You're with me if you would now
back to Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4, I read this
chapter a couple of Sundays ago for a scripture reading. And
I've been thinking about it ever since. Verse 11 really got my attention. The first three words in verse
11 say, let us labor. Let us labor. That's our exhortation. Let us labor. Let's labor. You know, we want to take our
ease, don't we? Let's labor. Labor means work. That's what it means. The word
actually translates hurry. That's what the word means. It
means give diligence to make great effort. Make great effort. Let us labor. Let us labor. And I have been begging the Lord
to allow me to really enter into this because this is so important,
so critical. Let us really enter into this.
Let us labor. Don't give in. Don't give in. Get lacks. Don't let us labor. Let us labor. That's the exhortation
of God's word to God's people. All through the word. The scripture
says, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. The apostle Paul said, press
toward the mark. He pressed toward the mark. He
said, don't shadow box as one that beateth the air. That's
what he said. I am not as one that beateth the air. I'm not
shadow boxing here. He said, fight the good fight. War a good warfare. Labor, labor, let us labor. But that word right here in Hebrews
4, the fact that the word has been placed in the chapter of
Hebrews 4, that has always been so intriguing to me. Every time
I read it, even right now, every time I read it, it is so thought
pondering to me. And the reason is because Hebrews
chapter 4 is all about Rest. That's what the whole chapter
is about. Rest. Rest. Verse 11 says, let us labor
therefore to enter into that rest. Let's work. Let's work at it. Let's hurry. Let's give diligence. Let's be diligent, diligent,
diligent. There's a difference whenever
you're working at something at being diligent about it and not
so diligent about it. We know that difference. Let's
make great effort to rest, to enter into that rest. Everything
that we look at in our messages right now, all of the messages
that we have right now, they seem so relevant to me with what
is currently going on in this ministry. All these messages,
every time I look at it, I can't help but physically apply it
to where we are right now. We have a great work ahead of
us. We're in the middle of a great
labor. We already are in it. It is already proving to be a
great labor. It's what our Lord has given
our hand to do. And we need to do it with all
of our might. We need to give our all to the
work of this ministry. But as we labor in the work of
the ministry, We need to make sure that we don't neglect our
labor of entering in to that rest. And if I have ever preached
to myself, I'm doing it right now. As we endeavor in this work of
the ministry, May we not forget to enter into that rest. And he didn't just say rest.
He didn't say, let us therefore labor to enter into rest. He
said, that rest, that rest. There is a work that has nothing
to do with works. And there is a rest that has
nothing to do with rest. God's Word commands us to not
be idle. It says if a man won't work,
neither should he eat. Work while there are 12 hours
in a day. At the same time, God's Word
commands us to enter into that rest and don't come out of it. Enter into that rest. Now, what is that rest? What rest
is he talking about? If you look at verse one, it
says, let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entering
into his rest. not our rest, His rest. And if we can get a hold of this, if a sinner ever gets a hold
of this, it will bring so much of that
rest. I would love for a sinner who
has never known this rest to get a hold of this rest. I really would. It is not our
rest. Don't look right here when it
says, let's all enter into rest. Don't look right here. Don't
look right here. It's not our rest. It's His rest. It's His rest. All right, now
here's one question for us. His who? Who are we talking about
here? Whose rest? Well, look at verse
14. It says in chapter four, verse
14, and you talk about some glorious verses of scripture in this chapter.
When I read this just a moment ago in the scripture reading,
this just slayed me all over again. Verse 14 says, seeing
then, That we have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens on our behalf, carrying the blood
of atonement, poured his own blood on the mercy
seat we just sang about. Passed into the heavens, Jesus,
the Son of God. That's who we're, that's whose
rest we're talking about. Verse 15 says, we have not an
high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Touched with all the feeling
of our infirmities. But was in all points tempted
like as we are yet without sin. So he's talking about our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. And verse one says, 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. Let us fear. Now, let me tell
you what this is saying. This gospel message is going
out right now. It goes out. And he's about to
say this in the coming verses. All of us who have ears will
hear it tonight. Let us fear that we might not
be one of the ones who miss it. And don't hear it. All of us
are gonna hear it tonight. But just because a person hears
it, it doesn't mean that God's gonna cause that person to hear
it. Let us fear missing Christ. Let us fear being left alone
to be judged in our own sin. Let us fear not entering into
his rest. That fear is the beginning of
wisdom. That fear is the beginning of
our being quickened to salvation. If a person wants to know, how
will I know if God is dealing with me? Number one, he'll make
you scared to death to stand before the judgment throne of
God. He will reveal to you what you are. You will see yourself
in a way you never saw yourself before. I did not know I was
that bad. And I did not know He was that
holy and that just. I did not know He really will
punish sin. And I did not know I'm covered
head to toe in it. Oh my goodness, what am I going
to do? That fear is the beginning of being quickened to our salvation. It's the beginning of coming
to Christ. That fear is what makes a sinner
say, here's the only thing I have. I better go run into him. But
isn't he the judge who punished his sin? Yes, he is. But this
is what he said. And this is what I better do.
