All right, Reverend, let's turn
to John chapter 19. Christophe, give me some water. John 19, let's begin in verse
30. Our Lord here is on the cross. And it says, when Jesus, therefore,
had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he
bowed his head and gave up the ghost. The Jews, therefore, because
it was the preparation that the bodies should not remain upon
the cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath day was a high
day, the salt piled that their legs might be broken. and that
they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers and break
the legs of the first and of the other which was crucified
with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was
dead already, they break not his legs. But one of the soldiers
with a spear pierced his side and full with came there out
blood and water. The Lord Jesus is the Sabbath rest of His people. He is the Sabbath rest of His
people. We enter into rest through faith
in Christ. We cease from our works of trying
to be righteous before God, and we believe on the Lord Jesus,
and then we walk by faith. We walk by faith. We walk by
faith. We don't walk by law, we walk
by faith. Walk by faith. Now we read here
in verse 31, the Jews, because it was the preparation that the
bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day,
for that Sabbath day was a high day, they besought Pilate that
their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.
It was the preparation, it was the Friday, it was a Friday and
Saturday was the Sabbath, the next day. And on that Sabbath
day, as you know from the law, God commanded the children of
Israel to rest, cease from all their work, they were to rest.
And not only were they to rest, they were to give their servants
a day of rest and they were to give their beasts even a day
of rest. Everything was supposed to rest
on the Sabbath day. And that particular Sabbath,
Saturday, was a high day. It was the first day of the Feast
of Unleavened Bread. In addition to it being the weekly
Sabbath, it was the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
They were going to go seven weeks until Pentecost, and this was
the day that that would begin. And it was the day the Lord appointed
for the peace offerings. This is when they would come
with the first fruit, the sheaf offering, they present themselves
to the Lord in the temple. So they're working feverishly
to get everything prepared that Friday so that on that Saturday
they can rest. So they can rest, they can do
no work. Working, working, working, so on that Saturday they can
rest. So they want his legs broken so he will die. so they can get
him down off the cross so that they won't break the Sabbath
day. Now, every ceremony that they
were trying to observe that God had given in the law, when Christ
cried it's finished, all of them had been fulfilled. He was the
fulfillment of all of them. Everything they were trying to
observe, He fulfilled it all. He fulfilled it all. Christ himself
is the temple in whom believers present ourselves to God. There's
no coming to God except in that temple, in Christ Jesus. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the peace offering. He's the one who made
peace between God and his people. He is the first fruit. He's the
first begotten from the dead. We come before God waving nothing
but him. That's it. He's the one God's
pleased with. And everything that we come thanking
God for, that's what that typifies. We're thanking God for Christ. And we thank God through Christ.
And Christ is our Sabbath rest. He is our Sabbath rest. God's
purpose in all those sabbatical laws was to typify the Lord Jesus. That was His purpose in all of
them. They were signs, and the Lord
said that. The Lord said they were signs.
Go back to Exodus 31. In verse 13, The Lord said, Speak thou also
unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye
shall keep. For it is a sign. You see there? It's a sign. It's
a type. It's a picture. It's a sign between
me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I am the
Lord that doth sanctify you. I'm the Lord that makes you holy.
The Lord Jesus declared plainly He is the sign given. He declared
that plainly. No other sign will be given.
He's the sign given. And He was the sign that the
Sabbath typified. It was a shadow. The law having
a shadow of good things to come, the Hebrew writer said. Not the
very image of the things. It wasn't salvation in that. It wasn't righteousness in that.
It was a shadow. They could never, with those
sacrifices which they offered year by year, continually make
the comers there unto perfect. But the bringing in of a better
hope did. The Lord was saying that through
the Sabbath. He's saying, I am the Lord who makes you perfect. It's not this keeping of this
day. This day is a picture of that. This day is to picture
that I'm the one that sanctify you and make you holy. Perfect. Christ did that. But self-sanctifying
men then and self-sanctifying men now don't hear that. What they hear is, verily, verily,
my Sabbaths you shall keep. And they think they have and
they think they can. If that's so, then this is required.
