All right, if you take your Bibles
and turn them, it will be back to Psalm 127. Psalm 127, and the title of this message, The Church
That Christ Built. The church that Christ has built. The Scripture says, Except the
Lord build the house, they that labor in vain that build it.
Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. Now this psalm, no doubt, was
written by David for his son Solomon. We see that in the title
of this hymn, A Psalm of Degrees. for Solomon. He wrote this because
Solomon was ordained to build the temple. You see, David was
a man after God's own heart. He was loved of God. He was the
greatest king that Israel ever had. But because he was a man
of war, because he was a bloody man, The Lord forbid David, though
he desired to build the temple. God forbid David to build the
temple. Go to 1 Chronicles. 1 Chronicles chapter 22. I'm sorry, yeah, 1 Chronicles
chapter 22. And look at verse 6. 1 Chronicles 22 and verse 6, it
said, Then he called Solomon his son, and charged him to build
a house for the Lord God of Israel. And David said to Solomon, My
son, as for me, it was in my mind to build a house under the
name of the Lord my God. But the word of the Lord came
to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, Thou hast made
great wars. Thou shalt not build an house
unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth
in my sight. Behold, a son shall be born unto
thee, who shall be a man of rest. And he shall give him rest from
all his enemies round about, for his name shall be Solomon. And I will give him peace and
quietness unto Israel in his days. He shall build an house
for my name. And He shall be my Son, and I
will be His Father, and I will establish the throne of His kingdom
over Israel forever. Now, my son, the Lord be with
thee, and prosper thou, and build the house of the Lord thy God,
as He has said unto thee. Now, we want to once again, we
must be reminded of this, that this book is not merely a historical
book, but it is a book concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, His work,
and His salvation of the church, His salvation of Israel. Remember, that's what the Scripture
had written when Christ rose again. He said, beginning at
Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the
Scriptures the things concerning Himself. And so as we read this
text, it's not just about an earthly temple. Not just about
that temple Solomon built. But the temple of God which is
the church. The church that Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, has built. Now this text is not about building
an earthly family or an earthly sanctuary. We for a long time desired to
build this building. I'm so thankful that the Lord
gave us all that we needed to put this thing together. And
surely we know this as we as a local assembly, if there's
any growth in this assembly, if there's anyone that comes
in, we know this, the Lord Himself must do it. This is bigger than
growing churches or earthly families. This is talking about the salvation
of God's elect. That if a sinner is to be saved,
except the Lord build the house, except the Lord save the sinner,
all the labor of the sinner is in vain to save himself. This
is what the text is speaking of. Now, in this text, the writer
of this psalm, David, is a picture, a type of the Law. Now, in a lot of other places,
David is a picture and type of the Lord Jesus Christ. But in
this instance, he is a picture of the law. Now we know this,
Moses was a man loved of God, and in the Old Testament, he
was not allowed to enter into the Promised Land. Remember,
he did not speak to the rock, but he struck the rock twice. Now, Moses did it, and it was
a sin. But God intended it so that Moses
should be a picture of something, a type. Moses was a picture and
type of the law. The law can only strike. The
law can only condemn. Therefore, anyone who comes to
God by the law is not allowed into the promised land and not
allowed into glory. So David in this picture is a
bloody man. He in this picture The law. He was a man of war. And God
required the builder of his house to be a man of peace. Which Solomon was ordained to
have peace in his kingdom. Behold then the type, the law
of God is set against the sinner. The law of God is strict in its
justice and its judgment and therefore can do nothing to save
the sinner. It can only expose guilt and
punish the sinner. This is the purpose of the law.
Remember Paul in Romans gives us our condition. There is none
righteous, no not one. There is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God. And what's the result of
this? What is the purpose of the law
to such sinners as this? He says in Romans 3 and verse
19, that every mouth may be stopped. That's what the law is there
for, to shut us up. That the whole world become guilty
before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in this light, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin." Now see, then, the temple. The temple
was a place that was in the law. The temple was a place where
God had ordained to meet with men in peace. It was a place
of peace. It was the only place where the
atonement for sin was made and peace was made by the atonement. But see the law gives no means. The law of God was by no means
capable then of removing sin. Now the law by the the tabernacle,
the law by the offerings of sin, it gave a sign, it gave a picture
as to how sinners should come to God, but itself never provided
any means. In other words, these priests
were ordained, the sacrifices were ordained, but none of those
sacrifices could remove sin. Not one of them under the law
could remove sin. Matter of fact, those sacrifices
were done year after year, reminded them of sin. It showed that the
sacrifice last year was not sufficient. Therefore, they had to do it
the next year, and the next year. Why? Because it could not remove
sin. The law though having a shadow
of good things to come, Paul said. In Hebrews 10, the law
having a shadow. When they killed that animal,
it was just a shadow. It was not substantive of good
things to come. He says, it's not the very image
of the things. It can never by those sacrifices
which they offered year after year continually make the comers
there into perfect. For then would they have ceased.
