The Living God

So tonight we're going to be studying how God is the living God.

And what we mean by that is that God is the one God who is living and true. We're going to look at the first Bible point here tonight. God is the living and true God. So for those of you who are taking notes, you may want to fill that in. God is the living and true God.

And I want to call your attention to the first verse that we're going to look at tonight is 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. If you recall, Paul was the one who planted the church at Thessalonica. Thessalonica was in Greece. Remember how he had been put in jail in Philippi and how God had miraculously set him free from that jail. And then when he left, they went to Thessalonica. And then we had a couple of weeks there to be able to preach the gospel in Thessalonica. And then they got run out there. They were chased out of there and they had to go to Berea. So Paul didn't spend all that much time there in Thessalonica. But he loved that church. And he was concerned for that church because he wanted that church to be rooted and grounded in Christ. Thessalonica, I had the blessing of going there many years ago. It's in the middle of Greece. And it's right along the major trade route that the Romans built called the Via Ignatia, which goes all the way from modern-day Istanbul on the Bosphorus across the entire breadth of Greece, or what we call Macedonia at that time, all the way over to the Adriatic Sea. It was about a 700-mile superhighway, which was a huge endeavor during that time. And so all this traffic from both ends of the world were crossing there. If you wanted to go to Rome, you had to go through this road, right? And it also was on a north-south corridor that led to the Balkans. It was a major trade route. And because Thessalonica was a booming city, at the time that Paul wrote this letter, there were over 200,000 residents there in it. And because of the traffic, because of the commerce, the city was flooded with idols. Every merchant that would go through there would carry the idols of his home city, of his hometown, his home area there. And it was proliferating. It was everywhere. And that has always been a problem with God's people, has it not?

When Egypt housed our slaves, the Israelites, and God brought Moses and the Israelites out of Egypt, and into the Promised Land, what did they come across? What was the problem that plagued them? Idolatry. God told them, "Don't intermarry." And the reason why, if you take wives from the foreign people, you also take their gods into your household, right? So it plagued them all throughout the Old Testament, and it plagued the church in the New Testament. Because they had, all over Macedonia, all over the Roman Empire, they had a polytheistic culture. They had gods for everything, right? And so Paul was concerned for his church in Thessalonica, that he had planted and he'd given them the true gospel. He was concerned that they may slip back into idolatry. But he'd heard good things about their faith. In fact, their faith was so genuine that all the outside regions of Thessalonica were testifying of their faith. That their faith was true, and that their faith was growing, and they were manifesting the presence of Christ where they were. So Paul writes them in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verses 9 through 10.

Would someone read this for us, these two verses? 1 Thessalonians 1, verses 9 through 10.

Amen, little sister. Good job. In verse 9, he says, "They themselves, speaking of their neighbors, concerning us, they testify what manner of entry we had to you. How you welcomed us, how you received not only us, but our doctrine. And how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God."

When the gospel first came to the people at Thessalonica, they were serving idols. That is man's natural state, is it not?

Because of the fall, our senses are dulled, our heart is crooked. And instead of receiving Christ, instead of taking him as our Lord and our Savior, the natural man rejects Christ. In fact, if you look in Romans, you don't have to flip there, I'll read it for you. Romans chapter 1 is all about this. Verse 18 of Romans chapter 1, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." Natural man knows the truth, but they suppress it because the truth convicts them, right? They don't want to be accountable to God. So they suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Verse 19, "Because what may be known of God is manifest in them." They have a conscience, they're made in the image of God. "For God has shown it to them," verse 20, "for since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power in Godhead, so that they are without excuse." They know God to be true. But verse 21 says, "Because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts. And their foolish hearts were darkened, professing to be wise they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things." We tend to make idols, right? And we make idols because our idols don't convict us like God convicts us. Our idols aren't holy as God is holy. So we'd much rather serve a cute little animal than serve the Lord because we don't fear the little animals, right? The little animals don't have the power to cast their soul into hell. We don't have to stand before the bar of judgment before creation. But we do have to stand before the bar of judgment for our Creator, right?

