The Doctrine of Rest, Part 6. God's attitude of rest toward the believer.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Point 9. God’s attitude of rest toward the believer.

Secure dwellings and undisturbed resting places = instead of murmuring and complaining you are able to relax, live one day at a time, and hear His voice.

ECC 5:1-2 - when you come into the house of the Lord your God be not rash with your mouth to utter anything before God.

Guard - Qal imperative - shamar = to guard, to take heed, to pay attention, to be aware, to be careful.

1TH 2:18 For we wanted to come to you - I, Paul, more than once - and yet Satan hindered us.
EPH 6:16 talks about the flaming missiles of the evil one.
MAT 15:9 “But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.”

JOH 4:23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.”

JOH 4:24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
ACT 18:13 - Paul was accused of “persuading men to worship God contrary to the law,”

True worship is either teaching or listening.

PSA 138:2 I will bow down toward Your holy temple and will praise Your name for Your love and Your faithfulness, for You have exalted above all things Your name and Your word.
- NIV

PSA 138:2 I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; for You have magnified Your word above all Your name.
- NKJ

PSA 138:2 I bow down toward Thy holy temple and give thanks to Thy name for Thy steadfast love and Thy faithfulness; for Thou hast exalted above everything Thy name and Thy word.
- RSV

JOH 12:48 “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My doctrines, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.”

JOH 2:16 And to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a house of merchandise.”

HEB 3:10-11 They always go astray in their heart; And they did not know My ways, therefore, as I swore in My wrath, “They shall not enter My rest.”

MAT 6:23 “But if your eye is evil [soul perception deceived by evil], your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

HEB 4:13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

God is in the realm of the invisible.
He hears the inaudible; He sees the intangible.

It is a place of ease, a condition of rest -
menuchach = a marriage with rest.

ZEP 3:17 “The Lord your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.”

PSA 116:7 Return to your rest, O my soul, For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
COL 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.

Point 10. The Believer’s Responsibility and Means to Rest.

EZE 34:15 “I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest,” declares the Lord God.
2CH 14:6 And he built fortified cities in Judah, since the land was undisturbed, and there was no one at war with him during those years, because the Lord had given him rest.

When the Lord gives you rest it is for you to build.

2CH 14:7 “Because we have sought the Lord our God; He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered.

JER 50:6 “My people have become lost sheep;”
Both the shepherds and the people had gone astray, because they forgot their resting place.

The modern tendency today of apostasy stresses the works of the believer and the production of the believer rather than the rest of God, which is why many people have been denied these blessings.

People constantly live in their relationship to God rather than God’s relationship to them.

This is because you are living on earth as a loser when He has given you the equipment and artillery to make you an overcomer and a winner.

Serving, giving, loving, praying....etc., all happens after doctrine. Ignorance of doctrine means a breakdown with the faith-rest life.

The rest in verse 11 is a state in which the believer has a relaxed mental attitude no matter what the situation may look like.

When you freak out under pressure, what you are saying in effect is that God cannot be trusted.

It is knowing Him and His character and His promises that will give rest to every single one of you.

God classifies an evil heart as one who is unbelieving.

Unbelieving toward His promises, His doctrine, His character and nature.

PHI 3:1b On the one hand, to be writing the same doctrines to you is not troublesome to me, while on the other hand, it is a safeguard or a basis of security for you.

1PE 5:7 Cast all your worries on Him, because He cares for you.
PSA 32:5 I acknowledged my sin to Thee, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”; And Thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin.
ROM 14:23.... but he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because {his eating is} not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.

The mature believer is someone who claims a promise, and then after the promise is claimed they apply the doctrine. The immature believer, all they do is keep claiming promises.

That is all that they need because God is faithful, who will not allow them to be tempted beyond what they are able to bear, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it, 1CO 10:13.

When you refuse to enter into God’s rest, it will lead you into an emotional revolution in your soul. You start feeling sorry for yourself, and whenever you feel sorry for yourself, then comes self-justification.