Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Run to the Rest Pt.2

Amen. Remember to continue to pray for all the work that is going on in Africa. Just continue to hold up the men's hands that are there, and believe for a good work to continue. Pray for all those who are on the road vacationing right now. We've got a whole bunch of folks out on the road, kicking back, getting some refreshing, so pray for a safe return for them. It's always a good time to get away, and then it's always good to get back home, isn't it?

I think one of the things I look most forward to whenever we're gone, for whatever reason we're gone, and come rolling back in, I look most forward to just - it's like when you walk into the auditorium here, it's like an oasis isn't it? Just like the refreshing and I'm home, praise God; this is so, so real, a place where He's chosen to put His name. And we're so thankful for that opportunity to gather together.

Let's turn to Hebrews, chapter 3. We want to continue with the study we started on "Running to the Rest." We talked about that natural rest and how it does provide some natural refreshing for us, but it doesn't deal with the weariness of life. It's not something that is going to cause you to be spiritually rejuvenated. That can only happen one way and that is to be able to fellowship in God's presence and to eat the Word of God which is to us life, the Scripture says, "to those that find it, and health to all our flesh." Praise God.

The Scripture says in Hebrews that there is a rest that belongs to the people of God. Chapter 4, verse 9. "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." And what we want to do in this study that we're getting into is to see that that rest is a life of obedience, a life of walking in the spirit to where we're not being drawn on in the natural realm and depending upon our own strength, but being able to walk in the realm of the supernatural. And that's where we want to go in this teaching, that move back - because so many of us here are walking outside of that rest. The anxiousness of this world is taking hold on many of our lives. Whether it's the schedule that many of us are on, financial pressures, physical sicknesses, and just the uncertainty of this world that we're living in, of what is ahead. Everything that we hear from the prognosticators, we look and see that there is talk about diseases--if you've been to Africa it's a very real thing. They're talking about - especially where a lot of our ministry is occurring--that in not too many years 60 percent of that population is going to be gone because of HIV.

The scare of many of these viruses that have been around just recently, like the "Mad Democratic Disease" or whatever it is, and some of these things that are on the horizon. You just never know what is there and there is just that underlying fear. I want us as a people to be refreshed again in what it means to walk in the spirit, what it means to depend upon the supernatural, to walk by faith and not by sight, to not lean to our own understanding but in all of our ways acknowledge God and believe that He is directing our paths. Amen?

We can get so confused and desperate when we are depending upon our own strength. But there is a rest in God that knows that the steps of a good man are ordered by God and if He is for us nobody can be against us. We've quoted the Scripture so many times that I think it just kind of goes by without meaning, but beloved, we need to refresh ourselves again in the rest that there is "No weapon formed against us that can prosper, and every tongue that does rise against us in judgment we condemn."

You need that to become a reality, because do you know what tongue is rising against you in judgment constantly; the accuser of the brethren, amen? Satan is constantly rising up to bring accusation against you; not only to Father, but in your own mind. He tries to convince you that you're not worthy, and that you're not going to make the finish line in this race that we're on. "You might as well quit. How many times have you tried and failed? Why don't you just quit?" You want to know why you don't quit? Because when you endure until the end you win, praise God.

The Scripture says it this way, as we take a few sessions and refresh ourselves. There is a rest to the people of God. We run into His Word, we find the promises of God and they become surer to us, to a thousand generations. We're a people that aren't move by circumstances. We're not moved by our senses, by what we see, or by what we can comprehend in the natural. But we're a people that walk by faith and not by sight. We really, truly, believe that without faith it is impossible to please Him. And so of course, the writer of Hebrews makes it very clear to us that we can learn from the people of God that were delivered from Egypt.

