When it is greatly needed, I
can think of nothing that is sweeter or more appreciated than
rest. Several years ago, I had been
preaching for a number of days in two or three different meetings
in California. And I was working all day and
all night and preaching in the evenings. And at the end of the
last service, I was utterly exhausted. I went back to my motel room
and took my tie off and took my belt off, took my coat off,
and just thought I'd lay down for a minute. And I woke up the
next morning with my left foot still on the floor and my right
foot in the bed, and I had rested. And it was wonderful. When you're
exhausted, nothing is sweeter or more appreciated than rest.
But when we think about rest, we generally think about rest
in connection with the weakness of a man. When he can't work
any longer, he's got to rest. But there are many forms of rest
spoken of in scripture. Rest, principally, is ceasing
to work. Rest is the finishing of work. Rest is ease, comfort. As Ruth just sang, the haven
of rest, Christ our Lord. Oh, how sweet to rest in Him.
And the scripture speaks of our Savior's rest. And His rest is
His glory. With a man, rest is an implication
of weakness, an implication he's done all he can do. But with
our Redeemer, His rest is His glory. And that's what we read
in the 11th chapter of the Gospel of Isaiah. Let's begin reading
at verse 1 in Isaiah chapter 11. There shall come forth a rod
out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his
roots, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. The
Spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and shall
make him a quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. And
he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove
after the hearing of his ears, but with righteousness shall
he judge the poor and reprove with equity for the meek of the
earth. And he shall smite the earth
with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall
he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the
girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The
wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie
down with the kid, and the calf with the young lion and the fatling
together, and the little child shall lead them. and the cow
and the bear shall feed. Their young ones shall lie down
together, and a lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking
child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child
shall put his hand on the cockatrice den. They shall not hurt nor
destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of
the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And
in that day, there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for
an ensign of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek,
and his rest shall be glorious. His rest shall be glorious. That's my text this evening.
His rest shall be glorious. Everything in this chapter speaks
of our blessed Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, and his salvation. It is he who is the root of Jesse. He is the ensign of the people.
He is the one to whom God's elect from among the Gentiles as well
as the Jews are gathered. Christ is the one we seek. Now
let's gather around him and ask the Spirit of God to teach us
the meaning of these words. His rest, shall be glorious. Without question, the glory of
his rest is in complete harmony with all the glory that he has
done as our mediator, substitute, and redeemer. The man who labors
hardest rests the best, and to him, rest is sweetest. His labor
in the day prepares him for and makes him rest sweetly through
the night. And the glorious rest of our
Redeemer must be connected with his work. His rest as our substitute,
as our Redeemer, as our surety, must be connected with his work.
The work he performed before he entered into that rest. Christ
himself is glorious, obviously, you understand that. His beauty
excels all others. He's the fairest among 10,000. He is glorious in his person
and in his work as the God-man, our mediator. His obedience to
God the Father as our substitute was glorious obedience. His rest
is glorious because his death was glorious. His resurrection
was glorious. And now the rest which he has
won. The rest which is the crown of his glorious work is itself
glorious. If you have a marginal translation
of verse 11, take a note of it. The words in this last sentence
of verse 10 might be translated, his rest shall be glory. The Lord Jesus Christ has entered
into a glorious rest and graciously gives a glorious rest to his
people and his rest is his glory. His rest is his glory. Let me say just two things and
then make some very practical application of the text. First,
the rest Christ has obtained for us is glorious. There is a rest that belongs
to him personally as the result of his obedience that he rendered
to the Father as our mediator, as our surety. And that rest
is glorious. Turn back over a few pages toward
the end of the Old Testament to the book of Zephaniah. Zephaniah
chapter three. Let me show you something of
this rest I'm talking about. Our Lord Jesus has entered into
his rest, we're told in Hebrews 4, and his rest is glorious. Glorious because it is the rest
of our surety who engaged on our behalf and accomplished all
that he engaged. Zephaniah chapter 3, verse 14. Sing, O daughter of Zion, O Israel,
Shout, O Israel, be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O
daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy
judgments. He hath cast out thine enemy.
The king of Israel, even the Lord is in the midst of thee.
