Finding His Rest

“You will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30, NKJV).

I know of only one way to enter into this rest that Jesus is talking about. If understood and appropriated, this truth will usher you into the most glorious peace possible on this side of heaven and end all feelings of insecurity.

This foundational truth upon which all others are built is the doctrine of justification by faith. It is the one doctrine you must understand if you hope to enter into the rest that Jesus offers.

I can only touch on the highlights of the magnificent truth of being justified by faith, yet I believe God desires to lead his church further into this divine truth. He wants to give us a foundational strength that will hold us in the days to come.

Sadly, when you mention the subject of doctrine, many Christians turn up their noses. They say, “I don’t want to hear all that deep, heavy stuff. Just give me Jesus!” Yet what they really mean is “I don’t want to discipline myself or spend the time to learn what Jesus did at the cross.”

Too many Christians become emotionally involved with the cross but never really study it. I have heard many preachers deliver emotional appeals about Jesus and the cross, about his beatings, the crown of thorns on his head, the spikes driven into his hands. The preaching of the cross is about much more than that, however. It is about the victory of the cross and what Jesus did for all of humankind.

Two things are involved in our justification by the cross of Jesus Christ: First, we have pardon for all our sins. When Jesus went to the cross, his blood pardoned us from all guilt. Second, we are accepted by God as righteous in Christ, through faith. This means God accepts us on the merits of what Jesus did on the cross and not because of our works or any good deeds.

For those who desire to “learn of him,” who want to understand Jesus’s wonderful work at the cross, justification by faith is how we enter into Christ’s rest.