Let us turn once again to the
Word of God. In that portion we've been considering
in Hebrews, directing you this evening to the words that we
have here in chapter 4 and verse 9. Hebrews 4, 9. There remaineth
therefore a rest to the people of God. We've been considering
something of this rest and the Apostle begins to take up the
theme there at verse 7 in chapter 3 and so he continues right through
into chapter 4 really through to verse 11 and as I remarked
this morning in the course of these verses he uses the word
rest a dozen times. The great theme then is that
of rest, and we've considered different manifestations of that
rest as we have it set before us here in God's words. We thought of two rests in the
Old Testament, creation rest, spoken of at verse 4, here in
this fourth chapter and God spoke in a certain place of the seventh
day on this wise and God did rest the seventh day from all
his works and so we're directed to the very opening chapters
of the Bible Genesis 1, Genesis 2 after the creation in six days
recorded in some detail there in the opening chapter then,
at the beginning of chapter 2, how God rested on the seventh
day and sanctified it, and set it apart. And so Sabbath-keeping,
we say, is a creation ordinance. The seventh day was to be observed
there in the Old Testament, but of course, we have the New Testament,
the coming of Christ, And now when we gather for the worship
of God, it's not on the seventh day, but on the first day of
the week, because we remember a greater work that God has accomplished
in the person of Christ, that great work of redemption and
that new creation. And we've remarked before that
here, even in the word that I've announced for a text, the word
rest, literally is the keeping of a Sabbath. The Hebrew word
Sabbath simply means rest and so there's a sense in which what
is said here in this verse has regards to that Sabbath that
remains. There remaineth therefore a keeping
of the Sabbath to the people of God. It's right and proper
that we should observe this day. which we call the Lord's Day
because Christ is that one who is the Lord of the Sabbath. We thought then of creation rest
and we also have observed something of the land of Cain and the promised
land spoken of there in the Scriptures of the Old
Testament, in the books of Moses, that land that they were to enter
into the possession of. And it's not under Moses, is
it? But it's under Joshua that they
eventually come to the possession of that land. Here in verse 8,
if Jesus, or Joshua, as we said previously, Jesus is simply the
Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua, If Joshua had given them
rest, then he would not afterward have spoken of another day. We know that there were those
who did not enter into that land of promise, so they'd been brought
out of the bondage that was Egypt. Remember what we were considering
last Lord's Day evening, those words at the end of chapter 3,
how God was grieved With whom was he grieved forty
years? Was he not with them that had
sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom
swear ye that they should not enter into his rest? For the land is a land of rest. To whom swear ye that they should
not enter into his rest? But to them that believe not.
So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. We thought then last time, last
Sunday evening, of that rest associated with the lands, the
promised lands. And then, as we come into chapter
4, and we were looking at these opening verses this morning,
we see how the application is made. 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 rest." All that we have there in the Old Testament
concerning the children of Israel and the promised land is typical
really. It's a foreshadowing of the Gospel. It's a foreshadowing of that
great rest that we can enjoy when we come to faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, when we rest in Him for all our salvation. And so this morning we sought
to take for our text those words in verse 3 of this chapter, we
which have believed to enter into rest. And that's the most significant
rest of all. All that we have in the Old Testament,
as I said, is simply anticipating that and prefiguring that. That resting in the Lord Jesus.
And what is it? It's trusting in Him. It's the
person of Christ. It's who He is. It's that one
who is gods and man, or the promise that God has given in the Old
Testament concerning the coming of Messiah, the Christ of God.
And who is the Christ? Jesus of Nazareth. And Peter's remarkable confession
there in Matthew 16, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. He is the Son of God and yet
He is also the Son of Man and He's one so suited to the sinful
sons of men. He's taken upon Him our very
natures as we're told here in chapter 2. He has not taken upon
Him the nature of angels, but taken upon Him the seed of Abraham.
And because the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
He has likewise taken part of the same. He's come where we
are. Oh, the wonder of that incarnation. Isn't that the very heart of
the Gospel? Now Paul says it there in Galatians
chapter 1, he pleased God to reveal his Son in him. That's how he received the Gospel.