Thou shalt not see evil anymore. And that day it shall be said
to Jerusalem, fear thou not. And to Zion, let not thine hands
be slack. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice
over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He will joy over thee with singing. All these promises are covenant
promises made to God's people before the world began. They
were made in anticipation of Christ's obedience unto God as
our substitute. Read the promises again and rejoice. He says, the Lord hath taken
away thy judgment. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation now. No condemnation
tomorrow, no condemnation forever, no possibility of condemnation
because Christ has redeemed us. He was judged in our stead and
we were judged in him at the cursed tree called Calvary. And
our Lord Jesus Christ suffering for us, we were crucified with
him. And now he by the sacrifice of
himself has taken away our judgments. He hath cast out thine enemy. The accuser of the brethren is
cast down. Satan has no power, no authority
to accuse, to condemn, or even to injure God's elect. That one
who rages against our souls can do us no harm. The King of Israel,
even the Lord is in the midst of thee. Here is God's church in this
world. Not just this assembly, but wherever
God's people are found. All of God's people collectively.
This is the Israel of God. This is the church in the kingdom
of God. And wherever his people are found, the king of Israel
is in the midst of them. He's found walking in the valley
among the myrtle trees, his saints in this world. He's found walking
in the midst of the seven churches. He says to his people, where
two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst
of thee. The Lord is in the midst of us
because of all that he has done as our mediator. Thou shalt not
see evil anymore. Mm, what a statement. Thou shalt
not see evil anymore. Standing in this pulpit many,
many years ago, Brother Scott Richardson made this statement.
There's been no bad news since I got the good news. Thou shalt
not see evil anymore. There's no such thing as evil
that happens to God's elect. There shall no evil touch you. Then he says, the Lord thy God
in the midst of thee is mighty. Not only is he with us, he who
is mighty, the almighty God is with us all the time. This one,
the mighty God, he will save and he will rejoice over thee
with joy. He will rejoice, he will joy
over thee with singing. What state? The Lord God in the
midst of you, this mighty one, he will rejoice over you with
joy in his heart, with singing unto God, and he will rest in
his love. Now look at that one closely.
What does that mean? He will rest in his love. It means that when the covenant
of grace was ordered in all things and sure, When the matter of
our salvation was firmly fixed and finished in the purpose,
oath, decree, and covenant of God's grace, knowing that his
purpose would be infallibly carried out, God our Savior rested in
his love. He rested before the world was. We read in Hebrews 10, we will
in just a moment, how that he sat down on the right hand of
the majesty on high. But our Lord Jesus was given
that glory with the Father before the world was, because the works
were finished from the foundation of the world. And he who had
assumed all responsibility for our souls from everlasting rested
in his love. That means simply that he rules
the world in the ease of absolute sovereignty and is never disturbed
by a thought. Never disturbed by a thought. Nothing ruffles him. Nothing
makes him uneasy. Nothing disturbs him. Nothing
causes him to get in a hurry. Nothing causes him to act abruptly. He rests from eternity as our
accepted mediator, as that one who is the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. Turn on over to the New Testament,
Romans chapter eight, Romans the eighth chapter. You and I who are his ought to
rest in him who rest in his love. For we know, verse 28, that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren,
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom
he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he
also glorified. Turn over a few more pages to
2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter two, or chapter one. Paul says in verse nine, God
hath saved us and called us with an holy calling. not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is
now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who
hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel. That text of scripture sounds
like Paul is saying that we were saved in Christ before the world
began. Do you know why it sounds like
that? That's what it says. If ever you come to experience
God's salvation in time, it is because you were saved in Christ
before the world began. And I say that firmly, and I
say that often, and I do so knowing full well that a great many people
hear it and they say, Fortner's preaching hardshell doctrine.
Hear me, children of God. It doesn't matter if the Pope
believes the virgin birth, that doesn't make it wrong. And it
doesn't matter if a Buddhist believes this book is the word
of God. That doesn't make it wrong. We believe what God says
regardless of what other folks do with it. And God says his
elect were saved from eternity. And that salvation guarantees
that they should experience his salvation in time. In time, he
brings to light in the experience of our souls what he has done
for us in eternity. Eternal love devised and settled
the matter of our redemption and salvation. And God, our Savior,
rested in his love in eternity, being assured that he will rest
in his love in eternity. The objects of his love will
never change. The purpose of his love will
never fail. The rest in his love will never
be disturbed. God isn't anxious about anything. God isn't anxious about the salvation
of his people. He is resting in his love. Turn back to the Old Testament
now, Psalm 16, Psalm 16. when our Lord Jesus had finished
all his work in this world as our substitute. His body rested
in the grave. We read in verse nine, therefore
my heart is glad. My glory rejoiceth. My flesh
also shall rest in hope. We know this Psalm is the word
Lord Jesus Christ speaking because the Holy Ghost tells us so in
Acts chapter two. He did not rest until his work
was finished. He had come here to do his father's
will, and he would not rest until it was done. He fulfilled all
the righteousness of God for his people. He went to the cross
and made satisfaction to God's offended justice on our behalf.
