In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of being prepared to help others in need. He states that God provides abundantly and expects us to share what we have with those who are suffering. The preacher warns that neglecting to help others is a serious offense in God's eyes. He also encourages listeners to find rest in God and not to be overwhelmed by fatigue or challenges. The sermon references biblical stories and encourages listeners to enter into God's rest and trust in His provision.

Thou hast read that thou must live in me and walk in Christ, that is because I have opened my heart in love to thee and be thee welcome. And so dost thou have fellowship with thy God. Now then this is the basis of all fellowship and there is none without it. Walk in each other with washed feet and with clean hands and know the love of thy brother and thy sister who has been purified in me as I have purified thee. For ye are members one of another as well as members of me and this is the whole concept of truth from which I came to redeem you. That you should be open one to another, nothing closed, nothing done in secret, everything open and every heart welcoming each other saying come into me. Know my love for I love thee. Know that which my God has given me for he gave it me for thee. And so shall you all become members one of another in truth and not in word only. You know that hymn number 64 in the blue it's so precious isn't it? All praise to our redeemed Lord who joins us, restores us to you. Because sin separates, sin always separates and God has to take sin out of lives before he can join them. You can become a sort of a camp follower before that you see. You can sort of say oh this is where I like to be and been treading on the periphery and you could call yourself a Christian but until your sins being dealt with you can't be joined. That's why you can't join a church. You can't do that. That's impossibility. Jesus adds, you read the Acts of the Apostles, tells you quite plainly there, the Lord adds to the church, nobody else can. By nothing that any may be clerical or common, nothing. They can't add you to the church, only Jesus. That's a precious and glorious thing. People can add you to a denomination but that counts as nothing. But it's a marvelous thing to be joined one to another isn't it? Cheers. And of course that crosses all the barriers and that's everything. Until then there's never any real peace. But what a marvelous thing too as I was thinking on from there and brother prayed about pouring out our alabaster boxes of ointment. Did you ever think and I can remember the day when it struck me with great force. Did you ever think that that woman could only do that because she had it with her. See people don't carry alabaster boxes of ointment around in the East. You go and see. She had it with her. I'm quoting Luke 7 now of course, told you the chapter really but there it is. And she had it with her. In other words beloved, she didn't say no I'll go and find out where Jesus is then I'll go back home and get my ointment and then I'll do this. She had it with her. She was determined to do it. She brought it for that purpose. I'd better put that away. I'm such a fiddler. They taught me to fiddle when I was young. I mean this way. But here is the tremendous thing beloved. She had it so she could do it and you can't do it unless you've got it. So you see we can take up these delightful scriptural phrases. They mean something in a very very sort of pseudo spiritual realm often there's no accusation what I say but beloved what I need to see what we all need to see is this. I saw it. She had it with her. And just to realize that set me thinking for half an hour. Don't know whether it does suit that like things like that to you. When people talk about reading their portions I say oh Lord I can't get past a word sometimes and they want me to read chapters. Well sometimes I do. I read a whole book. But here is the whole glorious thing. She had it with her. And did you ever think this too? This is important. The good Samaritan had the oil and the wine with him too. He had it with him. He had it with him. And you know why he could pour in oil and wine? Because he had it to pour out first. You can't pour in anything until you can pour out. Simple as that. Think of him as the man that was the poorer out. Think of him who might have had a motto which read RFA ready for anything. Listen and I'll tell you why. He was on the journey. Now that determines whether you're ready for anything. Whether you're on a journey or just happen to pass by that way like the priest did and the Levite. They should pass that way. But the Samaritan was on a journey. He was equipped. He had everything it needed. I think he must have been a Timothy if I want to start relating in scripture. For this is what Paul said to Timothy. A man of God through the furnished unto every good work. Amen. You've read that haven't you? I want to tell you the chapter. Read it again. Here's the glory of it. Have you got it? You can't be a good Samaritan unless you've got it. You may have aspirations. It may be a lovely thought. I'll tell you why it's such a lovely thought just because you see oil and wine aren't in the charismatic gifts for instance. You won't find them there. There's no oil, wine. You got that clear? In other words you haven't got to be especially gifted or talented person. You've just got to have oil and wine. That's all. You don't need me to tell you that the oil stands for the Holy Spirit. The wine speaks of the essence of the crushed life of Jesus Christ. Never think that the wine speaks of the Holy Ghost. It doesn't. I'm the vine said Jesus. You can't say the Holy Ghost was. He said he was. And it was the wonderful if you like spiritual life that that man of Bethlehem and Nazareth and Galilee and Calvary lived. And it poured out. Mingle those together. The essence of the life of the God man and the Holy Ghost poured out. Hallelujah. Of course you know that the oil comes from crushed olives too. And when you're living in this crushed area, when you've got it, then of course you can minister to anybody left half-dead. You've been there. People think it's a gift they get from God. Well I suppose it isn't. All things that pertain to life and godliness. Peter said, you remember, they're given to us. He's given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. If you're going to put in the realm of gift, right. It's not a charismatic gift. It's not the word charismatic. Hallelujah. And it's all from God. And that man was taken up to heaven from his crushed state when the very essence of him came out in words like, can you imagine the agony of his voice? Father, forgive them. That's how it started. They know not what they do. Well it's all in. The why. See, oil will make your face shine. You can use it cosmetically. Wouldn't you like to do that? I wish some people use that kind of cosmetic. I don't like the other stuff. I wish they did. And wine