We looked last week at the rest
which the Lord set forth for the people of God. And of course,
as he instituted the Sabbath day, as he finished his work
on the seventh day, and the scripture says that he rested from his
work Now, of course, you know, different people have different
concepts about that. And when I was a kid, they told
us that, well, the Lord was tired from doing all that. And so,
you know, he got him out of the rocking chair and he sat down
in it and kicked his feet up and he rested. that a very childlike
explanation of something that didn't really happen that way
simply means that the Lord finished the work that He gave Him to
do and that He did no more work. In other words, He did what He
set out to do and that was it. He didn't need to do anything
else because He did it just exactly like He would. Now, men entertain
the notion that the world is like a this object that's going
through space and different things are happening and the Lord is
sitting out here looking at it and he's, you know, changing
this to make this work out and do this and he's waiting to see
what men will do and then he does this and he's changing here
and that and the other. But the Lord rested from all
his work. The world is, and far as God
is concerned, we live our years as a tale that is told. It's
not something that is happening, it's something that the Lord
has ordained and it is set forth. Now, that's a disconcerting thought
to a man who is determined to be in control of things. I mean, all of us want to be
in control. You know, the worst feeling that we can have is when
we're not in control of something. You know, a car is going down
the road and the tie rod comes loose and all of a sudden, what
we were driving, we don't have any control over it anymore.
That's a bad feeling, you know, when something's out of control.
But it is a most comforting thought to the children of God when they
are brought to the place to realize that the world is not out of
control. That nothing is occurring in
this world that is not ordained and set by our Heavenly Father
And the promise that he's given to his people is that he would
cause all things to work together for good to them that love God,
who are the called according to his purpose. Cause all things
to work together for good. Now, he doesn't, everything that
happens to us is not good as far as we're concerned. You know,
I mean, we look at things and there's some bad stuff that happens.
I mean, terrible things that happen in the world. But all
things work together for good. for the people of God. The Lord,
just like Brother Al, speaking about that genealogy there. I
mean, that's an amazing thing when you pause and think of all
of the different things that happened, and all of them wasn't
good. I mean, Judah going in under
Tamar, that wasn't a good thing, was it? I mean, that was contrary
to what God had taught men to do, and not to do. And yet, the
Lord used it unto His glory. I mean, just the Ruth, the Moabites,
as you read, the origin of the Moabites. I mean, they came forth
as the union between Lot and his own daughter. And so, I mean,
those things were not good insofar as what men look at are good.
I mean, that's sinful stuff, but yet the Lord is pleased to
use the sin of men for his own glory. Now a lot of people get
all upset about that and they just can't handle it. Well, you'll
just have to deal with it because the Lord said that he made peace
and he created evil according to the good pleasure of his will.
And so we just bow down before him because we don't have control.
I mean, we're not in control much as we'd like to think we
are. He is though. And so when he rested from his
work, he had a finished work. And of course that's pointing
to that which Christ did. When he finished his work, it's
a finished work. It's not something he's waiting
to see how it's gonna turn out. He knows the end from the beginning. He shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. And so he brings us here and,
I wanted to begin here where we left off last week. It says,
there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. And that
word, there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God,
that word, the Greek word is translated as rest there is used
one time in the scripture. And it means a Sabbath keeping.
That word's only used one time and it's used here. There remaineth
therefore a Sabbath keeping to the children of God. Now what
is our Sabbath keeping? How do we keep the Sabbath? Is
it by looking at the calendar? Or is it by looking to Christ?
It's looking to Christ. He's our rest. He's that one
in whom all of our hopes are built. Now we're not getting
into a big deal about observing days and times. If a man regards
a day unto the Lord, let him regard it as unto the Lord. If
every man esteems every day alike, let him do so, but let him do
so as unto the Lord. It's not an issue. It's not an
issue we're going to make an issue of, and we're not going
to fall out with anybody over it either. You know, I mean,
that's going to be what it is. Let a man do what he's going
to do. Every man's got to stand for his own master. But it is
my firm conviction that the Sabbath keeping of the children of God
is found in Christ. and is absolute, and it is done,
is finished, and we rest in him. Now, there remaineth therefore
rest of the people of God, for he that is entered into his rest,
he has also ceased from his own works as God did from his. Now,
when a man's resting in Christ, he's quit. He quit his own effort. Now,
of course, you know, those that hate grace and hate the preaching
of grace, they say, yes, see there, you're teaching people
that they're just not supposed to do anything. They can just
go off and do whatever they want to. Now, where'd you ever get
that from, you know? Because the operation of grace
and the people of God is that which causes that not to be true.
