What are we to do? Enter into the rest of God. This is our work with Him. (1 Corinthians 6:1; Hebrews 4:8-12)

Speaker(s):Thomas Schaller
Sermon 12188
7:00 PM on 10/27/2021

P. Schaller –

(Prayer) Could you with your neighbor sitting right next to you have a prayer with them for something on your
heart maybe? Whatever. Family, finances, health. Say a prayer right where you are seated with
somebody next to you. Okay. Yes. Let’s pray one more prayer together, alright? (Prayer). Just
shortly I just want to say Jeremiah 5:31. I want to read something to you. I shared it this morning in
our devotional on the – and it was about President Garfield giving a speech. He was elected
president in 1881. “More than ever before” – this is what he said “the people are responsible for
the character of their Congress.” The people are responsible. We are responsible for who is
there. “if that body in Congress is ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people
tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is
because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature.” I
am responsible.

I am responsible. I am. I am responsible. Now, this is – he said this, “If the next centennial” – that’s a hundred years; 1881 would be 1981. He says, “if the next centennial does not find us a great nation, it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.” He’s saying if it goes bad, then the people are not deciding the politics. The people are not. In this case, the people – look
at Jeremiah 5:31. There are people that are teaching and are talking in our world and they are lying.
vs. 31. My people, they don’t mind having the liars, the false pretenses, the corruption, the
immorality. They don’t mind but you mind. That’s a question for you. Do you mind? Do you
mind? That’s a good question. We are very passive as people when it comes to what we are
talking about here. We are to be caring.

What are some things you care about? How about sex trafficking? How about extortion? How about abuse? What about lying? What about dishonesty? What about broken contracts? What about a lack of character and there’s no guts. No courage. The Holy Spirit is in you and the Holy Spirit anoints you to love righteousness and hate iniquity.
Do you hate it? Yes, we do. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I do. I hate it. I hate it. If it happens to you
– if you’ve been ripped off, if somebody has abused you, if you’ve been mistreated, if somebody
stole from you, if somebody slandered you, okay. That’s part of life, but are you okay with any of
that happening in this world to other people. And this happening in the world and in our culture?
It’s like no. I don’t like it. I don’t want it. I do not – my people love to have the dishonesty
because they are dishonest. They’re perverted. They’re a sexual pervert so they love to have it
so. That just drives me crazy. It’s wrong. And Garfield said if our country goes down the tubes,
it’s because the people, the people. What did Jesus say here in Jeremiah.

He’s saying “and my people love to have it so: and what will you do where it takes you in the end thereof?” Will we
lose our children? Will we lose our freedoms? Will we lose our economy? Will we lose our
traditions? Will we lose our holidays? Will we lose our rights? I’m not trying to say – I’m saying
something political but behind it is something very personal and spiritual. And that’s when
something is wrong, there should be some flag in your heart. And there must be some fight in
you. There’s got to be something going on in you from the Holy Spirit. That’s Micah 3:8 by the
way. Flip over there for a minute. This will be short, and then we’ll do the offering and preach a
short message. This Micah 3:8 is a memory verse. Micah 3:8, it’s the same thing by the way,
similar. 3:5 the prophets. They say peace but that’s because somebody is feeding them, literally
giving them food. They chew with their teeth.

They say peace. You like that? I’m going to get money. You’re going to give me money because I’m going to tell you what you want to hear. How about the preacher that said to Oprah Winfrey I never speak about those social issues.
Never about abortion. Never about homosexuality. Never about – what was the third one?
Adultery. Never speak about those things. Okay. Great. Thank you very much. What good are
you doing? What good are you doing? Is anybody ever born again unless you are convicted of
your sin and come to an end. You are physicians of no value. You are liars. You are part of the
whole world. You don’t know Christ. You don’t know the spirit of holiness. Jesus Christ was
crucified because he contradicted the spirit of the world. So there needs to be something
happening inside of you as a believer. This happens. You grow. You learn to meditate on the
Word and enjoy it. I want to speak about that tonight for a little bit. Look at Micah 3. The
prophets are doing it for pay, for money.