will make glad the heart of man. So you see, here you are. You're cosmetically perfect. Oh my precious sister, will you strive for that and throw the other rubbish away? That's all imitation. Here, this is the real. And you, and if your heart's glad. Amen. With the life of Christ. But you've got to have it with you. I'll have to go back. You've got to go right the way back to Samaria or somewhere to get it. Man would have been dead. That's the trouble. Whilst the church is trying to get what it takes, people are dying all around us. Absolutely dying. You know they are. You've got to have it. You've got to have it with you. You've got to have it on you. Of course it was easier really for Mary, Bethany, because you know that the feast they gave to Jesus was pretty well next door, Bethany. And so she only had to have it with her, just down the road. And Jesus was there. I'm quoting now from John. I nearly talked to the chapter. And they're there, and of course Matthew and others too. And Mary comes and she sees Jesus sitting and she anoints his head. Everything. Fills the house you know when you do break a box of alabaster. Fills the house with ointment. It sweetens everybody when you anoint one. It sweetens everything. It permeates everywhere. It can't be done secretly. It's public. It's absolutely public. Everybody knows. Oh Spikenard they say. Spikenard. Where's this? Who's that? And I want to tell you it was a very common thing. See all ladies strive to have exclusive sets like Chanel 5 or 9 or something. It used to be Soire de Paris. But that's too common now. So they get somebody else to have a go. They all want to be exclusive. They don't want anything. A man doesn't want his woman to smell like any other woman I suppose. I don't know. And she is puffed up by it. Bless her. But there it is. You know I don't know what scent my wife uses. I'm very sorry about that. But this is public. It's common. We've all got to smell the same in other words. There's got to be one common odor to us all. So that God can smell the sweet smell. But you've got to have it. And you know I believe that God can't everything else to stink. Wonderful. Well have you got it? Can you pour it out this morning? Yes. Because you are anointing Jesus. And everybody can smell it. Hallelujah. Isn't it lovely? Have you got it? Let me take one more point and then we'll finish I think. And it's this. A man in scripture made a terrible confession once. Of course it wasn't terrible in its setting. But it's terrible for any of us. At least this was only in a story. And I'm never so glad it was a story that that Jesus told. And it you know he wasn't being too personal about it. But you'd better be careful when you read the stories he's told to make it very personal to you. Here's the story. He said a man turns up at another man's house. He didn't put it this way. I'm deliberately fogging you. He turns up at another man's house. And the man inside says oh what's that? It's midnight. He's in bed. His children are in bed with him. And he goes to the door and the man says friend lend me three loaves. A friend of mine in his journey. Listen in his journey. And the Samaritan was on one. Now keep that very clear. He's come to me and I have not What a confession. He had to face it in the end. So you can get away with it perhaps for days and days and then suddenly the emergency arises. Somebody's precipitated on your doorstep. Something's there. He had to confess it in the end. He might have kept it. Might have kept up a pretense for 20 years. I don't know. I'm not making any accusations. I'm saying good Jesus didn't say this was a specific man. But he's talking about a specific possibility. And it could be you or me. I've got nothing to set before it. What a confession. What have you got to set before people? What have you got to pour into their wounds? What have you got wherewith to anoint Jesus? Anything that he wants from you. It's lovely in the story. The Lord always makes it end up nicely doesn't he? Well almost except one or two stories he didn't. You should really read Luke. You'll find the Jesus art of storytelling so marvellous. And it all finished out nicely for him. He said well I'm going to tell you this. You know he just won't get up and give him these loaves because he's his friend. He'll get up and give it because of his opportunity. Oh sorry, importunity. Which means that you don't have to be a particular friend of God to get anything. You start from your unfriendliness and you can still go and get from God. Because he doesn't give upon the basis of friendship. He gives upon the basis of an emergency and the demand presented. And because he's got plenty anyway. And you've come to him for it and isn't that lovely. So if you go out of this room this morning and you've got nothing. No loaves, no ointment, no oil or wine. That's your fault. And you are now a criminal in God's calendar. Because you're going to meet people half dead probably before you leave this campsite. And you're guilty of criminal neglect. You're letting them die. Even in war they said red men cross teams to help the enemies. And how much more you, how much more I, how much more we. Here then is the gospel and the truth. If I came to you, which I suppose wouldn't be likely you may think and say now look here I'm hungry I haven't had any bread. You say what you've been preaching through this conference and all that sort of stuff. But here it is. Would you be able to give me anything? And that's what it's all about. Amen. If a friend does turn up at midnight and you're asleep he may think that's pretty rough. In other words beloved there are no such things as emergencies really in the spiritual life. And you may remember there's no such thing as going to sleep. You may recall that Paul said this. You, he says you. Now I won't tell you to whom he's writing. Some of you will know. He said you, he said you're to be in season out of season. You'll be wide awake when you should be asleep. I'm only just changing the ideas. You're to be in season when it's considered to be out of season. Hallelujah. Oh he says it's out of season, it's out of season. Something might turn up. Good job the man didn't ask for strawberries. He might have said they're out of season. But bread is always in season beloved. Always. And you've got to be able. One thing further I want to say. Compliment to you all. I go around the various places as most of you know I do. And sometimes I meet up with people and they say you know the trouble. This business of having two meetings, three meetings a day is just too much. People just can't take it in they say. You see. And I hear again and again and again and again. In fact you can join groups now that don't, perhaps you don't have meetings on Sunday even now. You just come sometime in the week together. It's all okay. And one thing and another. And I want to say it's a lot of nonsense. As though we only have a responsibility to ourselves. There are millions out there dying. I