It's a privilege to be here.
I pray that God will be gracious to us tonight. Christ be magnified,
and in magnifying Christ, you should be comforted. Comfort. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people,
sayeth the Lord. It's our purpose and mission
to comfort you through preaching Christ. Magnifying Christ and
I know you're comforted in him if you'll take your Bibles. Tell
me the 2nd Thessalonians 2nd Thessalonians chapter 1 Look at verse 7 through 10 Lord
willing Scripture says and to you Who
are troubled? rest with us. When the Lord Jesus
shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming
fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished
with an everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord
and from the glory of his power. when he shall come to be glorified
in his saints, and to be admired in them all, in all them that
believe, because our testimony among you was believed in that
day. Entitled this message simply
this, rest with us. Rest. Rest. Paul says, you that
are troubled, you that are troubled, let me ask you this evening,
are any of you troubled? Are you troubled? Are you like
this church of Thessalonica who were troubled? Paul was, at the
beginning of this chapter, he thanked God for their exceeding
growth, their exceeding growth in faith and love. And then he said this in verse
four, so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God
for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations
that you endure. Are you troubled? Are you persecuted? Are you in tribulation? Are you pressed out of measure?
With sorrow and grief, are you troubled because of dark providences? Are you troubled because the
righteous suffer and the wicked prosper? Now, we know this, that
all men have common troubles, all men have struggles and pains
and sorrows, these troubles, that men that are common among
all men, we know this, they are rooted in one thing, and that
is sin. The cause of all trouble is sin. When God created the world, can
you imagine the perfection? It's hard to imagine the perfection. Yet at that time, there was no
trouble. He said, behold, Everything was
very good. But we know the moment that our
father sinned, he brought a curse upon the earth. Our God said,
cursed is the ground for thy sake. Cursed is the ground for
thy sake. Have you ever noticed that weeds
grow faster than your grass? Have you ever noticed that thorns
and briars grow faster than flowers? You didn't even want them. You
didn't ask for them. You didn't plant them. And yet
they grow. The thorns grow faster than the
flowers and they're stronger than the flower, aren't they?
You want the flower. But most of all, you get the
thorns. This is because the curse that
is brought upon this world. And so it is with trouble. We
don't want them. We don't ask for trouble. And yet daily, we are bombarded
on every side with trouble. Now, this is not just common.
I'm not talking about, we'll talk about your specific trouble,
believer, in a minute, but this is common with everyone. We can
all identify with this kind of trouble. We don't want them, we don't
ask for them, and they're hard to get rid of. But they come
anyway. They bring sorrow and crying
and pain. They bring death and they bring
fear. Job says, man that is born a
woman is full of trouble. Full of trouble. Man is born
of woman, is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. You ever notice how naturally
a spark would fly upward? That's how natural it is for
us to be in trouble. Jesus said this, He said to his
saints that he reigns on the just as well as the unjust. His
reign falls on the just and the unjust. His sun shines upon the
just and the unjust, good and the evil. But let me tell you,
there is one trouble that plagues all of Adam's race, that trumps
every other common trouble, and that is sin that is in you. Sin brought trouble into this
world, but our main trouble, man's main trouble is not the
effect of sin outwardly, it is sin inwardly. The sin in us. not just outward
troubles caused by sin, but inward troubles that has caused us spiritual
death. We were born dead in sins. We were born lost and depraved
and carnal. Therefore, Our nature. It is our nature, as our brother
read, that we are prone to sin, that there is none that doeth
good. No, not one. There's none that seeketh after
God. Why? Because we by nature are at enmity
against God. This is a great trouble. It's a great trouble. Scripture says we are not subject
to the law of God, our nature, and neither indeed can be. Dear
friends, all of the pains of this life and the grief of this
life that we've experienced cannot compare to this trouble of being
at enmity against God. The word of God declares to us
that our God is a consuming fire, that he is just and holy and
will punish sin. In our text, he speaks of this,
that he is coming. Our God is coming in flaming
fire, taking vengeance, taking vengeance on them that know not
God and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our nature is as
dried leaves before the flame of God's justice. Have you ever
burned leaves? Were there any resistance to
the flame? Is it any possibility of resistance?
