God - Our Great God

[00:00:00] Well, I've certainly enjoyed it this far this morning being here worshipping with each one of you. These songs of worship have touched my heart and have blessed me and it reminded me this morning of a man that I did not know this man but I read about him from China that suffered so much mental torture that he couldn't even form coherent thoughts. [00:00:38] He craved for worship, but you know he was under so much torture that he just couldn't even keep his thoughts together anymore. His mind was so confused that he couldn't even pray. He stood in his cell and he asked God to accept that as an act of worship. He stood there and you know God acknowledged his request. [00:01:14] It says to battle with one because he refused to doubt the character of God. And so this morning we are here, we so freely worship and rejoice and we've been re-challenged, been very re-challenged this morning with the fact of are we surrendering our lives completely by faith? [00:01:46] We say we walk by faith and are living for the Lord, but is our life really surrendered and committed the way God would like us to be? This morning, if you would care to, you can turn to your Bibles in Matthew chapter 11. I have a very familiar scripture here this morning, the last three verses in chapter 11, verses 28, 29, and 30. Before I read these verses, I'm reminded of many, many other words and sayings of the Lord Jesus. [00:02:31] Our Lord has, as you read through the Bible, there's every once in a while you come up, there's verses that our Lord shared and then there's other verses that he shared that just seem to be so much more precious. They're just so much closer to you. For an instance, John 14, he says, Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, he says, believe also in me. He says, in my Father's house are many mansions. And if it were not so, I would have told you. [00:03:05] I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. Beautiful words. And then I think of others following, others before that. But then my mind goes to another time when the thief was on the cross. And he looked at a cross from his cross over to the middle man on the cross, which is Jesus. [00:03:35] And you know, that man, I'm not certain if he ever had ever even heard the name of Christ before. Before that day, we don't know. But there was a man that had faith. He looked across to the middle man and he said, Remember me when you enter into your kingdom. And you know those beautiful words of the Lord Jesus. He says, today you shall be with me in paradise. [00:04:08] Can you think of any nicer words than some of those? I think they're beautiful. This morning I'd like to think of three other words that our Lord has shared. And that's in this portion of scripture, which is come, take, and learn. Let's read. Verse 28. They come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly, and ye shall find rest for your souls. [00:04:44] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. We were talking about trust and faith in our Sunday school lesson. and I believe when Jesus is saying come, that means simply to trust him. That's simply what it means when he says come, he says trust me. Noah had been mentioned in our Sunday school class [00:05:15] and I think about Noah because there he also heard the very same word When God said, come and enter into the ark. When he told Noah to come into the ark, he was saying, come into a place of safety. And I believe that's what the Lord is sharing with us here this morning. When he says, come unto me, he says, come into a place of safety. Come into a place of rest. Rest for the soul. [00:05:47] Rest for the weary. But he has more invitations with his word, come. The prophet Isaiah has shared and he said, come for personal cleansing. He says, come now, let us reason together. Sayeth the Lord, though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Just come. That's the call. He says, come. And you know, Isaiah wasn't finished with that. He had a little more. He shared, he said also in Isaiah 55, he said, now if you thirst, come and take a drink. [00:06:32] You know, just come. Excuse me. Come for a satisfying portion. That which satisfies. You know, how many times do we listen to a voice that says come, but it doesn't satisfy? There's no satisfaction there. And here the Lord's call is all the time, come. Come for a satisfying portion. and in our text he says [00:07:03] come for rest come for rest of the soul the prophet Isaiah said that as we come he says thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee I wonder how the man in jail there in China experienced that but by standing in the presence of God Acknowledging him, I believe he experienced that peace deep down in his soul. Well, take a look at the word take. [00:07:38] He says, take my yoke upon you. And he said, further to learn, but I think as we take a look, as we come, then we take. Now as we take, we have come for salvation. We have come for that which Christ has offered. But now he says, take of the deeper experience of life. Thank you, brother. Take of the deeper experience. When we come to Christ in faith, there is still more. [00:08:12] He says, have rest, come for rest. So he says, take a rest. Boy, how do we need that? Badly at times. But we labor on. We