Rest and Work (I)

2021 07 18

Recap

• If things of God are a burden to you, check to see if legalism has taken over

Matthew 11:28-30 (NKJV) ²⁸  Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

• We work to give and not to live.

Philippians 4:18-19 (NKJV) ¹⁸  Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. ¹⁹  And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Luke 6:38 (NKJV)  Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

Acts 20:35 (NKJV)  I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

• The Sabbath day is now a man called Jesus the Christ/Messiah

Matthew 12:8 (NKJV)  For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Matthew 5:17 (NKJV)  “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

Hebrews 4:11-12 (NKJV) ¹¹  Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. ¹²  For the word of God 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.

• The key to understanding how Jesus is our Sabbath rest is understanding what the Sabbath means.
• The Hebrew word shabat was the word “rest” in the Old Testament first used in regard to God “resting” from creation on the seventh day.
• The Sabbath would later become part of the Law of Moses, referring to the Sabbath day, Saturday, upon which the Jewish people were to do no work.
• Jesus said Come to Him and He will give us rest.

Position

Law

• 603+10=613 commandments

Deuteronomy 28:1-2 (NKJV) ¹  “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. ²  And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:

Deuteronomy 28:15 (NKJV)  “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

Deuteronomy 11:26-28 (NKJV) ²⁶  “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: ²⁷  the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today; ²⁸  and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.

James 2:10 (NKJV)  For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.

• This covenant is based on our performance
• The blessing of the Lord is
  • based on our performance
  • Based on us acceptable and pleasing to Him

When I was a practicing Muslim

Romans 7:5 (NKJV)  For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.

• The flesh here is someone under the law, trying to be good, by self-effort
  • Under the law of Moses in this scripture
• When I was a Muslim, I could not reach out to God as I thought I should be able to
  • I reasoned it to be so because of the pork I ate in the pizza I’d had and/or
  • because of the beer I’d been drinking occasionally
• I was trying my best to make heaven my eternal home
  • trying to be good, by self-effort.
• The contentment I once felt at being righteous with God, had turned into frustration,
• When my sister quoted 2 Cor. 5:21, I had a vision of Jesus on the Cross

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)  For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

• Jesus had been there and done that, so that I do not have to
  • All I have to do is put my faith in Jesus

Performance based religion is Sin

Romans 14:23 (NKJV)  But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV) ⁸  For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹  not of works, lest anyone should boast.

• Negating the work on the Cross
• True righteousness is Christ righteousness
• The only way to get it is to receive it by faith
• Not by self-effort

Galatians 2:16 (NKJV)  knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

• Faith is a positive response to what Jesus has already done.

Nobody but Jesus

• This faith and the rest it results in is what is required in the New Covenant
• The Law of Moses is replaced by the Grace of God
• As we put our faith in Jesus and His finished work on the Cross
  • Nobody but Jesus was able to keep all 613 commandments of God
  • Nobody but Jesus was able to be the Lamb of God
  • Nobody but Jesus was able to offer an acceptable and pleasing sacrifice to God

Romans 8:1-4 (NLT2) ¹  So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. ²  And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. ³  The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. ⁴  He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

Romans 10:4 (NLT2)  For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God.

• Instead of being good Jews, let us base our work on what Jesus has done

Galatians 3:13-14 (NKJV) ¹³  Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), ¹⁴  that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

• You getting blessed is based on His performance
• Even if we fall short of the Glory of God,
• all we have to do is believe that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law
• Have faith in Christ Jesus
• For the blessing of Abraham
• That we might receive the promise of the Spirit
• Once again, the New Covenant is NOT based on what you do, your performance
• But based on what Jesus has already accomplished.
• This is a covenant of Grace.

There is Work & Labor in Christ

Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV)  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

• Jesus has fulfilled all that is required of the Law of Moses
  • For me
  • God’s workmanship, His masterpiece
  • created in Christ Jesus
  • for good works
  • which God prepared beforehand
  • we should walk in them,
  • walk worthy of our calling in Christ.

Ephesians 4:1 (NKJV)  I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,

• The Authority that you have is a grace given gift
• You have been given authority by Jesus Christ

Mark 11:23 (NKJV)  For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

Luke 10:19-20 (NKJV) ¹⁹  Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. ²⁰  Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJV) ¹⁸  And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰  teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

• Do not try to do what has already been done by Jesus Christ

1 Peter 2:24 (NKJV)  who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness–by whose stripes you were healed.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)  For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

• We operate from the position that Christ has gotten for us
• Our position determines our behavior
• To understand our position in Christ,
• To know our identity in Christ
• We have to renew our mind

Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV) ¹  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ²  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

• Confess our faith

Hebrews 10:23 (NKJV)  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

• Daily Declaration of Faith
  • both Audio & Text, daily
  • Our responsibility

Jude 1:20 (NKJV)  But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

• There is a work involved

Colossians 3:23 (NKJV)  And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.

Hebrews 4:11 (NKJV)  Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. (KJV)  Let us labour

• If Jesus has provided for our rest through faith, why must we “do our best to enter that rest”?
  • This is not the struggle of doing good in order to obtain salvation, nor is it a mystical struggle to overcome selfishness.
  • It refers to making every effort to appreciate and benefit from what God has already provided.
  • Salvation is not to be taken for granted; to appropriate the gift God offers requires decision and commitment.
• There is “labour” to enter into that rest that Jesus offers
• We must be diligent to experience the peace that Jesus alone can give

Philippians 4:4-7 (NKJV) ⁴  Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! ⁵  Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. ⁶  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷  and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

• Known to God, not because God is deaf or that it has to get through the fist and second heaven
• Known to God when the peace of God is in your heart instead of anxiety, worry fear etc.,.

Conclusion

• We operate from the position that Christ has gotten for us
• We have to renew our mind
• Do not try to do what has already been done by Jesus Christ
• Jesus has given me the unmerited, undeserved, favor
• This is called Grace
• This is our covenant, our agreement with God.