Micah chapter two is where our
text will be found this morning. Micah is revealing truth. He's
declaring what has been revealed to him. And it's the same as
any gospel preacher. The burden of the preacher is
to declare the truth of the Lord, what the Lord hath spoken unto
him, what the Lord has revealed in his word. You know, whenever
men go to a court or women go to a court of law, they say,
put your hand upon this Bible and swear to tell the truth.
You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but
the truth to help you God. And that's the charge that the
gospel preacher has every time he stands. The whole canon of
scripture must be declared. The fullness of the scripture,
not just the parts that we like, but the parts that are hard to
digest the word of God. is quick and sharp and powerful
than any two-edged sword piercing into the dividing asunder of
soul and spirit, joints of marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart." So it cuts the flesh, doesn't it?
That's what the word of the Lord does. That's what His truth does.
It abases the flesh, but it feeds the new man. The truth of the
Lord feeds the new man. It's our bread. Christ is our
bread. He's our water. Well, as Micah's declaring this
truth, he's declaring the same message Then, as we declare now,
there's judgment coming. There's judgment coming, and
the only hope that we have is to be found in Christ. The only
hope that we have is to be resting in Him. There's two kinds of
people. We see Micah declaring this,
then and now, and there's two kinds of people, they that hear
truth and rest, and those that refuse the truth, those that
refuse it. Now understand something, whether
I believe the truth or not, or whether you believe the truth
or not, I said this Wednesday night, it doesn't change the
truth, does it? It doesn't, it matters whether
I believe it or not because it's the eternal salvation of our
soul to believe the truth and we have to have the faith of
Christ to do so, but it doesn't change it whether we do or whether
we don't. The truth is forever settled
in heaven. It's only two kinds of people, they that rest in
God's truth And they that reject it, they that despise it, they
that do not want the truth, they would rather have their ears
tickled. They would rather have what men think rather than what
Christ says. There is an answer. There is
an answer. If you really want to know the
answer, if you really want to know the truth, the truth is
here. The truth is his gospel. There's an answer to the question,
no matter what the question is. The only one thing that causes
us to cease from our labor, to halt our works, to desist, to
no longer move, to no longer work, and it is the Lord's truth.
It's his gospel. I'm reminded of, I was giving
my wife an analogy the other day and I realized it's a gospel
analogy and I didn't realize that's what I was doing, but
I love when the Lord reveals things such as this. If there's a pond
that you're staring into and it's a peaceful pond, the wind's
not blowing, it's calm, it's like glass, you can see your
reflection very, very well, can't you? Well, the gospel is likened
to us staring at this glass and seeing ourself and thinking that
we're okay, but the Lord says, look at the sun directly into
the noon, the most highest point of the sun, the brightest part
of the day, look right into the sun. You say, Lord, if I do that,
I'll be blind. I won't be able to see anything.
I won't be able to see my reflection. Exactly. Exactly, looking at
the sun. The Lord Jesus Christ causes
us to not be able to see ourself anymore. We look to him. Being
blind is the definition of salvation. The Lord told the Pharisees,
the reason that you have sin is because you say that you see,
but if you were blind, then you would have no sin. The Lord came
to save the blind man, didn't he? The lame, the leprous, those
that are sick from the top of their head to the bottom of their
feet. That's the truth. Now look what the gospel does
here in Micah chapter two, verse seven. O thou that are named
the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the Lord straightened? That
word straightened means shortened. Is the spirit of the Lord shortened?
Is it hindered? Are these his doings? Do not
my words do good to him that walketh uprightly? Even of late
my people is risen up as an enemy. He pull off the robe, with the
garment from them that pass by securely, as men averse from
war. The women of my people have you
cast out from their pleasant houses. From their children have
you taken away my glory forever. Arise ye, arise ye. Now here's our text verse. Arise
ye and depart, for this is not your rest. And here's the reason,
because it is polluted. It shall destroy you even with
a sore destruction. He says, arise, arise, depart. Your rest is polluted. What you're
resting in right now will destroy you if you rest in it. It's a
polluted rest. Isaiah says, Isaiah 60, arise,
shine, for thy light has come and the glory of the Lord has
risen upon thee. For behold, the darkness shall cover the
earth, and gross darkness the people. But the Lord shall arise
upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. That's our
hope, isn't it? That the Lord would reveal his
light. When he does, we see that we've
been in darkness all along. We haven't. We thought we were
walking in the light as he's in the light, but we weren't.
