'Short Bed And Narrow Covers' - Sermon Outlines. Org



"Short Bed And Narrow Covers"

Isaiah 28:20

INTRO. For us to truly appreciate our text we need to read it on some cold, frosty night. When the wind is howling outside and the earth is covered by a fresh blanket of newly fallen snow. The thought of having to endure through a night on a bed which is too short and a covering which so narrow we cannot wrap ourselves in it makes us begin to shudder. What a night of unrest and sleeplessness we would face! Not to mention the serious consequences which might ensue with our health. This is but a faint picture of the condition of the self-righteous. His resting place is too short for his need; his covering is frightfully narrow and totally inadequate. In fact, the self-righteous are short in everything. Romans 3:23 tells us, "…all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." The word "short" in the Greek means "to come last, to be last, behind, and inferior." All our righteousness is "behind and inferior" to the righteousness and glory of God! As Isaiah 64:6 tells us, "we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." Romans 3:10, "There is none righteous, no, not one." Anything less than a personal relationship with the LORD Jesus Christ is like a "Short bed and Narrow covers"! It is too short to meet our need and to narrow to serve as our covering!

So it was with these men of Jerusalem to whom this word was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. They were in jeopardy from other nations. Though still away from God, they had made their plans, and boasted about their rest and safety. But the LORD said, "Your refuge is a refuge of lies, you have found a resting place and a covering you think will hide you, but both are totally inadequate for your need. The overflowing scourge shall pass through, and ye shall be trodden down by it. You are wise in sensing danger, but you have erred in making to yourselves a refuge" (vv. 14-18). Is not this a warning to all mankind today? Any refuge other than Christ is a "refuge of lies." Any rest other than a faith that rests in Christ Jesus is a "Short bed." Any covering other than being covered with the blood is a "Narrow Covering." On what are you resting your hopes upon; what are you relying on as a covering? Have you fled to Christ as your refuge? Does your soul by faith rest in Him? Have you accepted by faith His blood as the covering for your sin? Or, Are you resting on a "Short bed with Narrow Covers"? Notice two things in the message with me today…

(1) The Need Of Rest

Matthew 11:28—“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

A. THE INVITATION OF THE SAVIOR. This is the greatest and sweetest

of all invitations ever spoken by our LORD Jesus! why? Because it

extends to every man. Rich or poor, bond or free, weak or strong. All

are invited to come! Rest speaks of peace of soul. There is no peace

apart from Jesus!

B. THE INTEREST OF THE SINNER. But before a person will come to

this rest they must first have:

1. A Conscious Need Of Rest. They must realize there can no other rest be found but this rest! They must be sick and tried of trying to find rest in anything else! They have tried good works, but found it to be a "short bed." They have tried baptism, but without faith and trust in Jesus Christ, have found it an empty ceremony and an inadequate covering! They have joined several different Churches, but none have met the need of peace and rest they feel deep within!

What need is there to talk of this resting place unless a person sees

there need to come to it? A person must be weary of his life as it is!

Wanting to see change before he will do anything about it! What are

some things that lead to weariness?:

• Disappointment. Life is full of disappointments. Life's friendships are often bitter disappointments. Many say, "I have tried many things to try and relief and remove life's disappointments, but have found all these things utterly hopeless. My friend, I want to tell you there is hope for disappointment today! Jesus Christ is that HOPE! All who trust in Him have a "living hope" (1 Peter 1:3)! Daily they experience His Love, Joy, and Peace in their lives! Daily they feel His power, presence, and protection in their lives! There is hope for disappointment. That hope is in Jesus!

• Distress. The LORD invites the heavy laden to come and He will give you rest! Many times the weight of our burden seems to heavy to bear. In fact, we can't bear them alone. Friend you may have many burdens in your life. The weight of them may seem to be crushing you, but the LORD is the great burden-bearer! He will give you rest if only you will come to Him! (Psalm 55:22; 1 Peter 5:7). Is the guilt of sin about to overwhelm you? Come to Jesus He will give you rest!

• Discouragement. The LORD invites those who labor. Those searching, seeking to be saved by being good enough! By being a good person. This is nothing more than a "Short bed with Narrow Covers"! NO amount of good works can save a person! (Matthew 7:21-23).

