Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4. I'd like to take up where we
left off in our study in this precious book. And we'll begin,
Lord willing, in a few minutes. But before we begin, let's have
a word of prayer. Our Father, it's so good and we are thankful
that we can call upon You. You who are holy. You who, Lord, blessed us with
all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ. Lord, it's
so good to be able to talk to You and to call upon You with
assurance that You hear and You care and You're able. Lord, would You help us tonight
Help us to worship. Help us to hear. Help us as we strive, looking only to You, asking after
You as we strive to understand. Teach us by Your Spirit. Would
You open these Scriptures to our understanding? Comfort us
this evening, for Christ's sake we pray. Amen. As we continue in this study
in the book of Hebrews, we have to understand that the Spirit
of God, through the Apostle Paul, He was preaching to a group of
converted Jews. They were Hebrews. And He was
teaching them how the holy Scriptures, what they had was the Old Testament.
And He was teaching them through these Scriptures that all of the Scriptures bore
witness to Christ. That everything that they heard
when they read on the Sabbath day pointed to him. All the history. When they came
out of Egypt in the wilderness for 40 years. Entering into Canaan. That was a picture of what God
Almighty was doing for the sake of His blessed Son toward His people. Now, the Scripture sets forth,
if we looked at it, that there were some, because of unbelief, that didn't enter into Canaan.
Canaan was a picture. It was a picture of rest, a rest,
we said, begins now in this life and is
perfectly fulfilled and experienced, known in heaven. We are entering right now into
what these scriptures are talking about, a rest. And Paul is going to deal tonight
to explain to these Hebrews and us by the Spirit of God what
this rest really is. Now, he had written that we should
take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief
in departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily
while it is called today Dost any of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin? Well, knowing in verse 3 of chapter
4 that we which have believed do enter into rest, that is,
a spiritual rest from the lie and the evil thinking of salvation
by works, this rest that I'm talking about, as I said, is
entered into now in this life. When we first think about the
rest, we think about that future rest. And that's so. No more tears. Brother Scott
said there just a few months ago, no more tears, no more sickness,
no more birthdays. No more crying. No more jail. Rest. Peace. But there's a rest
right now. A rest for the people of God.
And Paul the Apostle is going to settle the minds of these
Hebrews on this rest. Now, let's start in verse 4.
And what he's doing now is he's going to qualify the rest of
a believer by teaching them some of the rests that were spoken
of in the Scriptures so that they could understand. You know,
a lot of times we use words, and you know it's a biblical
word, but you just think, well, I don't know if I want to ask
anybody. what that means. You know, I've sat here for 50
years. Surely I already know. Let me tell you something. We
need to be told over and over and over again. Tell me one more time what propitiation
means. Tell me how propitiation is satisfaction,
peace established, that Christ is our propitiation. that He's
our satisfaction before. Tell me what that word means.
Rest. That's what Paul wants to deal
with. Verse 4, For he spake in a certain place of the seventh
day on this wise, and God did rest the seventh day from all
of his works. God did rest. Now Paul is going to say, now
let me tell you something. There was a rest. that was spoken
of in the Old Testament in the Scriptures about God's rest. He rested, Scripture says, back
in Genesis 1. Not that He ceased from acting
in the realm of all this, for we know right now that He works
all things now after the counsel of His own will, but He ceased
from creating. That's what Paul said. Now there's
a rest that was spoken of, the Apostle said, back in Genesis
chapter 1, that God rested. Paul said that's not the rest
that I'm talking about for a believer. God rested from His creative
works. So the rest that a believer enters
into It's not that rest. God ceased. Then the Apostle spoke of another
rest that was spoken of in the Holy Scriptures. And I want us
to remember now that the rest that we're talking about has
to do with us right now. God rested from creation. Paul
said, that's not the rest I'm talking about, the believer's
rest. But there was another rest or a resting place that was spoken
of. And to get a good idea of what
the rest of a believer is, before I go into that next rest that
he spoke of in verse 5, look at Hebrews 11. Hebrews chapter
11. Hebrews 11 verse 9, and I also
want to read verse 13. Here's what verse 9 says. Hebrews
11 and 9, by faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in
a strange country. This is talking about Abraham.
Dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with
him of the same promise. Verse 13, these all died in faith,
not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off
and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that
they were strangers and pilgrims. on this earth. Paul is going
to tell us, now this is the rest right here that I just read of.
This is the rest so you'll understand what are we talking about. Abraham,
the scripture says, he lived in Canaan for 75 years. And for 75 years he believed
that God was going to give that land to his seed. Abraham was
in Canaan. God had promised. You see this,
you know? Remember, you'd go back and read the account, and
He said, look, as far as this is... I'm going to give this
to you in your seat. And Abraham lived in Canaan,
though he never personally had an actual physical inheritance
in it. And the Scripture says in verse
13 that they all died. Abraham, all of them, they died
believing God was going to give that land to them. Though at
that moment, at that personal time, he didn't actually have
or own or possess. Everybody else hadn't been run
out. Here we are tonight. that I was just talking about.
Abraham is an example. He lived in Canaan. And it was
years later that the children of Israel came out. Here we are
tonight. We're sitting here. We're hearing
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we know that right
now we're struggling. We're living in a body. And we
have an old nature about us. Well, we have God's Word. There's coming a time when all
of this is going to be over. It's appointed unto men once
to die. And by faith, we believe. We believe that Almighty God
is going to receive us unto Himself. And that which He has eternally
purposed for us to have, we'll have it. We'll see it. And that
day we'll see Him as He is. And we will then actually possess
the fullness of it without the presence of sin anymore. That's
the rest that Paul's talking about right there. He said there's
actually going to be a fulfillment. And we can go to bed tonight
We can close our eyes and we know this. What if we don't wake
up in this world? What if we go to sleep tonight
as Brother Scott said? There he said just before. I
don't remember if he wrote this down or if he just told me or
told somebody. I don't remember now. He said,
I'd like to just roll over one more time. One of these days. That's where
it's going to be. Let's roll over one more time.
Wake up in the very presence of Almighty God. See Him as He
is and be like Him. That's rest. Not fearful. Not fearful of God's
judgment. Fearing and respecting God. Yes. We fear Him. We respect Him.
But fearful of the judgment of God? No. Why? His Spirit bears witness with
our spirit that we're the sons of God. Resting. Believing. Believing that salvation is all
of grace. All of grace. God's grace. That's
the rest that I'm going to talk about. I probably jumped a little
ahead. That's okay, though. At least, hopefully, if it makes
it understandable. OK, verse 5, the first rest that
Paul said, I'm not talking about is God's rest in creation. He
said, here's a here's another rest, verse 5, and in this place
again, if they shall enter into my rest in this when he said
in this place again, he said in another in another place,
in another rest, he said that I'm letting you Hebrews know
that that I'm not I'm not speaking of the the rest of a believer.
He said that rest was Canaan. That was from a verse in Psalm
95-11 as it's referenced. And it states that many won't
enter. God swears in His wrath. Turn
to Psalm 95-11. I tell you, this blessed book
is a book that I I tell you, I do pray the Lord help me with. I find myself often struggling,
but I pray the Lord blesses our hearts. That rest, which was
Canaan, I'm talking about the actual physical place that the
Hebrews that came out of Egypt were going toward. Verse 11 of
Psalm 95 says, unto whom I swear in my wrath that they should
not enter into my rest." There was going to be many that would
not enter into that rest, the rest of Canaan. And the reason
that they wouldn't enter in was because of unbelief. Now, listen. Canaan is a picture. It's a picture. It's a type of
the rest of a believer. The rest of a believer. That's
Canaan. Many that came out of Egypt did not enter. I mean, there
was a lot of them that came out with a high hand saying, We're
praising the Lord and God has delivered us. And they went across
the Red Sea. And I'm telling you, They were
rejoicing outwardly. We're God's people. We're the
Lord's. Here's a picture. If you want
to see a picture of the church, if you want to see a picture
of what actually is going on today in every place where gospel
of God's grace is preached, there's wheat and tares. There's believers
and unbelievers in it. And a lot of them came out of
Egypt, high hand praising, outwardly singing the praises of Almighty
God. But a whole lot of them didn't
go in. Why? Unbelief. Unbelief. Just like many that came out
of Egypt and did not enter in because of unbelief, there is going to be a lot that
sit under the sound of the gospel and won't enter in because of
unbelief. But look at verse 6, "...seeing
therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein. And they
to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief, Some that came out of Egypt had
to enter in. They had to go in. Why? Because they were God's sheep,
God's elect. Canaan was a type of the entering
in to rest now in this world and future then. Some must enter
in. Why? Because they're God's sheep. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me." There's some, I'm telling you, in this world
that Almighty God is everlastingly loved, and they're coming. They're
going to enter into that rest. They're going to enter into the
rest right now in this world, and by the grace of God, they
will enter into the very presence of God, accepted in the Beloved. It remaineth. Some of them had
to come in. All of them over the age of 20.
