I want us to look together at
Hebrews chapter 4 this morning. Last week we talked about the
gracious command that Christ gave to come to Him that we might
have rest, and this morning continuing with the same theme of rest,
we have in the fourth chapter of Hebrews that which defines
the believer's rest. There is a rest that belongs
to believers. The writer of this inspired epistle,
whom I believe, as I've said many times, to be the Apostle
Paul, is comparing Old Testament Israel, who were God's chosen
nation, with the New Testament believers who are also the chosen
people of God. Look at verse one with me. 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. Now, two things that we immediately
see here in verse one is that there is a promise of entering
into rest. And this promise is twofold. There is a present rest that
we have in Christ. It's the rest that we talked
about last week, and it's found in coming to the Lord Jesus. And then there is a future rest,
the eternal rest of heaven, where we will be eternally free from
temptation, doubt, fear and sin. And also in verse one, there
is a fear mentioned here of coming short of this rest. Now, this
is not a fear that the grace, that the goodness and the righteousness
of Christ shall fail us or desert us, but it's a cautious fear
for a watchfulness over our faith in Christ. In verse two we read,
for unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them, them being
Israel of old. But the word preached did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith, believing, that's
what faith is, and them that heard it. Now I want us to take
our time here. The gospel of Christ, I want
us to think about these things. The gospel of Christ has been
preached to us. I refer to the gospel of grace,
not a gospel of works, which is no gospel. No good news in
telling me that I have to do something in order to be saved
when I can do nothing that would satisfy or appease God in any
way. No good news found there. I'm
talking about the gospel of God's son, the preaching of his perfect
obedience to the law of God. God requires perfection. I cannot
provide what God requires. Christ provided it for me. I'm
talking about the preaching of his substitutionary atonement. He who knew no sin was made to
be sin for his people that they might be made the righteousness
of God in him. That substitution, what a beautiful
thing that is. It is when you see that you cannot
provide what God requires. I'm talking about the preaching
of His life, His perfect obedience, His working out of righteousness,
His crucifixion, His resurrection, His ascension, and His intercession
in heaven. It's all Christ. Salvation is
all of Him. I'm referring to how in Christ
the law of God is honored, how the justice of God is satisfied. Never grow tired of hearing that.
But the gospel of Christ was also preached to Israel of old.
It was preached in type, in promise, in sacrifice, and example. But it did them no good, we're
told. It did not save them. It did
not profit them because they did not believe God. God's gospel
was not mixed with faith in them that hurt it, is what we read
here. And over the years, the Lord has taught us some things
concerning faith. According to Ephesians chapter
two, we know that faith is the gift of God. For by grace are
you saved through faith, that's not of yourselves, neither the
grace or the faith, it's the gift of God. And faith, contrary
to popular belief, is not some supernatural ability that man
conjures up within himself in order to believe God. Faith is
a gift, it's a gift of God. And if God doesn't give you faith,
I'm just telling you straight up, you'll never believe. totally
upon His giving of that gift. In other words, it's God who
makes believers and unbelievers to differ. The sinner doesn't
make the difference. It's God that makes the difference.
All that the believer has by way of faith is God's gift to
them. All that the believer has, the
believer received. That's what Paul said in 1 Corinthians
4, verse 7. He said, for whom maketh thee
to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? You received it, or you don't
have it. It was a gift to you, or you have it not. You see,
the believer has nothing to glory in. That's what Paul said in
Ephesians 2, not of works, lest any man should boast. The believer
has nothing to glory in because they did nothing but receive
God's gift to them. The believer has nothing to boast
in because the grace and the faith given to them was not by
a work of righteousness of their own hands. So we again establish
that the only difference between those who received rest and those
who didn't was the mercy and the grace of God. Do you agree
with that? It's the truth according to his
word. And this is where a believer lives. We live at the feet of
Christ's mercy. When I think about what God did
for Israel, I wonder how they could not have believed. But
then I think about myself, and I know how they could not have
believed. He delivered them out of Egyptian
bondage and slavery, and he delivered them out with a mighty, powerful
hand. When God got through, there was
no misunderstanding about who delivered Israel out of Egypt.