Because when the Spirit of God works in men through the grace
of God and teaches them that their rest is in Christ, that's
where they want to be. And so they don't want to be
going contrary to His way. You know, they don't want to
cast Him off and then go off into whatever they think would
be right, but they want to do what He thinks is right. They
want to do what He says is right. And so it is that we cease from
our own works. We're not seeking out our delight
and pleasure in the ways of this world. We know that this world
has nothing to offer us, but we're resting in Christ. Our
greatest place of joy is in Him. And then he says, let us labor
therefore to enter into that rest. Now that seems contradictory,
does it not? We're gonna labor to rest. But
we do have to labor to rest. Why? Because this old sinful
flesh is gonna constantly be telling us, well, you need to
do this in order to gain God's favor. You can do these things,
or you can not do these things, and this will make you more pleasant
in the eyes of God. Well, dear brethren, we're made
perfect in the eyes of God by the work of Christ. There's nothing
left to be done. And it's folly on the part of
men, even well-meaning men, when they think that they're going
to enhance their standing with God by something that they do,
or that they can gain the favor of God by something that they
do. So we do labor to enter into that rest because it's contrary
to us. See, religious men think differently
than that, don't they? They think they can do something.
I mean, the Pharisees did, did they not? They were laboring
to enter into their own righteousness. Dear brethren, we're laboring
to enter into the rest of Christ. See, we need to be constantly
reminding ourselves that there's therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. that we're not under the curse
of the law. Reckon you yourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive
unto God through Jesus Christ. We're laboring to enter into
that. Paul said, oh, that I might know
him and the power of his resurrection. You know, I'm laboring to get
in there. I'm desiring that. That's the
thing I'm hungering for. We're laboring to enter into
that rest because we are by nature contrary to that rest. We're
thinking we're gonna do something. He said quit. Stop. Labor to enter into the rest
of Christ. Lest any man fall after the same
example of unbelief. Now brethren, there's the danger
for those that profess faith in Christ is that they come short
of believing. You know, we know we ought to
believe, but we fall short of it. Now, what I don't mean that,
not by the effort and labor of yourself, but we get the thinking
there is, again, those things that we can somehow enhance that
with God. There's not. Don't fall after an example of
unbelief. It's Christ. I mean, if somebody
says, what is your hope? for standing in the presence
of God, if it's not Jesus Christ and Him crucified, then it's
too much. I mean, if you've got any other
expectations, if you say, well, you know, I tried to feed the
poor and I tried to do these things and always tried to be
obedient. If it's anything else other than
Christ and Him crucified, it's too much. You know, that's it. Let us labor
therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after
the same example of unbelief. The children of Israel fell in
the wilderness because they didn't believe God. Many perish today because they
don't believe God. They don't believe that what
Christ did was absolutely, completely all that they need. That's to be in unbelief, is
to believe anything else other than Christ. I was reading this
week about a lady was on her deathbed. This happened in Ireland,
doesn't really matter where it happened, but the priest, a Roman Catholic
priest came in and told her he wanted to give her absolution.