detest it from my bowels. Herditude. It's as foreign to the spirit of Christ as you could ever imagine. Jesus used to spend days preaching, teaching. And people used to follow him for it too. People won't take Jesus Christ as a pattern. They'll take some blown up idea. That's what they do. So let me come back. Yeah. You keep coming. It looks as though you still keep wanting. And isn't it fortunate you don't have it every week of your life. But beloved let's fill our heart up shall we. Let's feast on the Lord while we're together. Let's know him intimately. Be aware of other people's needs. Minister to them. That's right. Have the oil and the wine. Have it with you. Don't say, oh I've got to slip back to my room or something. Get in. Have the bread. Glory. Have the precious box of ointment. Have it with you all the time. Because the good Samaritan was not expecting to find this man lying half dead. Was he? Not if I read the story all right. So you've got to be ready for the unexpected. And fully equipped to meet it. And that's what God wants to do while we're together. Equip us more and more. Not with words about it all. Not to talk about an alabaster box as I've been talking. But to give you one. Not to talk about bread. But to give you some love. Not to talk merely about wine and oil. But to give it to you. Hallelujah. And give it to you for keeps. The ministry of compassion and love. For you will know the outpouring of the oil of the ointment was for love. She loved much. Jesus said. You will know that the ministry of the oil and wine was compassion. Came where he was. He had compassion on him. Amen. And the third great ministry was for staple food. Diet. Hallelujah. All right. The Lord bless you and enjoy your coffee. As long as you're not anti. Join in. Amen. As long as you're not anti-Christ. That would be Humber. If the devil says oh you can't sing. You're not feeling this or you're not feeling the other. He's a liar anyway. He's a professional liar. He that's how he sort of exists. So don't take any notice of him. You can praise him. You were just a little ant breathing in air. Let everything that passed breath. Praise the Lord. Even if you think you're only like a fish you can get oxygen out of the water. So let's really praise him shall we. Now so far in Joshua we've been thinking lots about warfare. And you will remember that last night we finished up on that great note that this man said you give me this mountain. And he went up there and he did all sorts of things. And you remember too that I said that the purpose of sending them through Jordan was extermination and that they had to be led by the army. You will remember that even when they compass Jericho by the army going on before the priests that latterly blew the trumpets before the ark and so on. All right. But in case you're thinking well it's got to be warfare all my days. No. We'll turn to Joshua chapter 22. Joshua called the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh said unto them you have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you. You have not left your brethren these many days unto this day but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God. And now the Lord your God hath given rest unto your brethren as he promised them. Therefore now return ye and get you unto your tents and unto the land of your possession which God which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of Jordan. But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you to love the Lord your God and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cleave unto him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. So Joshua blessed them and sent them away and they went unto their tents. The war was over. No it isn't that you've got to be trying to take your possessions all your life but at the beginning you've got to. And these are the people that went over after before Israel. I want to say these things because there's a lot of stupid and wrong teaching that's going on and they seem to base a lot on Joshua and they miss this that there was a time when it was all over and they had it. They weren't casting out any more enemies or killing any more giants. What a tremendous thing to understand. Yeah I can see that many of you have never considered it before. It's on your faces because you've been wrongly taught. The Bible's been here. It's nobody's fault but yours. You should have read it. You must never believe what preachers preach and as it tells us with the Bible. Never. So then beloved we've got to get down to what this great truth is. What a wonderful thing it is. Turn back with me even to our champion Caleb shall we? And we find at the end of the chapter where it says the name of Hebron verse 15. Before was Kirchert Arba which Arba was a great man among the Anakins and the land had rest from war. Amen. In other words the whole point of it really. I'm Joshua 15. I'm 14. I'm in the book of Joshua. I said didn't I say 14? I'm glad some of you know the Bible better than I do. And here we are right at the end of the chapter that we read these great words. That the land had rest from war. Listen beloved. The land of course is your soul. Your soul has got to know rest from warfare. But you've got to win all your battles. Cast out all the malignancies and the rottennesses bred by these gigantic enemies that you had. And you've got to get right through there where you are in your soul. It's a new thought if you like. But if you can look at the end of chapter 11 and you will find this. It's in the day that we pointed out last night. That Joshua they took all Israel and in verse 22 there was none left of the Anakins stayed in the land of the children of Israel. Left in the land of the children of Israel. Only in Gaza or Gaza and in Gath and in Ashdod there remained. So Joshua took their whole land according to all that the Lord said under Moses. And Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to the divisions by their tribes. And the land rested for war. That's the whole of the land. Then there were these pockets of resistance. And we found that in 14. Where still on the tops of the mountains the giants dwelt. The enemies of God. And that was a tremendous thing. That God really didn't say now you ought to go into your possessions. There'll be milk and honey so that you don't faint by the way. And that's to keep you going all the time. You're going to fight the rest of your life. Not true. It's not true. Not to gain possession of your soul. You might have to fight to gain possession of somebody else's soul. That's rather different. You see this was really the whole theme. Go back with me into Deuteronomy. Dropping back there into chapter 12. This is what we will read. As we open the chapter we come to these words. These are the statutes and judgments which ye shall observe to do in the land which the Lord God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it. All the days that ye live upon the earth. You shall utterly destroy all the places. See now you're talking about places. You keep this very clear. Wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods. Upon the high mountains. Hebron was one of them. And upon the hills. And under every green tree. You shall overthrow their altars. Break their pillars. Burn their groves with fire. Ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods. And destroy the names of them out of that place. Ye shall not do so unto the Lord your God. But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all the tribes. To put his name there. Even out of his habitation shall ye seek. And thither thou shalt come. And now I want to read this verse. To point it out to you. In case you're one of these people. And you've heard about tithing. Or the only thing you know about tithing is old barns falling to pieces. All over the countryside. And you're very happy that they are. Because you don't believe in this tithing. All right. And that's where it leads the next verse. This is where it comes. And I want you to notice that tithing is only one of the seven things they had to give to God. Far above the tenth. This is going to frighten you to death. Here it is. I hope it does. And you'll die and rise up a people with a free heart and a free pocket. Thither you shall bring your burnt offerings one. Your sacrifices two. Your tithes third. Your heave offerings fourth. Your vows fifth. Your freewill offerings sixth. And the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks. So all right. Aren't you glad you don't live under law? Yeah you ought to be so glad that you give God twice as much as that. Unless he doesn't believe you. You came into this world and absolutely free. You got breath straight away. Talk about grace. You got milk already laid on and some honey I guess. You've got wonderful things to see. You had a language to learn. You had a lovely family to live in. All free. You miserable nigger. If you'd have been an Israelite and said oh I'll bring my tithe. The Lord would have said oh no. You don't do that. First I want your burnt offerings. And your sacrifices. You can start sacrificing. Then I'll take your tenth and I believe you mean it. Then there are four other things. Keep that very clear. Unless your mean soul has tried to get away with giving God a twentieth. Hallelujah. All right. Oh let's let's read on the next few verses to come to the point. I need Mr. Marr. We've got lots of time. Well no we haven't really. And there ye shall eat before the Lord your God. How some of us can eat feast on the things he gives when we've been robbing God right and left and center. I don't know. Where's the conscience of people. And you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand unto. You and your households. Wherein the Lord thy God bless thee. You shall not do after all the things that we do here this day. Well you know it's only an interim period. This passage of the wilderness. Even today while I'm talking to you says Moses you're not going to like that. Listen every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. Now don't you think that you can do what's right in your eyes. If I think I'll give God a hundred that's in my eyes that's okay I'm right with God. You aren't. You're lying. You're not to do what's right in your own eyes. Now you keep that clear. It's very personal between me and God. Now don't you start that. You're not to do what's right in your own eyes. May I remind you that one of the most wonderful things Jesus ever said and it wasn't the only time that he was in this place was by the treasury. That's where he went and spoke often. By the treasury. Won't you let God talk to you from by the treasury. He said oh I want you to sit on the throne and talk to me blah blah. It's a lot of stupid nonsense. Come out of this charismatic euphoria and fairyland and get right down to truth. Beloved will you. Except somebody thinks that I'm against the charismatic gifts. I'm not. I'm all for them. But I know I move around the world. I sit everywhere I go. People reaching for the ceilings but they haven't reached the stars. Now here's the great and marvelous thing beloved. You it says this and people do what's right in their own eyes in verse eight verse nine simply because they've not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord you've got given. That's why they do it. That's why they do it. They're not in that rest. The whole purpose was fighting through till you get the rest. Okay. Now then that's it. I'm in rest with God. I'm in rest about the future. I'm in rest about the past. I'm in rest about the present. Amen. Just like Jesus said I'm possessing my own soul. He said that in your patience you possess your own servants. I'm in possession of myself. That's what Jesus said. That's what it's supposed to be. But I don't know too many thousands of people who are in possession of their own self. How many do you know? What a glory and a wonder it is. Now you're to come into rest. There's a little lady here this morning. I guess she's looking at me because she remembers saying to me once more one morning she was standing watching up and she's here. I've told the story of her many times. I mentioned her name. I said she said to me over her shoulder. She's watching up the scene. She said you're never out of rest are you? I said no. You remember that? I said you come and sit here and I'll tell you about it. All right. Here's the tremendous thing. You we've got to see what it's all about. You've got to get in rest. Now when a person's in rest everybody knows that they're in rest. They carry it with them. There's an air about them. There's something that doesn't panic. You can't scare them into this or that or the other. They seem to move with the deliberateness. Somehow they've got a sense of having arrived. There are lots of people who tell you you can't arrive and I'll quote Paul as a as a as an example of this you know. I'm still reaching out for the the mark of the high calling and there is that sense in which of course even the greatest apostle never arrives. That is the ultimate perfection. Of course not. But here then is the marvel and wonder of it. Are you in rest? Now if you're not in rest somewhere in your life you are doing what you think and not what God thinks. That's why you remember when the warfare was over and Joshua sent back these warriors. He said now listen. He said you you ought to do these commandments. You got to do this. You know he told them you can't do what you like. And this is in the sense that Saint Augustine said and meant. Love God and please yourself he said. You think oh that sounds like heresy. Of course it's not. If you really love God it pleases you to love him so you keep on loving him. That's a tremendous truth and the Lord wants us to know this glory in our soul. You're facing tomorrow. You're facing a situation. You're facing hospitalization. You're facing redundancy. You're facing all sorts of things. Tragedy in a family. Divorce case coming