Calvin said that the human heart is a perpetual idol factory. It's always making idols. Reminds me, I don't know if you remember the "I Love Lucy" show. There's a famous episode where Lucy and her friend Ethel go to work at the chocolate factory. And at the end of that conveyor belt, their job is to box the chocolates. But it's coming so fast, they're overwhelmed, right? So they begin to eat it, they put it in their hats and their clothes, hilarity ensues, right? Because they can't keep pace. Our hearts are the same way.

We manufacture idols at an alarming rate. And the reason why we continue to manufacture them is once you get to look at them, we realize that they are not living. That they are not true, right? Therefore we have to create a new one, because we're no longer enamored with the old ones.

Amen. They don't satisfy us. When he says here to the Thessalonians, "You have turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God." What's the opposite of living?

Dead. The gods of this world are dead.

They can't relate to us. They can't satisfy. They can't save. They're nothing, right? They're a figment of our imagination, a creation, an empty creation, created from our own empty hearts, are they not?

What is the opposite of truth? As you've turned from your idols to serve the living and the true God, what's the opposite of true?

False. Lies, right? These are not the true God, though they purport to be, though they may promise you the moon, your friends go headlong after them and pay them lip service.

Those gods are false gods. Yes, sir? I want to just address people who say, "My God is a loving God. My God won't send people to hell." What's the God they made of? That's the other one. Exactly right. We make an idol in our own image, one that strokes our feathers, if you will, that is agreeable to us. And that's why mankind rejects the living and true God. And look in verse 10. He says, "Not only have you turned from idols to serve the living and true God," it says, "And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come." He says, "We're waiting for Jesus Christ." After His death and resurrection, He ascended to the right hand of God where He reigns and rules over everything in heaven and over the kings of the earth, is what the Scripture tells us. Do idols rule over anything?

No. Can idols raise themselves from the dead? No. Can idols raise us from the dead? No. Can idols sit over us in judgment?

No. Can idols deliver us from the grave? No. But the living and true God can, right? So we serve the living and true God. The application is to trust God who is active and attentive.

Who is active and attentive, or you could say engaged, if you will.

Jeremiah chapter 10, Jeremiah the prophet was chastising Israel for their tendency to idolatry, and he uses very vivid terms. He says, "For the customs of the people are futile." What does futile mean?

Vanity, right? They're empty. They're worthless. The traditions of the people... What's that? Delusional. Exactly right.

"For the customs of the people are futile. For one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of hands of the workmen with the axe. They decorate it with silver and gold. They fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple." So they go out and they take a tree and they cut it down with human tools, human hands, making their own gods. And they have to fasten it to hold it upright, because it can't hold itself upright, right? It's just a dead piece of wood. Verse 5 says, "They are upright like a palm tree." Now, I'm reading from the New King James Version. Does anyone's translation say anything different than they are upright like a palm tree?

Many translations will say they are like a scarecrow among the fields. The Hebrew could be taken either way, because we think of scarecrows as being stuffed with hay. You know, if you've seen...

What's the... The Wizard of Oz. There you go. Being nice stuffed with hay. But back in ancient times, they were typically a big post with maybe a face painted on them. Or they were a column of rocks to scare off the beasts of the field from the crops. And he's comparing idols to a scarecrow or to a palm tree. A palm tree, when we have them all over, they're typically tall. Do they have arms? No, they don't have branches. They have maybe hair, if you will, looking at the top. But that's about it. So they can't do anything with their hands. They can't work. They can't engage. They can't be attentive to us. Verse 5 says, "And they cannot speak." So they stand around. They're being held up, fastened. They cannot speak. They must be carried. They're not mobile. You have to carry them from one place to another to venerate them. Because they cannot go by themselves. "Do not be afraid of them, for they can do no evil, nor can they do any good."