And she said, what is that? She didn't even know what that
was. He said, I want to forgive you of your sins. And she said
to the priest, would you hold out your hand? And he held out
his hand and she said, you can't. He said, the only one that can
forgive my sins has got a nail print in his hand. Dear brethren,
that is to believe. You see, it's to cast off any
hope in any priest or any external thing or whatever a man might
do or say or join the church or be baptized or whatever. It's
to be done with all of that. That's not our hope. Our hope
is Christ. For the Word of God is quick,
it's living, and it's powerful, and it's sharper. than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and
of the joints and marrows, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight. But all things are naked and
opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." Now who
is that one with whom we have to do? He's the Word. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. And it says here, the Word of
God, Jesus Christ. It's not talking specifically
about the words on this page. Now, the words on this page emanate
from Jesus Christ. This is the word of God. He has
given it to us, but when it says the word of God is quick, powerful,
and sharp, or need two-edged sword, it's not the words on
this page. But it's the living word that
is taken by the spirit of the living God and applied to the
heart of a man that causes him to believe. See, it's quick,
it's living, that's what we need. The Lord said to Nicodemus, he
said, Nicodemus, except a man be born again, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of, he can't see the kingdom of God. You can't
even fathom it. You hath he quickened who were,
what? Dead in trespasses and sins. That's the state we're
in by nature, apart from the grace of God to awaken us. And
the Word of God is quick, it's living, and it's powerful. Because it is that which causes
a man to believe. And we use these illustrations
over and over again, but the Lord put them there for us. The
thief on the cross. How did he know? What made him
different? What changed his mind and heart? Did he just say, well you know
what, wait a minute, I'm thinking about this. No, the word of God
came to him in a quick and powerful way and his heart was transformed
and all of a sudden he could see something that he never could
see before. One minute he's cursing the Lord
and he has no idea or any concern with who this man is. And the
next minute he says, oh Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. What happened there? The word
of God was quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged
sword and it pierced his heart. It pierced his soul. It divided
between the soul and the spirit. Now can you tell what the difference
between those two are? Yeah. I've read things where people
tried to discern that. You can't discern that. I mean,
you can come up with an explanation if you want to. It's like explaining
many of the unexplainable things in the scripture. We can't explain
it. I don't know. But the word of God is able to
split between that. It's a discerner, he said, between
the joints and the marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. Now, some people take comfort.
in the Lord knowing what's in their heart. They say, oh, well,
the Lord knows my heart. Well, the most terrifying thing
that ought to ever grip the heart and mind of a man is to consider
that. The Lord does know your heart.
He knows exactly what you are. You're not hiding anything from
him. And if you think that that's a good thing before the Lord,
then you don't know the Lord and you don't know yourself,
because that's a bad thing. The Lord does discern your heart.
He knows what you are. But by His grace, He makes you
what He would have you to be. See, that's the glorious thing
about this. He's a discerner of the thoughts.
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight,
but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with
whom we have to do. We cannot escape, dear brethren.
We cannot run from him. He knows our thoughts, he knows
our mind before we ever think it. Seeing then, now knowing that,
knowing how he is, the living word of God, think about this. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest, that is passed into the heavens,
Jesus the Son of God. This is the one of whom he's
speaking about here. This discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart, he said, he's the one who is our
great high priest. He's the one who has passed into
the heavens and ever lives to make intercession for his people. Therefore, let us hold fast to
our profession. I mean, that is the place where
we stand, dear brethren. For we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Now what a glorious thing for
the sons of God to realize that as worthless as we are by nature,
The Lord Jesus Christ loved his people so much that he came,
condescended, and walked among men as a man, even to the death of the cross
in our behalf. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that's passed into the heavens, let us hold fast
our profession, for we have not a high priest which cannot be
touched with the feelings of our infirmities." See, the high
priest, under the law, every year he went in to the Holy of
Holies, but he went in there, he wasn't concerned primarily
with offering up a sin offering for you, for the Jews. I mean, he was representatively
doing that, but what was he thinking about? He's thinking about his
own sin. That's what the scripture says
further on in the book of Hebrews. He had to go there and take care
of his own sin. Well dear brethren, we have a
high priest who's passed into the heavens who can be touched
with the feelings of our infirmities. He knows what we are by nature. And he has walked among us and
he has been tried in all points like as we are. And he does indeed
know what it is to be a man. And he said, I am your priest and I will pray
for you. What he told Peter, what a glorious
thing. Peter didn't understand it till later. Peter didn't appreciate
it till later. Because Peter, when the Lord
told him this, Peter was still thinking, you know, he's wrong.
He said, Peter, Satan hath desired to have you to sift you as wheat.