Now, chapters 3 and 4 of Hebrews, he is taking us back to the day of provocation. We can parallel this to our lives. We know that the people of God were delivered from Egypt and we know that Egypt is a type of sin, a type of the flesh, the bondage that so many of us were in. And the people were delivered but not everybody entered into the Promised Land. The Promised Land isn't heaven when we look at the different types; the Promised Land is a victorious life. The Promised Land is the life in the spirit, the walk in the spirit; that ability to walk pleasing to God. But He said that not every one that was brought out of Egypt embraced the promise, the fullness of the Spirit of God. And they couldn't enter in. In the process many died, and many will lose their salvation, and many right now, who have embraced life, are going to partake again of that death. Why? Because the Scripture says they were unpersuadable; they couldn't be persuaded to trust in the unseen, to call those things that are not as though they are; to walk in the spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

So, we look at this third chapter of Hebrews and He says in verse 12, "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, departing from the living God" (Hebrews 3:12). Now it's interesting here, we call unbelief, doubt, we call it, "Well, you know, they're just trusting in the natural or they're just trusting in their own strength and their own ability." The Spirit of God calls it an evil heart. We need to call it what it is. Anytime we begin to lean to our own understanding, any time we begin to trust in our own strength and rest in our own resources, we're departing from the living God. We're moving into a realm that does not please our heavenly Father because "But without faith it is impossible to [say it] please Him" (Hebrews 11:6) What is it that pleases God? Your absolute dependence upon Him; the ability to rest in God when everything else around you is going nuts; to trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not to your own understanding.

He says the people of the promise who were delivered always erred, look at verse 10, "Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways" (Hebrews 3:10). The first thing you need to know about God is He loves you, He's good, His ways are true and just and right. His promises are sure, and the moment you begin to move outside of those promises that evil heart of unbelief has begun to dictate again as it did in the life of Eve and in the life of our father, Adam; always erring in their hearts because they have not known God's ways. How can we say it simply? God's ways are for your good. God's ways are past your knowing. That's one of the things we have to understand. God is not going to reveal to you why everything is happening in your life that is happening. But we do know this, "All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). Isn't that what Romans 8:28 tells us? Do you believe that?

Now let me ask you again, do you believe that? If you do, you're at rest. How peaceful are you in your spirit tonight? Are you pretty much at peace this evening? Any of you battling with physical sickness? Are any of you battling with some financial pressures? Is anybody fearful, lonely, confused? Anybody here in bondage to your flesh? How anxious are you? There's a rest for the people of God. All of those things that we just spoke toward, all of that anxiousness, all that opposes the promises of God try to rob us of this one thing. His promises are sure, and if God is for us nobody can be against us. And if you don't faint, in due season you will reap, praise God.

So, we have these promises and the people of God err when they have not known His ways. Don't let that heart of unbelief enter into you. Listen to what He says. He says because of that--now remember what that heart of unbelief was. If you look at the context you can--we might even take a minute here and run over to Numbers 14; but remember what was taking place. The people of God were brought out; He made them a promise. "I'm going to take you into a land that flows with milk and honey," but on the journey there were obstacles. You see one of the things that most of us forget is that this life is not going to be without opposition. There are going to be trials, there is going to be adversity. There is going to be hardship. But faithful is He who promised who will do it. Can you say "Praise God" for that?

You see what happens is, most of us would be deceived into thinking, "Well you know..." And remember, this is a pagan thought, "If I was right with God everything would be going good." No, not necessarily so. How many of you find yourselves reverting to that periodically? "Something must not be right. If I was really right with God everything would be going smoothly." No, not so. It doesn't work that way. And what we have to realize then is that we don't judge the promises of God and we don't judge the presence of God by our current environment, but by His integrity; that His promises are sure to a thousand generations; that what God has promised He will perform, and so regardless of the circumstances, we rest. The armies of Pharaoh, the Red Sea and we're called to rest. A fiery furnace, a lion's den, and we're called to rest. A sick loved one, and now a tomb, and the Master said, "Didn't I tell you if you would believe you would see the salvation, you'd see the glory of God?" "Master! If You'd been here sooner, if You had only come in our time, if You'd only done it the way we were expecting You to do it You could have healed Lazarus." And Jesus said, "I wasn't here to heal him, I'm here to raise him from the dead." Amen?