No. We by nature are at enmity against
God. You who know God know not God. You who believe not on the Son
of God, God will come against you. And seeing he is, it is
a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation upon the
workers of iniquity. Every one of us shall stand before
the judgment seat of Christ. He come when he come the first
time we know this he came as a servant our Lord Jesus came
in meekness and lowliness You know Christmas is coming and
you they all want to see Jesus in a manger Easter is coming. They want to see him nailed to
a tree and Our Lord Jesus did come in such a capacity, in such
humility, but I tell you that he is risen in victory, and next
time he comes, his second advent will be in justice and judgment. The scripture tells us over in
Revelation chapter 20 and verse 11, he said, I saw a great white
throne to him that sat upon the throne. I saw him and the earth
and the heaven fled away. And there was now no place for
them. I saw the dead small in grace stand before God and the
books were opened and another book was opened, the book of
life. And the dead were judged out of those things that were
written in the books according to their works. I want you to see this, that
no man escapes the judgment of God. I saw both small and great. Men have power now, they may
have greatness now, they may have titles now, but in that
day, none of this will matter. In that day, titles and positions
and offices will make no difference. Both kings and peasants, presidents
and citizens, rich and poor, young and old, men and women,
everyone will be judged in righteous, holy, strict justice. Everyone. You see how the word
is very plain? Every one of us. will stand before
God. What then is the hope for sinners?
There is another book. The book of life in the scripture
says everyone was judged out of those books, but those whose
names were written in the book of life lived. And everyone whose
name was not written were cast into eternal damnation. And that
day, nothing shall be hid from God. All that men think are hidden
will be revealed. For God looks upon the heart
and judges the thoughts and intents and motives of every action,
every deed. Have you considered that if one
sin remained, if one sin is found in you or me, we will righteously
receive eternal damnation. Eternal damnation. He will come
in flaming vengeance against anyone on whom sin is found. knowing then that we have sinned,
knowing that the scriptures are clear, that in fact, we are full
of sin. Isaiah says, from the crown of
our head to the sole of our feet is nothing but sin, wounds, bruises,
putrefying souls. He says in another place that
all our righteousnesses, are as filthy rags in the sight of
God. Our brother read, there is none
righteous, no, not one. There's none that seeketh after
God, there's none that doeth good, no, not one. Scriptures are plain. Does this trouble you? Does this trouble you? Does this
matter of sin cause you unrest? The end of sin is what? Death. Death. The soul that sinneth,
it shall surely die. Regardless of who you are or
what you are, it does not matter. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. I know this, all men shall die
physically. Except when the Lord comes back,
there shall be few who will be raised incorruptible in a moment. Most of us will die if he does
not come back. We will die physically. Even
the saints of God may suffer physical death, but the eternal
death that comes from sin, I'll tell you this, it should trouble
men. It should. Where then will you go to find
rest? None of that is comforting, is
it? None of that, can you find rest in any of that? It's just,
it causes, it stirs up unrest. So then, knowing all of that
is true, where shall you find rest? The psalmist wrote this,
who shall ascend under the hill of God? He that hath clean hands. You have clean hands? He that hath a pure heart, do
you have a pure heart? He shall be blessed of God. I'm
telling you, that's only talking of one man, not you, not me,
that speaks of Christ. Jesus Christ is the only man
with clean hands and a pure heart. Now, I know that some of you,
some people will leave this place and they might find rest by just
dismissing what I said. They may be troubled for a moment,
and as soon as they turn around, they turn their phones on, turn
the internet on, and they dismiss it. You may be able to do that. Well, preacher, I just don't
believe God's like that. I don't think, I think God's
love, I think he'll just forgive me as long as I do my best. As long as I try really hard
and I'm sincere, I'm sure he'll accept me. All who believe such
nonsense, I believe you may be sincere, but you're sincerely
wrong. Those priests of Baal, you remember,
they actually cut themselves. They cried unto Baal, and they
were sincere. But they were sincerely wrong,
and they died in their sins. Others may leave this place trusting
in some profession of faith that they have made, some religious
work or deed that they have done. They will try to find refuge
in that. They say, Preacher, well, I know Jesus, and I've
known him all my life. You ever heard somebody say,
I've known Jesus all my life. I always tell them, that's too
long. That's too long. I know he died for me because
I made some decision. I made a decision for him. And
if I just follow his commandments and try to do everything well
and meet his commandments, I'll be all right. God said this you've made a covenant
with death and hell and your covenant shall be disannulled You heard that I've made my peace
with God If you've made your peace there is no peace I There
is no peace. I declare unto you that there
is only one refuge, one shelter, one fortress by which sinners
may endure judgment. That refuge and that place of
fortitude is in a person, a person, Jesus Christ and him alone. Jesus Christ in him alone This
is what Christ said of himself He said come unto me all you
that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you what? Are you troubled about judgment?
