Hebrews 4. My text will be found in verse
3. For we which have believed do
enter into rest, as He has said, as I have sworn in my wrath,
if they shall enter into my rest, although the works were finished
from the foundation of the world." The title of the message this
morning is, Rest Entered, a Rest Remaining, and a Rest Enjoyed. First of all, the Scripture says,
"...for we who have believed do enter That rest. Do enter into rest. Now, what is the rest then of
every believer in Christ? What is our rest? Well, what
is it to rest? It is to cease from work. It
is to be done with work. When you go out and you work
and you labor and you are finished with your work, it's then time
to rest. And so rest is nothing more than
a ceasing of work. That's what it is. The rest of
every believer then is to cease from our works, to cease from
all labor, to enter into heaven and be accepted with God, and
to trust only in the work of Jesus Christ. That's what it
is to rest. All men by nature are truly religious
men. Men naturally know there is a
God. Now, they can deny it, they can
spit, they can curse, they can do what they want to. They know
there's a God. You don't see too many opposing the tooth fairy.
Nobody picketing the tooth fairy. Why? Because it's silly. Because
everybody knows He does not exist. But what about God? Why is there
such an opposition? Because they know within their
own heart there is a God. They know He is, and they know
this, He must judge the wicked. Why? Because they themselves
judge. If the creature judges, is it not just reasonable to
know the Creator must judge? God's creation, His creation
testifies of His person, of His holiness, of His power. And as
men gaze into the vastness of space in the universe, the more
and more it speaks to them of the existence of God. The more
it witnesses of an Almighty Creator. And not only this, men are religious
because there is a law written in their hearts. Paul says that
in Romans chapter 2, there's a law that God has written on
the heart of every man. And it testifies that God is
just and must punish sin. Yet, the problem is man has no
idea how to please God. He knows these things in His
self. Every natural man knows these
things and yet he cannot ascertain the most important question. How is it that God can be just
and justify the ungodly? That's the question. That's the
all important question. How can God who is just justify
the ungodly and remain just? They can't answer that question. How to atone for their sins they
cannot find a way. How they can be accepted with
God they do not know. No man by nature knows this.
The Scriptures are plain and clear. 2 Corinthians 2.14, it
says, "...the natural man receiveth not." That has to do with his
will. He is not willing to receive.
Neither can he know them. That has to do with ability.
So neither is he willing or is he able to know the things of
God or receive them. And foolishness to him because
he's spiritually judged, discerned. Therefore, every man, in order
to atone for the sin and be accepted with God, does that which is
right in his own eye. See, man is trying to find rest.
He's trying to find rest. Man is a restless creature. You
can't look at man and see he's not a restless creature. Have you ever been satisfied
with anything? There's case in point. You can't be satisfied
with anything. You get something and you want
the next thing. Because you're a restless creature,
you're always looking for the next thing. That's the nature
of man. And so man does that which is
right in his own eyes. They, like blind men, grow up
in the darkness trying to establish their own righteousness by works
and obedience and decision after decision after decision after
decision, and they can't find rest. Can't find it. They are blind to the truth of
their own spiritual condition. That all they are is sin and
all they do is sin. They're blind to that. For God
has said that every thought of the imagination... Do you get
that? We don't use that kind of language.
Every thought of the imagination. Before there's a thought, there's
an imagination. There's something that comes
within. It goes up to the brain and then there's a thought. The
heart is what he's talking about. The imagination of the heart.
Everything, everything is wicked, evil and sin. That's why in Proverbs
21 it said, the plowing of the wicked is sin. Now plowing, that's
an honest labor. That's an honest work. There's
nothing wrong with plowing. I like to eat. So I like for
people to plow and I like for them to plant. But even that
honest labor is a sin because they give not the glory to God. Therefore, Paul says, there is
none righteous, no, not one, none that understandeth, none
that seeketh after God. They are all together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Yet man says in his heart, I'm
not so bad. Man says, I have some goodness.
