We no doubt live in a day where
the majority of men and women who consider themselves to be
saved are unwilling to attribute their salvation to the Lord.
Salvation is of the Lord. That's pretty plain. That's pretty
plain talk, isn't it? Salvation is of the Lord. Religious men and women, in the
matter of salvation, they'll fight to defend their will, which
they claim to be free. Does mankind truly have a free
will? That's my question to you this
morning. I hear a lot of talk about man's free will. Does man
truly have a free will? Well, I suppose it all depends
on your definition of free. No doubt that we all make choices,
we all make decisions every day of our life. But when the word
free is added to our will, our choices, our decisions, we're
saying that we can take action on matters with no outside influence
or involvement. We're free to make up our own
minds without any influence. The teaching of the scriptures,
the Bible, declares that it cannot be so. In the matter of salvation,
the human will is not at all free. Actually, man's will is
in bondage. Man's will is a slave to his
sin, to his own nature, which is affected by his sin. And it
has to do with man's inability. No one likes to be told they
can't do anything. But according to God's Word,
man is dead. The Scripture's very plain. We're
dead in trespasses and sin. It has to do with our inability.
We're dead. Dead in trespasses and sin. Paul
said in Ephesians 2, verse 1, writing to the people of God,
he said, And you, speaking of you, the dead sinner, hath he,
God, quickened? That word means made alive. You
have been made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins. Now to be dead is to have no
life, and it's to have no will, and it's to have no choice. It's
to have no nothing. You're dead. So let me ask you
again. Do you and I truly have a free
will? Is our will free to choose whether
or not we can be saved or not? Are we free to choose or reject
the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior, the substitute, the surety,
and the mediator who put away the sin of God's people? The
answer lies in our inability to make that choice. When was
the last time you saw or experienced someone dead? Make a choice,
make a decision, or exercise their will to do anything. And
you might be thinking, well, that's a bit ridiculous. Well,
is it? Because that's what men today
claim that spiritually dead men and women do. That's exactly
what they claim. Our will is in bondage to our
nature. In our fallen dead state, we
have the ability to reject Christ and the truth of the gospel.
We do. This is the condemnation. This
is our condemnation. That light has come into the
world and men loved darkness rather than light because their
deeds were evil. John 3, 14. But since we're dead
in sin, we do not have the will or the ability to accept Christ
and his gospel. Why? Again, because we're dead. dead. So to believe man has a
free will in the matter of his salvation or choosing salvation
for himself, he either doesn't believe that salvation is of
the Lord or he doesn't believe that he's really spiritually
dead. Being spiritually dead because of man's fall in Adam. You know, you're wrong about
the fall. You're wrong about it all. God told Adam, the first
man, he said of every tree in the garden that I've put here
is for you, you're to eat, you're to partake of, but not this one
tree. God gave Adam one commandment
and Adam couldn't keep it. And because of that, man failed. Adam's our federal head. He's
our representative. And we cannot exercise a free
choice when our will is in bondage to our nature and dead in sin. It's impossible. You know, a
fish can swim anywhere it chooses in an ocean, in a river, stream,
lake, or even an aquarium. That fish can eat what it will
in its own environment. But that fish can't walk out
of the water. That fish can't put itself on
dry ground. That fish can't walk or run or
drive to a restaurant to eat. Why? Because it's not its nature
to do so. It does not have the ability
to do so. That fish's will is bound by
its nature. That's what I'm trying to show
you. It can only do what a fish can do. And we can only do what
sinners do. And that's sin. Sin is what we
are. And because of that, sin is what
we do. But preacher, what about Joshua? Didn't Joshua say, choose this
day whom you'll serve? Yes, he did. But why not complete
his sentence? Why not finish his statement?