Peter said, he can't get me. Lord, all these other guys out
here, they gonna turn on you in a heartbeat. You gonna have
to worry about me. But he said, Peter, I have prayed
for thee. that thy faith fail not. Oh,
what a glorious thing. And when they are converted,
he said, Peter, when you get changed, when your mind has been
brought to the place where I determined to bring it, strengthen the brethren. And we know what happened. And
we know that the only reason that Peter didn't do exactly
what Judas did was because the grace of God. You see, Judas,
I believe he was naturally, he had a natural sorrow and conviction
for what he had done. He had betrayed the man that
he had walked with. And he went and he gave that
money back. But you see, Christ did not pray
for him. And what happened? He hung himself. Peter would have been in the
same shape because Peter went out and wept. And he could have been easily
brought to the same place except for one thing. And that is the
intercessory prayer of Jesus Christ. He prayed for him that
Satan could not have him. He said he's going to sift you
as wheat. but your faith will not fail because I will sustain
you in the midst of all of this. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are. He tried just
like we are. Now he was not, you see, when
we're tempted, we're led away by the temptation because we're
inclined towards it. Is that not true? I mean, why'd
Adam eat the fruit? Because he was already leaning
that way. He said, man, that sounds pretty good. But when
the Lord was tempted, he said, get thee behind me, Satan. He
said, you know, you have nothing in me. See, he couldn't do anything
to the Lord. He had no power. The temptations
came, the trials were as real. But Christ was not inclined towards
sin. See, to be inclined towards sin
is the same as sin. See, we need to repent of desiring
to sin, even if we don't sin. I mean, even if we don't actually
commit an activity, the Lord said, if you think it in your
heart, you've already done it. Not Christ. He was tempted in
all points, like as we are, yet without sin. Why was he yet without
sin after having been tried? Because he was without sin when
he came to the place, see? We were with sin. We inherited
it. And when we've been faced with
temptations and trials in our lives, we have been with sin. And we have been inclined towards
it. And only by the grace of God have we been kept back from
total destruction as a result of it. But he was without sin. Not just that he didn't commit
sin, he didn't have sin in him. He had no inclination toward
sin, had no thought of sin. And so what is the therefore? As we've spoken, it's wonderful
to know what the therefores are there for. What a glorious thing. Therefore, let us therefore. having all of this in mind, that
Jesus Christ is our great high priest, that Jesus Christ's been
tempted in all points like as we are, that Jesus Christ is
the word of God, that Jesus Christ is our rest, that he is that
one in whom all of our confidence is placed. Let us therefore come
boldly to the throne of grace. that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. All of us have times of need,
do we not? Where do we first go when we
have a need? Are we looking to somebody else? Can somebody else give us what
we need? We think they can, don't we? Well, if I just had some
more money, I'd be in good shape. You know, I wouldn't have no
problems. I'd just add some money, no? You can have all the money
in the world and still have just as many problems. But we find
grace to help in time of need from the one who is our supplier. He's one who is our helper. So
let us therefore come boldly, not timidly. Now he doesn't say
presumptuously. Now see, people get the wrong
idea here. When we say we come boldly to
the throne of grace, we're not coming presumptuously.
But we're coming like that widow or the woman who had the young daughter that was possessed
with the devil. And she came to the Lord and
she said, Lord, my daughter, I need some help. He said, what
are you doing here? He said, what have I got to do
with you? Why are you even here? You're
a Gentile. Why are you coming to me as a
Jew? And she said, Lord. He said, is it proper for me
to take the food for the children and give it to dogs? And she
said, Lord. See, she was bold. She said,
Lord, even the dogs, even the crumbs that fall from the master's
table, She came boldly to the throne of grace. She didn't have
anything. She didn't have nothing in the world that she could present
to the Lord, but she knew what she was. And she knew that Christ
had what she needed. That's all that mattered. Nothing
else mattered. And let us come boldly because,
dear brethren, we know what we are. And we know who Christ is. Where else would we go? Blind
Bartimaeus. Sitting by a roadside, they said,
be quiet. And what did he do? He cried
out loud, he said, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And the Lord stood still. And he healed him. You see, he
came boldly to the throne of grace. He didn't have anything
to, no way that the Lord could do anything. I mean, that he
could do anything to gain the Lord's favor. A woman that touched
the hem of his garment, she came boldly. She wouldn't be denied because she knew he was the one
that had what she needed. She knew she had no power and
she would perish otherwise. That's the place the Lord would
have us to be. Let us come boldly to the throne
of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need because He is a giver of mercy. And He bestows mercy
on those that don't deserve it. He bestows mercy on those that
seek Him. and those that come boldly declaring
that Christ is the Savior, that He's the forgiver of sin, that
He's that Redeemer who takes away our sin. Oh, that we might
be given grace this day to come boldly to that throne of grace
and find grace to help in time of need.