Entering Into Rest
Foundation Statement: The victory is in the rest so labor to enter into rest-Hebrews
4:1, Isaiah 30:15
I.
Hebrews 4:1-What is this
Rest?
A. Rest-Resting place, Calming of the winds, to make quiet, to cause
to be at rest, To still, to cause one striving to desist, to take rest, cease,
lead to a quiet abode, to pause; after the toils of life on earth are ended
1.
This rest is quietness
and it is peace
a. Torment would be the
opposite of rest and peace; To be tormented is being harassed, distressed, to
be vexed with grievous pains in the mind and it also means to toil
b. The opposite of rest
would be worrying, wondering, being frustrated, being discouraged, toiling to
take care of it through self-effort and in that there is no rest and no peace
B. Satan wants you in this
state of restless because he knows your victory is in your rest; God wants you
in the place of rest, the place of peace
1.
Isaiah 26:3-You will keep
him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
2.
John 16:33- These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might
have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I
have overcome the world.
3.
Romans 8:6-For to be
carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
4.
Philippians 4:6-The peace
of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus
a. Evidence that you don’t
have the care is peace is there (you have rest, quietness, calmness,
undisturbed, not agitated, soul assured)
5.
1 Peter 1:13-Wherefore
gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace
that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
6.
1 Thessalonians 5:8-But
let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and
love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
7.
1 Peter 5:8- Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as
a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may
devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing
that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the
world.
a. 1 Peter 5:7-8-Don’t take
the care (restless) and be calm and collected in spirit; when you have the care
you are restless, you are disturbed, you are agitated
8.
1 Peter 3:4-But let it be
the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the
ornament of a meek and quiet (tranquil) spirit, which is in the sight of God of
great price.
9.
1 Peter 3:11-Let him
eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and
ensue it.
10.
2 Thessalonians 3:16- Now may the Lord
of peace Himself grant you His peace (the peace of His kingdom) at all times
and in all ways [under all circumstances and conditions, whatever comes]. The
Lord [be] with you all.
11.
Colossians 3:15-And let
the peace of God rule in your hearts,
a. The peace of God rules in
our hearts (Peace has the last say regarding all issues)
C. Restlessness is a sign
that you have taken the care; Resting is a sign that you don’t have the care
1.
The
resting place is the place where you have no care and you are fully persuaded
that your father is going to take care of you (it) and therefore you rest
a. When you’ve taken the
care and you’re anxious and worrying you’re not resting and you have no peace;
Evidence that you don’t have the care is that peace is there
2.
In
this place of rest you’re not sweating, you’re not toiling, you’re resting,
trusting the Father to do the work while you do what He shows you to do
a. The promised land was a
place where God was going to TAKE CARE of them, defeat their enemies
keep them safe and walking in abundance; he was working they were resting in
Him, trusting Him to take care of them rather than toiling to take care of
themselves
D. Jesus lived with a calm
assurance (Mark 4:35, John 8,11, Luke 8)
1.
The
thing about Jesus was no matter how tough the situation got you never saw him
sweat
2.
He never toiled
frantically (because in every situation he trusted is Father to take care of
Him)
3.
He abode in this rest; he
lived it and labored to stay in it
II.
The word of God presents
this rest as a vital thing to the life and the victory of the believer
A. Hebrews 4:1-Is this rest
available to us today? Is there a place available for us today where God takes
care of us, where we don’t toil to take of ourselves and live frantic,
restless, agitated and disturbed lives?
1.
The
promise being left to us of entering into his rest
a. ERV-We still have the promise that God gave those people
b. PHIL-The same promise of rest is offered to us today
c. CEV-The promise to enter into his place of rest is still good
d. TLB-The promise still stands
2.
9-There
is a rest available to us today
a. The people of God are
saved already so this is not just talking about the rest of salvation; the
people of God already have that
3.
John
14:27-Jesus’ peace is yours today and you can be cool and abide in rest the way
He did
a. I’ve given you my peace
so don’t be restless
1)
You
have the equipment to live the life of rest
2)
You have the command from
Jesus to live the life of rest
b. If you are agitated,
anxious, stressed, perplexed then you are not resting
1)
Troubled-Agitated, inward
commotion, Trouble a thing by the movement of it’s parts to and fro, Take away
calmness of mind, disquiet, make restless, stir up
c. Are you at peace? Have you entered into this rest?
B. Rest is vital to your
life and victory; About this rest the words says (1) Be careful, cautious and
on guard that you don’t miss out on it (2) Labor and exert yourself to enter
into it (3) Jesus commanded you don’t let your heart be restless; this rest
most be vitally important
1.
1-Let’s
be very cautious that we don’t miss out on this promise of rest
a. Look how the word talks
about this rest: Be very careful that you don’t miss out on this rest, be
continually on guard that you don’t miss it
1)
ERV-we should be very careful that none of you
fails to get that promise
2)
MSG-we need to be careful that we’re not
disqualified
3)
PHIL-let us be continually on our guard that
none of us even looks like failing to attain it
4)
CEV-we must take care that none of you miss out
b. Are you being very cautious to not miss out on this rest and
come short of it? You ought to be checking yourself all the time, “Am I resting
or Am I missing out on this rest?”
