The Rest of Faith

[00:00:00] Third chapter of the letter of the hebrew letter. [00:00:05] And we will read from verse 14, Hebrews chapter three, from verse 14. [00:00:16] For we are become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence, firm unto the end, while it is said today, if ye shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. [00:00:36] For who, when they heard, did provoke? Nay, did not all they that came out of Egypt by Moses? And with whom was he displeased 40 years? Was it not with them that sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? [00:00:54] And to whom sware he, that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that were disobedient? [00:01:01] And we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief. [00:01:08] Let us fear therefore, lest haply a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come, come short of it. For indeed we have had good tidings preached unto us, even as also they but the word of hearing did not profit them, because it was not united by faith with them that heard. For we who have believed do enter into that west, even as he hath said, as I swear in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he hath said somewhere of the 7th day on this wise and God rested on the 7th day from all his works, and in this place again they shall not enter into my west, seeing, therefore it remaineth that some should enter thereinto. And they to whom the good tidings were before preached fail to enter in because of disobedience. He again defineth a certain day today, saying in David, so long a time afterward, even as he hath been, even as hath been said before today, if ye shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterward of another day. [00:02:40] There remaineth, therefore, a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For he that has entered into his rest hath himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. [00:02:56] Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest that no man fall after the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him, with whom we have to do. [00:03:34] Having then a great high priest who hath passed through the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold fast our confession, for we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help us in time of need. [00:04:13] Shall we bow together in prayer? [00:04:16] Lord, as we turn to thy word this morning, we do want to thank thee that, Lord, thou hast made specific promises, provision not only for the speaking of thy word, but for the hearing of it. And, o Lord, we take that provision together from thy hand this morning. We want to pray that the speaking may be holy within the limitation of thy Holy Spirit, within the marks that he would make. And we want to pray that our hearing may be true hearing, not misinterpretation or misunderstanding or misconstruction, but a real hearing of anything that thou hast to say to us. Let that anointing then be upon us all, in and through the person of the Holy Spirit, and we shall give to thee all the praise and glory in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen. [00:05:21] I would like just to pass on to you this morning a few thoughts that have been very much with me about the rest of faith. The rest of faith. [00:05:36] I think that we believers are living in days of greater and greater pressure. And if we read the prophetic word aright, it would seem to me that we are going to know that pressure growing in a far more intense manner than we have hitherto experienced. [00:06:02] Circumstances, situations, personal, local, national, international, will all play their part in bringing to bear upon the people of God much intense pressure. [00:06:20] And one of the things that I have noted in the last year or two are, for instance, the number of servants of the Lord who have had nervous breakdowns or those who are at least nervously exhausted. It is more than I have ever before known. [00:06:44] And that makes me realize for myself as well as for the rest of us, the need to understand what the Lord says in this portion of his word about the rest of faith. [00:07:04] You see, it is not only a question of remaining where we should, not when God is telling us to go forward. [00:07:13] That can mean destruction, limitation at the least, and destruction at the most. [00:07:23] It is also a question that we can go forward with our own fleshly concepts of what God wants. [00:07:36] And then we discover that we will again be destroyed by a kind of neurotic spirit that takes over and handles the things of God or the work of God. [00:07:54] What we need is the rest of faith. [00:07:59] It says so clearly here in verse nine. There remaineth, therefore, a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For he that has entered into his rest hath himself also rested from his own works, as God did from his. [00:08:28] Where does this rest lie? [00:08:34] It lies really in being within the will of God. [00:08:42] If God says stand still, and we stand still, we experience, in spite of a tremendous battle all around us and everything upside down, and a sense that the enemy is breathing down our neck, we sense the rest of faith. We experience the rest of faith because we are within the will of God. Everything from. From