I said, son, I said, you better come
back to a simple faith in the old
statement of the word of God.
If God moves those waters back, he looked
at me as much as he said, poor
grandpa, he belongs to a past age.
I mention these things, dear friends, to show
you we've got our burdens, we really have.
And, oh, to be on our faces before
God, crying to him that somehow he will
bring these young people to a point where
they'll put their simple, childlike trust in the
Son of God.
Oh, am I speaking to some of you
who are younger here this morning?
I'm so pleased to see you.
One of the highlights of the Bristol Conference
to me is to see such a large
proportion of young people here.
Let me pass on something to a man
who's been around here for some fourscore years.
This thing that I'm talking about really works,
and I've seen it work not only in
my own life, saw it work in the
lives of my parents, I saw it work
in the lives of others whom it has
been my privilege to preach to and bring
to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yes, it really was.
Come unto him.
Oh, he that labor, whatever the load may
be, whether it be a load of sin
that you cannot shake off, whether it be
a load of care that's weighing you down
with all of its weight, he says, come
unto me.
You say, but preacher, isn't there anything else
I need to do besides come?
Yes, there's one thing to do.
He says, and take my yoke upon you.
That tells me, dear friends, he wants us
to be submissive to him.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of
me, for I am meek and lowly in
heart, and ye shall find rest of your
souls.
Oh, friends, I'm afraid that here's where some
of us fall down.
We claim to be Christians.
We claim to believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, but we've never submitted to his Lordship,
as we were hearing so eloquently put last
night in that address on the sixth chapter
of Romans.
Oh, friends, to take his yoke means that
you submit yourself to his will.
I had this impressed upon me when I
was just a young lad up to Nova
Scotia to a Bible conference.
I was just 17 at the time, and
I was billeted on a farm where they
were still using oxen to pull their carts,
and there was coal to be hauled from
a certain, the Gasparro River there, and I
was asked if I would undertake to bring
over several loads of this coal.
Well, I had nothing else to do but
sit on the cart and poke a toxin
or haul a G to them, and they'd
go right and haul, and they'd go left.
They were trained for that.
I thought, this is wonderful.
They were easier to handle because I had
a great big heavy yoke on, but after
the day was over, the yoke was removed,
and I was asked if I would like
to take them down to the slough for
a drink of water.
Something else now.
It's true they had a rope around their
necks, but this little boy that weighed about
135 or 140 pounds at the time was
no match for them.
They were no longer being restrained by the
yoke when a boy sitting on the cart
could poke him and make him go where
he wanted to go.
No, they were no longer under my control.
Friend, is this a picture of some of
us who have never submitted to the loving
will of our Lord Jesus?
Friend, I don't know anything sweeter in all
my life than to start each day with
this very saying as I whispered in the
ears of my Lord, Lord, I'm here once
again this morning to submit myself to thy
perfect will.
Come unto me, all of you that are
here.
Friend, if you've never done it, won't you
just stop around for a few minutes after
this meeting?
There are just dozens of people in here
who would be delighted to speak to you
about this, who would think it a great
privilege if you were to approach them and
say, you've got this rest about which the
preacher was talking, and you tell me how
I can get it.
Don't you leave this place this morning without
it.
This may be the last time you'll ever
have an opportunity.
Tomorrow's sun may never rise to bless thy
long-deluded sight.
This is the time.
Oh, thank you, Lord.
Do it now.
In closing, let us turn to hymn number
47.
Hymn number 47.
I heard the voice of Jesus say, come
unto me and rest.
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down thy
head upon my breast.
I came to Jesus.
I hope you'll be able to put it
in that tense.
I came to Jesus as I was, weary
and worn and sad.
I found in him a resting place, and
he has made me glad.
Number 47.
Let's stand to sing.
I heard the voice of Jesus say, come
on.
I heard the voice.
Our gracious God and our Father, we thank
thee for this sweet invitation of our Lord
Jesus.
We thank thee, O God, that even though
we merited all the judgment of which he
spoke earlier, when he said it would be
more tolerable in that day of judgment for
the land of Sodom than for us, yet
how gracious, O Lord, how gracious of thee
to turn to a people who have sinned
so grievously against thee and say, come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest.
Lord, grant that these words may find an
effective response in some heart here this morning,
and for those of us, Lord, who may
be carrying burdens that we find far too
heavy for us, let us learn afresh, Lord,
what it means to come unto thee, with
all the weight of cares upon us, to
cast it all upon thee, Lord, and know
that thou will sustain us.
To this end, bless thy word, and speed
us now with thy benediction.
Bless us during the time between the meetings.
Bless us as we sit around the tables
together, and we'll give thee all the praise
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.