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     1. Near to the Heart of God   (3:52)
     2. Rest in the Lord   (10:58)
     3. Dwelling in His Holy Presence   (3:12)

Psalm 37:7.  Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

Isaiah 30:15.  For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.

[…] Rest.  Now, you know, that’s one of the commands of God—one of the most gracious, most precious, most fruitful commands of God.  And His commands “are not grievous.”  In one place, Jesus said, “I know that His commandment is life everlasting.”  And when He gives me this command: “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him,” He shows me the way to receive His salvation.  It isn’t done by my own striving.  That’s where we spoil it for God.

We had a friend—a professor—in the Baptist Theological Seminary, Professor Rauschenbusch—not the one that translated these songs, his father.  He was a real professor, and his wife wanted him to have his face shaven.  He’d forget to shave, evidently, and so she sent him to the barber—I guess he couldn’t shave himself.  So the barber began to… fix the soap—he had the old time mug, you know—soap the professor’s face.  And while he was soaping, they got into a theological argument, and the barber took his knife, his razor, and he had shaven half of his face.  And then he got this professor so sore, that he jumped up with his half-face full of soap, and ran out in the street.  So naturally, he couldn’t get shaved.  And the Lord can’t shave you either, if you don’t rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.

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Listen: rest, rest, rest.  What a job we have: to rest—rest in the Lord!  Why, “Thou has beset me behind and before, and laid Thine hand upon me.”  “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”  “And this is life eternal…”  “And His commandment is not grievous.”  Anybody here has learned to obey that one command, to “wait patiently for the Lord?”  “Rest in the Lord?”

What does that mean?  Why, it means to rest in the Lord.  People sometimes flatter me.  They say, “My, brother Waldvogel, you’ve got a lot to do.”  I said, “Where?”  I’ve been at it 72 years now, and I haven’t yet started.  I’m still resting—I’m really, honestly, “resting in the Lord, and waiting patiently for Him.”  And He has given me “the desires of my heart”—He has.  It is a wonderful arrangement that God makes for His people.  And we’ll have to learn that lesson somewhere along the way.  We will have to, or we’ll come up with broken works, and a spoiled job in that day.  He said, “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”

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(from 7:39)    He can do more in one minute than I can think of in six hours.  The Lord told us that one time.

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I work differently in the kingdom of God.  Instead of letting the things run me, I “wait patiently for the Lord.”  And my life has been different—my ministry has been entirely different, because God has done it.  And I know that I could have been more quiet still, and been more successful, and more fruitful, but I’m here to tell you that it works.  What works?  Who works.  Why, Jesus says, “without me…”  He means, “you can do nothing”—nothing!  Oh, beloved, you don’t know how wonderfully Jesus Christ can work until you let Him work for you, until you become “His workmanship.”  “We who have believed enter into that rest.”  Believe what?  Why, believe—Oh, Christ, that I’m in You and You are in me, and that without You I am nothing—without You I can do nothing.  And that’s why You’ve come to be mine, and that’s why You’ve come to dwell within me, and to live out Your own life within me.  And, oh… there is no greater, no more wonderful discovery to make than to discover that there is within you a Spirit, the Spirit of the Living God, that knows how “the exceeding greatness of His power” is waiting to flow through channels.  And unless I present myself a living sacrifice, my very body... and when God gets hold of this body, He’ll make every member of this body to count for Him.

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The story of a productive jeweler from New York who worked restfully.    (from 5:19)

Professor Rauschenbusch, perhaps Walter Rauschenbusch.

Date: Hans Waldvogel mentions he has “been at it 72 years now.”  That would place this recording around 1965.

Audio Quality: Good