Isn't it weird that we as humans very often have a hard time resting? Just resting. I mean, what could be easier than rest? And yet we can't get enough sleep, we can't slow down, can't get the mind to stop buzzing. And aside from physical rest, mental rest, emotional rest, just can't get that rejuvenating calm that we need. Why? Why is it so hard? In Matthew 11, Jesus made an amazing promise, and yet it's a promise that many Christians, millions of Christians, feel like it's never fulfilled for them. Here's what he said. He said, you will find rest for your soul. Sounds amazing, right? What an incredible thing. Deep, rejuvenating, restoring rest. How many times have you been dredged to the breaking point? You're exhausted. Even after eight hours of sleep, you wake up dead tired. Not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually. No energy, barely enough strength. to grind through another day, and you just crave peace in a relentless world, but you're overwhelmed by the endless tasks and demands on you, and you try to get away for a little R&R, you come back just as drained as ever. You come back from vacation just as tired as ever. Why won't your efforts to rest work? Why doesn't it work? In Mark 6, Jesus' disciples came back from a mission trip where they were completely overwhelmed. They didn't even have time to eat. So many demands on them. And Jesus took them away to a quiet place to get some rest. And when he did that, he taught a very profound lesson about rest that can really help you. Let's take a look at this clip from my sermon on Mark 6, 30-32, and we'll learn Jesus' secret about real rest. Then stick around to the end because after the clip, I'm going to share insight that I found super helpful for the connection between finding rest and loving God. So Jesus is there. He's doing whatever he's doing. Here comes James and John. And they're all excited to see him. He's excited to see them. They start catching up. And pretty soon, oh, here comes Thomas and James and their duo. They went out in twos. And wow, it looks like they've They've really been through the wringer. And then they come and, oh, there's Philip and Andrew coming. And they're coming back. And two by two, each of the six teams finally come back. And verse 30 says, the apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and taught. I bet. I mean, you just go on a vacation and you want to tell your family and friends everything that happened. Can you imagine a trip where you were out there raising the dead and driving out demons and doing miracles and preaching for the first time? Can you imagine what that would be like? I'm sure they wanted to talk to Jesus. They're busting at the seams to talk to Jesus and ask Him lots of questions about all they had done, all those miracles, You can imagine what that was like. Jesus, Nathaniel and I, we found a hospital and we cleared the place out. We healed everybody and even raised a dead person. And yet, the people, some of them still, they don't believe. Why is that? And then Jesus says, okay, let's go back to the parables. Remember when I was telling you about the soils, the different kinds of hearts, and people receive the word based on their heart? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right, that's right, we remember. But what about this? We healed this one guy, and he offered us money. He said that he would support the ministry. What do you do in a case like that? And Jesus said, well, remember when I told you, freely you have received, freely give. And so I'm sure they had all kinds of questions about their miracles and what they were doing, and then also about their teaching. It says. They might have asked, you know, Jesus, whenever we brought up the kingdom of God, we would preach about that. And they would say, well, what's Messiah going to do about Rome and the problem of the Romans? And what should we say when they ask us that? Or when we call people to repent, some of them would say that they didn't need to repent because they're children of Abraham. They're already the people of God. How do you handle that one, Jesus? Jesus, he starts to give them an answer, but before he could get it out, some great big guy steps right in front of him and grabs him and says, Jesus, please, my wife, she's dying. You gotta come help her, you gotta heal her, she's gonna die. And Jesus is like, wait a minute, I'm trying to talk to my disciples here. And then right then, somebody pulls Peter's robe and yanks him away and says, my cousin, you healed my cousin yesterday? Well, my niece now is sick and you need to come and can you touch my niece? And as soon as those people would leave, others would come. They would leave, others would come. It was a madhouse. And so verse 31, so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat. Nathanael gets a nice bagel, he spreads some cream cheese on his bagel, and before he can put a bite in his mouth, someone else comes up and pulls him away. The whole thing was just relentless. And then to make matters worse, They get some crushing news. Some messengers come running up and Jesus can tell right away, something's wrong. And he says, what is it? And they say, it's your cousin, John the Baptist. Is he okay? Jesus, he's dead. Murdered. By Herod at a party. Finally, Jesus just pulls the plug on this whole thing. And He says, okay, verse 31, He said to them, come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest. And so they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. Now, Jesus is just pulling the plug on this whole crowd. Does this crowd need Him? Yes. Could He have done a lot of good ministering to this