One thing interesting about seeing the dead raised, you've got to have a corpse. And most of us want the miracle without the adversity. We want to know the power of God but we don't want opposition, we don't want an enemy. And what I hope we can see in these next couple of sessions is this; we're coming into a day of warfare, beloved. And I want to encourage each of us--because, we've been coming through some pretty easy times to prepare for the battle. To really take an analysis of our lives and the condition that we're in. And I know that it's by grace, and I know His grace is sufficient in the hour, and I know that you can never come to the place where you can trust in where your preparation is. But I think we need to take a little bit of time and ask ourselves the question, "Am I in the place right now of supernatural rest? Can I say that as it comes to walking in the supernatural I'm where I need to be today? I'm talking about the ability to believe God for your healing. I'm talking about the ability to believe God for your resources. I know it's supernatural but I just want to again remind you that because of our abundance, because of all that we have around us through natural resources, what we've begun to trust in.

I often wondered what that one passage meant and now I'm beginning to understand a little bit; when the Scripture said that the spirit of antichrist is going to destroy with the prosperity. In Daniel, also, it says that at that same time there is going to be the seduction through the pharmakeia, the drugs. Now when we first began to study that it was during the sixties and we saw the rise of the drug culture. We've been cycling through whether it's those guys that are flying their Jefferson Airplanes singing "One toke over the line, sweet Jesus," smoking their weed. We've been through crack; we've been through cocaine; and I don't believe that's the pharmakeia that he was talking about that is going to seduce the people of God. Because the fact is most of us aren't involved in that. But the chemistry that we so easily seek to make life easy, to solve problems quickly, is seducing us from walking in faith, from relying on the blood of Jesus, the prayer of faith, the power of God.

Now, don't mistake what I'm saying. I'm not saying that it's wrong for you to take whatever pill you might be taking. But I think we need to ask ourselves not "Am I taking a pill?" Some of you here might be taking blood pressure pills; some of you might be--man, there's a pill for everything today isn't there? There's a pill for taking too many pills! That's not the issue. What I want to ask you this evening is this: Have any of those pills caused you to believe less in the finished work of Jesus? "Oh no, no." Wait a minute, before you just in a Pavlovian way respond to that. Where is our trust today? Have we been robbed by progress from the simplicity of trusting God for our daily bread, for that healing touch? Do we look first to the spiritual resources or have we been seduced? And if we have, you may feel better, but you're not at rest and you know it.

And so what we're looking at here in this time that we're going to spend, we're going to see that the rest comes with true biblical faith. Now when we talk about faith, there's been so much teaching on faith that has been from the humanistic perspective that we've not truly understood what biblical faith is. Most of us in this room can give the biblical definition of faith, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). Okay, what does that mean?

Faith, when we really begin to understand it in its simplest form and practical form, is trust, reliance, or assurance in God's promises. I act upon what God says. You notice the word "act." I'm a doer of the Word not a hearer only, deceiving myself. It's not about my doctrine; it's about my life, my actions. And when we teach on these things I try to be very careful because we want to teach purely the Word of God. We want to apply purely the Word of God, but we don't want anybody trusting in an action; we want people trusting in God, and the action is the result of that. So many of us think," Well, if I do that, God is obligated to respond to me."

I'll just give you an example. How many times have we seen or heard a testimony of people that have trusted God and said, "Okay, praise God. I believe the Word of God." And believing for the healing they'll take off their glasses and say, "Okay, I'm trusting." They'll throw their glasses down, throw them in the trash, and stomp on them or whatever it is, praise God. And believe then that's it, that's faith. No, taking your glasses off and throwing them in the trash and running over some pedestrian is not faith. Okay?

Faith isn't the action, faith is the heart assurance that what God has promised He is going to perform. Now see, some people who have genuine faith believe that and they did it that way. And we thought, "Well, since they did it that way then that's what faith is." That's not what faith is. Because, you see, many of us want something to do. And what we need to do is rest. What we need to do is trust. What we need to do is rely.