up. All kinds of things. I don't know. Rest. Now you've got to know this rest and if you don't it means you haven't yet got through. You've got to have rest about your children's education. You've got to rest about the communist threat. You've got to have rest about impending trials. You've got to be in rest. God can't have you scared out of your wits about this death and the other. It comes out in the tones of your voice. It comes out in your praying. You can't help it. It's got your mind. The amount of people say to me my mind goes round and round and round and round. I can't stop thinking. What a relief it is to get a few moments respite from it. Bloody. You've got to know this rest haven't you? You really have. And here's the wonder and glory of it. God has provided it for you because if you turn with me into the Hebrews letter we'll find a great deal about it. And one of the things that the writer to the Hebrews says is this. In chapter four. I'll have to tell you the chapter because I want you to read with me. In chapter four it says this. Let's read it shall we? Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest. Any of you should seem to come short of him. Drop your eye down the chapter. In a certain place verse four God spoke of the seventh day on this wise and God did rest. The seventh day from all his works and in this place again that is he's quoting the psalm of David. In this place again it said really if they shall if they shall enter into my rest seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein. Isn't that lovely? Some must. Wouldn't I love to think that it with every one of us in this room that you must. Some must. Why? I'll tell you why. Because God said so. Because God's provided it. And I'll tell you why. These will have it. They must. The must is in their soul too. I want it to get into your heart. It's the word of God. I must enter into rest. I'll give you one one two or three seconds. Now say it yourself. Must. If not the devil's outwitted you. It's provided by God. Hallelujah. We sang it in that hymn this morning. This glorious rest. The promised land. The promised land is the land of glorious rest. Do you believe that? Something told you it must be. I know because it told me. You see God's faithful. He testifies it in everyone. He testifies it. You can't get away from it when you're being told in your own soul can you? You could shut your eyes to ears to me. Shut your eyes to the bible. But God's got all around all that business. He tells you in your own heart. He makes you know there. It is not a calculation from verses of scripture. God's on hand. The holy ghost has come. He tells you. You know and I'm only going to talk to you about things that you know. Far be it from me to try to tell you about things you cannot know from God. I would be deceiving you. Here then in this fourth chapter. It remains verse six that some must enter therein and they to whom it was preached entered not in because of unbelief. See the ugly reason? Again he limited the certain day saying in David. Today after so long a time as it is said today if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts. Here's the verse. This is the important one. For if Joshua had given them rest. Now that's your new testament equivalent. Joshua did not give them rest. Because he didn't give them rest. God spoke of another day. And they could have had it under David. And they didn't get it under David. For a while they got it under Solomon. The man of rest and peace that built the temple of God. Listen the temple of God that we so bravely sing about in all our choruses. Cannot be built unless warfare is all ceased. And we're in rest. God said so. He said so. Pray do not set your theology or doctrines by choruses. Amen. Often they're wild jingles. Often I find. Here is the tremendous truth. Beloved he Jesus Joshua didn't give them rest. For then would God not after have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that has entered into his rest he also has ceased from his own works as God did from his. Let us labor therefore to enter into their rest. Lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief that Israel set us. Now my beloved brother and sister are you in this rest? Perhaps really if you aren't we ought to labor to the rest of this conference on this theme so that you come into it. Oh Lord won't you say oh Lord is there a rest for me with my life and my circumstances and my disadvantages or my attacks or whatever it is. Is there a rest for me? There is a rest for thee friend. It's God's own rest. Do you notice this don't you? Verse one of chapter four. We're to fear lest a promise being left us of entering into God's rest. Any of you should seem to come short of that. God is offering his own rest. See if I could illustrate this to you. You will remember that when Jesus Christ was on the earth. Let's put it down on even whatever this morning. And oh my wife's watching me. She she does and here is here it is. When Jesus was on the earth beloved you will know that he was a man God. He was the God man. He said he said my father's living in me. All right. And the father and the Holy Ghost the Blessed Trinity were there in that perfect man. And he went all the way to Calvary and even on the cross for a while God was in Christ that man reconciling the world unto himself. And then there came a point when he left him and he was forsaken of God. All right. And I suppose you've asked yourself lots of questions about it. Well here's one of the reasons God did it. Because he was in perfect rest. He knew that the man Christ Jesus as a man put through it on his own. It was so perfect. In utter rest. If it had been like you you wouldn't have been able to leave. You would have been there hopping around. Can't we do this? Can't we do that? Oh let's pray. Let's do that. So often it's a testimony about rest. This rest isn't just taking a rest in sleep. It's the confidence. This rest is the great strong positive knowledge in your heart that all is well and all shall be well. That's what it is. It isn't the frenetic mumbling of prayers or something. I'm afraid so much of it is frenetic. I'm not mocking. But I know this glorious marvelous rest. That's where you've got to come. That's what it's all about. Now there's no earthly Joshua that can bring you into that. Not even if he be Moses' successor. You are to understand beloved that you are to enter into his rest. And you know you know beloved when you enter into his rest there will be your rest. Isn't it wonderful that God wants all of his to be yours. This is the secret of salvation. This is what it's all about. That all that is God's is mine. God really wants you to have it. He really does. He's not just offering you a little bit of easement and salvation. It's a positive bestowal of God coming into you. Imagine it. God. God living in you. It's not just a term. It's not a euphemism. It's it's truth. Hallelujah. And you know here's the sign. Anybody will know it. Anybody