crowd? Yes. But there's some times when you just have to say no. You can't sacrifice the important on the altar of the urgent. And what was important was him debriefing with the disciples and getting some rest. And so Jesus makes a command decision here. He says, we're taking a day off. We're closed. We're going to take a day off. There are times when you need to do that. You need to step away from ministry and rest. God designed us to need rest. And He did that on purpose. He didn't have to design us that way. You know, He could have made us, He could have made your whole body like your heart. You know, your heart never takes a break, right? From the time before you're even born, in the womb, it starts pumping, never stops until the day you die, never takes a single break, never takes a rest your whole life. Your heart can do that. God could have made your whole body do that, if He wanted to. He purposely designed you so that you would keep getting tired and keep needing rest. Why did He do that? Well, I can think of several reasons. Maybe He did it so that we would depend on Him, we wouldn't get proud, we wouldn't depend on ourselves, that we would be humble, that we would pray, all that. I can think of several reasons why. But have you ever thought of this as a reason for why God designed us to get tired? I think one reason is because there are attributes of God that you can never experience unless you're tired. You know, the most important thing that can ever happen to you as a human being is to experience one of the attributes of God. Because then you're seeing His glory. So that's the best thing that can ever happen to you. And there are some attributes of God, some things that are true about God that you can't understand, you can't appreciate, you can't enjoy unless you're tired. For example, the fact that He is the giver of rest. That's one of his attributes. He is the giver of rest. And you just can't appreciate that unless you're tired. The more fatigued you are, the more delightful God's rest is, right? apart from God's grace, we're not capable of rest. Did you know that? That's how helpless we are. Have you ever think about it? We're so helpless, we can't even rest on our own. Did you know that you can't even get a good night's sleep unless God enables you to? But in His mercy and love, He does enable us to rest, and it's a wonderful experience. Every time you're just really exhausted, you plop down in your favorite chair, and it just feels good to just relax, You're experiencing the presence of God. You're experiencing one of his attributes. God is giving you that rest. And you're experiencing something about him that's especially delightful. Every time you lie down in bed and you just think, oh, it's so good to just get some rest, to lie down finally, you're learning something about what God is like. He's the giver of rest. So rest is a good thing. It's a wonderful thing. In Matthew 11, Jesus compared rest to salvation. Salvation is basically God's rest. In Old Testament times, what was the holiest day of the week? The day of rest, right? The Sabbath. Now we have to be careful because in our flesh, sometimes we try to get too much rest and we get lazy. There are workaholics and there are leisureaholics, right? And we can go either way. Leisure is kind of like food. It's great when you need it, but if you keep having it when you don't need it, then you've got problems. Jesus rest definitely wasn't laziness. Jesus was certainly not lazy. He worked hard. He got up early, stayed up late, worked like crazy. He loved the work of the ministry. He loved it. So we need wisdom to know when to keep working and when to rest. But there are times when the most Christ-like thing you can do is take a nap. So, we know that we need rest from God, but the big question is, how do you get rest? What should you do when you're worn out, when you're burned out, and you just need rejuvenation? How do you get it? How do you get recharged? Entertainment? What did Jesus do? He didn't go to entertainment, right? We never have any record that Jesus used entertainment for rest. What did he do? He always went off to an isolated place alone to be with the Father, to spend time with the Father in prayer. And that's an important example for us because so often when we get tired and we want to recharge our batteries, what do we do? We sit down in front of the TV or we take in some inane dribble from online or we watch a movie. One way or another, we expose ourselves to the world. That's not rest. Physically, it is. Mentally, it is. Because you don't have to use your brain watching TV, right? But spiritually, it's not rest. It's warfare. Remember, when you subject yourself to TV or movies or anything like that, those things are designed by Satan to influence you to make God seem less real, and to make spiritual truths seem less attractive, and to make sin seem more attractive. And so you've got to fight that. Is it possible to watch TV or watch a movie and not be harmed because you've got your spiritual armor on and all that? Yeah, yeah, you can do that. But that's... If you're alert, you've got your armor on, if you're fighting against those worldly influences, then yeah, you can do okay. But who in his right mind would do that for rest? That's not how you get... No soldier says, man, I'm exhausted. I think I'll go up to the front lines for a little R&R. No. That's not where you rest. Jesus went to be alone with the Father when he needed to be recharged. And what does he teach the disciples to do here? Verse 31. He said to them, come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest. The key there is the come with me