the common sense point of view might tell us to go back or to run forward or to go here or to go there. But if God says stand still, then in standing still, the actual situation is still the same. But we enter into rest. [00:09:38] We enter into a Sabbath rest because we are wholly within the will of God. God always takes responsibility for people who are within his will. [00:09:54] He reveals and expresses grace when we get out of his will. [00:10:00] But when we are within his will, we can suffer no harm, no injury, no loss and no limitation. [00:10:10] Because being within the will of God, there is the grace of God, and there is the power of God, and there is the wisdom of God. There is all the character of God himself with us, very much a matter of the will of the Lord. When God says, go forward, to remain behind in things that we have before experienced and patterns that we have before known will only bring us into trouble. [00:10:48] If God says, go forward, there is only one thing we can do, and that is to go forward. [00:10:58] It may seem that common sense will tell us, stay where you are. You are more secure. You have a defined structure. You have all the experiences of the past. Stay where you are. You will be more peaceable, more safe, more secure, more invincible. It is not true. If God says go forward, we must go forward, because by being within the will of God, we shall be invincible. [00:11:33] And though it may seem to us a certain kind of insecurity, because we are leaving behind a known context, just like these people had for years known something about the wilderness, they had grown used to the wilderness with the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire and water out of the rock and manna six days out of seven and the tabernacle in the midst. [00:12:07] It was a sense of security, because this was a known way to be suddenly told to go forward into a land that they did not know to pass over. A barrier which was a river into a land that they did not know might have filled them with a sense of insecurity and inadequacy. And then the enemy would come to them and say, now don't go forward because you're stepping out into the unknown and you'll be destroyed. [00:12:44] In fact, they would be destroyed by remaining, by being within the will of God. [00:12:54] They were invincible. They would see walls of Jericho come down, they would see AI's destroyed. They would see in the end a Jerusalem taken. They would see in the end the house of God built in the place which God had chosen to cause his name to dwell. They would see their enemies put to flight, they would see the kingdom brought in with the throne and the king. All these things were within the land. But unless they could hear the lord and obey the lord, they could not know the rest of faith. Now, this rest of faith does not mean no labour, it does not mean no conflict, it does not mean no enemies, it does not mean no confrontation with the enemy. When these people went over from the wilderness into the land, there were fortified cities. They didn't change. Just because the people walked over through a miracle of through the Jordan river didn't mean that the fortified cities were no longer fortified. They were still fortified. In fact, the very news that this people had passed over probably meant that extra guards were posted on the walls, doors were more carefully locked, men were armed. The more fully a word of warning went through the land. [00:14:32] If anything, the circumstances were the same. If anything, they may have got a little worse, but that is according to the way that we see with the eye of bliss. [00:14:48] The rest of faith is that when you're within the will of God, you don't have to fall back upon your own agitation or your own works. [00:15:03] You dont have to push the Lord's will and you dont have to push the Lord's word. You can rest in him and there comes conflict and battle and confrontation. But because the Lord said go forward, then we can look to God for absolute victory, not once, but again and again. This is the rest of faith, this Sabbath. Rest the will of God. [00:15:42] It is very easy sometimes to get some idea of what would be best for us. [00:15:55] And from a human point of view, it's been thought out and reasoned. I'm talking personally now, not so much corporately, and I've seen many, many believers do things that seem to be the best for them and the common sense thing to do. And two or three years later you find they've fallen away from the Lord, they fail to hear what God was saying. You see, generally speaking, it's wrong to go down into Egypt as a general principle. Forgive me, Arthur, but generally speaking, as a principle, it is wrong to go down into Egypt. [00:16:47] And we can make a concept of this truth. It is wrong to go down to Egypt. Never go down to Egypt. Never, never, never. [00:16:58] We have evidence for this. When Abraham went down into Egypt, he got into a terrible mess and had to lie about his wife and say to Pharaoh that she was his sister. And then she got the pharaoh, took us into his harem and there was trouble. [00:17:21] Never, never go down into Egypt. [00:17:26] We could quote the prophetic word about going down to Egypt for help. [00:17:32] That it is a broken star and will pierce, will splinter and pierce