A Delicious Experience

A Delicious Experience

DELIVERED ON LORD'S DAY MORNING, JUNE 16, 1889,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"For we which have believed do enter into rest, as He said, As I have
sworn in My wrath, if they shall enter into My rest." Hebrews 4:3.

LAST Sabbath we meditated upon the fact that those who came out of
Egypt did not enter into the rest of God. "They could not enter in
because of unbelief." Today I shall not seek so much to warn as to
encourage, while we look at the way by which we can enter into the true
rest. The faithful minister of God should be like the parent birds,
who, when their young are old enough for flight, sometimes drive them
from the nest to make them fly. And, at other times, go before them,
twittering and stretching out their wings, to tempt their callow
offspring to try the air.

Thus, at times, we endeavor to drive you to and at others we try to
draw you to the flight of faith. Knowing the terrors of the Lord, we
persuade–knowing the joys of true religion, we entreat. By all means
we would induce men to quit the nest of their old trust and fly to
Christ by faith. If God will bless the Word, so that you put your trust
in Christ, we shall be content. No, more–our cup will run over with
gratitude for your salvation.

In the text, we have a declaration of experience, "We which have
believed do enter into rest," to which is very singularly added, "As he
said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest."
The happy declaration is supported by the tremendous oath of judgment,
which shut out the unbelieving race. There is usually a promise
embedded in a threat, like gold in quartz–just as there is generally a
threat as the reverse of the golden coin of promise. When we read, in
the opening chapters of the Bible, "In the day that you eat thereof you
shall surely die," it was implied, was it not, that if they did not eat
they should live?

Though that promise was not stated in words, it was implied in the
threat. So here, when we read, "I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall
enter into My rest," while we are taught that some could not enter in
because of unbelief, it is implied in it that Believers would enter in.
Those who have faith in the Divine promise shall enter in. If unbelief
shuts men out, then faith is the door of entrance to those who have it.
I beg you to grasp the kernel of promise which lies whole and safe
within the shell of the threat.

God swore of those unbelieving Jews that they should not enter in but
He had declared that some should enter in. Therefore a promise is left
which will be fulfilled in those who have faith and so are the true
seed of faithful Abraham. These shall enter in. And certain of them in
the text declare that they have done so–"We which have believed do
enter into rest." I venture to say that the threat in this case even
gives a touch of rose color to the promise, for it runs thus, "If they
shall enter into My rest." Whereas the declaration only says,
"rest"–"we which have believed do enter into rest," the word, "My" is
added. That little word is like a bright gleam amidst the blackness of
the tempest. Oh, the glory of that which God calls "My rest"!

There is such a thing as the rest of God and there is such a thing as
our entering into it. I call your attention to the fact that the two
typical rests of the Old Testament were rests of God. And yet they were
rests into which God's people were to enter. The first rest was the
rest of creation. When God had finished all His work upon this
habitable globe He rested. But what follows? "He rested on the seventh
day and hallowed it." To what end? That we might rest also. "Remember
the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor and do all
your work–but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God."

And therefore, because it is His Sabbath, He would have us share in it.
"In it you shall not do any work." It was a day sacred to holy rest.
God will not rest alone. He will have His people in fellowship with
Him. "There remains a rest to the people of God"–because God has His
Sabbath. The other rest was the promised land, of which Mount Zion was
chosen to be the center. We read in Psalm 132, "For the Lord has chosen
Zion. He has desired it for His habitation. This is

My rest forever: here will I dwell. For I have desired it." Where the
Lord rested, there He gave His people rest. For He adds, "I will
abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread."

Thus God and His Church are associated in happy fellowship. Neither the
day nor the land is used as a type of rest with reference to God alone.
He will have His people enter into His rest.