I had better go running to him. Verse two says, 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. The scripture says, haven't they
all heard? The world has heard the preaching
of what this book has to say about Christ. Some are going
to be saved through that preaching. Some are not. What makes a difference? It's whether or not God gives
the gift of faith to a sinner to believe the preached word. That makes me want to cry sincerely,
just like the disciples did. Lord, increase our faith. Increase
our faith. Lord, give me more faith. Our
Lord kept saying, are you yet without faith? Oh, increase our
faith. Verse three. It says for we,
which have believed do enter into rest. As he said, if I have,
as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest,
if they enter into my rest, man's trying to create his own rest.
He said, if they enter into my rest, I love this. Although the
works were finished from the foundation of the world. He's saying, if they enter into
my rest, if they enter into my rest, that's not the cause. That's not the condition. Well,
if you want to be saved, you better enter into my rest. That's
not the cause of the condition. That's the result. That's the
evidence. If they enter into my rest. The
work of God giving faith to his people, who he would give that
to and when he gives it to them. That work, that work was settled,
it was ordered, it was sure, it was finished from the foundation
of the world. Who he would do this for, settled. Verse four says, 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. Why did he rest? Why did he rest from all of his
works? It's because they were perfect. They were complete. If it's done,
it's done. All his works were finished.
Men stand up in pulpits and they tell people, God is trying to
do this. I know I say this a lot and we
all of us men say this a lot, but I hear it. Every now and
then I'll hear, you know, you flip on the radio or whatever
and you hear somebody preaching and you wonder, well, what is
he saying? And you'll hear men say, God is trying to do this
or hoping to do this. That's not so. That's not so. Known unto God were all his works
from the beginning. And this says, all his works
were finished from the foundation of the world. Verse four, for
he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise,
and God did rest the seventh day from all of his works. And
in this place again, if they shall enter into my rest, seeing
therefore it remaineth that some must enter in, enter therein. Why must they enter therein? It's because God chose for them
to enter therein. He purposed for them to enter
therein. Christ secured a place for them
to enter therein. So it's not just that they are
going to enter in, they must. They must, or God's word is not
true. If they don't enter in, then God's purpose will not stand. God's holiness is at stake. His
sovereignty is at stake. If they don't enter in, he's
not God. If he cannot do what he says
he will do, then he's not God. So verse six says, seeing therefore
it remaineth that some must enter therein. And they, to whom it
was first preached entered not in because of unbelief. That
doesn't mean that God couldn't overrule them. It means God didn't
choose to give them faith. Verse seven, again, he limited
the certain day saying in David. Today, after so long a time,
as it is said, today, if you will hear his voice, harden not
your hearts. For if Jesus, and this is one
of those moments where it's important to have either a center margin
in your Bible or a concordance, a Bible dictionary, or a man
you trust who will tell you this, but that word, if you see in
the margin, it means Joshua. That's the same name in the Hebrew. In the Old Testament, Joshua
is the same name as Jesus in the Greek, in the New Testament.
And he's speaking of Joshua, the man who came up after Moses.
Not speaking of our Lord here, but it says in verse eight, if
Joshua had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken
of another day? He wouldn't have pointed them
to something else. Our Lord said, come unto me. That's what our Lord said. Come
to me. He has not pointed us somewhere
else. He said, I'm your rest. I'm your
Sabbath. I had a man ask me the other day
if it was okay to do something on the Sabbath. Sure it is. Our Sabbath is not a day. Our
Sabbath's a person. And verse nine right here says,
there remaineth therefore a rest. Again, if you have a center margin,
it says a keeping of a Sabbath. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. For he that is entered into his
rest, he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from
his. By grace, Through faith in Him,
we truly do have a rest. In Him, in His rest, it's not
ours, it's His. And entering into His rest, entering
into the fact that He ceased from all His works, we truly
do have a rest. And this is wonderful to me. All right, when we read in the
Word that it says, in order to enter into His presence and be
in His kingdom, we must have clean hands, and I mean clean
hands, and a pure heart. We must not have lifted up our
soul unto vanity or sworn deceitfully. That's what it takes. in him,
all right, even though we know our hands are so filthy and defiled. And even though we know that
our hearts are so rotten, this heart is so rotten, it's so cold,
it's so stony, it's so dead, it's so prone to wander. Even though we know that our
souls are so ruined with The pride, the arrogance of sin.
Even though we know that our mouths, our tongues are so vile,
and they have spewed out blasphemy upon blasphemy, but in Him, even
so, in Him, when we hear that we must have clean hands, absolutely
clean hands, in Him, we say, I have that. There is a rest to the people
of God. Now, I don't have that in my
own hands, but I have it in His. All I have to do is look at His
hands, in your mind and in your heart, just look at His hand.
