Alright, take your Bibles and
turn with me to Isaiah chapter 58. Isaiah chapter 58. This morning our text will be
found in verses 13 and 14. If thou turn away thy foot from
the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the
Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable. And thou
shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own
pleasure, nor speaking thine own words. Then shalt thou delight
thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high
places of the earth. and feed thee with the heritage
of Jacob thy father, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken
it." The Sabbath day, the title of the message this morning is
Jesus, Our Sabbath. Jesus, Our Sabbath. The Sabbath
day The Sabbath day, if you remember, was first appointed by God after
He had made and created all things. He had for six days created,
and after the end of each day, He said, Behold, it is good. It is good. And then He made
man, and He said, Behold, it is very good. And on the seventh
day, the Scripture says, God rested. God rested from all His
work. That's Genesis chapter 2 and
verse 2. He says, And on the seventh day
God ended His work which He had made, and He rested on the seventh
day from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day
and sanctified it, because that in it He had rested from all
His work which God created and made. The Sabbath, the Sabbath
day was as all the ordinances of the Old Testament meant to
be a picture. a type, as we look at the great
day of atonement, or if we would look at the Passover, or we would
look at the institutions of all the sacraments in the Old Testament,
they all had a representative picture. They were a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this Sabbath day, like
them, was meant to be a picture. of the Lord Jesus Christ who
is the Sabbath rest to all who believe in him. All you who believe
in him. You who cease from your own labors. And you see and believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ who when he finished his work, he rested. Jesus Christ is the Sabbath of
rest. Now consider the word rest, the
word rest, which is the definition of the word Sabbath. So when
you read that, if you want to read rest when you read the word
Sabbath in Scripture, that's fine, because it means intense
rest, intensely resting. I'm sure that everyone, I'm sure
it's very comforting to hear that word if you're weary. Isn't
that right? When you're weary, that word
rest means something to you. You get tired and that word rest
has a very enticing meaning, doesn't it? Very enticing to
you who are laboring and toiling. When you hear someone say, hey,
come over here and rest, that has meaning. I remember when
I was a child I was preparing this message and I thought about
rest and I went out to my grandfather's farm and he would pull this baler,
hay baler along behind him and he would make these big round,
these square bales of hay. And we would follow behind him
in a truck with a trailer on it, and we would grab those bales
of hay, and we would stack them on top of one another. And he
had acres and acres of land, and this took all day, and the
Texas sun was beating down on us, and it was hot. I mean, it's
hot. And his skin, it felt like it
was on fire at times. And we would take that hay, and
we would have that, and we'd put it on the trailer, and then
we'd go to the barn, and we would have to stack it and restack
it. When we stacked it on the trailer, we'd have to restack
it in the barn. And it was hot. But I also remember at the end
of that labor, when we were done, there would be drinks. There
would be water or tea or soda, whatever. And we would grab those
ice cold drinks and we would sit under this big tree, big
shade tree. And there was nothing like that. That was like, you did some labor,
you did some work, and now then you rest. And that was sweet. That rest was so sweet. Oh, that water never tasted so
good. That shade, I never would have
appreciated had it not labored all day in the sun. But I'll
tell you, that was enjoyable rest. I remember that. But you
know, that rest was short-lived. That rest was short-lived. One
thing we know is that all rest in this world is fleeting. Isn't
that right? You went to bed last night and
you slept maybe, I don't know, maybe you didn't sleep very much.
That's all right. You rested some. But that don't
mean you're not going to need rest later. Isn't that right?
So all that resting you did, a lot of times I think when I
rest too much, I need more rest from resting. I don't even get
enough rest when I'm resting. So all this rest that we do is
fleeting even because of sin. That's why. Ever since our father
sinned and was kicked out of paradise, God cursed the ground
for our sake, for man's sake. And sorrow and trouble have been
in the world ever since. He said, God commanded, or cursed,
he said, sorrow shalt thou eat of the earth all the days of
thy life. Thorns and weeds shall grow up. Isn't that true? I'm telling
you, thorns and the weeds, they grow up faster than the grass.