The true rest of God lies higher than times and places. The Lord God
rests in the Person of Jesus–in Him He is well pleased. The Lord
speaks of Him as, "My Elect, in whom My soul delights." In the Person
of His Son, the heart of the Father finds perpetual joy–"This is My
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." But we also behold His
Glory–"The glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth." By faith we see that in Him which gives rest to our heart.
Therefore was Jesus given–"This man shall be the peace." The Lord
Jesus is our true Noah, in whom we find safety and rest. He was both
given in birth and given up in death to be the rest of weary souls.

Beloved, this morning I earnestly pray that you may be able to join in
the declaration of the Apostle Paul in the words before us. Though
nearly nineteen hundred years have passed away, it is still true of
those who believe, that they enter into rest. Some of us are now
resting where the Lord rests and our rest is daily deepening, so that
before long it will only need a moment's change and we shall rest with
God in Glory.

May the Holy Spirit direct us, while we shall, first, notice the people
to whom this experience is confined–"They which have believed do enter
into rest." Secondly, the experience itself–"We do enter into rest."
And thirdly, the personal assertion of this experience–we declare,
without hesitation, that having believed we do enter into rest!

I. Follow me in meditation and may the Spirit of God bless it to our
souls, while we consider THE PEOPLE TO WHOM THIS EXPERIENCE IS
CONFINED. They rest and no one else–they rest, because they have
believed. As surely as unbelief shuts out, so surely does faith shut
in.

What is to believe? To believe is, first of all, to accept as true, the
Revelation of God. To give unfeigned assent and consent to all that God
has made known in His Word and especially to believe that He was, "in
Christ Jesus, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them." We cannot take the further step of trust unless,
first, we give credence to the testimony of God. In reference to the
work of our Lord Jesus, we must, first, accept the facts concerning Him
and the witness of God about Him or we cannot go further. What God says
is true and to us it is true because God says it. We set to our seal
that God Himself is true. We bow our judgments, our questionings, our
consciences, our faith, before the Throne of the Lord God of Truth.
This is an essential groundwork for saving faith.

The operative point of faith is the next one–we trust ourselves with
Him who is revealed–thus we carry our belief of Truth of God to its
practical conclusion. We come–just as we are–to the Savior who bids
us come. We rely for our salvation and acceptance with God upon the
Lord Jesus Christ as the Father reveals Him. We see in Him God's
appointed Messenger of Divine Grace. We perceive Him to be our Covenant
Head and representative and we rejoice to stand or fall with Him.
Chiefly do we receive Him as our Substitute and, in consequence, our
Sacrifice. We believe in Him as bearing our sins in His own body on the
tree–as made sin for us, though He knew no sin–that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him.

It is of the essence of faith that we trust ourselves with the Lord
Jesus, because of His finished work on our behalf. We trust Jesus in
the faithfulness of God to the promises made to us in Christ Jesus. We
lean upon the sure Word of God and work of Jesus. He has not the faith
which will bring him to Heaven who does not wholly trust himself with
God in Christ Jesus. Out of this trust must come action agreeable
thereunto. He that trusts Christ appropriates to himself the blessings
contained in Him and henceforth they become his heart's treasure. And
this changes the whole tone of his life.

He that trusts in Christ becomes obedient to his Savior's Word–just as
the sailor who trusts his pilot yields to him the steering of the ship.
He that has real faith in the unseen is willing to forego the pleasure
and the profit of that which is seen and temporal, so far as it comes
in conflict with that kingdom of God. He sees all that he needs in
Jesus and sets great store by Him. For he believes that, "it pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. And of His fullness
have all we received and grace for grace." Faith is an eye to see with
and a hand to grasp with.

Faith joyfully accepts all that Jesus brings her and for His sake she
quits all other confidences. To be married to Christ, she forsakes all
other trusts and delights. This leads the Believer to flee from sin–he
sees that no good can come thereby but only deadly evil. Moved by
gratitude, he reckons himself dead to the world, because Jesus
died–and alive unto God, because the life of Christ has quickened him.
This leads to a daily rejoicing in Christ. For in proportion as we

trust the Lord and are governed by that trust, we become happy in the
Lord. When we can say, "He is all my salvation and all my desire," we
shall not be afraid even on our death bed. So far as I am trusting, I
am resting.

