Go with me if you would back
to Hebrews chapter 4. We are going to consider for
a moment what is being said in this chapter. But what brought
me here was verses 9 and 10. Verse 9 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. We have the Lord's table here
before us tonight. When we partake of this table,
we are confessing something. The ordinances that the Lord
gave to us are confessions. We are confessing something to
God in taking this table. We are confessing something to
each other, and we're confessing something to ourselves. And that
is what we are confessing. We have a rest. That's what we
have. We have ceased from our own works. I mean ceased, stopped from our
own works as God did from his. Now, four times in this chapter,
we are exhorted and commanded to do something. Four times,
he tells us to do something. Do something. Four times it says,
let us. All right, verse one says, let
us therefore fear. Let us fear, that's a strong
exhortation. Let us fear. Verse 11 says, let
us labor. I mean labor. The last line of verse 14 says,
let us hold fast. Hold fast, don't let go. As if
your life depended on it, don't let go. And verse 16 says, let
us therefore come boldly. What does he mean by all that?
What is he saying when he says fear, labor, hold fast and come
boldly, come boldly. Here's what he's saying. Rest. That's what he's saying. Rest.
He said in verse one, Fear, lest you come short of resting. Verse 1 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. Fear, work, creeping
back in. Works, creeping back in. Works, tainting it at rest. Fear missing rest. Fear it. Verse 11, he said, let
us labor therefore to enter into that rest. I mean labor and labor
to enter into that rest. The end of verse 14, he said,
let us hold fast our profession. Profession means confession. What do we confess? That we have
a rest. That's our confession. We have
a rest. In verse 16 says, Let us therefore
come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. Let us come to the throne
of our Lord Jesus Christ to find all the rest we need. We have
a rest. We have a rest. The title of
our message tonight is Entering into His Rest. Entering into His Rest. Verse 10 says, For he that is
entered into His rest. How do we do that? How do we
enter into His rest? How do we attain His rest? Yours
may be different from mine, but the heading at the very top of
my page says the rest of Christians is attained by faith. We enter in by faith. We rest
through faith in Him. We rest believing that He accomplished
everything that He said He would accomplish on that cross. He
accomplished everything that He set out to accomplish on that
cross. And what did He set out to accomplish
on the cross? All of it. All of it. Not a piece of it. Not the start
of it. All of it. All of it. The writer of the book of Hebrews
shows the importance of believing Christ. Believing Him. Somebody can tell you something
and you can believe them or not believe them. And the writer
of this book shows us the importance of believing Christ. Believing
everything that He has to tell us in His Word by illustrating
That many of the Israelites that were brought out of Egypt, God
sent Moses into Egypt to deliver his people and all of them. Okay. Now see if you, this really
sets in all of them, but two died in the wilderness. You know,
these grand, uh, estimations of how many people came out of
Egypt. I've heard different numbers, 600,000, 2 million. Two went in. They were in the
wilderness 40 years and no one above the age of 20 was allowed
to go in except for two. Only those that were born in
the wilderness. This is an amazing fact. And he's illustrating that all
of these people who Moses brought out died in the wilderness and
did not make it into the promised land. Why didn't they? If you
look at chapter 3 verse 19, in chapter 3, that's about Moses
leading them out of Egypt. And it says in chapter 3 verse
19, so we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. So who are the called according
to his grace? God has a people. They are the
called according to his grace. Who are they? Who are his elect? God has an elect people. Who are his elect? Who did he
die for? Who should partake of this table?