Now, there are other testimonies, and this is just as great a healing, if not greater, but people don't make as big a deal out of that and I've seen and heard the testimonies of it where people have believed God, God has healed them in their eyes like this and they didn't take their glasses off until they couldn't see through them anymore. How many of you believe that's probably the smarter way to do that? "I'm believing God for my healing. Take my glasses off, run over a pedestrian. See men as trees walking, the Scripture says. Or, to have my glasses on and not trust in my glasses, not trust in the natural resources, believe God to heal me, and we all know that we can even find scriptures, and it's not enough for many of us to believe that by His stripes we are healed. It's not enough for many of us to believe that the prayer of faith saves the sick and the Lord raises them up. It's not enough for many of us to believe that whatsoever things we desire when we pray if we believe that we receive them we shall have them, so we have to find other scriptures like Moses eyes dimmed not, neither was his strength abated. Nothing wrong with that, but some of us want to get a little more specific, so we stand on that. Praise God, Moses eyes dimmed not, neither was his strength abated." Go for it! I'm believing for that.

I hate these glasses. I don't like that. I'm believing God. I'm ready to go down and spend whatever it is to have them whack your lenses off and fix them so you don't have to wear your glasses anymore. Look to the advanced technology of the day. And do you know what? There are times in my life when it's been more important to me than at other times. Not to get rid of my glasses, but to experience the visitation of God and have His best working in my life. And sometimes I just go through just because it's something I've adjusted to, living outside God's best.

Now, some people have made getting healed all there is to the gospel. So I don't want to spend too much time on healing because some people take that and make it an idol. Some people make getting healed an idol. It's not an idol; it's a gift. So we can talk about other things. I think one of the things that we've made mention of, and I think it's something that we need to talk about: entering the rest of God. There are many of us here who are just flat out not content. We're just not content, we're just not happy. We absolutely are living lives of anxiousness because we believe God shortchanged us. And we believe God is a respecter of persons. Now, we wouldn't come out and say that, but our frustration, our discontentment, is the fruit of it.

Can you really enter into the rest and believe that you are exactly where God wants you today? You are geographically in the place He wants you, your socio-economic realm is exactly where God wants you. Many of us are convinced that we've adopted our parents. The world revolves around us, we are the central figure, and "I don't know how these two parents got in my life. I must have somehow adopted them by mistake. They cannot be genetically related to me, they are bozos, and I know all. They can't be my parents! How can two such stupid people have produced a genius?"

We're not content with the families we're in. And I want to bring this thing down as practically as I can. Where is the rest of God? Where is that assurance that our steps are ordered? Now, we can talk about healing, we can talk about contentment, but basically it all comes down to this one simple thing: Chapter 3, verse 19: "So we see that they could not enter in [to the rest] because of unbelief" (Hebrews 3:19). The inability to trust God, to have assurance that His ways are better than ours; to not lean to our own understanding but to truly come to the acknowledging of Him directing our path. That all things are surely working together for good to those that love God and are called according to His purposes.

Where are we in our walk in the spirit now? I wanted to talk a little bit about the physical realm because it's a very tangible thing, it's something that we can get hold of very quickly and do a self-analysis. And let me run by that principal one more time because I think it's important. Faith is trust--literally this is what faith is--synonyms; trust, reliance, assurance; trust, reliance, assurance. Without trust, reliance, and assurance it is impossible to please God. "For those that come to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6).

So as we step back and ask ourselves, "Am I relying upon God? Do I have assurance that His promises are sure? Am I making my decisions based upon that?" You see, the fact of the matter is, whether we like to admit or not, most of us have more trust and reliance, and assurance in the promises of our employers, our insurance company, our credit card, the banks that we deal with. "Amen" or "Oh, me," it's the truth. And you know, tragically what has happened? Most of us have deluded ourselves into thinking that, "No, my trust is really in the Lord."

Then why do we have to keep going to the kingdom of darkness institutions to make life bearable for us? "Because I can't live without this so I go borrow to provide because God doesn't. I run to take the pill to provide because God doesn't. But I'm trusting God, and my trust and my hope is in Him."

I want to be careful as I share some of these things, but we've become so "instant fix" that whether we mean to or not we put God in our instant time table and we come and say, "God I'm really believing You to heal, provide, but if it's not done in the next fifteen minutes I've got an appointment and I've got to be feeling good; and I've got to get rid of these sniffles, and I've got to get rid of this headache because I've got stuff to take care of. It's a big appointment and I have to really somehow impress them, and I don't have any money, so I've got my new suit, and I'm depending on this deal to pay for the suit I just put on credit for the glory of God."

