WORKING TOWADS GOD’S REST

WHAT IS GOD’S REST?

As important as physical rest is spiritual rest. The rest we will be focusing today is that spiritual rest; a sense of peace and calm that can be found in God alone when we turn to Him (Gen. 33:12) And He said. “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Physical rest however is the taking of a break from our daily chores or manner of work that we involved in for a living. And there is also the final rest;  this my beloved, the final rest for believers  comes when they fall asleep in Jesus in death and experience that communion and closeness with Jesus  that is far much exceeds the communion experience here on earth. The psalmist wrote, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” May we be found worthy dear brethren to die as saints in the Lord. As human beings, we regularly need rest and refreshment for our minds and body to function well and physiological nourishment (Gen 18:3-5), and he said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. And I will bring a Morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, in as much as you have come to your servant.”  This was Abraham when the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. If we work tirelessly, from Monday to Monday, January to December, we are ruining and affecting our physiological minds without knowledge. “Rest is inevitable for the mind as food for the body and God’s word for the soul.” This is in fact, one purpose of the Sabbath in the Old Testament and Sunday after Jesus’s resurrection and redemption (Gen. 2:3) “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” God created the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in the sea in six days and the seventh day He rested. Jesus and His disciples had to take the time to get away from the pressures of their daily tasks (Mk 6:30-31) “Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. And He said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” For there were many coming and going and they did not even have time to eat.”  We ought to use the leisure time that God gives us to refresh ourselves for the work to which God has called us.

HOW DO WE WORK TOWARD GOD’S REST?

The book of Hebrews contains numerous warnings against backsliding and apostasy. (For more about backsliding and apostasy please check my blogs post “THE GREAT APOSTASY”  The writer previously has made it particularly clear that true believers “hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end” (Heb. 3:6). And in Hebrews chapter 4 it states, “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swear in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest, ‘” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world” (Heb. 4:1-3).Here beloved, it’s the fear and revering God that elevates us to His promise. And His promise takes us to the peak of His rest. For sure God’s Word is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb. 4:12). It is very unfortunate that many of us hear and read the word but it does not profit all because not all mix the word with faith for it to grow and yield fruits or crops for seed (I do not want to go out of the message but for more about the word, please check my post “THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD", and also "THE WORD OF GOD" or "THE POWER IN THE WORD") God’s promise of rest was prominent in the Old Testament. Originally it referred to the land of Canaan, but possession of that land also portrayed figuratively the rest which Jesus promised to all who followed Him (Matt. 11:28-30) “Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gently and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Beloved brethren, Jesus is pleading with us to come to Him and find the rest for our souls. The rest that the world knows not neither can it provides it! I remember the beginning of this year 2021; my message for the whole world on all my platform in a foreign land was, “We are entering the year of all round rest, from this year hence forth to them that believe it, apply it and mix it with faith, see it work for our good. Personally it is working for me only after obeying His voice and indeed God is taking me to the peak of my rest in Jesus Mighty name Amen. James warns us in His epistle not to be hearers only, but does of the word as well. And verily, verily I say unto us, it will elevate us to God’s rest.  Paul continues that (Heb. 4:6-10) “Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and to those to whom it was first preached, did not enter because of disobedience, again He designates another day, saying in David, “Today,” after such  a long time, has it has been said;  “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, and then he would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.” (More about hardened hearts on my yesterday’s post, “THE HEART OF GOD” also “THE COST OF DISOBEDIENCE” or again, “THE SIN OF UNBELIEF” can be of great help. It is this latter rest to which our text refers. The writer exhorts professing believers to be diligent to enter God’s rest (Heb. 4:11) Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone false according to the same example of disobedience," and to fear coming short of it. But beloved, the promise must be mixed together with faith in those who hear; otherwise there will be no saving benefit (V. 2). True faith believes God’s Word pays close attention to its warnings as well as its promises. The godly fear which the writer calls for preserves the faithful from easy security and fleshly self-confidence. It is a reverent fear which does not wish to offend God and incur His displeasure. James wrote (James 1:25) “But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” Indeed God’s word is sure.

HOW TO REALIZE GOD’S TRUE REST

For us believers, to realize, find and experience God’s true rest we must:

1.       We must trust in God to experience His true rest in Him:  See the words of the psalmist (Ps. 37:3-7) “Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him, do not fret because of him who prospers in his ways, because of the man who brings schemes to pass." Also see (Ps. 91:1-2) “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”

2.       We must first of all rest in God the source of all rest: A man after God’s own heart wrote (Ps. 23:1-3) “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Again he says (Ps 62:1,5) “Truly my soul silently waits for God; from Him comes my salvation;  “My soul waits silently  for God alone, for my expectation is from Him.”

3.       We must always experience God’s presence for our souls to find rest in Him:  God assured His servant Moses (Exo. 33:14).And He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”  And the son of Jesse said (Ps. 31:19-20) “Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear you, which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men! You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.”

4.       Through the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we realize and find rest for our souls, for His yoke is easy and His burden light (Matt. 11: 28-30) the written Scripture is above. And to John speak thus (John 16:33) “These things I have spoken to you, that In Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

5.       We realize God’s true rest through the Spirit of God: Isaiah the prophet wrote (Isa. 63:14)”As a beast goes down into the valley, and the spirit of the Lord causes him to rest, so You lead Your people, to make Yourself a glorious name.”

Abba Father, I Exalt Your Holy name for Thy Word which has gone forth, for it shall not return unto You void but shall accomplish that which You pleases and that which You have sent it forth for in the name of Jesus. Sweet Spirit of God causes us to rest in God and to enter and find rest in Jesus Christ whose yoke is easy and His burden light. Amen.

“Grace to you and Favor from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen and Amen and Amen.