Should everybody, without exception, partake of this table? Who should
partake of this table? Who should make this confession,
this confession we just said we have? Who should make that
confession? Here's the answer. All who believe. All who believe Christ, when
He has something to say to us in His Word, all who believe
Him and believe on Him. Completely believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. That means all who believe His
Word and hope in it. Hope, truly hope in it. Hold
your place and turn with me over to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10 verse 9 it
says, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved. And what that means is if you
believe that he accomplished what he set out to do, he finished
the work, therefore God raised him from the dead. you shall be saved. Verse 10
says, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the
scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. That's what the Apostle Paul
was talking about in 1 Corinthians 11 when he said, the only ones
who are worthy to take this table are those who discern the Lord's
body and the Lord's blood. Discern what He accomplished
in giving Himself. What that broken body and what
that shed blood accomplished for us. Those who see that to
be the only hope. Those who see that their works
mean nothing before God. And it's His blood alone. His
broken body and His shed blood alone. He paid it all. all the debt we owed. Sin had
left a crimson stain and He washed it white as snow. So back in
our text in Hebrews 4, verse 1 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. For unto us was
the gospel preached as well as unto them, but the word preached
did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that
heard it. For we which have believed Do
enter into rest. As he 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. What he's saying
is our rest is a spiritual rest. That faith that believes was
given chosen to whom it would be given to from the foundation
of the world. And that rest is a spiritual
rest that Christ accomplished for us, and we did not accomplish
on our own. Our believing is the result of
His finished work. Verse 4 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. And in this place
again, if they shall enter into my rest, seeing therefore it
remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it
was first preached entered not in because of unbelief. Again,
He limiteth a 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 it's very
important that we know that that is the Greek word for Joshua. He's speaking of the man, Joshua. Moses could not lead the people
into the promised land. Joshua led them in. And it says
in verse 8, if Joshua had given them rest, then would he not
afterward have spoken of another day? Here's what all that means. That is worded in a way that
is hard to understand. Those are confusing verses. All
right. Here's what all that means. We are never going to find rest
in this world. Never. This world cannot produce
the rest that he's talking about. This is what God told Adam. Till the day you die, you're
going to work by the sweat of your brow. No rest on this earth. He told his disciples in the
world, you're going to have tribulation. Sometimes we get it in our minds,
you know, the Lord has opened my eyes, I trust Christ, I believe
by His grace, I'm a believer. Now all my problems are over.
That's not so. Rest will never come from this
world. James said, just be patient. When the tribulations come, they
are coming. Just wait through them. Paul
said, we bear his sufferings in our body. In the same way
that he suffered, so do his people. The rest that a believer is promised
and the rest he enjoys now doesn't come from anything or any place
in this world. He said in verse 8, the promised
land that Joshua led the children of Israel into, there was no
rest there. None whatsoever. It was fighting and fighting
and fighting. Verse 8 says, For if Joshua had
given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of
another day? He said in verse 9, But there
is a rest for the people of God. And that rest is and is in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 9 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. Whoever enters into his rest,
and this is so true, this is so true, until the Lord, no man
can come to Christ except the Father which hath sent Christ,
draw that center. And when the Father does, that
center enters into Christ's rest. Until that moment happens, he
is searching and searching and struggling and looking and there's
no rest. But the moment that he enters
into the rest of Christ, the rest that Christ accomplished,
he ceases from all of his own works. He ceases from everything
that pertains to his own salvation as God ceased from his own works. Now, whenever he's talking about
these works, it says that God made creation in verse four. He spake in a certain place of
the seventh day on this wise, God did rest the seventh day
from all his works. What he's saying is that's not
the work he's talking about. Look with me in John chapter
17. John 17 verse 4, Our Lord said, I have glorified
thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me
to do, and now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self. with the glory which I had with
thee before the world was." He said, Father, I'm coming back
to you. I finished the work that you gave me to do, and now I'm
coming back to you. What was the work that he's talking
about right there? He's talking about the work of
redemption. The work of salvation. The work of substitution. The work of satisfaction. The
work of being the bearer of the sin of His people. The work of
putting it away. Totally putting it away. He described
it more fully in Hebrews 10. Look with me over there at Hebrews
chapter 10. Hebrews 10 verse 8, it says,
Above when He said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings,
and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein
which are offered by the law. Nothing we offered could satisfy
God. Nothing that a sinful man could
offer. could ever satisfy God. Verse 9, Then said Christ, Lo,
I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified." All of his enemies have been
made to be his footstool. Either he is going to put them
under his feet, or if they were the chosen of God, they are going
to all sit around His feet. But all of His enemies have been
brought to His feet. Verse 14, For by one offering
He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, whereof
the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us, For after that he had
said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after
those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts,
and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more." How can God, who knows all things,
not remember our sins anymore? How can God, who knows the end
from the beginning, not remember our sins anymore? Here's the
only way. They have to be gone. They have to not exist. And that's
what Christ accomplished on the cross. Verse 18 says, Now where
remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by
the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He hath
consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh."