According to the statement of the writer of this Epistle, faith,
wherever it exists, brings with it rest. Let me sketch three or four
cases in proof, such as I have seen myself. Yonder is a man who has
come to a right idea of his guilt before God. He went on merrily enough
for years, till the Holy Spirit shone into his soul and caused him to
see the evil of his life. He began to think. Looking back upon his past
conduct, he became uneasy. He felt that he had lived without God and
therefore he had lived an unprofitable life towards his best Friend. He
became greatly disturbed in spirit, not only by day but even by
night–his dreams were tinctured with fear. He felt that he was all
wrong and he feared he could never be set right.

In such a condition rest is out of the question! What is to be done? In
eager desire he goes from one place of worship to another and he reads
the Scriptures and godly books. But he finds no rest and he will find
none until he begins to see Jesus. How often have I seen the
enlightenment which comes of faith, when a man sees that God is full of
love towards him, that He is willing to receive him guilty as he is and
to blot out all his sin for Jesus' sake. When a convicted sinner
realizes that Christ on the tree bore the penalty of his
transgressions–then, I say, an enlightenment comes over his soul!

I have seen the countenance transfigured as the Divine witness has
shone into the mind. It has been to the man as when the sun arises and
the shadows flee. When his heart has said, "Christ for me," then has He
led His captivity captive. An overpowering delight has filled the soul,
has flashed from the eyes, shone forth in every feature and overflowed
at the lips. Oh, the joy of knowing by faith that Christ has saved me,
that in him I am reconciled to God! Nothing else will give us this rest
but confidence in God in Christ Jesus.

Observe another case. This person was once a Christian professor,
leading the way in public service. But he declined gradually and at
last he fell into grievous open sin. He has been cut off from the
visible Church. And necessarily so, for he has wandered into sinful
habits and mixed with evil associates. He is ill at ease. Like an
unquiet spirit, he is seeking rest and finding none. If there had been
nothing of Divine Grace in his heart, he might have been satisfied with
the husks of the world. But he has enough Grace remaining in him to
make him miserable.

His foot finds no resting place. He is not willing, as yet, to go back
to the Church. And yet he cannot be content away from the fold. He is
as a bird which has wandered from its nest, or a dog which has lost its
master. It is only as that man beholds again the vision of the
Crucified Lover of his soul that he will see a hope of rest. He must
again see his God, clothed in human flesh, bleeding and dying for him.
In that sight, alone, will he find a window opened in Heaven through
which a backslider's prayer may enter. It is the eye of Jesus which
makes Peter repent and the voice of Jesus which makes Peter confess his
love.

I invite any who are in a backsliding condition to come with weeping to
the pardoning Savior. Do not distrust Him because of your sin but trust
Him because of His merit. Come back, come back to your first Husband.
For it was better with you then than now! Say, "Return unto your rest,
O my Soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you." Turn to the
way of faith, for this is the homeward path.

I have seen the like result of faith in another case, which is very
different from the last. A Christian man endowed with large power of
thought, in an evil hour, quitted his moorings and drifted out into the
deep. He saw others sailing on the great and wide sea and he thought it
a brave thing to imitate them. Today he has lost his compass and does
not believe in his chart. He neither knows what he does believe, nor
what he should believe–his intellect is like a carousel– his belief
twists about like a weathercock. All around him is a haze and all
beneath him is quicksand. He fears that before long there will remain
in his mind no capacity to separate fact from fiction. He fears that
there is no truth. All doctrine has become to him as the baseless
fabric of a vision. Only one thing he knows–he is not happy and he
views with regret the restfulness of former days. My distracted
Brother, your only hope of intellectual rest lies in believing your
God. Oh, that you would subject your intellect to the Holy Spirit!
Come, cast away your pride and sit at the feet of Jesus. Become a
little child, that you may enter the kingdom.

