Turn with me to Psalm 116. Psalm 116. We're going through
this Psalm and last Wednesday night we looked at the first
five verses. For our Bible study a moment
ago, we looked at verse six. Now for our message, we're gonna
look at verse seven. Let's begin reading in verse
one. We'll read down to verse seven. I love the Lord because he hath
heard my voice and my supplications. because he hath inclined his
ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. The sorrows of death compassed
me, and the pains of hell got hold upon me. I found trouble
and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of
the Lord, O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is
the Lord and righteous. Yea, our God is merciful. The Lord preserveth the simple. I was brought low and he helped
me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul,
for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. Return unto thy rest. Return unto thy rest. Why? Because the Lord hath dealt bountifully
with thee. The title of this message is
Return Unto Thy Rest. I have a good message today.
I have a good message. We remember our sister Juanita
Baldwin. She used to come up to me after
the service and say, now that was good, wasn't it? And I was
always like, well, I hope so. I have a good message today. Here it is. Here's the whole
message. Return unto thy rest. Return to your rest. That's the message of the cross.
We preach the cross. We preach Christ crucified. What
does that mean? It means return unto your rest.
That's the message of the cross. That is the message of salvation. Return to your rest. It is finished. Return to your rest. That's the
message. That's the message. You know, in the beginning, when
God created Adam and put him in the Garden of Eden, he was
at rest. You know that? He was at rest.
Even though the scripture says the Lord God put him there to
till the ground. Anybody ever tilled ground? And they didn't have farm equipment
back then. You had a shovel and a, right? You ever tilled ground? Well,
before sin, the ground wasn't cursed. Cursed is the ground
because of your sin. Before sin, there were no thorns.
There were no thistles. There were no weeds. There was no sweat on Adam's
brow. Not before sin that came because
of sin, you're going to work by the sweat of your brow. Now, what that means is it wouldn't
work. You ever, you ever tilled the ground that's already been
tilled. Wouldn't work. It was rest. He
was at rest. But the moment sin entered the
world and entered Adam, that rest was gone. What happened
in the Garden of Eden? Man died. Man lost his rest. Life for man at that point became
work. Work. Do this and live. Before it was just live, all
right? Before sin, the Lord God breathed
into the nostrils of Adam and he became a living soul. It was
just live. After sin, it became do this
and live, work and live. If you want to live, something
is going to have to be accomplished. The law came to man, thou shalt. From that moment, the salvation
of man and the hope of man, it depended on work. From that moment,
it depended on work. Everything concerning man's redemption
from sin and good standing with God, in satisfying God, all of
it depended on work. You're going to have to work. Stroll with me through some scriptures
here, okay? Go with me to Exodus 18. Exodus
18, verse 19. Hearken now unto my voice, I
will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee. Be thou for
the people to Godward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto
God. And thou shalt teach them ordinances
and laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk,
and the work that they must do. The moment sin entered the world,
the way to God required a work. It required a work. Two chapters
over from this is where the Ten Commandments were given. Thou shalt, thou shalt. Turn
over to 1 Chronicles 6. Go past the books of Moses and
past. Samuel and Kings, it's after
Kings 1st Chronicles. Six. Verse 48. Their brethren also, the Levites,
were appointed to all manner of service, all manner of service
of the tabernacle and of the house of God. But Aaron and his
sons offered upon the altar of the burnt offering and on the
altar of incense and were appointed for all the work of the place
of the place most holy and to make an atonement for Israel
according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.
The temple of God was a place of work. They were all appointed
to work and Aaron was appointed in that work of the most holy.
But it was a place of work. Every priest in that temple had
a work to do. Do you know that? The temple
of God was a house of work. Work. You got to do something. Why? Sin. It's the whole reason why. Sin. It was the work of trying
to make an atonement for sin. Hebrews 10 says, every priest
stood daily ministering, working, offering the same sacrifices
over and over and over again. Turn over there to Hebrews 10. God's tabernacle was a house
of work. And the work was never finished. With man, the work is never finished. And that's what is ingrained
in the nature of men and women. It is in the nature of all men
and women. We are born into this world with
a nature that knows a work must be done to satisfy God. Everybody
knows you got to do something, but don't you have to do something? I mean, you gotta do something.
