Well, let us turn again to this portion we've just read, and I want to direct you to the opening verses that we have here in the fourth chapter of this epistle to the Hebrews. Turning then to Hebrews chapter 4, and I'll read again from verse 1 through to the beginning of verse 3. 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. For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into his rest.

I want to say something then with regards to that that's spoken of here at the beginning of verse 3 as his rest, and that is gospel rest, the rest of the gospel. Tonight, initially then, to consider how there is a present rest in the gospel in the day in which we are so favored to be living our poor lives and then if the Lord will we'll go on to consider something of the various parts of that gospel rest and then also to say something with regards to the paradox of that rest as it comes into the lives of those who are favored by the grace of God but tonight thinking of the present rest of the gospel.

We read the portion through from the end of the previous third chapter and of course there we see quite clearly that the Apostle is speaking of those who came out of Egypt under Moses and those whom the Lord brought through the Red Sea brought to Mount Sinai, entered into covenant with them and then in a matter of it would seem probably 11 days they were on the borders of the promised land.

But then they send in the spies one from each of the 12 tribes and 10 of those tribes come back with an evil report. It was Joshua and Caleb, of course, who came back and said they should enter in and they would possess the land. It was what God had promised to their fathers and to them. But ten of the spies brought that evil report and spoke of a land that was full of giants and walled cities and the people was so unbelieving and so they were condemned to 40 years of wanderings in the wilderness till that whole generation passed away and another generation had arisen and God in his goodness would then take their children into that land.

Now these are the things clearly spoken of there at the end of that third chapter verse 14 Paul says we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end while it is said today if she will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation he's reminding them of the the awful provocation of the unbelief of that generation there in the wilderness for some when they had heard did provoke How be it not all that came out of Egypt by Moses? But with whom was he grieved forty years, asks the Apostle? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, and to whom he swear that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

So we see they could not enter in because of unbelief. As I say, these things are recorded back in the Old Testament, there in the book of Numbers, in chapters 13 and 14. And it's interesting because when he's writing to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul, in that verse in 1 Corinthians 10 and 11, reminds us that that event, the history of that people, is a typical thing, and it applies to us. All these things happened onto them, he says, for ensembles, for types, and they're written for us, for our admonition. upon whom the ends of the world are come the ends of the world referring of course to this day, the last days, the day of grace and so there's some spiritual teaching to be drawn from those things that are recorded in the historic portions there in the Old Testament and this is what Paul is doing really here in this portion that we've read this evening and so what I want us to do as I said is to consider these opening words, these first few verses in chapter 4 in terms of the present rest the present rest that we should be enjoying under the gospel and just two points I want to take up first of all to consider how that this is the fulfillment of all the other rests that ever went before it, and then in the second place to consider the wonderful fullness of this rest of God in the gospel.

First of all then, the fulfillment of all that we read previously in the Old Testament concerning God's rest. Now, there was of course a rest after God's great work of creation. And we're reminded of that, aren't we, in verse 4 of this fourth chapter. He spoke in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, and God did rest the seventh day from all his works.

and we have the record there in the opening verses of Genesis chapter 2. In the opening chapter we have the account of how God created all things out of nothing in six days, and then when we come to the opening words of that second chapter, Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the hosts of them, and on the seventh day God rested from all his works that he had made, and God sanctified the seventh day set it apart as a day of rest. And so the very concept of one day in seven as a Sabbath day, a day of rest, is clearly a creation ordinance.

And then when we come to the giving of the Lord of God later in Exodus 20, we see how that commandment to sanctify, to set apart. The seventh day is part of the covenant that God enters into with the children of Israel. We are familiar with the language that the Lord himself is speaking because it's a voice of God that they heard there in Mount Sinai, when God spake those seven words, those seven commandments, and how plain it is, the fourth commandment. And interestingly, it's something that they're told to remember. They must have already been familiar with it. We know they were, of course, because it's previously that we read of God providing the manna, and there would be no manna to gather on the Sabbath days. that God would send a double portion on the day previous to the Sabbath.