Have you not had enough of this plague of the period–the thing which
betrays its character by calling itself "honest doubt"? While you are
your own guide, you will go astray. But when you will place your hand
in that Hand which bears the nail print, you shall be safe and happy.
Then will you sing, "He leads me beside the still waters." There is
sound intellectual rest to be had by him who will submit himself to the
infallible teaching of God and will wait from day to day

upon the Holy Spirit for light upon his path. "We which have believed
do enter into rest," and the rest is not that of ignorance and
agnosticism but of clear knowledge, for we know and have believed the
love which God has towards us.

Our standing is on the rock of a revelation which has been made over
again in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. While those who rely on their
culture are as boats driven upon the rocks, we stand on safe ground and
are not shaken.

Let me give you one more picture. Tread softly, for the shadow of death
is over yonder bed! Weakness will scarce bear the sound of your
footfall. His pulse is faint and few, the man is dying! Look at how his
tender wife wipes the death sweat from his brow! Come here, you
philosophers and cheer his last hours with the joys of evolution! Come,
you advocates of a new theology and cheer him with your criticisms!
Poor Heart, he sees no consolation in all that you can set before him.
He turns himself to the Lord Jesus and cries–"Hold Your Cross before
my closing eyes. Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heavens' morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee–in life, in
death, O Lord, abide with me."

If he can but see "the sacred Head once wounded," he will have rest.
How sweet! How deep! How perfect that rest will be! Men die not when
they breathe their last with the living Savior near them. In unruffled
calm the spirit takes its flight from earth and that Word is fulfilled,
"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yes, says
the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors." Behold, how they
bathe their souls in seas of heavenly rest. They have obtained joy and
gladness–and sorrow and sighing have fled away. In ten thousand
thousand instances they that have believed have, even in their mortal
agony, entered into rest. Blessed be the Lord for this!

Thus have I set before you who these people are. They are not those who
merely talk of religion but they have true faith in God. They do not
hesitate and delay but they have once and for all believed and are now
walking by faith. They are not questioners–they believe God with a
simple, child-like confidence. These are they that enter into rest and
nobody else will ever do so. I wish some of you would take this
decisive step and end this wretched pretense of wisdom, this
self-conceited trust in "culture"–for it will be your greatest gain in
life to trust your God and enter into rest.

II. Our second point is THE EXPERIENCE ITSELF–"We which have believed
do enter into rest." I shall now speak of what I know of a surety and
of what many of you know, also. We will propound no theory and indulge
no imagination but keep to matters of fact.

Wherein do we rest? Brethren, we rest where God rests–that is in the
Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a wondrous Personality we see in
Him! As God, He is the infinite delight of the Father. As personified
Wisdom, our Lord Jesus says, "I was by Him, as one brought up with Him;
and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him." We cannot
tell how much the Father loves Him and how perfectly He rests in Him.
When God looked upon fallen man He could not rest in him, for it
repented Him that He had made man upon the face of the earth. There was
one Man, only, upon whom the Father's eye rested with pleasure. And
even in the foresight of His birth and death He took pleasure in Him.

When Noah presented the sacrifice which symbolized the atonement, we
read that the Lord smelled a sweet savor of rest. The Father takes an
intense delight in the glorious Person of the Lord Jesus. He cannot
rest in the creation which is made subject to vanity. He cannot rest in
fallen man but He rests in One that is near akin to Him and at the same
time near akin to us. Jesus counts it not robbery to be equal with God
and yet counts it not beneath Him to be made like ourselves. To the
Father and to us He is the place of our common rest. How happy are we
to find rest in a Person! This is warm and substantial comfort. You
cannot rest in the words of a doctrine as you can in the bosom of a
person.