Let me show you that. Turn back to Joshua chapter 24,
if you would. Joshua chapter 24, after the
book of Deuteronomy, the last chapter of Joshua. Joshua chapter
24. Turn there with me, I want you
to see this. Here in Joshua chapter 24 in verse 13, Joshua reminds
Israel of what God said. Look at it. God said, and I have
given you a land for which you did not labor. You didn't work
for this land. You didn't earn the keys to this
city, to this land. You did not labor. I've given
you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you
built not. And you dwell in them, of the
vineyards and olive yards which you planted not do you eat. Now therefore fear the Lord and
serve Him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which
your father served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt
and serve you the Lord. Now look at verse 15. And if
it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose this day whom
you will serve. Now he didn't stop there. He
says, "'Choose this day whom you will serve, "'whether the
gods which your father served "'that were on the other side
of the flood, "'or the gods of the Amorites and whose land you
dwell. "'But as for me and my house,
we'll serve the Lord.'" Verse 16, and the people answered and
said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other
gods. God does forbid it. The Lord
says, serve me and only me. And then Joshua said this in
verse 17. He said, for the Lord, our God,
He it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of
Egypt. It was God who delivered us out of our slavery in Egypt. He said from the house of bondage
and He it is which did those great signs in our sight and
preserved us in all the way wherein we went and among all the people
through whom we passed. And the Lord, He, "'It is that
drove out from before us all the people, "'even the Amorites
which dwelt in the land. "'Therefore will we also serve
the Lord, for He is our God.'" Now it sounds to me like the
salvations of the Lord. Doesn't it sound that way to
you? The Lord brought us out. The Lord delivered us from our
enemies. The Lord did this. The Lord preserved us. The Lord
did it all. All of it. Salvations of the
Lord. And that means that salvation
is not of our choosing. It cannot be the Lord's choosing
and our. No, it can't be both. The Lord
Jesus said so plainly in John 17, you have not chosen me, but
I've chosen you. It can't be both. Now, if you
would turn with me to the beginning of John's gospel, John chapter
one, if you would, and that's where we'll camp out this morning. John's gospel, John chapter one. I don't know how many times I've
read these verses, preached from these verses, and every time
I look at it, the Lord shows me something new and fresh, and
it's so comforting, so comforting. John 1, verse 1, it says, in
the beginning was the Word and the Word, speaking of Jesus Christ,
was with God and the Word was God. Friends, Jesus Christ is
God. Verse 2, the same was in the
beginning with God. All things were made by Him. Jesus Christ made all things. He's the sovereign creator. And
without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him, we're
still talking about Christ. In Him was life. And the life
was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness,
and the darkness comprehended it not. Now listen to me, Christ's
life, which is the light of man, we're told that very specifically
here, it shined in the darkness of man's desperately wicked and
deceitful hearts. And that darkness within mankind
comprehended it not. didn't understand it. Why? Same reason, as we've already
said, because man is dead in trespasses and sin, spiritually
dead. Men love darkness rather than
light because their deeds are evil. Because of man's fall into
sin, he does not have the ability to believe, to choose, or to
decide anything concerning his salvation. It's God which worketh
in you to will and to do His good pleasure. Look at verse
10 here. He, speaking again of the Lord
Jesus, was in the world and the world was made by Him and the
world knew Him not. Now, does God love everybody
in the world? He doesn't love anybody that
doesn't love His Son. He was in the world, the world
was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His
own, speaking of the Jewish nation, and His own received Him not.
But, oh, there's that word again. But as many as received Him,
to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on His name. Now that word power there in
verse 12 means the right and the privilege. God gave his people
the right and the privilege to be the sons of God. It is a right
that Christ has brought for us. And it's a privilege that God
in Christ has made us so. Verse 12 is also one of those
verses that a lot of folks don't understand and they're confused
by because of the order of the way the things are mentioned
in the verse. They seem to make men and women think that because
they received Christ, that God gave them the power to become
the sons of God. For as many as received him,
to them gave he the power. It's actually getting the cart
before the horse. Always remember that scripture
never contradicts itself. We must compare Scripture with
Scripture. Receiving Christ is not the cause
or the reason that we're saved. Christ is the chosen sinner's
salvation. He's our Savior, whether anyone
receives it or believes it or not. Doesn't change the fact. Those to whom God enables to
believe in and on Christ, they receive Him by bowing to Him
by trusting Him as their only substitute and sacrifice for
sin. You know, men say, have you received
Jesus? Have you asked Him to come into
your heart? Have you let go and let God? Have you exercised your free
will? That's not what saves us. Christ
saves us. Christ is salvation. And it's
when God gives us life that we're able to bow and to believe. on
His name. Christ is the cause and the reason
chosen sinners are saved. Not their receiving, not their
acceptance of Him as Lord and Savior. God gave these chosen
sinners the power, the right, and the privilege to become the
sons of God. And what a right and a privilege
it is. And that's why they bow. And
that's why they believe. And that's why they received
the Lord Jesus. as their substitute and sacrifice
for sin. And that's what John confirms
in the very next verse. Look at it, verse 13. Those who
believe and receive Christ as their substitute for sin, which
were born, now look at this, not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, but of God. But of God. Salvation is of the
Lord. It's not of the flesh. It's not
by natural descent. It's not being a natural child
of Abraham. It's not of the will of man.
