Entering into God's Rest
Hebrews 4:1-13
Tonight we continue our series of the book of Hebrews and we come to chapter 4. We're going to consider verses 1 to 13.
Now I realize that the book of Hebrews is a book that tests your courage in a sense and I can honestly say that I admire your faithfulness coming out Sunday night after Sunday night to labor through the book of Hebrews. I can promise you great blessings and great insight in the many things as you're faithful to learn this book.
And you know it's like our children when we feed our children, we don't always give them what they like we sometimes give them what they need. And so I want to be faithful to the call of the ministry to not only give you the things that you may like to hear that may entertain your fancy but to give you those things you need to understand because they're so strategic and so important to your understanding of the word of God and to your own Christian life and so we're studying Hebrews and we're arriving at the fourth chapter and the first thirteen verses are going to show us the subject of entering into God's rest. And we'll explain, we trust, in detail so you'll be able to understand what's involved in these verses.
Now as we approach chapter four we are right in the middle of a warning that began in chapter three verse seven. Now I told you, initially, when we began the book of Hebrews that Hebrews is written to Christians. It is written to believers however scattered throughout Hebrews are warnings to unbelievers. Not just any kind of unbelievers but unbelievers who know the truth, who, in fact, in this case were Jews who had renounced Judaism, turned from Judaism and begun to point toward Christ but never really received Christ. They'd gone away from Judaism but they hadn't stepped into a real relationship with Christ so they're turning around, they're facing Christ and they're in great danger because of the persecution and social pressure and all of this and the love of their own sin, they're in great danger of turning around back again and going back to Judaism.
And so periodically in the book of Hebrews this group is warned not to turn around and go back to Judaism no matter what the pressure but to take that next step, they're hanging right on the knife edge of decision and to take the step of faith in Jesus Christ.
Now this is a most important subject because they're many people who are in this very identical situation who have maybe begun to turn from the former way of life, they've turned toward Jesus Christ but never made the step of real commitment, they're always in danger of having hardened hearts, turning back and going back into the former kind of life.
And so as we began chapter 3 we saw Jesus greater than Moses and then on the basis of that, beginning in chapter 3 verse 7, we saw the warning that if those who were disobedient to Moses didn't escape, how shall they escape really who are disobedient to Jesus Christ who hardened their hearts against Him. And so beginning with verse 7 we saw the seriousness and the tragedy of hanging on the edge of a decision and not making that decision for Jesus Christ. Now this gives us a basic introduction to this section and the warning runs from 3:7 through 4:13.
So tonight as we begin chapter four we find ourselves right in the middle of this warning to those Jews and to anybody for that matter who is halting on the edge of decision and not making a commitment to Jesus Christ. And the warning comes to them beginning in chapter 3 verse 7, "Today, harden not your hearts", it's repeated again throughout this section, really the same message in verse 13, "Today, lest any of you be hardened", verse 15, "Today, if you'll hear His voice, harden not your hearts", and clear down in verse 7 of chapter 4 again, "Today, don't harden your hearts". And the illustration that is used all through here is don't harden your hearts like Israel did. Israel turned away from Egypt. They began to go toward the promise land but on the way to the promise land they stopped. And they did not believe God, they did not put their faith in God, therefore, they did not ever enter in to the full rest of Canaan. They turned away from Egypt, they never went, that generation that died, never went into the promised land. They halted at the crucial place of decision. And so the warning of the Spirit of God in this passage is do not do what Israel did, do not be taken away from the old life but never commit yourself to that new relationship with Jesus Christ but hang on the balance and the longer you hang and the more you hear the message and the more you hear the gospel the easier it is to reject and pretty soon you find one day you've woken up to realize, you've awaken (I'll say it right) to realize your heart is hardened, you have an evil heart of unbelief and you have departed from the living God. That's the warning of this large section. Now I want us to understand this because I think it's very, very important. The message tonight will be for unbelievers. Those hanging on the balance but may I hasten to say it's also for us believers to be much aware that we need to be urgent in the presentation of the gospel and we need to beseech and beg people like Paul did to take the decision, the step of faith in Jesus Christ. I think so many times we, as Christians, are reluctant to really come to grips with people and say, "Right now, why don't you commit yourself to Jesus Christ". And if there's anything for us in this passage, that's it.