He said, Thomas, look right there. Oh yeah, I have clean hands. When we hear that we must have
a pure heart, God's people can honestly say in Him, because
I am hiding in Him, and when God looks at me, all He sees
is Christ. Because of that, I can honestly
say, I have that. I have a pure heart. His, not
mine. See, this is His rest, not mine. If they can enter into my rest,
if we can enter into His rest, When it comes to that spotless
soul, I mean perfection, because Christ traded places with me,
because He was made to be everything that I was, and I was made to
be everything that He was. I can honestly say I have that. I've never lifted up my soul
into vanity. When it comes to that perfect
tongue, that perfect mouth, because he has given us his word, he's
put his word in us. We can honestly say we have that. Verse nine says, there remaineth
therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered
into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works as God did
from his. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into that rest." Let's labor. Let's work at it. Just listen
to this. I was gonna have you turn, but
just listen. This is John 6, verse 20. Eight, then said they unto him,
what shall we do that we might work the works of God? All right,
what do we need to do to work the works of God? Jesus answered
and said unto them, this is the work of God that you believe
on him whom he had sent. Believe on him, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it is to labor, to
enter into that rest. Believe on him. Verse 11 says,
let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man
fall after the same example of unbelief for the word of God. And that's speaking of the written
word of God and the person of the word of God. Our Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse 12 says, For the Word of
God is quick, that means alive and living. He said, and powerful,
that word means effectual. That means His cause will always
bring His effect. And he said, it's sharper than
any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder
of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and the 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.
That's Christ the judge. And that's the reminder, the
punisher of sin. That's the declaration that brings
that fear to God's people. I don't want to stand before
him being found outside of him. I want to rest in Christ. That's
my only hope. That's my only desire. May God
let me find rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, for all who
say that and all who need that, here's the conclusion of the
exhortation. Verse 14, it says, seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. The word profession means confession. Hold fast our confession. What
is our confession? Rest in the finished work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Peace through the shed blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He satisfied the law of God for
us. He satisfied the judgment of
God for us. And now as our high priest, he
ever lives to make intercession for us. Verse 15 says, for we
have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we
are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace. that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. Because he endured the
conflict so we could rest. Let's labor to come boldly to
enter into that rest that we may find grace and mercy to help
in time of need. I want to leave us with this,
OK? We are to labor. We are to, he said, enter in,
labor to enter in. He said, come boldly. Okay, work at it. That's what
I said just a minute ago. Let's work at it. Let's work
at it. How do you do that? How do you do that? Come boldly to this rest. enter into this rest. How do
you do that? What does that look like? I believe
this is a practical application. Okay. What is it to actually
enter into that rest? If I was going to do that, what
would that look like? I'm going to show you a picture
of it and then we'll close. Go to Matthew 14. Matthew 14 in verse 22, it says,
straightway, Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship
and to go before him unto the other side while he sent the
multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes
away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when the evening
was come, He was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst
of the sea, tossed with the waves, for the wind was contrary." And
let me just say that if it says that the ship was tossed with
the waves for the wind was contrary, that means it was violent out
there. Verse 25, and in the fourth watch
of the night, Jesus went unto them walking on the sea. And
when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled,
saying, it is a spirit, and they cried out for fear. But straightway
Jesus spake unto them, saying, be of good cheer, it is I, be
not afraid. And Peter answered him and said,
Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water, let me
walk on the water with you. And he said, And when Peter was come down
out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. Now the Lord bid him to come.
The Lord gave him the ability to come. Verse 30 says, but when he saw
the wind boisterous, he was afraid. He got out there and the Lord
allowed him to go. said he could come, gave him
permission, gave him the ability. He was walking on the water.
He was walking on the water. But as he got out into his walk
and his work, we'll call it, it got bigger than he thought
it was. And he started looking at everything thinking, this
is bigger than I thought it was. And this is more powerful than
I thought it was. And this is going to take me down. I can't
do this. I can't do this. He's looking at
right here. And it says in verse 30, when
he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid and beginning to sink,
he cried saying, now here it is, three words. This is what
it is to enter into his rest. This is what it is to come boldly
to his throne. Verse 30 says, he cried saying,
Lord, save me. I can't look to me anymore. All
I have is you. This is out of my hands. If you
don't save me, I'm not going to be saved. I rest in your will. I rest in your work. I rest in
your way. There's nothing else that I can
do. Lord, save me. Verse 31 says, and immediately
Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto
him, O thou of little faith, why did you doubt? And when they
were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were
in the ship came and worshiped him saying of a truth, you're
the son of God. You are the Son of God. Believe
Him. Believe Him. Let's believe on
Him. Let's labor to believe Him. Let's labor to come boldly to
trust Him. And then, let's rest. Let's rest. Let's all rest in
Him. May God give us a heart to really
labor to enter into that rest. Really strive, and then may he
keep us there. While we work this work of the
ministry with all our might, may he keep us there. While we work, may we rest. Rest while we work,
work while we rest. It's a good thing to do. All
right, let's all stand together.