Why not go in there, blow your nose on the guy, ramble around because of this blinding headache and the dude will know you need to make the deal because of the clothes you're wearing? And you are trusting God anyway. "Yeah, but what if the guy doesn't sign the papers? I don't have a deal." Then you have time to go home and get healed. Do you want to know what I see in the Scriptures? A simpler life. Now the problem that many of us have is, and it's very difficult because of the day we're living in, but listen, the prophet said in the last days men would be running to and fro.

Why do you think the Scriptures--of all of the things God could have said in speaking towards the last days, I wonder why that was one of the things that the prophet spoke toward? Because it is contrary to being still and knowing that He is God. And I'm just pointing out all of these things to ask a question of ourselves. Have we been robbed of the rest through all of the anxiousness that seems to be the way of life to everybody around us? The need of instant gratification to everybody around us; the need to be so externally stimulated instead of internally motivated by the promises of God.

Now, you see what will happen is, if we lose that, then we are going to look out there and you know what we're going to see? We're going to see ourselves as grasshoppers in their sight. And you know what? If you look with natural eyes, we are; we don't stand a chance. And if you look with natural eyes you know what you're going to see? You're going to see walled cities that cannot be penetrated. And you're going to see giants. And you're going to see vast arid areas, that there is no possible way to be refreshed. And when that is what you see you will never drink water from the rock; you'll never take the five smooth stones into your hand; you will never be able to walk in silent assurance that when you shout the walls are going to come down, because you have an evil heart of unbelief. Because we keep looking back to Egypt and we forget the strong hand that has brought us out.

Why would you doubt God for anything when He has transformed your life and made you a new creation? And done what no other power could do, took that which was dead and made it alive; and took a heart of stone and made it a heart of flesh. This miracle isn't over, it's just beginning, praise God. So why would we look back to Egypt when ahead is a land that flows with milk and honey and all you have to do is enter in? All you have to do is begin to start hanging around with the group called the Joshua and Caleb duo, the Dynamic Duo. Everyone else around you says it can't be done, but there's a group that says, "We're well able. Let us go up at once and take it, praise God." Who are you hanging with? What are you going to believe?

Chapter 4, verse 1: "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it" (Hebrews 4:1). Can I ask you a question? Are you afraid that you are going to miss out on the supernatural? This is something that is stirring in my heart right now as I see this day that is coming upon us. And I'm not just talking about you as a group. I'm talking about me as an individual and myself as part of this group. As I look and see what we're facing, there's a fear that we should come short of the promise of God, the ability to walk in the miraculous, the privilege of trusting God first.

Do you go to God first? "Yeah, I gave him fifteen minutes. Then I went to the bank, and then I went to the doctor. Then I manipulated the circumstances like I always do. I gave God fifteen minutes to do a miracle then I took it into my own hands. Then I put it into the hands of progress. Because I mean, after all, God is the one [see, this is humanism, beloved] God is the one who gave these men all of this wisdom. God is the one that gave us all of this technology; this is a gift from God." No, it's the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Everything that is good isn't used for God. And that is what we have to understand and many of these things that can be good are evil if you and I are trusting in them.

Now you see, I can take an Advil and sin and you can take one and not be in sin. "Well how? I want to find out how I can take them and not be in sin." You're in sin. I want to find out how I don't need to take them. Amen? I want to find out how to walk with God as my total source. And yet at the same to not be bound up and fearful that if I do happen to do something in the natural that it's sin and God is going to reject me.

Is your heart to please God? Are you pursuing to know Him or are you pursuing to trust and rely in Him? Are you moving more towards the supernatural or are you moving away from the supernatural? What direction are you going today? That's the real question, that's what we're trying to ask here. You see, the message is "Run to the Rest." What direction are you going? Are you pursuing with all of your heart? Are you pressing toward the mark, the prize, and the high calling of God that is in Christ Jesus?

