We'll take your Bibles and turn
with me to Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4. We've been
looking at most of this chapter today. Hebrews chapter 4. We'll begin at verse 1. And the
title of the message this morning is simply, Let Us. Let Us. Verse 1 of chapter 4 says, Let
Us. Therefore, fear. A promise being left us of entering
into His rest, any of you should seem to fall short of it. The apostle Paul, or the apostle
of the writer of Hebrews, sets before us in the previous chapter,
The account of the nation of Israel and how they came out
of Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, trembled before the law of God,
came to the border of Canaan, and yet because of their unbelief,
God said, I swear in My wrath they shall not enter into My
rest. They came in. They spied out
the land, the land flowing with milk and honey, just as God said
it was. A land of graves so big that
two men had to carry a cluster of them on their shoulders. This land was the land of rest,
the land of promise that God had given to the nation of Israel. He said, I promise this land
is yours. Enter into it and you shall find
rest in that land. But because they would not believe
God, they did not enter in, but they died in the wilderness. Every one of them. And you remember that there were
only two men of the twelve that entered in. Even Moses, because
of his unbelief in the instance of the rock, in striking the
rock, he himself was withheld and the only two of that generation
was Joshua and Caleb who believed God and they entered in to the
land of promise. But these others, they came short
of the promise. And verse 2 tells us why. They
came short of the promise because of unbelief. Scripture says,
because it was not mixed with faith. But we know this, that the land
of Canaan is nothing more than a type a picture of the true
rest of God that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. This promise of
rest was not one of a physical land flowing with milk and honey. And if you read that in verse
7 and 8, he said this is why God said to David, Now, how many
years had spanned since the promise of rest through Joshua and the
time of David? How many years? Many, many years
were different in the two generations. But he said to David, so far
ahead, he said, Today, if thou wilt, harden not thine heart. Hear the voice of the Son of
God. Harden not your hearts. There's a rest, my friends. Eventually,
Joshua, did he not take those people in? Absolutely. They came in just as God had
promised. But let me ask you this, did
they find rest? No, they found war, didn't they? And even at
the end of all of their conquering of that land, they still had
problems in this world. The rest of God is not found
here. It's not found in anything of
this life. It's not found in the health
of the body. It's not found in the wealth
of this world. It's not found in the pleasures
of life. That's not where rest is found.
Don't look there. You won't find it. There is no
rest in those things. What happens if we get rich?
We worry about losing it. What happens when we get healthy? We worry about being unhealthy.
There's always something to cause disunity and disrest in this
life. Always. So this rest is not something
that is physical, tangible in this life. But friends, the rest
of God is found only in the message that was preached to them as
well as it is to you. Look at that in verse 2. He said,
For unto us was this gospel, the gospel of rest, preached
as well unto them as it is to us. This gospel is the same. I told
you that this morning in Sunday school. If you missed that, I'm
sorry. But the gospel is unchanging. It doesn't change. The same gospel
they heard is the same gospel you hear. Now friends, make no
mistake about it. They had it in types, in shadows,
in pictures. But we have it now plainly revealed,
don't we? We have all this plainly revealed. This gospel is the same gospel
that was preached to them as it is to us. It is the promise
of rest. The promise of rest. And friends,
today I declare this same message again to every one of you under
the sound of my voice. Behold the Lamb of God. Behold, rest for your souls. Rest from sin. Rest from guilt. Rest from despair. Where? Christ. He is the rest of God
for the souls of men. And there is no other rest. Go
try to find it in religion if you want to. You won't find rest.
