Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Run to the Rest Pt.4

Let's turn to Hebrews, the third chapter. We've been talking about running to the rest, laboring to enter into the rest of God. Chapter 4, verse 11, says, "Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." The nineteenth verse of chapter 3 says, "So we see that they could not enter in [to the promise] because of unbelief." We could say, then, that they could not enter into the promise because they didn't know how to rest.

Where are we in our walk in the spirit? Where are we in being able to finally curl up with Jesus in the back of the boat and rest when the storm is raging all around us? The disciples were panicking, they were bailing, the boat was going down, and Jesus was sleeping. Do you find yourself in a panic today, or are you able to rest, regardless of the circumstances? Are you worried about the future? Are you caught up in anxiety over your latest business venture? Are you wringing your hands over the conditions of your children? When you're facing situations (like Pastor Rob is), do you go to the world and try to pick up and use their weapons? Or do you labor to enter into the rest of God and know that if God's for you, nobody can be against you? Labor; work. That word "labor" in the Greek means to be diligent in your doing, in your study, because that's what it's talking about here the preparation of our hearts with the Word of God. It's changing the way we think, changing what we see, and calling things that are not as though they were (the language of faith).

That's where God's trying to bring us to in this hour as He says in verse 12, "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God." In verse 10, He said, "You know, the problem is you're people that always err in your heart because you've not known My ways. (What a powerful phrase!) You're always erring in your heart because you just don't know the way I do things. You throw My name around, but you don't really know Me. You pray, but you go out in your own strength. You pray, but instead of resting, you begin to manipulate, wheel and deal. You say you're trusting God, but you're trusting the institutions of the world, your own intellect, and your own strong arm." A people that do always err, a people that were not able to enter in.

In our last session together, as we went back to Numbers, we saw how there was another spirit in Joshua and Caleb. We saw the erring heart of unbelief that was talked about in Hebrews when they said, "God's brought us out here to kill us! It is a good land, but there are giants in the land, and there are walled cities, and we're as grasshoppers in their sight!" Unbelief. "What it really boils down to is, you don't know My ways. You don't know My heart. You don't know Who I am and that My intentions are good towards you." You can never come to rest until you understand that Father loves you and that it's His good pleasure to give you the kingdom. You can never enter into that rest until you truly believe that all things work together for good to those that love God and are called according to His purpose. You can never rest until you truly believe that He'll never leave us nor forsake us. You can never rest until you can truly believe that He Who has begun the work in us will complete it. He hasn't begun this work in you to let you die and fail! Faithful is He Who has called you, the Scripture says, Who will do it. Where are we today in our own personal walk?

"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God... [Be careful that you're not] hardened through the deceitfulness of [unbelief]." It creates a hardening of the heart. It creates a suspicion towards your Father, a judging that God's not fair and that He's a respecter of persons. "How come they're blessed? They don't pray as much as I do. Their lives are more disorderly than our family's life, and look how they're being blessed!" That's an evil heart of unbelief and judging the love of your Father and the sovereignty of God, that all things are working for eternal good, as Richard was teaching the other night. The immediate circumstances may not seem that great, but God's infinite wisdom and eternal purposes are at work. God's wisdom is orchestrating the very path that you're on right now to fulfill His eternal purposes for good in your life. But you've got to labor to enter into that rest. You can doctrinally assent to it, but you can't live in that peace if you're not studying, if you're not praying, if you're not daily pulling down the strongholds that are exalting themselves against the knowledge of God.

Yes, we all have the same tendencies to say, "How come nothing ever goes right for me?" Do you ever feel that way? I know a few people who don't; but there are very few people I talk to who say, "Do you know what? I'm really lucky! Everything goes my way!" I've talked to a couple of people recently who said that to me. I'm thinking, "What an optimist! (I know he's not a realist.) What an optimist!" I wish I could be like that. I'm not that way; I'm a pessimist. At least that's what I've been told. But I like to see myself as a realist. Some people see the cup half empty, and some people see it half full. I want it full! I don't want to have to debate over whether it's half empty or half full. Fill that baby up to overflowing, and I'm happy! If it's not overflowing, it's not sufficient--whether it's half full or half empty. That's just the way I am, but Father's not going to let me remain that way. In recent years, Father has continued to keep pressure in my life to where I won't even try any longer to make the judgment between half empty and half full, but the will of the Lord be done. Empty still says from the depths of my heart, "The Judge of all the earth does right. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord." That's rest, beloved. That's the ability to walk in the rest of God and judge God righteous--His ways right and His intentions good. Because, you see, it doesn't end with these circumstances that I'm facing. It doesn't end in this life. We're not just living for this life, but we're investing in the eternal.

