Rest in Christ

Believers, imagine a person shivering in the cold and about to freeze to death just outside a warm and cozy house that offers rest from all of his troubles. The One inside the house persistently invites him to come inside where he can receive rest (warmth, food, healing, etc) free of charge, but this dying/freezing person who can do nothing to save himself insists on making himself warm and whole BEFORE going inside the house.

We would probably say to the man: “don’t be silly; enter and rest,” but this is the story of many in the church today. Christ says in Matthew 11:28- “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Believers, Jesus came to make us warm and whole from that cold, hard life of sin and the futility of keeping the law in order to be warm and whole (right with God.) It is the goodness of God that leads to repentance, not threats of hell fire. Enter into His warmth and you will stop freezing (sinning and paying the wages of sin.) But many in the church have this backwards saying "obey the law so that you can be godly (be like God)." As if anyone could have dominion over sin and be godly by their own power! Adam and Eve tried to be godly by human effort. The result is still death. The letter kills. The Spirit gives life. And with the Spirit of the Lord, it is "not by might, not by power."

Believer, know now that the reason why you and I are not committing particular sins is because we have not been tempted beyond what we can bear in those areas. The potential to commit heinous crimes is in everybody. God sees this potential and how favourable circumstances can make some people think that some sins are beneath them. Peter too thought that denying Christ was beneath him so he boasted in his human strength at obeying the law....he ended up bearing false witness three times during his testing. The arm of flesh will fail. This is how we who believe are able to overcome trials, tests and temptations: 1 Corinthians 10:13-

"We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously."

Instead of seeking rest in Christ, many in the church are still labouring to keep the Law of Moses in order to get right with God and thus are heavy laden with the guilt of their failures because NO ONE can EVER achieve this (see Romans 3:20– “For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands...”) Romans 5:19 says:

"By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

Committing acts of sin is not what made all mankind sinners. Adam's sin made all mankind sinners. Trying to obey the law to get right with God is a testament to having the sinful nature inherited from Adam; it rejecting God's gift of righteousness to us in Christ and saying it is not good enough to make the sinner who believes in Jesus Christ righteous. This is what it means to deny Christ.

Believer, only that righteousness which proceeds from the obedience of Christ will suffice for God the Righteous and He gives the gift freely to all who believe. And just as the old nature produces sins, as new creation in Christ, having His righteousness nature, we get to live right. But due to teachings by Satan's ministers many reject God's gift of righteousness by striving to obey the law and are suppressing sinful urges in order to be godly (be like God) after the example of Adam and Eve.

And the result of this suppression of sins by human effort in the one with the sinful nature who is trying to obey the law in order to be godly and is suppressing sinful urges by human effort: like a woman about to give birth, nothing will be able hold back the birth of sinful deeds that lead to death that have been gestating in his belly when his belly can no longer contain or bear those sinful urges; when he is tempted beyond what he can bear. See Romans 7:5-

"When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death."

The more one tries to obey the law in order to be godly (be like God,) the more sin has dominion (Romans 6:14) and this will result in bearing fruit (harvest of sinful deeds) to death. This is the same strategy that Satan used on Eve in the garden. Today, Satan's ministers behind many pulpits are actively preaching that the way for a believer to be godly is by obeying the law, but this only leads to death.

The early church has a big dispute over this issue so much that Paul and Barnabas’ were called to have a meeting with the church elders in Jerusalem (Acts 15) because of the gospel of Grace that they preached. See what happened at the meeting, even after they reported everything that God had done through them to the church elders:

5 "But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.”

This is the same thing that is happening in the church today. People are trying to introduce the Law of Moses to the gospel which is Grace and ONLY Grace, and are calling this horrid mixture of Law and Grace "a balanced message." Grace is a person and His name is Jesus Christ. He does not need anybody to "balance" Him. Believer, see Paul's typology of Sarah and Hagar as the two covenants of Law and Grace in Galatians 4. Sarah (Grace) did not need Hagar (Law) to raise Isaac (the church.) Grace is enough.

So the apostles and elders met together to resolve this issue: "Must Gentile converts be circumcised and are they required to follow the law of Moses?"

Peter addressed these Pharisees who had wrong believing and were insisting on putting the Gentile converts under the Law of Moses thus -

7 At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe. 8 God knows people’s hearts, and He confirmed that He accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, for He cleansed their hearts through faith. 10 So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? 11 We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”

Today, just like those Pharisees, many church leaders are CHALLENGING GOD, forcing the sheep to labour under the heavy burden of the law. Christ says in Matthew 23:

“4 They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. 5 But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men;...”

Many sheep are labouring to obey the law (sow seed, pay tithe, keep the Ten Commandments....or else God will punish/not bless you) and are heavy laden with the guilt from their inability to do so. This is not of Christ. Paul says to us in Philippians 3:2 (KJV) - “Beware of dogs, ...” Beware of those who preach reliance on the arm of flesh (human effort at obeying the law) for salvation.

If the one who is freezing can make himself warm by his own power, he does not need to enter the house to get warmth. But these preachers of a distorted gospel tell you that you cannot enter into Salvation (Christ Himself) unless you first save yourself from your sins!

Beloved of God, Christ says to you: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” He came to save you from your sins and to lift the burden of the law from off your shoulders. Let’s take our blessed brains to church. Matthew 1:21 says

“And she will have a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Christ came to save us from our sins. If we could stop sinning all by ourselves and do all that the law commands, Jesus would not have needed to come and save us.

The one who is trying to obey the law in order to get right with God has been cut off from Christ according to Galatians 5:4: “For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.”

What’s more? Romans 6:14 says “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” Sin has dominion over those who are trying to obey the law in order to get right with God. The longer a person stays outside trying to make himself warm (law-keeping using the arm of flesh that shall fail,) the colder and closer to death he becomes. Sin has dominion under law. The letter (law) kills. But somehow, many in the church have Romans 6:14 backwards and are still trying to get right with God and obtain His favour by trying to obey the law of Moses that kills. Believers, let’s not be found here. This broad road on which many in the church are on only leads to destruction: being cut off from Christ.

This is how we are made righteous and thus enjoy every single blessing in Christ: “By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience, many will be made righteous.” Romans 5:19.

We are made righteous from our freezing to death in sin not because we obeyed the law but through Christ’s obedience when we put our faith in Him. See Romans 3:

“26...and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus. 27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.”

This is grace. When we enter this rest that is Christ with all of our baggage of freezing (sins, guilt, sickness, depression, lack, stinginess, all of our shortcomings,) we cannot but become righteous, just as Christ is. ONLY by the abundance of grace and His gift of righteousness do we reign over sin and every earthly ill. Just enter His warmth and forsake yours and you will get to live right. See Romans 5:17-

“For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ.”

By God’s grace, watch what you are hearing in your local church. Is it righteousness by works or righteousness by faith? Once your foundation is righteousness by faith, Christ’s righteousness and not yours from obeying the law, “all these things shall be added unto you.”

Right believing always produces right living