Faster than we can pull them out, they grow up. Why? Because we in this world are
not allowed to rest. We must labor, we must work,
where by the sweat of our face we shall eat bread and till the
ground until we return to dust. Scott Richardson used to say,
man comes into this world with a slap on the butt and it ends
in dirt in your face and all between are nothing but bumps
and bruises. That's it. Man by nature who is without
God is like a sailor condemned to sail on the sea forever and
find no harbor. Man by nature is like the evil
spirit that went out of the man and walked through the desert
places seeking rest and finds none. Are you such a soul as this? Are you one who's tried to find
rest but can't? Have you tried to find contentment
in the things or the people of this world and only found them
to be empty? Spurgeon likens the natural man
to a galley slave. In the old days, they had ships
that rowed, and they would put the slaves in the bottom where
the stench was, and they would chain the slaves to the oar to
row. That's all they did every day. They rowed and rowed and rowed. They spent their whole life toiling,
toiling, rowing. And man by nature is like that
galley slave who's chained to the oars of his sins, and with
fear he hears the whip of the cruel taskmaster sounding in
his ears. And long have you tugged at the
oar of ambition, and lust, and pleasure, and care, and you know
what you find? No rest. No rest. You that have found no rest,
come now. I want to tell you a little about
rest. I want to tell you where you can find rest. If you need
rest, I want to tell you where you can find it. Come now, you that are weary
and toiling and discontent sinner. And I will declare to you how
you may escape the bondage of your sin and find rest, even
now. I'm not talking about a pie-in-the-sky
rest. I'm talking about rest right
now. Right now. Rest. Present rest. Rest. Rest in a restless world. Rest in a restless world. Perfect
peace. Do you long to be delivered from
your sins? I tell you why you can't find
rest is because of sin. Do you long to be delivered from
the chains of your sins? Do you long for righteousness
and peace with God? Now I'm not speaking of a peace
or a rest with the world. That's not what I'm talking about.
I'm not talking about freedom from physical pain. I'm not talking
about deliverance from common troubles as false teachers talk
about. That's what they want to say.
They want to give you a physical rest. They're talking about trying
to make everything healthy and wealthy and everything's going
to be rosy. That's not the rest I'm talking
about. I'm talking about a spiritual
rest, a rest in the midst of all that. of all pain and suffering
and difficulty and trials and trouble. I'm talking about an
inner contentment to where the things of this world really will
not affect that rest. Peace in your soul and contentment
in your spirit even in the midst of life's storms Now this Sabbath
or this rest that I'm speaking of is spiritual and therefore,
listen, it cannot be won by the flesh. You cannot find rest by
the flesh. You cannot find this rest by
the works of man. I'll tell you where you can find
it. Even in the one who created the Sabbath. Who made the Sabbath? God did. You can only find rest in the
one who has finished his work. God. In our text, look in our
text, God says this, and in the text, God promises. He promises
the blessing of delight. those who cease from doing their
own pleasure." Listen, he said, if thou turn away thy foot from
the Sabbath from doing thine, thy pleasure on my holy day. He says down in the middle of
that verse, thou shalt honor him not doing thine own ways,
nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words. In other words, you're not going
to find rest by your doing. That's what God's telling us.
