You want to turn your Bibles
to Hebrews chapter 3 and we're going to also be reading from
chapter 4 as well today. This is the first part of a two-part
message. on the rest of God. I read from
Jude, the book of Jude, there before we started, to give you
the context of the same theme that's carried on in the book
of Hebrews here, chapter 3. It began in chapter 2, chapter
6, again in chapter 10, and finally at the end in chapter 12. The
book of Hebrews contains these warnings. But following the warnings
that were given in the book of Jude, which surveyed history,
there was this glorious comfort that we have knowing that our
salvation is not of ourselves. that it is in our Savior. And
so in the book of Hebrews we have the same thing. And I wanted
to begin in verse 6 again with this phrase, holding fast our
confidence. And I want to kind of go over
this ground just a little bit more again because I feel that
as I was thinking about Last week's sermon, I probably left
out a very important part in the weakness of my own organization,
probably the most important part, so hopefully we'll get to that
today. But before we do, I want to pray with you. Let's pray. Father, thank you for forgiving
us for Christ's sake. This is the way we walk and live
in our lives and trusting that you will receive us for his sake
alone. We're so thankful that we can
openly come to you and lay ourselves bare before you, knowing that
you know us. You know our thoughts before
we think them and our motives, though we don't know them. You
certainly know our works, you know all about us, but thankfully
you anticipated our great need and you made yourself responsible
for meeting that need and gave that requirement to your son
who willingly took it all and bore it for us. And so we stand
in awe and admiration at what you've done in our Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. We pray, Lord, that you would
give us this grace to trust you at all times, come to you, knowing
that in this world we have all sorts of troubles, troubles within
and without, and yet through it all, the Lord Jesus has entered
glory, has taken possession of our inheritance for us. and assures
us that he is the one who is our captain, who will bring us
to glory because of his saving work. So help us to rest in him
and to rejoice in him and not forsake this confidence we have
in him. Thank you, Lord, for your word.
Thank you for your spirit that teaches us and thank you for
our savior who died for us. In his name we pray, amen. In
chapter 3 of Hebrews, verse 6, it reads, but Christ as a son
over his own house, whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence
in the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. I wanted to
reiterate this to you because I don't want to leave you with
the fear, the unanswered concern, the doubt you might have. As
a trembling or timid believer, which all of us are by nature,
and we all ought to feel that when we stand before God, that
our salvation is somehow conditioned on our own performance. So this
statement here, holding fast our confidence and the rejoicing
of the hope firm to the end, gives the trembling believer
great concern. And if we're not concerned by
it, either we fully understand it and are obedient to what's
being said here, or we naturally think that our salvation is somehow
conditioned on our own performance. We may think that though we believe
Christ, we may fail to continue to believe him, and therefore
prove ourselves to be reprobate. That causes us concern, doesn't
it? But what is it to believe Christ? What is it? It is to look to him in all of
our coming to God, and coming again to God at all times, in
every doubt, in all the inward trouble of our soul, and the
outward trouble of our circumstances, and all of our failures. In short,
we walk in faith as we began. In faith, Colossians 2.6, as
you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.
We walk this way that we began having nothing in ourselves to
claim before God but our own sin and weakness, and therefore
needing the Lord who made us to save us, to save us without
any dependence upon us doing anything to fulfill a condition,
for we are utterly without strength. That's what it means to believe
Christ. It says in Romans 4, 5, to him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. And it's not even our own act
of faith by this grace of God given to us, but the one we believe
who is counted to us for righteousness. Here's a question that we should,
that we probably ask from this text of scripture. Can that one
or anyone who believed Christ, who has believed him and does
believe him, can they ever not believe him? Is that possible? We know that true faith in Christ
comes to us because of God's grace. And that faith that God
gives, that true faith that God gives in Christ, comes again
to God for every grace we need. True faith comes to God with
the persuasion that He can only accept me if He considers only
Christ with regards to me, with regards to my sin, with regards
to my need for righteousness. And this is what looking to Christ
is. It is considering Christ and
His finished work in all my coming to God. And it is seeking mercy
from God in Christ crucified as the sinner, as the publican
cried in Luke 18.13 when he said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. And so it is this consideration
of Christ as we come to God that God gives us his finished work.
that we would be received by God for Christ's sake, and that
God would give me, the sinner, all that I must have for salvation,
for life, and for glory. Now, believers continue in this
way in their lives. They continue believing. We may
doubt our own salvation. Have you ever doubted? Maybe,
have you ever lived a day without doubting is the better question.
