To Remember Leads To Rest

 When God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, He told them to REMEMBER the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy. The Sabbath Day was a day of Rest.

But why REMEMBER?. REMEMBER what?

He told them that it's a day to remember that it was God who delivered them from slavery. The slavery was leading them to death. There was nothing good they could do to get themselves out and there was nothing good they could do to pay God back for His deliverance . It was completed. (Deuteronomy 5:12,15)

But what about now?

God's Son, Jesus came to do exactly the same thing. His name is also Lord. God warned the Israelites this would happen by telling them to know that God and Lord are one, so that they would recognize Him. Jesus came to deliver us from this slavery inside of us, called sin. This slavery only leads to death. There's nothing we can do to save ourselves from it and there's nothing good we can do to pay Jesus back for saving us.

We can't keep commandments to be rescued by Jesus and we can't keep commandments to pay Jesus back for His deliverance.

If we decide we want to pay Jesus back by our good deeds, we must understand that the payment must be perfect otherwise it can't be accepted. Does anyone have a perfect payment? I know I don't!

We know we're not perfect, so it's best to stop trying to pay Jesus back for what He already willingly paid in full.

The quickest way to Rest, is to REMEMBER.. Remember that every single thing has been paid for. Completed. Finished.

If we can't remember this, we will forever work to please, to gain, to pay back, get ahead and it will forever result in a lack of rest.

So what do we remember exactly? What all did Jesus pay for? What all did He complete?

He completed much but today I want to focus on the fact that he completed every single command in the Bible. Every last bit of them. He got rid of the law by obeying everything in it and taking away the punishment for the person who breaks any part of the law. That punishment was death. (Romans 6:23)

Jesus removed death of the law and the law as a whole by fulfilling it, so that no one would have to die by breaking the law.

He perfectly obeyed everything. Now He's His own law, because he fulfilled the requirements of the law. And it is perfectly completed. (Galatians 5:18) (Ephesians 2:15) (Matthew 5:17)

What did He complete in that law?

Be kind, love, forgive, turn the other cheek, give, submit, obey, respect, don't be bitter, flee lust, walk in the Spirit, pray, seek first the kingdom of God, be good, make peace, carry one another burdens..

The list goes on

When Jesus came to Earth as a human and God, His human side perfectly obeyed every single command there could ever be. This is why Only Jesus can be pleasing in the eyes of our perfect God.

These commands have all been checked off the list by Jesus. We can't pay Jesus back by going to this list and trying to check all of them off. They're already checked off.

Trying to complete the commands in the Bible reveals a lack of Faith in Jesus. It shows that we don't truly believe that when He said it is finished, it was finished. It shows that we think He needs us to complete whatever He left behind. It shows that we think Jesus did His part and then He left us to do our part.

If this was true, Jesus' death is in vain. If it was possible for us to do "our part" perfectly, there would be no point in Jesus coming to die for us.  If we desire to be pleasing in the sight of our Creator God, then have Faith in His Son's completed work and stop trying to complete what Jesus already completed. (Galatians 2:21)

It is a slap in His face and disrespectful to the Cross that Jesus had to bear for us.

Jesus says for us to obey HIS commands, but He knows that we can't do this! He simply desires that we have Faith that He did! When we have this faith in Him, He makes His completed work come Alive IN US. If we have this faith in Jesus, wouldn't He make sure we obeyed the commands by Him doing it in us? Faith in Jesus does not cause you to not obey the commands. It actually makes you want to obey the commands because He's doing it all in you! It's faith for His complete control over us.

(Ephesians 2:8,9) (Galatians 5:6)

If you feel like you NEED to obey the commands of Jesus then this is not Faith. Faith will not make you feel needed to. Faith will make you WANT to do good because it is only God who works in us both to WANT TO do good and then to even do the good. (Philippians 2:13)

We need to REMEMBER. The more we REMEMBER the more we Rest

May the Holy Spirit help us to Remember the true work that's been done, so that we can Rest and Let Jesus work in us and through us!

God knows what His Word says. He inspired the Words. He knows that there are commands in there that need to be completed. He's not crazy. If we have faith that He knows and that He did them, we will finally rest and we will finally see Jesus do a REAL work in us and through us.

Many of us are tired because we are trying to do Jesus' completed work for Him.

He who STARTED a GOOD WORK , IN you, will PERFORM it until the day of Jesus Christ. ( Philippians 1:6)

This is to say, GOD started a good work in you and it has to be GOD who needs to perform the good works in you until Jesus comes back.

We can't perform a good work in us that we didn't start. Let's stop trying to be the performers of good works. 

Let Jesus work IN you! Remember what He did and Rest!

How has this encouraged you today?