Now we found in chapter 3 verses 7 to 1? the reason those Jews never made it to Canaan because of unbelief. Unbelief forfeits rest. And the word rest used back there in Psalm ?5, which is being quoted here, has reference to entering the land of Canaan, resting from the wanderings and the persecution in Egypt and so forth and so on. It's the rest of finally getting into your own land, not being persecuted, not being pressured, not being killed, not being made slaves; it's rest from all of that. And they never entered into that promise rest because of unbelief. That's the basic principle of this whole passage. Nobody experiences God's rest apart from faith that's the key to entering into rest. Now if you go back to Moses's situation in Numbers chapter 14, you find in verses 22 and 23 these words, "Because all those men have seen My glory", this is God talking to Israel in the wilderness, "They've seen My miracles which I've did in Egypt and in the wilderness and they've tempted Me ten times and have not hearkened to My voice, surely they shall not see the land which I swear unto their fathers neither shall any of them that provoke Me, see it". God said because you've never believed Me but you've constantly thought you needed to put Me to the test, you've never accepted Me, you've always wanted to prove Me, you've never believed, you'll not enter the land. The bible says their carcasses will die in the wilderness. Now even under Joshua when the other, of course you realize that was a whole generation that died off and then the younger. generation went into the land, but even when the younger generation went into the land they did not enjoy the full rest that God had planned for them. And the reason they didn't enjoy their full rest was simply because when they got into the land, instead of doing what God told them to do and believing God in obedient faith, they rejected God's information to them and God said because of that I'm going to drive you right back out of the land and that's exactly what He did, at a later time. So even the generation that went into the land never experienced full rest. It was a hassle all the time fighting against every imaginable group and they got messed up from beginning to end of their time in the land. So there was no rest in either Moses's case or Joshua's case. The people who died in the wilderness or who entered the land because of unbelief. And may I say this, there is still a rest available. The rest of Canaan pictures a divine, spiritual rest that comes by faith in Jesus Christ. It's a picture of salvation rest and that salvation rest which we shall see in a moment is still available but it is only available to those who believe God, who commit themselves in faith to Him. Israel never entered full rest because of their unbelief and Moses couldn't make it happen and Joshua couldn't make it happen but God has a rest far greater than Canaan. God has an eternal rest that's available to you by faith in Jesus Christ and it takes a greater than Moses and a greater than Joshua to make it a reality. And that greater than both is Jesus Himself. Now when we talk about rest what are we talking about? I want to define the word or else all through the message you're going to be wondering what I'm referring to. In this passage, you're going to have to stick with me on this, there is rest promised. Now rest in it's fullest sense. And I looked up in the dictionary and found some interesting definitions of rest that fit beautifully in the typical or I should say into the instruction of the word of God here. First of all, the dictionary defines rest as ceasing from action or motion. Now these are just different definitions of the word rest, the English word. And the word in the Greek or the Hebrew is identically the same definition.
So first of all rest means to cease from action or motion, you stop doing what you are doing. The action and the motion is over. It means to stop from labor or exertion. Now applying that to God's rest it means no more self‑effort. No more trying to please God by your feeble, fleshly works. And the moment you enter into God's rest works cease as a way to please God, they don't please Him anyway because you can't do enough works to be perfect. And so rest then involves cessation from legalistic activity. It is a rest in free grace.
Then the dictionary secondly defines rest as to be free from whatever worries or disturbs you. Some people can't rest mentally because they're always bugged by everything. Every little thing just pounds away in their brain and they can never just rest because they're always hassled by everything. To rest means to be free from whatever hassles you, from whatever disturbs you or creates worries in your mind. It means, in this sense, to be quiet, to be still, to be peaceful, be free from guilt and the things which drive us to neurosis, psychosis etc. And so bringing that across to God's rest we would say that to enter God's rest simply means to be at peace with God. It means to possess the perfect peace that God gives. It means to free from guilt. It means no need to worry about sin because sin is forgiven and we're at rest all of a sudden, no more anxiety, no more pressure, no more guilt:
peace. So God's rest involves cessation of works and it involves a rest in the total forgiveness of God. Thirdly, rest in the dictionary is defined as to lie down, to be settled or to be fixed. No more flux, no more flow, no more shifting around and we can take this again to God's rest and say that God's rest is the kind of rest where a man is positionally established in Christ. No more running from philosophy to philosophy, no more being blown about by every wind of doctrine, no more floating over to this and floating over to that, he is established he is rooted, he is grounded, unmovable. That's rest. Fourthly, rest in the dictionary is to remain confident, to put your trust in something, in other words, you rest in something in the sense of confidence. And to enter God's rest logically means to enjoy security, no more fear you have absolute trust and absolute confidence in God's care and charge of your life. Fifthly and lastly the dictionary says that rest means to lean on and to enter into God's rest means that for the rest of your life and eternally you can rest on God and you can lean on Him and you can be sure that He will never topple over.
So when it talks about rest in the bible, it's talking about a new relationship to God that is available to a man whereby that man can depend on God, can impose on God that means totally depend on God for support, for health, for power, for everything he needs. It is a new relationship which man is confident and secure that he's committed his life to God and God holds his life in an eternal trust. It is a new relationship that involves being settled and fixed, no more flux, no more floating around: all of a sudden you know Whom you have believed you know why you believe it and you stand on it. It is a new relationship with God that means we can be free from that which disturbs us, sin is gone it's been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, therefore guilt is gone, therefore we have no reason to worry we have only reason to be at peace with ourselves and with others since we are at peace with God.
It is, then, a new relationship with God that means the cessation from works and legalism as a way to please God. That in total is what rest is all about. So when the bible says here in Hebrews 3 and 4 that God offers you rest it means all of those things which we have talked about A new relationship with God that is multifaceted as I've just explained it to you. It's full, it's blessed, it's sweet, it's satisfying. it's peaceful. And this is exactly what God is offering to every man.