They'll keep telling you to do something else, and something
else, and something else. But Christ said, Come unto Me,
all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He's the rest of God. It's not
found in the things of this world. You see, Christ alone honored
the law of God in perfect completion. He alone honored the law of God. And God said of him, this is
my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And friends, make no
mistake about it, God is not well pleased with you unless
you are in Him. Unless you are in Christ. If
you are in Christ, God is well pleased with you because He is
well pleased with Christ. In that there's rest. He alone
honored the law of God both in perfections and judgments. The law is made up of perfections
and judgments, isn't it? What does the law say? Don't
lie. Don't steal. Love the Lord your God with all
your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with
all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. There's
the law of judgments. And guess what? Christ has fulfilled
that in every thought, word, and deed. He did it! He accomplished
such a great feat as that all by Himself. All by Himself. But the law is not only Righteousness,
it's judgment, isn't it? What happens to those who do
not obey the law? The Scripture says, "...the soul
that sinneth, it shall surely die." And friends, God, through the
Lord Jesus Christ, has accomplished the judgments of His law, when
He imputed the sins of His people unto His Son, and God charged
His Son with our sins. And God, to show how much He
was satisfied with the rest of Christ, He raised Him from the
dead, to make no mistake about it, There's no mistaking this,
that God was only satisfied in the death of His Son, in the
righteousness of His Son. He only raised His Son from the
dead to show everyone, I'm pleased with His work. I'm pleased with
Him. How many of your family members
have been raised from the dead? Was God pleased with anybody
in your family that's died? Can you testify of anyone in
your family that was raised from the dead to live forever? I can't. Why? God wasn't pleased with their
sacrifice. God was pleased with Christ's sacrifice and He raised
Him to show everybody about it. He raised His Son from the dead.
And Jesus says, now, come, do you need rest? Is there anyone
in need of rest? Is there anyone in need of rest
from the guilt of sin, the power of sin, and the penalty of sin?
And Jesus says, come to Me and I'll give you that rest. I'll
give you that rest. What then is Jesus Christ the
rest from? Friends, He's rest from the law
of God. I cannot stand a man to stand
up and to preach the law of God to me without Christ. I don't
want to hear it. Martin Luther said, I will have
nothing to do with an absolute God, and he meant that I will
have nothing to do with an absolute God in and of myself, and neither
will I. Friends, I don't want to stand
before God in any obedience of my own. I want to stand before
God in the obedience of Christ. Don't you? I want to stand before
Him in the perfections of Christ. And in that there's rest. There's
joyous rest. Because He's accomplished everything
the law demands. Friends, there is no salvation
by law. There is no such thing. The law
was never given to give rest. I've never given for that. And we that have entered in by
faith into this rest, which is Christ, do you think now that
we are made perfect by the law? God forbid that I should think
such a thing. The same way I entered into the
rest by faith in Christ is the same way I'll finish this walk.
By faith in Christ. Not by law. Not by law. Christ's freedom from the law
because He had tread the winepress of the wrath of God all by His
lonesome. He did it all by Himself. He did it all. He says, I have
trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there was none
with me. For I tread them in mine anger,
and trampled them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled
upon my garments, and I will stain all my remnant. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that
great? He says, I've done it all. I've trampled the justice
that was due for sin and it came on my garments. And you know
what He said He does with that blood? He applies it to the remnant.
He applies it to His people as though they themselves had died
under the judgment of God. And so when God sees the blood,
what does He do? He said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. Now friends, that's rest from
the law, and that's the rest that's found in Christ. And He's
also rest from salvation according to works. Can any one of us earn
or merit God's favor by law? No. But some men have come in saying,
I must inherit Christ's righteousness by some action of mine. No, I
can't obey the law, so what I'll do is I'll make up my own law
to deserve Christ. No, friends, that's not how rest
comes. Rest comes by the grace of God. It does not come by what
my hands have done. or what they ever could do. God's not going to accept you
based on what you can do for Him. You will not deserve or
merit Christ's blood by anything we can do. Christ said, I will
give you rest. Now friends, that's just something
a natural man cannot understand. You mean He's going to give it
to me with nothing? Absolutely. It's free. It's free. Is that not a wonderful
thing? And yet the natural man says,
I will not take a free gift. I must earn it. Oh, but when Christ gets a hold
of a man's heart, he'll see that he has nothing wherewith to buy
such a precious gift as the blood of the Son of God. And he cannot
earn it. It must be given. Have you entered into the rest
of God? Have you seen Christ as all the
rest of your soul for the forgiveness of your vile sin before God? If you have, friends, that's
a rest that no one else can give you. It's a rest that no one else
can give you but God. Now then, the Apostle here sets
forth before us this morning four admonitions. To you who profess to have entered
into this rest, hear me. Hear the Apostle this morning.
He gives us four admonitions. And this is admonitions to those
who profess faith in Christ. Who have professed to enter into
this rest. He first of all says, let us
fear. Fear? Fear? Well, don't the Scriptures say,
fear not? Absolutely. Friends, we're not
to fear concerning the things of this life or the people of
this life. Our salvation doesn't rest in
any of those things, it rests only in Christ. But the thing
we should fear is that we not fall short of faith in Christ. This is what we should fear.