These idols are futile. And our service to them is futile as well. Now, you may not have a pole out in your backyard that you're worshiping. You may not have a stone or a statue in your house. That's an idol. But what kind of idols do we serve here in America?

Money. Yeah.

TV entertainment. What else?

Ourselves.

That's exactly what Eve said in the garden, right? "We shall know as God knows," is what Satan told her. And she believed it. And she bit the apple, right? "We'll be like gods." So we, though we may laugh at the primitive folks who carry around sticks and fasten them and worship those sticks, we worship other gods too, right? And they're just as dead. And they're just as false.

Turn on the back. I want to look at reference number one. Psalm 135, 15 through 18 says, "The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak. Eyes have they, but they do not see. They have ears, but they do not hear. Nor is there any breath in their mouth. Those who make them are like them. So is everyone who trusts in them." Those who make them are like them. So is everyone who trusts in them. What you worship, you become like.

If you worship a dead and false idol, you're going to be dead and full of falsehood, right?

Number two, the living God creates, sustains, and redeems. The living God creates, sustains, and redeems.

Paul, not too long after he was in Thessalonica, he went to Berea. And then after Berea, he went to Athens, if you recall. And Athens is also full of idols. I remember going through Athens, and you go through the ancient parts of the city, and everywhere you go, literally, there are idols and monuments to false gods. And he perceived that they were very religious, and he saw a statue or a plaque to the unknown God. And he began to address the men on Mars Hill. And he says in Acts 17, "God who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands." Can an idol make anything?

No. Can an idol rule over anything? No. Verse 25, "Nor is He worshiped with men's hands as though He needed anything." Talked about that last week. Our God is a spiritual being. He doesn't need material things. "Since He gives life and breath to all things," our God not only creates all things, but He gives life and breath to all things. He sustains all things. Can money sustain you?

No.

Rich people, just like the rich man in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus that Jesus gave, the rich man dies right alongside the beggar. Right? Money can't extend your life. Jesus says, "Do you think by much worrying you can add one cubit to your stature?" And in Greek that could also be translated as "one span to your life."

I remember reading years ago about Michael Jackson that he slept in a hyperbaric chamber for longevity. And there's a gentleman just recently who got a lot of attention. He claims to spend $2 million a year to keep himself youthful and fit, and he wants to live forever.

Exactly. God is the one who gives us breath, right? He is the one who gives us life, and idols can't do that.

Verse 26, "And He has made from one blood every nation of man to dwell on all the face of the earth and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings," sovereignly placing everybody exactly where He desires them to be. Verse 27 says the reason why, "So that they should seek the Lord and hope that they might grope for Him and find Him though He is not far from each one of us." The living God who creates, who sustains, who redeems, He desires relationship with us, right? That's why He's placed you where He's placed you. He wants you to know Him. He wants to be known because we were created for His glory, right? And so our God is the God who's the living and true God who relates to us. The application is that we're to turn from falsehood and turn to Christ. To turn from all the empty, vain things that will not give you a relationship with God, and turn to Christ, the living one.

Jesus said in John chapter 6 verse 35, "And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst."

Only Christ can satisfy.

Blaise Pascal, the famous French scientist and mathematician, he invented the first mechanical calculator. He was a devout Christian. He had his 400th birthday just a couple weeks ago. He had the famous quote where he said, "The human soul has a God-shaped vacuum within it."

What he meant by that, it's a hole in our hearts that only God can fill. We go chasing after other gods to try to fill that hole, but they can't. They can't satisfy. Only Jesus Christ, who is the living bread, who is the living water, can satisfy that void. Flip over to the back.

Jeremiah, reference number two. Would someone read this for us? Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 13.