And this is exactly what was pictured in the Canaan rest that Israel never understood and never entered into because of unbelief. And just as Israel never entered Canaan rest because of unbelief so soul after soul after soul since the time of Israel and even before has also missed God's rest spiritually because of unbelief.
Now there are also two other dimensions that the dictionary doesn't handle in defining rest. One of them is kingdom rest which is the millennium and the other is eternal rest which is heaven.
And those are the ultimate expressions of that new relationship.
The fullest kind of relationship with God that takes care of you in this life, in the kingdom and in heaven forever. That's what God is promising and that's what He calls rest. But men don't enter into that rest. There's only one reason that they don't and what's that one reason? Unbelief. Men won't believe God that He means what He says about rest. It's unbelievable to think about it but it's true that when God offers a man all of this; men won't believe it. And even some will turn away from the world like these Jews and Hebrews and they'll look toward Jesus Christ, they'll turn their back to the old patterns but they'll hang on that edge and never commit themselves to Christ and they'll find it easier and easier to resist, they'll find one day that they have an evil heart of unbelief and they have departed from the living God.
And so the warning from the Spirit of God is harden not your hearts. Don't be like unbelieving Israel and miss God's perfect rest.
Now that is an introduction. I'm tired already. I want you to see the sermon. I'm going to get to that now.
I want you to see four things here: the availability of rest, the basis of rest, the nature of rest and the urgency of rest chapter 4. First of all the availability of rest verse 1, the availability of rest verse 1 says, "Let us, therefore", what do you mean therefore?
What's the Holy Spirit use therefore to indicate? That means go back because of what we saw in Israel, because we saw Israel forfeit rest, because they blew it and never entered into God's promised rest look at that and let us therefore ‑"fear". Why? Because when you don't believe God, my friend, you don't enter into His rest. That's something to be afraid of, that's something to be afraid of. The bible says "fear not them who are able to destroy the body but fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell". And you know who that refers to? God. When you look at the past history of Israel and you see what happened to the people who didn't believe God, therefore, let us do what? Fear. Let us fear. Now scripture indicates that the Christian doesn't need to fear, Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid". The only kind of fear a Christian experiences is not this kind of fear but the fear that is reverential awe. The reverential kind of fear. The bible says in II Timothy. 1:7 that, "God hath not given us the spirit of fear". Believers don't need to fear but here he says to unbelievers, fear. Why? "Lest a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it". You better be afraid, my friend, you better be afraid that you might miss God's rest. That's something to be afraid of. So having reminded the readers in chapter 3 that the generation which came out of Egypt did not enter Canaan rest because of unbelief he then warns them of a possible failure on their part to enter into God's perfect rest and he says you'd better be afraid lest you miss it. It's not a trifling thing, dear ones, it's not a trifling thing to dilly‑dally around with the salvation of God. It's not a trifling thing to fool around with the rest of God that He offers. That's not something you fool with, that's something you consider with great fear for God is a God of judgment, our God is a consuming fire.
Now notice in verse 1 it says, "Let us, therefore, fear; lest a promise being left us". Now there is a promise left. The word means being left behind and remaining. What the Holy Spirit wants them to know, those reading the book of Hebrews, those Jews and also us today, is when Israel fell because of unbelief, watch this, when Israel fell because of unbelief that didn't mean rest was done. When Israel fell in the wilderness God didn't say, OK Israel, out the door, you've had it, I'm done with you, move down a few miles and pick on somebody else.
God didn't start the work to Egyptians. When Israel didn't go into the land, that generation that didn't, that didn't mean that rest ended.
And let me take it a step further. Many of the Jews at this time were very fearful that because of what they had done to Messiah had, therefor forfeited any possibility of rest. This is even a common doctrine, today that when the Jews joined with the Gentiles to bring about the execution of Jesus which was initiated by the Judaistic rejection, when that happened Israel then forfeited their right to God's blessing and from that time on God stopped dealing with Israel and God deals only now wit the church. There's is no restoration of Israel, there is no promise for Israel, there is no kingdom for Israel that's called amillennialism and that's a very dominate theology. And the argument is that because of what they did in the Old Testament in unbelief, because of what they did to Jesus Christ in unbelief they then forfeited everything, they lost the possibility of rest but here the word of God says, "Let us, therefore, fear, lest, a promise being left we come short of it".
The promise is not removed from Israel, it's still there. One of the greatest passages in the bible to prove that Israel is still in God's economy and that God is still working with them is in Acts chapter 3, listen to this; Peter is preaching and he says, "You denied the Holy One and the Just, and you desired a murderer to be granted unto you", and he's really letting them have it, these Jews in Jerusalem and he says, "You killed the Prince of life", now that's a pretty strong indictment, pretty strong. And you say; that did it, they therefore forfeited everything. And then you go over to verse 25 and you read, listen to this, Peter says, "Ye are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham and in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities". Do you that Peter says right there that even though you killed the Prince of life, you're still the sons of the covenant? Even though you killed the Holy One, the Just One; even though you desired a murderer to be released unto you, you're still the sons of the covenant which God made with Abraham and that was an unconditional covenant in which God said t