The Believer's Rest
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Text - Matthew 11.27-30
27 All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son determines to reveal Him.
28 “Come to Me, all 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.
30 For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light.”
Title - The Believer’s Rest
Background
Background
Jesus was offering Himself to the public - why?
Jesus saw the people’s spiritual needs - Matthew 9.35-38
35 Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.
36 Seeing the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast, like sheep without a shepherd.
37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
38 Therefore, plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
John the Baptist was in prison and will soon die - Matt 10.1-15
Jesus holds the thing that people need the most - rest
Jesus was offering the people rest - why?
Canaan is supposed to be a land of rest
the Jews had not experienced real rest all their life
all their life they were at war - with powerful kingdoms
Joshua had not given rest - Hebrews 4.8-9
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.
9 Consequently, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
Joshua prefigured Jesus Christ in bringing Israel into their land of rest - Joshua 1.13
13 “Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘The Lord your God is giving you rest, and will give you this land.’
but the Jews continued to have wars and problems, because there is one important element that is missing - the rest for the soul that only Jesus Christ can give!
The human soul needs rest
The human soul needs rest
The heaviest burdens in this life are those carried by the soul.
people do not commit suicide because they have too much work
people commit suicide because of guilt, or emotional stress, or a feeling of loss and hopelessness
Judas committed suicide because of guilt - Matthew 27.3-5
the body can always stop when the load too heavy and it is tired
but the soul’s burden cannot be unloaded too easily
they try to drown it with alcohol and drugs, etc.
Jesus was God’s solution to the human soul’s need - rest from the burden of sin!
28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Christ is the rest that our soul needs!
Christ is the rest that our soul needs!
But how can the human avail of this 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.
“Take my yoke upon you...”
“Take my yoke upon you...”
We must recognize Christ’s authority over the human soul
Jesus is Lord of all
the Pharisees would not submit to His Lordship
but those who recognized it submitted to His Lordship
27 All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son determines to reveal Him.
all things have been handed over to Him by the Father…
We must work with Christ
a yoke puts 2 animals to work together - yoke of oxen
If Jesus is Lord, we must serve Him, we must act on His commands and instructions
“Learn from Me...”
“Learn from Me...”
We must submit to his teaching
the Jews were familiar with “rabbis” - masters who taught with his wisdom and gathered disciples with him
Jesus was a Master/Teacher
(then..) you will find rest for your souls
(then..) you will find rest for your souls
rest for the soul is found in submitting Christ’s Lordship and learning from His instructions
rest is not found in going out on your own
rest is found in being under the protection of a Master
God offers “rest” before judgment comes
God offers “rest” before judgment comes
Noah was born before the judgment of flood
29 And he named him Noah, saying, “This one will give us comfort from our work and from the hard labor of our hands caused by the ground which the Lord has cursed.”
the name Noah means “rest” or “resting place”
his generation was facing judgment
God’s people was looking for “relief” because of the evil around them
Jesus comes on the scene at the time when God is about to judge the sins of the world on the cross!
He offered “rest”
Judgment is coming once again in these last days!
Before judgment comes God’s people must be found resting in Christ
Conclusion
Conclusion
twofold rest
release from labor
entrance into the land of rest
9 Consequently, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11 Therefore let’s make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience.
Let us make every effort to ENTER into that rest
The believer’s rest is not religion, not a set of ideas, nt a system of solutions, not an emotional feeling -
it is a person! It is Christ!
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