Are you heavy laden with the guilt of your sin and Are you
heavy laden by religion, always trying to please God by your
deeds? That is a heavy burden that no
man can bear. And Christ says this, drop that,
come to me and I'll give you rest. Come to me and I'll give
you rest. Friends, are you laden with sin?
Are you troubled of judgment? then I point you to Jesus Christ,
the refuge for sinners. Is your foundation too short? Is your covering too narrow?
Then I point you to Christ tonight. It is my heart's desire tonight
to say with the Apostle Paul in our text, come rest with us. If you're troubled with sin,
come and rest with us. I want you to behold the person
of Christ. Jesus Christ is the only sinless
son of God. This one who gives rest is himself
God, very God. And yet he was sent of the Father
and took upon him the nature of a man. Now why in the world
would God condescend to be made a man? What is the purpose of his union
with human flesh? Well, this is simple because
God the Father had, before the world began, purpose to save
a people. God the Father had love to people. And the means by which he had
chosen to save those people was through the person and the work
of his Son. That his Son. should be the federal
head, the representative man of all his elect people. This is why he came into the world as a man. Now,
we know this, Adam was a federal head. Adam was a representative
man. Wherefore as by one man's sin
entered in the world and what's the result death by sin? Then
what death passed? Because of his representation
death passed upon all men for all have sinned He was a representative
man by him came spiritual death upon the whole race Even so all who God has given
to Christ, all that he would represent. Christ should come
into the world as a man to merit life and righteousness for those
people. He came to give them rest. He came to give them life and
peace. I pray that every sinner in this
building should behold the miraculous and wonderful person of Jesus
Christ, the God-man mediator, that he alone is the only one
that can stand between you and God. Go to Numbers. When I read that
today, this passage of scripture came to my mind. Look at Numbers.
This is a beautiful picture of that. This is a beautiful picture. Go to Numbers chapter 16. Numbers
chapter 16, look, verse 44. Israel sinned. That's a common
thing. Israel had done wickedly. And
God was angry. And you read this, and the Lord
spake unto Moses, saying, Get you up from among the congregation,
that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell on their
faces. And Moses said unto Aaron, Take
a censer, put fire thereon from off the altar. Put the incense,
put on the incense and go quickly into the congregation, make an
atonement for them. For there is wrath gone out of
the Lord. The plague is begun. And Aaron took as Moses commanded
and ran into the midst of the congregation. And behold, the
plague was begun among the people. And he put on the incense and
made an atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead
and the living. And the plague was staged. All my friends, the plague is
sin. God in judgment and justice has
condemned man to death. The plague has begun. But yet
notice the mercy of God in this. Aaron, a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ, takes the incense from off the altar. He makes
an atonement and runs, and he stands between the dead and the
living. It's exactly what Christ has
done. He stands between us and the judgment of God. Behold His person, His work,
that He came to be a representative and fulfill the law of God. And by His obedience, He should
merit for us righteousness for all the elect of God, not for
all men, but for His people. And this was not enough. We know
his obedience to the law was not enough because sin had to
be punished. God is coming in vengeance because
of what? Sin. Sin must be punished. How then should the sin of the
elect be punished? Only through the representative. Therefore he came and upon Calvary's
tree Behold, the Savior, as He was crucified, bore our sin in
His own body on the tree. And the justice of God poured
out without mercy on Him. This flaming vengeance that's
coming on the ungodly, this is the flaming vengeance God took
on His own Son in the stead of His people. And he paid the price for their
sin, death. He suffered as the captain of
their salvation in order to make them perfect. And listen to this, all who believe
on him will find rest. All who believe on Christ shall
find rest. He said, you that are heavy laden,
come unto me. How should we come to Christ? What does he mean come unto me?