Of all of them over the age of 20. If you were over 20 years
old when you came out of Egypt, do you know how many of the Scriptures
says entered in? If you were over the age of 20
when they left Egypt. Two of them. Two of them. Some of them had to. They had
to enter in. Because God has a sheep. Verse 7, again, He limited a
certain day saying to David, today, after so long a time,
as it is said today, if you'll hear His voice, harden not your
heart. God has appointed a certain day. God has set forth and appointed
a day in which His people that He's chosen in Christ are going
to believe. They're going to enter into that
true rest, that spiritual rest known and experienced in the
heart. And they settle down and they
hear and they rejoice. Today is that day. Today is the
day of salvation. Today. right now. This is the day of the acceptable
time. Canaan was a typical rest. It was a type. It was a picture.
It was a type of the rest that's entered in right now and fully
realized in glory. Some of them had to go in. Some
of them that came out of Egypt didn't because of unbelief. God's rest is experienced in
this life. God calls His people out of darkness
in this life. And His people rest in that regenerating
grace. They rest from the seeking to
establish their own righteousness by the works of their free will. They rest from that. They rest
in Him. God's rest is not a typical rest. It's an actual possession that
believers know something about. Paul said, I know. I know whom
I have believed. This is not a theory to me. I
pastored years ago, and I may have told you this. That's
all right. It was during that time that the Lord, by His infinite
mercy, revealed His Son to me. Taught me something of Himself. Something of His Christ. That
was the greatest message I had ever heard. I thought everybody
loved that message, Andy. I thought, man, this is great. When Almighty God opens a man's
heart, just like He opened the heart of Lydia, that's when you
attend to the words of the Lord, attend to those words that were
spoken by Paul. You attend to the Gospel. Christ
is your life. And I was preaching. I was preaching. Just, you know,
first thing I did, just threw everything away that I ever thought
I knew. Old sermon notes, just throw them away. They're not
worth it. You can use them for kindling if you want to. That's
about all they're worth. I had a meeting. And somebody brought
it up. They said, you know, we were
doing real good before you started preaching these theories of grace.