We may fall into sin. Do we ever live a day without
doing so? And sad and shameful it is to us that we do. We may
leave our dear Savior in presumptuous neglect of prayer and supplication. But when we are arrested by God's
word, what do we do if we truly have believed Christ? We flee
again to Christ and find again that he is and must be our all
in coming to God or else we cannot be saved. We will fall. We shall receive what we deserve
unless God determined before and chose us in Christ, provided
his son for us, and then received him again by his blood and righteousness
as all of our forgiveness, as all of our righteousness before
God. And this is the gospel. Christ is thus all my confidence. As this verse says here, if we
hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm
to the end. In myself, I am weak, sinful,
and shameful. But by God's grace, by his grace
alone, I see that Christ is able and does in fact save the worst
of sinners. And in my heart, I therefore
come to him to save me and I hold him as my only confidence before
God. Christ is our confidence. We have no confidence, none,
unless he is all of our confidence before God. Are we confident
in ourselves? Listen to this in Philippians
chapter 3, starting at verse 3. the circumcision, the true circumcision,
which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. Paul goes on, he says, Though
I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man
thinks that he has whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more
circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe
of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, And as touching the
law, a Pharisee concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching
the righteousness which is in the law, Paul says of himself,
I'm blameless. But what things were gained to
me, all these things, those I counted loss for Christ, yea, doubtless,
I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ
and be found in him. not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, my own personal obedience, but that which is
through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith. Now that is what the apostle
says about confidence. His confidence was Christ. He
wanted to be found in him alone. It's natural for us to be confused
by this phrase if we continue in the faith, but we must remember
that our perseverance in faith is a result of God's preservation
of us. Our perseverance in faith is
a result of genuine grace from God. Faith is not of ourselves,
and so we need grace to live on grace at all times. John 1,
the Gospel of John, verse 16, chapter 1, says we've received
from Christ grace for grace, grace to live upon God by grace. That's what Christ came to do.
The saving work of Christ is the cause of our believing, the
cause of our salvation, and nothing we do or fail to do can negate
his work. Now that seems careless and reckless
and presumptuous, doesn't it? But this is the fact. What are
we going to bring to our salvation but our sin and our weakness
and our need? And what does God bring? Everything. Our continuing in Christ and
all service to Christ that we render to Him is the consequence
of His salvation of us and our relationship to Him by God's
eternal purpose of grace. If we confuse the result of His
work as a condition that we must meet or have met, then in that
confusion we are in bondage to work's religion. May the Lord
Jesus Christ free us from that by revealing himself to us. As
it says in Galatians chapter five, stand fast therefore in
the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Well then why does
the Hebrew writer warn us, his readers, in this way if you continue
in the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end?
Because looking to Christ is the issue. That's the issue. He warns them that to fail to
find their all in Christ by God-given faith is a greater failure than
when Israel of old failed to believe God. Though they had
seen his mighty miracles and the blood of the Passover lamb
in Egypt by which God delivered them, they saw more. They themselves
actually walked out of Egypt without a shot fired, and they
walked through the Red Sea, when behind them the Egyptian armies,
led by Pharaoh, pressed upon them to destroy them. And they
saw, as they walked through the sea, the walls of the sea were
a deliverance for them. They walked on the bed of the
sea as dry land. That's how thoroughly God parted
the sea for them. And they saw and they ate bread
from heaven, manna and meat. To the full. It says in Psalm
78, 25, man did eat angels' food. He sent them meat to the full.
But in their hearts, they turned back to Egypt. And when brought
to the borders of Canaan, they did not believe God's promise.
They did not believe God. Because believing his promise
is believing him. And failure to believe his word
is failure to believe God himself. And so they viewed themselves
in unbelief. They viewed themselves through
the eyes of their enemies. They did not see God's purpose
and promise and provision and His performance for them in Christ,
but they considered their own strength alone. And they saw
themselves and God's wrath, and so, trusting in themselves, they
found no strength against their giant enemies, and they failed
to heed God's word and promise because they failed to see Christ.