They had a front row seat to every plague that God sent on
Egypt. When God sent the plagues on
Egypt, they themselves were virtually unaffected where they lived in
the land of Goshen. And I got to thinking about that
this week, and I just rejoiced in that. When I hear folks talk
about global warming, I don't much worry about it. Well, it's
not that I don't care, it's that God's in control. I hear that
there's a big fault line that's running right under the church
here, according to most. Oh, there's a big earthquake
coming. Turned on the TV not long ago,
and there was Jim Baker. You remember old Jim and Tammy?
And Jim was selling earthquake supplies. Worried to death, there's
an earthquake coming. Just a matter of time. I don't
give that much thought. My God's in control of earthquakes. A lot of folks worry about a
meteorite hitting Earth. If it does, it's God that hurled
it. You hear me? Oh my. What do we have to fear of God
before us? I think about that land of Goshen
that God watched over. Let me show you that. We've got
time. Turn with me to Exodus chapter 8. Exodus chapter 8. Keep your place there. Hebrews
4, Exodus chapter 8. Look at verse 20. And the Lord said unto Moses,
rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. And
lo, he cometh forth to the water and saying to him, thus saith
the Lord, let my people go that they may serve me. Else, if thou
wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon
thee. and upon thy servants, and upon
thy people, and into thy houses. And the houses of the Egyptians
shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they
are." Now look at verse 22. And I will sever, I'll separate
in that day the land of Goshen in which my people dwell. that
no swarms of flies shall be there. To the end thou mayest know that
I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. Look over at Exodus
chapter nine. It's the page or so over, verse
18. Behold, tomorrow, about this
time, I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as
hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof, even
until now. Send therefore now and gather
thy cattle and all thou hast in the field, for upon every
man and beast which shall be found in the field and shall
not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them and
they shall die. And he that feared the word of
the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and
his cattle flee into the houses. And he that regarded not the
word of the Lord left his servants and his cattle in the field. And the Lord said unto Moses,
stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, that there may be hell
in all the land of Egypt, upon man and upon beast, upon every
herb of the field throughout the land of Egypt. And Moses
stretched forth his rod toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder
and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground, and the Lord
rained hell upon the land of Egypt. So there was hail and
fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none
like it in all the land of Egypt, since it became a nation. And
the hail smoked throughout all the land of Egypt, all that was
in the field, both man and beast, and the hail smoked every herb
of the field and break every tree of the field. But look at
verse 26, only in the land of Goshen, where the children of
Israel were, there was no hell. Now, I'm just not worried about
those things because my God is in control. I'm not concerned
about global warming. I'm not concerned about earthquake. If an asteroid hits Earth, as
I said, it's the Lord that sent it. I'm not gonna worry about
rocket man pushing a button. Not gonna do it. The Lord knows
them that are his. and he's gonna take care of each
and every one of them. Now you couldn't have seen and experienced
what Israel did, but not know that a great and a mighty God
was behind their deliverance. When they left Egypt, delivered
by the omnipotent hand of God, Exodus chapter 12 tells us that
the Lord gave the people of Israel such favor with the Egyptians
that they just gave them whatever Israel asked for. God's word
says, in this way they spoiled, they plundered and carried away
the wealth of the Egyptians when they left Egypt. They didn't
have to take it by force. God just gave it to them. They
didn't have the ability to take anything by force. God just calls
the people of Egypt to give it to them. Now that's the kind
of God I'm talking about. When God was done, Egypt knew
that God was on Israel's side. And Israel knew it too. But when God again hardened Pharaoh's
heart and he came after Israel with a vengeance, when the army
of Pharaoh came after the people of God, after all that they had
already experienced, they heard the roaring of those chariots
coming to destroy them, and they with contempt said to Moses,
were there not enough graves in Egypt that you brought us
out here to die in the wilderness? After all they'd seen. Why have
you dealt with us this way, they said. They'd been delivered out
of 400 years of bondage and slavery, and they had the nerve to say,
why have you dealt with us like this? Why it would have been
better to serve the Egyptians than to die like this. How ungrateful,
unappreciative, unbelieving were these stiff-necked, rebellious
people. The same as we are by nature.