He was made sin for us and died under the wrath of God as the
greatest sinner who ever lived to make satisfaction to justice
as our substitute. He finished all the work he came
here to do and at last cried, it is finished, declaring the
law fulfilled, justice satisfied, sin put away, his people redeemed. And then for three days, His
body laid in the tomb in an unjustified state as the scapegoat that bore
away the sins of Israel symbolically. So he who is the true scapegoat
bore our sins in his body on the tree and bore them away.
But in those three days, he said, I will rest in hope. I will rest
in hope. Now, look at verse 10, Psalm
16. For thou wilt not leave my soul
in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of
life. In thy presence is fullness of
joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures
forevermore. He made his soul an offering
for sin, and he was put to death for sin. But the scripture promised,
he shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. On the third day, O glorious
day, our blessed Redeemer was justified in the Spirit, raised
up from the grave without sin. Our sins which had been made
His, the sins which He bore in His own body on the tree, all
the sins of God's elect were forever gone, gone, completely
gone. Let's see this, how He rested
in Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10. After our redeemer was received
up into glory, there he enjoys this glorious rest at the right
hand of the majesty on high. Hebrews 10 verse 12, this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God. from henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool. How come? Because his work was
done. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Our all-glorious Christ is taking
his rest now, for his work of redemption is all done. When
the end has come, our blessed Savior shall deliver up the kingdom
to the Father and shall forever rest in His glory. That will be the final climactic
act of our Savior as our mediator in the fulfillment of the covenant.
He will present all his own to the Father, holy, without blame,
unreprovable in the sight of God, and he will say, Lo, I and
the children which thou hast given me. Now, let me show you,
secondly, that this rest, the rest that Christ has won, is
the rest that Christ gives to his people, and this, too, is
glorious. I've tried briefly to show you
the rest of our mediator, but I want each of you who know the
Lord Jesus to know the glory of that rest he gives to all
who trust him. For this, let's look at Hebrews
chapter four, Hebrews the fourth chapter. I'm talking now about the rest
of faith. The rest of faith is the fulfillment
of the Old Testament law of the Sabbath. God, we're told, on
the seventh day of creation, rested from all his work. He rested from all his work.
That doesn't mean that God was tired. It doesn't mean that he
was worn out. It means he stopped working. He stopped working. And all through
the Old Testament, beginning in the book of Exodus, the children
of Israel were required to keep Sabbath days. And on those Sabbath
days, they were not permitted to do any work of any kind, except
those works of necessity for the benefit of others. They were
required to stop working. Now there are many today who
would tell you that we must keep the Sabbath and not work on Sunday
and all that stuff. Understand something. Number
one, Sunday is not the Sabbath day. The Sabbath day was Saturday
all the way through the Old Testament. Number two, the law of the Sabbath
day was never given to or required by anyone except the children
of Israel in the Old Testament. Number three, the Sabbath day
pointed to something far more glorious than working six days
and resting the Sabbath day. It speaks of a cessation of work. You see, it is the nature of
man to think, yes, salvation's of the Lord, salvation's by grace,
but we've got to do something. That'll take you to hell. It
just stands for reason. God expects me to do something
I've got my part to do. That'll take you to hell. The
ark of God was a picture of God's salvation. Uzzah reached out
to steady the ark. And when he put his hand to the
ark, as if to say, God's ark needs my help, God killed him. Now I'm telling you, Lord to
God this generation would hear me. God still sends folks to
hell for touching his ark. You put your hand to God's salvation
and you'll go to hell for it. God will not accept the polluted
works of your hands. The Sabbath speaks of a cessation
from work. When you come to Christ, when
you anchor your soul in the haven of rest, You cease to work. You quit trying to make up to
God. You quit trying to make atonement. You quit trying to make yourself
righteous. Here it is in Hebrews 4 verse
3. We, which have believed, do enter
into rest, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall
enter into my rest. Although the works were finished
from the foundation of the world, The works were done before the
world began. We read about it in Romans 8
and in 1st Timothy, 2nd Timothy 1. They were finished before
the foundation of the world. But now, in time, by faith, we
come to enter into this rest. For he spake in a certain place
of the seventh day on this wise. And God did rest the seventh
day from all his works. He stopped working. And in this
place again, if they shall enter into my rest, seeing therefore
it remaineth that some must enter therein. And they to whom it
was first preached entered not in because of unbelief. The Jews
perished in the wilderness. Again, he limiteth a certain
day saying, in David today, after so long a time, as it is said
today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if
Jesus had given them rest, and the word Jesus here is properly
the word Joshua, speaking of the fact that Joshua could not
give the children of Israel rest, then would he not afterward have
spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. Now if you want to go home and
get your concordance and look up the word, that word rest,
do you know what it is? There remaineth therefore a Sabbath
to the people of God. There's a Sabbath still remaining.