part, right? Just getting away from it all isn't going to give you rest. You've got to get away from it all with Jesus. You've got to be alone with Christ. That's the only way to rest the weary soul. You can rest your body, you can rest your mind all day long. You don't rest your soul, your spirit, then you're going to get worn out. Your soul will remain exhausted even while your body feels okay. Matthew 11, 28, come to me all you who are weary and burdened, Jesus said, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and you'll find rest for your souls. He said, come to me and you'll find rest for your souls. If you're not finding rest for your soul, you're not coming to Jesus. You're not close enough to Jesus. Why is it so rare for us to ever say, man, I am exhausted. I think I'm just going to take my Bible and go be alone with God for a couple hours. Just take a walk or find a creek somewhere and sit and pray and just be alone with God. It's hard because getting this kind of rest can be actually physically demanding, right? It might cost you some sleep. It might cost you, you might have to go somewhere. It can be mentally taxing, physically taxing. But physical leisure won't do you any good without spiritual rejuvenation, and you need this to be spiritually rejuvenated. So listen to what Jesus is saying in this passage to his disciples, because he's saying it to you too, and to me, come away with me by yourselves to a deserted place and get some rest. Have you ever given any thought before to that idea of the fact that there are certain attributes of God that you can't experience unless you're tired? There's certain things about God and about the grace you receive from Him that only come in those moments when you're exhausted, stretched to the breaking point. Those interactions with God are different from the type you normally have. So fatigue is a good thing. There's something very special about the times when God comes alongside you and rejuvenates you with His grace. Now you might hear that and say, I have no idea what you're even talking about. That never happens to me. Well, remember Jesus' secret to getting rest, being alone with God, getting away and connecting with God. Back to that Matthew 11 passage. Remember what he said? He said, you will find rest for your souls, but what you have to do in order to get it. What do you have to do? He said, come to me and you will find rest for your soul. come to me." Now what does that mean? What kind of coming is that? Because obviously it's not geographical. It's not you come from these coordinates and move southeast to that. It's not spatial movement. It's relational movement. Move closer to Jesus relationally. Draw near to Him. You will get rest for your soul when you draw near to Him relationally. And you hear that and think, oh, yeah, but who has the energy to draw near to God when I'm exhausted? I mean, reading the Bible, that's hard work. Praying, that's hard mental effort. God says, you'll find me when you seek me with all your heart. Seeking God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, your strength, that takes a lot of strength and a lot of effort. And if I'm so tired and exhausted, I don't have the strength to do it. And not only that, but if I do summon the strength and I open my Bible and I read it, what about those times when I read my Bible and I pray and I don't feel any rest at all? What's the secret to getting that deep rest? Well, think about this. How do you draw near to a person other than God, someone besides God? What does it mean to draw near to a person, to really connect with them? Doesn't it happen when they express love to you and you receive it? You express love to them and they receive it? They give some gesture and you see it for what it is and enjoy it. You give a gesture back. That's what it means to connect relationally with someone in a love relationship. And that's what Jesus is calling you to do when he says, come to me. It has to do with enjoying God's love. Think about this. How many times do you think God will express his love to you today? Over the next 24 hours, how many times, how many gestures of love will God give you over the next day? Jesus said the sun rising on someone is a gesture of God's love. He said that in Matthew 6. That's one way he expresses his love, by just letting the sun rise on you. What are the chances the sun's going to rise on you tomorrow? It's going to happen, right? That's one. Truth is, you couldn't even count all the gestures of God's love for you in a given day. There's so many of them. and there's big ones and there's small ones. It could be anything, the sun rising on you in the morning, breath of fresh air, a tree that you see that's just a beautiful tree and you're able to appreciate it in the moment, or a cookie that hits the spot, or a smartwatch, or paved roads so you don't have to travel across a bumpy prairie in a covered wagon. Or AC or ice in your drink. You know, if you don't appreciate ice in your drink, I traveled to Europe one time. I was traveling with a music group for a while. And each night we stayed in a different host home. And one night I stayed with this family. It was an American family. They were a missionary family, and they had done something like what I was doing. And they said, you know what? We want you to just relax. We know that you're not supposed to complain about anything, but you can just feel like you're at home here. So tell us, what is the hardest thing for you about being here in Europe? And what is it that you miss the most in home? And so I said, oh, that's easy. Ice. And you know, in Europe, they serve Coke warm. And I