"For my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water." Amen. Jeremiah was speaking on behalf of the Lord. He says, "They've committed two evils. They've forsaken me, the fountain of living waters," and in doing so they were robbing God of the worship and glory and honor and relationship that's due to Him. So they were robbing God. And then the second part is they practiced perversion. "And they've hewn themselves cisterns." A cistern was a shallow well. "Broken cisterns that can hold no water." To dig a well was laborious. Just as it is today. You ever try to dig a hole? Even here in Florida, it's hard, but we don't have much rock. It's a lot of work. And people engage their whole lives digging holes that can't hold water. And cisterns were vital to their lives, to living. Those cisterns would catch the rain. You're exactly right, because there'd be long periods where it wouldn't rain. Cisterns were meant to hold water, and if they didn't have water there, some of these communities were far away from rivers or from a living well, a spring. And so they depended on that, not only for themselves, but their livestock. It was a whole chain of life that depended on those cisterns. And that's what we do when we go and we leave God, when we forsake God, we hew for ourselves cisterns that cannot hold water.

Number three, the living and true God rules over all. The living and true God rules over all.

Jeremiah 10:10 says, "But the Lord is the true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath, the earth will tremble, and the nations will not be able to endure His indignation."

God is King always, at all times, and in all places. Amen?

That's what makes Him God. He's either sovereign or He's not. He's either God or He's not. In false gods, false religion rules over nothing. But God is the one who is the living and true God who rules over all. The application is simply this. We humbly serve the living God.

Because He is God, because He is King, because He is a true and living God, we owe Him everything, right? We owe Him our very breath. Even those who oppose God, think about those who were nailing Christ to the cross. Think of those who were mocking Him and rolling the dice for His garments. While they were despising Christ, while they were mocking Him, hitting Him while He was blindfolded and saying, "Prophesy, who hit you?" Christ was holding them together in life.

All things were created by Him and for Him and in Him all things consist. He is loaning His breath and life to all things, so we owe Him our humble service, our worship, our gratitude. Psalm 84:2 says, "My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God."

Flip over on the back. Speaking of God, the living and true God who rules over all. One of my favorite stories from the Old Testament is found in 1 Samuel 5. If you recall, this was before King Saul was a king. We had the judges and at this time, Israel did not have a king. They had a priest and the leadership of Israel wasn't really wise and they were going to battle at this point with the Philistines. And they had had a setback. They had lost a recent battle and they said, "What are we going to do different this time? I know. Let's go and get the ark from Shiloh and let's send the ark before us. Because if we have this token of the presence of God, if we're going to trust in this ark," they weren't trusting in God, they were trusting in the presence of this ark. "If it goes before us, then we're going to win the battle," and they go before the Philistines. And they get a stomping. It's four or five times bad or worse than the prior loss that they had. And the Philistines make off with the ark of the covenant.

And they take it and they put it in the temple of Dagon. Dagon was one of their principal deities. He was the father of Baal. And this is kind of absurd, but he was a fish man. He was supposed to be half fish, half man. The idea was the sea was teeming with life. And this would be a God who could give life, right?

But he was just a vain statue, a futile idol. And look at what happens here. "Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. And when the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon." They took the ark and they set it before this idol. "And when the people of Ashdod rose early in the morning, there was Dagon fallen on its face to the earth before the ark of the Lord."

Yes, amen. Ours is a God who rules over all. His glory will be given to Him. And here we have Dagon, a pagan idol, fallen on its face prostrate before the ark of the covenant, which is a symbol of God's presence, right? So what do they do in denial? It says verse three, so they took Dagon and set it up in its place again. Dagon wasn't even able to right himself, right? Because he's just an idol. And when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon fallen on its face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon, and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold. Only Dagon's torso was left of it. When it fell the second time, it hit the threshold, which would be a stone or a beam that you had to cross to go into the temple. And it crushed it. Its head came off, which the head would be the wisdom and the direction of that idol. Its hands would be symbols of its power. And all that was left was just a torso of this puny, false, dead God.

Verse five says, "Therefore, neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day." So they would actually step over that threshold in superstition because it was the threshold that conquered their God. And we know that in Zephaniah chapter one, they continued this. This is some four or five hundred years later, worshiping in the same temple, they continued to step over the threshold because they didn't forget that their God was vanquished by the Lord Jehovah.