• Disease. One of the first symptoms of a diseased condition is weariness. A person feels tired all the time. He sleeps at night, but it is not a restful sleep. A person without Christ can sleep, but he is not at rest, for there's no rest except in Jesus! (Isaiah 57:20-21).

If a person is weary of his present life because of disappointment,

heavy burdens, labor, or disease; rest can be found in Jesus! Anything

less is a "Short bed with Narrow covers."

2. A Commitment To Seek That Rest. Jesus invites in Matthew

11:28-29—“Come unto me…take my yoke upon you. Learn of

me…". These words speak of two things:

1. DECISION. God has promised rest to all who would come unto Him, but unless a man comes He will not find rest! To come to Him is to trust Him (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 10:9-10, 13)! To refuse to trust Him is like trying to find rest in a “short bed with narrow covers." The bed is too short to meet the need and the covering is horribly inadequate! A saving knowledge of Jesus Christ is the greatest possible knowledge a man can ever know! Why? Because the wisest man in this life without Christ is a fool in the eyes of almighty God (Psalm 14:1; 1 Corinthians 3:19a). His wisdom with Christ is merely a “Short Bed with Narrow Covers." It cannot save him! The richest man in the world without Christ as Savior will perish with his riches! His money cannot not buy him a place in Heaven or in the Lamb's Book of Life! (1 Peter 1:18-19). His riches then are to him only a "Short Bed with Narrow Covers!” But any man can come to Jesus, no matter whether he is disappointed, distressed, discouraged, or diseased, and he will find rest for his soul!

2. DISCIPLESHIP. Coming to Christ is the initial step. But it is

growing process. Next we are to "take" His yoke upon us.

When we come to Christ for Salvation, He gives us rest. But as

we take His yoke upon us, we enter into the deeper rest of

surrender and obedience. And as we "learn" of Him, more and

more, the deeper and sweeter peace we find, because we can

trust Him more! Jesus instructed us to "Come, Take, and

Learn." The sweetest rest found is found when we trust, serve,

and learn of Christ our Savior! The more we do these three

things the sweeter our rest will be!

ILLUS: The rest which a troubled soul finds in Christ is like

the rest which the Pilgrim Fathers found on the

American continent. When they stepped upon the

shore free, feeling God's earth firm under their feet,

and seeing God's sunlight bright above their heads,

they said and sung, "This is our rest.” But they

meant not idleness. Each family member reared a

cabin in the bush, and forthwith waged war against

the desert, until they had subdued it, and turned it

into a fruitful field. Their resting-place was their

working-place; and none the worse in their esteem

was the rest because of the labor that accompanied it.

Beyond the reach of the tyrant, and past the dangers

of the sea, the rest they sought and found was a place

to work in, and useful labor was at hand (Elon Foster.

6000 Classic Sermon Illustrations. p. 669).

ILLUS: "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me... and you

will find rest unto your souls.” Matthew 11:29. When

a person trusts Christ for salvation, he experiences a

deep, settled peace. He knows that his sins are

forgiven and that he is on his way to heaven. But he

still may lack peace in facing the trials and difficulties

of life. F. B. Meyer talked about this problem in his

book "The Christ Life for Your Life." He wrote, "There

are tens of thousands of Christians who have got the

first rest, but have not got the second. They could look

death in the face without wavering, but they cannot

look panic, disaster, bereavement, pain, or trial in the

face without disquiet." On one occasion F. B. Meyer

visited D. L. Moody in Northfield, Massachusetts.

Moody, showing Meyer a team of oxen, said that

whenever one of those oxen was being yoked in, the

other, which might be on the far side of the farmyard,

would come trotting up and stand beside the other one

until it was yoked in also. Meyer then made this

encouraging application to us in our relationship to

Christ: "Jesus stands today with the yoke upon His

shoulder. He calls to each one and says, 'Come and

share My yoke, and let us plow together the long

furrow of your life. I will be a true yokefellow to you.

The burden shall be on Me.'" That's exactly what

Jesus promised us in Matthew 11:29.

Friends, we all need rest for our souls and rest can only be found in Jesus!

