I want you to open your Bibles
with me to the book of Hebrews, the chapter the pastor read a
moment ago, chapter 4. I'm going to pick up sort of
where I left off in the Sunday school lesson this morning and
bring you a message on the subject, entering His rest. entering his
rest. Now, chapter 3, and the Bible
was not written, as you well know, in chapters and verses.
This has been a work added by the translators to help us in
finding Scripture and reading the Scriptures, and in some ways
it is helpful, in other ways it's not so very helpful. because
some of the chapter divisions are unfortunate, really. This is one. Verse 19 of chapter
3 ends with a solemn and sad declaration. It says in chapter
3, verse 19, So we see that they could not enter in because of
unbelief. They could not enter into his
rest. Canaan, which is typical of the
rest of, that we're going to talk about today. But they couldn't
enter in. Who's they? They, they could
not enter in because of unbelief. Well, they are the people whom
God favored above all nations. This is Israel. the chosen nation. They, Israel, the chosen nation,
who are they? They are the ones to whom God
sent his prophets. These are the people that had
Elijah, and the people who had David
as king, and Moses. We have Moses. Yes, they did.
They had Moses. Moses was their leader. Moses
was their pastor, their preacher. That's right. These are the favored
people, highly favored people, who had Moses and Elijah and
Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, Isaiah, the gospel preacher. They heard these men. Yet they
couldn't enter in. That's sad, isn't it? Who are
they? These are the people to whom
God gave the law. They stood at the foot of Sinai's
mountain and saw the lightning and smoke and thunder and the
glory of God's holiness and fled from that mountain and said,
Moses, you speak to God. Let God speak to us lest we die.
They saw, they witnessed the dividing of the sea. These are
the people to whom God gave the priesthood. And Brother John
and Brother Terry and the pastor sang the mercy seat. These are
the people that had the mercy seat. Their priest carried it on their
shoulders. The mercy seat, and over the
law. The law was in the ark. They
had the ark of the covenant. These people did. They! I'm trying
to tell you who they are. So then we see that they could
not enter in. They, they're the people that
saw the mighty acts of God. They're the people that went
out every morning and gathered the bread off the ground. They
didn't plow, sow, or reap. Picked it up and ate it. They're the people that the quail
flew in by flocks and lay down and said, cut me and eat the
good white breast today. They are the people who stood
and watched Moses smite the rock, and enough water come out of
the rock to provide wash water for a million women, cooking
water, bathing water, and drinking water out of one rock. They are the people, watch this
now, they could not enter in. They're the people that call
themselves the people of God. They told all their neighbors
that they were the people of God. And they're the people that
built the temple and went there on the Sabbath day. Yet when
all was said and done, they did not enter their carcasses perished
in the wilderness. Isn't that right? They could
not enter in. Why? Well, they built a cave. That's
not what it says. Well, they murmured and complained.
I'm glad that's not the criteria, because I can sure do a lot of
that. Unbelief. One word. I keep talking about one word.
They didn't believe God. Now look at verse 1 of chapter
4. Let us therefore. Who's us? That's you and me. Us, brethren. Us. to whom the Gospels preached,
the people gathered here in Central Baptist Church this morning,
13th Street, wherever, they meet all over this nation, us, who
profess to be his people. Let us, therefore, fear. What kind of fear is this? Well,
I tell you this. It's not a fear that the righteousness
of God will fail. That'll never fail. The righteousness
of Christ will never fail. Those who are robed in his righteousness
will enter in. They will. And this is not a
fear that his blood will come up lacking, because his blood
maketh atonement for our souls. His blood cleanses men from all
sin. His blood is effectual, just
like the pastor has told us. It's not a fear that God will
cast away his people. He will not. He said, I'll never
leave my people. I'll never forsake them. This
is not a fear that his grace will prove insufficient. His
grace is totally sufficient. Well, what is this fear? What
it tells you? Let us therefore fear lest a
promise, God who cannot lie, promise eternal life before the
world begins. lest the promise being left of
entering into his rest, any of you, and I'll say any of us,
because I want to be included in on this, any of us should
come short of it. Any of us should not believe. You know, they asked our Lord
Jesus one time, they said, What shall we do that we might work
the works of God? Tell us what to do that we might
work the works of God. He said this is the work of God,
that you believe on him whom God has sent. That's the work
of God. Believe God. Believe God. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's what the scripture
says. Believe him. Believe him. And you know when
our Lord talked to Peter about his about his death on the cross,
and Peter said, I'll go with you. I can pay the price. And our
Lord said, No, said Peter, said, Satan hath desired thee that
he might sift thee as wheat, but I pray for you that your
faith fail not. That's where it is, that your
faith fail not. Believe. Oh, preacher, we don't
have anything to worry about. Look at verse 2, don't we? We've
had the gospel preached. We have a pastor who preaches
the gospel. All of our pastors in the past
have preached the gospel. The preachers who come here preach
the gospel. We teach the gospel in our Sunday
school class, and listen, under us was the gospel preached, as
well as under them. that they heard the gospel too. They heard Moses. You ain't heard
the gospel? They heard Elijah. They heard
Isaiah. They heard, he was wounded for
our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement
of our peace was upon him, by his stripes we are healed. They
heard the fellow and wrote that by the Spirit of God. But now
here's the problem. But the word preached, the word
of hearing, you notice that in your margin, the word of hearing,
it didn't profit them. Why? They didn't believe it. It wasn't mixed with faith in
them that heard it. That was the problem, they didn't
believe it. They could not enter in because
they didn't believe. Let us fear lest a promise being
left us of entering into his rest. Any of us should come short
of it for the same reason. But we've heard the gospel, but
they did too. They killed the Passover lamb.
They saw the serpent lifted up. They saw the rock smitten. This,
that rock is Christ. that serpent's Christ. They heard
the gospel too, but they didn't believe it. Verse 3 says this, We which have believed, people
who really do believe. And this is a heart faith. Those
who do believe, believe his word, believe him, they do enter into
rest. What this is saying is this,
those who believe, do have already, this day, they've already entered
into his rest. It's not a future rest, it's
a rest right now. They do enter when a person believes
God, believes Christ, believes his word. They do enter right
then. They have entered into his rest,
his peace, his kingdom. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should right now be called
the children of God." We have entered. Now then, verse
3-9, and as the pastor read it, I listened to him read it, read
it again myself, and I read it Hard to say how many times. Taught
it, hard to say how many times. Verse 3 through 9 is as difficult
a passage to explain and to teach as any in the Scripture. It really
is. It's not difficult to see when
I show you something here. But verse 3 through 9, I'm going
to read it, and then I'm going to show you Definitely what I
believe God's saying here. Now, he's talking about, see
what we're talking about. He said, they, the people of
Israel, all these things I said about, could not enter into God's
rest, enter into Canaan, because they didn't believe. Canaan,
which was a type of eternal rest. They didn't believe. Now, let
us fear. That's the promise of entering
into His rest, here and there. Any of us should come short of
it for the same reason, not believing. Now the rest we're talking about,
he explains it right here. What is this rest? All right,
let's read verse 3 through 9. For we which have believed do
enter into rest, as he said, as God said in his Word, as I
have sworn in my wrath. Here's what it really says here,
"...they shall not enter into my rest." He's not asking a question,
if they shall. They shall not, although the
works were finished from the foundation of the world. For
he's speaking a certain place of the seventh day on this wise,
that God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in
this place again he said, "...if they shall enter into my rest,"
or they shall not enter into my rest. seeing therefore it
remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it
was first preached, enter not in because of unbelief." That's
Israel. Again, he limited a certain day,
saying in David, "...today, after so long a time, as it is said,
Today, if you hear his voice, harden not your heart. For if..."
Now the word here is Jesus, and the pastor read it correctly.
That's Joshua. You see, in the Old Testament,
the word Joshua is the same as the word Jesus. The word in the
New Testament is Jesus, which is Joshua. Yeah. They're one that took them into
Canaan, one that took them into the promised land. See, Moses
couldn't take them in. Moses is the law. Joshua represents
the grace of God, Christ that took them in the promised land.
But if Joshua had given them rest, if Canaan is the final
rest, then would he not afterwards have spoken of another rest,
saying, They remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Now, these verses, 3 through 9, are saying this. They're telling
us what this rest is not. This rest we're talking about
here, entering his rest, it's not, number one, it's not the
rest mentioned when God created the world and rested from all
his works. That's not it. That's not the
rest. Genesis 2-2 says God said everything's
good and rested the seventh day. That's not the rest in which
we enter. Secondly, it is not the Sabbath day. God gave Israel
a Sabbath day, and they kept that Sabbath day in which they
did no work, in which they did no cooking, in which they did
no labor, in which they rested. Six days shall thy labor and
seven days rest. That's a picture, but that's
not the rest he's talking about. And then thirdly, it's not Canaan. It's not a kingdom on this earth.
It's not a place on this earth. It's not a land of milk and honey. It's not what the TV preachers
are saying, that if you believe God, you'll have a good job and
two cars in your garage and a fine home and health and wealth and
comfort and joy and all these things all the way through your...
It's not Canaan. Well, what is this rest of which
Canaan is a picture? Well, let's go on. Verse 9 says,
"...there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God."
It's twofold. It's a rest right now. It's a
rest right now, and it's a rest to come. It's a rest right now,
and it's a rest to come. In other words, everyone who
by the grace of God have believed the gospel, everyone who has
believed the gospel, everyone who has cast himself, his case,
his cause, his past, his present, his future, his soul upon Christ
and Christ alone, who has believed on him, he enters a twofold rest. Number one, here's the rest,
here's what it is. Number one, it's a rest from
all works and do these as an effort to gain favor with God.
I'm resting. The man, the woman, the young
person who says, Christ is my Lord, Christ is my Savior, His
blood, His obedience, His righteousness, His death, that's my salvation. And I cease from my labors and
works and efforts and my tithing and my Sabbath-keeping and my
going to the house of God and all these duties as a way to
find favor with God, I'm rested. I have favor with God in Christ. Isn't that what it's saying?
I've entered a rest. A rest. Secondly, it's this. It's the rest from the burden
of sin. My conscience bothers me. I think back as I get older,
the dumb things I've done in my life. The dumb things I've
said, and the dumb things I've done, and the dumb decisions
I've made, and everything else that's... And all the way through
my life, I think about them, but I don't worry about them,
because they're under the blood. And I'm not... I don't believe
God's going to, with the judgment, bring up open some books and
say, hey, what about this back here when you were twenty years
old, when you were twenty-one? How about when you was twenty-one
in one day, and twenty-one in two days, twenty-one in three
days? All these things. No, I'm resting. It's under the
blood. I've entered a rest. Yeah, but
you haven't been perfect, Preacher. Far from it. But He's perfect,
and I've entered His rest. I ain't gonna worry about it.
God says, I remember your sins no more. Well, why would you
want to walk the floor over them? Well, I wish I had. Now, don't
get caught up in there, because you can't rest, you can't even
sleep that way, let alone rest. That's the rest. We do, there's
a rest. And we... The only way you can
enter that rest is to know He paid it all! All the debt I owed,
send that to Crimson's tank. He washed it white as snow. That's
pretty quiet, isn't it? Come, let us reason together.
Though your sins be as scarlet, I'll make them white as snow.
Though they be red like crimson, make them white as white. I'm
resting. Thirdly, it's resting from labor The labor of law,
ceremony, and ritual. Well, I can't miss church tonight.
I'd go to hell if I do. No, I'm resting. I'm resting. Well, this, that, and all these
requirements and rules, you know, laid down. No, I'm not going
to do anything, because I have to, and I'm going to do it because
I want to. I'm not going to give a tithe.
The tithing's for the Old Testament. Let me tell you something about
the tithe. There were twelve tribes in Israel. They all had names. One tribe
was the tribe of Levi. And God said the tribe of Levi
will have no land, I'll not divide them any lot, they'll not have
any inheritance, the tribe of Levi is separated to do the priest
work, to take care of the tabernacle, and all the sacrifices, and the
showbread, and the candles, and the incense, and the priesthood,
and all these things. Now, you're the eleven tribes.
You'll give ten percent of what you have, and that'll take care
of the tribe of Levi. That's what it was all about.
See, God had a storehouse And they bring all the tribes into
the storehouse, because the tribe of Levi took care of the tabernacle
and the temple and the sacrifices and these things, and they didn't
plant crops. And they didn't have a lot. They
didn't have an inheritance, and God designed that tribe to take
care of them. Well, there's no tribe of Levi
now. There's no priest. You're a priest.
I'm a priest. You see that? And that's what
that was set aside for, and that's the Old Testament. And you know,
people say in the New Testament, Christ said to those Pharisees,
you tithe. And they didn't just tithe money,
they tithed their crops. They bought ten percent of mint,
anise, and cumin, and herbs. They didn't have any cash. They
bought ten percent of what they had. And it provided for that
whole tribe. See that? And that was done,
and they said in the New Testament, Christ said to those Pharisees,
you tithe men, Annas and Cuban, and these things you ought to
have done. And they ought because they were shed unto the Lord,
weren't they? But that's not for you and me.
Don't teach that. I don't teach you people that
they have to give. They don't have to give. You
give because you want to. And God, that's a tax. That's
what that time was. It was a tax to take care of
the welfare and things like that, you know. Folks that were disabled
and the tribal labor. But God's people are not under
the law. We're wrestlers. Good night,
I don't know. Why don't you all get back under
it? Well, we've got a Sabbath, we've got a Christian Sabbath.
Bless Arthur Paint's heart, I love him, but I don't love that book
he wrote on the Christian Sabbath. Sunday's not the Sabbath. We
love this day, and we come together because we want to. I'll come
after, I'm resting. And I'll tell you, it's a rest
from condemnation. I don't fear condemnation. I
don't fear retaliation or punishment. My sins have been paid for a
long time ago. Now that's the rest. It's not that rest where God
finished his works and rested. It's not the Sabbath day that
he gave Israel. It's not Canaan, a kingdom on
this earth. It's a rest in here. I'm resting. resting from works, resting from
the law, resting from the burden of my sin, resting from fear,
there's therefore now no condemnation of them who are in Christ. And
if you can come to Calvary and take a look at the cross of Christ
and the Christ of the cross, and realize he did what he did
toward God, for you. See, it wasn't done towards you,
yet you feel sorry for him and me either. It's done to God,
to justify God, to put away our sins, to redeem us, like you
said, he is elect. You can come away resting. You won't come away doing nothing,
you, because you love him. You'll worship him, and you'll
give, and you'll help others, and you'll pray, and you'll witness,
not because you have to, but because you want to. All right,
let's read on. For he, verse 10, he that has
entered into his rest, I believe this is Christ he's talking about
here. Has Christ entered his rest? Yeah, he's finished his
work. He says, finished! And sat down. What does a man
do when he sits down? Well, he's not working, he's
resting. And he entered his rest even as God ceased from his own
works, as God did from his. When the Lord God made the universe,
he said it's good, and he rested. What'd he say? It's good, there's
nothing to be added. Everything's done. And when our
Lord Jesus Christ said it's finished on that cross, redemption, salvation,
eternal life, righteousness is finished. And he sat down at
the right hand of the Father. Finished. And he's entered to
rest. Now, let us labor. Well, there you are, preacher,
that's worse. Well, it's a labor. The word labor there is strive
with sincerity, with purpose. with zeal. Give diligence to
make your calling and election sure. Dedicated to do what? Let us strive to what? Enter
into that rest. What rest? His rest. And I'll
tell you this, big boy. I start saying big girl, but
I say little girl. I'll tell you this. About the
most difficult thing you ever did was to just trust Christ. Isn't it? People want something
to do. They're following these preachers
all over the world. They're telling them what to do. Now God will
save you if you'll do this and you'll do that and you'll do
that. Well, I'll do my best. And he can get a big following.
And I say God will save you if you'll quit doing this and doing
that and the other and start looking to Christ. That's hard
to do. Because something will happen
and you'll say, Lord, why'd that happen to me? You know, you feel
like you're a pretty good fellow. That's right, it's hard when
you do a good deed for someone. And you feel like, well, that's
pretty good. You know that. That's pretty
good. I'm glad I did that. Somebody
come along and brag on me a little bit. It's hard to put that aside
and say, I don't even want any recognition at all. I'm just
resting in Christ. It's pretty hard to do. One fellow said one time, Lord,
lead me to seek Thee, and seeking Thee to find Thee, and finding
Thee to love Thee, and loving Thee to believe on Thee, and
believe on Thee to trust Thee. On the mountain in the valley,
Good times and bad times. Just trust. Let's labor to enter
into rest. Sounds like contradiction, doesn't
it? Labor to enter into rest. But it's not. It's not a contradiction.
That's a good word he uses there, labor, to enter into his rest. Strive with diligence and dedication
and zeal. Not to look to my works, and
not look to my gifts, and not look to my morality, and not
look to anything. Look away. Paul said, count all
things but dumb. And that's not easy. Count everything
but garbage, to win Christ and be found in Him. Because our
old nature just loves to be bragged on. So, boy, I tell you, it's
a gift of God. Verse 11, let's read it again.
Let's labor and strive with diligence to enter into that rest. I told you what it was. Rest
from the law, rest from works, rest from duties, rest from sin,
lest any fall after the same example of unbelief. Turn to
Matthew 28, or Matthew 11. Let me show you something. Let me show you something. Matthew
chapter 11. Verse 27 and 28. Matthew 11, 27, 28. Look here. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father. And no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father neither knoweth any man. The Father saved the Son,
and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. So come unto
me. You see, he's saying, everything's
in me. The Father's put everything in me, so you come to me. That's
where it is. You want a drink of water, go
to the well. If you want the living bread, go to the baker.
That's right, go to him. Everything. Come unto me, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. That's the
rest. Now look at the next line. Take
my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of
heart, And you'll find rest until your souls. There's a rest we
enter, and the more we learn of Him, the more we'll rest.
The more rest we'll find. That's the reason some of you
younger believers here, you say, well, Preacher, I still have
a lot of struggles. And you will. But the more you
learn of Christ, the more you're able to leave everything to Him.
The more you're able to rest. I still have so many fears and
doubts and all these things. Sure we do. And you still have
them. But I tell you, you're resting
in Christ, but the more you learn of Him, learn of me. He didn't
say learn from me, learn of me. And you'll find rest, more rest.
But now I tell you, you can't ignore the Word all week and
hope to find rest. You can't ignore Christ. Father,
look at verse, go back to my text. 5 verse 12, the Word of
God. Hebrews 4, 12. Let me give you
this. Now quit. For the Word of God. Who is this
Word of God? It's Christ. And His Word. Isn't that right,
Pastor? That's how you learn. If Christ take my yoke upon you
and learn off me, the Word reveals Christ, and He is the Word. For the Word of God is quick,
alive. It's alive because He's alive.
And it's powerful. It can do the job, because He's
powerful. He's the Word. Words alone can't do anything,
but He can do something, and He is the Word. And He's sharpening
two edges through it. It'll kill, make alive. It'll
just kill what has to be killed. Kill that old flesh. Cut it off. Sharpen those edges. piercing
even to the dividing cinder of soul and spirit, joints and marrow,
His Word reaches down into the innermost part of our being. His Word. Man's Word doesn't
upset me too much, but His Word does. Man's Word doesn't comfort
me too much, but His Word does. His Word pierces right down into
the innermost being. It reaches the most hidden secrets. penetrates all secret places. His Word, powerful! Come to me, I'll give you rest. Oh, read these church covenants,
waste of time. Won't give you the rest. Read
all the books men have ever written, but read this Book, His Word.
It's alive, it's powerful, it's sharp! It pierces down to the
secret recesses of my soul. And listen, and it's a discerner
of the heart, the thoughts, and the intents. You know, people
say words that they don't mean, and God knows whether they mean
them or not. His Word pierces—His Word's a
discerner, a revealer, an exposer of even our thoughts and motives. Intents are motives. And His
Word will tell the truth. It'll tell me the truth and it'll
tell the truth about me. Can't beat that, can you? Now
man, boy, He'll pacify your flattery. Yeah, He'll use you. People will. But not God. He knows our thoughts. He knows
all of ours. That's His Word. That's the reason
I need to get acquainted with this book on a regular basis.
And neither is any creature that's not manifest in his sight. He
knows. Everything is naked and open
to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. I heard somebody
say the other day, they were describing, not the other day,
it's been several weeks ago, but they were describing something
about the congregation, their church, or church where they
go, and they said, We've got a lot of fine young people, but
they're not believers." I said, hang on, how do you know they're
not believers? How do you know who a believer is? I don't know
who a believer is. The fellow I think is a believer
may not be a believer. The fellow I think ain't no believer
just might be. God's the one. And all things
are niche and open to Him between what we have to do. They're not
open to you and me, because I don't have to do with you, John. I
have to do with Him. And I'm sure glad he knows me,
because you might get upset at me. I hope you don't, but you
might. And you might say, well, it ain't
nothing to him. And God knows it ain't nothing
to me, but there's something to my Lord, and there's something
to me in him. He's the one, and these young
people, I'll just tell you, I think some of them Maybe they're a
little cautious about claiming things, and maybe they're afraid
they're not theological enough, and maybe they think they might
say something they ought not say, but God knows them hard. That's what it says here. His
Word gets down to the thoughts and motives, and there's not
any creature that's not naked and open to Him, like the back
of my hand up there. down in here. He sees deep within
us. That's right. Therefore, verse
14, listen, seeing we have a grave high priest, we're not looking
to that fellow in Rome or the fellow down the street there
calls himself a cardinal or a bishop and wears a woman's robe and
a funny-looking hat. No, I got a high priest. And
he's passed into the heavens. He doesn't officiate down here
in some old, cold monastery. Got bugs, and rats, and fire
webs, and creepy, and dead things, and statues, and more of it like
a mortuary. He's in heaven! Jesus, the Son of God. That's my high praise. The Son
of God. So you just hold on to your profession
of faith in Him. You hold on to it. For we don't
have a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of
our infirmities. He was a man just like you and
me. He was tempted in all points as you are, yet without sin.
So let us, us, going right back to that first verse, let us fear. Unbelief. And that's all you've
got to fear is unbelief. That's all. Unbelief. And if you believe you don't
have anything to fear, you can come boldly before His throne
of grace. And you can find, obtain mercy. Not earn it. Not deserve it. Obtain it. and grace to help
you in your time of need. What's my time of need? Every
second of the day. But I got a grace that's sufficient. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, I believe, help thou mine
unbelief. I do believe. I now believe Jesus
died for me, and with his blood, his precious blood, He has from
sin set me free." All right. Thank you, Brother Paul. 228.
228 is a fitting hymn for that fine message, 228. Let's stand
as we sing a couple of verses of this. You can say your amens to that
message by singing number two from the heart. Verse number
two. Let's sing it. He is not for me, and He's a
slave that gives my fear and doubt. A sinful soul, I come to Him, He'll never cast me out. I need no
other argument, I need no one. three as the last. For my heart
is leaning on the word, the great word of God, salvation Drain some through His blood.
I need no other, I need no other thing. It is enough that Jesus died and that He died for me. You're
dismissed.