Look it in the face, Christian, and see if it has not got the horns of the Evil One stamped on its brow? Does not the cloven foot peep out? Look at it; why, it is the devil’s own child. Why, bethink thee, Christian, this Evil One is making thee doubt thy own Father.
There will come, sometimes, the temptation which results from loneliness, when he will be urged by Satan to do evil. As no human eye is upon him, may he not do wrong? We have sin engrained in us: even those who have grace dwelling them have to complain, "When I would do good, evil is present with me." How can we commune with God with our eyes blinded, our ears stopped, our hearts hardened, and our senses deadened by sin? Our whole nature is tainted, poisoned, perverted by evil; how can we know the Lord?
But if the types may help us to a guess at the peace of the Christian, we may, perhaps, come at it a little more clearly and practically by remembering the oppositions to peace which are removed in the Believer. Can there ever be rest to a heart which has sinned? Answer, yes! Christ, by suffering in his place, has answered all the demands of Justice, and the Believer's heart is perfectly at rest. How does he deal with his inbred sins and tendencies to evil? Can a man rest while those are within him? Yes!
The blood of Jesus whispers peace within! Peace, yes, perfect peace! What a Heaven lies within! Peace gleaming with a heavenly light even in the midnight of this world of care. We cannot enjoy true peace as long as sin remains upon the conscience. As well might the ocean be quiet while a tempest is raging, or the sea bird rest on the wave when the storm is mixing earth and sky!
Two things the high priest had to do before he might enter: one was, to be sprinkled with blood, and this we have; for "our hearts are sprinkled from an evil conscience." The other requisite for the priests was to have their "bodies washed with pure water." Shall perfect purity abide with the abominations of evil? No, it cannot be. Our Lord Jesus Christ put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He taketh away the sin of the world, and so the veil is rent.
Weary ones recline on the promise now, and take your rest! Come now! By an act of instantaneous faith which will bring instantaneous peace, come and rely upon Jesus, and he will now give you rest. Rest shall at once follow the exercise of faith. Perform the act of faith now. It is a present rest, rest now; not rest after death; not rest after a time of probation and growth and advancement; but it is rest given when we come to Jesus, given there and then. And it is perfect rest too; for it is not said, nor is it implied, that the rest is incomplete. We do not read, “I will give you partial rest,” but “rest,” as much as if there were no other form of it. It is perfect and complete in itself. In the blood and righteousness of Jesus our peace is perfect.
God has given commandment to save you and you shall be saved, saved from yourself and from all the attacks of your old sins! Saved from the devil! Saved from evil company, for God has said it, "Deliver him from going down to the Pit." The clock of mercy struck in Heaven the hour and moment of my deliverance, for the time had come! Thus had the eternal purpose of Jehovah decreed it! Nobody would have thought of that way of the deliverance of a sinner from the pit of Hell through a ransom if God had not thought of it! Notice, next, that God has not only invented a way of deliverance, but he has found a ransom. So that it is a gift of Divine Love. Sinner, do not doubt your deliverance, for God has said it, "I have found a ransom."
Here we have peace from lips that cannot lie, peace from a heart which cannot change, peace through the blood which has made a full atonement! I pray you, seek this peace and make sure of it. Come to the Lord and Giver of peace. Come to Jesus who is our peace! Oh, may the Divine Spirit lead you to come to Jesus now, at this moment, for in coming to Him you shall receive rest! Plead now this promise, "The Lord will bless His people with peace."
He feels that if he ever rises from his despondency, he can never dare to take an atom of the honor of deliverance to himself, it must be of Free Grace only. He can do nothing and he knows it! Persons who come to Christ suddenly and find peace immediately, have much to be grateful for, and they may be helpful to others of a similar character.
Rest in the LORD. Oh, what sweet precepts these are!, easier to read and to hear than they are to practice, yet, if Grace is given to us, we shall find them blessedly easy to practice. Surely, if it is easy to rest anywhere, it must be easy to "rest in the Lord." Anybody can see that a man of that kind is in a healthy state and that he inherits the earth and possesses far more of what is worth having, namely, ease and peace of mind, than the owner of broad acres who has no true rest of heart in the Lord.
Trust and you shall rest! The next word is to those of you who once did rest, but do not now. You Backslider, this is your word, return unto your rest. You never will find rest out of Christ, especially you. An ungodly man does, after a certain sort, rest in sin.
This peace comes only to His own people, "The Lord will bless His people with peace." He will never bless those with peace who remain in rebellion against Him. "The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." Say, are you one of His people?
“This is not our rest; it is polluted.” We are passing through the desert of earth to the Promised Land of heaven, but we praise God that we have wells to drink of on the road. For you are accepted in the Beloved, justified by faith, and have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
To be perfectly at peace amid the hurry-burly of invading cares is a very blessed condition of soul, and the only way to reach it is described in the next line of the hymn, "To do the will of Jesus, this is rest." To be sure that what you are doing is what Jesus would have you do is peace! Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. 
