THE SABBATH IS TO REMIND US OF THE PRINCIPLE OF GRACE AND REST. PART 6

The Doctrine of Rest, Part 4. The Opposition to Rest.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

JOB 8:21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, And your lips with shouting.

PRO 17:22 A happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.

The Doctrine of Rest
Point 1. Definition.
a. Rest is having peace in soul which means that you are free from worrying, from anxiety, and from frustration.
b. Rest also means to remain confident, especially under pressure.
c. Rest is to trust the promises and the word of God under extreme pressure.

Nuwach = to settle down; to give comfort; to be at rest from troubles and anxieties.
Loipoi = recreation and refreshment rest for the believer.

Rest = the state of mind in which there is complete and total peace being free from worries, anxieties, and fears.

Point 2. Introduction.
The manifestation of the glory of God within.

When a believer reveals the glory of God, there will be one basic characteristic and quality that follows them around wherever they go, and that basic characteristic is rest.

In GAL 5:22 the manifestation of the Holy Spirit is peace - eirene; one of the meanings of eirene is rest.

EXO 33:18-19 “I pray Thee, show me Thy glory!” And God said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.”

God’s glory is revealed by His grace.
God’s glory is revealed by His compassion which is mercy.

Point 3. Rest is also a fulfillment of the promises of God.

If you don’t live in God’s promises which are based upon His character and nature, you won’t have rest.

Menuwchah = a marriage with rest or a resting place; it means to be settled in a particular place.
Menuwchah = a lifetime guarantee,
a condition of rest, a place of rest, a habitation of rest.

We studied many of the abuses that our Lord went through this week being been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin, HEB 4:15.

He endured the mocking by leaders and others, LUK 23:35.
They also tried to stone Him to death, JOH 8:59.
PSA 22:16 “they pierced His hands and His feet”
MAR 14:57 - people that He loved and died for stood up and began to give false testimony or lie about Him.

LUK 22:48 - His close friend, whom He trusted, whom He ate bread with, lifted up his heel against Him and betrayed Him.

In ISA 50:6, He gave His back to those who struck Him and His cheeks to those who plucked His beard; He did not cover His face from humiliation and spiting.
ISA 53:5 He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities;

ISA 53:7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth.
ZEC 13:6 - He had wounds between His arms which He says came from being wounded in the house of His friends.
JOH 1:11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.

Men said in MAT 9:34 that our Lord was of the devil.
They said in MAT 11:19 that our Lord was a glutton, a drunk, and hung out with prostitutes.

In MAT 26:65, they said that He blasphemed.
In MAT 26:66, they said that He deserved to be dead.
In MAR 3:21, our Lord was accused of being nuts and insane.
In MAR 3:22, they said He was demon possessed.

In LUK 23:2, they accused Him of being unpatriotic.
In LUK 23:5, they accused Him of always stirring up trouble.
In LUK 23:14, they said He causes the people to rebel.
In JOH 7:12, they said He was a cult leader and He leads multitudes astray.
In JOH 8:48, they said He had a demon.
JOH 10:20 “He has a demon and is insane.”

Besides all that, He went through an experience that was the worst experience of all, having God the Father forsake Him, MAT 27:46.

HEB 12:3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart [become discouraged].
In ISA 30:18, He is tapping His foot waiting to be gracious to you.

He says you’ll find rest to your souls according to MAT 11:29, which means refreshment.

Every single one of us need refreshment and in ROM 12:2, to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Point 4. The purpose of rest.

Rest is given because it’s the only cure for sorrows, fears, and bondage.
Rest is the medicine to heal you from sorrows, difficulties and fears.

2TI 1:7 “God has not given us the lifestyle of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind.”
1JO 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

ROM 8:15 For you have not received the spirit (lifestyle) of bondage, but you have received the spirit of adoption.

The purpose of rest is to give us confidence and to give us divine deliverance.

Verse 15 - “In repentance [changing the way you think] and rest you shall be delivered,”

Point 5. Bible Doctrine Is the Guide to Lead God’s People to Rest.

ISA 28:10 “For {He says,} ‘Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there.’”
ISA 28:12 He who said to them, “Here is rest, give rest to the weary,” And, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen.

Menuwchah - the rest, or the condition of rest, the marriage of rest.
The second rest here (repose) - nuwach = to give comfort and rest from troubles and anxieties.

To reject Bible doctrine is to reject the rest that God has for your life.

MAT 13:22 - there are those who hear the word, and the worry of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

LUK 12:15 He said to His disciples, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not {even} when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.”

2TI 2:4 - they have “entangled themselves in the affairs of everyday life” and therefore they are no longer a soldier in active service for the Lord but have gone AWOL!

LUK 8:14 “These are the ones who have heard doctrine, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.”
1CO 7:23 “You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.”

Point 6. Rest is said to be the inheritance of people of God.
DEU 12:9-10, "for you have not as yet come to the resting place and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security,”

PSA 23:2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.
PSA 23:5 He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

In the ancient world a table represented not only a place you would come to for rest and relaxation, but a table was also a place you would come to for pleasure and enjoyment.
We have the greatest chef of all time, TLJC, Who is preparing a table for us in the midst of our enemies.

Point 7. The Opposition to Rest.
GAL 5:17 For the flesh [the human nature without God] sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.

JOH 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh [the human nature without God] profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”
1CO 3:3 for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?

Under the principle of typology, Amalek is a type of the believer’s flesh. In reality, your weakness is the old sin nature’s strength. Aamalek is a type of the flesh; Amalek does its best to try to make you become weary.

Verse 19 - rest - nuach = the rest which gives us comfort and freedom from worrying and troubles and fears; it is refreshing.