God's word and God's works were not mixed in them with faith.
And this is the issue. It says in Hebrews 4, verse 2,
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. Now, we ourselves today, when
we hear these words, and the Hebrews that heard these from
the writer of the book of Hebrews, we have a much more sure word,
a much clearer revelation, a much greater promise concerning a
much greater rest through an infinitely greater captain. We
have the word spoken by the Son of God himself and confirmed
to us by those that heard him written down in scripture. We
have the promise of everlasting life and eternal glory, and we
have the declaration of eternal redemption that has already been
obtained by the shed blood and saving work of Christ without
any dependency or any conditions placed on us but entirely worked
out by Him outside of our own personal obedience. As we just read in Romans 4-5,
to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, that man's faith is counted for righteousness.
So what must we hold fast then? In verse six, we must hold fastest
confidence. Well, we hold fast the confidence
that what God has said concerning our sin and concerning Christ's
one offering of himself for our sins, concerning his law and
concerning Christ's fulfillment of that law and our acceptance
by God in Christ alone is in fact true. We hold to that. And thus holding this as true,
we entrust to Christ, to our God and Savior, our eternal salvation
from both the wrath of God and our own sins. We live upon him
to deliver us from these by what Christ has done. What is the
hope that we are to rejoice in? Hope, in scripture, is an expectation
of all that God promised to us because of Christ. and in Christ,
2 Timothy 1.9, who has saved us and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. because God has persuaded us
that all of our salvation is by what Christ has done, and
that he has persuaded us that his approval of Christ in doing
that work is our acceptance before God, that we're accepted because
of what he thinks of Christ. We therefore expect, according
to God's promises in Christ, that we will be kept by the power
of God. Therefore this, if we continue,
is a promise of grace that all who have trusted Christ do continue,
the result of their salvation. This is not a condition we meet.
It's the result of the salvation God has performed. In John chapter
8, I think I referred to this last time. I don't remember. But if I didn't, I want to point
it out now. John chapter 8. He says the same
thing, that our salvation, this continuing in faith, is the result
of God's grace and not the condition we meet. He says in John chapter
8 and verse 30, he says, as he spake these words, many believed
on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if
you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed.
Their faith didn't make them the disciples. Their faith was
the evidence that they were His disciples. And so, in Hebrews
chapter 3, it's the same thing. We are His house. We are those
built up in this household called the body of Christ, the temple
of God. If we continue, this is the evidence of God's saving
grace. And so God has promised these things, and therefore we
believe, we're persuaded that we will still be kept by the
power of God, that the faith he has given us, the work he
began in us, from Philippians 1.6, he will continue until the
end. He doesn't start a work that
he stops. God always does his will. Some people believe that
God wants to do some things that he doesn't do. That's error. That's heresy. God doesn't change. He doesn't react. He only acts. We react. We do things because
of what God has shown to us and because what God has done for
us. But we are kept by the power of God, and at last, in hope,
this is our expectation, we will be brought by Christ into the
presence of God, as it says in Jude, blameless, without fault,
he will keep us from falling, and we will see him as he is,
and we will know him as we are known, and all of our sin and
all consequences of our sins will give place to eternal glory
as the sons of God in a body and spirit and soul without sin. but made like His glorious body."
That's our hope. That's what we expect. We don't
expect it for things we've done. We expect it because God promised,
and He looks to Christ to fulfill all that He requires of us. and
has fulfilled. We look for our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ to do all this by His power, not ours, according
to His word, not ours, according and by His faithfulness, out
of His grace alone, and not by our works. We look to Him and
look for Him, and it is the very trial of our faith that presses
us into His bosom as we look upon him again and again in his
word. Don't you find it true? In 1
Peter 1, if you want to look there, in 1 Peter 1, he says
these things about God's grace to his people and the experience
of this grace by which we're kept. He says, 1 Peter 1, verse
3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a
lively hope There's that hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. You see, because he raised Christ
from the dead, everything Christ did was approved and accepted
of God for us, and therefore we're accepted and born of God.