Simply this, believe on me. Trust in me. It is my heart's desire tonight
that every one of you leave here believing on him. believing on
him, that you should cast out every thought of how to please
God, that you should cast away every vain imagination as though
salvation was some cooperative effort with you and God. It is
not a cooperative effort. Salvation is by the person and
work of Christ alone. It's by him alone. Look by faith to Christ alone
and listen. All who look, Christ pronounces
this upon you. Rest. Why? Because Christ ceased from his
work. When Christ died, he was buried. He ceased from his work because
the work was done. Sin was punished. Righteousness
was merited. His work for his people was done. Scripture says, he by his death
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. He hath perfected
forever. The work is done. He rested from
his work. Therefore, we who believe rest
in Him. Rest in Him. I pray that every one of you,
even tonight, would rest in Christ Jesus. Now, I wish to speak to
you who do rest. You who have already rested in
Christ. You tonight find your rest. Maybe tonight you, for the first
time, find rest. and peace with God in Christ. Now, when you found rest in Christ,
does that mean that all your troubles ceased? No. We know this. In fact, they did
not cease, they multiplied. They multiplied. I had the privilege
of baptizing a young woman, Jill Whitehead, this last Lord's Day
evening, and I put my arms around her and she was so joyful. You know, it's a joyful time,
it's a joyful time. But as a man of God, a minister
of God, I must warn you that trouble is coming. Trouble is
going to come, and not just common trouble. I'm gonna give you four
troubles of every believer, really quickly, four troubles of every
believer, and you know these. You who rest in Christ, these
are your troubles, they're my troubles, they're every believer's
troubles. First of all, the trouble of
self. This is an ever-present enemy. The worst enemy you have is sitting
right in your seat. You. The trouble with self. Before we came to Christ, we
had no trouble with self. We love self. Wherever self wanted
to go, we went. Whatever self wanted to do, we
did. And if everybody would just listen
to our self, then we would have no trouble at all. We followed
self, surely. And all our self, all our nature
was full of sin, it longed for sin, it wanted sin at any cost. But when we found rest in Christ,
what did we also find? That God had given us a new heart,
a new nature. Paul said, if we are walking
in the spirit, he said, the flesh lusted against, what? Spirit, he's talking about the
two natures that reside in every one of us who rest in Christ.
We find our peace in Christ. We find that we have peace with
God in Christ. We find his blood has satisfied
God's justice forever, and yet there is in our own self a war,
a trouble, a never-ending war that does not cease, constantly
warring. I know this warfare troubles
you. It troubles you, brothers and sisters. But hear God's exhortation. Even in the midst of your warfare,
come rest with us. Come rest with us. Consider this,
the old man has been crucified already. He's been crucified with Christ.