It's not by your choice. It's not by your decision, but
of God. Salvation's of the Lord. Salvation
is but of God. Our salvation is God's doing.
Paul said, who's Paul? Who's Apollos? But servants that's
preached to you the gospel. He said, we, I plan Apollos waters,
but it's God that gives the increase. You know, farmers today, they'll
plant, and they'll cultivate, and they'll spray, and they'll
do everything they can. But they have no control over
the sun, or the rain, or anything else. But God does. And He's
the one that gives the increase. Not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, but of God. We do the sinning, and God does
the saving. And that's why we call it sovereign
grace. You know, there's really no grace
but sovereign grace. Is there any other kind of grace?
No, there's not. We call it sovereign to distinguish
it from what people today call grace, not grace at all. It's
a cooperation. It's a collaboration between
God and man, but salvations of the Lord. In Exodus chapter 33,
Moses asked the Lord, he said, Lord, show me your glory. Let
me ask you, do you desire to see the glory of God? God said,
I'll make all my goodness pass before you. Friends, Christ is
God's goodness. God told Moses, I'll proclaim
the name of the Lord before you. This is the preaching of Christ
and him crucified that leads sinners to repentance. When an
enlightened sinner sees that their sin is dreadful, that it's
offensive, offensive to God, it's against God and Him only,
that it's horrific, they then see that only God's blood would
suffice to wash their sin away. Only Christ's obedience to His
own law can justify us. And only God Himself can satisfy
His own justice. That's what we see in Christ
crucified. God said, I'll be gracious to
whom I'll be gracious. I'll show mercy on whom I'll
show mercy. And that, my friends, is the
glory of God. It's found in the face of the
Lord Jesus Christ. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4, 6. Now, let
me say this without any apology. God didn't have to save us. Men
today act as though God is obligated to save sinners, that man is
somehow entitled to salvation. That couldn't be further from
the truth. God didn't have to save anyone. He could have left
us dead in our sin. Wouldn't have changed God at
all, would he? No, he's still God. And if he had, that is what
you and I deserved. That's what we earned. You see,
the wages of sin is death. You want to know what you've
earned? You've earned death. The wages of your sin is death. I want to be paid. No, you don't.
The wages is death. The soul that sins, it shall
die. But, there we have it again,
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our
Lord. A gift is not something you work
for, is it? No, if you did, it'd cease to
be a gift. It would be an earning. A gift
is not something that you deserve. A gift is given as a token of
love from another. A gift is not something that
you've merited. It's something that someone freely
gave you. God's gift to His people is eternal
life, and it's through, it's in, it's by, and it's through
the Lord Jesus Christ. We didn't work for it, we don't
deserve it, and we certainly didn't merit it. It's God's gift
to us in, by, and through Christ. By grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourself. It's the gift of God, not by
works, no, lest any man should boast, and man will. It's the
gift of God. for me to say that I decided
to follow Jesus. I don't know how folks can sing
that. For me to say that I let go and let God, for me to say
that I gave my heart to Jesus, for me to say that I'm saved
by my free will is to say that Christ came and he died in vain. Now that's how serious this is. This is not just a difference
in doctrine. This is serious, serious business. If I can do something to save
myself, if I can lend God my will and cooperate with God and
collaborate with God in order to be saved, then I'm saying
that Christ came and died in Maine. That Christ didn't have
to come. And that He came and that He
died in Maine because I can save myself. Not merely a doctrinal
difference, no. It's about the glory of God and
the salvation of His people in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look
at verse 14 here. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory is of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The blessed truth that God Himself
was made flesh, made a man, a man without sin and dwelt among us,
fulfilling the law for us in perfect obedience and working
out a perfect righteousness to give us when He took our sin. That, my friends, is the glory
of God. There's nothing that gives God
more glory than that. That's what we read in verse
14, and we beheld His glory. The glory is of the only begotten
of the Father. Jesus Christ is not just the
Son of God, He's God the Son. He's no less God than God is. God the Father is. God the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. And I'll say it again, it's the
most wonderful words a man could say or hear. Jesus Christ is
God, and it took God to die for your sins in order to put them
away. Now what do you have to do with it? Does man have a free
will? Does man have the ability to
come to Christ by his own free choice and will? The Scriptures,
they're awful clear on the matter. Or is salvation by the sovereign