Now, I had to think, and I'm sure we've all thought before, why would they continue to worship this broken God, this futile God?

Why? Why would they, after they set him up and they saw this happen, continue to worship him for centuries after this? Because they couldn't stand the alternative.

They would rather worship a God of their own devising than worship the one true, holy, living God.

Flip over the back, number four, the living God is forever steadfast and delivers us. The living God is forever steadfast, which means everlasting, and He delivers us. We all know the story about Daniel, how Daniel had great favor with the king and the other satraps were jealous of him. So they come before King Darius and they say, "We have a proposal. For the next 30 days, no one shall call upon any man or God, but only upon you, Darius. And if anyone does call upon any God or any person other than you, Darius, they'll be thrown into the lions' den." They did this wickedly because they knew that Daniel, as his practice from his youth, had been to worship, turn toward Jerusalem three times a day, and to call upon God. And so King Darius in his vanity signed it. And of course, what did Daniel do? He knew about this, but he boldly continued to pray three times a day. And so it was brought to Darius' attention. Darius couldn't do anything about it, for the laws of the Medes and the Persians could not be changed. He said, "Okay, we've got to put Daniel in the lions' den." And he told Daniel, he says, "I know that you serve the living God. He's going to be able to protect you." But all night that night, once it was sealed up, shut, and Daniel was put in with the lions, King Darius paced and could not sleep. He was so concerned because he liked Daniel. And early the next morning, he had the stone rolled away.

And he says, "Tell me that your God has saved you. Tell me that you live." And he hears a voice, and it's Daniel. The angels had held the jaws of the lions shut. They had preserved and delivered Daniel. And the king makes a decree in the aftermath. And he says, this is the decree here, Daniel chapter 6, verses 26 through 27. "I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom, men must tremble in fear before the God of Daniel. For He is the living God and steadfast forever. His kingdom is the one that shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall endure to the end. He delivers and rescues, and He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions."

God's willingness to deliver Daniel calls the mouth of a pagan king to declare His praises. And to say to every man, you must worship Daniel's God because He's the living God. He's the one who delivers and who is steadfast. The application is we are to worship and exalt the living God.

We're to worship and exalt the living God who alone is our deliverer, who alone can bring us salvation.

Flip over on the back. Another story that we like comes from 1 Kings chapter 18, with Elijah. Remember, it had not rained for three years, I believe it was, in the land. And King Ahab said to Elijah, "You trouble of Israel." And Elijah had had it. He says, "We're going to have a decision time here today. You're going to serve the one true God or you're going to serve Baal." And so he proposed a test. He said, "Let's take a bull, cut it in half, you prepare it, and you call upon your Baal and see if he can set fire to your altar."

"And I bet he won't. Then I'll do the same thing with God, with Yahweh, and whoever can bring down fire is the one true God." And we see what happens. He says, "Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, 'Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many, and call on the name of your God, but put no fire under it.' So they took the bull that was given to them and they prepared it, and called upon the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, 'O Baal, hear us.' But there was no voice. No one answered."

Then they leapt about the altar which they had made. So from the crack of dawn till noon, they cried out, "O Baal, hear us." And these are one of the saddest phrases I think that you'll find in Scripture, but there was no voice and no one answered. Then they leapt around the altar. They figured, "If we get active, maybe he'll hear us." Verse 27, "And it was so at noon that Elijah mocked them, and said, 'Cry aloud, for he is a God. Either he is meditating or he is busy.'" The phrase "he is busy" is a colloquialism meaning he is in the restroom. He's mocking them because their God is unresponsive. It says, "Or perhaps he's on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and he must be awakened." So he's saying, "Where is your God? He's not responding to you."

Then in verses 28 through 29, "So they cried aloud and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances until the blood gushed out on them. They cut themselves thinking that if their lifeblood flowed out, that maybe their Baal would notice and have pity upon them."

"And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering and the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention."

Because Baal is a dead God. Baal is a false God. And we know the story, of course.