I have some ability to understand, I can seek after God, I can choose
God or not choose God. And so upon the basis of that
is where they try to find their rest. Based on what they can
do. And they say, if I could just
do my best, then I'll find rest. If I can just live a good life,
then I'll find rest. If I can just obey the golden
rule, the Ten Commandments, the church ordinances, then I'll
find rest. If I can just get baptized, if
I can just have the Lord's Supper, if I can just have some man come
and perform a ceremony over me, then I'll find rest. No, you
won't find rest. No. So then the rest, the best
that natural man can do, listen, you want to know the best thing,
the best religion that man can come up with is free will works
religion. That's the best thing he can do. That's the best. These men, hear the words of
Jesus, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. But they interpret that to mean,
come to me, you that are weary of common troubles. You that
are weary of common problems. You that are weary of your relationship
of your kin. Are you weary of being sick?
Are you weary of being poor? Then, that's what they think
Jesus means by rest. Bring all your problems to Jesus
and He'll give you rest from all these earthly problems. That's
what they think about rest. I'll tell you, some even may
come to Jesus being troubled about hell. Some of these people
come troubled about hell. And they want rest from these
things. Yet the problem is they don't have a burden for sin. Nobody wants to go to hell. Hundred
out of a hundred surveyed, nobody wants to go to hell. So they see Jesus as nothing
more than a fire escape out of hell and they say, yeah, I'll
take that, but I ain't going to let go of this. You can't have one and the other. Either you have Christ or your
sin, you can't have them both. You have Christ, you're self-righteous,
you can't have them both. But Jesus was speaking of a different
kind of rest. A rest from the burdens of the
law. Man, the law is so binding. The law, it just puts one link
after another in the chain, and the chain only becomes heavier
and heavier, and the load becomes more and more miserable. The
law is a miserable thing to a sinner. Brings misery. Now the law is
good. Nothing wrong with the law. Perfect. Problem is, you
and I can't obey it. So Jesus is speaking of freedom
from sin. Freedom from the burdens of perfect
obedience and perfect righteousness and acceptance with God. But
the burden, this burden, this type, comes only by the Holy
Spirit. I like that song that says, a
sinner is a sacred thing, the Holy Ghost hath made him one. Now everybody by nature is a
sinner, but nobody knows it! Accept the Holy Spirit, come
and reveal it to you. Then and only then have you a
burden for sin, a burden to be accepted before God, recognizing
you can't. You can't. This burden comes
on the heart, the soul, of the mind and it cannot be lifted
by any works or religion. The burden of guilt and sin cannot
be broken by ten million decisions for Jesus. You can wash yourself
in a baptismal pool to your prune, and you can't ever wash away
sin. I tell you, if you can, then
that's not Holy Spirit conviction. If you make a decision and you
can be free of it, that's not Holy Spirit conviction. In fact, the only remedies, these
so-called remedies of freewill works religion do not relieve,
they do not give rest, but only amplify the burden. They only
magnify it, they only amplify it. Go to Mark. Go to Mark's
Gospel chapter 5. I'm going to give you a picture
of this and this woman with the issue of blood. Mark 5. Verse 25, And a certain woman,
which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many
things of many physicians, and spent all that she had, and was
nothing bettered, but grew worse, grew worse. This woman with the
issue of blood is a picture of our condition by nature. The
issue of blood. We are by blood relations to
Adam, we have an issue of blood. And because of our relationship
to Him, when He died spiritually, so did we. When He died spiritually,
so did we. That spiritual condemnation,
it passed down to all of us. Spiritual death, depravity, and
corrupt nature. Therefore, we like this woman
being awakened to our condition. which many are not unless revealed
by the Holy Spirit. When sin then is exposed to us,
men seek religious doctors." When this woman had an issue
of blood, what's the first thing she did? Went to a doctor. That's just reasonable, isn't
it? That's just rational thinking. You're sick, you go to the doctor.