For he that has entered into his Sabbath, he also hath ceased
from his own works as God did from his. Christ has entered
into his Sabbath and he sat down. He has nothing else to do. Nothing else to do. And you who
believe, enter into his Sabbath and you sit down with nothing
else to do. Read on. Let us therefore labor
to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example
of unbelief. By faith in Christ, we find rest
in the grace of God and in the providence of God. This is the
Sabbath rest of faith. Let me just give you some highlights. I'm talking about a rest of complete
forgiveness to the tormented conscience, to the guilty soul. Oh, how sweet. To hear the Lord God say, I,
even I am he that blotteth out thy sins and will not remember
your iniquities. Oh, how sweet to rest in complete
forgiveness. Complete forgiveness. It is the
rest of relief from earthly care. Casting all your care on him
who cares for you. Our Savior said, let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. Rest your soul in him. Whatever your care, take it to
him who cares for you. This rest of faith is the rest
of our Lord's presence, his power, his provision. God commands us,
rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord, for the
Lord is at hand. Let your moderation be known
to all men. The Lord's at hand. Rejoice,
rejoice, be easy, be unruffled, trust Him. It's called faith. It's called the rest of faith.
It's the rest of a satisfied heart. David said, Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth
that I desire beside thee. The Lord is the portion of my
heart. I will rest in him. This rest
of faith is the rest of freedom from fear, particularly from
the fear of death. We rest. And we rest in hope
as we go to the grave as our Savior did, in hope of the resurrection
because our sins are put away. And it will finally end in the
rest of everlasting glory with Christ in heaven. Truly, the
rest which Christ gives to those who trust him is glorious rest. Now, let me bring this home if
I can. The rest symbolized in the Lord's
supper setting before us here is glorious as well. We're gathered
here as we do every Sunday night around the Lord's table. And
everything here is a picture of rest. The bread and wine represent
the body and blood of our divine Redeemer. They symbolize the
accomplishment of redemption by Him. You'll remember the Jews'
Passover was different greatly from our observance of the Lord's
Table. When the Jews kept the Passover,
they were required to eat the lamb roast with fire with their
coats on their backs and their staffs in their hands because
they were going out of Egypt and going into a time of stern
conflict. We, on the other hand, eat the
Lord's Supper sitting at his table. Resting. Resting because our warfare is
accomplished. And we've entered into rest.
And when you rest, you sit down. We have no warfare to accomplish
ourselves. Christ has accomplished it. And
sitting here at his table, everything is peaceful and restful. We take
the bread and drink the wine in remembrance of our Savior.
And oh, how sweet to rest. knowing we are one with him. Often at the end of the day,
or at the end of some long trip where we've been engaged in what
God's given us to do, Shelby and I will reflect over our lives
together and just rejoice in God's goodness. Oh, how good
God has been to this man and his household. Take the bread
and wine, my brother, my sister, and for a moment reflect over
God's goodness. Oh, how good God has been to
you who know Him. We who believe Him are one with
Christ, one with Him. We are the sons and daughters
of the Almighty. Lazarus when he was raised from
the dead. The next thing we read about Lazarus is he's sitting
at the table with the Savior. Mephibosheth is a picture. He's brought to eat at the king's
table as one of the king's sons. So it is with us. Our Lord Jesus
has made for us a complete provision for eternity so that we who rest
in his love are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
And our Savior will soon come again to receive us unto himself. I quoted the first part of John
14. Earlier he said, he said, let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. For in my Father's house
are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there you may be also. Now, for you who yet
know not our Savior, you who are still trying to make up with
God, trying to find some way to make yourself acceptable with
God, come enter into his rest. The Savior says, come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. To you who struggle with God's
providence and the events of providence disturb you, as they
often do. They shouldn't, but they do.
The Savior says, take my yoke upon you and learn in me. The sooner you bow to his yoke,
willingly just slip under his yoke, you will find rest for
your souls. He says, learn of me for I am
meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden
is light. We'll sing a hymn and then the
men will come, pass out the bread and wine. If you're a believer,
this is for you. If you're not, just watch. Observe what we're
doing as we eat this bread and drink this wine in remembrance
of our Savior. God give us grace to rest in
his love. His rest is glorious. Amen.