that knows you knows the things you do. The things you say. That knows your attitudes and everything. They know. Because this rest is a rest of ceasing from your own works. So they know. You can't deceive anybody. They know. God ceased from his own works. It's this working that's going on inside you. No wonder old Paul said to the Philippians. He said it's God that's working in you. Is God working in you? If I may put it this way to the neuter. Is it working in you? Is it really working? Amen. The rest of God isn't just passivity. It's a strong pushing away everything that will interfere with that rest. It's strong character. It's a stable mind. Amen. It's rest. It's the integration of the whole being. It's everything functioning normal. Perfectly. That's what it is. You know that there are two figures of rest in this fourth chapter of the Hebrews. You'll think I'm preaching on that but it's related to the Joshua and we'll come back to it if we have time. There are two rests spoken of in this chapter. The one is the rest of people entering into the land. Okay now we're in. There is another rest which is the Sabbath rest of God. And so you're not only switched to Joshua but you're switched back to God in the beginning. Now Joshua he says didn't give the rest. But listen I can. I will. Now I want to show you what I mean by rest. Are you ready? Here it is. You go back to Genesis 1 and you don't go back to Darwin. You go back to Genesis 1 and you forget all the rubbish you've heard about him. Can I make an aside here? I don't do a lot of radio listening all around the country but when I get home or when I can do so I always listen to the Science Now program on the radio. I don't know whether you do it or whether you stop it up getting boggle-eyed glaring at the box. And I advise you to listen to it. Only last night I listened. My wife is long-suffering. I don't know whether she likes to listen or not. I've really not deeply discussed it with her. But they were talking about it last night and all the scientists are getting shaky on Darwin now. I hope you know that. It was on last night. They said it last night. They didn't say it that way but you could hear the terror that's gripping them. That they built their educational system on alpaca lives. I tell you, it's a terrible thing to have your life's work cut from under your feet. It's more frightening than losing your money. That's right. I heard a program, oh I don't know how long ago it was, about clavistics. You say, what in the world's that? I tell you, you don't listen to the right programs. You listen to Mother Day or The Diary or something like that. You don't listen to the right programs. You'll never know anything. And it was the curator of the British Museum, the warden there. And he said that clavistics disproved Darwin. And he said, no I'm not a creationist. I'm not a Christian. He said, but I'm... So you poor people who were dragged through universities, I'm terribly sorry for you. Here is the, here is the glorious truth. You ought to go back, my parenthesis is over, you ought to go back to Genesis 1. And when you get to Genesis 1, you will find that God moved in created acts. Amen. I believe that. I believe that. If not, I've got to believe I'm a fortuitous being that rose from a lump of slime somewhere. What interest has God got in saving slime? Here is the whole marvelous truth that God created. And at the end of every day, he said it was good. It was good. And it was good. And on the sixth day, when he made man, he says it's very good. And he did not just mean that man was very good. He meant that everything he'd done was very good. And man was the crowning achievement. And then what do you think? You start the second chapter. Most surprisingly, or perhaps we'd better read it. Let's go back to Genesis 2. You know, when I start these conferences, oh well, we've got another five days, but well, we've nearly all gone now. Here's the great trouble with days. They slip away too quick. Here then, in the second chapter, you find this. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day, God did something. So yes, he rested. No, you see, you haven't let the truth sink into your heart. He ended his work. They are not synonymous terms. Not when you read them in the scripture. God ended his work, which he had made. He did something positive on the day of, on the seventh day. Oh well, it's all over. Sleep. Something like that. No, no. It was a great moral act. It was a spiritual decision. He ended his work. That was it. Hallelujah. I'm never so glad about that. It doesn't mean that God did nothing. It's telling you he did something positive. He ended the work, which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had made. Now listen, if you would have been Adam, all right ladies, that Eve wasn't there then. Just, just think of it. Of course, you're much better. As I've said, you're much more refined. You are Adam refined. God, Adam was made from sheer dirt. You were made from bone. That's much better, isn't it? I mean, you don't like these horsey women, do you? Sometime ago, I used to think that girls were turning into horses. They wore great big thick clumped shoes, snooping around. And I thought, what do they think they are? Horses, then? Don't they know that girls are to look pretty and attractive? They're not to go around trying to be like some great mule. Fashion, but a decent man abhors all that. You girls get it into your head. Of course, if he's weak enough, he'll let you wear what you like. But a man, I'm talking about man as a whole, I don't know what man you've got hold of, he abhors it from the bottom of his soul. Is that right, men? Yes, you are. You are. It's love. See? I never held a gun at anybody's head. It was spontaneous. Of course they do. Do you know, listen to me, because you are listening, aren't you? I've handled men that have lived their lives in rottenness and fornication, and they said to me that through it all, when I'm married, I wanted to marry a virgin. Yes, they told me. I'm privy to so many secrets, and I'm not pointing out individuals. I'm telling you truth. He may have been the worst man and lame with any prostitute, but when he marries, it's ideal. That's what he's after. Of course, it may be so with women, of course. I know men are horrible, generally. But here, then, is the truth, you see. He rested. He rested on the seventh day from all his work. And his last work, as you will know, was Adam. Now, if you'd have been Adam, and you'd have risen up from dust, just think of it. Better than evolving from slime, isn't it, really? It really is. What kind of people do they think we are? Here is the marvelous thing. He rose up, and so God made him. And then, listen, well, we'd better read it, I suppose, in the same first chapter, higher up. Listen. God said, verse 26 of chapter one, let us make man in our image, and after our likeness, let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the ground. And verse 28, God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion. And so he goes on. Now, here's Adam. Gets up from his dust. This is what he hears. Go on, have dominion. Go and do this. You've got to do this. You've got to do the other. Oh, my, we'd better get to it. And the first thing God did, took him to rest. Took him into rest. Well, he hadn't done a stroke of work. He hadn't done a thing. What's the lesson? First, rest. I don't want you to attempt to do anything for me. I don't want you to fulfill any of my commandments. I don't want you to try and achieve anything in this world until you're in rest. Because when this really seeps into your thinking, you begin to see why so much breakdown is occurring everywhere with churches and groups and so on. They're doing this. They're doing that. They're doing that. Now, I don't mean that you should retire into seclusion. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm not meaning that you should go into exclusiveness. Exclusiveness creates the very conditions for devils to operate in that you're trying to avoid. That's what that does. But rest is an entirely different thing. He didn't need rest. He was brand new. He hadn't done anything. He was perfect. He was in the image of God. Yeah, that's right. Well, if he's in my image, he'd better rest like I do. It's going to spoil the image, if not. Do you understand? Now, you've got to get into that rest. And it isn't, hey presto, touch you with a magic wand and you'll be there. You've got to enter into it. And as the writer to the Hebrew says, you've got to labor to enter into it. That doesn't mean get involved in a lot more works than you are involved in. Now, perhaps it is time some of you got on with some work for God. It means that in your heart, in your very self, you're relaxed, absolutely relaxed. That's why you can cope. As you will know that the two sort of in phrases in all nurses and students, social workers, they always use this, they can't cope or they're shattered. They're the two in phrases. Everybody's shattered now. Everybody's shattered. I want to testify to you that that's not in my vocabulary. It's got to go out of yours too. It's fashionable to be shattered, you see. Students now, they have a car, they drive to the university, they have a bit of a session and they come home shattered. Here's the test. I can't cope. You know why? You don't know what rest is. That's all. It's as simple as that. Don't you ever get tired of, oh yes, Jesus was weary, it says, and he sat on a well, but he wasn't shattered as the lady found when she came. Now, you've got to throw out these things as a man thinketh in his heart. So, you see, Jesus said that. If you really think I'm shattered, I can't cope and all this, that's what your heart is. How do you expect to achieve anything? Listen, I want to tell you, that's one of the great big sons of Enlac that you've got to cast out. Yes. Amen. Oh, Caleb laboured to enter into rest that month. Yes, rest. Hallelujah. And I'm going to tell you something too that you may never have thought about. I'm going to tell you because God told me. It is. That's exactly what God laboured for. He laboured through six days of activity to enter into rest. His eye was not just on the sun he'd created or the earth he'd started to spin. He was on that day of rest when he was going to make his Adam. He laboured to enter into that Sabbath rest. Now, that's what you have to do. Into that glorious, wonderful rest. Are you there? Are you there? Teaching from your own works? As good as they are, it is an evil thing to go on with good works if they are depriving you of your rest. Sounds stupid, doesn't it? But it is so. I didn't say it was simple, but of its nature it's evil. There's a difference between sin and evil when you're thinking. Yeah. You've eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, friend. Now, you and I have got to see what it's all about. Adam went and said, well, well, what do you think about that? He's given me a charge to go do this, that, and the other. Look here, rest. No, I don't suppose he thought that. I thought, I suppose he thought, oh Lord, just go and rest. I'm just going to love you. I'm just going to be with you. I'm not going to do anything. I'm not going to leave you, Lord. I know, I'll check it out when I sort of see the Lord face to face with him. But I think this is the sort of thing that went on in his heart, don't you? Sure. God was so pleased with him. He said, you know what I'll do, Adam? Of course, he didn't say this, but you can throw out the chaff as long as you get the wheat. All right. He said, do you know what I'm going to do, Adam? I'm going to make a paradise for you to live in. And I'm going to come and I'm going to, you know, every day is going to be a rest for you because I'm going to come down and walk with you in the colour of death. It's all going to be rest. Your labours will come from rest. Your work will come from rest. Listen, beloved, that's where it's got to come from. Your salvation came out of rest. It is rest from sin, from inbred sin, from good works, from everything. Well, doesn't he want to do anything? Well, I tell you, I'm in rest. Don't you think I do anything? No, it doesn't mean that. Don't let the devil sow that in your heart. When you're in rest, you'll be able to do twice as much as you've done before. When you're in rest, you'll be able to do three times as much as you've done before. When you're in rest, you'll be able to do four times as much as you've done before. And it will be fullness. And may I say it will be success. That's it. The impartation of what you are is greater than the speaking of what you think or have learned from books. And so it's so blessed. And he said to these people, Moses, you remember, he said, you know, what's wrong with this? You go around saying he's doing this, she's doing that. They're all doing their own thing. Why? Because I'm coming to rest. Once you come into the rest, we'll all do the same thing. Basically, spiritually, in principle, we shall all do the same thing. This is how we started. Now we speak and think the same. Lovely hymn, isn't it? It's true. Isn't it? That's right. That's the whole glorious truth. And if you're in it. But there's something, isn't it? To that first generation of Israel that came out of Egypt, God swore, you are not going to enter into my rest, that's it. That's right. He swore that they would not. Simply because of their unbelief, which resulted in disobedience and self-will, having it their way. You must read the story. But Joshua and Caleb, they went in. And it was so gloriously true, beloved. I plead with you to come to rest. Where your mind isn't working over some injustice, or what some elder did or said, or what some group here thinks, or works, or whether you ought to be evangelizing, or building up the church as though they're different. Stupid ideas. All this kind of thing. They'll all fade away. You'll be in rest. You'll move with certainty. Listen, I guess in