When his light comes, we see that we were in utter darkness.
When he shines his light upon us, we are completely exposed
and we see ourself as naked. We see ourself as polluted, as
Mike is saying here. We see ourself resting in that
which is not rest, resting in our works, which is going to
destroy us. The very thing. that we think we're doing to
please God is exactly, exactly what's going to destroy us. If
we're resting in ourself, if we're resting in our works. He says arise, well, that means
wake up, doesn't it? Wake up, arise, you're sleeping. You don't know it, but you're
dead in trespasses and in sin. And unless the Lord says, arise,
take up thy bed and walk, there's no way that we'll remain lame,
won't we? We'll remain dead in trespasses
and in sin. But he says, arise. He wakes
us up to his glory, just as he did Lazarus. I love the thought
of our Lord going to, I think I've said this before, but they
say it was four days late. Martha said, Lord, you're four
days late. If you'd have been here, our brother wouldn't have died. was right
on time. The only man that could ever
be four days late and right on time. I love that, don't you?
He's not altered or changed by time. He doesn't conform to time. He was born a man, sure, but
he was the God of time, isn't he? He's the God of time. Martha
said, if you'd have been here, our brother wouldn't have died.
He said, Martha, your brother will live again. She said, I
know that he'll live on the resurrection morning. He said, I am the resurrection,
Martha. That's our hope, isn't it? Lord
would come by us and remind us that he is the resurrection and
only in him can life be found. And what does he say? What does
he say? Lazarus, come forth. You know
why he didn't say come forth? Because everybody in the graveyard
would have came forth. That's the power our Lord had.
That's the power that the Lord Jesus has. Everything obeys according
to his word, according to his will. and thanks be to God, he
comes to where we are, dead in this tomb, stinking in our flesh,
polluted, thinking that we're resting, but really we're just
dead. And he says, Lazarus, come forth. He says, arise, arise. Now notice the next word in this
verse, verse 10, arise ye, arise ye. He's speaking to a particular
people. He calls them the remnant. In
verse seven, O thou that are named of the house of Jacob,
He's talking to a particular people. He's not talking to everyone.
He doesn't say arise to everyone, does he? If he does, everyone
will arise. Everyone will arise. But he says,
arise you. Arise you. That's our hope. Lord, call me
by name. No, just let it be for Lazarus.
Let it be for me. Calls me to arise. Calls me to
hear your voice. It tells us in this very verse
that they are at the very top, verse 7, that they're of the
house of Jacob. They are the remnant. They are monolithic.
Turn with me to 2 Peter chapter 1. And I will forewarn you, we're
going to be turning to about five places. I think that's the
most I've ever had us turn as your pastor. So bear with me
this morning. It's necessary. So it's 1 Peter 1, verse 1 to
start out with. This is who Peter's writing to.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, elect. according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you,
and peace be multiplied. Now chapter two, I'm sorry, 2
Peter chapter one. Who is he talking to? Simon Peter,
a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained
like precious faith with us. through the righteousness of
God and our Savior. Now, look at chapter three, verse
eight. But beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years, and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slack
concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but as long
suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that
all should come to repentance." Who is he speaking to? Is he
speaking to everyone upon the face of the earth? Now, I would
remind us that God is all sovereign. Whenever he wills something,
it cannot be altered or affected in any way by humans. Humans
do not have the ability to control God. We can't let God do anything.
He is God. He is God, and by definition,
He owns everything and does with everything whatsoever He will,
and everything bows to Him, regardless of their want to. The good news
is, is when He says arise to His people, He gives us a new
want to, doesn't He? We want to see Him. We want to
serve Him. We want to look unto Him. We desire that. He says to us
here in verse eight, but beloved, those are the ones that Christ
died for. These are the ones that Christ
shed his precious blood for, the ones that he loves. See,
God has an everlasting love. It's not a temporary love. It's
not like our love where it can be twisted and turned and moved
about by different circumstances. No, his love is everlasting.
That means it never had a beginning and it never had an end. So if
he loves us now, he's always loved us. If someone was to perish
and go to hell that Christ died for, what would his love have
to do with salvation? If he shed his blood for everyone,
yet some go to hell, what would God's blood have to do with salvation?
No, Christ loved and shed his blood for a particular people,
his Jacob, his spiritual seed, his beloved that he says here.
