The Rest in Reckoning - Part II
May 2023
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Every believer has abundant life in Christ Jesus. But every believer may not realize all the benefits and value of the cross or know how to apply these to their lives. A necessary part of discipleship is to teach correct doctrine and explain what Christ Jesus did at the cross and how we need to appropriate the finished work of the cross to every aspect of our lives.
Oftentimes, we are overwhelmed by problems and not yet aware of the cross as the only answer to them. Without full knowledge of the cross, we press on in desperation and seek for the remedy. Our yearning is for freedom and victory from struggle. There is the ebb and flow of striving, but, if we are honest with ourselves, there is seldom a moment of rest.
As we travel through our Romans 7 experience with self and the run-in with law, we learn that they only bring forth death. When properly taught the cross, we acknowledge that it is Christ Jesus and not our futile struggling that provides freedom from our bondage. When we finally cry out, as Paul did, “Who shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 7:24-25), the failures and attempts to self-liberate ourselves cease.
By means of the identification truths taught in Romans 6-8, we are made ready to receive God’s way to victory—and His only way—through the cross of Christ Jesus. The fallow ground of our hearts is tilled and readied to receive the seed of that singular truth. Once we begin to reckon, to take account of the finished work of the cross, the Holy Spirit is then able to show us and apply the work of the cross in our lives, and we experience the “rest” of the story.
REST IN THE MIDST OF GROWTH
Armed with the truth of the message of the cross, we can press on as we press in. Our appetite for more of the cross craves greater understanding, not an emphasis on our performance derived from activities. We seek to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18).
Hebrews 4:9-11 says, “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest.”
We cannot find rest as long as there is a struggle to produce. The principle of rest has to do with us being born in Him, by which we grow in Him.
LABOR TO REST
This is not an oxymoron. The word labor used in Hebrews 4:11 has to do with believing. It is altogether an exercise of faith to reckon that we died to sin and self when we are keenly aware of their presence and manifestation in our lives. Furthermore, it is also a labor to believe that we are new creations in Christ, when we are so assuredly alive to the “old man.”
The believer’s former reckoning to his assurance of salvation is preparation for his reckoning with identification. Now a total reliance on the specific truth of the Word, in the face of all that is contrary, is his only foundation for rest.
In order to rest, our faith must be exclusively in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. As we apply that to every area of our lives, the Holy Spirit conforms us to the image of Christ Jesus. This is what Jesus meant when He said that we are to take up our cross daily. God, in His creation, ceased from His works and rested on the seventh day. Likewise, our Lord Jesus Christ paid the sacrifice for sin and finished His work on the cross. Everything that followed after the cross—His resurrection and ascension—were a result of the cross. The sending of the Holy Spirit to the church was a result of the cross, as explained by Jesus in John 16:7. Regeneration was only possible because of the cross. Old Testament saints were saved by faith but did not receive the inward habitation of the Holy Spirit. After the cross, new believers are regenerated and become new creations in Christ Jesus. The new creation was formed in Christ to a new position and condition of righteousness. No longer is any work required to earn or maintain righteousness.
THE HOLY SPIRIT
New Testament saints have a distinct advantage over those who were under the law of Moses and those who believed in God before the law. Before the cross, God could only reveal his existence through His creation and man’s conscience. God would personally reveal Himself to a few men who sought the Lord with a pure heart—Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, etc. Fallen man would worship the creation instead of the Creator who made all things. The conscience can become seared and lose its moral compass, corrupted by sin and steering man deeper into sin rather than closer to God. The inward work of the Holy Spirit will always point to Christ. Jesus said, “He will glorify me.” God will not honor any other way than Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
CAIN’S OFFERING
An excellent example is that of Cain. Due to man’s sin, God had cursed the ground. Cain brought an offering to God that came from cursed ground. God told Cain that if he did well, then he would be accepted. Without the law or a Bible, how was one to know if he was doing right or wrong? The Hebrew word for doing good is tov. We see this word used often in regard to creation—God saw that it was tov, etc. The word in the Hebrew means to be in harmony with God. Cain offered something that was cursed by God and not in harmony with God. God would tell Cain that sin lies at the door so he could do well by God. The word sin is chatak in the Hebrew, and it means “unintentional mistakes or sins.” The very act of Cain to offer fruit or vegetables may not have been sin, but at least an unintentional mistake. However, to be in harmony with God and to be accepted by Him, Cain needed to take the offering that God supplied so he could be in harmony with God. The evidence of Cain’s actions reveal the condition of his heart. Sin (disobedience) was in his heart and murder of his brother was the result of his rejection of God. Sin shows us what happens when we do not desire to go God’s way to be in harmony with Him. The cross is God’s way. Jesus made it clear to us that He is the way, the truth and the life. We must not bring any other offering to God lest we be out of God’s will; out of harmony with Him. However, when we do go His way, we walk in truth and have His life in us.
Now you know the “rest” of the story!
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