grace and mercy of God? Turn over a few pages to John
chapter 6 with me. John chapter 6. I want you to
look at verse 44. The Lord Jesus speaking here
in verse 44, the Lord Himself says, look at this, no man can
come to me. No man, woman, no sinner has
the ability to come. That's what the word can there
mean. No man can, no man has the ability
to come. Another wonderful word, except,
but, Except, except the Father which sent me draw him and I'll
raise him up at the last day." Does man have the ability to
come? What did our Lord say? He said, no man can come. No
man. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. There's none righteous. No, not one. No man can come
to me that they might have life. Are there any exceptions? One.
There's one exception. Except the Father draw him. except
it be given to them. That's the only exception. Now
look closely at verse 45. It says, it's written in the
prophets, speaking of the Old Testament scriptures, and they
shall be all taught of God. Don't have to be taught of God.
Salvation's of the Lord. to come to Christ and have life
eternal, God himself must draw you, God himself must give you,
and God himself must teach you. We don't have the ability to
make a choice in the matter of salvation. God has to draw us,
give us, and teach us. And in verse 45, the Lord continues
by saying, every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned
of the Father cometh unto me. And here we see two more wonderful
reasons Why our salvation is of God. Why salvation is of the
Lord. We have to hear from God. You're
going to have to hear from God. Not from a preacher. The Lord
may use the preacher. You hear from God. We have to
learn from God. It's then that we come to God. You can try to teach someone
anything, but that doesn't mean that they'll learn. You can try
to teach someone something, but that don't mean they'll learn.
But when God teaches a sinner, oh my, that sinner hears, and
that sinner learns, and that sinner comes. He's an effectual
teacher. Does man have a free will? Turn
back a page or so to John chapter five. Look at verse 39 with me. Here again, the Lord's speaking.
He says, search the Scriptures, for in them, the Scriptures,
you think, You have eternal life. And they are they which testify
Me. You read the Scriptures and you think in them that you have
eternal life. But you don't love Me. You don't
believe Me. You don't trust Me. And the Scriptures
that you say you believe is the very thing that speaks of Me,
concerning Me. You think you have eternal life
in the Scriptures, but they are they which testify Me. And the
Lord is plainly telling His listeners that the Scriptures are all about
Him. And beginning at Moses, as we saw in the first hour and
all the prophets, he, the Lord expounded, he preached unto them
in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. And look
at what the Lord says next in verse 40. He says, and you will
not come to me that you might have life. Have you got a free
will? No, no, you don't. Your will
is not to come. Your will is not to come. You
will not come to me that you might have life. Man's will is
not to come to Christ that they might have life. My will to sin,
my unwillingness to come to Christ, my will not to have Christ to
rule over me is free in my fallen nature. My enmity for God is
unbound. But when God makes a sinner a
new creature, a new creation, 2 Corinthians 5, when old things
are passed away, and behold, all things become new, when God
gives His people a new nature, when He makes them a new man,
when within us dwells a new man, we were made willing in the day
of His power. Made willing. Now my will to
sin and reject Christ is in bondage to my new nature. In my old nature,
I cannot not sin. You follow me? In my old nature,
I cannot not sin. Sin's what I am, sin's what I
do. But when I died with Christ,
when I died in Him, the perfect man that He was, I'm now dead
to sin. In Him, I'm dead to sin. Sin
no longer has dominion over me. God's holy law no longer has
claim against me. God's holy justice no longer
has a warrant out for me. I'm free. Why would you want
to have a free will if in Christ we're all together free? I no
longer have a need to exercise a free will when God's will for
me came at no cost to me. It's free. free from the law,
O happy condition, Jesus hath bled, and there is remission. Cursed by the law and bruised
by the fall, that's me, but grace in Christ hath redeemed me once
for all." Are you chosen of God? There are many who worry about
whether or not they're God's elect. The question is, what
think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? The issue is
sin. Sin is the issue. How is my sin
going to be put away? My only hope of eternal life
is to be given the perfect righteousness of Christ Himself. For the law
of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from
the law of sin and death. Christ has made me free. Not
giving me a free will is not what saves me. Christ dying in
my room instead is what does. The believer's main concern and
desire is to be found in Christ, not whether or not they're one
of God's elect. And that's the amazing thing about election. If we believe and trust in Christ
to put our sin away, we discover that we are the elect of God.