I said, it's not a theory to me. It's life. Salvation by grace. Salvation through faith. Saved by grace, experienced by
faith. That's how you know it. We're not saved because we believe. We believe because God saved
us and taught us. So this rest that I'm talking
about, it's not that rest where God rested from His works. And
the rest in Canaan, that was a typical rest. Paul said this
is an actual experience known by faith. Those were types, but
you actually come to the reality of it. For if Jesus, or that
is Joshua, verse 8, had given them rest, then would he not
afterward have spoken of another day? What Paul is telling these
Jews, if Canaan, proving that that was not the true rest of
a believer, Paul says, if Joshua had been able to give those that
believed that spiritual rest that he wouldn't have spoken
of another day. There remaineth therefore, verse
9, a rest to the people of God. All that the Father has given
the Lord Jesus Christ, those that Christ has redeemed, that
the Spirit of God will surely call out of spiritual darkness,
they do enter into that rest. Now, in the day of salvation,
in the day of regeneration, they rest. They say, as Paul said,
all those things that I found to be my comfort. All that long
list of stuff. Hebrew, Hebrews, born and circumcised. Done. Oh, that I might know Him. Think of this. Let me ask you
this, if this doesn't settle your heart. All that's required,
He has done. All that's needed, He supplied. And you rest in Him. What's left? What's left for me to do? Nothing. What do you do? I believe Him. I believe in that
day that Almighty God is going to receive me accepted in the
Beloved. And He will say unto me, being
found in my blessed Savior, enter in. for that which has been prepared
for you from before the foundation of the world. If I thought that
tonight I was going to have to do something, what can I do? What can I do
but have utter despair? There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. For He, verse 10, that entered
into His rest, He also has ceased from His own works as God did
from His. Let me tell you who that's talking
about. For He that entered into His rest. That's speaking of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Servant of Jehovah. He entered into His
rest. He said it's finished. My meat do the will of Him that
sent me. He was sent as Jehovah's servant,
God's elect, God's chosen, and we've chosen in Him, in God's
chosen. And He came into this world made
of a woman, made under the law. And he did that which was pleasing
in his father's sight. His father said it was. This
is my beloved son whom I am well pleased. Every jot and tittle
of the law was finished. He obeyed in all points. Established a righteousness for
his people. Obedience established a righteousness
before the law. His righteousness imputed to
all His people. How will you know who He imputed
His righteousness to? They believe Him. They believe
Him. And what the Lord demanded for
their disobedience, He was made sin, made the guiltiness. I said before, it wasn't just
a legal thing. It wasn't just pasted on Him,
laid on His head or somewhere hovered up here. His soul was
made an offering for sin. He was made sin. Someone called me the other day
and said, you said that the Lord Jesus Christ was a sinner. I
said, no, I didn't say that. No, that's what you said, I said. I said He was made sin. He was
never a sinner. Sinner has to do with disobedience.
And He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
He was not a sinner. He was made sin. He was made
sin. I want you to explain that to
me. I can't explain that to you. But I can tell you this, that
which I am by nature, that's what He was made. and hanging
upon that cross, the holy, harmless Lamb of God, He who knew no sin,
was made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness
of God in Him. He entered into His rest. He also has ceased from His own
works as God did from His. God created and ceased and rested
from any more creation. The Lord Jesus Christ entered
into His rest. The last verse for this evening,
verse 11, Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest
any man fall after the same example of unbelief. Let us labor. Oh, that's a weighty verse of Scripture
right there, isn't it? Let us labor, therefore, to enter into
that rest. We struggle with the old man. We struggle with flesh. Let us strive by faith. Let us labor. looking always
to our blessed Savior who is our rest. Let us labor, therefore,
to enter into that rest." Let me tell you something. You
have entered into that rest when salvation is to you, convinced
to you. You've entered into that rest.
Let us labor. To enter into that rest you have
entered in when salvation is by grace alone, Christ alone,
faith alone. You rest right there. Peter said
in 2 Peter 1.10, Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence
to make your calling and election sure. You know, your election
is made sure if your calling is made sure. I mean, you understand
what I'm saying? God's called you, and salvation is to you by grace
alone, Christ alone, faith alone. That's your calling. God's called
you. If He's called you by grace,
then your election is sure also. Let me just close with this.
One of the most blessed passages to my heart is the evidence.
of calling and election is found in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1.
I want you to look at a couple of verses. 1 Thessalonians chapter
1. Make your calling and election
sure. If you're like me when it comes to a scripture like
that, I'd like to just show me something in the Word of God.
Would you do that? You know, men will make statements.