We can learn a great lesson from them. Then I think about what
Moses said with great patience and long-suffering. Moses said,
fear not. Don't fear. Stand still. Oh, if we could just learn to
not fear and stand still, wouldn't we be much better off? He said,
see the salvation of the Lord, and you know the rest of the
story. God drowned the whole Egyptian army in the Red Sea,
and Israel passed by on dry ground. Oh, they saw and experienced
all these things, yet they believed not God. How can that be? Well, it has to do with the heart.
that is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. And I'm
telling you that if God does not give you a new heart, you'll
do the same thing. You'll do the same thing. Folks
today seek after a sign. They do. You've heard them and
I have too. If God had given me a sign, I
would believe. God gave Israel sign after sign
after sign, and they believe not. God left them to themselves. That's all God has to do for
us to never believe. Just leave us alone. Not interfere
in his mercy and grace. Just leave us to ourselves. Do
you believe God? Do you believe God? Oh, how I
pray that he will not leave you to yourself. Now, Israel was
on their way to a promised land, a land of rest, a land that God
said flowed with milk and honey. Just meant that that land had
all the sustenance that they needed to live. All they did
along the way to that land of promise was murmur and complain
every step of the way. Now, before we're too hard on
them, let me ask you and myself In this life, do you gripe and
complain all along the way? Do you rebel against the providence
of God or do you bow to the God who works all things after the
counsel of his own will? You know, I was thinking this
morning as I looked over my notes, who would have ever thought that
when the people of Israel left Egypt, that out of that original
multitude Could have been as many as two to three million
people. Only two, two. Joshua and Caleb
would enter into the rest in the land of promise. Just two
out of that original number. What happened to all the others?
There were millions of them. Here's what happened to them.
Hebrews 3.17 tells us. But with whom was the Lord grieved
forty years? Was it not them that had sinned,
whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? They entered not in because of
unbelief." Now you can go ahead and be turning back with me to
Hebrews chapter 4. But after all the Lord had done
for Old Testament Israel, they didn't believe God and they died
in the wilderness. And believe me when I tell you
that that is the one thing that will grieve God Almighty above
all other things. Unbelief. Unbelief. There's only one sin in the end
that God will not forgive. Unbelief. Unbelief. Unbelief is the blasphemy of
the Holy Spirit. To reject the Holy Spirit of
God when His purpose is to reveal that Christ is salvation is nothing
less than unadulterated blasphemy, and it's nothing but unbelief.
If you die in your unbelief, it's the unpardonable sin. Unbelief
will send you to hell. Now, Hebrews chapter 4, I want
you to look at verse 3 with me, the first part of it. which have believed do enter
into rest. We're talking about rest here.
And as I mentioned a moment ago, this is not speaking of that
eternal rest that we'll enjoy in heaven, though it most certainly
includes that. This is speaking of a rest that
the sinner can have right now, right now in this life. This is a rest from the burden
of the law of Moses. This is speaking of that rest
from toiling and laboring with sin in this life that we looked
at last time. This is speaking of that rest
given to the child of God when he sees, or she sees, that they
have no sin. What rest that is. This is talking about the rest
they experience when they see that they need not provide anything
to God, but it's all been provided for them. Oh, I can rest there,
can't you? Oh, and that rest is theirs when
they realize that Christ has provided everything that will
pardon them from the strict and holy law of justice. And though the rest that Christ
gives speaks of a future rest that we'll have in heavenly glory,
it also refers to a present rest that we can have right now. Now
are you interested in that rest? That's all I want. That's all
I can think about. I want to have that rest. It's
a rest that's found in Christ alone. It's a rest that is provided
by Christ alone. I need that rest and so do you.