And we have this example of those Israelites. If you remember those
Israelites, as I've said, they got away from Egypt, didn't they?
All of them. Every one of them left Egypt. Every one of them
passed under the Red Sea. Every one of them trembled at
the law of God, didn't they? Every one of them came up to
the border of Canaan. Every one of them saw the grapes
and the trophies of that land. They knew that. They had heard
it. They saw it. But why were they refused entrance? Because they themselves had not
believed God. They were rejected. And friends, I tell you this,
some men have went so far as to leave Egypt or leave their
sins. How many people you know profess faith in Christ to turn
over a new leaf? Start going to church, stop doing
this, stop doing that. They've went away from Egypt.
They've even come under the water of the Red Sea, baptism. They've
even been baptized. Some of them have heard the law
of God and trembled at His Word. Some of them have heard that.
Some of them even heard of a need of a sacrifice. Some of them
have heard about rest. Some of them have heard about
the wonders of the blood of Christ. They've heard it preached week
after week after week. They hear about Christ, Christ,
Christ, and they could tell you everything about Christ. They
can tell you of God's grace. They can tell you about election.
They can tell you about predestination. They can talk about total depravity,
limited atonement, unconditional election. They can tell you perseverance
and preservation of the saints. They can tell you all these things. But friend, salvation is not
found in what we know, but rather who we know. Christ. And friends, this matter of faith
in Christ is not a one-time event. It is a lifelong walk of faith
in Christ. And the Apostle Paul himself
said, let us, included himself, let us be jealous about this
matter. Let us be sure about this matter. There is no greater thing than
to know, have I entered into God's rest in Christ. You see,
I don't look at how many times I've turned from sin. That doesn't
enter into it. It doesn't enter into it that
I was in the baptismal pool. It doesn't enter into it that
I can know all the finer points of theology. It matters! Do I
believe on Christ now? Do I trust Him now? Do I hold
Him now? And friends, there's no greater
thing in all the world than to know this. It matters not what
else you know. What would a man give in exchange
for his own soul? Do you know that you have entered
in to the rest that is in Christ? I'm not telling you to look to
your faith. I'm telling you to look to the object of your faith,
Jesus Christ. Don't look at your faith. It
won't be much. It won't be much, but rest in Christ. Paul says, I long to be found,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but to be
found in the righteousness of Christ. And I won't be satisfied
until I awake in His likeness. Is that your heart this morning?
Is that what you fear? I pray it is. Number two, he
said, let us labor to enter into His rest. Well, pastor, didn't
you say salvation's of grace? Didn't you say that salvation
is not of the works of our flesh? Absolutely. Absolutely. You didn't misunderstand me.
You got it right on. Then why does he say, let us
labor? Let us labor to enter into that rest. Well, look at
verse 10. Look at verse 10. He says, for
he that is entered into his rest, here it is, he hath also ceased
from his own works as God did from his. When God created the
world on the seventh day, he rested. And friends, everyone
who believes in Christ, we live in a perpetual Sabbath. And we must labor to cease from
work. Isn't that something? You and
I must labor to cease from working. Why? Because our old nature does
nothing but want to work and earn God's favor. That's it.
It's longing for it. An old man can't do anything
but strive for God's approval. And you know what we must do
is we must labor to cut it off. We must labor against working
for our favor with God. If you've entered into rest,
what more work is necessary? He's not talking about adding
works to what Christ has done. He's telling us to labor to believe
on Christ. To strive always to rest on Christ
alone. Is this not a struggle with you
as it is with me? I mean, am I the only one that
struggles with this, to labor, to cease from my works? Because,
man, I feel at times my faith is so weak and so low. My love for Christ is so small
in comparison to His great love wherewith He loved us. I always feel like there's something
more I must do. And God sweetly says, no. I've
done it all, my son. I've done all that I require. The only thing you must do is
just rest. And we have to, it's a sad thing,
but we have to labor to rest. We have to labor to rest. God says, let us labor to cast
off all worth of this flesh. Paul says, I counted all things
but lost and do count. He counted his religion and righteousness
lost. And then he says, I even do now
count. He still had to fight. He still
had to labor to cast off all of his works. Otherwise, when
we do something good, what happens? It rises to the top. And we said,
oh boy, look at what a good Christian I am. Look at what I did. Oh,
wow, God must really be pleased with me now. Cut it off. Get rid of it. That's the labor
that every one of us must enter into lest we be exalted with
pride. This doctrine of grace is an
humble doctrine, isn't it? Does it not abase us to nothing? Oh yes, but friends, when we
are abased, it's then we're exalted. I pray that God would let us
Let this be the labor of our cry, not unto us, O Lord, not
unto us, but unto Thy name give glory for Thy mercy and for Thy
truth's sake. Number three, let us hold fast
to our profession. Friends, there will be some,
and maybe even some in this building, and hear me very carefully. There
may be some even here who will make a profession of faith in
Christ and say, Oh, I believe in Jesus. Oh, I believe in Jesus. My soul is well with God. Everything's fine. But how many have we seen in
our lives that have said such things and have gone away never
again to love the gospel of Jesus Christ? Do you think they intended to
do that? Do you think that was their heart's desire at the beginning?