those who lean upon it. But you will remember there was a time when God sent down a man into Egypt. His name was Joseph. [00:17:51] And God sent him. Supposing he said, never, never, never. This can't be the Lord. But he heard and he obeyed. And he became the deliverance of his people and the means by which the work of God continue. Jacob, at that point didn't want to go down into Egypt. But God had to tell him to go down and he went down. And that sojourn in Egypt was the Lord. [00:18:20] You see, the time before with Abraham there was a famine. And Abraham just looked at the circumstances and thought, there's a famine here. Now the obvious thing to do is there's plenty in the land of Egypt. Go down there. [00:18:35] He was wrong because God may have said to him, remain. And like Elijah, have an experience with ravens feeding you and a brook of water that does not dry up. [00:18:53] There was another famine a little later in Jacob's lifetime. But this time God said, go down into Egypt. What I'm trying to say is this, that we need to hear the Lord. [00:19:09] And when we hear the Lord, to obey the Lord. And this principle is the one that is a priority. [00:19:19] It comes before almost all else. [00:19:26] The will of the Lord. There is something else about the rest of faith. It is not only the will of God being in the will of God, but it is being within the work of God. You know, we can work for the Lord. We can do lots of things for the Lord. Most of us, especially we who are in the ministry of the word and in a full time capacity bearing responsibility for things of God have fallen into this trap. [00:19:57] I suppose none of us are fully delivered from it. [00:20:01] We do our thing. [00:20:06] We get exhausted because it isn't the work of the Lord. [00:20:10] It is something for the Lord. And there is a vast difference between doing things for the Lord and doing things with the Lord. [00:20:20] When you are with the Lord, there is the rest of faith, because he knows our abilities, our disabilities, he knows our tendencies. He knows that all of us, at some time or another, will the best of us. When we're in the work of God, before long, we begin to get our hands on it. We can't help it. It is our nature, and he understands that. But basically, to be within the work of God is tremendous. Let me go a little deeper to a teaching that used to be called, in the old days, keze teaching. [00:20:59] It is not by any means to be overthrown. It is so tremendous. [00:21:05] The work of God is someone died for you. [00:21:13] And all the acts, accusations of the enemy cannot find any ground in you in the sight of God, because another died in your place. [00:21:28] That's the first thing. What a rest of faith to enter into that finished work of the Lord Jesus in reality, not just up in the head, not just to sing about it, not just to proof with the lip, but to enter into it in reality. I can't help saying that even with servants of the Lord, one of the greatest causes for breakdown and nervous exhaustion is accusation from the enemy. [00:21:56] And if we do not know the foundation, the eternal foundation upon which we can stand in the presence of God, we shall never know the rest of faith if we dont know how to put on the garment of salvation, and then over the garment of salvation, the garment of praise. You cannot put the garment of praise upon you until youve got the garment of salvation upon you. [00:22:24] There is something else about this work of the Lord, which is wonderful. Not only did he die for you, he died as you. [00:22:34] And that is as marvelous as the first part of the work. For when he died, you died. When he was crucified, you were crucified. God finished with you at the cross. [00:22:48] How can anyone enter into his works when, or into God's rest, that Sabbath rest that remains for the people of God, when all the time we think we've got to dress up the old man, we've got to somehow make our flesh, flesh acceptable to God. Weve got to put words into its mouth, somehow weve got to make it acceptable to the Lord. [00:23:11] What a relief it is to know that God crucified us with Christ. [00:23:17] He said farewell to you at the cross, and you know, he not only crucified you with Christ, he buried you with Christ. Thats right out of sight. [00:23:28] And then he raised you with Christ to walk in newness of life. [00:23:34] That's the rest of faith. [00:23:37] What a wonderful thing it is to know that we are able to walk in newness of life. Newness of life, fresh every day, new provision for every day, or the work of the Lord. Let's take it a step further when we speak about the rest of faith and say, oh, what a great thing it is to be in the work of God. Is God doing something here in this company? [00:24:04] Is it really his work to be in it, to be involved, to be part of it? Because what God does is forever, and what man does is transient. [00:24:19] Anything I done in this company will pass away. [00:24:24] But everything that God has done in this company is forever. [00:24:30] Now, does God cease with the movement of brethren or with the movement of leadership? Of course not. [00:24:45] God's work is God's work. [00:24:48] Just as he has led us through the years, so he wants to lead us on. And when people say to me or ever, it's as if everything's