So, what are they to do there simply to remember this day? There in Exodus 20 verse 8, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work. Thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is with thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

So they are told quite plainly the reason why they are to observe this day. It's part of the covenant that God has made with them. It marks them apart as a people who are clearly under God's law. They are to remember the day then that God had sanctified.

Well, that's the first rest that we read of in Scripture. The rest of the Sabbath day. But then with regards to the children of Israel, and remember all these things are happening unto them for ensamples, for our instruction and our admonition.

The second rest that we read of, of course, is that rest that they would come into the possession of when they entered into the land, the land that God had promised to their fathers. And we have it there, as I've already pointed out at the end of that chapter just previous to the words of our text, with whom was God grieved for 40 years. It was with those who had sinned in unbelief, and so he swore they would never enter into his rest, they'd never enter into the rest that was the land, they could not enter in because of their unbelief.

And interestingly, when the commandments are recounted in Deuteronomy 5 remember after the 40 years of the wilderness wanderings we come to the book of Deuteronomy and now again they're on the borders of that land of promise and of course Deuteronomy simply means second law and so there in Deuteronomy we have the law of the of Exodus 20 repeated But there's an interesting addition, we might say, in what's said there in verse 15 of that chapter, Deuteronomy 5 and verse 15. Again, it's the fourth commandment that God, or Moses as God's servant, is reminding them of. as they are to keep the Sabbath and to sanctify it.

But there at verse 15, remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm. Therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath. So it's not just that thou should remember what God had done at creation on the seventh day. but they're also to remember their deliverance how God had brought them out of the house of bondage and God was bringing them out in order that they might enter into the rest that was promised the land flowing with milk and honey and so there's a connection not only with Sabbath rest In that fourth commandment there is also a connection with that rest that they should have entered into in the land of Canaan.

But all of this really is pointing to that blessed rest that comes in the gospel of the grace of God. Look at what he says, what he goes on to say here in the eighth verse of this fourth chapter. If Jesus had given them rest, that's not the Lord Jesus Christ that's being spoken of, it's Joshua, isn't it? But of course in Hebrews it's the Greek form of the name. Joshua is the Hebrew form of the name which we know in the New Testament as Jesus, the meaning is one and the same, Savior. The reference here is to Joshua.

If Joshua had given them rest, then we would have spoken of another day. Or there's another day, a day much more significant. It is the day of Christ, the gospel day. And so all of this is pointing to the fulfillment of those rests that had gone before. The gospel rest is different. It's not to be understood in terms of legal observations. It's not to be understood in terms of those Ten Commandments that God uttered on Mount Sinai. It has nothing to do with works. And we see how Paul, when he writes to the churches in Galatia, makes that so abundantly clear, how the churches there were being troubled by legalists who wanted to bring those Gentile Christian believers as it were under the law, he wanted to make them Jews. And you remember the language, the strong language that the Apostle uses repeatedly in that Galatian epistle, in chapter 3, O foolish Galatians, who have bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you. This only would I learn of you, receive ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith. Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? He associates the gospel with the spirit, the law with the flesh.

And what does he go on to say? In the following chapter, in chapter 4, verse 9, now he says, But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, I will turn ye again to the weak and beggary elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage. He observed days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you. lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain."

They are, in a sense, not under the Lord of Moses, are they? Again, when Paul writes to the church at Rome, chapter 7 and verse 6, he says the Christian believers should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. There's the difference. Now to serve God, but not under some legal obligation, but as those who are his sons.

I'm not saying, you see, I'm not saying for a moment that God's people are not to keep the Lord's Day. Surely that is evidently what was the apostolic practice. They were not keeping the Jewish Sabbath as we move through the Acts of the Apostles into the Epistles. What were these early Christian believers doing? They were keeping the first day of the week. They were keeping that day that is associated with the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. that indicates the completion of a far greater work, even than the work of creation, that work of redemption that was wrought by the Lord Jesus.