Those are the us word mentioned. He's not slack concerning his
promise. See, God promised to redeem a
people. He promised to redeem. If he
promised to redeem everyone, everyone is redeemed. Because
when he offered up himself, he said, it is finished. And his
father was satisfied. The veil in the temple was written,
Dwayne, from top to bottom. So if it's finished, what was
accomplished? The salvation of everyone? No, the salvation of
his beloved. The salvation of you, his beloved. Arise, you, my remnant, my people,
bought with the price, given to Christ before the foundation
of the world. That's who he's speaking to here. This blessed book that the Lord
has given us, this love letter, if you will, is not written to
the world. It's written to the Lord. people. It's written from God to his
people. Can you imagine thinking of God
such as we are? We wish for things. Every time
my children's had a birthday, we get a cake out and put candles
on it and say, make a wish, blow out the candles. Men liken God
into having a birthday cake in front of him. And I say this,
uh, As humbly as I can speak as a
man is what Paul said we're about to say. But this is what men
do. It's almost like he's blowing
candles out, making a wish that somebody would just let him have
his way. Making a wish that somebody would just let him into their
heart. Think about how silly that is. We're talking about
God. We're talking about the sovereign
creator of the universe. He doesn't ask permission. He
doesn't ask our opinion. Aren't you glad for that? He
says, arise you. And what do we do? We come forth.
We come forth. That's the glorious news of the
gospel. Everything required, Christ supplied. Everything in eternity past and
eternity present and future has been supplied. We're present
with the Lord now. We've been sanctified, made holy
just as He is. Now, not in this flesh. but the
new man is holy. This flesh is still sinful, isn't
it? This flesh, Lord didn't come
to save the flesh. He came to put away our sin,
but he gave us a new man, didn't he? One that's already been glorified
by God's standard. One that's already been placed
in Christ before the foundation of the world. Blasphemy to think
God would wish, God was hoping, pacing the floor, wringing his
hands, no. No, He's seated. He's seated
on His throne. He's seated in the heavens. His
work is finished. He's accomplished salvation.
We can rest in that. Where's our rest? Is our rest
in what we do, what we think? Or is our rest in when He said,
arise, you? Arise. And now we're looking
unto Him. Is our rest in His finished work?
That's the question we must ask ourselves. All other rest is
polluted. It'll be our destruction. Now
back to Micah chapter two in verse 10. He says the next word, verse
two, are arise ye and depart. Now that word depart means to
flee from. But I would remind us that if
you're fleeing from something, you're also fleeing to something. If you're running away from something,
you must be running towards something at the same time. Is that not
true? What is this? What is he saying here? Depart
your way. Depart your works. Renounce yourself. Side with God against yourself. Flee this polluted rest that
you think you have in your self-righteous works. Flee this thought that
you can do anything to please God. No, we can do nothing. Flee from that and flee to Christ. Look to his righteous works as
all your hope. Look to his perfect salvation
that he accomplished, his blood alone. By him, salvation was
accomplished, not by us. Psalm 34, David said, depart
from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. How
do you depart from evil? Stop looking at yourself. Stop looking at yourself. Look to Christ. That's how we
depart evil. If you can, you will. That's
the good news of the gospel. If the Lord's causes, if he causes
us to do that, he's given us the ability to do that, hasn't
he? And he gets all the glory for it. We must renounce ourself
and flee to Christ to live. Well, then he declares that this
is not rest. He says, depart for this is not
your rest. This is not your rest. And he
tells us why. It's polluted. It's defiled. It's an abomination. Why? Because
you and I are the ones that produced it. You and I are the ones that
did it. You and I are the ones that polluted
it because we put hands to it. No, we can't rest in what we
do. We mustn't. We can't. The Lord
won't be pleased. He won't be satisfied with that.
He was satisfied with Christ. Christ alone. There is no rest
looking into ourself. God demands perfection. God demands
perfect righteousness. God demands holiness. And we
can't produce these things. We can't produce these things.
Christ did. Every moment that he was present
upon the face of the earth, he produced righteousness, holiness. This was his byproduct. Oh, we
produce a sin, isn't it? Not him. No, he was perfect in
everything. Everything that he did in giving
us this rest was perfect. Turn with me to Isaiah 28. Look with me at verse 12. Speaking to Israel, he says,
to whom he said, this is the rest wherewith ye may cause the
weary to rest. And this is the refreshing ye,
yet they would not hear. I wrote an article in your bulletin
and you can look at it after service, but it literally goes
along this line. Only sick people need a physician.