Micah 3:9, you hate justice. The rulers. The rulers hate justice. Are you kidding me? You’re ruling over us and you hate justice and you fine me for a parking ticket? You’re abusing. You’re lying and cheating and corrupt and getting paid off and we vote you into office? That’s incredible. These rulers abhor people like you and I when we say something is wrong. That’s a lie. I don’t believe that. I am a free man. I can decide. I walk with
God. God is speaking to me from the Bible. Remember the Bible? Remember the Bible?
Remember conviction? Remember the Ten Commandments? Remember truth? Do you have
any idea? No you don’t have because your mind cannot be renewed cause if you are not born
again, you cannot have a renewed mind. You can have a moral mind but not a renewed mind.
So you go with the whole group. It says something about the priests there. They teach for pay in
vs. 11. So you have three categories: rulers, prophets, and priests and the whole thing is
corrupt. But not Micah. And this is what Micah says in vs. 8. I don’t buy it. I don’t buy it. I don’t
buy it. Do you hear that?

I don’t buy it. I don’t accept it. I am full of power. I have the power of the Holy Spirit. I don’t accept it. Thank God I am with people that don’t accept it. I thank God I am with people that have the Holy Spirit and have the power of God in their lives. They say it’s wrong. They say it’s wrong. They say that adultery is wrong. They say that sleeping around is
wrong. They say that marijuana is wrong. You hear it on the radio, medical marijuana and the
whole thing. And free this and free that and the whole thing. Do you have anything in you? Any
fire? Any spiritual hunger for holiness and God and truth? That’s the answer. That’s what I want.
That’s what I’m looking for. That’s what I need. I don’t need the filth of the world to satisfy me. It
never will. It won’t. This is what Micah said, vs. 8. Sex trafficking. Are you kidding me? Lock
them up. Lock them up. Get justice. I want justice. That’s abuse. That’s not justice. That’s
abuse. That’s criminal. That’s wrong. Do we have any idea what crime is and where the law
comes in and where we love righteousness and justice and Micah did. Micah did. How about
you? I’m telling you the Christian church is sliding.

It’s all the way in the garbage can and in the swamp of humanity without the Spirit of God. It’s the same for us. I go all the way except the Spirit of God. That’s the answer for our lives. The Spirit of God. You repent if you have any part
to any of that. Any of that. Stay away from it. You repent of it. You say not me. I don’t want it. I
want a godly life, a satisfied life, a blessed life. I want a ministry life. I want to lead people to
Christ. I want the joy of the Lord in my heart. I want truth in my veins, in my blood. I want truth. I
want Christ in my life. I put off the old man and put on the new man. vs. 8. No, I am full of the
power of the Spirit of the Lord. Isaiah is my friend. Micah, they were probably friends. Micah
could say Isaiah is my friend. And Joel and Amos. I know those men. Those men are men of
God. The false prophets, we don’t have any of that written in our Bible. They’re false prophets.
It’s gone like the dust. They’re words mean nothing. They change nothing. They are just part of
the whole corruption. But not Micah.

Micah is saying, vs. 8.Okay. Would you pray for the offering right now with me? Would you stand with me for a moment and turn to each other for a moment and say, boy. The pastor is a little angry tonight. I don’t know what is going on! I’m not angry! How are you doing?! Go ahead. Say to your neighbor. We have a picture of Bob
Hotchkiss up on the screen here. Remember Joanne and his wife? I mean Joanne, his wife, and
he was a missionary. He was in Lenox and through the years and in Hungary with us as a
missionary. He was in Korea, South Korea. P. Devries said he’s a dearly loved Greater Grace
missionary. He lived in Korea. The Lord gave him a ministry of investing and Bible teaching in
our local assembly. Every semester he taught Bible college classes, discipled individuals. He
was always ready to help when we needed something done. His heart for missions was
continually exemplified in his prayers for the lost, especially in the Philippines. After South
Korea, he went to the Philippines. We will miss him and are so thankful for his portion in Christ.
We’re going to be seeing him again. How soon? Go ahead.