Well, she did. And so it is with man. When he
starts to feel the burden of his sin, the first thing he does
is he goes to the doctors of religion. He starts looking for
a cure for this sickness, for this sin, for this burden. And I'll tell you, men will suffer
many things of many wicked physicians. They'll suffer the loss of their
money, their time, their effort. Why? They're trying to relieve
something. A guilt that they cannot relieve
themselves. But the result is always the
same. They grow none better, but only worse. But only worse. False religion, free will works
religion promises rest. But it can't deliver. It can't
deliver. It only makes its victims worse. I remember the Lord Jesus Christ
when He had talked to those Jews. You remember that He said, you
search land and sea for a proselyte and when you find one, you made
him twofold more a child of hell. So it doesn't help. These doctors
of no value only can prescribe one remedy. Do, do, do, do. This is what you need to do. You have to do this, do that. And then when you're done doing,
you'll find rest. No, you won't. Why? Because there's no end to doing. They say Jesus has done all He
can do, and so the rest you must finish. In some measure, in some,
some are more than others, some give you a big long list of things,
some give you one thing to do. But if you give you one thing
to do, believe me, there'll be another coming along soon after
that. They never are finished. Jesus has done it, but you must
finish it, you must make it effectual, you must keep it by your obedience
to the law or to the church. Sinner, listen, to add one thing
to Jesus Christ then is to defile the perfect offering of Christ.
I want you to see how important that is. To add one thing to
Christ. is to pollute the sacrifice and
make it of no profit to your soul." Those Galatians only added
one thing, didn't they? They excluded the whole law except
for one thing, circumcision. That was it. They said, yes,
Jesus is good. Grace is good. Yes, but you've
got to be circumcised. That's all they added. And Paul
said, Christ profited you nothing for doing that. When you do that,
you want to add something to it? Anything. Put anything to
Christ and you've ruined it. Anything. There's no rest there. Are you such a sinner in need
of rest? Does the issue of your sinful
blood flow through your veins of your soul and manifest by
its bleeding and guilt? Do you cry to God, what must
I do? I remember a pastor telling me
about a man, an old man, he's about 80 years old, he was having
a conviction. And this old man called him to
his barn, he'd come in, this guy was weeping and crying and
lamenting, and he said, oh my sin, my sin, what do I do? And all the pastor could say,
I can only point you to Christ, I can tell you believe on Christ.
And he said, with everything in me, I had to turn around and
walk away so I didn't tell him what to do. And as he turned
the corner, a big old smile came on my face. Why? Because that's
the work of the Spirit. To bring a man to the end of
himself so as he should rest in Christ. That's it. I like this hymn writer who wrote
this concerning, what must I do? He said, nothing, either great
or small, sin or no. Jesus did it long, long ago.
It is finished, yes indeed, finished every jot. Sinner, this is all
you need, tell me, is it not? When he from the lofty throne
stooped down to do and die, everything is fully done, hearken to his
cry. Weary, working, burdened one,
wherefore toil you so? Cease your doing, all is done,
long, long ago. Till Jesus work you clean, by
simple faith, doing is a deadly thing. Doing ends in death. Cast your deadly doing down,
down at Jesus' feet. Stand in Him, in Him alone. Gloriously
complete. Gloriously complete. And you
know what this woman found? When this woman, she heard something. And it says, when she had this
issue of blood, she grew none better. But when she heard of
Jesus, came in the press behind Him and touched His garment,
for she said, If I touch but His clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain
of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she
was healed of the plague. You suppose she went to the doctor
again? You suppose she went back? You suppose she thanked those
doctors? You suppose she compromised and encouraged others to go to
those doctors? No! No. She knew then that only
Christ could give her rest from her blood. And I tell you, that's
my condition, that's my testimony. I'm pointing you to One who can
heal you. I'm pointing you to Him because
He healed me. I'm pointing you to find rest in Him because that's
where I found rest. Find rest in Christ. You see, the only remedy is Christ,
not doing. The only remedy is done. Done. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
after His death and doing, After his perfect obedience and work
and salvation that he has accomplished, he finished the work. And after that, he ascended to
God. And the Scripture says he sat
down. That's it. Sat down. You know in the tabernacle,
in that holy place, there were no chairs. There were no chairs
because the work wasn't done. But there's a chair in heaven
because it's done. Christ is finished. The work
is accomplished. No more to do. All is done. All is done. Go back to your text. In Hebrews 4, it says, "...for
we which have believed do enter into rest." And now at the bottom of that
verse it says, "...although the works were finished from the
foundation of the world." You see, this was no accident that
Christ finished the work and entered into His rest. This was
a purposed plan. This was always God's way of
rest. God purposed. every bit of our
salvation. The works were finished in the
eternal purpose and decree of God from the foundation of the
world. You know, how do we know this? Because the gospel was preached
from the beginning. Go to Genesis 1. I can preach
a gospel from Genesis 1. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and void.