Isn't that right? If it worked, they wouldn't do
it again. Because that the worshippers
once being purged should have no more conscience of sin. But
those sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. And so then the law, like David,
like David could only lay up the materials. Could lay up what
is necessary. but by no means build it. Now, David, he was not allowed
to build the temple, but he was allowed to cut the wood. He wasn't
allowed to put it together, but he was allowed to build the nails.
He was allowed to build the doors. He was allowed to melt the brass
and the gold and put them aside. But He was by no means allowed
to put it together. Why? Because that's what the
law does. The law measures out what is necessary for our acceptance. It measures the beams of the
temple. It shows and measures the holiness
of God. It measures the sinfulness of
man. But it can't reconcile the two.
It can't put them together. And so even so, as we may look
at the law, we may see the exactness of God's requirements of peace,
but can by no means, through the law, obtain peace. To look into the law of God,
we may see the absolute holiness of God. It says, Be ye holy,
even as I am holy. Now, you want to look in the
law, that's what it's going to show you. It's not going to tell
you how, You can be holy as God is holy. It just tells you, you
must be as holy as God is holy. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. The law tells you that the sinner
is going to die, but it cannot tell you how to atone for your
sin. It cannot atone for your sin.
You remember that lawyer that came
to the Lord Jesus. He said, what must I do? And
Jesus said, you've read the law, what does it tell you? And the
lawyer said, well, being the studious man, proud of his answer,
well, I know the answer to that one. Love the Lord your God with
all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength,
with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. He's
so proud. And Jesus said, well, you answered
right. Now go do that and live. He could measure out the beams
of what He needed. He could measure out the door
that He needed, but He could not, the law could not put it
together. You could not build it yourself. You couldn't put it together
yourself. We all have failed in this. None
of us have ever measured up to the holy standard of God. We,
like this lawyer, we often seek to justify ourselves, we seek
to find loopholes. The scripture says, and he's
seeking to justify himself. When the law speaks, what does
a natural man naturally do? Justifies himself. Well, I didn't
obey because of this. Well, I didn't because it's your
fault. That's what Adam said, it's your
fault. The woman you gave me, if you didn't give me that woman,
I wouldn't have done it. We justify ourselves, try to find loopholes
by traditions. Isn't this how the Pharisees
tried to obey the law? Through traditions. By laws. But listen, all who do such is the dream of fools and liars.
Anybody trying to build their own salvation by the law are
fools and liars. Some men go as far to confess
as they have need of faith in Christ, but what do they do?
They try to add to the work of Christ. They confess they need
Christ, they confess that His blood and righteousness is needed
for their salvation, but they still Try to add one thing, one
brick. Well, Jesus built the whole thing
except this one brick. I've got to put this one in.
I've got to do this one. I've got to perform this work. They try to add their will and
religious labor, their obedience to the law in order to build
their salvation. These deceived fellows believe
that Christ that Christ is their wisdom, that Christ is their
righteousness, that Christ is their redemption, but they must
be their sanctification. No. The law shall have no part, our obedience
to the law shall have no part in our salvation. Paul said, Cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law
to do them. Now you want to take the law, and this is what religious
men do, they take pieces of the law that they perceive they can
obey. But God never allows you to take
part of the law. He says you take one, you take
the whole thing. and cursed is everyone that continueeth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.
And so it is when men do this, they seek to put their hand to
the salvation of God. It's like Uzzah. Remember the
Ark of the Covenant as it was carried on that cart. It's not
the way God told him to do it, but David, with all the sentimental... I'm sure he had sincere thoughts
about putting that Ark on that cart. But when that cart stumbled,
you remember Uzzah, he put his hand to the ark to steady it
and God killed him. If any man put his hand to the
work of salvation, God will kill you. God will kill you. And for us
to be accepted, I want you to understand this, does that make
the law evil? No. The law is good. Can you
find anything wrong with the law. No. The law is good. In fact, for us to be accepted,
the law must be honored. It must be magnified. The law
must be obeyed. Justice of the law must be satisfied. There can be no salvation without
holiness, which is measured by the law.