Turn to your neighbor and say, how soon? When is that going to happen? Huh? Whoa. Wow. Yeah. Amazing. Amazing. Okay, you may be seated. One simple principle I want to share with you tonight is from 2 Corinthians 6:1. I always
wondered when I was in Bible college cause I’m like young and energetic. I want to do
something. So what do I do as a Christian? I know God has done a lot for me. God has saved
me. God has given me grace. God has given me the Holy Spirit. Now, what do I do? What do I
do? So I was always sitting in the classes and always listening for what do I do? What should I
do? So, I learned little by little that the teaching of the Bible is really something – we could say
mystery. There is a mystery in the Christian faith. I wanted a manual for what I do, like tell me
what to do. I can get it done. Tell me what to do. God did his part. What do I do? Give me the
manual. Steps 1 through 10. Give me a thick book I could read, I could obey it. I could do it.

Tell me what I should do? That was the way I was thinking. After sitting here for a while, – by the
way, I want to introduce Mancorn to everybody. Would you like to stand for a second. Bible
school. Bible school. He’s a great – he’s from India. A young guy. Was in New York. He had a spiritual person in his life. He got saved how long ago? Six months ago. And strangely, the
spiritual person counseling him, praying for him, leading him to Christ said I feel you’re
supposed to be in Baltimore. Yeah. And so they looked up Baltimore. They saw a Bible school,
and the woman said that’s the place for you. So he came here to go to Bible school out of the
blue. Out of the blue! What about that? That’s amazing. We have another brother Caleb from
Tennessee. He’s another one. He’s in Tennessee. God spoke to him. You are to go to
Baltimore. Remember? And he did. He’s here in Bible school.

That’s amazing. What do I do? This was my question, you know. What do I do? I want to speak about that for a few minutes tonight. 6:1, I like that. Working together with God. I want to work together with him. But how
does he work? And what does it mean to work together with him? Who is he? I have to work
together with him. You know how in the Old Testament they were taught the Jews couldn’t link
up animals that were different from each other. They had to be paired with the same kind of
animal. A cow with a cow. An ox with an ox. They couldn’t mis-match the animals. As an
unbeliever, I would be a mis-match with God. It wouldn’t work. He’s different from me. We would
walk differently. Our eyes would be different. Our, the animals that were different. It would be
like with God. The wool and the linen is another example. You cannot mix the wool and the
linen. They had to all be this way or this way, so these are pictures for us of how we must be
like him. We are born again with his nature. And we are like him.

That’s the miracle of his work. We are regenerated. We are like him. We have a new nature. We are like him. Maybe that’s all I have to say tonight. That’s the message. Wouldn’t you be happy that the messae would be that
short? We are like him. We can work together with him. But many times we find in the Christian
faith that the Christian is working for God not working with God. We’re working to find God or
we’re working for justification. We’re working for finding favor. But all of this has been done
through Christ. We have been accepted. We have been regenerated. We are born of the Spirit.
We are standing in grace. We are forgiven and redeemed. We are dwelling in eternity now. We
dwell, inhabit heavenly places in the high and lofty place with the eternal God for eternal life.
Take hold of eternal life. He is in us. We have eternal life in John. 5:24. So I want to say a couple
things about it. Look at vs. 1 one more time.

The main part of the verse is that first part. We then as workers together with him, and what is that to work together with him? Turn to Hebrews 4 for a similar passage. Oh, I think the Holy Spirit has a lot to say to us. Oh I think he does. I think in these days we are living, the Holy Spirit wants you to be really built up, edified. I think the Holy
Spirit wants you and I to learn to wait on God. Waiting on God. Psalm 40:1, to wait upon God.
What does it mean? This is one of the things we do when we work together with God is that we
respect him and are quietly waiting on God, truth. Relating to God in truth. Submitted to God in
truth. Waiting on God. Waiting for a phone call might be hard, but it might be a long wait.
Waiting on somebody’s decision. Waiting on somebody who has authority. Waiting and resting.
Waiting and trusting in the character of the person I’m trusting. I’m trusting. Maybe a woman
waiting upon like trusting her husband, or the husband trusting his wife. They are a team. They
work together, but part of the work is to trust, wait, be patient. I

t’s God that is leading. It’s God who has this thing called life who can govern your life and direct your life and to wait upon God. Moses wanted to liberate the Jews so he murdered somebody. It didn’t work until 40 years later
he met God at the burning bush, and he told God, told him to take his shoes off. Cause my work
is not done your way. I need you to wait upon me and trust me and obey me. I need you to go
back to Egypt. Forty years away from Egypt and he needs to go back. The last place on earth.
He’s been a fugitive and he goes back. This has something to do with working together with
God. It’s a different time frame. Maybe somebody goes to Bible college. I remember that idea, I
had a friend in Bible college. We’ll go to Bible college. He said I just need about six months. I’ll
go to Bible college and I’ll go to Africa as a missionary. Doesn’t work. The brokenness of a long
period of time. The brokenness of things not going my way in my time frame.