We need to concern ourselves with Christ. with Christ. Have you ever thought about how
often God's word refers to certain men and women in the scriptures?
There was a certain man and there was a certain woman, meaning
a specific particular man or woman. Not everyone, but a specific
one. a chosen man or woman. We use
that word certain very often in our conversations, and we
seem to know what it means, but when it comes to salvation, when
it comes to eternal things, we act like we don't have any idea
what the word certain means. Why do men take the greatest
mercy ever given by God, that being the salvation that Christ
wrought for us, and make it a bad thing. They make it a point of
hatred and contention. I had someone tell me very recently
that he recently attended a church where the pastor found out that
he believed in God's sovereignty and he became displeased and
unhappy. It's the greatest news this sinner
ever heard. God's on his throne. God saves
whom he will. God has mercy on him whom he'll
have mercy. Christ didn't come to die to
make salvation possible. Christ came to make it certain. And certain men and women believe
it. Our Lord, as I said a moment ago, said, you haven't chosen
me, but I've chosen you. Now, if I chose, I can un-choose. If I can, make up my mind to
be saved and I can change my mind about being saved. But if
God chooses me, he cannot and he will not change his mind.
God is not a man that he should repent or change his mind. No,
sir. It pleases the Lord to make you
His people, and it pleased His people that He does. In Matthew
17, a certain man kneeled before the Lord Jesus, and he said,
My son's in bad shape. He said, He's a lunatic. He's
crazy. He's sore vexed with the Spirit.
It throws him into the fire to burn him. It throws him into
the water to drown him. He said, Have mercy on my son,
Lord. What did the Lord say? Well,
you need to tell him to exercise his will. You need to tell him
to let go and let God. No, no. And do you think that
there were other fathers in this day and time who had sons in
bad shape? You better believe there was.
What made this father to differ? No, it was who made him to differ. It's always that, isn't it? This
man was a certain man. He was a certain man who was
at a certain time in a certain place to receive this mercy from
Christ. Our Lord said, can you believe? And he said, oh Lord, I believe,
I do believe, but help out my unbelief. And that's the way
it is with all God's people. In Mark chapter 5, there was
a certain woman, you know her well, had an issue of blood for
12 years. She spent all she had on doctors,
and the scripture says she grew worse. But one day, she heard
about the great physician. She heard about a physician that
had 100% cure rate. None that he ever treated went
uncured. She said, that's who I need to
get to. And you know the rest of the story. She touched the
hem or the garment of the Lord Jesus and was immediately made
whole. Now, was it her effort, the effort
that she made to get to Christ that healed her? No. Was it her
will and determination that did so? No. Was it her reaching out
that healed her? Was it her touching him? Was it her will to do so the
reason for the immediate cure? Well, no. None of those things. What was it then? It was who
she crawled to. It was who she wanted to touch.
