Rest (3-31-11)

Matthew 11:28-30 - "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

In this passage Jesus offers rest to all those who have labored under the heavy burden of sin. Through His death on the cross, Jesus abolished sin and now offers peace and rest to all those who will come to Him, confessing themselves as sinners. It is a rest in the finished work of salvation.
Apart from Christ people will be judged based on their works. We're told in Revelation 20:11-12 that everyone who's name was not found written in the book of life was judged "according to their deeds". And everyone who expects to be saved according to their works will be cast into the lake of fire. There are so many people in the world today that are depending on their works to save them. Ever since the garden of Eden man has had a knowledge of good and evil, and man, in general, strives to do the right thing, and all religions in the world are based on this kind of thinking. It all comes down to a bunch of rules, do this, or, don't do that. And trying to live according to rules and regulations, whether those rules are a part of mans religion or his own self righteous standards, is very tiresome and exhausting. And even we as Christians sometimes can get into a legalistic mindset, in which we think we have to do certain things at certain times in order to obtain Gods favor.
But Christ offers a solution to this. "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Jesus wants us to rest in Him constantly. We don't rely on what we say or do in order to obtain Gods favor. We simply rest in Christ and His finished work. And that's not to say that we never do good works, we do. But we do them, not out of fear of consequences, but out of our love for Him. The love of Christ controls us, and it's Him who is working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

Hebrews 4:1-3 - "Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, "As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest," although His works were finished from the foundation of the world."

Hebrews 3:10 - "For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His."