labor on. He says, come and take a rest. And I believe as we take a rest, we come to him in true repentance, turning from all those labors of the past, yielding it all to the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:08:48] I have come across a little story I read here which touched my heart especially because it's a father-son story. Any father-son story normally is dear to my heart. We have three sons and one of them is right here. and I've appreciated my sons. But this is about another son that contacted his father. [00:09:25] In the mid-1990s, Steve Steiner flew from Cleveland, Ohio to Wichita, Kansas. He had received word that his 20-year-old son, Paul, was a student at Hessen College, had been admitted to hospital in Wichita, and was in grave condition because of lupus. When Steve entered the hospital room, there was a pleasant exchange of greeting and small talk, but rather quickly, Paul indicated that he had something of special importance on his mind. [00:10:04] It was this, Dad, when it's time for me to die, promise me that you won't keep me hooked up to machines. Let me go with Jesus. Dad, promise me. Steve agreed to this, best to honor the son's request. Paul continued, I want to tell my birth father in Guatemala [00:10:39] that I forgive him for killing my birth mother and that I love him. I love you to tell him about the joy and peace I have in Jesus Christ. Steve was amazed. He said, excuse me, Paul, you've changed. What happened? [00:11:20] Paul explained, last Thursday night Jesus came to me in a dream. He was right in his room with outstretched hands. He was asking me to come home. Dad, you would not believe how beautiful heaven is. Steve answered, what did you tell Jesus? He said that I would not go yet. Why was that? But, Dad, I need you to tell my birth father I forgive him for all the things that he did. [00:12:01] Steve assured Paul that he would do all he could to find his birth father and give him his son's message. Later that same day, Paul fell asleep, and in his sleep he talked inaudibly, weeping as he spoke. When he woke up, Steve asked him what he had dreamed. Jesus came to me again and asked if I was ready to come home. He told him, I'm ready. Paul suffered a lot of pain. The doctor wanted to do exploratory surgery. [00:12:35] He said his chances for survival, for surviving the surgery would be about a 50-50 at best and it would require the use of a ventilator and that Paul would need a dialysis machine for the rest of his life. Steve could not give his consent. The doctor seemed to understand and was respectful. Later, however, the chaplain came to Steve with a request from the doctors to ask him some questions. Paul was only 20 years old. [00:13:07] Even Christian families with an aged parent, predictably, choose to have everything possible done to keep the patient alive for a few more days or weeks. The doctors wanted an explanation as to why no heroic medical measures were being chosen. So Steve Steiner told the chaplain about his son's experience and request and how eagerly he looked forward to going to heaven to be with Jesus in heaven. and having perfect and a new body. [00:13:39] It says later some students from Hesse College and their dean came to visit. They had an anointing service as they quietly sang several hymns. Other students came two by two to grieve with Paul, but they went away blessed and privileged as he encouraged them to faithfulness in their own faith journey. That evening, Paul said, Dad, I am so happy I'm going home. And he slipped away forever. [00:14:12] But you know, he went with that peace of God in his heart because he was not saying that my father would forgive me. He was saying, I forgive my father. I want to forgive him. I want to have everything clear. and so he cleared himself real well and I believe he had a deep experience with the Lord and he experienced that true rest and it was such a blessing but you know he passed on into eternity [00:14:44] we're still here but you know dearly beloved we can live on with that peace in our hearts we can live on as we by true repentance and then rest and surrender our will in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ and walking with him in faith. So in other words, the first that I'd mentioned, the first come, that means the peace of God. We have the peace of God because we have come to him. [00:15:17] Romans says, therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. But the second one that we look at as we take, it means peace of God. Having the peace of God within our hearts, within our lives. So when we submit to Christ, we're yoked. It says, take my yoke. Now when we think about a yoke, at least some of us older ones remember the yoke a little better on the horses and so forth. [00:15:53] But there's still lots of them around, so you probably all know the yoke. But this is a yoke, I believe, that when we think of the word Ize, he says, my yoke is Ize. This yoke, I believe, is referring to well-fitting. In other words, it's tailor-made. It fits right, it's made right for you, made right for me, and we are yoked with Christ. and find the peace of God. [00:16:26] Well, let's take a look yet at learn. He says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly. This is a step into a process. I think it's as we process, as we learn. He says, we learn about him. We find a deeper peace. It's that walking close to him. Why? Because we learn to trust him. It's as you trust and as you learn to trust him more, life is then become simplified and unified around one person. [00:17:04] And that is the Lord Jesus Christ. It simplifies it and it unifies it. So if you care to turn with me now to Hebrews chapter 4. In connection with this chapter of walking and walking with the Lord and learning of him, chapter 4, verses 1, 2, and a part of 3, he says, [00:17:35] 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. 