He was not taught of men. No, he was taught by the revelation
of Jesus Christ. It's the person of Christ, but
then also we were saying this morning it's the work of Christ.
He came to accomplish all that work that he had undertaken in
the eternal covenant. He was made of a woman, he was
made under the law and so for his people he honours and magnifies
that law in life and in death. He honours it in life by his
obedience to all the commandments of God. He, as it were, weaves a robe
of righteousness or that robe of righteousness, that garment
of salvation. There's our justification. He
is the Lord, our righteousness. And then that righteous man,
that holy man, he dies. And he dies a just for the unjust. He bears the punishment that
was due to the sinner. his substitutionary atoning death
upon the cross Christ in the sinner's place and so he has paid the penalty
that the Holy Lord of God demanded the soul that sinneth he shall
die all without the shedding of blood
no remission of sin and he has poured out his soul unto death
how he died that bloody death upon the cross in order to pay
the penalty that the Lord of God demanded. This is how he
has obtained rest for the sinner. And the part of that rest, we
spoke of the faith and repentance. These are some of the things
that we were considering then early. Well, as I said, I want
us now to consider these words in chapter 4 and verse 9. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. What is this rest that remaineth? Well, it's the fullness. It's
the fullness of rest in a sense. We know that When we enter into gospel rest,
when we're trusting in Christ, there's still the old nature. There's still the world in which
we're living. There's still conflicts and warfare. There's a good fight of faith.
There is, though, a rest that remaineth, the fullness of rest.
And what is that? Well, in a sense we might say
it's heavenly rest. It's the rest of heaven. Think
of the language that we have, we read in Revelation, but how
Revelation is full of heaven, isn't it? I know it's full of
many things and strange things, but there's so much of heaven
there. I think of Revelation 14, 13,
John says, I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write,
bless it, are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they
may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them.
All those that are in heaven, they rest from their labours. Well let us consider something
of this that is being spoken of here in the text tonight.
Two things. First of all, to see how heaven really begins
here upon earth. There's a sense in which it commences
in the day of grace. It begins under the gospel. In fact, Thomas Boston, that
great Scottish divine, shows us what the relationship is between
the day of grace and that day of glory, heaven. He writes of
course in his famous book on the fourfold state of man. Man
in the state of innocence as he comes pristine from the hand
of his creator God. Man in the state of sin, fallen,
in Adam. Born dead in trespasses and sins.
And then man in the state of grace as he experiences the salvation
of the Lord Jesus Christ and then ultimately man in that state
of glory heaven human nature in its fourfold state and he
does clearly in some measure relate glory that is heaven and
grace which is now he says grace is glory in the bud and glory
is grace in the full flower. We have the bud, as it were,
of heaven now. But there in heaven, oh there's
the full glory of the flower. But it commences, it begins here
and now. We can know something of heaven
upon earth. And coming to the words of the
text, we have to recognize that the verb that we have here, there
remaineth, is actually in the present tense. He is speaking
of something that is now. There remaineth, therefore, a
rest to the people of God. Think of the invitations of the
Gospel. We read this morning in Matthew
11. And we have those remarkable
words at the end of that chapter. Christ speaking in His preaching,
in His ministry, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Now there is the promise of the
Gospel. Christ gives to His people rest. What does He give them? In this world they come into
the possession of eternal life. That's what we're told, isn't
it? He that believeth on the Son of God hath eternal life. Verily, verily, says Christ,
that one is passed from death unto life. There is eternal life
that comes into the soul of that believing sinner. And John, when
he writes in his first epistle, tells us how we can test ourselves
whether or not we're in possession of that eternal life. We know
that we have passed from death unto life, he says, because we
love the brethren. Well, there are certain marks
of grace, you see. that we can examine ourselves
improve ourselves and know ourselves by and there is one of them are
we those who love the brethren? we love the people of God we
can't help it what does Ruth say to Naomi thy people
shall be my people thy God my God do we love the brethren? Do we have that mark that we're
in possession of eternal life? We love the brethren. We love
the house of God. Why? We rejoice in the communion
of saints. We believe in the communion of
saints. Isn't that part of the Apostles' Creed? I believe in
the communion of saints. I believe in one holy catholic
and apostolic church. That's not the Roman church.
