Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at The Finality of The Cross P30 (10-13-21)
Are You Burdened and Heavy Laden? Who Can Give You Rest for Your Soul? Jesus Says, “Come Unto Me.”
Have you lost a son or a daughter, a mother or a father? Have you been kicked out of a church for sharing completed forgiveness? Have you been fired from a job? Are you homeless? Are you without a family or friends you can talk to? Do relationships with people just seem to fall apart? Have you not seen relatives in years or been able to talk with them because of deep pain? Do you have a son or daughter who is just struggling in life, and you see him or her hurt and you hurt with them too? Do you feel you are carrying this burden all alone? But, know this, you are not alone. God is with you. Let Him carry the load. Can you see that He is carrying the load?
Have you been trying to get close to God, not realizing He is in you (if you are a believer in Christ Jesus) and you cannot get any closer than that? Have you wandered from one religious denomination to another and not found rest? You have said you tried Jesus and it did not work. No, if that is you, you did not try Jesus. You tried religion. People have tried religion and various philosophies of men and are still without rest. Yes, you may even be a child of God, saved, but not at rest. What burden are you carrying? Jesus said, “Come unto Me” It is not come unto religion, but come unto Me. “And when you come unto Me”, He says, “You will find rest for your soul.”
Matthew 11:28-29
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
So who do you turn to, in whatever situation you are in? Do you go to a psychologist to prescribe something for you? Or to a counselor for help? What would he say to you to give you help? A psychologist who is of any help to you, what should he prescribe? A pill. For what? A disease that you cannot see? Can he give you a pill to kill a virus? But this is not a virus we are talking about. A psychologist can give a label to something, and call it Schizophrenia, but that is so that he can subscribe a pill. Why does he do that? He knows he cannot help you, let alone himself, but maybe this will. So no man can really help you. What about a counselor? And how can a counselor prescribe Jesus to you if he does not even know Jesus Himself. A good counselor will help you to come unto Jesus. He cannot help you but if he is a child of God, he can point you to the one who can. Jesus says He is the Counselor and to come unto Me.
Any pill or words from a counselor might treat symptoms, but does what they prescribe or say go down to the heart where you live? Even the apostle Paul said he does not even understand himself (Romans 7:15). Who then can help these deep issues of the heart? Paul concluded that Jesus is the answer(Romans 7:24-25). Do you know Jesus? Not about Him, that He merely said and did certain things, but that what He said and did was for you? Do you know Him intimately? Can you run to Him and know that He hears you when you call out to Him? Can you rest in His lap? As in the physical realm, like you could with a mom or dad when you are a small child, resting in their lap, you can experience this rest in the spiritual realm, that is just as much real.
God looked upon our fallen state, of this depraved and fallen world from sin. He looked down with great mercy and love and said, “I want to do something for mankind who has fallen from my original design in creation. So, He sent His Son, before we even reached out to Him or even knew Him, and did something for us we could never do for ourselves. He sent Jesus, a person just like us, yet without sin, who was acquainted with grief and sorrow. He experience everything we experienced. He went to a lonely place to pray after hearing about the death of John the Baptist, who was put in prison and beheaded by wicked men (Matthew 14:1-13). After that He healed those who were sick. He went to Mary and Martha, who lost a brother, and He comforted them and it is written that he wept because He loved him so (John 11:17-37). He saw those who were without food and clothing and He fed the multitudes. He demonstrated His great love for us even while He lived as a man like us. He knows everything we are going through. He knows us all so well. He knows all about our failures, even those sins all of us have done. He said to a woman caught in adultery, about to be stoned for her crime according to Jewish custom, that her sins are forgiven and set her free. There are so many stories to tell about the love of Jesus. You can read about them in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And not all of them are written down, for it would be too large to contain it all.
John 20:30-31
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
He says, “Come unto Me“, I see that you are about doing so many things, but you are burdened down. Remember Mary and Martha, and how Jesus told Mary that she has chosen what is better, for she was sitting at Jesus feet, listening to Him, and how Martha was so busy, and was bothered that Mary was not helping her.
Luke 10:38-42
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed – or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
It is not that Mary was having a quiet time, as if checking off a todo list, as something she has to do. For that is what religion does. Mary wanted to listen to Jesus. She wanted to know Him and was drawn in by the words Jesus spoke and the love and gentleness in which He shared. There is this dynamic personal relationship with Jesus that has nothing to do with where you meet, whether on this or that mountain, as Jesus said to a Samaritan woman once.
John 4:21-26
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you — I am he.”
Your identity is as a child of God. Your identity should not be as a Baptist, Plymouth Brethren, Catholic, Baptist or anything else. If you are in Christ, your identity is that you are a child of God. You are not obligated to obey man-made traditions of men, to do this or that or else God is mad at you, or that you are robbing God if you fail to do this or that, or that you have to do this confession to get your sins forgiven, for they already are. You rest from your works just as God did from His.
Hebrews 4:10-11
10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
There is a New Covenant will that God signed in heaven after Jesus death that said, “Paid in full”. In that New Covenant, which we read about in Hebrews, tells us that our sins and lawless acts I will remember no more and where these have been forgiven there is no more sacrifice for sin. We read elsewhere that His Spirit is sealed in us, that He will never leave us nor forsake us, and that He has given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). We are recipients of that will when we come to accept what God has offered us in Christ Jesus. Come to Him to receive life. Now that you have life, now that you have been set free from slavery in Egypt, enter the promised land of rest. You have been given everything Jesus has given you, so enjoy all that He has given you, which is Himself. Rest in His provision of life for you. You can boldly come to the throne of grace for help in time of need. You have Jesus who is full of grace and truth living in you. You have been amply supplied. There is no more work for you to do. Jesus did it all for you. You can be at rest at home with Jesus who lives in you. That is why the burdens of your heart are lifted. The righteous shall live by faith (Romans 1:17).
Matthew 11:28-29
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
He says He has rest for your soul. Come unto Me. I am the solution for you. I am the one you need because I have provided for you all that you need.
If you are not in Christ, He can change your heart and give you a heart of flesh. He says, “I can make you into a new creation that can never die. I can make you perfect because I will give you My perfection. I can make you holy because I will give you My holiness. You cannot do it. But I am He whom you need. You were designed to have My Spirit in you. My Spirit is love and joy and peace. Come unto Me.
This is about a dynamic relationship with the living God that you can have peace and joy in a fallen world. As a child of God, enter that rest. “Come unto Me.”
Hebrews 4:3
3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,“So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’”[Psalm 95:11]And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world.
If the work is finished, is it faith to add to what God said is already done? No. Creation was done and God rested on the last day. Salvation is done and God is sitting down, resting in heaven, at the right hand of God (Mark 14:26). So, instead of wandering in a wilderness, let us enter in this promised land of rest and eat from the best of the land instead of this manna from heaven. Let us rest spiritually in that God has said it is already done. He is not counting your sins today (2 Corinthians 5:19). He is living in you with all His provision of righteousness, forgiveness, holiness and redemption. You are His child. Rest in His lap. Enter this life that He has given you, that in the midst of the storms and trials of this life, there is a peace that surpasses understanding.
Philippians 4:6-7
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
One day there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and even a new body created for you that will not succumb to death and disease. All things will be made new. “Come unto Me, I am what you need. Come rest awhile in my lap. I have done this all for you. There will be a day where there will be no more sorrow or pain.” Let us ponder over what Jesus has done. What has He provided for us? What has He said that we can hold onto?
