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Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 436 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text -- Brother Thomas: Turn with me to Hebrews chapter three. "Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost," this is verse seven beginning, "(as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years, Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; While it is said, To day." Now this is a repeat of where I started in verse seven. "While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke; howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them." Now that's talking about those who came out of Egypt's bondage and wandered in the wilderness for forty years. "For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest, Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief." I suppose that's good enough. Well let's go on here. "Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus"-- and that should have been Joshua--"had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day, 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, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." That's sort of unusual and I would say it's maybe a little difficult for some people to understand where he says, "Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." And yet he said they'd ceased from their own works, those who came out of Egypt's bondage. He says, "For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works," this is verse ten, "as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10 verse 36 and 37. "For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul." That certainly defines some who believe to the saving of the soul and some who would draw back. The rest that we're...that this Bible here makes mention of is simply the salvation rest. I would say of all the experiences that we might encounter or, you know, experience in this life, the greatest is salvation which brings this peace into your life. I don't know of anything any greater. And I know this. It's when God, by whatever means you are brought to the place where you are confronted with the gospel of Jesus Christ and you surrender to that truth and God comes in and inhabits your being. Many reasons it's called a rest. Because of all your inquiries, all of everything that you may have done or not have done, failed to do in order to please God, in order to make things right with God, this is the one lone thing that'll do it, and nothing else. And it's really coming to the place where you just turn your life over to the Lord. I think about myself and I'm sure you do too. That's good, nothing wrong with that. But, it's the end of all of the earth's every quest, every endeavor, everything that you might do. It's a resignation of your own earth life. It's a resignation of your own earthly, fleshly thrills. It's something that you just completely relinquish the reins. That's what you do. And let me say this, there may be many people involved that you'll have to leave behind when you do this. Because out of all the people who profess to be Christians, who profess to be on that way or to have started, you can't ...well you just can't pay any attention to others. You're gonna have to get right yourself. It's something that you have to work out and yet it's not working out, but it's something that your decision alone will bring you to that place. And this rest of God is...and I doubt seriously, just to be honest with you, I doubt seriously if very many religious people or I might add Church people know what I'm talking about. I know that many people are what they are, religiously speaking, because that's what their family was. Children are brought up and they go through the form-- whatever the church group that they are a part of, whatever it offers them. They may baptize them when they're babies, some of them do. And then they confirm them a little later on. They have various experiences and various things that they go through, you know, in obedience to what they are told is the truth. And they do it. But the truth of the matter is, there's something dramatic, something...I started to use the word cataclysmic. Well it's so monumental in comparison to all the other things that you may go through in this life until there is no way that you can doubt. If you doubt, it makes me wonder what you've done. In fact you may still be in your sins. Don't doubt. You shouldn't doubt. This is called the rest because it's the end of every human effort that man might make in order to please God. It's a complete resignation of your life into his hands and, it's coming to the place where you quit trying and you start trusting. That's the difference in trying and trusting. You can't try, it's not try. If you're trying there's something wrong. You're adding your own works to it and it's a resignation of all your desire--to be saved, to know God. You just give up. I heard a story, years ago, and I don't know whether this illustrates it or not. I think you, perhaps, have heard it. Some of you have, I'm sure. They said that somebody was preaching the Gospel to these Indians. And he gave an invitation, you know for them to come forward, those who wanted to get right with God. And one Indian went forward and he gave his horse, but he didn't get no peace. And he kept preaching and he got under greater conviction and he was miserable. He couldn't rest so he come forward after a while and he gave his dog. But he still couldn't get no rest. And so the man that was trying to help him, he said, why don't you try giving yourself? And so he told the Indian, he said, give yourself to the Lord. And he went forward and he said, Lord, he said I givem horse, I givem dog, and now I givem myself. And peace came in then. And that's true. God don't want...He don't even want what you got. Because if He gets you, He's got what you got. If you surrender yourself to the Lord, He's got everything you've got. You're His--lock, stock and barrel. And not only are you His, but everything you have is His. And the Lord, of course, knows that. And it's true that many people just go to church because it's the thing to do. Maybe they've got friends, might have a husband or a wife, might have children, might have an uncle or aunt that's religious, somebody who introduced them to some kind of a way and said now this is the way. But this rest that the Apostle is talking about here, I'm sure it was Paul that wrote this, it's something that nobody else can give you. It's the rest of God. And nobody else can give it. You can try to get it, you can do everything in the world and man is searching for rest. He wants peace. Every human being likes and wants this rest. I remember I was in an automobile wreck in...well many years ago, I was about 22 years old. And I did everything but die. But I didn't. But I got sick enough that they got to giving me-I believe back then it was morphine but I'm not sure--giving me morphine and that was the only thing that would give me any rest. And I never will forget I would beg them for that stuff. And they would come and give me a shot of it and just as soon as it began to go into my body, you know by way of my blood stream, it just relaxed me. And I'd be miserable, in terrible condition but that would relax me and oh, it felt so good just to relax, to be able to relax and have all that feeling, unrest, whatever it was just leave you. And then I'd go to sleep and sleep about four hours. Of course I would wake up in about as bad ... the same shape again. But I'm saying this, that that rest was the best rest that I'd ever encountered at that time. Because it just seems to relax every fiber of my being and I wish it could have went on. (laughing). But I finally got over it. I had a time getting over it too. But anyway that gives you just a little idea. I guess that's why men get hooked on narcotics and dope, you know, and all these things that they take now-a-days. To get them some relief. And I know this, out of all the things in the world that we need and that we as human beings want, it's rest. People are searching for it. They go everywhere in the world and they are trying...they've substituted pleasure for rest. They've substituted wealth for rest. They've substituted psychology for rest. They've substituted just about everything you can think of. -- Brother Jimmy Robbins: False religion. -- Brother Thomas: That's right. And much of it is the fact that they are seeking something they don't have. And it's a miracle of God if God brings you. 
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