Are you working to discipline your mind? Are you studying? Are you laboring? Look over at the fourth chapter. In verse 11, that word "labor" means "to be diligent in study" so that you can enter the rest.

Verse 12, "For the word of God is quick, and powerful..." (emphasis added). These are interesting words. We know that, in the Greek, the word "quick" is a word for "alive." The Word of God is alive--not the leather, paper, and ink that you have in your hands, but the spirit. Behind this written Word that we read is a spirit. The spirit behind this record that we have is alive; it's a living entity. When we read these words, they feed our spirit man the life of God, and we're impregnated with life and energy. That word "powerful" in the Greek means "divinely energized." Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. When this Word comes into our hearts, we're energized to hope against hope, to see Him Who is invisible, and to call things that are not as though they were, with an expectation that God will confirm His Word with signs following. "Study to show yourselves approved," the apostle said. Let us labor to enter into that rest. For the Word is alive, and it is energized, and it's sharper than any two-edged sword. It divides asunder between soul and spirit, and it is a discerner of the thoughts and the intentions of the heart.

When we spend some time in the Word of God, and we get before Father and allow this Word to infiltrate our beings, our motives begin to get judged. This is when we really see ourselves. When we're spending time in the Word of God, we're realizing what manner of man we truly are. Most of the time it tells us that we're a little too self-involved, selfish, lustful, envious, or discontent. It shows us that we're a little self-reliant, thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. It shows us that we need to begin to die more to ourselves and become more dependent upon His presence and upon His promises. What are you doing with the promises of God today? He gave the children of Israel a promise. "I'm going to take you into a land that flows with milk and honey. You're going to drink from wells you didn't dig. You're going to live in houses that you didn't build." It sounds good, but then there's the opposition. Things aren't going exactly the way we thought. "Surely you were going to drive our enemy out before us, and we were just going to go in, set up the hammock, and rejoice in the goodness of God!" It doesn't work that way, does it? You signed up for a fight! There's an enemy going about seeking whom he may devour. What are you doing to prepare yourself for the opposition of the evil one in this hour that we're coming to? You see, most people would tell us that we need to prepare ourselves in the natural. "You need a better education, better networking, investments, retirement plans. But what do we need really? We need to learn to rest.

Turn to the book of Daniel; let me show you what I'm talking about practically. Hebrews talks about the doctrine, but in Daniel--I love these stories in Daniel, don't you? They just make you always want to be in Sunday school! So many of us talk about God being for us. We talk about prayer; we talk about trusting God. And yet, we're constantly anxious and looking for ways to protect ourselves and promote ourselves. Chapter 1 of Daniel, verse 9, "Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs." Do you believe in divine favor? Now, when I say "divine favor," so many of us think of special treatment. I'm not talking about special treatment. I'm talking about God being the source of your promotion. Do you believe that God is able to establish you in this world's system without using their methods--supernaturally blessing you, promoting you, and preserving you because you won't compromise or fear? Your Father knows what things you have need of. It's your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Look back at verse 8, "But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat..." Now, don't misunderstand what I'm saying. There's nothing wrong with an education. I wish I had one. I wish I had taken advantage of my school years. I wish I could conjugate. (I was too busy congregating!) There's nothing wrong with it. Make the best of it; learn everything you can learn. We try to provide a quality education here, but you can't trust in it. The fact of the matter is: the race is not to the swift. We need to realize, then, that we have to believe God. Because Daniel refused to defile himself, God brought him to favor. You remember the story, how he wouldn't eat of the king's dainties and asked permission to prove his God. The prince of the eunuchs was putting his head on the line, and he said, "Look, man; if you guys aren't fattened up, my head's going to roll! I'm supposed to be getting you guys ready to serve the king and get you prepared. If they come and look at your countenance, and it's down, I'm going to pay the price." Daniel said, "Look, if God isn't able to preserve us and to promote us, then we'll go your way." So, he consented, and the Scripture says in verse 15, "And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat."