That's the people of God. Do we believe in these things? We love the Lord's Day. What
makes it such a joyous day is because we gather together with
God's people. We would not forsake the assembling
of ourselves together. We love the Word of God and we
want to be under the sound of the Word of God. We want to read
the Word of God. We want to hear the Word of God
preached. I'm not saying that our love
is such that it's always so obvious. Surely there are many times when
we struggle with the word of God there are many times when
we struggle with the people of God but at heart we are those
who love God and we love the word of God and the ways of God
and the people of God and it's an evidence we know that we have
passed from death unto life because we love the brethren and so here
and now There is an entering into this gospel rest. There is the possession of that
eternal life. The believer, a partaker of the
divine nature. Oh yes, death will come, physical
death. But that new life, that spiritual life passes through
the very portals of that physical death. And I remind you how,
in many ways, Canaan, the promised land, really typifies this gospel
rest. It really typifies gospel rest. When you think of the land, the
richness of the land, the contents, when those men went to spy out
the land, what sort of a place was it? Well, We read, don't
we, in the 13th chapter of the Book of Numbers certain things
concerning what they found in that land. Yes, the 10 spies
who were unbelieving and came back with an evil report, and
the multitude, they embrace that. They're fearful they won't go
into the land. But there's more to the land
than giants and walled cities. Look at what we read there in
chapter 13 of the book of Numbers. And verse 23. They came unto the brook of Eshkol,
and they cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of
grapes, and they buried between two upon a staff, and they brought
of the pomegranates and of the figs. Oh, it's such a remarkable place. It's a land that is all together
flowing with milk and with honey. There's such a richness, really,
to this land. In verse 26, they come to Moses
and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel. They come to the wilderness of
Paran, to Adesh, and bring back word unto them, and to all the
congregation, and show them the fruit of the land. And they told
him and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us,
and surely it floweth with milk and honey, and this is the fruit
of it. Now, when we read those words, oh, it's a land flowing
with milk and honey, it's such a rich place, is it not? in that
sense, a figure of the Gospel. There's such an abundance in
the land. This is the land that God had promised to Abraham,
and to Isaac, and to Jacob. It's a good land. And it's a
prefiguring, I say, of the Gospel, and that sort of figure is taken
up in Isaiah 25. And then in the language of verse
6, in this mountain, shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people
a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat
things, full of marrow, of wines on the lees, well refined. What
is it that the Prophet is describing this mountain? It's the Lord's
mountain. It's Manzion. It's the Gospel. The very content
of the land. speaks of the Gospel and what
it is that God presents to us. Under the Gospel, all of the
blessed fruits of the Spirit of God that the believer might
come into the possession of these things. And then also, as we've
said, there was in that land, alas, a great deal of conflict. Oftentimes Cain and his thought of as being
a type of heaven. We have it in familiar hymns. Think of the language that we
have there in the hymn 462. Guide me O thou great Jehovah.
What does it say? In the last verse, when I tread
the verge of Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside. Death of death
and hell's destruction, land me safe on Canaan's side. William Williams is clearly thinking
of Canaan as typical really of heaven. The verge of Jordan is
death. But there's the prospect of crossing
Jordan and entering into the promised land, entering into
heaven itself. And it's not just the Welsh hymn
writer, William Williams, but also England's great hymn writer,
Isaac Watts. And he has a hymn. I think I
referred to it last Lord's Day. on heaven. 1022. And the last two verses. Oh, could
we make our doubts remove these gloomy doubts that rise and see
the Canaan that we love with unbeclouded eyes? Could we but
climb where Moses stood and view the landscape o'er? Not Jordan's
stream nor death's cold flood should fright us from the shore.
Oh, he's speaking of a land of pure delight. He's speaking of
heaven. And time and again I remind you
the hymn writers use that figure but really it's not a correct
figure because Canaan is not really to be associated with
that fullness of rest that is enjoyed in heaven. In heaven
there's no conflict, there's no warfare, there's no sin, there's
no Satan, there's no worlds. No, Canaan really is a representation
to us of what we experience in the day of grace under the gospel.