And so, in Acts chapter 20 we find Paul at Troas, and what do they do on the first day of the week? They are meeting together for worship, they're meeting together to break bread. It seems that that was the day, the first day of the week, that these Christian believers were keeping.

Likewise, when Paul writes to the church at Corinth, there in 1 Corinthians 16 and verse 2, he makes reference to them gathering together on the first day, and it's on that day that they should have set apart whatever it was that they would contribute to the work of the Lord, because collections would be taken on that day. But it was clearly the first day of the week.

And then again, when we come to the very last book, of course, there in Revelation chapter 1, where we see John exiles, having no communion with fellow believers, but it's the Lord's Day, isn't it? It's the first day of the week, and John is there in the Spirit on that first day, the Lord's Day.

There is a day to be kept, but we're not to keep it in the way in which it is commanded in the Old Testament. There is certainly a day to keep, and I would contend that that is made evident even in the chapter that we're in. Look at verse 9 of chapter 4. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God, and the margin in your Bible might well indicate that that rest could be rendered a keeping of a Sabbath. That would be an appropriate translation really of just what the Apostle is saying. He's not saying there's no day to keep. There remaineth therefore a keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God. There is a day to keep. But how is this day kept? Well, we keep it in a spiritual sense. And truly there is a certain sense we have to recognize in which only those who are resting in Christ can ever properly observe that day. God says in the hymn, All keepers that come short of this, the substance of the Sabbath, miss and grasp an empty shade.

No, we have a shadow there in the Old Testament. But the fulfillment of all rest, all the rest that we have there, the creation rest, the rest of the land of Canaan, all is fulfilled, really, in that blessed rest that the believer enters into when he is trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 7, again, the limit of a certain day. Well, what is this day that's being limited? Saying in David, today, after so long a time, as it is said today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Lord, it is the gospel day. It is the gospel day. He hath said, I have heard thee in the time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I suffered thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.

What do we learn then? We're not to come short. This is a vital lesson that's in this passage, Julie. We are not to come short of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not enough to have a sense of our sinnership. It's not enough to know that we're sinners and we can do nothing to help ourselves, to save ourselves. The opening verse of this chapter, Let us therefore fear, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. Only not to come short. There's got to be that true faith in Christ. The Lord says, doesn't he, in the course of his own ministry, you will not come unto me that you might have life. There has to be that coming, that closing as it were, with the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's not just our experience at the beginning of the Christian life. Surely we're ever coming to Him, ever calling upon Him, ever seeking Him.

And what is it that we have? Well, the second point I wanted to deal with is not just the fulfilment of all those rest of the Old Testament, which is found in the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel, but the fullness, or the fullness of that rest that we enjoy in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was thinking like this earlier today in trying to meditate in this passage, these opening verses. There's a sense in creation that we find God resting in man. as he comes to the end of that great work of creation. What is really the pinnacle of all God's works? Well, surely it's what takes place on that sixth day.

We go back to the record that we have in the opening chapter of Genesis, and how different God's work is on that particular day. Previously, we're told how God would simply utter His voice, the Divine Fiat. God said, God said, God said, this is how God creates, isn't it? God said, let there be light. God said, let the dry land appear.

But then when we come to the latter part of that chapter, at verse 26, God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. He doesn't simply declare man into existence as with the rest of creation, but there's that consultation between the persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

So God created man. In his own image, in the image of God, created he him, male and female created he them. And God blessed them. And God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Here is man, you see. He is in God's image. He is God's regent, as it were, in the earth. He has this preeminent place over all of creation. And he's to use it to his own advantage. Oh, this flies in the face, you see, of modern men.

God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree, yielding seed. To you it shall be for meat, and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is life. I have given every green herb for meat, and so it was. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them, and on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. He is resting ultimately, surely, in this man. This creature that he has made in his own image and after his own likeness.

He puts man to the test and man falls, the fall of Adam. He's lost, he's dead in trespasses and in sins. However, however, when we come to the gospel, we find that God rests in another man. There's another man. there's a second man, there's a last Adam and how the Apostle speaks of that man there in 1 Corinthians 15 the first man is of the earth, the second man is the Lord from heaven the first man Adam was made a living soul the last Adam is made a quickening spirit and it's in the Lord Jesus Christ Oh, it's in the Lord Jesus Christ that God rests forever. That's the wonder of the person of the Lord Jesus. God rests there forever.

In the language of the prophets, Zephaniah chapter 3 and verse 17, the Lord thy God in the midst of thee will rest in his love. He rests there in the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, in the mystery of the doctrine of God, all the persons in the Trinity rest in a mutual love one towards the other. That's why in that first general epistle of John in the fourth chapter on two occasions the Apostle John says God is love. God is love. God is love in reference to nothing outside of himself. There is that inter-trinitarian relationship when we see the Lord Jesus Christ in Scripture, when we see Him there in that great 8th chapter of Proverbs, where He's the wisdom of God, that one who of God is made unto us wisdom.

What does wisdom say? Well, listen to the language of the Son of God there in Proverbs 8, verse 30, Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him, I was daily His delight. rejoicing always before Him from eternity in the doctrine of the Godhead there was that continual delight of the Father in the Son and the Son in the Father and the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit but then when we come to the Gospel we see Christ of course as that One who is God manifest in the flesh or when the fullness of the time was come God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that they might receive the adoption of sons when we see Christ then in the gospel as God man in all his actions in all his words those two distinct natures in that one glorious person what theologians call the hypostatic union, in everything he does, in everything he says, in everything he thinks he is God-man. And how God delights in him there. This is my beloved son, he says, in whom I am well pleased.

As the Lord begins his public ministry there, being baptized by John in the river Jordan and the Spirit descending upon him in the form of a dove and the Father uttering those words, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and then in the course of his ministry in the Mount of Transfiguration how those words are repeated before those witnesses Peter and James and John they were with him in the Mount they heard the voice from heaven this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him and what does he do? oh he performs a remarkable work and then ultimately of course he will deliver it all up to the father and God himself will be all in all

I think again of those words in that 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians. You remember, I think it may have been only last Lord's Day I referred to this, I can't remember now whether it was then or the previous Lord's Day, but of course in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul is speaking of the resurrection of Christ. But not only that, he goes on to speak also of the general resurrection. And now the Christ's resurrection is the guarantee. that there will be a general resurrection. He is the firstfruits.

What does Paul say, having spoken of that general resurrection? There at verse 24, 1 Corinthians 15, 24, then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power, for he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, for he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, All things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted which did put all things under him. But when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself, that is the Messiah, the Son of God, the Son of Man, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things unto him, that God may be all in all for of him. And through him and to him are all things, to whom be glory for ever and ever.

Oh God, God rest in this, in all that work that his son, the last Adam, has accomplished. And in him the sons of Adam boast more blessings than their fathers lost in the language of Isaac Watts.

Well what are we to do? If we're believers, we're to rest in Christ. We're to rest simply in the Lord Jesus Christ. Come unto me, says the Lord, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart, ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Well, this is at rest, you see. Gospel rest. What does it say here at verse 8? There remaineth a rest to the people of God. That's where we're to rest, in the Lord Jesus Christ. It will be completed in heaven. It will be completed there. But you know, even in this life, in some measure, we have the same blessing. What is grace? Grace is glory in the body. And what is glory? Well, glory is grace in the full flower. That's the wonder of it. It's here and now, as we're in Christ, that we have eternal life. And that life carries the believer, of course, even through death itself. No man can pluck them out of Christ's hand. They're there, they're safe, they're secure forever.

All the wonder, then, of what the Lord Himself hath done. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God, as we read it here in verse nine of this fourth chapter.

Well, the Lord bless His word to us tonight. Let us, before we come to prayer, sing our second hymn. Well, our first hymn, really. We sang from the Metrical Psalm. We'll sing now from Gadsby's hymn book, number 637. Jesus, thou art our only rest from sin and guilt and fears we love to lean upon thy breast and on thee cast our cares we'll sing from verse 2 the hymn 637 the tune is Dublin 129