Only lepers need to be cleansed. Only they that are blind need
sight. Only they that are drowning will cry out, save me. And that's
what he's saying here to whom he said, this is the rest wherein
you may cause the weary to rest. Only the weary need rest. Only the weary need rest. This
is the refreshing, only the thirsty need a drink. This is the refreshing,
yet they would not hear. But the word of the Lord was
unto them, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon
line, line upon line, hear a little and there a little, that they
might go and fall backward and be broken and snared and taken.
Remember, there's only two types of people, those that hear the
truth and rest in it, and those that are ensnared in their own
devices, their own rest, those that are satisfied with the rest
that they've fabricated in their mind. There's only the truth
and there's the lie. I want the truth, don't you? I want to know God's truth. I
must. I must because it's the only
thing that will set us free. It's the only thing that will
give us life. It's the only thing that we can truly rest in. Every
religion everywhere is full of works that men are doing, thinking
that they're offering themselves up to God and God will be pleased
with them. Lord, we've cast demons out in your name. I said this
last Sunday, I believe, Judas cast out demons. All the disciples,
every one of them had the power to cast out demons, and they
did. Can you imagine that? And yet he kissed the face of
God and went to hell. Why? He had fabricated a rest
in and of himself, in and of his own wicked heart, and all
the Lord had to do was leave him to himself. Lord, don't leave
me to myself thinking I'm resting in you. Cause me to rest in you. Give me this true rest. in your
truth. Don't let the word of God be
scattered here and there a little and then I become snared and
entangled. Cause me to see you on every
page, every page and give me rest. What the Lord's telling
us here in Isaiah is I've hid this truth. It's past finding
out. You can't come to the knowledge
of the truth by yourself. I can't come to the knowledge
of the truth by myself. You know the verse that says,
ever learning, men are ever learning and never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth. Why? Because it's hidden. It's hidden. What did Jesus say?
I've hidden these things from the wise and prudent and I've
rebuilt them unto babes. I give my rest to my children,
my babes, and my children rest. My people rest in my finished
work. but not to the wise and prudent.
I've hidden this from them. They can't find it. They can
search the scriptures, he told the Pharisee, for in them you
think you have eternal life. But there they would speak of
me. They speak of me. They speak of Christ, the truth,
the only truth, the only thing that can set us free. Reason men fall backwards and
be broken, snared and taken. Taken by who? Well, the scripture
says that Satan entered into Judas. He took Judas. That's
what he's talking about here. If you're not Christ, you can
be sure that you're the devil's. It's that simple. He told the
Pharisees, you're of your father, the devil. And he didn't mean
that metaphorically. He meant that literally, literally.
Christ only spoke the truth. He tells them, you cannot hear
because you're not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. And I
know them and they follow me. I give them rest. I give them
rest and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. The Lord's sheep hear his voice. Aren't you glad
that we don't hear him based upon our choice? If it was up
to me, how is a dead man going to hear anything? I mean, we're
talking about a cemetery that's behind me right now. We're talking
about an individual that's literally a carcass, a husk, not a heartbeat,
no brainwaves. And you're telling that individual,
you need to make a choice. That's so silly, isn't it? But yet it's so true. That's
what men are doing right now. Right this very hour, men are
telling, all you have to do is make a choice. No, no. Salvation
is a choice. Yes. It's God's choice. It's
God's choice. And he said, my sheep hear my
voice and I know them and they follow me. He told the Pharisees,
you're not my sheep. You're of your father, the devil.
You're not God's children. If you were God's children, you
would believe the words which I've spoken because all I'm speaking
is what he told me to tell you. He told me truth. This is what
I'm revealing. And they couldn't see, could they? They were talking
to God and they couldn't see that it was God. They were talking
to God and they could not see that it's God. Oh, it's an act
of grace, isn't it? It has to be. It's an act of
mercy, it has to be. It's all by grace through faith
in that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. This is our rest. Resting in
his grace alone, alone. I'll go back to our text in Micah
chapter two. Rise ye, verse 10, and depart
for this is not your rest because it is polluted. It shall destroy
you even with a sore destruction. Resting in the illusion that
we think we can let God be our Lord is damning. It is damning
to the soul. Resting in the fact that we think
we can let God do anything is damning. Lord, don't allow me
to think I can let you do anything. You're God. You're God. Cause me to rest the hope of
my salvation. in your finished work alone.