The brokenness of feeling like I don’t understand, but I can wait upon you and trust you. I don’t know why you don’t
answer me, but I wait upon you and I trust you. A second thing that we do when we walk with
him and we work with him is that we learn his thoughts. Meditation on the Word. In high school
today, I made an effort to teach the high school class about meditation. And we took some
Scripture and I taught them. One thing I said if you found a letter out on the street that was
sealed and with no name, maybe one name, but you opened it and you read it, what would be
the questions you would ask if you opened that letter? You would ask where did it come from?
When was it written? Who was it written to? And what is being said? When you read the Bible, you want to ask those questions. Who is talking? What is he saying? Why is he saying it? Why
is he saying it this way? When you start to process the Word and ask the big questions and
think about it, the Holy Spirit will give you something to meditate on and it won’t be you.

It will be him. His thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways. You can develop a habit
of meditation in the Word if you can let your own immediate life go. Let it go. That’s not that
important. Let it go. Have priority on what God is thinking. Have a habit of meditation. Then, yes.
You will eat lunch. Yes, you will have a job. Yes, you will – all of this stuff – but those things will
not fill your life and steal your life so you can’t work with God. We then as workers together with
him. Waiting on him. And then also thinking with him. Thinking. Meditation about biographies
and doctrines and meditations of poems and proverbs. Meditations of histories and meditations
of prophets and meditations of songs. Meditations of miracles and parables. Meditations. I was
telling my grandson today driving him into school this morning a parable.

I said can I tell you a parable? He said, sure. And so we talked about the parable of the man who went to Home
Depot and got some workers at six in the morning and brought them to the garden and went
back at 10:00. Got more workers and went at noon and brought them home to work on his
garden. And at 2:00, and then finally at 4:00 he went back and he got another. I think 5:00. One
hour left in the day and he went and got another worker. And then it was pay time. He started
with the last one and he gave him a full day’s pay, a full day’s pay. He worked one hour and all
through the day. And the guys that worked the whole day started to complain about it. They
said, it’s not fair! It’s not fair! I said, Ethan, you’re going to hear a lot in this world when people
say it’s not fair. But check your heart because God is good and if he wants to be good and give
an enormous gift to somebody, then let him do so. Never become jealous.

Never compare. But enjoy and be thankful for everything we have. So there’s a young man. He’s 13 years old. He
learns a little parable. A dad or a granddad has something to say. And this is how we live. Do
you realize that our country has forsaken the Bible and the church, and has forsaken a godly
education as a habit, as a policy, as a rule of government? Do you realize that the family and
the home is important and the church life and our relationships and our teaching? Because we
are not wasting our life in a small world. No. We’re a small – P. Lange’s famous statement – I’d
rather be a small part of something big than to be a big part of something small. What a good
statement. Big part of my small life. I don’t want to be a big part of my small life or my small
world. My addictions. My bad habits. My grievances. My jealousies. My bitterness. My unbelief.
All that stuff is so small. And so, I want to be small and walk with God whatever he has for us,
right? That’s what we have. We’re going to finish.

Turn to Hebrews 4 please, and this is vs. 8-9. I don’t know how to explain that more beautifully than the way it is written. There is a rest. A rest for the people of God. It’s not a cessation of activity. It’s another kind of rest. It’s a rest from fear.
A rest from worry. A rest from guilt. It’s a resting, resting from the burdens of life. Resting from
our worries and our fears. There is a rest for the people of God. When you and I are colaboring
with God, there is a rest. God is a God of rest. He rested on the seventh day. He’s not worried
about a thing. He’s rejoicing in his love. He is confident in his plan. He is reality. Reality is rest.
The believer has a rest. There is a rest for the people of God. Look at what it says, vs. 10. No
working for the rest. He’s ceased from his work as God did from his. Now here comes the part
and I do want to finish it. It goes like this, vs. 10. Let’s be diligent. Let’s be intentional. Let’s be
careful about this. Let’s make calculations.