All his sin, all his lust has been nailed to the cross and
we bear its guilt no more. We bear its guilt no more. Reckon, therefore reckon yourselves
indeed dead to sin. Dead to sin, but alive unto God
through who? Lord Jesus Christ, you are alive
unto God. No matter how that warfare goes
inside of you, that's settled. Isn't that comforting? Because
I know you and I lose constantly with flesh. I imagine you're
losing, you could be losing right now. You want to enter into things
of God. You would wish that God would
exalt your soul so that you could see Christ, adore Christ, honor
Christ, and yet you're being pulled down to the earth by the
troubling flesh. But no matter what, listen, your
salvation's settled. Come rest with us. Come rest
with us. I remember Donnie Bell preaching
a message on rest. First time I'd ever heard Donnie
preach. And he was moving. He was moving. He said, you know
what rest is? Let me show you. And he went
down there and he laid down on the pew. And he said, this is
rest. Lay down. Rest with us. Rest with us. Believe a rest,
for there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are
in Christ Jesus. There's an ever constant present
now, now, now, no condemnation. What about now? No condemnation. What about now? No condemnation. There's your rest. When you subdued this flesh,
do you think you're going to find rest? Your rest is not found
in subduing the flesh. Those are momentary lapses in
the war, but Our peace and rest is not found in that. It's found
in Christ. Rest with us. Let us rest by
setting our affections on Christ, who has taken away all our sin. The second enemy of trouble is
circumstance. Providence. I know this troubles
many of God's people. We know this, that sometimes
our dark providence has come because of our sin. Isn't that
right? David's did. When David sinned, you remember
he lost his son, his infant son, because of his sin. Because of
his sin, David lost his kingdom. Because of his sin, David had
to run from his son, whom he loved. And then he had to lose
his son, not just physically, but spiritually. His son died
and went to hell. He was devastated by the circumstance. caused by his sin, the consequences. God has delivered us. When the
prophet came to David, he said, thou art the man. And David said,
he confessed that I have sinned against God. And Nathan said,
rest in this. Here's some rest for you. The
Lord hath put away thy sin. But he did not put away the consequences
of David's sin. Matter of fact, he used those
hard consequences in order that David should grow in faith. Sometimes we face dark consequences
due to no sin of our own, like Job. But either way, either,
whatever the case, if it be because of sin or because of, not because
of our sin, the text is still clear. Whatever your circumstance,
listen, come rest with us. Come lay down. Lay down at the
feet of Christ in the midst of your dark providence. Bow your
head at his lovely feet and he will soon lift you up. He will
care for you. Come and rest at his feet. Remember that all our troubles
are in the hands of God, isn't that right? You that are troubled,
who controls your trouble? Our God is in the heavens and
hath done what? Whatsoever he had pleased. Your
trouble, is it not what he pleased? God said this, I know my faults
toward you. Forget about what you think I
think. I know what I think towards you.
Come rest with me. My thoughts towards you are thoughts
of peace and not evil. All our troubles then consider
this and rest in this, therefore are good. All things work together
for what? Are good. Not all things are
for our good. Listen, all things work what?
Together. We like to look at one individual
thing and say, how in the world can this thing be for my good?
Don't look at that. You're not going to be able to
find it out. All things. Can you see all things? You know
what's going on around you? All things. No, you don't. But
they are working together for your good. Therefore, keep your
eye on Christ. In the midst of your troubles,
His purpose then is to cause you to grow in grace and knowledge.
Then we have troubles of persecution. Persecution. Listen, friends,
this world hates the gospel you love. You want to find that out, just
tell somebody. Matter of fact, you're commanded
to tell them. Tell them. We're not here to argue with
them. We're not here to fight with them. I'm not angry with
them. But I'll tell you this, you tell them the gospel that
you believe that God chose the people, that Christ redeemed
them, that the Holy Spirit shall call every one of them and keep
them, you tell them that and they will hate you for it. That's all right. Come and rest
with us. Come and rest with us. Paul said,
you know, if any man preach any other gospel now which I preach,
let him go to hell. Rest with us. Let them go. The blind leading the blind,
they shall fall in a ditch. Let them go. Come rest with us. What does that mean? That means
to continue, regardless of the persecution you face in this
world, continually trust in Christ. Rest in his love. Rest in his
care for you. For if he gave us his Son, how
shall he not with him freely give us all things? All things. The last trouble
we face is death. Death. Remember, our Lord has
taken away the sting of death. Death for the believer now is
a friend. because all it does is usher
us into the presence of our master, our savior. Do you want to see
him? Well, we have to go through death. This is why I think Solomon said
this, the day of one's death is better than the day of one's
birth. See, it's not confusing if you
know Christ. Our Lord said, blessed are the
dead that die in the Lord, that they may, listen, rest from all
their labors. This world is full of sorrow.
Have you found that out? Is it full of trouble? When a
believer dies, they rest from all their sorrows. from all their grief, blessed
is the day of the believer's death. Oh, believers, it's my
harsh desire that you should rest with me. Tonight, let us
take a breath, the breath of faith, looking to the finished
work of our Redeemer, seeing that He rests, let us rest in
Him. Let us find our peace in Him. Regardless of the warfare with
self, regardless of the persecution of this world, regardless of
the providence of time, Christ has purchased your rest. It's
settled. Rest in Him. I pray God will
give you grace to do that.