Take a poor child that is lost in the street. Talk to it upon cheering
themes. These ought to comfort it. But the little one goes on crying.
Sing to it and reason with it. It is all in vain. Run, fetch its
mother! See how it smiles! It nestles in her bosom and is at rest. A
person yields to heart comfort. So it is with our Lord Jesus Christ. In
life, in death–it is a delightful thought that our salvation rests in
the hands of a living, loving Personality. We depend upon a Divine and
human Person, an accessible Helper, to whom we may come at all times.
Oh, yes, "we which have believed do enter into rest" in the Person of
the Well-beloved!

Next, we rest in His work. That work I can only roughly outline to you.
It was a life of perfect obedience, completed by a death of shame and
agony. The life and the death were all for us–in our place He obeyed
and suffered. "It pleased the Father to bruise Him. He has put Him to
grief." And because of that bruising and grief, it is written, "The
Lord is well pleased for His righteousness' sake. He will magnify the
Law and make it honorable." Sinners are reconciled to God

and all offense is removed. Such rest does the Father find in the life
and death of His well-beloved Son that He raised Him from the dead and
set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. God rests in the
work of Christ. And so do we.

Beloved, when you get a faith's view of the work of the Redeemer, do
you not feel that all your fears and forebodings are sweetly laid to
rest? The full Atonement, the perfect Righteousness, the glorious
Victory, are not these quiet resting places? The Covenant of Grace and
all the blessings it contains–are not these a joy forever? Can you not
say of the Word of the Lord–

"My faith can on this promise live, Can on this promise die"?

I scarcely need to mention, as a separate item, the perpetual life of
Christ. We have not a dead Savior. I heard one speaking about the blood
of Christ as a dead thing. But indeed that in which we trust has a
living efficacy. Beloved, the blood of Christ is the blood of a living
Christ. He died but not as a bullock dies at the altar. For He died to
live again, which the bullock could not do. We trust in Him who lives
and was dead and is alive forevermore. Because He lives we shall live,
also. Lift up your eyes and see your Lord upon the Throne! Behold Him
risen from the dead and know that He is coming soon, in all His Glory,
to receive you unto Himself. I ask you if you cannot find perfect rest
in the thought that He ever lives and is therefore able to save to the
uttermost?

Yes, preach Christ to the soul–He is true balm for its wounds. The
love of Jesus is a pillow for every aching head. Let our Lord be near
and, like John, we find rest upon His bosom. Do you ask me what is
comprehended in this rest? I answer–all things. Here we lay every
burden down. Personally I do at this moment rest in Jesus as to all the
past. Whatever there has been of sin to grieve over, whatever of
mistakes, folly, or wrong–all this is no more my load, for it was laid
on Jesus as my Scapegoat and He carried it away into the wilderness of
forgetfulness. He has finished transgression and made an end of sin.

I also rest in Him in reference to the present. Whatever there may be
of evil currently, or of need pressing, or of danger secret, or of
slander foul, I leave all with Him in whom my soul reposes, who says to
me, "Let not your heart be troubled." They say there is a skeleton in
every closet. I know of none in mine–yes, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. We are set free from
present fret and worry by that dear hand which rules all things and
causes all things to work together for good. Concerning today we enter
into rest.

But there is the future. We foolishly try to look through the veil
which hides the morrow from our view. But it is all in vain. Why should
we wish to know what God conceals? It is known to our Father in Heaven.
And that is enough for our faith. We can leave the future where we
leave the past. He that believes thus enters into rest as to the past,
the present and the future. We cast all our care on our Lord, for He
cares for us. The poor commits himself unto God. And when he has so
done, he is quiet and his soul is even as a weaned child. I see no
cloud in my sky–Jesus fills it all. How can the children of the
bride-chamber mourn while the Bridegroom is with them? Let us rest and
rejoice.