Cause me to see my pollution and cause me to flee to Christ.
Cause me to depart myself, forsake myself and flee to Christ. Give
me the new man, Lord, that has your faith, the faith of Christ,
that looks to you in all things. That's what we have to have.
That's our only hope for rest. All other rests are polluted.
Looking to ourself in any way for anything, anything, Whether
it's evidence for our salvation or cause for our salvation, we're
not fleeing from this polluted rest. We're looking to ourself.
We must flee ourself and flee to Christ. That's where we rest. Everything else will destroy
us. See, understand this, in the
Lord Jesus Christ, in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only place
that we can be or will be found guilty. and wrath will come. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he
died, did not make an offer to men, he made an offer to his
father. And all of those given him by the father before the
foundation of the world that were in him, when the wrath fell
upon him, he put away their sin. The only hope we have, the only
rest that we have is that we were in Christ when he died,
that we were in Christ when he lived. that his life's our righteousness,
his body is our righteousness, and his blood is our sanctification.
So it has to be him. It has to be him that does all
the work. It has to be, we have to be found in him. There's two
kinds of people, those that are resting and those that are working. And those that are resting are
resting in Christ alone. Those that are working are adding
one thing, just one little thing, one thing, to the finished work
of Christ. And if you add one thing, you've
polluted the entire thing. If I add one thing, I've polluted
the entire sacrifice. No, it must be 100% resting on
the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me to Psalm 116. Psalm
116 verse five tells us, Gracious is the Lord, and righteous. Yea, our God is merciful. The Lord preserveth the simple.
I was brought low, and he helped me. Return unto thy rest, O my
soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. For thou
hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my
feet from falling. What blessed hope we have, brethren. in the words in verse five that
says, gracious is the Lord. Now you'll notice in your Bible,
that's a capital L, a capital O, a capital R and a capital
D. That's the word Jehovah. Now, how is the sovereign Jehovah,
the holy one of Israel? How is he going to be gracious? I would remind us, mercy is not
getting what we deserve, and grace is getting what we don't
deserve. How is he to be gracious? There's only one way. It's in
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how. How is the Lord going
to show us grace? How is he going to show us mercy?
Because of his glorious substitution on the cross of Calvary, when
he put away the sin of his people, he made grace possible at that
moment for his people. It was grace that he brought
him low. He says here, I was brought low and he helped me.
If you're never brought low, you'll never see that the rest
that you're in is not rest, it's polluted. When you're brought
low, then you would cry out for mercy, don't you? When you're
drowning, you cry out for mercy. That's the only way we'll cry
out, Lord, have mercy upon me. The sinner is when we see that
we're the sinner, when we see that we're drowning on polluted
rest. And he says, return my soul,
return unto thy rest, oh my soul. And he tells us why. And he's given us three things
here. He says, The Lord hath dealt
bountifully with thee, and here's why. Thou hast delivered my soul
from death. How did he do that? He died in
our stead. He died in our stead. He took
our sin, nailing them to his cross, and he died in our stead.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The second thing he does is he dries our eyes from tears. He delivered our eyes from tears. What does that mean? You ever
sorrowed over your sin when you see that you're a sinner? You
ever loathed yourself? We do all the time, don't we?
We see how much we have a little bit of a glimpse, how much we
really wreak, how much we really are polluted, how much our heart
is truly wicked. We have a glimpse to that, don't
we? The Lord shows us we're a sinner and we cry over that. We weep.
Lord, have mercy on me. You know what he does? He dries
our tears. He says, I put away your sin.
I don't see you as a sinner. I see you as the righteousness
of God in Christ. That's how he sees his people.
And then the glorious news, the third thing we see in verse eight
is that he keeps his people. We are kept by the sovereign
power of God through faith unto salvation. We are kept by his
grace alone, by his mercy alone, according to his will alone.
He keeps his people. I love the thought that in keeping
us, he's immutable. He can't change. That's what
immutable means. He's the same yesterday. He's
the same today. And he'll be the same forever.
He always has been the same. He always will be the same. That's
what immutable means. If he's immutable, if he's immutable,
and He's delivered our soul from death, our eyes from tears, and
my feet from falling, He's always going to do that. He's never
gonna change. Just because you slip up or just
because you make a mistake or you sin, He's still seated on
the throne. Your salvation's still secure.