Elijah called upon God and what he did, he actually had a trench dug around his sacrifice, around the altar, and he had water poured out on it not once, not twice, but three times so it was soaked, filled with water even in the trenches. And God sent a fire that consumed the sacrifice and even licked up the water in the dust. Because He is the true and living God.

Number five, the living God lives to make intercession for us. The living God, the God that we serve who is the true God, who is the living God, He lives to make intercession for us. Christ, our risen Savior, is such a better priest than the Old Testament priest. That's what Hebrews is telling us, how the new covenant is so superior to the old. Hebrews chapter 7, verses 16, 24, and 25. "He who has come not according to the law of fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life, but He," speaking of Jesus, "because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." We serve a risen Savior, whose your name is inscribed in the palms of His hands. And He stands before God in heaven, making intercession for His bride. Because His bride is united to Him. That is His bride. We are His people. He is our elder brother. And He lives to make intercession for us.

The false gods of this world cannot intercede for us. They can't do anything for us, but we have the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords making intercession for us. Psalm 18 on the back, this is number five. Psalm 18 is one of my favorite Psalms. It was written after David had been delivered from the hand of Saul. Remember at the cave where he thought for sure Saul was going to kill him, he was able to show that he meant Saul no harm and God delivered him from Saul and even granted him some favor with Saul.

In memory of that, David pens one of the most beautiful Psalms of God's deliverance. Verses 4 through 6 tell of the trouble he was in. He says, "The pangs of death surrounded me." The pangs can mean cords.

"And the floods of ungodliness made me afraid." It was as if he was being washed out by wickedness. "The sorrows of Sheol," or the grave, "surrounded me." The word sorrows there can mean nets as a hunter. It's picturing the grave as someone who's hunting David.

"And the snares of death confronted me, the traps of death." So he's being hunted by the grave. He's being hunted and trapped by death. That's how his life feels so fleeting. It's about to fade out, he feels.

He says, "In my distress I called upon the Lord and He cried out to my God. He heard my voice from His temple and my cry came before Him, even to His ears." And look at how this is described. "Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken because He was angry." God is rising to act on David's behalf. "Smoke went up from His nostrils and devouring fire from His mouth. Coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also and came down with darkness under His feet. He rode upon a cherub and flew. He flew upon the wings of the wind." So we have a picture of God racing to his aid. Which of you, if you had a son or a daughter or a grandson or a granddaughter, and they were in distress, and they were calling out, "Help!"

Would you meander and saunter your way over there? You would take off running because they're your very life, right? That's how God sees you. That's how He saw David here. He goes on and he says, verse 12, "From the brightness before Him, His thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire. The Lord thundered from heaven and the Most High uttered His voice, hailstones and coals of fire. He sent out arrows and scattered the foe, lightnings in abundance and He vanquished them. Then the channels of the seas were seen and the foundations of the world were uncovered at Your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils. He sent from above and He took me and He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, from them who hated me. They were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He also brought me out into a broad place. He delivered me because He delighted in me." God moved heaven and earth to rescue David. And our God will move heaven and earth to rescue you as well. Right?

Last point. Number six, only the living God gives us true life. Only the living God gives us true life.

John 6, Jesus said, "It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life."

Only the living God can give us true spiritual life.

The application is in Christ alone is life and salvation. We can look broadly for life and salvation anywhere else, and we're going to come up empty-handed. But when we turn to Christ, that is where we'll find our life and our salvation.

St. Augustine, one of the most brilliant minds ever in the church, a godly man who lived around 300 or so years after Christ. He had the famous quote where he said, "Lord, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you."

We can only find rest, our Sabbath rest in Christ. We can only rest from our works in Christ, the one who perfectly pleased the Father, right? We can only find favor with God through union with His Son, Jesus Christ. We can only find life through union with our Savior. Through trusting in Christ, putting our trust in Him, He then sends His Holy Spirit to live and abide with us forever.

Jesus said in John chapter 14, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."