It was who virtue came out of. It was Christ who saved that
certain woman. In Luke chapter 14, we're made
aware of two certain men, a certain man who was rich and a certain
man that was a beggar. A certain rich man fared sumptuously,
the scripture said. That word means luxury, luxurious. He lived a life of luxury. Who
was behind his success? Who was behind his wealth and
riches? God was. And then there's this
certain particular beggar named Lazarus. I find it interesting
that we're given a name for the beggar, but not for the rich
man. The Lord calls his own by name, doesn't he? There were
many beggars in this day, but this certain particular one,
he lay at the rich man's gate. This particular beggar was full
of sores. He was in bad shape. He was hopeless. He was helpless. And who was
behind this poverty? God was. We're told that that
certain beggar died, and we're told also that that certain rich
man died, and the chosen beggar was carried by the angels into
the bosom of Abraham, and we're told that the chosen rich man
was buried, and in hell, he lifted up his eyes. Now, who determined
the ends of both of these men? God did. Do you think that rich
man, if he could have exercised his will and been saved, that
he wouldn't have been? Before either of these men were
born, hear me on this, it's the gospel truth. Before either of
these men were born, before either one, the certain rich man or
the certain beggar ever did any good or evil that the purpose
of God according to election might stand. Not of works. Not of your will. Not of your
decision. Not of your choice. according
to election, not of works, but of Him, they call it. Does man
have a free will? One was a beggar in hopeless
condition, and God divinely intervened and saved him by His grace. And
the other was a rich man who lived a life of luxury and privilege,
and he had no need of a saint. For who maketh thee to differ?
What do you have you hadn't received? And if you've received it, why
do you glory in it? In Mark chapter seven, there
was a certain woman. She was a Greek. She was a Syrophoenician
woman. She had a daughter with an unclean
spirit. She came and she fell at the
Lord's feet. She wasn't a child of Abraham. She was a Greek. She was a Syrophoenician. The
Jews considered them to be dogs. And the Lord told her that very
thing. He said, it's not right. It's
not just for me to take the children's bread and to give it to a dog. I beg your pardon, I'm not a
dog. That's what we'd say, isn't it?
She didn't say that. She said, yay, Lord. A dog is
what I am. I am a dog. You got that right. I'm not a child of God. I know
what I am. I'm nothing but a dead dog sinner. Yet the dogs under the table
eat the crumbs from the children's bread. Unworthy. Undeserving
dead dog sinners are satisfied to eat the children's crumbs
if they're from the table of Christ their master. Mary Magdalene
was a certain woman. The Lord cast seven devils out
of her. She didn't have possession of her own faculties. It certainly
wasn't by her free will that he did. She was demon possessed. Lydia was a certain woman whose
heart the Lord opened. Did she exercise her will and
Jesus come into her heart? No, the Lord opened her heart.
The Lord Jesus is the only one who can. Ananias was a certain
man. Cornelius was a certain man.
Apollos was a certain man. What about that poor man in John
chapter 5 that lay at the pool of Bethesda for 38 years? Crippled,
couldn't walk. Told the Lord, said, I have no
man to put me in the water when the angel stirs the water. A
multitude of impotent folks were there for that very reason. Whether
it was superstition or not, I don't know. But that's why they were
there. But this man was a certain man. And the Lord Jesus saw him
among all those people. And he said, do you desire to
walk? He said, I don't have any man
put me in the water. And the Lord Jesus didn't argue with
him. He said, take up your bed and walk. And he did. And he did. Oh, there was a man
in Acts chapter three, a certain man lame from his mother's womb,
never in his life had he walked. He couldn't work. He couldn't
walk by nature. We can't work. We can't walk. All we can do is what that man
did, and that was beg. Are you a mercy beggar? Oh, if
you are, I've got good news for you. God hears beggars. Ask Bartimaeus,
Adab. We can't work. You can beg. You can beg for mercy. Blind
Bartimaeus did. He was a certain man. So, does
man have a free will? Not until God makes him willing.
Only then is His will made free to believe God. Only then is
His will made free to trust Christ. Only then is His will made free
to rest in Christ's finished work alone. There are some of
you here this morning that are resting in His finished work.
And you're really resting. You are resting. Because you
know that it's finished. You know that there's nothing
for you to do. Christ sat down on the right hand of God. Why?
Because His work was finished. And we sat down with Him, being
in Him, being one with Him. Our work, too, is finished. And that's when certain men and
women will say in every instance of life, whatever comes our way,
we'll say, Lord, not my way, but Thy will be done.