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 or being united in faith we could call it for we which have believed do enter into rest as he has said [00:18:08] in other words I believe for the believers today We may enter and enjoy that spiritual inheritance which he speaks about in the book of Ephesians. An inheritance which we rest in him and walk in him and live in him. Here it speaks probably more or less about a Canaan rest. The Canaan rest for Israel is as a picture as it were to a spiritual rest which we find in Christ when we surrender to him. I don't think Canaan is necessarily referring to heaven. [00:18:41] I believe in my mind Canaan is referring to, in Christ Jesus, a walk with him, a close walk with the Lord. Ephesians chapter 1, I'm going to turn to that. As we think of our inheritance, which we have, which gives us the peace, and that understanding as we walk with the Lord. [00:19:13] Verse 6, chapter 1, he says, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, wherein he has abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, Having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he has purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, [00:20:00] being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in him in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation in whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise [00:20:31] which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory. Wonderful scriptures. A rest, it's an inheritance which I believe is for just life. To rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. So when we think about that, remember in Matthew, I was referring to when we come to Christ in faith, we find salvation, we come. [00:21:06] And that's a salvation rest. Then, when we yield our lives and we learn of him, which is a walk with him, we can call it obedience, or we can call it a surrendered life, a submitted life, Whichever we would want to call it, we yield ourselves to him in faith And actually we enjoy a life of submission which becomes a submission rest Which is submit and rest in him [00:21:38] So, as the first is peace with God, so the second is, again, the peace of God And I believe that's so beautiful It is by believing that we enter into rest, and it's by obeying, and by living by faith, walking with him, and surrendering, that that rest enters into us. It's such a beautiful binding together. Now, in Hebrews, here in verse 6, he brings out as well, he says, [00:22:12] and seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief. Referring back again to Israel. But how about us today? You know, by faith, it's important that we believe and trust. Because, you know, if we don't, we fail to believe God's word. I mean, it doesn't profit us. It will not profit us, nor it would rather even become a hindrance. [00:22:50] For instance, if our word is not united with faith, then it isn't really going to accomplish the purpose. But if it's united in faith, it will accomplish its purposes. What is it? Unbelief is an awful thing. Unbelief stands in the way of our lives in so many ways. I remember my experience after, wasn't that long after my conversion, and I really struggled with unbelief. [00:23:25] and I probably stumbled once in a while along the way. But I really did and I had a brother come to me and he shared some beautiful verses which again the word of God by simply taking a hold of them and trusting them and you know I finally came to the conclusion to believe that you know it's wrong for me not to be trusting God. I mean that is a sin in itself. So unbelief stands in the way. But you notice many things will stand in the way. An unforgiving spirit will stand in the way. It's a hindrance. Bitterness, jealousy. We all find that it's a hindrance. It stands in our way of the peace of God. [00:24:08] And there's something in between there and we wonder, well, why don't I really have the peace that I had? What is it? And you know, I believe the Holy Spirit will point it out to us. And the wonderful part about it is we can confess it and we can go on. Jesus said if we confess our sins, well I guess James, he is, no John probably, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And you know sometimes we think, well there's so many things, it just doesn't make sense to come across things like that. [00:24:41] Well sometimes when I think of things that have happened in the Bible without faith I could not, I mean it would just seem so impossible. Anybody just trying to figure them out, it's no wonder that people become discouraged. Like, when we read different things in the Bible, it's so, well, it's actually illogic, it seems like. It really, well, is it even