He promises this. And you can go ahead and do it
if you want to. Go ahead and try as much as you want to to
find rest and contentment in this world and your sins. And
God already tells you, you're not going to find it. There is
no blessing or rest in the flesh. Hear this, old man. There is
a way that seemeth right unto a man, the scripture says, but
the end thereof is not rest, death, death. The way that always seems to
be right to man is salvation by works. Salvation by law. Salvation by religious ceremonies. And that way leads to not to
rest but to death. All by nature are sinners. And therefore, in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. We have all fallen short of the
glory of God. There is no rest to be found
in the works of the law because it requires perfect obedience. You cannot find rest in your
fleshly works because there is no rest. There's no end. The law requires constant obedience. Do you not see that the law is
not a hit and miss thing? The law is not doing your best
and Jesus making up the rest. No. The law is a perpetual law. It is a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week,
never-ceasing, never-ending demand of perfection. That's what the
law demands. And that is something that we
cannot provide. Cannot provide. God says to the
wicked, look over in the previous chapter in verse 57, look at
verse 10, look what God says. He says to the wicked, thou art weary. God says, I know
this, you're tired. You sinners, you sin, and I'm
telling you what, you put your whole effort into it, and you're
weary. Now, you can put on a front,
you can put on a face in front of everybody else, oh, my sin
is great, look how much fun I'm having. Isn't that what the world
does? They put that face on there, oh, look how much fun we're having,
woo! All our sin, oh, it's great! God says, you're just, you're
a faker. You're a miserable wreck. Just miserable. God says, I know you're weary.
I know you're tired. In the greatness of thy way. God says you row and you row
and you row in the chains of your sins and you are never satisfied. Never. Your conscience is never satisfied,
and the law of God, you keep making promises after promises,
vows after vows to give up sin. Oh, I'm never doing that again.
You liar. Oh, not me. Uh-uh. And what do
you do? Well, you just keep trying to
roll away from that sin, and all the time you're rolling,
you're going right back to it. You see the futility of it? God
says, I know you're tired because your way is too great for you. You can't do it. You try to make amends for your
sins, but to no avail. See the greatness of the gulf
that is fixed between you and God that you cannot mend it. God is too high for you to reach. You cannot build your way to
God. It is a futile effort. The bridge
can never be built by your labors and efforts and toiling, for
it's too wide a gulf between heaven and hell, and none can
pass it. And notice what you say. You're
tired, and the way to God is too great for you to do it, but
look what you, God says you say. You say not. There is no hope. Even though the way is too hard,
you still won't confess that there's no hope. I just told
you there's no hope. Didn't I just tell you that?
And you won't confess it. You just keep on with your head
down trying to please God, and you'll never do it. You'll never
find rest. You will not confess there is
no hope. You found life of thy hand. Therefore, thou wast not grieved. You see, you're not grieved about
sin because you still think there's hope for you. you still think there's something
you can do. You who are not weary of sin
and will not grieve for your hopeless condition, you do so
even because you're deceived to think that you will not perish
under divine justice. Sinner, if you are not At rest,
if you're at rest in this world and you are sure of God's acceptance
by your goodness or works or obedience, I tell you, you're
deceived and your refuge is lies. Behold, then the only Sabbath
of delight is not in you. The only hope for rest is found
in Jesus Christ. Remember, the Sabbath was a result
not of man's finished work, but of God's finished work. If there's
to be any rest, then you must understand that it is the work
of God that is finished. Salvation of man is completely
and absolutely the work of God alone. Man cannot find rest even
because his works and labors in the flesh cannot save you.
Now behold the work of the Father. The work of the Father is election.
The work of the Father is the election of His people. The Father in election chose
a people that He would adopt to be His sons. Before the world
began in eternity, God the Father set His love upon some of Adam's
race even before man fell. The Father in eternal, immutable
love, purpose to save His people, All that he had chosen to save,
he then in a covenant of grace gave them to Jesus Christ to
do the work of salvation for them. And the father who chose the
elect also decreed how that they should be saved. Even by the work of Jesus Christ. This is God's eternal decree
of salvation and rest. That Jesus Christ should do all
the work and save his people from their
sins. In Ephesians chapter 1, our beloved
text, it said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. according as He had chosen us
in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him, in love having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children," listen, by Jesus Christ. Everything before that was in
Jesus Christ. Now then, how is He going to
make us holy and make us sons? By Jesus Christ. By the work
of another. by the work of His Son. The Son of God was from eternity
chosen to be the representative and surety of all of the elect
of God. Jesus says of the elect, He said,
they were given to Me of My Father. given to Him. Before there was
ever sin, God chose a people and gave them to His Son. Now
what does that mean? That means that Jesus Christ
agreed to be responsible for their salvation. God said, look,
I've chosen a people, I've loved them, I've set my love on them.