in the past, everything's in the past. Everything that God has done is in the past. The wealth is in the past. The speaking of the Lord, basically, and in a marvelous way, is in the past. I feel a bit sad. [00:25:14] It doesn't sound like that wonderful scripture. The part of the just is a shining light that groweth more and more unto noonday. [00:25:23] Now get me right on this thing. There are times when the Lord says, here is a new face. Go forward, and we go forward. And it means decrease. [00:25:36] But with God, it is only the chaff that is being parted with God. Every step forward is eternal. Increase. [00:25:50] An exceeding and eternal weight of glory. It must have been difficult for Joseph to leave his family. For him, that was decrease. Quite honestly, those brothers were 90% flesh and 10% spirit. [00:26:08] But he didn't see it like that. His old father, his brothers, leaving them all in the most terrible circumstances to go down into Egypt. It must have seemed if we'd had him here at the time to give his testimony, he would say, it's all decrease. Decrease. What about those visions? What about those dreams? What about those wonderful things? About all the sheaves bowing down to my sheep, about the stars bowing down to the sun and all these things? It's all in the past. [00:26:41] I'm in a dungeon now. [00:26:45] A dungeon and no light and no help. In actual fact, that's not what God saw. [00:26:56] By taking him, as it were, into a way of decrease, seemingly God was actually working. Increase. And in the end, this is what his old father said. Joseph is a fruitful tree planted by the fountains of water whose branches ran over the wall. In other words, fruit for those within the wall, that is, the jewish people, and fruit for those outside of the wall, that is, Egypt, all included. [00:27:34] It seemed to him a way of decrease. But it wasn't a way of decrease. [00:27:39] God said, you could say the same with Abraham. When God said, get out of ur of the Chaldees, out of your father's house and your kindred, it must have seemed to him it was a way of deeds. Especially when God said, and see the stars up there. [00:27:56] Your seed will be as innumerable as the stars of the heavens. See the sand under your feet, thats how your seed will be. It must have seemed at times a joke. [00:28:09] He lived into his nineties and still there was no seed, not even one. [00:28:17] I mean, it must have seemed as if hed been deceived, but he wasnt. [00:28:24] It was a way of increase. And from that one, as the scripture says, sprang as many as the stars of heaven for multitude and the sands of the seashore innumerable. [00:28:40] When God says, go forward, it may actually be a winter for a while. It may actually be a dropping off of a number of things that have crystallized and somehow, like old leaves, have to drop away. But the end is always increase. [00:29:02] For God is doing something within us. We are within the work of the Lord, the will of the Lord and the work of the Lord. And there's a rest of faith. [00:29:12] We don't have to get all excited because there's decrease. Sometimes people say, look, see what's happening? We don't ever have this in the meal. We don't ever have that or this and this. Well, that used to happen in the early days. But you see, the fact of the matter is this, that if God is doing something amongst us and we are with him, we can rest. We don't have to have an answer for every single charge or accusation. We can rest in the Lord. It's his job. If he said, go forward, go forward. [00:29:41] If he says, my presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest, go forward. By staying back, we shall be destroyed. By going forward, we shall know the Lord in an ever deepening way. [00:29:56] And then there is a third thing about this matter of the west of faith. And I want to underline it just, just very simply. And that is the word of God. [00:30:07] I dont think anyone can fail to see in this passage that it comes back again and again and again to the word of God. [00:30:17] What did the Lord say today? [00:30:23] If ye shall hear his voice, hearken not your hearts. [00:30:28] Or again it says, for speaking about the Sabbath west. And for some it must be a strange link up, for the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. [00:31:02] So you see, this matter of the word of God is very much linked to this question of the rest of faith. [00:31:12] You see coming back. I am a bit disjointed, but I hope it comes to you a little more clearly than perhaps I'm in my own head. [00:31:23] Faith is the key. [00:31:29] It says, they fell in the wilderness because the good tidings that was preached to them was not mixed with faith. [00:31:41] And in another place it says, and we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief. [00:31:50] But you try to get faith without the word of God, you cannot. [00:32:05] Faith is not a natural quality. [00:32:10] I've sometimes heard it described as a natural thing. People get on buses faith and do this and faith and that and faith. But divine faith is divine faith. [00:32:21] Saving faith is divine faith. [00:32:26] The faith that unites us to God is divine faith. In other words, it begins with the word of God being illuminated. [00:32:39] And in that moment an understanding comes to