Just as Solomon could never have put that temple together without
the beams that David prepared. Even so, Christ must have honored
the law. But such a feat, such a feat
as building, putting together the righteousness of the law
by our works is impossible. Such a building is not done by
us, but only as it is in our text by Solomon. Solomon. And so Solomon, David is a picture
of the law, but Solomon is a picture of Christ. Solomon is a picture
of Christ. He is the builder of our acceptance
with God. He is the only one ordained of
God to magnify the law. In Psalm 42 and verse 21 it says
this, He shall magnify the law and make it honorable. See, Christ
came into the world to do what you and I could not do. He came
to honor the law. He came to magnify it by His
own obedience. by his own obedience. Behold, David was required of
God to shed blood. And David did
this because God had commanded him to. And so does the law demand
death of sinners. Yet behold, we are all born sinners. We have all fallen short of the
glory of God, so how is it that our salvation is built? It is
built by the death of a substitute. This salvation is built by the
death of a substitute. If you were to look at Calvary's
tree, look at that horrible visage
of the Son of God. The Scripture says He was marred
more than any man. There was not one piece of His
flesh that was not cut. There was not one piece that
was unmarred by the whip. His hands, His feet were pierced,
His head pierced with thorns, His side pierced with a Roman
spear. But if you look at all of that
pain, and you look at all of that suffering, it was only an
outward picture of the real suffering, the sole suffering of Jesus Christ,
our Savior. It was there the bloody law exacted
the full price for our sins. It was there on Calvary's tree
that our high priest made one offering for sin. One offering
that none of those other priests which offered sacrifices according
to the law could ever do. Their sacrifices were continual
because they never fulfilled the shadow of what they promised. Christ did by one offering what
their offerings could never do. It was there that our Solomon
was building our salvation. He took all of the beams and
nails and materials of the law, and by his own hands he built
our righteousness. That holiness that God required,
it was Christ who made it. All of that justice that God
required for our sins, it was Christ that paid it. And you remember by His one offering,
what happened in that temple, that the veil was rent, the way was
made open. The law could never do that.
Those sacrifices, they had to take that blood within the veil
and only one man could do that. But Christ having went into the
presence of God with His own blood, the veil is now open. The temple of God is now wide
open. Access to God is now freely given
by the offering and blood of this man, Jesus Christ. It's now open. open to all who believe on Christ. Now look at that text again in
1 Chronicles if you have your place there. Listen to what it
says if you don't. In 1 Chronicles chapter 10, listen
to the prophecy. He shall build a house for my
name, and he shall be my son, and I will be his father. and
I will establish the throne of His kingdom over Israel." How
long? How long? Forever. You see, right then, I know this,
He's not talking about Solomon. Isn't that right? Where's the
kingdom of Israel right now? There is no kingdom of Israel.
There is no literal kingdom of Israel. I know this. He is speaking
in prophecy of His Son. He shall build my house in my
name. He shall be my Son. I'll be His
Father. I'll establish His throne of His kingdom over Israel forever.
Now, my Son, the Lord be with thee and prosper
thou. When Christ came into this world, is that not fulfilled?
The Lord was with Him. and prospered him. Was there one thing that he was
not prosperous at? When Christ came into the world,
was there anything he was not prosperous? Anything that he
missed? Anything he did not do? No, he
was prosperous. He was prosperous to build the
house of the Lord thy God. As it is said, Behold the greater
than Solomon is here. which was ordained of God to
build his church. Jesus said this, upon this rock
I will build my church. What is he doing? He is fulfilling
the scripture. I am building my church, upon
this rock I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. Christ built it upon himself. Christ having established our
righteousness by His obedience, Christ pleasing God by His one
offering, the law being now satisfied by His blood, righteousness of
the law now being established, God raised Him from the dead
and sat Him on the throne of heaven for this purpose. to build his church. He says, as thou hast given him
power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as
many as thou hast given him. He came, he fulfilled the salvation
of his people. Therefore, he is the builder
of his church. is the builder of our salvation. How did He build it? By obedience
and by blood. Now then, listen to your text.