What are the excellencies of this rest which comes by believing? I
answer, they are very many. It brings us honor. "Unto you that believe,
He is an honor." It is a glorious thing to rest where God rests. Many
people would give their eyes to be invited to stay with the Queen. But,
oh, to dwell where God dwells, and to rejoice where God rejoices! Every
Believer has this dignity.

This rest is also a wonderful source of strength. When the tree strikes
deep root it gets vigor for fruitage. No man has any great power to
work successfully while he is worried. The fulcrum must rest, or the
lever will not work. Fret creates a great leakage in a man and his
force runs away uselessly. But when care is ended and he enters into
rest with Christ, then all the force and energy of his being turns to
holy service for God and man. Rest in Christ Jesus also gives an
incentive to diligence. For we feel that since we have such sweet rest
ourselves, we would wish others to have it. We tell the news which
gladdens us. We cannot hide from the multitudes around us the glad
tidings which have charmed away our griefs.

This rest also brightens life. When you enter into rest, life is not a
dull and dreary round, such as the blind horse finds at the mill. Life
is not a chain, which we must drag behind us–but wings on which we
soar into the joyous blue and hold converse with the choristers of
Heaven. I know not how to express my thankfulness that ever I had a
being, seeing it is crowned with well-being in Christ Jesus. I could
not say, "It is something better not to be." No, No, life is a favor
now that I know my Lord. This rest in Christ is a fair foretaste of
Heaven. We eat from the tables of celestials. "Men

did eat angels' food" in the wilderness. And so do we today. We drink
from the chalices of the glorified. When you rest in Christ you know
what Heaven's repose must be like and your heart is glad.

What are the limits of this rest? We may place them where we
will–"According to your faith, so be it unto you." "We which have
believed do enter into rest." It is an entrance and no more as yet. But
when an Israelite had an entrance into Canaan, it was his own fault if
he did not penetrate the interior and traverse the land from Dan to
Beersheba. "Ask, and you shall receive." "All things are possible to
him that believes." If you are not perfectly restful, it is not the
fault of the rest. If you are not as restful in heart as saints in
Heaven, you have only yourself to blame.

You have the same ground for rest as they have and the same Lord by His
Presence and power to work repose in your spirit–

"How sweetly rest Your saints above, Which in Your bosom lie! The
Church below does rest in hope Of that felicity."

There is not a joy in the Covenant of Grace but what you may have, if
you have faith enough to lay hold upon it. There is an unlimited range
of bliss before you–arise and take possession in the name of God. For
it is all yours.

But still, for the most part here below all that we can get is an
entrance–and we are happy if it is administered to us abundantly. We
cross the threshold of our Father's house and take the first chair in
the first room we come to–this is a great privilege. But let us go
further in and press into His Presence-chamber. Anyhow, let us say, "I
will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

III. Under the third head I must draw your attention to THE PERSONAL
ASSERTION OF THIS EXPERIENCE–"We which have believed do enter into
rest." I like the plain and positive speech of the Apostle for himself
and his friends. If the Apostle had belonged to the same school as some
of our good but weak Brethren, he would have said, "We that have
believed hope that we may some day know a little of what the rest of
faith means. We sometimes hope but more often fear. We are afraid to
believe too certainly, lest it should be presumption. We sometimes
indulge a faint hope that ultimately we may find rest."

This is very weak milk-and-water, and no one will ever get much joy out
of it. Let us attain to something better than this. Paul did not talk
so. He said, "We which have believed do enter into rest"–and he said
no more than is true. Some dog barks at me. I know what its bark means.
My opponent cries, "You are too dogmatic and too positive." To which I
reply, "I cannot help being dogmatic when I say that I see what I know
I have seen, and I declare that I feel what I know I am feeling." Would
you have me doubt my own consciousness? I know whether I am at rest or
not.