To deceive you? No, because they themselves were
deceived. They themselves were deceived. So if we are professors of faith
in Christ, if we have professed to enter into the rest that is
in Christ, then Paul here says, let us hold Hold fast! Our profession. Who is our profession? You hold
fast to Christ and don't let go. I think about a sailor who
is on a big ship in the sea and when the waves come and beat
against the ship and the man says, hold fast! You can imagine
a man hanging on with his dear life, never wanting to let go,
otherwise his soul perish. That's how much we are to hold
on to Christ, our faithful High Priest. We're to hold fast to
His work, His righteousness, His love, His grace, His mercy, and let go of everything else.
Hold fast to Christ alone, else the sea of sin and the wrath
of God swallow you whole. Not every one that saith to me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. It is my prayer for my own soul
that I be not deceived. But I must hold fast to Christ
as my faithful High Priest. And friends, if you ever let
go of Christ, there remaineth no more sacrifice
for sins but His. Nothing is left for you but a
fearful looking to the wrath of God on your souls. Hold fast to Christ. And number four, verse 16. Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace. Let us fear so that our faith
not be mixed with unbelief. Let us labor so that we cast
off all righteousness of self and cling only to the righteousness
of Christ. Let us hold fast to Christ, our
faithful High Priest. And having done all to stand, let us stand therefore before
the throne of God in Christ, seeking mercy. Believer, does your life have
troubles concerning these things? Have
we at times not, like Peter, relied upon our own strength
of faith and love, only to be thrown off by some maiden? Have we not failed to always
consistently look to Christ? Do you need help in these things? That is a rhetorical question. I do. And God, knowing our frame, that
we are but dust, He says, come boldly. Come boldly, my son, before my
throne of grace, and I will help you in every trouble." Do you believe that? I believe. Lord, help thou my
unbelief. I believe that God commands me
to come and to receive help. And friends, I know this, many
times my own unbelief stands in the way. I need help to fear, don't you? I need help to labor to enter
into rest. I need help and strength to hold
on to Christ. And God says, come, I've got
help for you. I am your help. Don't wait. You ever go to the motor pool,
the DMV, and you've got to take one of those tickets? You've
got to wait. I hate that. I hate waiting.
We used to go to an amusement park, and man, we'd pay so much
money to wait all day in lines for frivolous things. And God
says, don't wait! Come now! Come right now! In the blood and righteousness
of My Son, and I will help you. I will help you right now. Is that not grace? Is that not
mercy? I read of a man who used to pray
for hours in the mornings. And it
was said of him as a man walked by and heard him pray, he said,
I've never heard a man pray with such reverence and yet at the
same time talking to God as though he was his friend. I long to
pray like that. I long to pray with reverence,
come boldly with reverence, but yet come and speak to God as
He has said, He is my friend. Come. Have you entered into God's
rest? You should come now if you haven't.
Don't come to me! Don't come to the front! Come
to Christ! Come now! Don't wait! And if
you have come to Christ, come now. Don't wait. I still come. And you should too. There's rest. Scripture said
that these things were done before the foundation of the world. They were done before the world
began. Because Christ is the perfect
rest for the souls of men. And we should come. We should
come. I pray that God bless us to our
hearts. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed. Oh, I'm sorry.
I'm so elated with him. I lost all train of thought. Well, glory to God. Have the
men come forward for the Lord's table, please.