Tragically, so many of us have defiled ourselves and deceived ourselves. We really think we're trusting God. How do you know? It's not even by what you're doing; it's the motive, and it's the condition of your heart now. Are you at rest? Are you at peace? Are you content that whatever God provides for you is sufficient? Or have you already set, with your own personal agenda, what is acceptable and what's not? "If God doesn't provide it, I'll get it for myself, bless God!" Well, I don't know about you, but I don't want anything God hasn't provided for me. I've already been there, and so have you. It doesn't satisfy, does it?

The Scripture then goes on and tells us in verse 17, "As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams...and among them all was found none like Daniel [verse 19]...And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm [verse 20]" (emphasis added). And we want to be just like them. We want their degrees; we want their accolades. You're looking in the wrong place for your promotion and your rest. If you're going to do it in the spirit, then it can't be off the king's table. It has to be eating from the Word of God and drinking the living waters of the Holy Spirit that dwells within you. You live in the supernatural, and you hear yourself say things that astound you, because you haven't learned that. You're able to say, "Everything I've received, God's given me," and believe it, instead of it just being religious jargon, the thing that's supposed to be said.

We know the story. Time goes on, the king has a dream, he's looking for somebody to interpret it, and Daniel's on the line here. It says over here in chapter 2 (verses 17 and 18) that Daniel went to his buddies and asked them to pray with him and seek the mercies of God. Let me ask you something. When you're under pressure, do you go to the right folks? "I have a financial problem; I have a physical problem; I have a domestic problem."

The other day, I was listening to a Christian program, and the teacher was talking about the ministry of the church and the body of Christ. The teaching was going along good--talking about the body, every member having the same care one for another, the ability to pray for and lift up the hands of the people around you, meeting their needs, and comforting with the same comfort wherewith you've been comforted. That all sounds good, doesn't it? "But if that still doesn't meet the need, then maybe they should go for professional help." It was sounding good--all the right jargon and all the right scriptural references. And then, "If the Word doesn't work, go for real help to the professionals!" (They were talking about, in this case, psychologists or psychiatrists. It could also be financial advisors.) We have the wisdom of God and the promises of God! The problem is that we lose our rest because, like most of the people around us, we are such an instant-fix generation that we've not learned (as Richard was teaching) that the trying of our faith works patience. You don't need the solution as badly as you need the patience. The rest of God is the ability to rest and know that what God has promised, He will perform, praise God!

Daniel knows what it means to rest, even in the twenty-one days when the angels are wrestling in the heavens. We talk about the patience of Job. What about the patience of Noah? A hundred years!

You know, I think I'm doing better. I really think over these last years, God has been doing a work. I believe I'm better. The evidence isn't always there, but I don't judge myself by every incident but by the accumulation of incidences and where my heart is.

I think we're coming into a day--it's an amazing day that we're living in! I was just reading some legal papers in the back. I've got some stuff that was sent to me, some emergency communication. I was reading these papers, and to see the hatred of the church, the mockery of the Word of God! How far we as a society have defected from our roots, to where we're being told that real love is in that term that we've talked about so much recently, "tolerance." We need to be tolerant. There's no question, and I want you to hear this loud and clear. We're seeing it in this situation that we're dealing with. There is absolutely no question in the mind of the state that your children belong to them. It's a done deal! Don't you even for a moment think that this state (and I'm not just talking about Virginia, but the state, the nation) believes that you have a right to worship God in liberty and freedom. You will worship God as they tell you. Now, this is the world that we're living in. Many of us have not prepared ourselves for the day that's ahead, the day that's coming on us. Many of us say all the right words. But what did you do the last time pressure was put upon you to rest in God or to cave and go the way of the world?

We're having alternative lifestyles and women's lib shoved down our throats. Our neighbor came up the other day, and she said she had met Greer out at the mailbox. She said, "Hi, we haven't talked; I'm so and so." (They're new neighbors.) She said whatever she was promoting and then asked, "What do you do?" "Well, I just support my husband." The lady looked at her and said, "Oh, you mean (as we women libbers would say) that behind every great man there's a great woman?" She said, "No, he was great before I married him!" It burst her little balloon, but anyway... The woman's lib movement, the victimization of everybody.