You know, you tell me what you think it is, and then you tell
me what you think it is, and why don't you tell me what you
think it is, and what do you think it is? Well, this one says
it's this, but you gotta do something. This is, people are born with
this mindset. You gotta do something. You wanna
be saved, don't you? It requires a work. A work must be done to satisfy
God. And that's what man sets out
to do in his religion and in his morality and in his good
deeds. He tries and he tries and he
tries. But he never seems to accomplish
the work. The work of satisfying God. God
being satisfied fully with him. The work of obtaining redemption
with him. Man's effort just keeps going
and going and going because he cannot get to the end result
of his work. He cannot obtain the finish line
of what he's working for. Romans 10 says that man has a
zeal for God. And he goes about to establish
his own righteousness. But he's never going to be able
to achieve it. because Christ is the only righteousness
God will accept. Right here in Hebrews 10 verse
11, I just quoted it. It says, every priest standeth
daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins. But this man, That's what our text is all about
this morning. But this man, what man? Christ Jesus, our Lord,
look at verse nine. Then said he, lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that
he may establish the second. By the witch will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes
the same sacrifices which 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 for by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. The gospel is this right here. The summary of the gospel is
this right here. Jesus Christ came to this earth
to accomplish a work. for a particular people that
they could not accomplish for themselves. Jesus Christ came
to do a work, not for every soul on earth, but for every soul
the Father gave to Him. For this cause came He into the
world. He said, I must be about my Father's
business. He said, my meat is to do the
will of him that sent me and to finish his work. He said,
I must work the works of him that sent me. And then in John 17, he said,
father, I finished the work. I finished the work you gave
me to do. None of them are lost. But what if they don't accept
it? None of them are lost. Well, what if they don't do what
they're now supposed to do? You did your part. What if they
don't do their part? None of them are lost. I finished the work you gave
me to do. From the cross, he cried, it
is finished. And he bowed his head and he
gave up the ghost. What did he accomplish in his
work? What did he finish? He finished
the work of redeeming his people back to God. He finished the
work of appeasing God for them. He finished the work of satisfying
the law for the sin that was committed against it. He finished
the blood work of atonement that not one priest before Him could
do. They just kept sacrificing blood
and sacrificing blood and they couldn't do it. It is finished. The work is over. Therefore, return to your rest. In Christ, we can return to our
rest. All right, look with me at Hebrews
4. Verse nine. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. Do you have a center margin in
your Bible? The word rest, it means a keeping of a Sabbath. You know, the Sabbath day was
given in the law as a day of rest. You have to rest on the
Sabbath. Do you know why that Sabbath
day was given? To point us to Christ. It was
given to point us to Christ. Jesus Christ is the believer's
Sabbath. We don't rest on a day. We rest
on a person. We rest on Him. He is our rest. God's children, believers who
have been given faith to see Christ. It's always the Sabbath. We don't
ever leave the Sabbath. We don't go back to the first
day of the week. We're resting. That's what we're
doing. We're resting. On our Sabbath,
verse 9, there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. That rest is Christ, the finisher
of all our work. Verse 10, for he that is entered
into his rest, He, that man or woman, hath also hath ceased
from his own works as God did from his. If God rested from
the finished work of salvation, so can we. Verse 11, let us labor therefore
to enter into that rest. How do we labor to enter into
that rest? We come to Christ. We come to
Christ. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief. We believe on Christ. What is
it to believe on Christ? Believe on Christ. What does
that mean? How do you do that? Here's how
you do it. He said it is finished. We then say, I believe him. He said he didn't lose one that
the father gave to him. Believe him. He said, it's not by works of
righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy,
he saved us, period. I believe him. We look to Christ. How do we
labor to enter into that rest? Look to Jesus Christ. Don't I have to be baptized?
Yeah, I was baptized in him. You want to confess it to everybody?
Get in some water. But I was immersed in Him. Look to Him. Trust Him. He's our rest. We return to our rest by returning
to Christ. Every time our hearts come back
to Christ, we find rest. He makes us lie down in green
pastures of rest. Turn to Matthew 11. We were just
here for our Bible study. Let's go there again. Matthew 11. Verse 28, come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. You don't need
a middleman. He said, come to me. Come to
me. Are you worried about things?
Come to me. Are you confused about things?
Come to me. Come to me. Verse 29, take my
yoke upon you and learn of me for I'm meek and lowly and hard
and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy
and my burden is light. Jesus Christ is the finisher
of all our work. Every work that God has required
of us, Jesus Christ has finished it for us. He has suffered everything
that had to be suffered. He has borne everything that
had to be, everything we had to bear. Therefore, we can return to him
and rest because he's just dealt bountifully with us. He's dealt
so bountifully with us. He's prepared a place so safe,
so peaceful, so wonderful. I love this story. Back when
men and women in this country started settling out west, moving
out west to live out west, They used to travel in wagon trains because there were a lot of dangers
going across this country, going through the mountains and the
prairies and many different dangers. And so they would travel in groups
along wagon train. And the wagon master would be
in the front And in front of him they would send a scout on
a horse who would go out two or three miles ahead of the wagon
train just to search for dangers and make sure everything's okay.
And on one particular voyage out west the scout was two or
three miles ahead of the wagon train and sure enough he found
danger. There was a prairie fire And that was one of the great
dangers is you get in those planes and all that tall, dry grass,
if it caught fire and the wind, you know, it would just rage and sweep very quickly. And so there was a huge prairie
fire headed for the wagon train. So the scout ran that horse as
fast as he could run it back to the wagon master and told
him there is a prairie fire coming right at us. So the wagon master said, let's
pull the grass behind us. Let's scrape the ground and then
set fire on the other side. And they did. And that fire took
off and burned away from them. And once it was far enough out,
the wagon master said, now let's ease all the wagons back. And
they sat and they waited. And it didn't take long at all,
and here comes a fire. And they sat and watched. And
about the time that that fire started getting close to those
wagons, in one of those wagons, a man was holding his little
boy, and that little boy grabbed his neck and just started squeezing
it as tight as he could. And he rubbed his son, he hugged
his son, and he said, it's OK. You don't have to be afraid.
There's nothing to worry about. He said, look down right there.
He said, you see all that black stubble all over the ground?
We're standing on burnt ground. The fire has already been here.
And once it's burned once, it can't burn again. It's not going
to touch you. That's the case for every soul
standing in Christ. He has already borne the judgment,
the fiery judgment of God's wrath. The sin has already burned. There's
nothing left to burn. And in that, God's people are
safe. They're standing right in the middle of peace, comfort,
contentment, rest. What do we need to do? Nothing.
Sit still. See the salvation of our God.
Rest, that is our gospel, and that gospel is yay and amen. We can rest in that. To him be
glory forever because of that. Return unto your rest, O my soul. The Lord hath dealt bountifully
with thee. Now what do I need to do now?
Okay, that's the announcement, but what do I need to do now?
Rest. If He did it for you, you will
believe that. And you'll say, Amen. Rest. Just rest. Amen.