Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I would like for us to look at
the first 11 verses of Hebrews chapter 4. And this is the message
of this text. As God rested, so do we. As God rested, so do we. If God rested, so should we. Verse 10 right here in Hebrews
chapter 4 says, for he that is entered into his rest, he also
hath ceased from his own works as God did from his. He who hath
entered into his rest hath also ceased from his own works, as
God did from his. As God rested from all of his
works, so do we. That's the message I want us
to see in this, so do we. Now if you want to turn with
me to Genesis chapter 1, back in the beginning, our Lord created
all things. And in Genesis 1, verse 31, it
says, And God saw everything that he had made, and behold,
it was very good. And the evening and the morning
were the sixth day. And then chapter 2 goes on to
say, Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the
host of them. And on the seventh day, God ended
his work which He had made, and He rested on the seventh day
from all His work which He had made." He rested. And verse 3 says, God blessed
the seventh day and He sanctified it because in it He had rested
from all His work which God created and made. He rested. From that
moment, God has not created any new thing. From that moment right
there, He has not created any new thing. He made light. He
made darkness. He made heaven, earth, sun, moon,
stars, galaxies, solar systems. He made trees, plants, herbs. He made fish, birds, cattle,
creeping things. He made man. He made woman. He made everything that we see.
And then he stopped creating. No more creation. He rested from
all his work. And he said, it's finished. It's
absolutely finished. Now, man takes the things he
created. He takes iron, he takes steel,
he takes copper, and he makes things out of them, makes things
out of the things that God created, like cars and things that have
recently come about. Man takes the tree that God made
and he'll turn it into a house. He makes things out of God's
creation, but Solomon said, There is nothing new under the sun. Nothing. He said, can it be said
of anything? See, this is new. Can it be said
of anything? This is new. The answer is no.
God rested from His work of creation. The same thing applies to salvation. The same exact thing. applies
to salvation. When our Lord Jesus Christ gave
his life on that cross, he gave himself, he gave his life. He
came to this earth and he went to that cross. He said, for this
cause came I into the world. And when he gave his life on
that cross, he cried, it is finished. Isn't that right? It's finished. And after he rose from the grave,
having dealt with the sin of his people, having put that sin
away, after he arose from the grave, he ascended back to his
throne and he sat down. He sat down. He rested from the
work of salvation. He sat down. Now, when I take
a rest, When I take a rest here on this earth, here in this life
that I live, I rest because I'm tired. That's the reason I rest. My physical work is never going
to be over. I'm just tired at the moment.
My physical labor down here on this earth is never going to
end until God removes me from this this earth. I'm never going
to be finished doing the work he's called me to do. He's called
me to study for messages and write out outlines and preach
messages and do the work that he's called me to do. And that's
never going to end. We all have houses to maintain.
We have yards to maintain. Our work is never going to end. So I take a rest every now and
then because I'm tired. That's the reason I'm tired.
But that is not why God rested. Not at all. God rested because
it was finished. He was finished. People say,
well, He's working for your good. God is working for your good. He's trying and working as hard
as he can for good toward you. He has a wonderful plan for you. He's working out this wonderful
plan in your life. He's working toward an end for
you. That's what people say, but I'm
here to tell us all that's not true. That's not true. All of his works are finished. all of His works are finished. And I'm going to make clear what
that means. If you're turning with me, go
over to Acts chapter 15. In Acts chapter 15, verse 18
says, Known unto God are all His works from the beginning
of the world. That's amazing, isn't it? Known
unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world."
Now, God is not removed from us. His hand still works and
moves in the heart of His people. He does. Whatever is done, God
is the doer of it. Whatever we see take place, God
is the doer of it. He is right now reigning and
ruling over all. He is. But everything that He
ever purposed to do, everything that He ever purposed to be done
is already done. It's already done. Everything
was ordered and secured, ordered and sure before the foundation
of the world. Everything set in stone, finished
from the foundation of the world. Absolutely finished. There is
no time with God. There is no time with him at
all. He not only knows the end from
the beginning, isn't that what the scripture says about him?
He knows the end from the beginning, but not only does he know the
end, he is the end. He is the end. He said, I am
alpha. And I am Omega. I am the beginning. He's not
only from the beginning, He is the beginning. And He will not
only go until the end, which there is not an end, there's
an eternity awaiting. But He said, I am the end. I
am the end. We cannot comprehend that, I'll
tell you. We cannot comprehend that. And
the reason is because we're not in the end yet. We cannot fathom
having no time. But Christ truly was the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. It was finished. He
was slain before the foundations of this world were ever laid.