Can you pop a pill without saying, "Lord, I'm looking forward to the day when I don't have to touch these things, that you would be glorified in the deliverance of my body." When you give yourself that shot of insulin, and I don't even know if we have any diabetics here, when you give yourself that shot just say, "Lord, I am so looking for the day when I can stand and talk about how You delivered me and healed me." Instead of just resigning yourself to the fact that, "Well, this is just God's gift to me, this is just God's method." No, it's not, it's man's, and God loves you anyway.

We need to realize that in this generation that we're living in we need to fear lest we come short of that promise. Verse 2, "For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it" (Hebrews 4:2). You see, we're a generation that has a lot of doctrine but we need more trust, assurance, reliance. The word preached was not mixed with faith. There is action; in our believing there's an action, there's a turning to the supernatural. The word preached, when it penetrates our hearts, creates in us a move toward God. It may not be, as I said, pulling your glasses off, but the direction of our hearts begins to run toward the promise of God. "For we which have believed [verse 3] do enter into rest, as he said." (Hebrews 4:3).

So as we survey our hearts this evening the question is "Am I really at rest? Am I confident that I'm doing everything that I've been expected to do to fulfill the promises of God, the pursuit of God? Am I honoring God in everything that I do in word and in deed?" How do you honor God? Without faith it is impossible to please Him. How do I honor God? By obeying Him. What is that first obedience; to trust in the Lord with all of your heart, to have no other gods before Him.

We're living in the day, beloved, when idols are being erected around us; different than they were in the days of the kings, but nevertheless idols. Technology, as we shared before, the idols that the humanists have erected in our presence. We're repulsed by some. You see some of us good fundamentalist Christians are repulsed by the homosexual movement, by the abortion issue, but those are only facets of the same stone, the worship of individualism, the right to choose. "I have a right to kill that baby." "We have a right to euthanasia." "We have a right to an alternative lifestyle." And it's the worship of the individual and "my rights as a human being." And those things repulse us. And then it goes across the spectrum into women's rights, and children's rights, and minority rights and everybody has an issue. Everybody has a soapbox. And it is the worship of the creature more than the Creator.

And because of the worship of the creature we create all of these creature comforts. Even now through all of the different technological advances, with all the genetic research and the altering, they're making us promises now that are on the horizon of curing the incurable diseases and of course, the greatest promise of all, and some of you were thinking that we were talking about the instant pill to make you thin, tan, and something else, I can't remember. We almost laugh at that, but it's not that far away that they're trying to make promises like that. Think about it, take a pill, and phew, instant ripped, tan, hair grows back, wrinkles disappear. You know they're fooling around with the aging gene; they're saying they can make us live forever. They believe that. And you know what? Some of us in here are hoping for that. What if it was available today and all you had to do was deny Him?

This is the seduction of the worship of the creature. And we make choices to the worship of self, the creature comforts, the ease, the quick fix on a daily basis and think that when it comes time to stand in the larger issues we're going to be ready. If you're not at rest today then the question is, "Have we come short in the promises of God?"

We'll pick it up in our next session, but let verse 2 go with us as we go into the start of this next week. "The promise and word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith" (Hebrews 4:2). So I ask this question as we finish for tonight, "Are we truly living our lives by faith or do we hold to a doctrine of faith and live like the rest of the world, trusting in the institution of man?" Are you ready to enter when everyone else says, "Don't go that way, God will let you die. God has brought you out here to kill you. If you trust God you are never going to make it, you'll die in the wilderness of faith"? You see, the natural mind sees faith as something that never manifests. Biblical faith is the assurance that the promises have already manifested, we're in the process of appropriating them through the providence of God.

Father, we ask that you make it a reality to us, that as a people we would understand the spirit of seduction around us of the worship of the creature and how subtly we worship ourselves through the quick fix mentality to where we can't even give You a thought anymore. We're so quick to pop the pill, swipe the card, refinance the house, or whatever else it is that fixes the lust, the momentary need, and have lost the treasure of resting in our God saying, "Faithful is He who promised who will do it." A people who can once again get in Your timetable and not require You to move on ours; a people moved by promises and not by circumstances, by Your presence and not by our appetites, by Your love and not by our fears. Make it real, Father, for there is a rest to the people of God. Let us labor to enter into that rest, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "There is a rest for the people of God." Amen. Go in peace, God's love go with you.

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