And he said, yes, Father, I've loved them too. And I will give
myself, I will perform the work necessary to give them rest,
to save them. I'll do it. The Son of God took
all the responsibility And therefore, he said in John chapter 6, all
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. How does he know
that? Because he's going to finish
the work. Because he's going to finish the work of their salvation.
In John chapter 10, he told those Jews, he said, you believe not
because you're not of my sheep. In other words, I wasn't, you
weren't given to me. You weren't mine. I know my sheep
and you know what I'm going to do for my sheep? I give them
eternal life and no man shall be able to pluck them out of
my hand. Why? Because I'm going to finish the
work that they cannot do. I'm going to finish the work
for them. Now behold, at the appointed time the Son of God
was made flesh, He was given a body in the Virgin's womb,
and being found in fashion as a man, in the nature of a man,
He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. What for? That He should finish
the work of salvation for His elect. That's what He was doing. Behold, it was the work of God
the Son to suffer under the holy justice of God for the sins of
his people. See the truth that Jesus Christ
has come into the world to perform perfect righteousness for us
who could not do it. You've been toiling all your
life to try to find something good in yourself, and you've
not found it. You know why? There's nothing
good there. That's why you haven't found it. It's not there. This is why Jesus Christ had
to come and perform righteousness so that you might have it. There is none of his enemies
when he walked upon the face of this earth that could convict
him of any sin. I like that one. Jesus said,
which of you convinces me of sin? He said, who among you can
point to one sin? They tried, didn't they? They
tried to trip him up. They tried to catch him in his
words. They couldn't because he was righteous. He is the son
of the living God. He could not sin. And he said
of Satan, he hath found nothing in me. No sin. No sin. And yet he was rejected and despised
and crucified. Why? not for his sins, but for our sins. The scripture tells us plainly
in Isaiah 53 verse 8, he says, for the transgression of my people
was he stricken. He was smitten. He was crucified. Not for his own sins, but for
our sins. Sinner, behold upon the cross,
Jesus doing the will of God, which was to die for our sins. He said, I laid down my life
for the sheep. Therefore, the Father must have
imputed our sins to him. He having no sin. In order to
be made sin, the Father had to impute our sins to Him. And I tell you, He suffered under
the wrath of God for our sins. They were so imputed to Him,
they were made His own. And He suffered He suffered to satisfy the justice
of God. You who think of sin but lightly,
nor suppose the evil great, look to the cross. You don't think much of sin.
You should look and see what God did to his son. when he found sin on him. The law of God demands righteousness,
it demands perfect obedience. Can you not see then why you
cannot rest? Don't you see that? Isn't it
plain why you can't rest? Because you can't please God. You can't rest because you cannot
obtain what God demands. The law demands a perfect sin
offering. It demands righteousness that
you cannot provide. Therefore, there is no rest in
our sacrifices. Nor will there be any rest in
hell for those who suffer for eternity. Isn't that why hell
is forever? Because your suffering is never
enough. Your tears are never enough. But behold, the Sabbath of God
is only found when Jesus Christ has ceased from his work. Therefore, when he cried, it
is finished, the tithe of the Sabbath was complete. He finished
his work and he said, it's done. Salvation is complete. I have
obtained righteousness and atonement and redemption and wisdom and
sanctification for all of my people. I've obtained it. Cried, it is finished, it is
complete. And God being pleased with his
one offering for sin, raised him from the dead. He died. But I tell you on the third day,
God raised him from the dead because there was no more sin
left in him. There was no more sin to pay
for. He raised him from the dead. And what did he do? When Christ
was ascended into heaven, what did he do? He sat down. He went to heaven, he pulled
up a chair, and he sat down. What is he doing? He's resting. He's finished. The priest never sat down in
the Old Covenant. They were always busy. They were
always doing this and doing this and making sure the candles were
lit, making sure the sacrifices. They never, there was not a chair.