It was finished. Finished. And then in time, it
was carried out. The time that we know. Somebody
will say, I don't understand what you're talking about. I
don't understand any of this. Well, the truth of the matter
is, neither do I. This mind cannot fathom the things
of God and the eternal deity of God. But whether we understand
it or not, God's word declares it to be so. And if God's word
declares it, it is so. It is so. So he's not waiting
on any outcome. Our God is not waiting on any
outcome. That's something that I would
love for people to understand about our God. He is not trying
to do anything. He is not working towards anything. He is not hoping for anything. He is not waiting on any outcome. Everything is finished. Everything is finished. In John
17, our Lord said that wonderful prayer He prayed to His Father
on behalf of His people. them which thou hast given me,
he said. That's who he's praying for.
He said, I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast
given me, they are thine. And our Lord said to his father
there in John 17, those that thou gavest me, I have kept and
none of them is lost. None of them. I have lost none. That was his declaration to his
father. I have lost none. Well, now,
wait a minute. That was 2000 years ago. He actually
said that 2000 years ago, how many people have come and gone
since he said that? How many people, how many people
who believe on him and are looking to him and trusting in him? How
many have come and gone since he said that? How could he say,
whenever he was on this earth 2,000 years ago, I have not lost
one soul that you've given to me. How could he say that? He
said it because he had already lost none. At that moment in
time, he had already lost none. It was finished. Completely finished. My brain cannot fathom that.
It cannot fathom that, but He's caused my heart to believe it.
I pray He would cause all of our hearts to believe it. It
is the truth. Now that's the point, and that
is the message of our text. Trust Him. Trust Him. Stop at His Word. We see His
Word. What do we need to do when we
see it? Stop. Don't but, but, but, don't question
it. Stop. If He said it, stop. Rest. Rest. If He said it, rest. Now back in Hebrews chapter 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." Now in the context of Hebrews here, he's talking
about Moses delivering the children of Israel out of Egypt. That's
what he's referring to right here. And they wandered in the
wilderness. We know their story. They wandered
in the wilderness for 40 years. They were just going around in
circles for 40 years. And the people kept murmuring
and complaining And God said, because of their murmuring and
complaining, because they would not just trust His Word and rest
in His Word, He said, no one above the age of 20 is going
into the Promised Land. No one. And they died in the
wilderness because they would not rest in His Word. They died because of unbelief.
That's the reason. Unbelief. And he just told us
that. The apostle who God used to pen
this told us that in Hebrews chapter 3. Look back at Hebrews
3 verse 12. It says, Take heed, brethren,
lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing
from the living God. But exhort one another daily
while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin, exhort one another. He said, for we
are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast unto the end. If God gives us that faith,
if God causes us to rest in his word, holding that confidence,
the confidence in what He has declared to us. Verse 15 goes
on to say, while it is said today, if you will hear His voice, harden
not your hearts as in the provocation, as the children of Israel did
while they were wandering in the wilderness. For some, when
they had heard, did provoke, they questioned. But, but, they
said, how be it not all that came out of Egypt by Moses, But
with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that
had sinned in unbelief? all have sinned." He's talking
about the sin of unbelief. "...whose carcasses fell in the
wilderness, and to whom swear he that they should not enter
into his rest, but to them that believed not." That's who didn't
enter in. So we see that they could not
enter in because of unbelief. Chapter 4, verse 1 says, "...let
us therefore fear." Let us fear. We fear God, don't we? We fear
God. I'll tell you the scariest thing
to me about religion today. This is the scariest thing about
religion. There's no fear in it. There's
no fear of God before their eyes. And we find that both in religion
and out of religion. There is no fear of God before
men and women's eyes. They're going to meet Him. They
know they're going to meet Him. They don't care. They're not
worried. No fear. The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. Do we desire to be wise? Do we
want to be wise? It starts right here. Fear God. Fear God. Let's all fear God. Now, how do we fear God? We start by believing what He
says about God. He's holy. God is holy. That means He must do what's
right. That's what holy means. He must
do what's right. He cannot just sweep things under
the rug. He must do what's right. He must
do what's just. He must do what's lawful. He's
holy. God is holy. Fearing God is also
believing what he says about man. Man is sinful. Man is sinful. In spite of what
we have concocted in our minds about ourselves, in spite of
what we think of others. It's good to esteem others higher
than we esteem ourselves. But at the end of the day, we
have to acknowledge we're all sinners before God, all of us. And fearing God is also believing
what He says about sin, that He's going to punish it. The
wages of sin is death. And believing where He said our
only hiding place is. Believing what He said our only
hope of surviving the judgment of God is. That's being covered
in the blood of Jesus Christ. We fear God, don't we? We fear
God. Do you want to go stand before
God not having the blood of Christ on you? Absolutely not. We fear God. Oh Lord, I don't
want to go stand before you based on anything I've done. I don't
want to go stand before you in my own works and in my own pride.
