Turn back in your Bibles to Isaiah
11. As I was rereading this portion
of Scripture, and knowing that it was talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ, I thought, How many messages
could you preach just from each one of those verses, just one
right after the other? But I want to call your attention
to something in that tenth verse. When it speaks of, in that day, It's talking about this day of
grace, this day of Christ, this gospel age, what was called oftentimes
the acceptable year of the Lord. That is the time between the
first coming of Christ and then his return to the earth. And if you notice, it says, in
that day there shall be. There is no doubt. There is no
possibility of failure. There is no possibility of it
not coming to pass. There shall be a root of Jesse. Speaking of the humanity and
the earthly lineage through which Christ would come, David the
king, which shall stand for an ensign of the people, a banner,
something lifted up, to it shall the Gentiles seek. Contrary to just Jew, to this
banner, to this ensign. Maybe it speaks here of this
gospel. But to this ensign the Gentiles
shall seek, and his rest shall be glorious. I thought about it this week
how that the common complaint Now, we are a people that are
full of complaints. But if it is the common complaint
among those at least that I come in contact with, and I must also
confess of my own self, it is this. I'm tired. I'm just so tired. Well, how are you? I'm tired. I'm worn out. I'm weary. That's the common complaint. But if that is true in the natural,
if that is true with us physically, What about in the matter of those
things pertaining to God? You see, we have a natural tendency,
which is nothing more than this fallen nature and flesh that
tries always to do something to gain the favor of God and
please Him. We admire it in others. But the truth is, in the matter
of our souls, in the matter of our salvation, in the matter
of eternity, all our doings all our labors, all that we seek
to do to please God and gain eternal life, they do nothing
but weary us. They weary God, but they weary
us. But if you notice in our text,
The last statement concerning the One who was to come, the
Christ, it says this, and His rest. Did you hear that? His rest shall
be glorious. I wish the Lord would take that
statement and bring it into the very depths of our heart, not
only to bring us to cease from ourselves, but to actually rest
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And His rest shall be glorious." Hold your
place right there and turn also to the book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews and the fourth
chapter, and listen to what the Apostle writes here in Hebrews
4. He says concerning those in the
Old Testament who heard the Gospel, they saw it in picture and tide
and shadow and sacrifice. He says, let us therefore fear
lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any
of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel
preached as well as unto them. But the word preached did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard
it. For we which have believed do
enter into rest, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath,
if they shall enter into my rest, although the works were finished
from the foundation of the world." For he spake in a certain place
of the seventh day on this wise, and God did rest the seventh
day from all his works." Now, I don't think that there
can be much doubt that what the prophet is talking about that
rest that he is speaking of, and the rest that the Apostle
is speaking of, they are the same thing. They're talking about this one
rest. And I'll say this, and that is
that scriptural rest, that true rest, is not laziness, it is
not slothfulness, or sluggishness, or lethargy, or any such thing
as that. It is not rest of the body. And although that is true, God
did intend for men and women to rest. He did intend for us
in body and circumstance to rest, and He commands us to rest. But more so, He intended and
purposed rest, which is rest of the soul and conscious for
his beloved people in Christ. If you notice, he says, to them
and of them, that they simply are not to try to enter into
rest, but that they shall enter into rest and do presently as
believers have rest. Rest for your souls. And if you notice what he says
there in Hebrews 4, it obviously, that is, this rest, which is
the best rest, and we might say the only true rest, This rest
has something to do with faith. Faith, which is the gift of God,
it says that those people, the most of them in the Old Testament
who, like us, heard the Gospel, they did not rest. Why? Because what they heard
was not mixed with faith. That simply means they did not
believe, and rather believe on, the One that was represented
in those Gospel types. Therefore, they didn't enter
into God's rest. They died the most of them in
the wilderness in unbelief." You see, he's talking here about
heart rest and rest of the conscience. And if you ever find this out,
it'll be a glorious thing to you. And that is, your conscience
and my conscience can never rest, that is, they can never know
peace or be satisfied except in that which satisfies God. If it doesn't please God, if
it doesn't honor God, If it does not satisfy Him in every part,
if it does not honor Him as God and satisfy Him as a just God,
your conscience and my conscience will not rest. And I'll say this also. The degree
of rest we have depends entirely upon the degree of confidence