That's what he's saying here. We're born again. to a lively
hope because of or by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to an inheritance incorruptible, not an earthly inheritance, and
undefiled, without sin, that fadeth not away, reserved in
heaven for you, not a place in Palestine, who are kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time. wherein you greatly rejoice,
though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through
manifold temptations. Temptations and trials give us
heaviness. No chastening by God seems joyous
at present. When you're getting a whooping,
it doesn't seem like a good thing, does it? But afterward, it yields
the peaceable fruit of righteousness. We begin to see again how God's
grace towards us has disciplined us to bring us back to Christ.
Verse 7 of 1 Peter 1, that the trial of your faith, being much
more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried
with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ. What is that praise and honor
and glory concerning at the appearing of Christ. It's the faith God
has given us. It's the work of his grace in
us. He praises his own work, even
though we find it in ourselves to believe and exercise this
faith on him that he's given to us. I can't explain these things
in a way that will answer every question, but I can admire it,
can't you? the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen,
you love, not with physical eyes, but with spiritual ones, you
therefore love, in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing,
You rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving
the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. This
is the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope, firm to the end,
that God our Savior has saved us, is now saving us, and shall
yet save us. There's no break between His
foreknowing, predestinating, calling, justifying, and glorifying
grace, as it says in Romans chapter 8, verse 29 and 30. by the Spirit
of Christ given to us and living in us, hope that he gives, this
grace of hope, causes us to both patiently wait for the reward
of Christ's righteousness and also to run the race of faith. We press toward the mark of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus, don't we? This is an effort,
but it's an effort compelled by the vision we see of our salvation
accomplished in Christ and that all grace therefore flows to
us through Christ. We run, but we also wait. We
patiently endure all troubles. Because we now have the certainty
of Christ's grace, of power to run in hope and faith, expecting
the power to continue and grow and overcome all by Christ's
blood, we lay hold on the gospel truth and God's promises by faith. We go forward in faith in serving
Christ. We endure every trial by faith
in Christ. We overcome at the last by faith
alone and never by our own holiness or by our own strength. 1 John
5, verse 4 and 5 says, faith overcomes. This is the victory,
even our faith. Back in Hebrews chapter 3, it
says, it goes on, he says, after verse 6, wherefore, as the Holy
Ghost saith today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your
hearts, as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the
wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw
my works forty years. Wherefore, I was grieved with
that generation, and said this, they do all way err in their
heart, and they have not known my ways. They haven't, they haven't
known my ways. What a horrible tragedy that
unbelieving Israel, going through all of these troubles in the
wilderness for 40 years, they did not know God's ways. What a tragedy. They saw his
works. They did not know his ways. We
think and hear people today talk of trusting God, don't we? It's
a general term, trust in God. God provides all for us, doesn't
he? And that's true. In his provision, in our physical
lives, we see his works, don't we? How often do people think
and talk about God healing their bodies or providing them a job,
for example? How often do we hear people gravitate
towards sermons and seminars to hear how-to's? how God can
fix your marriage, or give you a happy wife and happy children.
We even hear how God upholds us in troubles. He brought me
through cancer, or a financial ruin, or substance addiction,
and so many other works of God. But these are common graces,
aren't they? We see His works, but do we know His ways? Israel
of old saw great and mighty miracles. Miracles had never been done
before or since on earth. God delivered them from Egypt,
as I said before, without firing a shot. They did nothing. Israel did nothing. He did it
all. They walked out while their enemies
were utterly subdued in their minds before the omnipotent Savior
of Israel. They saw this. They walked through
the Red Sea as on dry land. They actually saw the waters
of judgment that came on their enemies as their own salvation. And again, God did all of this
without their contribution. In fact, in spite of their fear
and their unbelief. And they saw God's work in the
wilderness. He rained down bread from heaven.
He brought meat into the desert. He gave drink to over a million
people out of a rock. He was a guide to them in the
cloud and the cover from the heat by day, and in the fiery
pillar a protection from the wild beast and the light by night. He didn't let their clothes and
their shoes wear out as they wandered around in the desert
for forty years. Israel saw God's provision in
all these works. They saw the tabernacle, the
priesthood, the sacrifices. They even saw the terror at Sinai
and the earth swallowing up the rebels. Yet in all of this, Israel
did not know God's ways. What are the ways of the Lord?