They'll get up and they'll just tell you something. And I'm thinking,
I want to believe that. Would you show me in the Word
of God? Give me something that I can
grasp hold of by faith concerning God's Word. Here's this passage
of Scripture right here. I want you to look at 1 Thessalonians
1, verses 2 to 5. But we give thanks to God always
for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering
without ceasing your work of faith." Listen to this before
I continue. I'm going to read through verse
5. But your work of faith. Work of faith. What is that? It's the operation of faith given
from above by Almighty God in power and mercy. It is the operation,
that grace by which a living soul lays hold of Him who is
the covenant God and pleads His promises and asks and seeks and
knocks for mercy and guidance. That's a work of faith. I believe Him. That's a work
of faith. I believe God. Remembering without
ceasing your work of faith and your labor of love that grace
by which a believer continues being kept by Almighty God in
the midst of this wilderness right now. Trials and tribulations,
testings, provings because of their love for Him
that was the result of His love for us. Your labor of love. You're walking through this world
and I'm telling you there's things that come our way and disappoint
us. But when we get to thinking about
it, you think he works all things after the
counsel of his own will. David said, Lord, you've dealt
well with me. Labor of love. Work of faith
that grasps, holds, believes, trusts God. Labor of love. That which you do because of
your love for Him is love for you. And then Paul says in you,
patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. That grounded and
settled belief that by His blood my guilt, my sin had been put
away. Patience of hope. I have been
pardoned and forgiven. That God, for Christ's sake,
will forgive me. Because if we say we have no
sin, we make God a liar. But I'll tell you this, there's
therefore now no condemnation to them that be in Christ Jesus.
Somebody said, well, are you saying you don't sin? If we say
we have no sin, we make God a liar. But if we confess our sins, if
you confess that what you are in yourself, that there's no
good thing, He's faithful and just. He's given you a new heart. Do you understand? Patience of
hope. I believe that He's coming back. I believe that I'm going to live
with Him forever. That's a patient hope. And then our election. There's our calling. How do you
know if a man being called. There's a work of faith, a labor
of love, and a patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the
sight of God and our Father. And then verse 4, knowing, brethren,
beloved, your election of God. Oh, can it be that there's an
evidence that God Almighty has looked
upon me in mercy and chosen me in Christ that God has elected
me. How? How can that be? Well, here's
the apostle, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. These words
weren't born in the heart of Paul. All Scripture is given
by inspiration breathed of God. Here it is, for our gospel came
not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy
Ghost. Under the preaching of the truth
in Christ, Almighty God opened your heart to believe the report
of His blessed Son. Let me tell you something. Believing
the Gospel is not a light thing. Believing the gospel of God's
grace, the gospel of God, the gospel of Christ, that's not
a light thing. I know this world looks at you
and looks at me as if we're some kind of weird people, unloving, unsympathetic, narrow minded. Man, y'all are so narrow minded.
We have a broad picture. Well, broad is the way that leads
to destruction. Nara. Nara. How it is looking
to Him. Christ. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God. Our gospel came not unto you
in word only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much
assurance. And here's the last one right here. As you know what
manner of men we were among you for your sakes. Here's another.
Here's another way that a man or woman can know something about
election. The Lord has given you a heart
to discern God's preachers. The Lord said, I will give you
pastors after my heart and they'll teach you. It pleased God through
the foolishness of preaching. Now, I know that a lot of times
people look at preachers as if they can't do anything else,
you know, can't do anything else, so they preach. Mr. Spurgeon said this one time.
He said a preacher that God calls, he said, is one that In this
world, he could have just about done anything else. But God gave
him a heart to preach. God settled his heart. Taught
him the Gospel. Called him. Sends him to a place. Gives him a heart for a people.
He loves them. They love him. And they recognize
it. And they know that he's just
In Himself, He's just an earthen vessel, just like they are. And
He knows it. He's more aware of it than they
are. As I've said before, it would be a great embarrassment
to me for you to know me day in, day out. There's a lot of
things my wife will keep from you, believe me. But the evidence of election
is that the gospel doesn't come to you in word only, but it comes
in power. Holy Ghost. And you discern God's
preachers. And you just won't listen to
anything that's just not honoring to Him. He said the sheep won't
follow those. They're not going to follow those
that don't preach Christ. Oh, there's a rest. A rest for
the people of God. And some must enter in. There
are some people in this world that God Almighty is going to
call out of darkness. My sheep hear my voice. They are going to follow me.
All that the Father gives me shall come. Some of them must
enter in. God might call out one tonight.
He might reveal Himself to somebody tonight. I pray so. May the Lord
add His blessing upon the preaching of His blessed Son. Amen. Okay.