So I have to deduct that I have to have Christ. I must have Christ. Again, verse three, for we which
have believed do enter into rest. This is a spiritual rest. It's
a rest from salvation by works. It's a rest, as I said, from
the burden of the law. This is a rest from the toil
and labor to gain life eternal. It's an enjoyment of inward peace,
peace in the midst of trials. Peace in the midst of toils,
in the midst of labors, in the midst of temptations. A peace. Oh, it doesn't take much to steal
my peace. But if I could get a hold of
this rest, it'd take a lot more. Only believers enjoy this rest. This is the believer's rest. And that's what Paul said in
Romans 5 verse one. He said, therefore being justified
by faith, by believing God, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. He is our peace. Now this is
what I want you to see. Paul begins here to describe
that spiritual rest that believers have in Christ. And he does so
by removing all the other rest that are mentioned in the scriptures.
In verse four, he lets us know that the rest that we enjoy in
Christ is not the rest of God following the creation of the
world. Look at it, for he spake in a
certain place of the seventh day on this wise, and God did
rest the seventh day from all his works. In verse five, Paul
mentions the typical rest that was to be found in Canaan, the
land of promise. And the unbelieving Jews did
not enter into Canaan, and they wandered in the wilderness until
they died. And then in verse six, we're
told that there were some who did enter and must enter into
Canaan. Although those to whom this promise
was first preached did not enter in because of their unbelief.
Then in verse seven, we see that God said a day. God set a day
when chosen sinners would, by faith, enter into this true rest
which he had promised. That day is the day of the gospel
dispensation. That's the day in which we now
live. Today is the day of salvation. Now, now is the accepted time. It's no longer a typical rest. A possession. It's possession. It belongs to the believer. A
possession of rest. A rest that belongs to the child
of God. It's the gift of Christ. He said,
I will give you rest. Do you see that? Now in verse
8, we see that Joshua, Jesus, the name Jesus there is the same
as Joshua. And this is speaking of Joshua.
When he brought Joshua, when he brought them into the land
of rest, where they enjoyed rest for a while, they had rest from
their temporal enemies, they enjoyed for a season the blessings
of God. But this was not that true spiritual
rest in Christ, or God would not have spoken of another day.
And then in verse nine we read, there remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. Now stay with me, I want you
to follow me on this. The people whom God has chosen,
the people for whom Christ died, the people who believe on Him
do enter into a spiritual rest. And heaven is just but a continuation
of what God begins in our hearts when He brings us to faith in
Christ. Now it's very important to understand
what I'm about to say. We touched on it last week when
we briefly looked at this verse. And in verse 10, Paul is speaking
of Christ. And he writes this, look at it.
For he, speaking of Jesus Christ, that is entered into his rest,
he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from his. Christ had a work to do in preaching
the gospel and in obtaining salvation and redemption for His people. That work was given to Him by
God to do and He finished it. He finished it. He had to die
to do so. And when He died, He rose again
and He ascended unto heaven and He sat down on the right hand
of God. Now, how was He able to do that? Well, he had no sin. He was made
to be sin. He satisfied the divine justice
of God. And when he did, he ceased from
these works never to do them again. There was no need for
him to do them again. Why? Because, well, let me show
you. Hold your place here. Turn over
to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. Why did Christ
cease from His work of obtaining eternal redemption for His people?