I do not invite any of you to say that faith gives you peace unless it
does so. It must be a matter of fact. We want no empty profession. I
remember hearing of a pious minister who was asked to speak one day
upon the subject of joy in God. He stood up and said, "I am sorry that
I have been requested to speak upon this topic. For the fact is, I am
not walking in the light but I am crying, 'Restore unto me the joy of
Your salvation.' I have grieved my heavenly Father and I am in the
dark." He sat down and sobbed. And so did all his Brethren.

This honest confession did far more good than if he had patched up a
tale and told of some stale experience years before. If you have not
entered into rest, do not say that you have. Fictitious experience is
dangerous to the forger of it. Experience borrowed from other people is
like the borrowed axe, sure to fall into the ditch and make its user
cry, "Alas,"

"Well," cries one, "we do not rest, we are hard at work for our Lord."
And so am I. But this is rest to me, now that I am at peace with God.
The labor of love for Christ is only another word for rest. He says,
"Take My yoke upon you: and you shall find rest unto your souls." Carry
Christ's burden and your shoulders shall have rest. We do not mean
sleep or idleness when we speak of rest–that is not rest but rust. Our
rest is found in the service of God.

"Oh," says one, "I have such a world of trouble!" Do you think you are
the only one? Some time ago I met with a certain younger brother who
has been made to suffer through taking the right side in the Down-Grade
controversy. He wrote to me of his sore trials. I sympathized with him.
But I reminded him that he was not alone in them. When Monte-zuma was
being roasted alive by the Spaniards, one of his nobles, who was being
tortured with him, cried out in his agonies. The king bade him be
quiet, adding, "Do you think that I am on a bed of roses?" No, my
Friend, you are by no means alone.

Tribulation is no strange thing to the favorites of Heaven. Is it,
therefore, impossible to rest? By no means. Does not our Lord say, "In
the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer. I have
overcome the world." The holy children enjoy their greatest peace in
the seven-times heated furnace. Our greatest joys swim on the crests of
the huge billows of trouble. Through much tribulation we come to the
kingdom and even in the midst of that tribulation, we glory, since we
enter into rest.

"Oh," says one, "I find a conflict going on within me." Do you? So do
I. Who does not feel a struggle while pressing forward towards
perfection? Can there be rest where there is conflict? I answer,
Assuredly. He that is at rest in his heart is the man to fight. While
he cries, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body
of this death?" he is able at once to add, "I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord." "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed."
Our confidence in Christ is not shaken, though all confidence in
ourselves is gone. The more we see of our wretchedness and vileness by
nature, the more we rest in Jesus.

"Oh," cries one, "sometimes my rest is broken." So it may be and yet
you may have it still. Put the pieces together again and have them well
riveted. Every now and then a child of God may fail as to the strength
of his faith and then he loses rest for a while. But as the Object of
his faith does not fail–since Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
today and for-ever–his rest soon comes back. Take down your harp. Your
peace is like a river and it flows with fresh waters. We have peace and
we must bear witness to it. For it is with many of us a matter of fact
that by believing we enter into rest.

This declaration, that we have rest, should always be made with a holy
purpose. We must not go about boasting of our peace. That is what
little children do who know no better–they say, "Look at my new
shoes." There are many silly children nowadays who cry, "Look, how
perfect I am!" Dear Child, it will be better for you to be seen and not
heard. When you bear witness to your own enjoyment of the rest of
faith, let it be your purpose, first, to glorify God who has given you
this rest. And next, that you may convince others that such a rest is
possible. How can we hope to convince others that there is the rest of
faith, unless we enjoy it ourselves?

Not long ago, one of our ministers was preaching upon salvation and the
work of the Spirit in the heart, when one of the congregation rose and
asked him respectfully, "Sir, do you know all this by the report of
others, or has this taken place in your own experience?" The preacher
was by no means put about by the question but rather rejoiced in it.
For he could honestly reply, "I have trusted Christ. I am saved and I
know and feel the peace which results therefrom." If he could not have
made that solemn statement, he would have had no influence over the
person who had put the question.

