The Rest Of Faith

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Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 

I am sure it will sound to many of you like going a long way back and going out into a very broad realm when I say that we Christians are being constantly confronted with and challenged by our Christianity.

Many of us have not really entered into Christianity yet. 

What do I mean?

Well, for one thing, the very door into true Christianity is the door of rest, the rest of faith. 

The very simple way in which the Lord put it in His appeal was..."Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28).

That was to a multitude, and those words are usually employed in Gospel messages to the unsaved.

The meaning of the Lord in using those words is given to us here in the letter to the Hebrews...

A very much deeper and fuller meaning than is generally recognized in the usage of the simple invitation "Come unto Me... and I will give you rest."

There is something that we have to hear, to detect, in the statement..."There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." Heb 4:9

You will not think me too elementary, for you know in your heart, as well as I do in mine, that this matter of heart rest, the rest of faith, is a live question continually, it is coming up all the time.

One of the things which is lacking in so many of us is this rest...

Or, to put it the other way, the things which characterize us so much are fret, anxiety, uncertainty, and all those things which are just the opposite of calm assurance, quiet confidence, the spirit and attitude and atmosphere which says all the time, "Don't worry, don't fret, it is all right."

One thing our great enemy is always trying to do is to disturb that, destroy that, rob us of that, churn us up, fret us, drive us, harass us, anything to rob us of our rest or to prevent us from entering into rest.

It is the rest of faith, not just the rest of passivity, indifference, and carelessness.

There is all the difference between carelessness and carefreeness.

There remaineth, there is still to be had, there still obtains, there still exists, there is still preserved a rest for the people of God – for the people of God.

~T. Austin Sparks~

                                                                           

                                        

I Began To Read The Holy Scriptures Upon My Knees

My mind being now more open and enlarged...
 
I began to read the Holy Scriptures upon my knees...

Laying aside all other books and praying over, if possible, every line and Word.

This proved food indeed and drink indeed to my soul. 

I daily received fresh life, light and power from above. 

I got more true knowledge from reading the Book of God in one month-than I could ever have acquired from all the writings of men!

~George Whitefield~

I went to my room and locked my door, and putting the Bible on a chair, I went down on my knees at the chair. 

There I remained for several hours in prayer and meditation over the Word of God...

And I can tell you that I learned more in those three hours which I spent in this way, than I had learned for many months previously.

~George Muller~

Psa 119:97  O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.

Desires Of Righteous Granted

Pro 10:24  The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted. 

Because it is a righteous desire it is safe for God to grant it.

It would be neither good for the man himself, nor for society at large, that such a promise should be made to the unrighteous. 

Let us keep the LORD's commands, and He will rightfully have respect to our desires.

When righteous men are left to desire unrighteous desires, they will not be granted to them. 

But then these are not their real desires; they are their wanderings or blunders, and it is well that they should be refused. 

Their gracious desires shall come before the LORD, and He will not say them nay.

Does the LORD deny us our requests for a time? 

Let the promise for today encourage us to ask again. 

Has He denied us altogether?

We will thank Him still, for it always was our desire that He should deny us if He judged a denial to be best.

As to some things, we ask very boldly. 

Our chief desires are for holiness, usefulness, likeness to Christ, preparedness for heaven.

These are the desires of grace rather than of nature - the desires of the righteous man rather than of the mere man. 

God will not stint us in these things but will do for us exceeding abundantly. 

Delight thy self also in the LORD, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

This day, my soul, ask largely!  

~Charles Spurgeon~

Without Fear Of Man

Deu 28:10  And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.

Then we can have no reason to be afraid of them. 

This would show a mean spirit and be a token of unbelief rather than of faith.

God can make us so like Himself that men shall be forced to see that we rightly bear His name...

And truly belong to the holy Jehovah. 

Oh, that we may obtain this grace which the LORD waits to bestow!

Be assured that Ungodly men have a Fear of True Saints. 

They hate them, but they also fear them. 

Haman trembled because of Mordecai, even when he sought the good man's destruction. 

In fact, their hate often arises out of a dread which they are too proud to confess. 

Let us pursue the path of truth and uprightness without the slightest tremor. 

Fear is not for us but for those who do ill and fight against the LORD of hosts. 

If indeed the name of the eternal God is named upon us, we are secure...

For, as of old, a Roman had but to say Romanus sum, I am a Roman, and he could claim the protection of all the legions of the vast empire...

So every one who is a man of God has omnipotence as his guardian...

And God will sooner empty heaven of angels than leave a saint without defense. 

Be braver than lions for the right, for God is with you. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

Not Forgotten

Isa 44:21  Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. 

Our Jehovah cannot so forget His servants as to cease to love them. 

He chose them not for a time but forever. 

He knew what they would be when He called them into the divine family. 

He blots out their sins like a cloud...

And we may be sure that He will not turn them out of doors for iniquities which He has blotted out.

It would be blasphemy to imagine such a thing.

He will not forget them so as to cease to think of them. 

One forgetful moment on the part of our God would be our ruin. 

Therefore He says, "Thou shalt not be forgotten of me,"...

Men forget us; those whom we have benefited turn against us. 

We have no abiding place in the fickle hearts of men...

But God will never forget one of His true servants.

He binds Himself to us not by what we do for Him but by what He has done for us. 

We have been loved too long and bought at too great a price to be now forgotten. 

Jesus sees in us His soul's travail, and that He never can forget. 

The Father sees in us the spouse of His Son...

And the Spirit sees in us His own effectual work. 

The LORD thinketh upon us.

This day we shall be succored and sustained. 

Oh, that the LORD may never be forgotten of us! 

~Charles Spurgeon~

These Forty Years In The Wilderness!

Deu 8:2  And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

This verse calls for a solemn review of our life-how far we have redeemed the time, or to what extent we have trifled it away.

We should be humbled at the recollection of how frequently we grumbled-because His way was not the one we desired. 

We should judge ourselves unsparingly-because we so often lagged behind, and sought to turn aside into forbidden bypaths. 

We should ponder the amazing grace of God in condescending to lead us across this trackless desert...

And think, too, of His infinite forbearance in continuing to lead us-who are so ungrateful and contrary.

We should praise Him for having kept us in the Narrow Way-which we would have certainly forsaken, had we been left to follow the bent of our own evil lusts. 

And we also should return fervent thanks-that we are now a year's march nearer to our Heavenly Home.

Psa 139:23  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

Psa 139:24  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

~Arthur Pink~