Go back to Psalm 127. With that understanding, listen,
except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build
it. And so what is the house that
He builds? It is His church. As God ordained
the first tabernacle in the wilderness, all of which pictured Christ.
You remember that before the temple was built. Now we're talking
about two different buildings, right? The tabernacle in the
Old Testament was a tent. It was a movable tent. It was
one they had to pick up and carry wherever they went, and had to
re-put it down, and on the outside it was ugly. It was badger skin. When they were raided and enemies
came in, they'd look at that thing and, hey, I don't want
to go in there. There's nothing in there. It's
ugly. But you remember on the inside how beautiful it was.
How beautiful that tabernacle was. It was veiled. Nobody on the outside saw any
beauty in it, any value. But now compare that to the temple
that was built. When the temple was built, It
was glorious. Everyone could see the glory
of the temple. It was not covered in badger
skins, but gold. Pillars of marble, it was beautiful. Now behold this, what was hidden
in the Old Testament? Election. Salvation, all of that
was hidden in types and pictures and shadows. And only those who
believed, only those who were saved could see the beauty of
it, could see the glory of it. It was hidden. But now I want
you to see that because Christ had built His salvation, built
His temple, it is so glorious that it cannot help but be seen. So then this thing that Jesus
did, this building that Christ built was not done in a corner,
but it was done openly. His perfection, His righteousness
cannot be refuted. You know, even His enemies said,
never a man spake like this man. Pilate said, I find no fault
in this man. Even His enemies could not refuse
to see the glory of His obedience. None could dispute His fulfillment
of the Old Testament Scriptures. None could refute His death and
resurrection. All of this was done openly.
Paul told Agrippa, he said, this thing was not done in a corner,
but openly. But I know this, no man by outward
observation will ever come to Christ. Only fools dispute it. Only fools dispute the righteousness
of Christ, the obedience of Christ, the death of Christ, the resurrection
of Christ. There are too many witnesses. I'm speaking of this text. It
was over 700 or more years before Christ came into this world. plainly and shows forth Christ. Yet, by outward observation,
no man can receive it. No man can understand it. Jesus
said, No man can come to Me, except the Father which has sent
Me draw him. This is because man is dead. We are so dead in sins that we
cannot even come to Christ. We are so far off, so powerless,
so corrupt, so wicked. Instead of coming to Christ,
we do the opposite. We run from Christ. We have no
need of Him, no desire of Him. Therefore, read the text, except
the Lord build the house. Accept the Lord, obtain righteousness. Accept the Lord, obtain redemption
by the blood of Christ. Accept the Holy Spirit, come
and give you a new heart. Accept He create in you a new
nature and give you faith. Your labor is vain. You can have the most sincere
heart of trying to be accepted with God. the greatest religious works
that ever a man did. And I'll tell you this, your
labor is vain. Except the Lord save you, all
your labor to be saved is empty. All your efforts of religion
and vain ceremony and traditions are useless. I thought of Cain. Cain was a tiller of the ground,
and remember the time came to offer his offering, and he worked
really hard. I'm sure that he got the best
fruit that he could possibly get in his garden. But he in rebellion denied the
Word of God. God said the ground was corrupt.
God said the ground was cursed. And so everything produced from
the ground is cursed. No matter how good it looks,
no matter how good it tastes, it's cursed. Same as with us,
the heart is cursed. And everything in the heart,
everything the heart produces is cursed. And so everything
you do is cursed. And God had no acceptance of
His offering. And listen, God is not going
to have any acceptance of your offering. They that labor to
build the house, labor in vain, listen, except the Lord build
it. Accept the Lord, give you the
righteousness of Christ. Accept the Lord, give you the
blood of Christ. Accept the Lord, save you. You
will never be saved. Do you understand that? Accept
the Lord, save you. You will never be saved. I want my children to be saved. I want my friends to be saved. I want to be saved. And accept the Lord, do it. All
our labor to save them is vain. All of my preaching is vain. Accept the Lord, apply it. Accept
the Lord, do it. This is exactly what's spoken
in Ephesians 2. Go there. Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians 2, look at verse 12.
Scripture says, "...at that time you were without Christ, being
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the
world." That's your condition, isn't it? That was our condition. But now, something happened. But now, in Christ, You who were
sometimes afar off were made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who hath
made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition
between us. Now listen, I was without God
and without Christ in the world, but something God did. But now
in Christ, you who were sometimes afar off were made nigh by the
blood of Christ. Where were you when Christ shed
His blood? Well, that was 2,000 years ago.