If you were to see that old tabernacle, there was not a chair in there
because nobody got to sit down. Jesus Christ ceased from His
work. Scripture says, but this man,
after he had offered himself once for sins, sat down forever,
forever. Therefore, if any weary sinner
is to find rest for his soul, it will be found in the one who
has ceased from his labor, Jesus Christ. I declare unto you that
salvation, righteousness, The salvation and righteousness
of God does not require your merit, your work, or your labor. Matter of fact, if you put anything
to it, you ruin it. You ruin it. I'm telling you
of a complete salvation. One that you can't put anything
to. It's done. Remember that Old
Testament prophecy, the Old Testament exodus, I believe it was, where
God said, if you build me an altar of stones, he says, I don't
want you to put your tools to the work. He said, if you do,
you pollute it. You pollute it. In the chapter 59 of Isaiah 6,
God speaks of man's righteousness as spiderwebs. And he said, you're
not going to, can a man clothe himself with spiderwebs? Can
you cover nakedness with spiderwebs? No. He said, you can't cover
your nakedness with your works. Stop trying. Stop trying. How then may a man delight and
find rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ? Okay. Go over
to Hebrews chapter four. Hebrews chapter four. The apostle says here, those
Jews who wandered in the wilderness 40 years because of their unbelief,
they died in the wilderness. The Apostle says this was for
our learning. He said, let us fear, lest a
promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should
seem to fall 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. them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into what? Rest. Rest. How do sinners find rest? faith. Believe in Jesus Christ. Believe on Jesus Christ for we
which have believed Do enter into his rest. What is believing
on Christ but trusting? That's what it is to believe.
It is to trust completely and absolutely trust, rest your whole
soul, your whole heart on the finished work. It is to stop
working. That's what faith is. Faith is
to stop working. You wouldn't go up to a finished
house with a hammer and a saw, would you? You'd be standing
there like an idiot. You've got a hammer and a saw
in your hand. Everybody would be looking at you. What are you
doing with that? Isn't that finished? What do you do? You put it down.
You go inside the house. You rest. The work is finished. The work is done. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. and you do enter into rest. Rest. Are you weary? Then stop working. You weary? Stop working. Are
you thirsty? You thirsty, who are thirsty
in your soul, why would you labor to build a broken cistern next
to a river of life? There's a river running right
here, and you're over here trying to build a cistern. Why don't
you leave that and drink? Wouldn't that be more comfortable?
Wouldn't that be restful? To quit your working and drink
Jesus said drink, come and drink of the water of life freely.
Rest by believing on Jesus Christ alone without works. Now believers
in Christ will have good works, but we never ever rest in them. God has given us the ordinance
of baptism, the ordinance of the Lord's table. He's given
us the preaching of the gospel. This morning are you resting
just in the fact you're here? Don't do that. You should be
here. But I'll tell you that's nothing to rest in, is it? You
won't find any rest there. Rest comes by God-given faith
as a result of the new birth and a new heart created by the
Holy Spirit. Forsake all thoughts of waiting
to merit rest. Do you think you're going to
merit rest? Do you have any dreams of that? No. You're not going
to merit it. It's already been merited by
Jesus Christ. All you must do, then, is what?