1)
Rest
should be on your radar and you should be paying attention to whether or not
you’re resting
c. Are there believers that
are missing out this rest that’s available to them? Are there believers that
are toiling and not resting and have no peace about situations in their life?
Are there some who are praying loud prayers and quoting a lot of verses, but
are NOT resting? It’s possible to be a Christian and live a life with no rest? If
you did you’d be missing it where God is concerned
2.
11-Labor
to enter into this rest
(Exert yourself, endeavor, give diligence to entering this rest)
a. This rest is so important
that God tells us to exert ourselves and give diligence to entering into it
b. This rest has just become
the aim of every believer
C. Your victory is in your
rest, so labor to enter into this rest-Isaiah 30:15, Hebrews 4:11
1.
In Babylon you toil to
obtain, in the kingdom you rest to receive
a. You’re not laboring to
get it to come to pass, you’re not laboring to get the thing you need that’s
Babylon; that’s toil, that’s works and rewards
b. A lot of times we are
praying and quoting the word trying to obtain something, trying to get
something to happen and that’s toiling not resting
c. We’ve thought that if
we’ve prayed long enough and loud enough and quoted enough verses we would
obtain what we didn’t have and in doing so this rest hasn’t been on our radar
2.
You’re
laboring to enter into this place of rest
a. If my labor doesn’t lead
to rest then I labored in vain
1)
If
I speak the word or pray it’s to enter into that rest; The goal of labor is to
rest
2)
I’m
glad you made 1,000 confessions, but if those confessions don’t lead to you
resting then they were made in vain
b. You’ve done everything,
but one thing that you need to do which is rest
c. The aim or the goal of
the believer becomes the place of rest, not
the manifestation; It has to become the aim of every believer to enter into
this place of rest
3.
If we can get to this
place of rest, God can get us to the place of victory-Isaiah 30:15
a. Your victory is not in
your wearisome effort, it’s in your rest
b. If you don’t rest, God
doesn’t work
4.
You don’t have to pray to
get it done, you have to rest to get it done
a. Faith is not working to
obtain something that you don’t have; it’s resting in what you already are and
what you already have because of the finished work of Jesus
b. The most powerful and productive thing you can do in any
situation is enter into the place of rest
III.
To rest requires faith
A. Hebrews 4:10-The person
who is resting has ceased from his own working
1.
The
person who is resting has quit doing his own stuff and is only doing what the
Father showed him to do; therefore we know that Jesus lived a life of rest
a. They guy that’s resting
is not trying to make it happen and take care of it and figure it out and come
up with plan and execute his plan; he’s seeking the Kingdom of God and His
righteousness and then doing what the Father shows him
b. If you’re trying to make
it happen, God can’t make it happen
c. If you are working to
obtain it, God can’t give it to you (because he works by grace through faith,
not by rewards through labor)
2.
All
of this: I don’t know what to do, maybe I’m not doing something right, I don’t
know what it’s not working, why is it taking so long --- None of that is
resting
a. The way to rest is to
quit doing your own stuff and do only what the Father shows you
b. The moment you engage activity not ordained by God you’ve
left the place of rest and entered the place of toil
3.
Resting
is not passively doing nothing; it’s actively living by faith, doing what God
told you to do, and trusting Him to take care of it and therefore you rest
a. People have been duped
into thinking that if they are resting they are doing nothing and nothing will
get done
B. Hebrews 4:3-You enter
into rest by faith-Hebrews 3:19-Unbelief kept them out of rest
1.
Unbelief
keeps you from resting while faith will enable you, empower you to rest
a. When you don’t trust God
to take care of something you won’t be able to rest, but rather you’ll toil to
take care of yourself
b. This resting place is the
place of confident trust, joyful expectation, it’s the fully persuaded faith
place; it’s the place where you are so fully persuaded that God will take care
of you that you rest
c. Numbers 13:30-14:4-They
weren’t resting; They are in unbelief, they are crying, they are mad at Moses,
and they are going to take care of themselves by going back to Egypt
1)
Why can’t they rest? They
have no faith and without faith you cannot rest
2.
It
takes assurance to rest (If you are unsure you won’t rest)
a. Faith that is fully
persuaded is faith that can rest
b. It takes faith in God to rest; the stronger
and bigger your faith is, the easier it is to rest
1) If you
have troubled resting you get the word on it to get faith on it so you can
rest-Romans 10:17
2) To live
by faith and believe God is a choice, the development of your faith is a
process
C. There is peace in
believing, there is rest in believing-Romans 15:13
1.
If peace isn’t present
faith is not active
a. If you think you’re in faith, but you have no peace, you
think wrong
b. A great indicator of whether or not you’re in faith is do you
have any peace/rest
c. You can be jumping up and down on the inside and be cool on
the outside
2.
The
peace is IN the believing, the rest is in the believing
a. If you don’t believe
you’ll have no peace and you won’t rest
b. You find peace and rest
in faith
3.
One
of the greatest evidences that you’re in faith is that you have an abundance of
peace
a. Peace is faith expressing itself; Peace is an expression of
faith; Peace is the outflow of confident trust
b. If you have the care and
you’re frustrated and agitated and wondering you have no peace and you are not
in faith
4.
Psalm
3-When this is your attitude in a time of pressure it says more about you than
some dry confession you’re making out of your mouth; it takes faith to do this;
it doesn’t take faith to repeat something like a parrot