that we have that God has rested in Christ crucified. You see, this is what the Sabbath
always typifies. And that rest that we read about
here in Hebrews 4 that is said to be the rest of God on that
seventh day which he established under the Mosaic law as the Sabbath,
that simply, like every other part of that law, pictured Christ. He's our priest. He's our King. He's our Prophet. He's our Sacrifice. He's our Altar. He is all of
these things that were given in the Law to picture Him, and
He's our Sabbath. He is our Rest. And there are three Sabbaths,
or three Rests, that are spoken of in the Old Testament. But what we have to do is listen
to what the Apostle says as he does when he speaks in Galatians
concerning the believer's relationship to this Sabbath that was under
the law of Moses. I hear people speak of And I
have seen many writers write of what they call the Christian
Sabbath. But the Christian Sabbath is
not a day. The Christian Sabbath is none
other than the Lord Jesus Christ and that rest that is in Him. Christ, he says, is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Hold your place here and turn
back to Galatians. Galatians chapter 2. And the thing that we find out
here in the book of Galatians is that Paul, in writing to these
churches in Galatia, he reminds them that this is such a thing
that is so unnatural to us that we, even as believers, can be
drawn into without realizing it, and he says even Peter himself
was likewise. And he said many people, because
of what these who sought to bring the law back in to the church,
to the gospel church, many followed after them. And he said even
Barnabas was carried away with this. So he writes to these believers
in Galatia. And in Galatians 2 and Verse
11, it says, But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood
him face to face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came
from James, he did eat with the Gentiles, but when they were
come, he withdrew and separated himself fearing them which were
of the circumcision, those which were of the law. And the other Jews dissembled
likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away
with their dissimulation, But when I saw that they walked not
uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, it didn't matter
if they were Peter, an apostle, or the son of consolation like
Barnabas, or Jews, or Gentiles following the same thing. When
he says, I saw that they walked not according to the truth of
the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being
a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the
Jews, why compelst thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" He said,
why are you trying to bring these Gentile believers? under the
law that all, even Jews, if they believe on Christ, have been
set free from. We who are Jews by nature and
not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, he was a Sabbath-keeper or not, It wouldn't
matter. He's not justified by the works
of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have
believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the
faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the
works of the law shall no flesh be justified. and got anything to do with Sabbath
keeping or any other part or portion of our obedience to the
law of Moses or the Ten Commandments or any rule, regulation or whatever
that any person might lay down. It's in Christ. It's in Christ. And that's why, in our day, you
never saw so many church buildings, so-called, and religious organizations,
and so much activity going on in the name of God. And yet,
when you actually get somebody to sit down and talk to you,
you know they're not resting. They have no peace. They enjoy
fits of consolation and temporary relief in conscience as long
as they're working and doing. And yet, in the doing of those
things, they simply grow more weary. He said it's not in the Sabbath
or the law or doing or works of righteousness which we have
done. There were three Sabbaths spoken
of, as I said, in the Old Testament. And the first one has to do with
God in creation where it is quoted there in Hebrews 4 when it says
in Genesis 2 that on the seventh day God ended his work which
he had made and he rested on the Sabbath day from all his
work which he had made. You think he got tired? No. That simply means that he, in
this Sabbath, God himself simply ceased from doing that which
he had done in creating the earth. He rested in that sense. He stopped for a reason. Because he had finished it. He
finished it. He looked at it. He said, it's
good. And then there is also that Sabbath
which took place every seven days. Seventh day of the week. That's
why you have such religious groups as Seventh Day Adventists. They
won't meet on Sunday. They're going to meet on Saturday. Why? Because that's the seventh
day. That was the Sabbath under the law. If you're going to keep
the Sabbath, that's when you need to meet. Because nowhere
in Scripture does it say that that which is described as the
Lord's Day or the first day of the week, nowhere does it say
that that was changed and it was made the Sabbath. That was the seventh day of the
week. That was under the law. And then we had also that Sabbath
which took place every seven years, and the land and the beast
rested from the curse, and after seven sevens of those years was
that big Sabbath which was the Jubilee. That's when all the prisoners
were freed. That's when all debts were cancelled.