Here's what's required. Every seventh day, the children
of Israel were required to observe the Sabbath day, every Saturday. And at the end of every seventh
week, they were required to observe the Sabbath. And in the seventh
month of every year, during the Feast of Tabernacles, they were
required to keep a Sabbath the whole week. And then every seventh
year, they're required to keep a Sabbath the whole year and
rest the whole year. Not to mention every other law
there is, you have to keep. It takes the spirit of God to
regenerate and give life and discernment to understand everything
in this book is declaring Christ as salvation. Everything in this
book is declaring Christ is the righteousness and holiness of
his people. It is not in our hands. It is
not in our hands. A type is what it was. A sign
is what it was. Our Sabbath is Christ who sanctified
his people by his one offering. He made His people perfect by
His one offering. Until we know that, we're not
resting in Him. Until we make to know He is our
only holiness, we're not resting in Him. We're looking to our
hands. We have to rest in Him. The Lord
said this, He would be the sign over and over. Listen to this,
in Isaiah 11.10, He said, In that day there shall be a root
of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign. That's a sign, an
ensign of the people. To it, that is to him, shall
the Gentiles seek, and listen, his rest shall be glorious. Or it could read, His rest shall
be glory. His rest shall be glory. Christ
arose when He cried, It's finished. He came out of the grave and
He arose into His glory and He sat down at the right hand of
the Father. Because the work of perfecting
His people, He finished. That's what He declared when
He said, It is finished. Who is He that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who's even
at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
His rest shall be glory. He entered into glory, and he's
resting. He sat down. He's resting, and
he is our rest. You know, when God created the
world, he rested on the seventh day because the work was finished.
The work was finished. That's why he rested. And so
Christ arose and he sat down at the right hand of God because
he finished the work. Go over to Hebrews 10. Hebrews
10. Hebrews 10, 11. Every priest standeth daily ministering
and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take
away sin. And that's what men are doing
today. That's what men are doing today.
Not offering lambs and things like that, but offering sacrifices
that can't make a person perfect. They can never take away sins.
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting
till his enemies be made his footstool." You see there? He
sat down at the right hand of God because the work was finished. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. That's what the Holy Spirit makes
us to know when he, when Christ, who is holiness, enters in, in
spirit, and creates a new holy man. And his holiness, what he
makes you to know is, he's your only holiness. It's finished. He perfected you. That's what
he makes you know. That's true sanctification, to
know He's my holiness. Then you start walking after
Him, but you're in sanctification, you're in holiness. It don't
get no better than that, ever. And nothing you do is going to
make it worse. Here our Lord Jesus, in the midst
of their unfinished working, He cried out and said, It is
finished. It is finished. Now secondly,
Christ is the Sabbath, and through faith in Christ, we find sweet,
sweet rest in Him. Sweet rest in Him. When a sinner
is made to see that we've never once kept the law and the righteousness
God requires, and yet God makes you to behold that we are accepted
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ, That's when the bondage comes
off. That's when the burden comes
off. That's when worshiping the Lord Jesus, following him, walking
after him becomes a little light. Before you were scared to death,
some Pharisee was going to see something you did wrong and you
were living in bondage. That's not so now. That's not
so now. When you know you have eternal
salvation in Christ by his blood and by his righteousness, and
understand the reason you know this is he's created a new man
that's holy within. That's the only way you know.
It's not in your flesh. Your flesh is sin. It's in the
new man that you know that he's made you holy within, but you're
looking to him. You're looking to Him. Then you
know, He that spared not His own Son shall with Him freely
give you all things. He'll meet every necessity you
have in this life. That's rest. That's rest. That's when, you know, until
then, until Christ has made righteousness and holiness to it, we're trying
to earn righteousness and holiness. If you're religious, if you're
not, We just thought we were anyway, but we're trying to earn
it. But then you rest. You're not
trying to earn that anymore. You know you are righteous and
holy by Christ Jesus. And not only that, before everything
we did in our life was bondage, because we were Dog eat dog,
just trying to live for this world and get all we could. And
that was our salvation. Coverages, coverages, coverages,
don't spend a lick of, keep 98 cents out of the first dollar
you ever made. Now, you know Christ to provide for you. Christ
to provide for you. And it takes that burden off.
You have rest now. You can be generous to the Lord's
people. And even as the Lord's teaching
us to walk through this world, it's rest. It's rest. Even in His correction, it's
rest. Our Redeemer is not like the
strict schoolmaster. Not like the law. He's not like
the Pharisee that enforced the law. The law smacked us on the hand.
