ENTER GOD’S REST
By Pastor
Dick
Throughout the Bible we read where the
Lord is telling His people to, "Fear not, be not afraid, for I am with
thee." He told it to Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David and Daniel and to many in
the Old Testament. He told it to Joseph, Mary, Peter, Paul and John and many
others in the New Testament. He told it to people who were frightened by
sickness and others who were frightened by a storm. The Lord's instructions to
His people are the same, both in the Old and New Testament: "Fear thou not;
for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee;
yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my
righteousness" (Isa.41:10).
Over and over and over the Lord tells
His people, "Fear not." However, there is one place in the Bible where He
tells about something we should fear, and it is the one thing most Christians do
not fear! It 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" (Heb.4:1). Now, that is
something to get apprehensive about! Just the thought of missing out on the true
rest God has provided for us should sound an alarm in our spirit; yet, we don't
seem to be the least bit concerned about it. We fear things the Lord tells us
not to fear, and we do not fear what He tells us to fear!
The Promised Land of the children of
Israel in the Old Covenant is symbolic of the promised place of rest available
to Christians under the New Covenant. That Promised Land was "a land flowing
with milk and honey" (Ex.3:8). It was a place for the Israelites to live
after they were delivered from bondage in Egypt, just as the place of rest is an
area of life for us to enter after we are saved. If children of God do not enter
the rest available to them in their Father's will, it does not mean they are
outside the family; they are just not living in their true
inheritance.
There is a basic step for the people of
God to take to enter this glorious place of rest. It is clearly stated in the
Bible: "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is
entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from
his" (Heb.4:9, 10). To enter into the glorious rest of the New Covenant, we
must learn what ceasing from our own works really means, and then be willing to
do it.
I began working in my father's bakery
when I was a young child. By the time I was a teenager, I had become skillful in
most areas of the work. My dad and I had different ways of working: he worked
slowly while I pushed myself to the limit. I could never understand how he
accomplished so much, because he never seemed to be in a hurry. His slowness
made me nervous. You know what it is like to be behind a slowpoke! It just made
me want to speed up all the more.
Now, about forty-five years later, I
had this dream about working in my father's bakery. In my dream, I walked into
the bakery and asked my dad where I should work. He just looked at me, but did
not speak. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to me, but he knew I wasn't
ready to listen to something he wanted me to hear. In real life, when my dad was
here on earth, I would never just hang around and chat with him; I was too busy
for that. Now, in my dream, I was acting the same way. I was anxious to get
working, so I just decided to go ahead without hearing from my
father.
First, I went to make some cakes, but
discovered my father had them all made; then, I went to make some pies, and he
also had them all made. This went on and on . . . Everything I went to do had
already been done by my father. Finally, I said to myself, "I know what I'll do,
I'll get a broom and sweep the floor." Then, as I began to sweep, I noticed the
floor had not only been swept, it had been washed so clean that it glowed. I
became so frustrated that I pounded down with my fists and swore. Then I
awoke.
For a while I was really troubled by
that dream. The Lord had cleansed my mouth when He entered my heart about thirty
years ago; why would I now use bad language, even in a dream? However, when I
got the interpretation of the dream and became aware of what God was showing me,
I was no longer troubled but joyful.
Every work I tried to do in the dream
had already been perfectly done by my father. Every work we are called to do in
this new life has already been perfectly done by our Heavenly Father. We must
have this revelation if we are going to cease from our own works and enter into
the promised rest in the inheritance of Christ.
When Moses was speaking to the children
of Israel about the Promised Land in the Old Covenant, he told them the Lord
would give to them, ". . . cities, which thou buildest not, And houses full
of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou
diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not . . ."
(Deut.6:10, 11). It is the same way when we enter into the New Covenant:
everything has been done for us by the Lord!
Great responsibility gets placed upon
our shoulders when we make a decision to do the Lord's work, but it is not
placed there by God. He wants us to rest as He uses us in His finished work. For
example, if you feel you must rush to the bedside of someone you know who is
dying and give them the plan of salvation or you think they will go to hell and
it will be your fault, you are working in your own works and not in the finished
work of God. We do have the privilege of sharing the Gospel, and sometimes the
Lord will use us at someone's deathbed; but the work of salvation was finished
by God from the foundation of the world. That is when God wrote the names in the
Book of Life (Rev.17:8)! I experienced my salvation in the year 1964, but I was
saved from the foundation of the world when God wrote my name in His Book of
Life. Christ was crucified in our time and space realm for the sins of the world
about two thousand years ago as He worked out the finished work of God, but the
Bible calls Jesus "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world"
(Rev.13:8).
Do we still want to trust in our own
works after glancing at the finished work of God? Must we organize soul winning
programs and rush out to save the world? Does a person's salvation depend on our
works? Are we writing the names in the Book of Life? I used to put myself under
a lot of pressure to sow the Gospel Seed, but now that I am learning to cease
from my own works, I am finding out that there is a lot more joy working in rest
in the Lord's Harvest Field.
There is another work we do that we
should also cease from. We don't realize it is our own work because it appears
to be Godly. It is when we try to grow the fruit of the Spirit in our
lives--when we try to be more loving, kinder, more patient . . . But that is not
the real fruit the Lord is looking for when He comes into His garden. The Bible
says that we are God's garden (1 Cor.3:9), and to "Let my beloved (Jesus)
come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits" (Song 4:16). He is
looking for the real thing and not a manmade imitation.
The full-grown fruit of the Spirit
entered us when we received Christ. It does not grow in us; we grow in it. For
example, take the first treasure listed in the will of God: His love. His fruit
of love does not grow in us! It does not grow. Period. It is full-grown, perfect
and complete. We grow in His full-grown love; it does not grow in us! Our
success in this life is not having a ministry to identify with nor is it writing
a book or preaching the gospel, but rather it is growing in the love of God. Our
love growth is not calculated by our circumstances or our works, but by how
deeply we abide in the rest of our inheritance.
There is a rest for the people of God
to enter. We do have a choice. We don't have to walk on the anxiety-paved
highway of the world. We don't have to be addicted to religious works. And we
don't have to tie artificial fruit onto the branches of our lives. What we can
do is enter into that rest that remains, where we have the pleasure of working
with the Father, living a worry-free life, as we enjoy His love along with all
the benefits of our inheritance in the promised land of rest in the New
Covenant.
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