Faith-Rest Drill & Spiritual Rest

Aug 13, 2025 • James Ramieri

08-13 Sermon Outline: Faith-Rest Drill and Spiritual Rest

Sermon Outline: The Faith-Rest Drill – Handling Adversity by Resting in God's Completed Work

I. Introduction and Invocation

Silent Prayer & Preparation

1 John 1:9 – Confess known sin for the filling of the Spirit.

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

1 Peter 5:7 – Cast all cares on Him.

"Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."

Emphasis: Set aside life's problems to focus on the Word of God.

II. The Faith-Rest Drill: Overview

Personal Testimony

The faith-rest drill as a daily method for handling adversity, especially under satanic attack.

Personal experience with bipolar disorder and deliverance through doctrine and faith-rest.

Definition

The faith-rest drill is the believer’s method for handling adversity, especially spiritual warfare.

Ephesians 6:16 – The shield of faith extinguishes all flaming arrows of the evil one.

"In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one."

Three Stages of the Faith-Rest Drill

1. Claiming the Divine Promise

2. Formulating a Doctrinal Rationale

3. Reaching a Doctrinal Conclusion

III. Stage One: Claiming the Divine Promise

Main Passage: Romans 8:28

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

Exegetical Note:

The Greek subject is "God" – God is the one working in all things.

Not all things are good, but God is in all things working for good.

The promise is conditional: for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.

Divine promises are designed to calm the believer, not sustain him; they are a starting point.

IV. Stage Two: Formulating a Doctrinal Rationale

Romans 8:29-30

"For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son... and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified."

Exegetical Notes:

All verbs are in the aorist tense (Greek): point-in-time, completed actions.

Constitutive aorist: views the entire action as a single accomplished whole.

Foreknowledge: God considered you in eternity past (does not violate free will).

Predestination: God designed a plan for you; your volition determines if you live in it.

Election: Privilege, not just selection.

Justification: Declared righteous, able to be blessed.

Glorification: Guarantee of eternal blessings.

Faith as a System of Perception

Hebrews 11:1 – "Now faith is the substance [hypostasis] of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Hypostasis: That which stands underneath, a foundation.

Faith is more than belief; it is reasoning and contemplating doctrine.

Importance of daily intake and meditation on doctrine.

V. Stage Three: Reaching a Doctrinal Conclusion

Romans 8:31-32

"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?"

Exegetical Notes:

First-class condition in Greek: "If God is for us, and He is..."

A fortiori principle: If God did the greater (gave His Son), He will do the lesser (give us all things).

Rhetorical questions restore objectivity and confidence under pressure.

The mature believer uses the faith-rest drill to turn maximum pressure or undeserved suffering into blessing.

VI. Mechanics of the Faith-Rest Drill

Summary of Three Stages

1. Claim the promise (stabilize the mind).

2. Rationalize the promise (re-explain doctrine to yourself).

3. Reach a doctrinal conclusion (rest in God’s provision).

Application in Crisis

Mentally trace out the rationale.

Re-explain doctrine to yourself.

Fear and emotion revolt against thought; reinstate divine viewpoint.

Shield of Faith

Ephesians 6:16 – Lifted by applying doctrine, not just promises.

Meditation on the Word (cf. Psalm 119).

VII. The Danger of Failing to Claim Promises

Hebrews 4:1-3

"Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it."

Literal fear: Be afraid of missing God’s rest.

God’s rest: Tranquility and contentment in the midst of confusion and stress.

The land of Canaan was not free from giants; rest is not the absence of problems, but peace in the midst of them.

Hebrews 4:2

"For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard."

Possible to sit under sound teaching and still not enter rest.

Hebrews 4:3

"For we who have believed enter that rest... although His works were finished from the foundation of the world."

"Having believed, we are entering" – ongoing reality.

Canaan rest is not salvation, but living in God’s pre-designed plan.

VIII. The Completed Work of God

Genesis 2:2-3

God rested on the seventh day, not from tiredness, but from completed work.

Rest symbolizes satisfaction in completed work.

Joshua 21:43-45

"Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land... and the Lord gave them rest on every side... Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass."

Promise of physical rest in the land for Israel; Exodus generation failed to enter because of unbelief (Hebrews 3:19).

Psalm 95:8-11

"Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day at Massa in the wilderness..."

Meribah: To provoke or contend; Massa: Testing.

Israel saw God’s works but failed the faith-rest test.

Exodus 17:1-7 & Numbers 20:1-13

Two episodes of Israel’s failure to trust God for provision.

Moses misrepresented God’s character; importance of teaching God’s grace.

IX. Spiritual Rest for the Church Age Believer

Hebrews 4:9-10

"So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His."

Rest is entered by faith in God’s finished work, not human effort.

Fellowship rest: Confidence, stability, enjoyment of divine provision.

Ephesians 1:4-5

"He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will."

God’s provision for your spiritual life was prepared before the world began; you cannot improve on it.

X. Practical Application and Recap

Faith-Rest Drill Recap

1. Claim a promise of God.

2. Formulate a doctrinal rationale (re-explain why the promise is true).

3. Reach a doctrinal conclusion (rest in God’s provision).

Undeserved Suffering

Momentum testing: People, thought, disaster, system testing.

Undeserved suffering is not discipline but a test to grow faith.

At the other end of testing comes blessing (James 1:2-4 – "Consider it pure joy...").

Faith as a Person

Faith is not just a system of thinking, but a relationship with the Person of Christ.