You're without form and void. And darkness covered the face
of the deep. That's your heart. Spirit moved upon the face of
the waters. That's regeneration. And God
said, let there be light. That's Christ shining in your
heart. See, I can preach that gospel
from the beginning. Why? Because that's always been God's
purpose. And you remember when God finished His work, and that's
the illustration He uses in this text, the Sabbath day. He uses
that day as a picture of preaching the gospel. When God finished
His work, He rested on the seventh day. Even so, Jesus Christ, when
He had finished His work, also ceased from His labors. He finished
the work and entered into His rest. For by His one offering
He hath obtained eternal..." I like that, don't you? Eternal
redemption. Eternal redemption. Hebrews 10 says, "...He sat down
when He finished. Therefore see that there is no
other sacrifice needed to redeem. There is no more work or obedience
required. Christ is all." And they that believe do enter into that rest. So what then is the sinner to
do? He is to believe. Believe on Christ alone. Come
to Him by faith in Christ alone. I tell you this morning, don't
stand back and admire the rest. Enter into it. You enter into
it. I used this last week, the illustration
of Noah and the ark. You know, that ark was big, it
was huge, it was magnificent. How many people stood outside
that ark and patted Noah on the back? Noah, that's a good job.
You know, that ark is magnificent. It's big. It's huge. It's useless, but it's huge.
It's big. It's nice. It's glorious. Look
at it. You know what the problem is? They didn't enter in. So many look at Jesus and say,
oh yeah, Jesus is nice, look at Him, look at Him. They study
Him, they study His glory, they study His purpose, they study
His cross, they study His doctrine, and they don't enter in. They
don't believe on Him. They believe on what? They don't
believe on who? Paul says, I know whom I have
believed. And so, have you believed? Then
you're at rest. We cease from our works. I'm
not trusting any work I've ever done, ever doing, ever going
to do. Not trusting anything. I count it as dumb and useless that I might win Christ and be
found in Him. Not having mine own righteousness which is of
the law, I don't want it. It's not any righteousness at
all. I don't want it. It's useless. I want His righteousness. And
notice what Paul says. He said, we not only believed,
past tense, We do enter present tense. See, faith is not something
we just did. It's something that we're always
doing. You know, this morning I woke
up with guilt of sin on my heart. Oh, it burdens me. My sin and
flesh torment me daily. So this morning, again, I look
to Christ alone as all my rest. I do enter into that rest today.