And we did wrong. Keep us fearful and in bondage. That's not how the Lord corrects
His children. It's rest even in the way He
corrects His children. Christ is meek and lowly in heart. That's what He said. I'm meek
and lowly in heart. Come and learn of me. I'm meek and lowly
in heart. And that's how He deals with His people. That's how He
deals with His people. In every word, when he corrects,
Christ turns us to him in whom we have sweet, sweet rest. That's
what every word of correction is. It's not only turning us
to him, it's making us behold him. That's how he turns us to
him. And that's rest to us, brethren. That's why as Yokes likened it,
he's constantly declaring into the heart, look unto me and be
ye saved, all the ends of the earth, from God as there is none
else. He keeps teaching you this. Every
word is to keep us looking to Him who is our salvation. His
discipline of His child is to keep reminding us we have the
rest of complete pardon in Him. What made you rest in Him in
the beginning? When He made you know you have
complete pardon in Him, that's when you found rest. That's what
He keeps doing. He keeps making you know it's
to the praise of the glory of His grace that He's made us accepted
in the Beloved, in whom we have forgiveness, we have redemption
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sin according to the riches
of His grace. He keeps making you know this. He corrects his child by renewing
us inwardly, declaring we have the rest of perfect reconciliation
with God our Father by Him. He said in 2 Corinthians 5.18,
all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus
Christ and has given us this ministry of reconciliation. To
wit, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
our trespasses to us, and hath committed to us this word of
reconciliation. This is what he keeps making
you know. The law genders wrath and just tangles you up in more
bondage. It's this gospel that frees you. It's this gospel that turns you
to him and endears us more and more to him. Having made peace
through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things
to himself, by him I say where the things in earth, the things
in heaven. You that were sometime alienated,
enemies in your minds by wicked work, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy, unblameable
in his sight. That's the only way. That's the
only way. There's men in this world who
actually think they're going to stand before God, all knowing,
all seeing God, and stand there unblameable because of something
they did. He's going to present us in Him
unblameable by what He's done for His people. That's how He
keeps you continuing in faith, keeps you grounded and settled
in Him, knowing He's not going to let you go and He's going
to keep you looking to Him. See, this is how He is the sanctifier. He keeps us turning from this
sanctifier, ourselves, and looking to Him who's our sanctifier.
That's what a sanctifier does. He's turning you. He's purging
you from all that's in you and keeping you looking to Him. And He gives you rest by making
you know you have eternal security in Him. He said, My sheep hear
My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give them
eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
pluck them out of My hand. My Father that gave Me them is
greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
My Father's hand. I and My Father are one. And He keeps making
you know that. And by this, by Him keeping us
looking to Him, by the Lord Jesus keeping us looking to Him, He
keeps giving us rest by assuring His child that this very one
who's begun this good work in you, He will perform it until
the end. He'll perform it to the end.
We get strong and, you know, think we're strong, and we get
to looking at some achievements we think we've made, And when
that happens, we get big and Christ gets small in our esteem.
And he has to turn that around. So he comes and shows you we
don't have any strength in ourselves. He shows us we don't. He put
us in some situation to see we don't have any. And he turns
you to him who is your strength. And he grows you in faith that
way. And when the way is dark and
Your soul is chastened and you don't have any strength. The
spirit just keeps working in the new man. And it gives you
rest by assuring us that everything in providence that you're facing
is being worked especially for you. Look at that in Romans 8. I know I've been hung up on this,
but I just... These things, these go together.
We need to read this together. Look at Romans 8. Verse 26. And look, from chapter
7 to right here, Paul is saying how he keeps delivering you from
the body of this death. This is how he does it. Look
here in Romans 8, 26. The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities,
for we know not what we should pray for as we ought. But the
Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. And so we know,
this is how we know this, that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them where they're called according
to His purpose. That's when providence is so dark you don't have any
light. And the Spirit gives you light and shows you this dark
providence is working together for your good. God's working
it for you. That's rest, isn't it? That's
rest. No matter what you face, the
Lord's working for you. That's rest. Christ through the Spirit making
us behold His everlasting love, laying down His life for His
people. That's how He keeps granting repentance and growing us in
faith and keeping us resting in Him. That's how. He corrected
that woman caught in adultery that very way. That was the discipline. He made her see Him standing
between her and the law. He said, there's none to condemn
you. He looked upon Peter. He looked at Peter, and Peter
looked at him, and that's when he wept. He said, I'll pour upon the house
of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace
and a supplication, and they'll look upon me whom they've pierced. And they'll mourn for him as
one mourneth for his only son, and they'll be in bitterness
for him as one's in bitterness for his firstborn. You want to
help your brethren who you see have fallen? Preach Christ to
them. That's what he's saying. I'm
going to turn you to look to me, and that's what's going to
break your heart. You can go and hammer them with
precepts and law all you want to. That ain't going to do it.
Turn them to Christ. Why keep doing it then? Why keep
doing it then? Why not look for Christ in these
scriptures and speak Christ to brethren? And then thirdly, rest, brethren,
is never found in keeping ordinances of the law. It's not found there. It's only through faith in Christ
alone. So many today are doing exactly
what the Pharisees were doing. trying their best to keep the
Word of God, whether it's old or new, trying to keep it, but
rejecting Christ all the time. Paul declared those who keep
legal ordinances in an attempt to worship God are not beholding
Christ, the head, they've not submitted to Christ. Let me show
you that Colossians 2. Colossians 2, he tells us in
Colossians 2, Verse 14, Christ has blotted
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross. He said in verse 16, let no man therefore judge you in
meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new
moon, or of the Sabbath. There's shadow of things to come.
They were a sign, but the body is of Christ. Now look down there
in verse 20. Wherefore, if you are dead with
Christ, are you dead with Christ? Did you die with Christ at Calvary?