Yes, there is rest, but remember how the Canaanites would dwell
in that land. They didn't completely destroy
the Canaanites and those other nations. And so they experienced
conflicts in the land. And that's exactly what the believer
knows. And we experience it, do we?
Not daily. There's a conflict, a continual
conflict with the world. The world lies in wickedness.
And we're not to be conformed to this world. We're to be transformed
by the renewing of our minds. We're not to conform to it. Love
not the world, neither the things that are in the world, says John.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the
lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father,
but is of the world, and the world passeth away, and the lust
thereof. Even the Lord Jesus himself.
In the world you shall have tribulation, he says to his Beloved disciples,
in the world you shall have tribulation. Be of good cheer. I have overcome
the world." Oh, there is a conflict with this world. And do we feel
it? Here is another mark, surely,
of the grace of God in us. Do we feel ill at ease in this
present evil world? I think sometimes of those who
have gone before us as it were. I think of some who probably
died before the three score year and ten not attained that allotted
span. They died maybe in their forties,
in their fifties and I think of some and it would be said
of them how kindly the Lord dealt with them. He took them away
from all the evil that only increases in this world. They couldn't
have coped with it. They were such real Christians. And the Lord in His goodness
removed them from a wicked world. Oh, there's conflict in the world.
There's conflict, of course, with Satan. Oh, we wrestle not
against flesh and blood, Paul says, against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. Oh, that
awful foe. that wicked foe, walking about
seeking whom he may devour, always prowling about, always coming
with his temptations. And alas for us we fall so often. He tempts, we fall. He comes
to Christ, he hath nothing in Christ. Thank God for that. Tempted. In all points like us we are
yet without sin. or thank God Christ has vanquished
the devil and defeated all the powers of darkness but in this
world there's conflict there's conflict also with with our own
nature there's a conflict with sinful self is there not the
flesh lusting against the spirit the spirit lusting against the
flesh and these two so contrary one to the other and we cannot
do the thing that we would We cannot do it. Oh, wretched man
that I am. Christ, Paul, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. I myself therefore serve the
Lord of God. With the mind serve the Lord
of God, but with the flesh the Lord of sin. Oh, the true self
is that that delights in God and in the ways of God. But there's
the conflict. There's the conflict. We cannot
do what we would. And one cried out, all that I
had are myself. Myself. There's my chief trouble. It's what I am. It's what I feel
in my own nature. And I want to do good and I find
I'm doing evil. This is what he's spoken of then
as gospel rest. Conflict. But there's a relationship
between the glory that will yet be and the grace that we must
know in this Gospel day. Because here is there not communion
with God? Or are there not those seasons
when we feel something of the presence of God? are there not those times when
he draws near and our hearts are touched we are moved something
must be known and felt if we have a real religion there is
communion and they certainly enjoy that
in the land oh yes they had the tabernacle through all the wilderness
wanderings but when they came into the land they could set
the tabernacle in its place And they did so, Shiloh. Shiloh was
where they set the tabernacle there in Joshua chapter 18. And then, under David of course, he takes Jerusalem from the Jebusites
and he sets up Jerusalem and he wants to set at us the capital
and the tabernacle is removed and set up now upon Mount Zion. and then the temple is built. And all that speaks of their
communion with God. What did God say concerning the
mercy seat? Back in Exodus 25, there, I will
meet with thee and commune with thee from upon the mercy seat
between the two cherubims. That was the great promise. Oh,
they certainly knew something of communion with God. And we
see it, we see it in the language of the Psalmist, there in the
132nd Psalm. Verse 13, The Lord hath chosen
Zion. He hath desired it for His habitation. This is My rest forever. Here will I dwell, for I have
desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her poor with
bread. All this is God's rest forever,
you see. And they rest in God. And all
this is prefiguring for us what we have
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's far greater, is it not?