Where were you? We weren't around. We weren't
there. We didn't see it. But yet, you
were in Christ. God put you in Christ. And you
were made nigh before you knew you were made nigh. Now, our
experience was we were far off. But listen, I'm telling you,
you were made nigh long before you were made nigh. before you
experienced being near unto God, God had already made you near
in Christ. He is our peace. He is our peace. And He made both one Jew and
Gentile, broke down the middle wall of perdition. How did He
do that? Having abolished in His flesh the enmity. Now what
is the enmity? He says, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances. for this purpose to make in himself
of twain one new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile
both unto God in one body, one fold, one church, by the cross,
having slain the enmity." Again, what was the enmity? It was the
law. He slew the enmity of the law
that was against us. And then what did He do? By the
means of preaching. What did He do? Now this is our
experience of it. He said, Then and came and preached peace to
you which were afar off. And to them that were near, talking
about the Jews, For through Him we both have access by one Spirit
unto the Father. Now, therefore, you are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens and saints, and
of the..." What? Household. Who built this house? Who built this household? Christ
did. And now we are partakers of this
household of God. and are built on the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together
groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are also
built together for inhabitation through the Spirit. We who were far off are now made
one building. The Holy Spirit has now come
and taken what Christ has done and applied it to the hearts
and given us faith. And none of us would have, by
our own best efforts and labors, ever saved ourselves. But God,
who is rich in mercy, He built our salvation. He built this
house. He built this temple. He made
us acceptable unto God. Jesus Christ. You remember in
that temple, what was the center of that temple? What was put
in the middle of that temple? It was the Ark of the Covenant,
wasn't it? It was the place where the mercy seat was, which is
a picture of Christ. And what's the center of the
church? What is the foundation of the church? What is the foundation
of our hope? It's Christ. Accept Christ, Savior. Your labor to save yourself is
vain. Christ built His church. Christ
established His church. Christ saves His church. And
notice this. Go back and I'll just give you
one more thing. Look at this second part. The
Lord keep the city. Except the Lord keep the city,
the watchman waketh in vain. Now, I know it's the hearts of
every believer in Christ, everyone who understands the salvations
of the Lord. You have been saved by the Lord, you've been redeemed
by His blood, you've been clothed in His righteousness, you've
been given faith in Christ, and you give all the praise, all
the glory to God for your salvation. And we know this, that it is
our heart's desire to always remain in Christ. It is our heart's
desire to remain in Christ. Remember in Isaiah 28, verse
16, it says, Behold, the Lord hath laid in Zion a foundation
of stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone. I like that last
part. He that believeth shall not make
haste. You want to go anywhere else?
You that are built on Christ, do you want to go anywhere else?
I don't have any desire to go anywhere else. I'm not going
to make haste or run away from this foundation. We are like those that have fled
to the city of refuge. You suppose anybody in the city
of refuge wanted to leave it? He fled from that avenger of
blood and he was safe in there. He was safe in there. He didn't
want to go anywhere. I don't want to go anywhere else,
do you? We like Paul say, I count all
things but done that I may win Christ and be found in Him. My desire is not to be found
in my righteousness, which is of the law, but to be found in
the righteousness which is by the faith of Christ. I want to
be found in His righteousness. And we who believe, we long and
desire always to look by faith to Christ, only by faith to Christ,
always by faith to Christ. The just shall live by faith. And by faith we receive Christ
And by faith, He is the sole object of our faith. I don't
have any faith in my faith, do you? When you lean on your faith,
what are you going to do? You're going to fall. Because
your faith is weak. My faith is weak. At its strongest,
our faith is weak. Don't lean on it. We lean on
Jesus Christ. And so with all our heart's desire,
we, like watchmen, desire to guard ourselves from sin. We desire to guard ourselves
from the things that would keep us from Christ. Jude 1.21, keep
yourselves in the love of God. Isn't that what you want to do? Listen, you're going to keep
yourselves in the love of God. You've got to be watchful. Don't you? He said, how are you going to
keep yourselves looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ?