That's when everything like land that had been lost was restored
and all the slaves were set free. But all of these Sabbaths that
were under the law, they were simply types and shadows of the
believer's rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. That glorious rest. As a matter of fact, I read somewhere
where that actually says something like this, and his rest shall
be glory. You know, the Scripture says
that the Lord will give grace and glory. And so when men and
women speak of glory, they have this image in their minds of
something that would satisfy or appear to be appealing to
our flesh, they think of glory in some other way. But here it
is. His rest shall be glory. Glory. And you see, when you stop and
think about it, in this world, like it And it is an absolute
mess. But it's always been that way
since the fall. The same type of things that
go on in this world now, in some way went on in every day and
age past, and simply because communication in this world is
as it is in our day, We just know about more of it. But can anybody living right
now in this world, can anybody who is a sinner like we are,
I mean, I'm not talking about this place sinners stuff, can
anybody who has any sense of what they are in weakness and
frailty and vileness and corruption in the sight of Almighty God,
can anybody such as that in a place like this have any true rest? Believers can. And believers
do. They enter into rest in Christ,
who is our Sabbath. And this rest in Christ, just
like His creation work, is finished, and it is good, and He alone
accomplished it. I've got a little building behind
my house, and I've got a few tools in it, you know, and I
like to get out there. That's kind of my deprogramming deal. When I get out there and I'll
take a piece of wood and a saw and a hammer and some screws
and glue and all that stuff and I'll get out there and I'll just,
by myself, Memorial Day by myself, I spent the whole day out there.
What a holiday. But I've noticed something. Try as I will. Get better tools if I do. Use the best material if I can
get it. I'm never quite satisfied with
what I do. I look at things that some of
you fellas do, Tim and Anthony and all, I see what you do. I
think, man, that's great. But what I do, I see every flaw,
every blemish. And I never can just rest and
say, well, boy, you did a good job on that. You ever experience
anything like that? You don't actually rest. It doesn't
ever look like it's really finished. But that's not the case with
Christ. Salvation is Christ's finished
work. As a matter of fact, though it is in every respect
in the mind and purpose of God finished from old eternity. That mystery, that manifestation
that is spoken of in the New Testament that was revealed when
Christ came into this world and died on that cross, there He
actually vocalized it to us. He said it is finished. Now let me ask you this. Do you
believe that? Do you just? I mean, I'll tell you exactly
when you believe that. And that's when you quit looking
anywhere else. When you quit looking at any of these other
things and you just rest right there. It is finished. It is finished. I know this. You can't add anything to something
that's finished. You mean to tell me, preacher,
when God manifests in human flesh, came into this world, and lived
for those 33 odd years, And then they took him and hung him on
that cross, and he died on that cross, shed his blood, that he
was actually doing something for me so complete and so full
that there is nothing left for me to do? That's exactly what
I'm telling you. It's finished. The Scripture says of God's people,
He said, and you are complete in Him. Now I can tell you this,
as poor a worker as I am, as poorly as it seems like I leave
all the hammer tracks and a piece of wood or a little split here
where I nail didn't exactly do right, or a screw didn't do right,
as poor as I do, when I get it done and it's finished, I give
it to you as a gift. And you say, well, that's pretty
nice, but I'm going to do this, or I might be a touch offended
in that. Why? Because I finished it. And that's the way it is with
Christ. He alone has completed salvation,
and therefore in Him, He says, we're complete. Paul said, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature. He didn't say he acts in every
way like a new creature. No, it says in Christ He is a
new creation. Where at? In Christ. You say,
well, I look at myself and I'm so disappointing and I'm such
a failure in every way and I'm full of such impure thoughts
and such outward wickedness and that's not That's where salvation's
at. It's in one outside of ourselves. It's in Christ. You say, well,
if you tell people that, they will go out and do just about
anything you can imagine. But the truth is, they're already
doing it. We're all already doing it. And if I go out into eternity
having told people this, and I'm cast into hell for the doing
of it, all that I will have told them is exactly what it says
in this book. It is not by works of the flesh. It is not by the works of the
law. It is not in anything but Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. He finished a perfect salvation. And not only is this declared
in the New Testament, it was pictured in every way. He said,