Rest. Believe and rest. Believe. Believer, you should
set all your heart and affection to the service of God, but never
rest in your work, only rest in Christ. Do you believe on
Christ? Have you entered into rest? Now you who have believed, I'll
ask you this, do you still have doubts and corruption? Does that cause you unrest? It
does me, yes. We cry like Paul, O wretched
man, that I am. You who believe on Christ, are
you vexed with troubles? Yes. We are surrounded by enemies,
both without and within. We are in constant danger. We
are tempted daily. And yet we continue, we may continually enter into rest even at this
present time. May God teach us who believe
that faith and rest are linked. Faith and rest are linked. Therefore, know that if you lack
rest, is it not because your exercise of faith is low? Our faith in Christ does give
us unfailing and perfect salvation that is immutable as Christ is,
who obtained it. But our experience and assurance
or rest is in direct proportion to the strength of our faith.
Do you lack rest in the midst of your troubles? Then let us not trust in our
feelings, but rather in Christ. Praise God the scripture doesn't
read like this. For if we that feel do enter
into rest. Aren't you glad the scripture
doesn't say that? The Scripture says, For we which
have believed do enter into rest. Our rest should never come from
our circumstances, but only from the infallible, immutable Word
of God. In this we find the true Sabbath. True rest. O believer, let us
even rest right now. Notice that text in Hebrews is
present tense. For we which have believed do
now presently rest. Rest. Do you want rest now? Do you want it now? Here it is.
Believe. Believe what? The work's finished.
What do I do? Keep believing. As long as you believe, you can
rest. You'll rest. You can rest. Lastly, in conclusion, see the
benefits of this. Go back over to Isaiah. I want
you to see a couple of benefits from this faith in rest. In verse 14, he said, Thou shalt
delight thyself in the Lord. We who find all our rest and
salvation in Christ We do delight in Him. We delight in His love. We delight in His blood. We delight
in His righteousness. We delight in Him who is the
great refuge and covert of our souls. You may rest and delight yourself
in God. How? Believe on Christ and you
can find all the rest you need. All the safety you need, all
the protection you need, all the deliverance you need, all
of the forgiveness of sins you need, you'll find it in Him.
Oh, you who have no rest, I tell you, believe now and find it. If you have no rest, it's your
own fault. Did you hear me? If you have
no rest, it is your own fault. I've told you the work is finished,
didn't I? I told you who finished it, didn't
I? I told you how to have it, didn't
I? Believe on the one who finished
it, and then you can stop. You could sit down. It's done. It's finished. Now what do you
do? Delight thyself in the Lord. That's what you should do. You
should praise Him. You should thank Him. You should
worship Him. You should serve Him. You should honor Him because
He's finished the work. When we get to that eternal rest,
This is the song of those who are entered into the eternal
rest. They say, Thou art worthy to
take the book and open the seals thereof, for Thou hast slain
and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred
and tongue and people and nation, and hast made us unto our God
kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. Worthy is
the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and
strength and honor and glory and blessing. See, that's what
we're going to sing forever. We're going to sing about Him
who finished the work, and we're going to sing about His work.
You know what? You can do that right now. You
can start now. You can find rest now. And notice
what happens when you delight yourself in the Lord. He said,
I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth. Faith in Christ takes us high
above all our troubles and causes us to mount up with
wings like eagles. And we look down on all our troubles
and we can say with Paul, our light affliction Look at that. That's not as bad
as I thought it was. That's not as troublesome as
I thought it was. I don't have to fix that and I don't have
to fix that. All I have to do is rest and
wait for my Savior to come and get me. And he says to his people who
believe and are backsliders, return now to your rest. The lost man will never return
because he's satisfied with the things of this world, but God's
people are not allowed like that. God won't allow his people to
continue to eat on the husks Are we capable of eating on the
husk? Sadly, yes. But God won't allow
us to stay there. What does he say? He says, return
unto your rest. How? By the same way you came
the first time, faith in Jesus Christ is finished. Now go home and rest. Rest. I pray that God give you peace
in the finished work of Jesus Christ, our Sabbath. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed in prayer. Rick, dismiss us in prayer, please.