Do we know His ways? Christ is all of God's ways. You see, He is the truth, the
way, and the life. He is our wisdom. He is our righteousness. He is the propitiation for our
sins. He is our holiness. He is our redemption. Do you
know these texts of Scripture that substantiate this? Throughout
Scripture, the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 1.30, Christ, God
has made him unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification
and redemption. He's our all. He's everything,
isn't he? The one who is our Savior is
all to us. All of God's works that Israel
saw, their deliverance from Egypt by the blood of the Lamb and
the power of God, how God did all for them without their contribution,
how God destroyed their enemies and saved them by the same judgment
without their strength, without them fighting. all which pointed
to the judgment of Christ against Satan and his kingdom by his
own death on the cross, he himself, under the judgment of God, instead
of his people, remember John 18, 8, if you seek me, then let
these go their way. He spoke in prophecy when Judah
stood before Joseph concerning Benjamin. He said, take me instead
of the lad, and let the lad go up with his brethren to his father
again. That's redemption. That's liberty
by the blood of Christ. The bread from heaven was Christ
coming from heaven and giving his life for the life of his
people. The water from the smitten rock was Christ smitten by the
law of God and enduring our curse. The cloud and fiery pillar was
Christ, 1 Corinthians chapter 10. And the fulfillment of God's
law and the answer to his justice is Christ. Christ is our inheritance. Christ is our rest. The Lord
is my portion. Christ is our captain to bring
us to glory. That's like Joshua who brought
Israel into Canaan. And Christ is the one who has
already entered and taken possession in our name of that glory ahead
of us. We overcome all enemies not because
we are strong or have power over them, but because our Lord Jesus
Christ fights for us. And in light of God's ways in
Christ, by this God-given faith, we see him. we see him, and we
see our enemies. At all times we see Christ as
all-sufficient, all-victorious over every enemy, within and
without. We do not look to or consider our own strength when
we are enabled by God-given faith to see our enemies through Christ's
eyes, do we? We see God's purposes, and we
see God's promises, and we see God's work in His Son. Saving
faith, which is the only true faith, looks beyond the works
of God, these things that we can see in our everyday lives
as common grace. Saving faith looks beyond the
works of God to see His ways. God's ways are his eternal purpose
in Christ, his redeeming work by Christ, and the blessings
of salvation and eternal glory that we enjoy in the soul by
faith. So that now, we now possess by
faith what is true, because by faith we see it, and we are persuaded
of it. Faith is the present, and I insert
the word present, the substance of things hoped for. We have
now what faith sees and what we expect to have later. We now
possess it by this God-given faith. It's the evidence. Faith
is the evidence of things not seen, right? See then that this
warning, God, we ask the question, then why did God give this warning
if our faith and our continuing in it is all of his grace? Why
then does God give this warning? Well, we then see that this warning
is an exhortation to us and a lifting up of the people of God, pointing
them to Christ. Even as Paul told Timothy, he
said this in 1 Timothy 6, verse 12, Timothy, fight the good fight
of faith. Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto
thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before
many witnesses. He's not speaking to Timothy
as a lost man, or even as a man who needs to be converted, or
as a man whose salvation is uncertain. But he still tells him, fight
the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life. Because in our experience, it
says the wilderness, we're going to glory. But we look to our
captain who brings us to glory. And so he speaks here in chapter
four of this rest. What is this rest? He said, they
shall not, he says in verse 11 of chapter three, so I swear
in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest. What is this rest? Well, what we see here in chapter
four of Hebrews, and I'm going to go over this in more detail
next time, but I want to give you at least an overview of this
so you appreciate what's being said in the details here. because
God speaks of rest in scripture in a couple of ways at least,
and both of them point forward to the true rest, the rest that's
spoken of here. They shall not enter into my
rest. First, understand this, that the Israelites who did not
believe God did not enter rest. Only those who do believe God
enter this rest, whatever it is. And not only that, but all
who came through the wilderness by Moses, who did not believe,
did not enter, but also when Joshua actually brought Israel
into Canaan, which was the promised inheritance. Remember, God promised
it to Abraham, I'm going to give to your seed the land of Canaan. as an inheritance, and God brought
them in by Joshua. And yet, here in these verses
in chapter three and all of chapter four of Hebrews, he explains
that that was not the rest God spoke of either. Joshua bringing
them to Canaan didn't bring his people into rest, this rest that
God is speaking of here. But he says that this rest was
actually foreshadowed, was pointed to by what God did in creation,
because in chapter 4 he says God's works were finished from
the foundation of the world. So we see that the rest God is
here speaking of in chapter 4 of Hebrews is a rest that we do
enter the people of God do enter, we enter it by faith, and it
was foreshadowed by God's work and creation in his rest on the
seventh day, as well as the bringing of Israel into Canaan by Joshua.