when you raise up an altar to worship me and seek to be accepted
by me, you go out and you pick up those stones that are already
there. Don't you put a hammer or a chisel
to them. Don't you shape them or mold
them or fashion them in any way. You take them just as they are. Why was that? To show us that
this salvation is of grace. He said, when you do so, you
don't even build up steps to your altar. You ever notice how
most religious shrines and altars and statues and all that, they
have some kind of ascending step or something. You have to go
up to it. He said, don't you do that. Don't you work? Don't you labor? Don't you think for one minute
it's something that you do, a process that you follow, a plan that
you accept? He said it's in Christ. The Bible says that Jesus Christ
saved his people from their sins. Well, you say, what's left for
us to do? Rest. It says that Christ left nothing
for us to do in order to be saved, and yet the whole world this
very day is being told to do something to be saved. No, he
said, believe God. It says Christ became a perfect
man in order to be the sacrifice for our sins. That means I can't
have any sacrifice of myself. So what do you do? You rest. It says that Christ perfectly
received and was punished and suffered under the penalty of
God's law just what it required, which was death. So what should you do? Rest. It says that Christ established
a perfect righteousness for us in that He brought in that everlasting
righteousness which was Him coming in this world to shed His blood. That's why Paul says we have
faith in His blood. We don't just believe He came.
We have confidence Not only that he is God, and God manifests
in the flesh, but we have confidence in that which he did, that work
that he accomplished, that work of righteousness which he himself
accomplished in his doing and dying in this world. And I can
tell you this. If the perfect God-man did something
for you and for me, there's no need to even examine it to see
if there's anything that can be added to it, because when
he did it, he did it all. He put away every sin of all
His people for all time and eternity. He put away what we did in Adam
when we fell in him. He put away every wicked thought
that I thought this morning or will today. He put away everything
that would ever separate us from God. And we can rest. He satisfied God's justice by
burying our sins in His own body. He bore all of God's wrath for
us, and therefore Paul said, we shall be saved from wrath
through Him. And He rose from the dead and
reigns upon the throne of all the heaven and the earth, and
He does so as our representative. And you can mark this down. Though
nothing that I've ever done could ever be said to be good, and
though I am amongst that people just like you are, of whom the
Apostle says there's none good, none whatsoever, none righteous,
none that doeth good, although that's the case, all that Christ
was and all that he has done, and all that he is, and all that
he is doing is good. Very good. It's so good that not only will
God accept it, it's the only thing he'll accept. All of the work of Christ as
our substitute, as our sacrifice, and as our Savior is finished
and good before God. And therefore, we not only can,
but we are to rest. His rest shall be glorious. And all fear of God's justice
and wrath for past sins or present sins or future sins or whatever
it is, is gone for that person who looks to
Him in faith. You see, it's not even my believing
in Him that enables me to rest. And all the works that are born
of religious, sinful pride and discontentment over all these
things and ambition, whatever it is, they can be gone. And we can rest. Look back in Hebrews 4 for just
a moment. And look at that third verse. And you look at that first statement. For we which have believed to
enter into rest. You see, believing is not doing,
but believing is ceasing from doing, and depending entirely
on the doing of Christ. Who enters into rest? We, which
have believed, do enter into rest. All who believe on Christ, as
he is set forth in this book, not as he is in some fairy tales,
Not as he is in most of these places this morning, but as he
is in this book. Rest. Rest. It's not doing that gives us
rest, it's not professing, it's not feeling, it's not experience,
but it's Christ. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We rest in the matter of our sins. But you know, there's something
else amazing that takes place, too. When we're enabled to rest in
Christ, we rest in a whole lot more than
Christ. That is, we rest in a whole lot
more than the matter of our souls. You say, what do you mean? I
mean that we rest because we find out that all our circumstances
are ordained of God. Now, I tell you this where everyone's
so guilty of it, this fighting against what's going on in our
life. We're so full of unbelief, we're
so naturally full of enmity against God, even in this flesh, that
we don't realize that what we're fighting against is what God
has done. Is that right? All things are ordained of God. All things are works of God. You say, well, I just don't see
how they could be. Well, I don't really find myself
being able to see how they could be. If I could see how they could
be, I'd be God. I don't see how they can be.