us through the word of God. [00:32:48] Then there is faith. Now thats why the scripture speaks of disobedience. [00:32:55] For once something has been revealed to you, you can either faith is born in your heart. The first reaction is, this is the Lord. And the next minute common sense starts, don't do this, don't do that. Be careful of this. Be careful of that. If you do this, this and this will happen. This is stupid. [00:33:17] Then can come disobedience. [00:33:22] The matter of the word of God is very important. [00:33:25] I have to say it to my own heart. [00:33:28] Do have I allowed the word of God to really pierce? [00:33:36] How far has God's word gone in my life? How far has God's word gone in your life? This is the key to very much. You can't enter into the rest of faith unless we are prepared to allow the word of God through the person of the Holy Spirit to do its work in our lives. [00:33:58] And that can require at times deep and painful surgery. [00:34:05] Spiritual surgery. [00:34:09] No easy thing. [00:34:12] This isn't a light studying of the word. It isn't just a light listening to the word of God. Here is the word of God doing the work God sent it to do. [00:34:31] Living, active, creative, sharper than any two edged sword. Oh, may the Lord do this. Kind of work in us all. [00:34:46] I don't know where you are if I apply this personally, but I am quite sure that what Marguerite said this morning may seem to be only to do with her handbag and her gait. [00:35:06] And from her testimony she has learnt one single simple thing. [00:35:13] That to hearken to the Lord and to obey is better than a whole lot of profession. [00:35:23] Now I'd just like to take that one step further and say there are many of us who, because we don't hear the Lord, will have some precious deposit given to us by God, snatched away. Unless we close a gate. [00:35:43] It's different in every one of us, whatever it means. [00:35:47] But you see, the apostle Paul speaks. When he speaks to Timothy, he says, guard that which the Lord has deposited in you against that day. [00:36:00] It can be lost. [00:36:02] It can be snatched away. We as a company have a deposit too. [00:36:08] We need to take heed to this kind of thing. We need to hear the word of the Lord. We need to hear what he's saying. If he says, go forward, go forward, that's the way that that deposit is not only going to be guarded, it's going to increase. [00:36:22] If he says stand still, stand still, because that's the way it's going to be done. [00:36:29] So whether personally or corporately, this matter is, I think, of tremendous importance to us. [00:36:39] For we perhaps all, in some way or another, stand on the brink of a promised land. [00:36:48] And we have to go over into that land to possess it. Shall I possess it? Shall you possess it? Shall we possess it? No. [00:37:01] If we were to pit our energies and our works and our zeal and our devotion and our love against the great array of the enemy, it will very soon be exhausted. It will collapse. We shall be defeated. We shall be put to flight. [00:37:20] But if it is the Lord who goes before us and we use only the soles of our feet and place it down upon that promised land and say, this is ours, this is mine. In the name of the Lord, through the will of God, through the word of God, through the work of God, it will be battle all around, conflict and much else but the rest of faith, no neurosis within, only a wonderful dependence upon God that what he has said will come to pass. And we have only to hear him and to do it. So, in closing, may I underline. Just because I really said it all, I want to underline this little phrase that this writer to the Hebrews uses all the way through his letter. [00:38:20] Let us. [00:38:22] And there are four here. Chapter four, verse one. Let us fear, therefore, lest haply a promise being left of entering into his rest. Any one of you should seem to have come short of it. [00:38:43] There is a place for fear. [00:38:50] It's whether we fear the right thing. [00:38:54] We have no need to fear the enemy. If we are in the Lord and in the will of God, we have no need to fear circumstances. If we are in the will of God and walking with the Lord, we have no need to fear the future if we are walking with God. Whatever happens to this world and the nations within it, we have no need to fear. [00:39:17] But it is a good thing to fear coming short of what God wants. [00:39:24] If that kind of fear ate us all up, it would solve a lot of personal problems if we were eaten up with a fear. I dont want to fail to take hold of all that God has given me. What about that grace he's given you? What about the power he's provided for you? Are you failing to take hold of it, failing to experience it? [00:39:52] Let us fear therefore, lest haply a promise being given to us of entering into his rest, we, any one of us, should come short of it. [00:40:06] A good, healthy fear. I do hope that you've all got that kind of fear. [00:40:12] And we have a fear as a company that we might come short of what the Lord really has provided for us. [00:40:21] We might miss his way. [00:40:24] And then the second you will find in verse eleven. Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest. [00:40:36] Now, this isn't agitation, it's not fleshly energy, it's not all that kind of worked up kind of thing. But it is diligence. Now, to be diligent means that we're not lazy, we're not apathetic, we're not lethargic. You know, if we're going to have this attitude to these things, well, okay, okay, God wants it, he'll do it. That's not diligence. [00:41:16] For instance, when God speaks to us, we should be diligent in hearing and then diligent in obedience. I'm so glad that when God has spoken to you about love, you've really begun to take it up and ask, what does it mean? How do we express this love? Because it's a real need. [00:41:40] And if God speaks, we must give diligence. We can't just throw it off and say, it's okay, it's okay. [00:41:46] If God speaks with, we must give diligence. [00:41:49] Give diligence to enter into that rest. [00:41:53] There was a Joshua and there was a caleb. [00:41:58] They were of a different spirit to the other. [00:42:03] What was it that marked them out. [00:42:06] They were men of diligence, and they were men of faith. [00:42:12] They all saw those spies. They all saw the same thing. They all experienced the same circumstances. They all went through the same land. [00:42:24] But there were two that were quite different. [00:42:29] You know, it says of Joshua, he never went out of Moses tent. [00:42:33] To me, that's diligence. [00:42:40] This wasn't a man who was just taking everything easily and sort of saying, it's okay. It'll all come to pass anyway, what God wants, he will do. This man was a man of diligence, and Caleb was the same, was he not? [00:42:59] Give me this mountain man diligence. [00:43:06] Let us therefore give diligence. To enter into that rest, to come into this rest of faith actually takes us so often through a period of great trauma. [00:43:22] Anyone who has really known what it is to come through to a real rest in the Lord will know what I'm talking about. You go through a period when you wonder whether God is even there. [00:43:34] You wonder with all the things you've accepted, accepted before alight. You wonder as if every single thing is somehow or other to be questioned. You can't somehow accept anything anymore. [00:43:48] Don't worry. [00:43:50] In the end, you will leave the morass of your own ideas and your own thoughts and find your feet upon the rock. Rock. [00:44:05] Give diligence. [00:44:08] It doesn't just happen. [00:44:10] God leads us through many ways. Wesley once said, the longer a man goes through anguish, the deeper the work God will do in him in the end. So if you feel like giving up and you feel you're like, you feel you are an absolute failure, a spiritual bankruptcy. Let me say something to you. You are nearer to a breakthrough than you realize. [00:44:38] Diligence. [00:44:42] And then the third thing is, you will find it in verse. [00:44:52] I've lost it. [00:44:54] It's moved in my Bible. [00:44:56] Yes. Yes. 14. Thank you. Let us hold fast our confession. [00:45:03] Let us hold. Listen to this. Having then a great high priest who hath passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. Don't let go of what God has given you before. [00:45:15] Hold fast your confession. What is your confession? He is lord. That's your confession. What is your confession? He is savior. That's your confession. [00:45:28] Hold fast your confession. [00:45:31] Don't just let go. Hold fast. [00:45:35] Because you have a great high priest, and that high priest has a deep concern for you and a ministry of intercession for you. And he's the one who's going to bring you. Don't let go your confidence. [00:45:53] Hold fast your confession. And lastly, in verse 14, let us draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace. [00:46:04] There we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. [00:46:11] The rest of fear. [00:46:14] Let us draw near to the throne of grace. I am quite sure that in these days that lie ahead of us, every one of us will need the throne of grace. And every one of us will need mercy, and every one of us will need grace to help in time of need. [00:46:35] Then let us draw near. Why do you hold off? Is it because you feel unworthy, because you feel insignificant? Because you feel that perhaps, as Ron said earlier, the Lord sort of looks upon you with certain disapproval? Don't do it. [00:46:50] Draw near. [00:46:52] Faith. [00:46:54] Draw near. Doesn't the Lord say, come, then obey and come? [00:47:02] May the Lord help us in this and these days that lie ahead, that we may all of us enter into that rest that remains for the people of God. Shall we pray? [00:47:20] Dear Lord, we just give our hearts over to thee. We pray that, Lord, thou wilt take this word that has been spoken this morning and make it live to every one of us. We pray, Lord, that all of us may know this rest of faith. [00:47:36] There is, Lord, in my life, in many of our lives. So much agitation, so much of the wrong kind of fear, so much, Lord, that isn't faith. [00:47:49] Dear Lord, deliver us from all this. [00:47:52] Grant that we may know thy will and be found within it, and may be within thy work and not doing our own. [00:48:00] And may lord have an understanding of thy word and an experience of its power within our lives. Dear Lord, grant this personally and corporately, for we ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus.