All right, you can open your
Bibles to Hebrews chapter 4. We are just about at the end of Hebrews. This message, though I didn't
intend it to be, but this message really will be sort of a summary
of the book of Hebrews. As you've heard it said so many
times, very little of God's word is
written to all mankind, very little of God's word. Most of it is written to God's
people. But some things written to all,
mostly warnings, mostly promises of dire consequences. for unbelief. There are commands to every man. God commandeth all men everywhere
to repent. It's not an option. It's not
something man just needs to decide to do someday. God commandeth.
Repent. Believe. Why wouldn't anybody
believe? It's the truth. God says, In Him we live and move and have
our being. God says, seek, you'll find. That's a command. It's
not a request. Ask, mock, come. Christ said,
come unto me. We know none will come unless
they're made willing. I know that. The command's there
anyway. I mean, we're responsible. God says,
come. God says, do it. Well, I just believe God is sovereign.
You let God dwell on his own sovereignty.
You repent, you come, you believe. And, you know, there's commands,
there's warnings. People are responsible, right? Men and women in this generation,
they love to insist on the free will of man. Well, we are responsible
for pen. I'm too young. Where does it
say that? Where does it say? Give me an
age somewhere in Scripture. I'll just wait. I'll wait until
tomorrow. Where does it say you'll have one? Matter of fact, the Lord warns,
don't boast yourself of tomorrow. You don't know what day you'll
bring. Well, the commands and the warnings are to halt. And
if not, it's because we're responsible and also we'll be held accountable.
See, that's why we'll be held accountable. We're not going
to be able to say, well, you didn't tell me, or you didn't warn me, or
I didn't know. Right? And without excuse. God makes
his people willing, and for God's people there are blessed promises. I've heard my pastor say so many
times that scriptures are full of promises, lest we despair.
Blessed promise after blessed promise. But also we are hedged
about with warnings. There are promises over here,
lest we despair, but then there are warnings, lest we presume. And this message really will
be a little of both. We need both, don't we? All right,
Hebrews 4. Look at the first one here. You'll
notice each one of these begins with a let us. Let us. God let us. Lord let us. This generation loves to talk
about letting go and letting God, you know. Prayer of every
believer. Lord let us. Right? I hope that's your prayer and
mine as we look at each one of these. Let us. Well, let us,
therefore. Hebrews 4, verse 1. Let us, therefore, fear lest
a promise be left us of entering into his rest. Any of you, me,
any of us, should seem to come short of it. Come short. And he said this
right after he gave the illustration of the Israelites in chapter
3, what all they went through, what all God did for them, all
the blessings of God, clear providences of God, the rock, the manna,
and on and on the blessings of God were upon God's people, weren't
And he warns here, now he begins this chapter to say, Let us therefore
fear, lest the promise being let us of entering into his rest. What's that, his rest? That's
Christ, that's being with Christ some day, isn't it? That any
of you, any of us should seem to come short of it. Verse 2 and 3 says, Under us
was the gospel preached as well as under them. The word preached
did not profit them. How much preaching have we heard? I bet you we've heard a lot more
and a lot better preaching than they heard. Now, they heard the
gospel. They saw some things, didn't
they? My, my, my, what they saw. Huh? The smitten rock and water gushing
out of that rock? I've seen that, too. The serpent lifted up on
the pole, and everybody that looked, I've looked, too. I've
seen that object of healing on the pole, too. Bread from heaven
that just gather up, eat it daily. I've eaten that bread. It's good,
sweet bread. We've seen more than they've
seen. Honey out of the rock? Well, we've seen it, haven't
we? Let us fear. Let us fear. Look down at verse
10 through 12. It says, He that is entered into
his rest is ceased from his own works. Well, I know we know that
in our heathens. You know who I fear more for? I fear more, and these people
walked, these people were in the wilderness how long? How
long did they wander in the wilderness? Forty years, right? That's no
coincidence. That's about the average life
of an adult. You know, after you're reaching
30 years old, you wander another 40 years, 70 years old. Well, I fear more for those who have
sat under the gospel for a long period of time than I do for these young believers. I really do. I really do, based
on this right here, myself. I've seen preachers in this business
for Three times longer than I've been in it. Let us fear. Fear. Look at the next thing. Look
at verse 11. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into that rest. Let us labor to enter into that
rest. Well, we believe that there's
nothing that we do for our salvation, don't we? Oh, we preach that, we believe
that, don't we? You better say yes. Every head in here better
nod most distinctly. We preach that salvation is not
of works lest any man should go. We're saved by grace, right?
Nothing we do saves us, is that right? Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but it's by his mercy he has saved us.
Is that right? Salvation is of the Lord. Sovereign
mercy, sovereign grace, his choosing. His calling, His power, His blood,
His work, right? Say amen. Some old preacher says,
somebody say amen. Is that what we pray? I want
to know that's what I pray. Yes, it is. So we're not supposed
to do anything. It doesn't say that either. And
I don't say that. I've never said that. Right here it says, let us labor.
What's labor mean? Work? Sound confused? No, you're not. No, we're not.
Not confused at all. No confusion here, is it? Labor
to enter into that rest. Is there nothing for a sinner
to do? Just sit back? No, sir. You sit back, you won't
enter in. You come. Brother Richard and you say,
you better come to Christ, but don't move a muscle. Do you understand that? Believers do. Is there nothing
for a believer to do? Yeah, he said seek. When you
say seek, that's an active thing. Knock. Ask. Call. Labor. Well, now this is interesting
though. to enter into that rest. Or verse 10 says, he that is
entered into his or that rest, he cease from his works. Now,
I'm really confused, Preacher. No, we're not. Believers aren't
confused at all. We know that there's some self-righteousness
in us still. We think because we don't do
this, or we don't do that, or because we do do this or do that,
it's a little merit point, you know. No, no, that. We've got to get that out of
our minds completely, completely. Even if we've done all that's
required of us, we're still unprofitable servants. It's solely on the
merits of Jesus Christ, solely, completely, one hundred percent,
and nothing I do merits me anything. It's all unworthy, unworthy,
unworthy. Worthy as a lamb. And even if our works are acknowledged
by God himself. We still say, when did I do it? I didn't do anything. Right? So we don't, so we, and
it's work. Like one man said, a preacher
said, one of the hardest things it is for us to do is to quit
working. To try to, you know, Please God,
labor to enter into that realm. Labor. But then this labor is
a spiritual laboring, a seeking, a calling, a hearing, hearing,
assembling together. Yes, praying and reading and
so forth. The scriptures are plumb full
of these admonitions and exhortations, aren't they? Just plumb full,
without excuse. Labor. Don't work, but work as
hard as you can. Don't labor, but you'd better
get to it. All right, verse 16. Do you understand
that? Sure you do. We all do. Here's
the next thing. He says in verse 16, Let us therefore
come boldly unto the throne of grace. Here's not only an exhortation,
but a blessed promise. Let us come boldly to the throne
of grace that we may obtain mercy." You see, that's what every sinner
needs, going to need it all the days of his life, his
sinful life. And blessed God, he said that
anew every morning. His mercies are anew every morning.
Why? Because we are sinners when we
wake up. And we're going to have to appeal
for mercy. We're going to be guilty sinners
until the day we die. So what do we need? Mercy. Where
are we going to get it? At the throne of grace. At the
throne of grace. Another place in Hebrew said,
We're not come to the mountain that smokes and trembles and
burns with fire, and you can't come close. He said, Come on,
come near. I'm boldly, let's say. Now that
doesn't mean like this religious generation proudly or carelessly
or flippantly or, you know, but it means you can come. You're
free. You remember the illustration
of my daughter coming into my study, you know, I had the door
closed and I asked her not to be disturbed, you know, when
the door is closed. Well, there have been times when
she just comes right on in. Well, how dare she? Well, that's
my daughter. I said, come on, sit on my lap.
Doesn't do that anymore, it's getting too big for that. Not
to me, she can fix it. But you can come boldly. Come on in, any time, door closed,
come on in. That's the way it is, come boldly. Why? It's the throne, it's not
a throne of judgment, it's the throne of grace. Yeah, but I'm the chief of sinners.
Sound like you need mercy to me. Sound like you need grace
to me. So I do. Well, come on. Anytime. I'm too sinful. That's when you
need it the most, isn't it? Huh? You know, I'm not worried about
people that fall into sin so much. Listen to me. This is for
your comfort. I'm not worried about people
that fall into... And people have told me things
that they've done, you know, or are doing, or whatever, and
I'm not shocked. I mean, disappointed, yes, but
I'm disappointed myself. I'm not shocked. Well, you read
this book, you'll find there's nothing that a man, a believer,
hadn't done. Except fall away finally. I'm not shocked, I'm not worried
so much about people that fall into sin, so much as those who
sit under the gospel and they just become so complacent and
self-righteous. Sinners need mercy, and they
need the gospel. Sinners come back and hear the
gospel. And bless your heart, God, the good news is still there. Find help in time of need. Blessed
are the poor and needy. I mourn my own fall or your own
falls into sin, but we don't despair. It's the indifferent,
the lukewarm that I mourn, that I'm worried about. See what I mean? God said I would
if you were hot or cold. See what I mean? I would be seeing some smiles
here this morning. I would be seeing some joy on
the faces of people. These are blessed and given in
few warnings, but oh, there are so many blessed promises. Look at this, verse 16. We just
read this. Verse 16 says, Let us, chapter 10, verse 16, it says,
This is a covenant. that I will make with him after
those days. And I'll put my law in their
hearts and their minds, and I'll write to them their sins and
iniquities I will remember no more." The only thing God can't
remember is our sins. Isn't that something? Verse 19,
"...having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter in." Why can't
he remember our sins? Because his blood ought to have
been blotted out. So he says, let's come by new
and living way. That's Christ. He's the way.
He said, I'm the way. He's consecrated the way for
us through the veil, the holy of holy. Verse 21, we have a
high priest over the house of God. Verse 22, here it is, so
let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance
of faith. Don't you love that story, John,
of old Jacob being dressed like Esau? You remember that story,
don't you? where the father said, and he loved Esau, his oldest son,
his first begotten son. He loved him, loved everything
about him. Loved the venison that he fixed, the meat that
he offered, the meat offering. He loved the way he smelled,
loved the sound of his voice, loved everything about his son,
his first begotten son. And old Jacob wanted to be blessed.
And his mother told him, well, you're going to have to look
like Esau. You're going to have to dress like Esau. You're going
to have to be covered with what Esau is covered with. He's a
hairy fellow. You're smooth. Nothing to you. You're no man
at all. You're going to have to appear
to be a man. You're going to have to have
the meat that he likes so much, the gift to him. You can't get
it. You've got to smell like him. Remember that? Well, his
mother did all this for him. She represents the Holy Spirit.
And it says that when he came to get the blessing, old Isaac,
his father was about blind, and he said, come on, come up here.
He said, who are you? He said, Esau. Remember, it was
Jacob. A usurper. A cheat. He's not Esau, he's Jacob. Who
are you? He pleaded his brother's name.
He kept pleading his name. Esau! Who are you? It doesn't sound like Esau! Esau!
Esau! Esau! Come up here! Come here! Come
here! Come here close! He was trembling. And the Father
touched him. Yeah. It feels like Esau. Cover him. He's covered. Come here. Come here. Come here.
Come up close, kiss me. Oh, smells like Esau. Got that meat? I got it right here, right here.
That's it. You're blessed. What's your name? Esau. That's not my text this morning,
but that dude wasn't it. Come. He said draw near. How? With a true heart and full assurance
of faith. Pleading who? What? Christ! What's your name? Accept me unto beloved. Come
near. Got that meat? Yes, I plead the
blood of Christ. Ah, you're blessed. You're accepted
into beloved. Come near. Come on. But what? Christ. But Christ. Christ died. Christ died. Drawn here with
a true heart. That means he played games here. Do you reckon Jacob was playing
a game? His daddy would have. He'd cut
him off forever, wouldn't he, if he'd been found out? Serious
business, life or death. And we draw near with a true
heart. This thing is of the heart. Sincerely. Center in need of
mercy. Look at the next thing, full
assurance. And here's the next thing, verse 23. It says, Let
us hold fast. Hold fast! The profession of
our faith. How, you know, Esau, Jacob's
acceptance was based on not only what he was covered in, but that
piece of meat he had on a plate in his hand. How do you reckon he held that? Huh? This is my hope here. And when he's talking about professional
faith, let's hold fast. That means hold on tight. A professional
faith, that doesn't mean write your baptism down in front of
your Bible and don't ever blot it out. You better blot that
out. Remember the day you're baptized and don't ever forget
it. That's the day that, you better forget that. Forget those
things that you're bad at. But I'll tell you one thing you
better lay hold on. Paul said, oh that I might apprehend
that for which I'm apprehended. Christ. Hold fast. He's our profession. I profess
Christ, don't you? I don't profess, well I was baptized
back in 19 whatchamacallit. I'm not professing me, right? We're not professing us, we're
professing him. Hold fast. Christ is the one
I profess, my, my. Verse 24, let us consider. See
here, there are some things to do here. Let us consider who? Well, you know, we looked at chapter 12, verse 3. It says,
Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners, lest
we be weary. Consider him. That's faith. Look to him, look to him. But
right here it says, Let us consider one another. Let's consider one
another. You know, it's even more vital
in this day and age. The Lord knows it. We're in those
last days that Paul told Timothy about in 2 Timothy 3. He said,
men will be lovers of their own selves. It's the selfish generation.
And it's all right. He got an attitude. You know,
everybody brags on attitude. What does that mean? He's full
of pride and self. Well, Scripture says that's the
first thing God hates more than anything. But now it's highly esteemed
among men. It's an abomination to God, especially
in his children. I've used this illustration,
you know, when I was young, the thing my parents got aggravated
more than anything over. In us, kids, is when we're selfish. Because everything we had, we
received. Right? I mean, everything we had, our
parents gave it to us, and for us to hoard it to ourselves and
not share it with our brothers and sisters? I saw my dad breathe fire. And
rightly so. And our guts are consuming fire,
too. We don't have what we have for ourselves. We lived ourselves, we'll die
ourselves. Mark it down, write it down,
let God write it on the table of our heart. Let us consider
one another. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who looked not, considered not his own self,
but looked on the things of others, became a servant. Christ said,
I've done it to you. If I, your Lord and Master, have
washed your feet, my soul Boy, if that isn't a warning. And over and over again, the
warnings come. He said, he that hath, more will
be given to him. A man's generous, God be generous
with him. A man's miserly, God withhold
faith and joy and peace and comfort, and that's just it. Now, right? Joe, your children
are generous. Are you going to be generous
with them? It's just the way it is. It's the way our God is. The more generous we are, the
more generous he is. The more merciful we are, the
more merciful he is. Let us consider. Say, it convicts
me. It does me, too. Well, then,
let's do something. Let us consider one another. to provoke unto love. There ain't
nothing lovely about us. You're going to have to make
somebody lovely. A man to have friends must show himself friendly. Nobody loves me. There ain't
nothing lovely about you. Huh? Nobody loves me. Nobody
cares. Why should they? There's something they ought
to care about. Are you lovely? Are you? A man to have friends must
show himself friendly. It's not my responsibility what
this woman does. Her responsibility is toward
God. My responsibility is to do what he tells me. Huh? I'm
going to show myself to you. I'm going to provoke you to love
me. Huh? That's just not an option. Let us consider one another.
Look at the next thing here, verse 25. Not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together. This is a great consideration
and a great provocation. I'm pleased with the attendance
this morning. I can't always say that, but
I am. I'm glad that everyone's here
that's here. It encourages me, strengthens me,
tells me what I'm doing is worthwhile. You know, it strengthens one
another, too, doesn't it? Some of you don't feel like it.
I'm not calling any names, but there are some people in here
who are mighty frail physically. Let me talk about, you remember
Virgie, how she was old, I mean old, old. She never missed, did she? She
didn't have any business whatsoever driving an automobile. You know,
seven or eight years of her life, if you'd ever got behind her,
or worse, in front of her, you know what I mean? Then she'd
have had no business behind the wheel of—literally, Henry, one
time I pulled over when Virgie was behind me, literally around
me. Why? She had to get to church. She was here, and it encouraged
me. I had something for Virgie. You're not going to put that
much effort into it. I will do. May it only encourage anybody
younger than eighty-four. Let us exhort one another. Here's the next thing. Let us
exhort one another. You remember the story of me
and Brother Don walking up that mountain, you know? We need one
another. Well, here's another thing, chapter
12. We've already looked at this,
and I'm going to quit. Chapter 12, verse 1, says, Let
us lay aside every weight, everything that hinders us. What's that?
It's not always a what, it's a who sometimes. It's family. Christ said, Any man love father
or mother or son or daughter more than me, he cannot be my
disciple. Anybody or anything hinders us, not my disciple. Let us lay aside every weight,
whatever hindrance it is. It's nothing worth it. Nothing.
Nobody worth it. They'll still be there when we
get out. Oh yeah. unto Jesus, not looking to self,
not looking to others, not looking at the world, not looking at
our circumstances, looking to him. Our substitute and our example,
looking unto him, author and finisher of our faith. He says,
verse 4, "...resisted unto blood, striving against sin." Thank
God he did. And then he goes on in chapter
12 to talk about chastening. If you would be without it, you're
Bastards, he said. And down in verse 15, it says,
Look indiligently, lest we fall from the grace of God. A root
of bitterness spring up and trouble you, and many are defiled like
Esau, can't even find repentance. Oh, my. Let us run with patience. And then here's the last one.
Over in chapter 13, verse 13, it says this, Let us, and I'm sure you'll find others
if you go through here. But verse 13 says, Let us go
forth therefore unto him. Isn't he whom we seek? Isn't it Christ we want to be
found in him? Huh? We have here no continuing
city when Christ is our dwelling place, who we look for? That's what all this is. We're
just getting ready. Talking about the journey, go
forth unto Him without the camp. In spite of the way the world
is heading, in spite of our own thoughts, ways, passions, go
forth unto Him. Verse 14, here we have no continuing
city. And let me just read these two
verses in closing to you, all right? You read them with me.
Verse 20 and 21 in closing. This is my closing prayer for
you. Now, the God of peace that brought again from the dead our
Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood
of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect. Are you reading
it with me? In every good work to do his
will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight
through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory. Amen. Brother Joe, come.