It's nearer now than when we first believed. Why? Because
it's true rest. We're resting in what He rested
in, the Lord of the Sabbath, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what the Father rested in before the foundation of the world.
When the Lord did create the world, on the Sabbath day He
rested, it's Christ. That's Christ. All of creation
points to Christ. Everything from the budding of
the seed to the caterpillar eating the leaf, turning into a butterfly,
everything points to Christ and what His salvation has accomplished
for His people. We're new creatures, aren't we?
In Him, He's immutable. and His rest
is absolute. We heard about the absolute God
on Wednesday night, the God of absolutes. Everything He does
is absolutely. He doesn't do something halfway.
He doesn't see us as half good and half bad. Either we're all
bad or we're all good. And if we were all good, there
would have been no need for a Savior. We're all bad, aren't we? Thank
God for His absolute love, His absolute sovereignty, His absolute
will in redeeming His people back to Himself. Here is our rest, brethren. Christ
says, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest. Come unto me. Well, how do I
come to Christ? Don't move a muscle. Come with
the heart that he's given you, the faith that he's given you.
If you'd come to him and try to move your body, then it's
a work, no? We look to him through the faith that he's given us.
Everything required, he provided. He provided. He says, take my
yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart
and you shall find rest to your souls. For my yoke is easy and
my burden is light. Do you know why his burden is
light? There's no work to be done. He's seen it already. Everything required, he's already
done. He's already accomplished. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
four. I'll show you that. Hebrews 4 verse 1 says, let us
therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into
his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. What is
he saying there? Let us therefore fear. What does
he mean? What is he talking about? Be afraid and examine yourself
to see if everything within you is looking to Christ. See if
there'd be one thing that you're clinging to right now, right
this moment, one little dot One little hope of something that
you have done or something that I have done for my salvation.
That's what he's saying. Fear ye therefore, lest a promise
being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem
to come 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 in them that heard
it. See, it's God that has to give the faith, isn't it? For
we which have believed do enter into rest. As he saith, 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.
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. 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. Again,
he limited a certain day saying unto David, today, after so long
a time, as it is said, today, if you will hear his voice, harden
not your hearts. If Jesus had given rest, then
would he not afterwards have spoken of another day? Here's
our hope. Verse nine, there remaineth therefore
a rest. And you know what that word rest
translates? Keeping the Sabbath. keeping this, it's Christ, isn't
it? That's our rest, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. There remaineth
therefore Christ to the people of God, the rest. For he that
has entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own
works as God did from his. Let us labor therefore to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief. He says, some heard this, some
heard this, but no faith was given. Some heard the gospel,
some heard the place of rest, but they weren't given faith
to believe. He says, if you hear, if you can hear, harden not your
heart. Harden not your heart. Come unto
me. Come unto me and rest in the finished work. And then he
says, God rested on Christ. Before the foundation of the
world was ever laid, a covenant was made. The Father elected
a people. the Son promised to redeem the
people. And the Spirit said, in time,
I will regenerate those people for whom you die. And the transaction
has done been made. The blood has already been shed.
The Lord Jesus Christ successfully redeemed his people. Now therefore,
there remaineth a rest to the people of God. And just as the
Father rested on the Lord Jesus Christ to accomplish the work,
you and I must rest in the same place that the father put his
trust, the same place the father put his hope in the Lord Jesus
Christ for our salvation. There can be nothing else beside
that in our heart. His finished work alone is the
only rest that we truly have. That's the only way we can rest.
It's the only way we can rest. Christ Jesus, is the Sabbath
that he's mentioning here, and the Father rested upon him. Now,
what do you think we should rest in? Anything that we do? Anything
that we think? Well, several men in the Bible,
we've read before, they said, well, I thought this, or I thought
that. That's the problem, isn't it?
I thought, no, don't think. Don't think. Look to Christ.
Look to Christ. Don't do. It's done. It's finished.
Don't try. Look to Christ. Cease. Stop. Your rest is polluted. My rest
is polluted. And looking to myself, it's not
His rest. There remaineth a rest to the
people of God, God's elected people. There's a rest for you.
Are you weary? Do you see your sin before you?