For the sinner it begins with the DECISION to trust Christ as Savior. For

the saint this rest blossoms as we practice DISCIPLESHIP in our lives and

follow Him in all! I find that discipleship means, first, truly living. It does not

mean a joy ride to heaven; it does not mean that there are no trials and no

burdens. But it does mean peace in your soul and joy in your heart, and a

sense, a supreme sense, of the smile of the Lord upon you. It is living. And

discipleship means that you are using your time on earth to the best

possible advantage. The Lord Jesus says so. -- William Culbertson in

Listening to the Giants. Christianity Today, Vol. 40, no. 8.

Let us also see…

(2) The Nearness Of Rest

John 5:24; 6:37; Rev. 22:17

A. THE SAVIOR’S CALL. There is rest to be found for the weary soul. The soul that is weary from life's disappointments, distressed over life's burdens, discouraged from seeking rest in goods works, or rituals, diseased because of the ravages of sin. There is rest in Jesus! “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” All person has to do to find rest is come to Jesus! The Lord Jesus said in John 5:24—“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” When a person comes to Jesus the Lord will receive him. John 6:37 promises, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” The man who comes to Christ receives pardon, peace, holiness and heaven!

B. THE SAVIOR’S COMPASSION. Jesus said, “…I will give you rest.”

"There is more safety with Christ in the tempest than without Christ in

the calmest of waters." --Alexander Grosse (Albert M. Wells, Jr.

Inspiring Quotations-Contemporary & Classical. p. 176). The writer of

Hebrews wrote in Hebrews 6:17-19a—“Wherein God, willing more

abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his

counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in

which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong

consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set

before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure

and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither

the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus…”. Listen friends, because

of Jesus we can enjoy peace and rest even in the midst of the storms of

life! The hymn writer asked:

Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,

When the clouds unfold their wings of strife?

When the strong tides lift and the cables strain,

Will your anchor drift, or firm remain?

Refrain

We have an anchor that keeps the soul

Steadfast and sure while the billows roll,

Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,

Grounded firm and deep in the Savior’s love.

It is safely moored, ’twill the storm withstand,

For ’tis well secured by the Savior’s hand;

And the cables, passed from His heart to mine,

Can defy that blast, thro’ strength divine.

Refrain

It will surely hold in the Straits of Fear—

When the breakers have told that the reef is near;

Though the tempest rave and the wild winds blow,

Not an angry wave shall our bark o’erflow.

Refrain

It will firmly hold in the Floods of Death—-

When the waters cold chill our latest breath,

On the rising tide it can never fail,

While our hopes abide within the Veil.

Refrain

When our eyes behold through the gath’ring night

The city of gold, our harbor bright,

We shall anchor fast by the heav’nly shore,

With the storms all past forevermore.

Refrain



ILLUS: It seems that practically everyone wants something they do

not have. Wealthy Hollywood actor Richard Dreyfuss is no

exception. Known for his successful contributions to the

thriller JAWS and most recently to the award-winning role as

a determined high school music teacher in the film MR.

HOLLAND'S OPUS, Dreyfuss rolled back the curtain of his

private thoughts in an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters.

Walters probed, "Richard, if you could have one wish, what

would that wish be?” Dreyfuss pondered for a few seconds

and then responded, "I would wish for inner security." He

nailed it. We all want it. And it only comes as we realize that

Christ paid for our sins and we are secure in Him once we

trust Him as our Savior. (Dr. David Alan Sylvester. Great

Stories. October-December 1996. p. 6).

The actor answered right. All men want inner peace and security; rest

for their weary souls. This rest can only be found in Jesus Christ.

How near is He (Isaiah 55:6-7)? Lost Friend, His ear is open to your

prayer and attentive to your cry when you call out to Him to save you

(Romans 10:13)!

He is here today! If you feel the Spirit pleading with you today you

need to come! You can have sweet rest today! Anything else you are

holding onto to get you to Heaven is merely a "Short Bed with Narrow

Covers!" It is too short to meet your need and its covering is totally

inadequate!

CLOSING: Will you flee to this refuge today? Will you come so Jesus can give you rest? Friend, unless you have by faith trusted Jesus to save you, you are resting on a "Short Bed with Narrow Covers!" It cannot save you, but it will surely damn your soul to hell! Will you come and enter "The Haven of Rest" today? The last invitation in the Bible invites, “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17). Friend, let me ask you this morning,

Do you have the “peace which passeth all understanding”? Peace is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of God. -- J. Oswald Sanders.

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