And you know, that's because faith is always present tense,
never past tense. It's good you believed, but Paul
in this whole chapter is stirring us up to realize that there are
some who are only mere professors of faith. I don't want to be in that category,
do you? And so Paul is stirring up believers to know this, faith
is always something present. We who have believed do enter
into rest. We do continually, presently
enter into this rest. This is the whole point of the
apostle to all who profess faith. So that you may not be deceived,
for true faith always continues to believe on Christ alone. I
had a man spoke with me this last week and he's really seeing
the gospel. And seeing where he's at is just
a lost, pit of free will, works, religion. He went to his pastor
and he said, you know, pastor, I know this, that God chose a
people. And Christ has successfully redeemed
those people. And every one of them will come
to Him. And his pastor said, oh yeah, I believe that too,
but you know what, you'll outgrow that. If you ever outgrow that, it's because you're lost. And
just as those carcasses fell in the wilderness, that man has
fallen in the wilderness. His faith was nothing more than
a vain imagination and not a reality. Why? Because true faith always
never moves from the simplicity that is in Christ. Never moves. This is why we always preach
Christ. This is why He is the sum, substance,
and theme of every message that we preach because we are not
moving from it. We always preach Christ. Man
abased, Christ exalted. That's always the way. You know,
if people don't like that, they have to go somewhere else because
we've got nothing else. Paul said, I would that you not be
moved from the simplicity You know that word means singleness.
There's only one. Only one Savior. There's none
other name given among men whereby we must be saved. Only one Savior.
Only one rest. No other rest. And so true believers,
true believers cling to that and they don't move from it. But all who have a vain profession
of faith and not been quickened by the Spirit of God, they may
endure for a little while, They may grit their teeth and bear
the gospel for a little while, but by and by their carcasses
fall in the wilderness." You've not seen it? I've seen it. I've
seen many men that I thought to be my superior, my elder in
the faith. I've seen them fall away, never
to return. Why? Their faith was empty, it
was vain. Therefore, all who believe, we
fear and we are stirred up by the Spirit to make our calling
and election sure. It is our desire to cast off
the flesh, cast off self-righteousness, count it done, that we might
win Christ." Now then, secondly, and I'm going to move on to these
next two points. So there's not only a rest that we have entered,
we who believed. Who enters this rest? Believers.
What is this rest? To cease from work and trust
only in the perfect work of Jesus Christ. That's what it is to
rest. Secondly, there is a remaining rest, a rest yet to come. Paul says in verse 9, "...there
remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." Now he uses
this illustration of David when David said today, Today, if you
will hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts." And when David said that, that
was, to him, present, wasn't it? When he wrote that word,
today, it meant today. But the Holy Spirit meant it
not just for his today, but our today. Today. So that word just
as much applied to David as it does to us. Today, if you will
hear his voice. Today, if you will not... Harden
not your heart today. Today. Presently, if you will
hear his voice. Don't harden your hearts in unbelief. Like those Jews did. And he said,
that rest that those Jews entered into, that Joshua brought them
into, was that perfect? Look at that in verse 8. He said,
for if Joshua, that word Jesus is the same as Joshua, if Joshua
had given them rest, then they would not afterward have spoken
of another rest. When they entered that land of
Canaan, was it all roses? Was everything swale? When they
crossed over Jordan, did the Canaanites just let everything
go? Oh yeah, that's right, I forgot.
God's Word said you're supposed to possess this land, so here.
No! There was no real rest after
that, and even after that, it was no real rest. Why? Because it was only a picture,
it was only a type of that rest that remaineth. What is that
rest that remaineth? There's a rest for us. There's
a rest for us that yet remaineth that we've not yet experienced. To now, believer, you do rest
in Christ. You do rest. How? By faith. By faith. But believer, do you
feel at rest? Do you feel at rest? Are you
daily at perfect peace in your country, in your city, in your
home, in your land, in your heart? Are you at rest? I know it's a silly question.
No. Daily we struggle with our own
flesh. The flesh lusts against the spirit
and the spirit against the flesh. We are hated by the world. When
we, by our good works, condemn the wicked conduct of the lost,
when we preach the gospel of God's free grace in Christ, false
religion despises us in our message, Satan daily tempts us with sin,
and then when he draws us away by our own lust, he accuses us. Is that restful for you? No. As a matter of fact, God said
this, You shall enter into the kingdom of heaven through much
Much tribulation. Much tribulation. Therefore,
believer, as long as it is called today, let us believe on Christ
today. Trust in Christ today and yet
keep your eye on this. There yet remaineth a rest for
us. There remaineth a rest for us.