Richard was in the hospital. What's one of the questions they asked him? The guy's in the hospital, they're trying to fix him up, and they had to ask him a question: "Does your wife beat you?" Mothers are being asked to leave the room for doctors to ask their daughters personal questions. Yeah, right! It got awful quiet; have some of you left? "Well, they told me I had to." "It's not your kid; it's mine! You're not going to be asking them any questions that I'm not listening to." "They have rights!" "Yes, I've got some rights, too!" Do you? The state doesn't believe that. The rest that I'm talking about is the ability to do it God's way. "But if I don't do it their way, we won't get the exam." Well, dear Lord! We might have to trust God, or find somebody that will. There are people still out there that aren't stupid or totally insane. They're few and far between. There is no way that's going to happen! You are not going to talk to my child with out my being present. "Does my wife beat me? If she's going to beat anybody, it's going to be you, Jack!" What kind of a question is that? I know it happens; I know we're living in a sick world. But we don't have to play their games. Now, these are just trivial things; but if the footmen have wearied us... What have you done to build your trust in God? What are doing in these minor things to prepare your heart to believe God? What are you doing in making the choice to refuse the king's dainties (the easy method, the world's wisdom)? What are you doing to be proclaimed ten times wiser than what they can produce? What are you going to do when this time comes to have to seek God and to desire the mercies of God? If God doesn't intervene here, we're in trouble!

Tony was just saying that they're having some trouble in Eldoret right now. It was a very quiet place, but it's becoming a little more inhabited. People are coming in, and there's a little more crime that's coming up. Just recently, they've found a couple of people beheaded in the river again. They'd been robbed. People are kind of concerned about walking the streets at night. It's dark, and somebody's going to take your head off with a machete! You say, "Maybe I ought to stay home!" Most people in Kakamega won't be out in the streets. So what do you do? Now, you know we don't believe in being foolish, and we don't believe in being presumptuous. But we do believe He's given His angels charge over us. I do believe that if we're out about Father's business, then God is going to protect us, that He covers us with His feathers.

"Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter" (verses 20-23). Verse 28 goes on and says it's now been made known that "...there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets..." When we let them go through everything they can do and fail (they can't even bring a spark up!), then we come and pray, "God, that the people would know that you are their God, answer this prayer." That's the rest of doing it God's way, of living in the supernatural.

As you go on in the book of Daniel, you see all of the cool stuff that's happening. Then, of course, we see the third chapter and the trial of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego as they refused to fall down and worship the golden image of Nebuchadnezzar. It's told to the king that "There are certain people who don't serve our God and will not worship at our altars and our images." When you stand up and defy these people, it causes a rage in them, verse 13 says. That's the world we're living in. As long as we're good little Christians, and we do everything the way the world tells us to do it... You see, every encounter we've had recently with secular, civil authority is, "You can believe anything you want; you just can't practice it. You can have it written down in your little books, but don't even think you're going to do it." When people choose to obey and to do the Word of God, it causes a rage to rise in the gods of this world.

Are you ready to go to war? In your own personal lives, are you ready, or are you just going to try to lay low? Now, don't mistake what I'm saying here. I'm not talking about going out and looking for trouble. We need to just go about our business and serve God, and if they don't see us, praise God! But what are you going to do when the decree comes to worship the image? What are you going to do when the decree comes that you can't pray? Are you going to, like Daniel, throw the windows open and pray as you've always done and face the lions? Which way are you going?

They were called (and we'll end with this) to face the rage and fury of the most powerful man on earth. "You tell them we're going to blow the trumpet, and they can bow down, and if they don't they're going in the furnace." Then there was a mistake made. "You tell them to do it my way, and if they don't [look at verse 15], "...who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" Uh-oh! Wrong move! Pharaoh made it, Nebuchadnezzar made it, and the devil's still making it today. How do you see yourself? Do you see yourself as the grasshopper, or them? They've been made meat for us; they're prey; their land belongs to us. You can only see that when you're at rest, when your mind's been renewed. Not with arrogance and not in any way presumptuously, they speak and say, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. [We're just frankly not impressed. We're not moved; we're not afraid. We're convinced.] If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king" (emphasis added).