Let’s make an effort to enter that rest. If it exists, let’s be diligent to enter into the rest. vs. 11. Well, that’s what I said in the beginning? What do I do? What do I do? God has done his work. Now what do I do as a believer? Enter his rest. What do you mean? How do I enter his rest? Wait upon him. Trust in him. Follow him. It’s not your plan.
It’s him. You are like him. You have his nature. You are a worshiper of him. You are trusting in
him. Hear from his Word. So when I realize this, I started to relax and have a lot of thanksgiving
and realize my life is simple. I’m just walking with a God that has entered into rest, and I’m
walking with him in this life with rest. With peace. With his thoughts. With meditation. And so
meditating on the Word. Memorizing it and thinking about it. I just started to drop things.
Literally, I had this idea of going beyond the stuff and spending time in his presence waiting on
God and meditating on what he has said. And believing him, embracing it.

I could actually feel and sense the Holy Spirit in my life, and I started to like have that kind of spirit that Micah said
he had in 3:8. He said that the Spirit of power from the Spirit of God is in my life. I love justice. I
love justice and what is right and true. That happens to you. That’s your life. That’s our world.
But I got to say, you can’t feed on the garbage can and end up like finding your rest. You can’t feed in a swamp and just kind of get all messed up with sinful living, sinful living. You learn how
to cast it away and enter into the rest. The rest is better than sin. The rest we have is better than
our way. The rest is the way of God. Look at the last part, vs. 12. That’s what will do it. That will
change your life. The Word of God. God’s Word. How can two walk together unless they be
agreed? They’re agreeing. You and God. One time we had a couple and the husband stopped
talking to his wife for six months. Not a word. And it was his way of torturing her, like hurting her
because he was hurt. He was so frustrated and he was feeling so bad about his marriage, he
just shut down. He shut down and he shut up. He stopped talking.

Not a word for six months. And I thought about that with God. There are people that are angry with him. They cannot wait upon God. They don’t have it. They can’t wait upon him and listen to him and be submitted.
Remember Job. Job was filled with words and he talked and talked and talked and remember
God is saying, come on. You are the man. You are the man. I am for you. Come on, Job. I’m
humbling you. You humble yourself. Come on, Job. Think with me. Come on. I am for you, Job.
Walk with me. And Job did and God gave him back twice and he honored the man and I think
he does the same for you and me. There’s nobody in this room that could not walk with God,
walk with God and enjoy it your whole life. Your whole life say man I don’t know. I got this. God’s
with me. I’m unworthy of it but he’s with me. I’m unworthy of it but he’s taking care of me. I sense
his grace. I’m walking in grace. Not grace to sin. I got an issue with that a little bit. It’s not grace
to sin. I got grace so I can live like hell. I got grace so I can do whatever I damn please. Okay?

No. No. that’s a rip off. This grace is so great that you fall in love with righteousness and truth
and humility and you actually have a habit of walking and waiting upon God as a way of life. And
he’s feeding you. He’s helping you. You love righteousness and hate iniquity. And yes, when we
fall and we sin there is grace for us. Absolutely. But that grace is for us to be restored, to be
forgiven, to get up and get going and not do it anymore. It’s for us to be free. And if I fall again,
the grace is there for me to get up and get going and not do it anymore. And that’s in our nature,
because we are like God now cause of our new birth.

Amen.

Please enjoy these sermon notes from the messages preached at Greater Grace Church in Baltimore. These notes are provided to aid in your study and understanding of the Word. Note that these notes do not represent complete, word-for-word transcriptions. Also, they may contain omissions as well as some errors in spelling and structure, etc., as we attempt to provide them as soon as possible. Our hope is that these notes serve as a way to help you search and connect with messages on related subjects and passages. Thank you for your interest in the ministry of Greater Grace.