What do we read in the in the second letter to the Corinthians
ye are the temple of the living God ye are the temple of the
living God as God has said I will dwell in them and walk in them
and I will be their God and they shall be my people even here
and now there is that blessing of The fellowship, our fellowship
is with the Father, with His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one,
says the Lord Jesus. And yet all the time there's
that conflict, there's communion, there's conflict. We said something
this morning of the paradox of that Gospel rest. It is paradoxical. It's a strange course that the
Christian has to steer in this world. But, what we have in the
text, here at verse 9 in this fourth chapter, does really commence
in the Day of Grace. It's the present tense. There
remaineth, therefore, a rest to the people of God. But also,
surely here, We're directed in some measure to the completeness
of it in glory. It is completed in heaven. Because God's tabernacle, God's
presence is there in the very midst. That's what makes it heaven. Oh, that's what makes it heaven,
isn't it? And there in that portion that
we read in the 21st of the Revelation what does it say in those opening verses I saw
a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away and there was no more sin And
I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And
I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall
be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their
God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former
things are passed away." Oh, it's heaven you see. And
God is there. God is dwelling in the midst. He is in that place. and later on we read do we not
that there's no temple there there's no temple there because
God is the temple of it and the Lamb that's heaven and that's the
fullness of the blessing of that rest now it's interesting isn't it what's
said there the tabernacle of God is with men In the Old Testament, with regards
to the tabernacle, it was very much the Levites, it was those
of the tribe of Levi, the Levites, and then also, of course, Aaron
of the tribe of Levi, that was the priestly line. And it was
very much appointed that the Levites were to serve God in
the tabernacle. Numbers 1 verse 50, they shall
appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony. They
are over it. They are to bear it as it is
removed from place to place during the wilderness wanderings and
they are to minister in the tabernacle. All the worship of God in the
tabernacle is very much the responsibility and the charge of the priest,
the sons of Aaron, the line of Aaron. And even when a king such
as Uzziah intrudes into the priestly office, as we read there in 2
Chronicles 26, immediately the king is struck down with leprosy.
And he's a leper all his days and he has to dwell in a separate
house and there has to be a regency. He cannot reign because he's
a leper. And why so? Because he had presumed
to serve God in the priestly role. But now God's tabernacle
is with man. That's heaven. And there in verse
24 of that chapter we read, we read of the nations of them which
are saved. It's the nations. It's not just
the priests of Aaron, it's not just the tribe of Levi. It's
not just the nation of Israel anymore, it's the Gentile nations.
the nations of them which are saved, and God is with them. And God is with them forever. There's no more ever any sense
of desertion or desolation. How remarkable! We know there
are times in the believer's experience In the midst of all those conflicts
that he knows in this day of grace under the gospel dispensation,
in all that warfare, there are times when he feels himself to
be at some distance from his God. Who is among you that feareth
the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh
in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of
the Lord his God. or there are times when the believer
does walk in darkness and has no light. Now the Canaanite would
dwell in that land. But what do we read in Zechariah?
Zechariah 14.21 There shall be no more the Canaanite in the
house of the Lord of hosts. Or sin, my worst enemy before,
shall vex mine eyes and ears no more. My inward foes shall
all be slain, nor Satan break my peace again." Heaven. Heaven,
you see. That's what God has laid up in
store for His people. It's all the fullness of grace. That's what it is. It's grace
in the full flower. its glory and do enjoy it well
we're told aren't we the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable
and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and
all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with
fire and brimstone which is the second death there shall he no
wise enter into it Anything that defileth, neither whatsoever
worketh abomination, nor maketh a lie, but they which are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life." Or they are written in the Lamb's
Book of Life. Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord. From henceforth Yea, he said,
the spirit that they may rest from their libers, and their
works do follow them. That's the blessed prospect of
God as purpose for his people. God has promised to his people.
This is that rest that remaineth. Oh, that we might be those friends
who know what it is to enter into it now. in the day of grace,
in the acceptable time, in the day of salvation. And how so? Why, it is by faith we which
have believed do enter into rest. It's the way of faith, it's the
way of repentance. Oh, the Lord grant that we might
know what it is to enter in at that straight gate, few there
be that find it but all to enter in and to walk in that narrow
way that leads to life and all the fullness of the bliss which
is heaven that holy happy place where sin no more defiles where
God unveils his blissful face and looks and loves and smiles
we sang it just now didn't we in the here. Oh God grant that
we might be those then who are a people made ready and prepared
for heaven. The Lord grant it for our good
and for his glory. Amen.