And so I'm going to take you to a couple of scriptures where
God speaks of this rest. In scripture, it's oftentimes
called the Sabbath rest, because the Sabbath day was given in
the law And God told Israel, He commanded them to do this
on the Sabbath day. Do no work. Right? When you think of the Sabbath
day, that's what you think of. Remember when God gave the Sabbath
and He commanded Israel to keep this. Just because it pointed
to the true rest, when a man who was supposed to be doing
no work got out of his tent and went looking for sticks to burn
something and make a little fire on the Sabbath day, he died.
God told Moses to have the congregation stone him. That's how serious
it was. But look back here in Deuteronomy.
First of all, look in Genesis chapter 2. I want to take you
to these places where this is mentioned. In Genesis chapter
2, it says in verse 1, 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. And God blessed the seventh
day and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from
all his work which God created and made. What is this? This
is the first mention of rest. God is, he has just created all
things by the word of his power. Now we know from Colossians 1
that this is speaking of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
don't we? All things were made by him and for him, the Lord
Jesus Christ. So this is the work of Christ,
but it's His work because it was the Father's work He gave
Him to do. Because in Ephesians chapter
3, in verse 8, it says that God made all things by Jesus Christ. So we see here the work of the
father and the son. But the son is carrying out this
work. And because he's carrying out
this work and finishing this work, when he's done with it,
when it's all complete and finished, God stops working. And he enters
this rest. And he sets this day apart. And
he calls it holy. And he blesses it because his
work was done. Is God tired? Is that why he
rested here? No, of course not. The everlasting
God fainteth not, he says in Isaiah 40. He neither doesn't
grow weary. It didn't deplete any energy
in God for him to create all things by his power. But the
rest signified that a work was completed. This was the work
of creation, and this work in creation pointed forward to what
is spoken of in Hebrews, if you enter into my rest. But the work
of creation wasn't the rest, it was part of the work of God
through which we would enter that rest. because creation was
by Christ, but it also was the, if you will, the sphere in which
all of our salvation was worked out in time. Because the Lord
Jesus Christ had to actually come into the world, be born
of a virgin, made under the law, and fulfill that law, and endure
the curse of the law, all in creation. And the creation itself
was a picture of God's creation of His people in Christ. The
Lord, thy maker, is thy husband, remember? Thy redeemer, in Isaiah
54, verse 5. So here we see that creation
is teaching us God's work, not only to create the world, but
His work in which He would perform the work of redemption by Jesus
Christ. So that God not only created
the physical universe by Jesus Christ, but he created all things,
principalities and powers, they were all created by him and for
him and are the stage and the whole, I don't know how else
to say it, the whole environment in which God works out our salvation. So ending the work of creation
signified that Christ, who created all things by himself, for himself,
according to the will of God, that he would also create his
church by himself, for himself, according to the will of God.
But though the first creation was by the spoken word, the second
creation would be by the word made flesh dwelling among us
and shedding his blood for us. And that's the work he would
finish. And in finishing that work, he would sit down. in heaven, and we, in believing
his work finished, would be all of our entering into that rest.