If you're dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why
are you acting like your life's in the world? That's what he's
saying. Why, as though your life's in this world, are you subject
to ordinances? What's the harm with that? Look
at verse 23. They have indeed a vain show
of wisdom in will-worship, and false humility, and neglecting
of the body, but they don't satisfy, or to the satisfying of sinful flesh,
but they don't honor God. They satisfy the sinful flesh,
but that don't honor God. If you then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above where Christ sits on the right
hand of God. You see him resting there? He's
saying, you're resting there with him. Seek him there. You're resting there. You won't
rest? See him seated. At the right hand of God, set
your affection on things above, not on things on the earth, for
you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. And when
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear
with Him in glory. See, Paul's declaring that because
that's what's going to mortify our flesh, is looking to Christ
and resting in Christ. That's it. This is the power
by which he mortifies the flesh. Now catch that last word, then
shall you also appear with him in glory? Now listen believer,
there is a rest that remains for the believer. There's a rest
that remains for the believer. That's what the Hebrew writer
was saying in Hebrews 4.9. God required the children of
Israel rest every seventh year the whole year. Can you imagine
that? Everybody in the whole nation
does no work for the whole year. They just rest the whole year.
But here was the thing. The Lord did not permit them
to do that while they were in the wilderness. It was when they
got into Canaan. when they came into the promised
land. He said, speak to the children of Israel and say to them, when
you come into the land which I give you, then shall the land
keep a Sabbath unto the Lord. That was the year-long Sabbath,
every seventh year. See, we're resting in Christ
by faith right now. We're walking by faith in Christ
right now, just like they kept those other Sabbaths walking
through the wilderness. We're resting in Christ right
now, we're going through this wilderness. But there's rest
coming, brethren, when we enter into our promised Canaan, when
we enter into heavenly glory, where we're going to rest forever
with Him in perfection. It's called the glorious liberty
of the sons of God. We have liberty right now, that's
this rest we have, but that's going to be the glorious liberty
of the sons of God. That'll be rest for all eternity.
There was a preacher in England and he held several days, he
was holding meetings in a tent preaching the gospel. And the
last meeting came and he'd finished preaching and folks were leaving
and this young man come running up to him and he said, he said,
sir, tell me what I need to do to be saved. And he wasn't earnest
about it. And the preacher could detect
that he was actually asking, what are some things I can do
to save myself? And the preacher never looked
up. He's just working on a tent peg. And he just, he said, you're
too late, son. And the boy, was a little startled
and he probably was offended. He said, too late. He said, surely
there's something I can do. And he said, no son, you're too
late. He said, it was finished hundreds and hundreds of years
ago on Calvary's cross when Christ said it is finished. There's
nothing you can do to save yourself. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
is directly the opposite of trying to do something to save yourself.
Rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on Him and you shall
be saved. That's our gospel. That's our
gospel beginning to end. That's our gospel beginning to
end. Brethren, this is what the Lord said, and this is what the
Lord is still saying. This is what He keeps declaring
to us. This is what He works for us
when He called us in the first hour. This is what He works for
us when He's correcting us. This is what He works for us
beginning and end. This is what He says to you.
Every word. This is it right here. This is
what He's saying. Come unto me. all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Are you laboring? Is somebody here that has never
believed Him and you're laboring and you're laboring and you want
to have salvation and you're just in bondage and you're just
laboring and you don't have any peace in your heart? He says,
come unto me, I will give you rest. Anybody here that believes
him and you're laboring and you're in bitterness and bondage for
whatever reason it is, he says, come unto me. I will give you
rest. There is no rest anywhere else
at any time. Come to me. He said, take my
yoke upon you and learn of me because I'm meek and lowly in
heart. You're going to find when he teaches you Rest for your
soul. Rest for your soul. If we're
going to submit to the righteousness of God, if we're going to submit
to the righteousness of God, if we're going to fulfill both
tables of the law toward God and toward man, submit to the
righteousness of God, Christ Jesus, who is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believes. That's what it
means. Come unto Him and He'll give
you rest. He is the righteousness of God.
Submit to Him, believing Him, and you have rest. And He will
keep you knowing you have rest until that day you enter into
that great eternal Sabbath day forever. I pray God bless that. Amen. Father, thank you for this
Word. Lord, thank you for continually
keeping us looking to your righteousness. Thank you for giving us grace
to submit to Him, to trust Him to save us. Lord, thank you for
the rest we have. Thank you for the mercy you keep
giving meekness and lowliness with which you teach us and keep
us looking only to Christ. Thank you, Lord, for humbleness.
Thank you for never ceasing to keep your people. Thank you for
all the provision you give us. Lord, you truly have given your
people rest. We thank you. Lord, help us to fully enter
into this and help us to know it is finished. Lord, increase us in faith to
know that our Lord Jesus had truly
perfected your people forever. We thank you, Lord, for your
grace. Thank you for your mercy. In Christ's name, amen.