your setting, you'll become something of a wonder. Yes. Amen. Because there aren't many people in this rest, beloved. Not by the letters and messages that come to me from all over the place. But God wants us to enter in and know it. How about you doing it this morning? Why wait another hour? Why wait another day? Lord, I want to enter into this rest. I want to drop it all. I can see it's only sort of been almost a pretense, Lord. I mean, you can call yourself a fool if you like. You can call yourself every name under the sun. Make it polite, of course. I mustn't call you that. But you can do it yourself. Princess, I mustn't say you fool. I mustn't do that. But you can say to yourself, I've been a fool. That's right. Go on, say it to yourself if you need to. Then you won't accuse me of saying it. Lord, I can see I'm going to get into this rest, Lord. I'm going to let it all go. Self-reputation, pride. I'm going to let it all go, Lord. Oh, isn't it marvelous? I can, as it were, take it off like a cloak. Amen. Oh, Lord, cleanse it out of my system. This busy, busy, busy, cannot rest. I go to bed, and it goes on and on and on. Where are the sleeping pills? I try to pray, and I can't really pray. I believe I've told you this once. I used to have a man in a church where I was many years ago. He was an esteemed man in the city where we were. Not Bradford, so don't think about that, those of you who know. Listen, he was, oh, I tell you this much. And he confided to me one night, said, brother, I wouldn't like anybody to know this, but I want you to pray for me. I said, what is it? He said, you know, sometimes I'll go and kneel down and kneel by my bed or my, or a chair to pray, he said. Then about 10 minutes time, I realize I'm actually on the wall. I haven't known how in the world I got there. I couldn't pray, you see. That, that was holding him. Work, work, work, useless. Then you heard him say prayers. Sounded marvelous. He wasn't at rest. Are you like that? I used to be, long time ago now. I know what it is. There is a rest, therefore, remaining unto the people of God. People of God, you notice, that's whom God has made. Remade in this instance. God made Adam, took him into rest. God will remake you, take you into rest. I know women, they come into meetings. They never enjoy the meeting because they wondered whether they set the setting on the cooker right for the turkey or something. They wonder also, you can't. Oh, this, this happened. You know, my dear so-and-sos are very ill and I can't get my mind off them. And that's supposed to be a good thing. It isn't. You should be able to take him or her or whatever it is. I refuse to bear the burden. That doesn't make you careless. You're learning the right way. If it's the hour of parting, it's the right way. If it's the hour of healing, it's the right way. The devil will crush you. Jesus wants to teach you a secret. Are you? Now, I'll finish with this, beloved. Here it is. Here it is. Now you know this text. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I say, well, that's lovely. Yes, it is. Because see, there aren't many people who come to Jesus. They come to salvation or they come to a blessing, or they come to all the sorts of auras of him, if you know what I mean, the thing that naturally scourses you. They come to forgiveness. They come to this. How many people come to Jesus? Not really. So you have to come to him first. When you get really to him, he says, now, I'll give you rest. Then he opens the secret. He says, now, take my yoke upon you. Now, you probably said, take my yoke upon you. But that's not really what he's saying. You're headed for misunderstanding the secret straight away. Take my yoke upon you. You say, yeah, that means I've got to get yoked to Jesus. No, no, no. No, it doesn't really mean that. You see, people miss the real truth. He says, and you shall find rest unto yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Whatever was he talking about? He was yoked to his father. He says, I'm not doing the work. My father's doing the work. I'm not sweating on the top line to get a message. My father's doing the work. That's what he's trying to unfold to you. To get yoked to father as a son in your own right by his grace. Hallelujah. Glory. Do you see what he's saying? You've misunderstood it all your life. Of course, it does bear that sort of interpretation, but it's the lesser one. Here is the great one. Take my yoke on you. So I can't see any yoke, Lord. What are you talking about? No, my father and I. He's yoked to his father. It's all simple. He never did anything. He did not on his own testimony. He said, I do not do the work. My father that's living in me does the work. That's what he said. But you haven't really believed it, and you haven't really seen the secret. Have you? My greatest conference upon you is I will give you to walk into a relationship with God, your father, as God is my father. And you will live and move and work and speak and feel and act just like I do. That's what it is. That's the yoke. It's all rest, you see. You thought you got into a yoke to pull. But Jesus never told you to pull the plow. All he said was put your hand on it. That's it. Just put your hand on the plow. Don't push now. You'll push it over. Just put your hand on the plow. Who's pulling this plow? I am. It's going to guide you right. I'll go in a straight furrow. Just keep your hand on the plow. When you can't see, you can't see me, you can't see, you know I'm not being this and this. I'm doing the horse power or what it is that's pulling it. That's okay. Just keep your hand on the plow. The furrow will be straight. Plow a straight furrow. You believe it, don't you? That's what it's all about. It's so simple that everybody misses it. Enter into. Tomorrow I might come and tell you to put your shoulder to the wheel and work. All right. That's the polemic of it. That's the truth. Jesus worked, he said. My father worked, he said. The two of us worked. There you are. You say, yes, it's this great contradiction that I don't resolve. Of course you don't. You can only resolve it in the experience. That's where it's resolved. Then you'll know. Let's pray. Father, this morning we lift our hearts to thee in absolute gratitude. So far as we know absolute, yes Lord. Thou Lord, O Lord, O Lord, take everybody into thy rest, Lord. Carry them away into thy rest, Lord. And all the imitation things in which we've been so deceived shall drop away, Father. Like dew melting in the sun. Glory, glory, glory. Amen, amen, amen. Hallelujah. Now before we sing grace, I'm going to let you into a secret. Of course it's an open secret. I found it better than I thought it was. That's what you'll do. It's better and bigger and greater than you thought it was when you went for it. Yeah. Amen. You've got to get into it though. Praise his wonderful name. And we're going to sing a chorus now for what is it? We thank the Lord for his grace. We thank the Lord for his grace. That's your grace.