All those years, we read of the Old Testament, in the tabernacle
there was the Holy of Holies. And you could not go in there.
You go in there. The high priest went in once
a year, not without blood. If any other man went in, he
was dead on sight. They feared that place. The high
priest, when he went in, had bells on his clothes just so
they could know he's not dead. God hasn't killed him. Holy,
holy, holy. And now, through the sacrifice
of Christ, through the veil, that is to say His flesh, because
the veil of His flesh was rent for us, we now get to walk right
in. Worthy? in Him, accepted in Him
without fear of being killed on sight. Verse 20 says, By a
new and living way, what is the living way? Christ our life,
which He hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is
to say His flesh, and having an high priest over the house
of God." We have a high priest. You know God's people have never
been without a high priest. We have one that will never lose
his office. Verse 21, "...having a high priest
over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in
full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." What he's saying is that work
is finished. We have been made pure and clean
and holy as He is. Now that's how we are in Him.
And now that that rest has been accomplished, Verse 22, let us
draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water. And verse 23 repeats the exhortation
we read in chapter 4. Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful. That promise. Let us hold fast to the confession
of our faith. that we have rest in Christ. We have rest in Christ. We have
ceased from all of our works for salvation. I wanted someone
to know what we preach, what we believe, what we hold to,
what is not only our gospel but the gospel. What is the message
of the Word, the message of Christ, the message of Kingsport Sovereign
Grace. Here it is. We have ceased from our works
for our salvation as God has ceased from His works for our
salvation. It really is finished. We don't
have to keep ourselves. We're being kept by the power
of God. We don't have to progress to some new level that we have
not yet attained. We've attained it. In Christ
it's attained. We've stopped. We're just waiting
now. Well, don't you feel like you
need to make yourself ready for His return? We are ready for
His return. We have ceased from our works
as He has. If He's not working, why should
we? Let us hold fast. Let's hold
fast to that and rest. We rest from bondage to the works
of the law. There are some people who have
these different denominations and these different doctrines
and they believe different things, but somehow everybody keeps coming
back to the law. We've rested from that. Are we
against the law? No, sir. We love the law. But it's finished. The law is
finished. Christ accomplished all the works
of the law. We rest from our guilty conscience. Every person in here has a guilty
conscience. Every person in here thinks back
on things that they've done. Wishing they hadn't done it.
In Christ, we get to rest from that guilty conscience. Before
God, it doesn't exist. It's gone. We rest from worry
and fear of falling away from God our Father. People are so
worried about losing their salvation. I better not mess up. Not us,
we're resting. As secure as Christ is, that's
how secure we are in Him. As however secure Christ is,
that's how secure we are. And we rest in the fact that
he is now seated on his throne, ordering and controlling everything
that is and will ever be concerning us and everything around us.
I was sitting in the, years ago, I was in Rocky Mount sitting
in the study before a service and Brother Henry nudged me and
said, here, I copied this down. So a man wrote this. The peace and rest that a man
enjoys depends on his confidence in the God who controls the flight
of an angel or a fly. That means everything. High and
low. I mean in control of everything.
Who controls the flash of lightning or the glimmer of a glow worm.
No matter how big and powerful or how small it is. I mean He
controls every single thing. Everything. It does not matter
what comes before us. He's in control of it. Every
single thing. So with that rest, turn with
me back to Hebrews 4. 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 is quick,
that means living, and powerful, and 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 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. 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. 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. When is our time of need? I need Thee every hour, most
gracious Lord. No tender voice like Thine can
peace and rest afford. I need Thee, oh, I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee. Oh, bless
me now, my Savior. I come to Thee in Him because
of that. I come to you because of that. That's what we're confessing
in this table. Let's come to Him by faith, through the table
of His remembrance, discerning His body, discerning His blood,
resting in the fact that He accomplished it all. Alright, Brother Stan,
you come and read for us.