possible? We'd say it's impossible. Well, if we believe the scriptures completely, take for instance what Jeremiah the prophet shared. [00:25:21] Jeremiah 32.17 And this was one of the verses that the brother drilled to me at the time when I was struggling so much in unbelief. That is, Ah, Lord God, Thou hast made heaven and earth with your outstretched hand or is it arm? I'm not quite sure anymore. And there is nothing too hard for thee. Now, can we take a hold of that? There is nothing too hard for God. and that just, I struggled with that but I took a hold of that [00:25:54] and to really believe that God is able because he is God and if that doesn't satisfy us, in the same chapter in verse 27 he says I am the Lord of all flesh, is there anything too hard for me? He comes right around and asks again, well is there anything too hard for me? and I say, not for God. God is able. And you can walk through the scriptures. You can think of different things that have happened in the scriptures [00:26:28] and it's impossible. Sometimes we just read through and don't think much of it. We're studying about Moses. Well, the other Sunday, I believe it was in our lessons, we found out that Moses was in the wilderness and what did he find? A burning bush. Thank you for watching. [00:27:13] Those fireplaces. But when you take a look at the desert, hot and dry, and a bush burning that would not consume. Is there anything too hard for me, God says? I've had the experience of putting in straw and finally my harvester was on fire. That one was not to the point of not consuming until we got lots of water on it. But nevertheless, this bush, it just, it was God speaking and God can do those miracles. [00:27:51] We'd say like crossing the Red Sea. Well, how is it possible for water to stand up an edge? Well, sure, in the wintertime, when you freeze it, you can cut it and it'll stand up an edge. But I don't believe that was happening over in the Red Sea, over in Israel there in the East Country. It was the water stood straight up. And, you know, as we think about these things which God has really been doing over the years, [00:28:24] it strengthens our faith in God because God is able. Moses goes out there and hits the rock and water comes out. Have you ever seen anything like that happen? At any time, sure, we get water running over rocks. We get holes in rocks. We can run it through it. But just a simple rock to try and bring water out of it. It is God and God is able. So you can just go down and on and on. In the Bible, it's different things. [00:28:55] Samson, he's an interesting man. He goes out there and he walks away with the whole city gates, posts and everything. Where did strength come from? It was God. Another outstanding one, especially when I think of suffering and of persecution, and that is the three Hebrews that were cast in the fiery furnace. [00:29:26] And we know it was hot because those that were commanded to throw them in were burnt themselves to death, even at the outside of the furnace. And these three were in there, and the king himself said, I see four men walking in there. So we know that the one was the son of God, God himself. God is able. All I'm trying to share is that we need to come and experience the power of God. [00:30:06] There's others we could mention like Daniel. But one of them in the New Testament that many people stumble over, are more and more stumbling over today I think, and that is the virgin birth of Christ. They say, well that isn't possible either. Well it was prophesied and then it was clarified. It's truth. And so we think of the very thing that God is able to do for his people, he is able to do for you and I. [00:30:39] I'd just like to use this as an encouragement. In the latter part of chapter 4 in Hebrews it says, for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched. No, sorry, I read the wrong verse. Fourteen, seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Let's come, let's take, and let's learn from him. [00:31:13] May God bless you. Thank you, Brother Mervin, for sharing that message with us. I'm sure it's a challenge for each one of us. All right, we're going to stand together for prayer. And you're all welcome to stay for lunch afterwards. It's ready over there. [00:31:44] You can go on over and eat. You're all welcome to go along and sing with us up at Thurston Woods, too. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you that you have invited us to come. We don't understand, Lord, why you would be so anxious to have us come to you as stubborn and rebellious as we've been as humans. But you've invited us, not only to come, but to experience your peace, to experience your rest, to experience your teaching, dear Lord [00:32:19] And we thank you for all of that And we pray that you help us, each one, to choose to come to you by faith and rest in you We thank you, Lord, for this time of learning together We thank you for the time of fellowship that we're going to have God, I pray your blessing upon the food, upon the time of singing. I pray, God, that your name be glorified and that some heart might be encouraged, dear Lord, as we go to sing there at Thurston Woods. [00:32:52] I just thank you again for what you've done for us. I praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. You're dismissed.