If we show by our daily lives that we rest in Christ, we shall be more
likely to draw troubled ones to Jesus. The man who was born blind, when
his eyes were opened, did not hesitate to say, "One thing I know:
whereas I was blind, now I see." This was a powerful argument to prove
the power and Godhead of Him who had opened his eyes.

Brethren, if you can say as much as this–"By believing I have entered
into rest," be thankful. For this privilege is a gift of love. It is a
wonderful instance of Sovereign Grace that such unworthy ones as we are
should enter into God's rest. But if you cannot say it, do not despair.
Make it a point of question with yourself, "Why cannot I thus speak?
Why have I not entered into rest? Is it because I have not believed?"
Perhaps some fault of character may prevent your enjoying perfect rest.
See where that flaw is. Are you living in any sin? If so, the sun may
have risen, but if there is a bandage over your eyes, you will still be
in the dark. Get rid of that which blinds the eye.

Or, are you trusting yourself as well as trusting in Christ? Are you
relying on your experience? Then I do not wonder if you miss the rest
of faith. Get rid of all that spoils the simplicity of your faith. Come
to the Lord anew this morning. Possibly you are sickly in body and this
may cause you discomfort for which you cannot otherwise account. Never
mind, you may come just as you are, with all your sickness, weakness,
or family trouble, and you may now rest in the Lord. Tell your grief to
Jesus and He will breathe on you and say, "Peace be unto you."

We ought to be at rest–we err when we are not. A child of God should
not leave his bedroom in the morning without being on good terms with
his God. We should not dare to go into the world and feel, "I am out of
harmony with my Lord. All is not right between God and my soul." A
husband, if perhaps he has had a difference with his wife, will not
feel happy in going to business while that little cloud remains. In
domestic life we are wise if we square all such matters before we
separate. Let us part with a kiss.

This method of unbroken fellowship should be carefully maintained
towards God. Be at perfect rest with Him. "Acquaint yourself with Him
and be at peace, for thereby good shall come unto you." Set all
straight today so that you can

say, "We which have believed do enter into rest." And when that is
done, if anything should again happen to break the golden chain, renew
it by faith. For by faith alone we stand. Destroy, by the power of
God's Spirit, everything which weakens faith. For this will disturb
your rest in God.

Oh, that all the way between here and Heaven we may journey on with
restful hearts, led beside the still waters! I have seen, in an old
book, a portrait of Mr. Sibbs, the famous Puritan, and it says at the
bottom of the likeness, "Heaven was in him before he was in Heaven."
Now, that must be so with us–for nobody gets into Heaven who does not
get Heaven into himself first. Oh, to get Heaven into us this morning
and keep it there forever!

"Alas," cries one, "I wish I had the rest you speak of but I cannot
find it, though I study much and work hard." Hearken to a parable–A
little bird of the air found itself in a Church. It was anxious to find
its way into the open air and so it flew aloft among the great timbers
of the roof, where it was half buried and almost blinded, by the dust
which lay thick upon the beams. There were no seeds, nor fruits, nor
waters in that dry and thirsty height. It then made a dash at a window,
glorious with many colors. But it found no way of escape. It tried
again and again and at last dropped stunned upon the pavement of the
aisle.

When it recovered itself a little, it did not again fly aloft. But
seeing the door open upon the level of the floor, it joyfully flew
through it into the open country. You are that bird. Your pride makes
you deal with high things up there in the roof. You are blinding
yourself among the lofty mysteries–there is no escape for you there,
nor rest, nor even life. You seek a way through the glory of your own
painted righteousness. But this will be death to you, if you persevere.

Drop down upon the floor of honest confession and lowly penitence. Come
to the ground by self-humiliation. When you get lower ideas of yourself
you will see before you the open door–Christ Jesus. As soon as you see
Him, use the wings of a simple faith and you are at liberty and no more
a captive doomed to die. May God bring you down, that He may exalt you
in due time, for Christ's sake! Amen.