Now, look at Exodus chapter 20 to confirm that these things
are linked together. In the Sabbath, he says in Exodus
chapter 20 in verse 11, for in six days The Lord made heaven
and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh
day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the
Sabbath day and hallowed it. And this is what he says in conclusion
of verse nine, where it says, six days thou shalt labor and
do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath
of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work,
thou nor thy son nor thy daughter, thy maidservants, thy manservants,
thy maidservants. nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger
that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made
heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested
the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the
Sabbath day and hallowed it." So the observance of the Sabbath
in the law was to teach us that God finished the work of creation
and He rested, pointing forward to the redemptive work he would
finish and rest in. He would contemplate, as he did
in Genesis 1.31, his own work. He would look on it and say,
very good, and he would stop working. And so Christ, when
he had purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the
majesty on high. And God the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit look upon the work, and they're delighted
and satisfied. Now look also at Deuteronomy,
chapter 5, where this rest is also spoken of in the law, only
God gives it as yet another reason for giving them this Sabbath
rest. In Deuteronomy, chapter 5, in verse 12, he says this,
Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath
commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labor and
do all thy work. Verse 14, but the seventh day
is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do
any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant,
nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of
thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates, that
thy manservant and maidservant may rest as well as thou. Verse
15, this is why, and remember, that thou wast a servant in the
land of Egypt, a slave, and that the Lord thy God brought thee
out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm. Therefore
the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath." What was
deliverance from Egypt? It was redemption. He redeemed
Israel out of Egypt by Moses. What is our salvation? It's redemption
by the blood of Christ. And this is the reason we do
no work, because Christ did it all. And we reflect on that in
this. And so further back in Deuteronomy
chapter 1, if you want to turn back to Deuteronomy chapter 1,
we see the other part of this. He says, Deuteronomy means the
second giving of the law. This was given to the second
generation, the first generation. died in the wilderness after
wandering 40 years. The second generation, Moses
gives the law. Verse 8, Moses is talking to
the second generation. He says, Behold, I have set the
land before you. Go in and possess the land which
the Lord swear unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to
give unto them and to their seed after them. And then he says,
in verse 19 of the same chapter, Deuteronomy 119, he says, When
we departed from Horeb, We went through all that great and terrible
wilderness, which you saw by the way of the mountain of the
Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us. And we came to
Kadesh Barnea. And I said to you, you are come
unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord our God doth give
unto us. Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before
thee. Go up and possess it, as the
Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee, Fear not, neither
be discouraged. And you came near to me, every
one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they
shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what
way we must go up, and into which cities we shall come. And the
saying pleased me well, and I took 12 men of you, one of a tribe,
and they turned and went up into the mountain, and came into the
valley of Eshcol, and searched it out, and they took of the
fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down to us, and
brought us word again, and said, it is a good land, which the
Lord our God doth give us. Notwithstanding, you would not
go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your
God, and you murmured in your tents, and said, because the
Lord hated us, He brought us forth out of the land of Egypt.
What a flat rejection of the Word of God, isn't it? He hated
us and therefore brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver
us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. Whither shall
we go up? Our brethren have discouraged
our hearts, saying, The people is greater and taller than we.
The cities are great and walled up to heaven. And moreover, we
have seen the sons of the Anakims there. Then I said to you, dread
not, neither be afraid of them. The Lord your God which goeth
before you, he shall fight for you according to all that he
did for you in Egypt before your eyes and in the wilderness where
thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee as a man doth
bear his son in all the way that you went until you came to this
place. Yet in this thing you did not
believe the Lord your God. You see? coming into that land,
that promised land, they refused it. They rejected it. So we see
in these three things, creation, redemption from Egypt, and entering
into the land of Canaan, all picturing this rest. What is
this rest? This rest is the rest Jesus spoke
of. Look at Matthew chapter 11. The
Lord Jesus Christ himself speaks of this rest. It's a rest we
must enter. He says in verse 28, come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and you shall find
rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden
is light. This is the rest into which all
who labor and are heavy laden by their sin and the bondage
of God's law do enter when we come to Christ. He is meek and
lowly of heart, and what could be more disarming and more endearing
than one so meek and so lowly as to so appeal to sinners and
provide them grace to hearken his appeal? His burden is light,
His yoke is easy. What could be lighter or easier
than sin removed from us and laid on Him and God's law fulfilled
by Him and that curse due to us by God's law was born by Him
so that salvation by His work and God's grace alone are all
given to us freely and we are directed to look and find God's
glory in His wisdom and goodness that saved us. and before time
and before creation, laid on himself a requirement to save
his people and bring them to himself, not on eagles' wings,
but on the wings of his eternal love and grace and almighty power. What could be lighter and easier
than that? Isn't it delightful that God
tells us to look on the Lord Jesus Christ? He's altogether
lovely to a helpless sinner, a ruined sinner, a naked sinner,
finding his rest and clothing and all in him. This rest is
finding ourselves to be sinners without strength in ourselves,
ungodly, and yet finding God's provision in Christ all sufficient
for us and there leaving off every defense of our own, laying
ourselves bare and vulnerable to God. And yet, though His justice
is inflexible, seeing His grace that made the full obligation
to meet the demands of His justice, His own responsibility that He
might lavish His grace upon sinners like us by requiring all of His
son for us. And in so seeing this by God-given
faith, ceasing from all that we are or can do in our coming
to God to obtain His acceptance and finding our rest in Christ. This is a present possession.