Look at verse 12 in Hebrews 10. But this man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
how long was His sacrifice good for? Forever. Forever. After he made that one sacrifice,
he sat down on the right hand of God. He ceased from his own
works. Notice carefully the language
of scripture here. They were his own works, not
our work, but his. His work became our work when
we were yoked together with Him. He's seated. He sat down on the
right hand of God, having entered into His rest, the same as God
ceased from His works of creation when He had finished them. And
that's when we rest, when the work's finished. Hear me, dear
sinner. The work's finished. The work's
finished. Now I need to ask you a question
that I pondered for many years myself. Can there be any rest
for a heart that continues to sin? Can we really enjoy rest
when we're a sinner? Well, the answer is yes. The
believer rests from the guilt of sin. because they've been
made to see that their sin was put on Christ, their scapegoat,
knowing well that nothing can be in two places at one time. If my sin is put on Christ, laid
on Christ, it can't still be on me. If my sin be punished
on Christ my Lord, then God's justice cannot twice demand two
penalties for the same crime. Two payments cannot be made for
the same debt. Christ has met all the demands
of justice for me. And if I believe that, then I'm
telling you I'm gonna have rest. And if I don't rest in that,
then I'm denying that it's so. I had someone say to me one time
that the grace and that the God that I believe just gave me an
excuse to sin. Have you ever had anyone say
that to you? In Romans chapter six, verse one and two, Paul
said, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? He answered
the question very quickly. He said, God forbid. Then he
asked this question. And you think about this with
me. I won't keep you much longer. He said, how shall we who are
dead to sin live any longer therein? How shall we who are dead to
sin live any longer therein? Now, on Calvary's mountain, three
men were crucified. One died for sin, the Lord Jesus
Christ. One died in sin, the unrepentant
thief. And one died to sin, that sinner
that Christ forgave. You see, there is a death for
sin. Christ died for our sins. He's
our substitute who paid our sin debt. There's also a death in
sin. That's when a sinner dies in
unbelief. They die in their sin. But rejoice
with me in knowing this, there is a death to sin. A death to
sin. All sin's guilt, all sin's condemning
power has been removed through Christ. I'm not talking about death to
the power of sin. I'm talking about death to the
guilt of sin. I'm talking about a death to
the condemning power of sin. A death to the penalty of sin. A death to all things which separated
us from God. We are dead to sin. Dead to its
charge against us. Dead to its condemnation against
us. Dead to its judgment against
us. Dead to sin. Now understand me
when I say, I'm not dead to the influence of sin. I'm not dead
to the temptation of sin. Only physical death's gonna bring
that about. But the curse of sin is removed. The claim sin has on us has been
removed. Our sin is crucified with Christ. It cannot hurt us any longer.
Dead to sin. If a man commits a horrendous
crime and he's sentenced to life in prison, and before he begins
to serve his sentence, he dies. He just dies a natural death. Can that man still serve his
time? Well, no. That's ridiculous, isn't it?
No, he's dead to the charge, the verdict, and the condemnation
of his crime. Dead, he's dead to it. He's dead
to the guilt, the charge, the condemnation, and judgment of
his sin. That's what it means to be dead
to sin. Child of God, you are dead to
sin. That's the best news I ever heard. Now back in Hebrews chapter four,
And I'll finish. Here we see the challenge, the
encouragement, and the warning that Paul gives to the believer.
Look at verse 11. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief. Now that's what most folks would
call an oxymoron. Let us labor to rest. Labor to rest. We must labor to rest. Now, if
you desire to do a work in order to be saved, that's it. Work hard to see to it that you
trust in Christ alone. Labor to rest. Strive daily to
enter into that rest that only He can provide. Labor, labor
to hear His gospel preached on each occasion because it pleased
the Lord by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. That's why we preach Christ.
I want you to have rest. I want you to labor to rest.
Christ is salvation. Let us make it our business to
seek Christ for everything. We seek Him for everything that
God requires and He provides everything that God requires
for us. I love that hymn that says, all
the fitness that He requires is that you feel your need of
Him. Do you feel your need of Him?
Do you? Come ye weary, heavy laden, lost
and ruined by the fall. If you tarry till you're better,
you will never come at all. Not the righteous, not the righteous,
sinners Jesus came to call. Are you a sinner? I have good
news for you. Jesus Christ is the believer's
rest.