That's what I want. I'm looking for His mercy. That's
how I keep myself in His love. Jesus said in John 15 verse 9,
continue in my love. If you keep my commandments,
you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments
and abide in His love. What are His commandments? You can write it down, 1 John
5, 1-3. He says His commandments are
not grievous to us. What are His commandments? His commandment
is this, that you believe on Him and love the better. There's your commandments. Now
as watchmen over our souls, we desire to do these things. But we must confess this. Accept
the Lord, keep us. We wake in vain. We strive in
vain to keep ourselves. Isn't that just pitiful? That with all our striving against
sin, if God doesn't keep me from sin, I'll sin. If God doesn't keep me in Christ,
I could never keep myself in Christ. But I am thankful for this. Not
only did God build my salvation, He keeps it. Not even me can mess this up. Believe me, my flesh tries. The Scriptures are clear. Listen
to Hannah's song in 1 Samuel chapter 2. He will keep the feet of His
saints. Now let that sink in. Who's keeping your feet? Why have you not left? Joanne,
you've been here a long time. Why have you not left? Why are
your feet still on this path? God has kept you. If we tarry as long as He has
in faith, we must confess God kept us. We could not keep ourselves. And the wicked shall be silent
in darkness, for by strength shall no man prevail. Psalm 37, verse 23. The steps
of a good man are ordered by the Lord. In other words, the
salvation. Salvation. The steps of a good
man. Who is that? Who is the good
man? It's Christ. He was ordered of
the Lord. Our salvation was ordered of
the Lord. And He delighteth in His way,
though He fall, He shall not be utterly cast down, for the
LORD upholdeth him with His hand. Psalm 125, verse 1, They that
trust in the LORD shall mount up as Zion, and cannot be removed,
but abideth forever. So who does the building? Who built your salvation? Was it a cooperative effort? No, except the Lord build the
house. They that labor to build it,
labor in vain. Except the Lord keep the city.
Who's keeping you? Well, the same one that built
it keeps it. And I'm going to give you this
because I know you worry a lot. Look at verse two. It is vain
for you to rise up early and sit up late and eat the bread
of sorrows. How often are you troubled about
this matter of your salvation, that you stay up late, that you
rise up early and eat the bread of sorrows? When you do that, What does that
accomplish? Does it help keep you? Does it help build your salvation?
No. He said it is vain for you to
do these things. Why are you staying up late?
What does that matter? Why are you eating all these sorrows?
You know this flesh loves sorrow. Sometimes if I'm happy, I'm concerned. I really am. I said, man, there
must be something wrong. I'm happy. I feel happy. What's
the matter with me? Vain to eat all these sorrows
yourself. Scripture came to me this morning.
Cast all your care upon Him. For He cares. That's why you should do it. It's vain for you to worry. It's
vain for you to strive. Now why is that? Four. So he giveth his beloved sleep. Go to one last passage here. See if I can find it. Look at Hebrews chapter 4. Why
should you not worry? Because He giveth His beloved
sleep. Hebrews chapter 4. Look at verse
10. For He that is entered into His
rest, He also hath ceased from his
own works, as God did from His." You remember on the seventh day,
God ceased from His work. He rested on the seventh day.
It was a picture of something. It was a picture of Christ. As
God ceased from His work on the seventh day, even so Christ,
after building our salvation, accomplishing, what did He do?
He also ceased from His work. In other words, no more work.
In this matter of building salvation, there is no more work to be done.
No more work to be done. And I tell you this, God's people
do good works, but that adds not one brick to this. Not one. We desire to be like Him. We
desire to be righteous, to do good. But our doing good and
being righteous does not add one brick to this. Why? It's
finished, His work is done. So what does He say to us? Let
us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall
short after the same example of unbelief. Believer, Christ is your Sabbath. He's given His beloved rest.
Now then, what must we do? to enter into that rest. What
does that mean? It means you've got to continually
put off the flesh that wants to work, that wants to try to reconcile
ourselves to God, do penance for whatever we've done wrong.
No. Put all that off. And by faith, enter into His
rest. Lay down your head then tonight
on our pillow. Lay it down trusting that Christ
has built this house and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. Believer, you shall prevail. And what is this, by our strength
shall you prevail by your watchfulness? No. The Lord keeps you. So then why do you sit up and
worry? Isn't that just unbelief? Isn't
it? Isn't murmuring the product of
unbelief? May God keep us from such murmuring.
And be thankful. You know you can't complain and
be thankful at the same time? Not if you're really faithful. I pray God help us in this. Remember
the Lord built this house. The Lord keeps this house. So
why labor? Why strive? Why worry? Trust in Christ. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.