We have it by faith. He says in Hebrews chapter four,
in verse 10, he that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased
from his own works as God did from his. And then he says this
in verse 3 of Hebrews chapter 4, we which have believed do
enter into rest. As he said, I have sworn in my
wrath if they shall enter into my rest, although the works were
finished from the foundation of the world. This rest is a
present possession. It is not the observance of a
one day per week cessation from work. It is not. This rest gives
a present peace and joy in believing. Romans 15, 13 says that we have
peace and joy in believing. And this rest is abandoning all
expectation that I can provide anything God requires so that
He would accept and bless me, or that I can endure without
His free and almighty grace. or that God would save and bless
me by any other reason except the one He fully provided and
fully finds in Christ alone. And so believing, come to God
by Him and there finding my own peace in my own heart and joy
because of this grace. This rest is a continual coming
to Christ. We rest when we first believe,
but we continue resting by continuing in faith. It's a continual looking
and a continual walking in faith through the wilderness of this
world in full persuasion and fully expecting that God will
receive us at last. for Christ's sake alone. He did not desire that, but a
body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said, sacrifice,
and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin, thou wouldst
not, neither has pleasure therein, which are offered by the law.
Then he said, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first, the first covenant, that he may establish the second.
the eternal one, by the which will, this eternal will of God
to save us through Christ, we are sanctified through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. There it is. We are
made holy through the one offering of the Lord Jesus Christ offered
once for all. And every priest standeth, underscore
the word standeth, daily, continually, 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, just
one is all it took. sat down on the right hand. He
didn't stand, he sat down on the right hand of God because
the work was complete and finished. From henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are so sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. Remember in Hebrews 3, if you
hear his voice, the Holy Ghost also saith, 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 what is it that fulfills
God's law but Christ and Him crucified? That's what He writes
in our hearts. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. And this is the way we know our
God, isn't it? Now, where remission of these is there is no more
offering for sin. Do no work. Having therefore,
brethren, having this, brethren, having therefore, brethren, boldness,
openness, 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, and having an high priest over
the house of God. Now, overlay this verse with
Hebrews 3, 6. We are at his house if we continue
in the faith, firm, steadfast, firm, if we continue in the confidence,
steadfast to the end, rejoicing in the hope. He says this, 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 let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised."
That sounds a whole lot different than what the Israelites said,
doesn't it? We have confidence. Our confidence is Christ. He's
entered, he's made the way. Let us therefore come boldly
through the full assurance of faith, knowing God accepts us
for Christ alone and that God is faithful. He's faithful to
keep his word. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you
that our continuing in faith is all your work. Were it not,
we would be fearful and doubting and we would accuse you in our
hearts like those Israelites did that you brought us out into
the wilderness and to the enemies of Canaan simply to kill us.
But you didn't. You preach the gospel to us by
your grace concerning Christ our Savior and direct us to him
at all times and in every trial, all the way through the wilderness
of this world to expect that we will receive and only receive
for his sake alone. Help us to find our rest in him.
Thank you, Lord, that you take this burden of our sin from us,
the bondage of doing that we might live and finding that we
live and we do because we've been delivered by the Lord Jesus
Christ, our Savior. It's in his name we pray, amen.