I want to stand before you in the blood of Jesus Christ. Lord,
cover me in the blood. Wash me head to toe in your blood.
We fear God. We truly fear God. 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." They missed Christ because of unbelief. They had not received that gift
of faith. That is ultimately what will
damn a soul for all eternity. Abraham lied on numerous occasions. We know his story. He lied about
Sarah. He said that his wife was his
sister, so he wouldn't be killed because she was a beautiful woman.
He lied many times. God still saved him. God still
had mercy on him. Did you know that Moses committed
murder? He grew up the son of Pharaoh,
and while he was still in Pharaoh's house, he murdered a man. God
still saved him. The apostle Paul murdered a lot
of people. The apostle Paul murdered a lot
of God's people while he was still referred to as Saul of
Tarsus, a Pharisee, but God still saved him. God had mercy on him. David committed adultery and
then he had that woman's husband killed. He committed adultery
and then committed murder and God still saved him. This is
what men and women do not naturally realize. Christ came into this
world to save the chief of sinners. He came to save sinners. He has said that all through
His Word. He tells us that on every page. He came to save sinners. But people don't believe Him.
They don't believe Him and the flesh will not rest in His work
and in His Word that He came to save sinners. This flesh is
convinced it has to earn its own righteousness. This flesh
is convinced it has to earn its own worthiness to go to heaven.
This flesh will not believe Christ came to save sinners. It believes
Christ came to save good people, righteous people. So I need to
make myself righteous so God will save me. That's unbelief. God calls that unbelief. Verse 3 says, For we which have
believed do enter into rest. I'm a sinner. I'm just confessing
that to you right now. I'm a sinner and I'm not trying
to do anything to become righteous. Christ is my righteousness. 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,
He's quoting Psalm 95 right there. That's what was told to us back
in the Psalms. Verse 4, He 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. We read that in Genesis
chapter 2. just a moment ago. Verse 5, and
in this place again, if they shall enter into my rest, seeing
therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein. Some must,
and that's our hope. If this thing of believing and
resting in Christ, if we have any hope in doing it, it's this. Some must enter into that rest. Some must enter into that belief. God's people don't have a choice.
That's the glorious news. They must enter in. God's people are chosen to enter
in. Chosen to receive the gift of
faith and enter into the rest of Christ. And when this gospel
is declared, when this word is declared, the gospel of resting
in Christ, two things happen. Number one, it condemns those
who are in unbelief. It's clear, God condemns us for
unbelief. Number two, it calls out and
it confirms and it saves those who have been chosen to salvation. Chosen to believe. God causes
them to believe. He makes them believe they must
enter therein. And the faith that is given to
that center says this is all in God's hands. I'm not trying
to work my way to heaven anymore. This is all in God's hands. He
will save whomever he will save. He will have mercy on whom he'll
have mercy and whom he will. He'll harden just like his word
says. God's people are going to believe that. That's the wonderful
news. The message goes out to everybody.
Believe and God's people will. They will. Verse six, 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."
If God has given you faith in Christ, believe on Him. If you
can, if He's given you the ability, believe on Him today. We're not
promised tomorrow. Do it today. Rest in Him today. Only in Him today. Don't rest
in anything else. Nothing else. Don't rest in an
inner feeling. Well, you know, I just kind of
feel saved. Don't rest in that. Don't rest in anything that you
see in yourself. Anything that you see yourself
doing. Well, I'm going to church now. I didn't before, but I'm
pretty faithful to it and I'm doing the right thing. Don't
rest in that. Don't rest anywhere but in the Word and the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rest in what He said He has shed
blood accomplished. Rest in that. Verse 3 says, for
if Jesus, and if you have a center margin in your Bible, you'll
see that means Joshua from the Old Testament. Same name, Jesus
and Joshua are the same name. For if Joshua had given them
rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day."
God gave Moses those ten commandments. One of them was rest on the Sabbath. So Moses physically told the
people to rest on the Sabbath. Saturday, rest on that seventh
day. It was a type of Christ. It pointed us to Christ, our
Sabbath. A day of the week is not our
rest. That's not our rest. That promised land Joshua led
the children of Israel into, that's not our rest either. Nothing
on this earth is our rest. True rest is in 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. Let us labor therefore to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same manner of
unbelief. Now he's not changing his tune
at the end of this. portion of Scripture. He's not
saying, let's go to work. What he's saying is, let's labor
to enter into rest. Let's work as hard as we can
to stop working. Press toward the mark of rest. Isaiah said, he that has no money,
come buy and eat. Come buy with what? No money.
Labor for what? Rest. Rest. It's free. The water of life is free, we
don't earn it. So let's stop trying to earn
it. Let's rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. As God has ceased from
His works, let's cease from ours. Till next week, may the Lord
bless His word to our hearts. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next week for
another message of God's free and sovereign grace.