Know Your Rights… in Jesus!

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Rights. We all have them, although they are not always respected in certain places or in certain times, unfortunately. However there is one place in-particular that they are always respected. And that is spiritually. In Christ, we all have certain spiritual rights that are absolutely undeniable, and the Bible tells us specifically what they are because God wants us to know what our rights are, and He wants us to make full use of them.

Even so, many believers are not making use of their rights in Christ. They have been sold a false narrative that they have no rights at all. They have bought into the lie that they are weak, powerless, and without any real recourse in this world… that they must wait until the sweet by-and-by up in Heaven for any resolution. And that is simply not the truth. What I want to share with you today, is what the Bible has to say regarding your rights and what you can (and should) expect in Christ Jesus – not later when you get to Heaven, but right now, today, in this life.

I want to begin today with what some might consider an odd portion of scripture, but it contains some amazing truths for us as we take the time to examine them, so let us look at Hebrews chapter 4, starting at verses 9 through 11:

“There remains therefore a rest to the people of God.

For he that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”

And there are several things for us to see here, the first of which being that something is being presented to us and for us. We see that there remains a rest to the people of God. Now if we take a moment and think back to the Jewish Shabbats (and yes, there is more than one), the Shabbats were a type of rest that came and went. Like every other part of the Old Covenant Law, they were a shadow of the real substance which is Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:16-17). The Shabbats would come on a single day, or a single year, and then they would be gone. However, the rest that we have in Christ Jesus is different… it is not a temporary rest; it is not a rest that comes and goes with the passage of time. As we see in verse 9, the rest that we have in Christ Jesus today, is a rest that remains. This is a continual rest. This is a permanent rest. This is an eternal rest. This divine rest is one of your rights in Christ Jesus today, and many people are not availing themselves of it, and in-fact are abdicating their right to this rest.

Moving on to verse 10, look at what we see here: For (or because) he that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

Again, contrast this with typical Old Covenant mindsets and behaviors. In the Mosaic Covenant of the Law, people would earn their blessings, earn their favor, and earn their acceptance before God by their performance (which no one could) and so then they would offer sacrifices for sin, and this cycle would repeat day upon day and year upon year. It was a continual cycle of work and performance. There are many believers in Christ today who still live as though they are under this Old Covenant system of works – there are many believers today to still think that this is what God expects of them and this is how He operates today, however look at verse 10 again, he who has entered into His rest, has ceased from his own works as God did from His.

This is in reference to works-based righteousness, works-based justification and works-based sanctification (holiness). We are to cease from such efforts and works, we are to stop trying to earn God’s blessing and favor and enter into the divine rest of Jesus Christ. The Biblical reality is that we already have God’s blessing and favor because Jesus earned it in our place! This too, is your right in Christ and as before, there are many believers today who are forfeiting their right to it, in favor of their own efforts.

Then verse 11 is a wonderful example of Hebrew poetry, Let us labor to enter into that rest. It sounds almost silly in our English language, but the point is actually quite clear… we only have one “work” and that one work is to enter into His rest as the previous verses have made clear. Why is entering into the divine rest of God considered a work? Because in the New Covenant, our belief on Christ is the one “work” that God requires. (John 6:29)

Many things in this natural world will try to draw us away from both our faith and our belief on Jesus Christ. Situations and sometimes well-meaning people can at times do more harm than good by ministering doubt and fear instead of encouragement and peace in Christ.

Our “job”, is to not allow those things to steal our peace or our faith. Our “work”, our labor, is to enter the rest of Jesus that remains, and to live in that place. This isn’t talking about works in the physical sense, but in the spiritual sense. Our belief in Christ is our work, as Jesus defined it. That is our only work, in the New Covenant.

This too, is your right in Christ Jesus. Take a look at verse 1 of Hebrews 4:

“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.”

You see, a promise has been left to us, by God. It is a promise of the rest that we have read about. And the writer of Hebrews then proceeds to draw an analogy between the physical rest of the Land of Promise, and the spiritual Rest and Promise that we have in Christ Jesus today. The Israelite’s failed to receive the promise due to unbelief, and only their descendants were able to enter. And in verse one we see that we are to pay good attention to make sure that we do not also “come short” of the promise of God’s rest – again not through works or performance, but through unbelief as mentioned in verse 11 which we read.

Now what does this rest entail? What are some of the benefits? Move down to verses 15 and 16:

“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

These two verses go so well together because the reason for the confidence of verse 16 is because of who Jesus is, which is mentioned in verse 15. The first thing that many people do not fully appreciate is that Jesus understands what we go through. He understands our infirmities, our weakness, our sicknesses, our feelings and our pains. Some of the most common phrases of someone going through a tough situation is “You don’t know what I’m going through!” or “You just don’t understand!” – neither of these can be said of Jesus, because He does indeed understand. He was tempted in all points, in the very same manner as we are, yet there was no sin in Him (which is the accurate translation). The point that Jesus had absolutely no nature of sin at all is a vital fact towards our assurance, and it is precisely why verse 16 is connected directly to it.

Let us therefore… You see, it is precisely because we have a compassionate and understanding High Priest, Jesus Christ, who is completely devoid of sin, with an absolutely pure nature, that we can have full assurance and confidence to come to the Throne of Grace. And notice that it is not the throne of Law, not the throne of judgment or even the throne of correction, but it is specifically the throne of Grace which we are to come, and we are to come boldly and with confidence.

And what do we find when we come to the throne of Grace? Not rebuke or rejection, but we find help, we find mercy. We can also notice that we find this things in time of need. We find them right when we need them. Some people think that this rest which we have been reading about is for the future when we get to Heaven. However in Heaven we will not be in need of anything. We will not have any times of need, and so this distinction is an important one. When we are in times of need, we have a God-given right in Jesus, to come to His throne of Grace, and find mercy and hope to bring us back to our place of rest – to refocus our attention back on the truth of who Jesus is, and who we are in Him. This is our right, and we are to come with confidence and assurance, not with doubts or uncertainty. This is our right.

I want to end today by sharing with you a practical application of these rights which we have studied today. Turn to Proverbs 26:2:

“As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come”

There is a very powerful truth here if we properly understand our rights in Christ Jesus today. To understand it better, we must read it in the original Hebrew:

כַּצִּפּ֣וֹר לָ֭נוּד כַּדְּר֣וֹר לָע֑וּף כֵּ֥ן קִֽלְלַ֥ת חִ֝נָּ֗ם לא תָבֹֽא

Like the sparrow that flies aimlessly, or the swallow that flies away freely, so too the undeserved curse will not come.

Now here is the key, as we close today, keep this in mind. If you understand your rights in Christ Jesus, if you know who He is (your eternal completely sinless High Priest) and you know who you are in Him (wrapped in His righteousness, covered by His divine blood) then you will know and understand today that all curses that try to come to you are completely undeserved!

Please understand, that there can be no curse on one whom God Himself has pronounced righteous!

So when a curse tries to invade your life, when symptoms of sickness, disease, lack and oppression try to land on you (all curses listed in the second portion of Deuteronomy 28), instead of accepting them blindly like so many people do today, you will understand that you have the absolute right to refuse those curses – and you can do so rightly and righteously in the Name of Jesus Christ!

Keep these truths with you always. Know your rights, in Jesus, and live through Him as you were always meant to.