But if I believe God, I believe that they are, because He said
they were. We rest Because we know that
all our needs God has promised to provide. We rest because all
fear of what Satan can do is gone. All fear of what man can
do is gone. I will not fear what man can
do. Why? Because I'm resting. We rest in our afflictions. You
say, well, how can that person over there, they've got terminal
cancer, and look at them, a smile breaks out on their face. Well, either they're a fool, or either they're resting in
Christ, knowing that He works all things together for good
to them that love God, to them that are called according to
His purpose. We rest in the midst of trials,
and we rest in the face of persecution, and we rest in sorrow and in
circumstance, and we'll rest in death. Because his rest is glorious. Glorious. Turn over to Matthew chapter
11. This is what our Lord is talking about. Matthew 11, verse
28. He says, Come unto me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Every time you read that, I promise
you it will say the same thing. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest." It really doesn't matter what you're
heavy laden about. It really doesn't matter what
you've been laboring about. He said, come unto me, and I'll
give you rest. Well, there's something else
strange about this rest. And that is, when that sinner,
weary and frustrated and tired of trying to do something to
get the favor of God and acceptance with God, when they're brought
to rest in Christ, thence when they are delighting
to labor for his glory. And there is really no weariness
in that. Listen to what he says, ìTake my yoke upon you, and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest
under your soul, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.î And then we labor to get away from our labors. Our labor is then, as somebody
said, we labor in prayer not to rest in our prayer. Or we
labor in our knowledge not to rest in our knowledge. Or we
labor in our faith not to rest in our faith. We labor in our
growth in grace not to rest in our growth. We labor in our laboring
not to forget Christ, but to rest. His rest shall be glory. And we who believe do enter into rest. That's all I ever ask the Lord
for myself or for you or for anybody that hears me. that He would give us faith and
enable us to believe on Christ, to believe on meaning to rely
totally upon Christ, and therefore bring us to rest.
You remember that old fellow in the tombs that we read about,
Mark 5. Oh, he's fighting and cutting
himself, running, chasing people, doing all these things in the
tomb. And the Lord Jesus steps off that boat onto that shore,
and he runs out to him just, I'm sure, just like he's going
to kill him or something like that. And all of a sudden, the
next time anybody sees him, it says he's seated and resting. May the Lord help us to rest
in Him. Father, this day that hymn comes
to my mind. May it be the experience of every
one of us that we might say as that hymn
writer, I heard the voice of Jesus say, Come unto me and rest. Lay down, you weary one, your head upon my breast. Father, we thank you for such
mercy. for such grace, for such a Savior,
for such a One as the Lord Jesus Christ. May we be enabled to believe
on Him and find rest for our souls.
We thank you for that Gospel. that you give, which is the comfort
of your people, this report of Christ and Him crucified. Bless your word to our hearts
for your glory, for we ask it in every part in
Christ. Pray in His Amen.