could, no ice. They don't have ice in anything. So So I thought, man, an ice in my drink. Anyway, we had a laugh about that. I went to bed that night. I slept with the windows open because it had been real warm, but a cold front, a really unusual, very, very cold, cold front blew in overnight. And when I woke up in the morning, now, before I went to bed, I had washed my clothes in the sink. we were just traveling, we didn't have access to laundromats and everything, so I washed my clothes in the sink, I had jeans, I wrung them out the best I could, a cotton t-shirt, I hung them to dry, but you know how jeans are, they take days to dry, so anyway, this cold front comes in, I wake up in the morning, I'm freezing, I'm shivering, I practically got hypothermia, to save my life, I can't warm up, I put these jeans on, they're like frozen, and this freezing cold cotton, wet cotton t-shirt, I'm trying to do push-ups and sit-ups and somehow warm up. I cannot warm up. Finally, I'm shaking. I go down for breakfast, and these people had, after our conversation the night before, they had made ice for me. They gave me this huge cup full of ice water. And they really went out of their way. I had to drink this because they had it. It's not like they had ice trays or ice maker or anything. They had to get real creative and making all these pieces of ice. They present me with this cup of ice. Here you go. And I freeze to drink this. Anyway, that has nothing whatsoever to do with any of this. I just had to tell the story. All that to say, sometimes something as small as icing your drink, a gesture of God's love, or shelter from the wind and the sun and the rain, just feeling protected. Or maybe it's a podcast that helps you have new insight into the word of God, something you've never thought of before, or a device that works really great for listening to that podcast, or any of that. Over the next 24 hours, see if you can notice, you can notice all of God's gestures, but what about 10? What if you just watch for 10 gestures of God saying, I love you, I love you, and you receive it, you welcome it, you notice it for what it is, and you say, I love you too, God. That's what it means to come to Christ. You do that, and that's when you'll get that rejuvenating rest. The more you do that, the more of that rest you get. That's what Jesus promised. So over the next 24 hours, pick out 10 times that you're gonna recognize and enjoy God's gestures of love. And looking back in time, what are the last one or two gestures of God's love, the last one or two gifts that God gave you that he also gave you the ability to enjoy? So sometimes God gives a gift, but you don't get the ability to enjoy it. And you know what that's like. Sometimes you just can't, you can't enjoy anything. You get really depressed or something like that. So the gift of enjoyment is an extra gift. So what are the last couple of times when God not only gave you a gift, but he just enabled you to really appreciate it and to see the beauty of it, to really like it and enjoy it? Last one or two of those. Okay. You got them in your mind? You know what you're thinking of? Write it down, jot it in the comments. And the reason I'd like you to do this, I have three reasons why I think this would be a good idea for you to put it in the comments. First, it'll help you. It'll help you remember. You know how it is. You type something out. You write it out. That uses a different part of your brain than just thinking of it. If you just think of a concept and then move on with your day, it's not going to stick. But if you write it out, it's a much greater chance that you'll remember it. So what are the last couple of things that God enabled you to enjoy? Put them in the comments for your benefit. Second reason is for God's glory. This is a way to publicly worship God. Make this an act of worship. You can publicly declare God. You did this for me, you showed me this love, I want everybody to know it. You gave me the ability to enjoy this thing, I want everybody to know that you gave me this gift. So exalt in God's love publicly, praise His name. That's what praise is all about, public praise. It's such an important thing for glorifying God. So, put in the comments for your sake, for God's glory, and then for a third reason, for other people's sake. Because when other people are watching this video and they look at the comments and they see this thing that you were able to enjoy and especially appreciate, that might get some gears turned. They might say, wow, I never even thought of that as a gift from God, as a gesture of God's love. That happened to me too. Or maybe it'll get them to think about some other thing that happened to them that was a gesture of God's love. And then their worship will expand and accelerate and multiply because of you. Okay, so that's just the first segment of this sermon. We're not done with this sermon, so tune in next Monday. If you want to make sure you don't miss one, then subscribe, hit that alarm bell so that you'll get alerted when the next one drops. Until then, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and give you peace. Thank you for listening. If you found today's episode edifying, why not share it with a friend? A simple post on social media can change a person's day. This season, the Food for Your Soul podcast features excerpts from our sermon series on the Gospel of Mark. Over 130 expository sermons covering every verse. You can find those and hundreds of other sermons for free download on drichardferguson.com. Until next time, rejoice in the Lord always and set your mind on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.