Do you see that you're polluted in your own self, your own blood,
that you're full of sores from the top of your head to the bottom
of your feet? Come to Christ and rest. He's put that sin away. He's put it away by his own blood. If you can, you will. I guarantee
it. If I can, I will. Why? Because
it's irresistible. This calling is irresistible.
He comes to his people and he says, live. The Lord says, live,
we're gonna live. He didn't say, Lazarus, if you
take the first step, I'll take the rest. He didn't say that,
did he? That's silly. Lazarus, come forth. He's God, there's
a difference. That's the rest that we have.
And if we rest, we've been made to cease. We've been made to
stop. We've been made to desist. He
says, harden not your heart to this. Lord, my heart is hard. My heart is stone, my heart is
cold. Give me a heart of flesh. Lord,
soften my heart, shut me up to Christ. Give me Christ, make
Him my righteousness. We see that there was no rest
in the covenant of old. covenant of works, there's never
rest. And what we see is the priests that would minister daily
before the temples, wouldn't they? And what would they do?
They would offer sacrifice. How often? Every single day. Do you know that there was no
bed inside the temple? There was no chair inside the
temple. There was no place to rest, were
there? No place to rest. Why? The work was not finished.
The work was not finished. The priest had to continually
offer up this sacrifice. But we don't rest in the sacrifice
of hands, our hands, do we? We don't rest in taste not, touch
not, handle not. We don't rest in what we're refraining
ourself from or restraining ourself from. We don't rest in what we're
doing at all. We rest in his work. We rest in his blood. We rest in his sacrifice, not
our sacrifice, not our sacrifice, his sacrifice. That's where his
people rest. We rest in exactly what God rested
in. Now in closing, turn to Hebrews
10, a few pages over. This is what Paul's talking to
the Hebrews about, what I just mentioned about the priest. And
he says in verse 11 of Hebrews 10, and every priest standeth
daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices
that can never take away sins. But this man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, 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. For by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, whereof
the Holy Spirit also is a witness to us. For after that he had
said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after
those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts,
and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and their
iniquities will I remember no more." How is it? How is it that
God is going to remember his people's sin and iniquity no
more? He must put it away. He must
cast it as far as the East is from the West. He has to purge
us from our sin by his own blood. And he did that on the cross
of Calvary, didn't he? He don't remember them because
they're gone. They're gone. They're not there. Justified
doesn't mean just as if I had never sinned. Justified literally
means you have never sinned one time in God's eyes. Why? Because
his sacrifice was sufficient. His sacrifice was sufficient
in redeeming his people. There's our rest, brethren. There's
our rest right there. His sacrifice, his blood was
sufficient in redeeming his people back to the Father. back to the
father, just as he promised he would. But what did he do after
he did that? He sat down. He sat down. There's no seat in the temple,
but there's one at the right hand of God. There's one at the
right hand of God. He sat down. What is that evidence
of? The work's finished. The work
is finished. The Lord Jesus Christ was successful
He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. You notice
that word are, it doesn't say going to be. It doesn't say progressively
getting there. It says are sanctified. Aren't
you thankful for that word? He's perfected forever them that
are sanctified. Are you telling me I'm holy right
now? The new man is. The new man is
as holy as God is. That's what he's telling us.
He sanctified our new man. Men believe that they have to
do things in this life to progressively get better, to please the Lord.
It's not true, is it? That's a polluted rest. It's
a polluted rest. We can't do one thing to please
God. No, but he's perfected forever them that are sanctified. The
Lord Jesus Christ did it. He did it himself. So my question
to us this hour is what are we resting in? What are we resting
in? Are we resting in self? Are we
resting in Christ? There's only two kinds of people.
Are we resting in our works? Are we resting in His finished
work? Are we resting in what we think? Are we resting in the
truth that God says and declares? Is our hope in ourself in any
way, shape, or form? Or is our hope only in the finished
work of Christ? Because God is only pleased with
Christ alone. All other work is polluted. All of the rest is polluted.
It has to be the finished work of Christ alone. Let's rest in
Christ our Sabbath, our sacrifice, our sanctification, our redemption. We're going to take the Lord's
table here a second hour. We rest in the body of Christ
alone, don't we? We rest in the blood of Christ
alone, his body and his blood. That's it. That's our righteousness
and it's our sanctification before the Lord. This is the rest of
the Lord's people that remaineth. We rest in his body and blood
alone. Rest. If you can, you will. Rest in
Christ. Rest in his finished work. It's
the only true rest that we have. Amen.