Heed God’s Promise of Rest!

Isaiah 28

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, January 19.

Why is it that the people of God, throughout history, have struggled to heed God’s promise for rest? We say we want peace and quiet, yet we sabotage it at every level of our existence – internally, externally, personally, and publicly. God cries out to His people in Isaiah 28:11-12, and 16:

Indeed, He will speak to this people through stammering lips and a foreign tongue, He who said to them, “Here is rest, give rest to the weary,” and, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen. … Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.”

In Romans 10:9-11, Paul quoted the last sentence of verse 16, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.’” Furthermore, Paul bookended his point in Romans 9:33 when he quoted the first part of verse 16, putting the promise of salvation in between the two quotes of Isaiah 28:16, emphasizing the ancient truth that righteousness can only be imputed by faith.

Rest must be received! Israel did not listen when confronted by the Assyrian Empire. Later, Judah did not listen when confronted by the Babylonian Empire (Jeremiah 6:16). Jesus is confronting all people with it in Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Are you listening?

Seize the moment and heed God’s unceasing promise of rest – it’s yours to have so “cease striving and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Are you sabotaging your experience of this promise in your life?

God bless you!

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YOUTUBE:

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