Our hope is this, that God has an eternal rest for us. This
is not our home. I don't care how much you build
it and make it. It's not our home. Plant down roots anywhere
you want to. It's not our home. We're only traveling. Only pilgrims. And the worst thing for a pilgrim
to do is settle down somewhere. Say, this is it. It's not it.
This is not our home. We're just traveling. And we're
going to suffer in this life. But our hope is this, that one
day Jesus said this, I go to prepare a place for you. And
if I go to prepare a place for you, I will, no doubt, I will
come again and receive you to myself. That where I am, there
you may be also. Our hope is in heaven. And our
hope is this, that no one is able to pluck us out of His hand.
I'm thankful for that. I am so grateful for that, that
no one is able to pluck us out of His hand until He brings us
to that rest. He said, this is the will of
Him that sent me, that of all He hath given me, I should lose Raise it up again at the last
day. At the last day. Take a breath. We have a rest in Christ. And
I tell you, we see through a glass darkly. But one day you won't
have to believe anymore. One day you'll see it for yourself. And that will be rest for me
forever, to be with God. And the comfort of this during
our journey, Paul gives us a comfort of this rest in the last part
of this. What is the comfort for the believer?
In verse 12, he said, "...For the Word of God is quick and
powerful and sharper than two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
of sunder of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, the discernment
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any
creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things
are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."
This gospel message this morning is a sword. As I have given you
the sword this morning, it has made a division. Are you in His
rest or are you not? Do you look to Christ alone or
are you looking to something else? Those who believe on Christ,
you have entered into His rest and do enter. and you have a
rest remaining. And what is the comfort of this?
The Word of God. You see, it's not just my word.
I'm not giving you my word. I'm not giving you my promise.
I'm not giving you my seal of approval. The Word is the Word
of God. It is a living Word. It is effectual. It is powerful upon everyone. It strikes. And the wielder of this is not
me, it is the Spirit. The Spirit wields the Word and
strikes whom He will. To one, it is a savor of death. To another, it's a sweet smell
of life. And yet, believer, in this world
we have tribulation, and seeing we have tribulation and trouble
and discord, seeing then, Paul says in verse 14, we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Listen, I hold it fast because
I've got nothing else to hold on to. If a man's got something
else to hold on to, he's going to hold on to it. We as believers in Christ have
nothing else. And we don't want anything else. We, like the disciples, are often
confused and the Lord said, will you go away also? To whom shall
we go? You have the words of eternal
life. You're the Son of God. I've got
no place else to go. We hang on with everything in
us as tightly as we can. That's faith. Faith hangs on
to Christ and only Christ. But you know the power behind
our faith is not us hanging on to Him. It's Him hanging on to
us. It's Him hanging on to us. Our great High Priest is entering
to heaven. You know what? He's in heaven and He's hanging
on to you. And He ain't letting you go until
He pulls you up with Him. That's it. And listen, there
ain't nothing you've been through in this life that Christ your
Savior has not been through. I know we feel special. In our troubles, we feel that
nobody else has ever experienced our trouble. No. Your Savior was touched with
all the feelings of your infirmities except sin. And I tell you, He felt more
of it when He was made sin for us on that tree. He felt more hell and justice
than you and I will ever feel guilt for our sins. Therefore, let us boldly come
to the throne of grace that we may find help in time of trouble. Believer, let us who have entered
into His rest, rest. It's done. The work is done. Let us remain to look to that
rest to come. He will come and receive us.
And let us be comforted in our trials until then. Jesus Christ,
our High Priest, is touched with the feelings of our infirmities.
He is not some cruel master, but is kind and gentle. I pray God will bless this to
your hearts.