Do you believe that tonight? In this world that we're living in, do you believe that God's able to promote you without defiling yourself with the world's methods? Do you believe that God's able to preserve you? Regardless of what's going on in our midst, do you believe that we can live free from Sodom and be in the world but not of it? Are you ready to be salt and light, to not have to hide, but to go out and boldly proclaim the God that's going to answer by fire? Are you ready to take Baal on in his own turf and let God be God? The rest is not in obscurity; it's in conflict. The rest is known in the midst of the tempest of the sea. The rest is the awareness of God's presence and promises when we're facing the furnace or the lion's den, in absolute confidence that victory is not gauged by the temporal, the secular, or the mundane, but by the eternal. "I believe and I confess that our God will deliver us. And if He doesn't, I win anyway, because He's gone to prepare a place for me. If He's gone and prepared a place, He will doubtless come again and receive me unto Himself, that where He is, there shall I be also."

"But if not, [I just like this passage!] be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up [period! Hit me with your best shot!" What a place to be in, that you can't lose! If you live, you win; if you die, you win. If you don't really believe that, there's no rest. "I've learned how to be abased, and I've learned how to abound," the apostle said, "and in whatever state I find myself, I'm content." So, nobody can threaten to take anything away from us. "So what? Take it! You can't take what's my real treasure. He said He'd never leave me nor forsake me." Have you labored to enter into that rest? Have you done whatever is necessary to divorce yourself from the cares, the methods, and the treasures of the world?

Nebuchadnezzar was ticked, verse 19 says. (King James doesn't exactly say it that way, but...) So, he commands that they make the furnace seven times hotter for the guys that are ten times wiser. And he commanded their most mighty men to grab them and throw them into the furnace. We know the story--they got cooked, and then the great question: "Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God" (verses 24-25). Aren't you glad for the fourth man in the furnace? He doesn't show up if you're not at rest. Only that faith and that rest cause that fourth man to manifest and confirm His Word with signs following.

Father, we thank You for the fourth man. We thank You for the promise that Jesus gave us, that He'd never leave us nor forsake us. Father, we're not there yet, but the storm clouds are all around us. Father, we've said it time and time again, yet hearts here have not seen it; they don't believe it. We are the most hated people in this nation, those of us that will not compromise the Word of God. The remnant of believers, the body of Christ across this nation who will not bow their knee, are the greatest enemy of the state. We are the greatest enemy of the kingdom of darkness, and we need to fortify ourselves for the day that's coming upon us. Your disciples said one time, "Lord, we're able to drink the cup," and He said, "No, you're not; but the day's coming when you're going to have to. Watch and pray that you don't enter into temptation. Watch and pray that day does not come upon you unawares." Father, let there be no sleep until our vessels are full of oil. Let there be no rest until we're full of the oil of Your Spirit. Father, help us to pull the shackles of man's methods off of our hearts and minds. Help us to be free to believe that our God can do all things, that nothing is too hard for the Lord, and that what our God has promised, He will perform. We've been diluted; we've been polluted. Purify our minds through the washing of the water of the Word that we could again think clearly. It's our hearts' desire, Father, to be free from the vexation of the spirit of antichrist. For that, we'll give You the praise, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord tonight. It's not just America, beloved. We've faced it just in recent months in Kenya. We've faced it here. It's everywhere we turn. We're weird, man! We are a weird group of people from their perspective, and it's getting worse. It's not only the secular, but it's also the religious. You go out, and you start talking to people who say they're Christians. You just talk about the most basic things, and they don't even open this Book up--much less conduct their lives by it, much less be willing to die for its preservation, much less saying, "Let God be true and every man a liar; thy Word is truth." You make that statement, and they think you're wacko, man! The pressure is coming. We need to labor to rest and to cease from our own works. Because only in the supernatural are we going to survive in this day that's coming. Thank God, I don't believe it's going to have to be long, because I believe we're going to be taken out of here. But until He comes, we're going to occupy.

Grant us the grace, Father, we ask in Jesus' name.

As Gary plays for us, we'll take a moment and just allow the presence of God to refresh our hearts. Beloved, the book of Acts is not a history book; it's still being written. There's a chapter about us--the Twenty-first Century church, the salt and light of our generation. Should Jesus tarry, what will history say? It's not another dark age, but an age of light of proclamation. Here am I, Lord. Are you ready? His eyes are searching to and fro. Are you ready? Are you prepared? "Man, I don't think I am." Then you are. Are you willing to be? "Yes. I don't think I can make it, but I'm ready and I'm willing." That's who He's looking for.

Let's sing it together. "To Your majesty and Your beauty I surrender..."

I surrender, Lord. I surrender. Be glorified, in Jesus' name. Amen, amen.

Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "There is a rest, praise God!" Amen. Go in peace; God's love go with you.

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