Alright, let's turn in our Bibles
to Jeremiah 17. Jeremiah 17. The title of the message is the first
words of verse 12, which is where we'll begin. A glorious high
throne. And of course, that's speaking
of the throne of our King, the King of Kings, the throne of
God, upon which he sits as the one mediator between God and
men, as the one who, as we prayed, came to this earth, God with
us, the Word made flesh, and who finished that great work
of redemption to put away our sins and to justify us before
holy God. The one who died was buried and
rose from the dead and ascended unto the Father to take his rightful
place, seated at the right hand of the Father. And this glorious
high throne is a revelation of the one and only way of salvation. In these Verses in chapter 17,
we've sort of seen what I think is a summary of the whole Bible.
It says in verse 7, blessed is the man that trusteth in the
Lord. That's Jehovah, that's salvation.
And it says, and whose hope the Lord is. And he describes that,
showing that by nature man will not trust in the Lord because
his heart's deceitful. But in the midst of the declaration
of the sinfulness and depravity and the wickedness and the stubbornness
and self-righteousness of all of us by nature, he intervenes
to give the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ.
And what he's showing here, I believe, beginning at verse 12, is this.
as he's pronouncing the woes and the condemnations and the
judgments of God upon this nation, Judah and Jerusalem. And that's
coming. He said there's no way to stop
it, no way to turn it back. But I believe in this message
that Jeremiah is preaching, he's preaching to individuals. And
he's saying what I've said all through this study is as we watch
our nation go down the tubes, as we watch men and women Perish
in unbelief, and that's a sad thing. I don't want to make light
of it. I don't want to make fun of it. It's sad, sad, sad. But as we watch that happen,
we know our frame. We know our limitations. We know
that salvation is of the Lord. But as we watch these things
go on, we don't have to perish with them. And that's what he's
saying here. Trust in the Lord. Trust in the
Lord. Your hope is in the Lord. And
then he describes that salvation. If you desire salvation, if you
desire to be delivered from this wicked generation, where would
you go? Who would you go to? Well, here's
the answer. Verse 12, a glorious high throne
from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. This is a place
of sanctuary. This is a place of salvation.
This is a place of rest and peace and solace. And it's always been
that way. This glorious high throne from
the beginning, it's been this way. It's never been any different
since the fall of man. It wasn't any different before
the fall of man as Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Salvation has always been by
the grace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's never
been any different. Same for all of God's children.
Some commentators say that this describes the temple in Jerusalem,
specifically the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant
and the Mercy Seat, where the glory of God, or what we call
the Shekinah glory of God, dwelt symbolically. and powerfully,
symbolized God's covenant with Abraham's seed, that seed first
being the Lord Jesus Christ himself, and then, secondly, his generation,
the people whom God gave him before the foundation of the
world. Of whom Christ spoke in John chapter 6, he said, all
that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. This physically applied
to the nation Israel, But they broke that covenant. Look back
over in chapter 14, remember? In chapter 14. And we've seen
that all through Jeremiah's prophecy, how they broke the covenant.
And of course, that's a testimony to fallen sinful man under the
terms of a conditional covenant. But look at verse 21 of Jeremiah
14. Jeremiah praying here, do not
abhor us. talking to the Lord, for thy
name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory. He says,
remember, break not thy covenant with us. Well, God's not going
to break any covenant that he gives, but man under a conditional
covenant, conditional man will break it. But here's the thing
about it. He says, do not disgrace the
throne of thy glory. Well, God's not going to disgrace
the throne of his glory. either in the salvation of his
people or in the judgment of his enemies. He's not going to
disgrace it. It's a glorious high throne from the beginning.
Now spiritually, back over here in Jeremiah 17, 12, spiritually
this points to the future. And it applies to Christ and
his spiritual nation under the new covenant. Now go back to
Jeremiah chapter 3. And he's going to show you that
in the next verse, but I want you to look at this, Jeremiah
chapter 3, look at verse 14. When he commands them to turn,
turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am married
to you, and I will take you, one of a city, two of a family,
and I'll bring you design. Now this is a prophecy here.
He said, I'll give you pastors according to mine heart. That's
the preachers of the gospel, of God's grace in Christ. which
shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. Now there
is a physical accomplishment of this in the future when they're
brought back from captivity under Nehemiah and Ezra and Zechariah. But he says, look here, he says
in verse 16, it shall come to pass that when you be multiplied
and increased in the land, in those days, saith the Lord, they
shall say no more the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Neither
shall it come to mind. They won't be looking for a physical
ark, you see. Neither shall they remember it,
neither shall they visit it, neither shall that be done anymore. At that time, they shall call
Jerusalem the throne of the Lord. Now that's spiritual Jerusalem.
That's what Paul wrote about in Hebrews chapter 12, the heavenly
Jerusalem. And how do you know that? He
says, and all the nations shall be gathered unto it. That's God's
elect out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. And to the
name of the Lord, under one head, Jesus Christ, the King who sits
upon that glorious high throne to Jerusalem, neither shall they
walk anymore after the imagination of their evil heart. You see,
they'll have a new heart, a new spirit. They'll have a new song
to sing, the song of the redeemed, worthy as the Lamb. They'll submit
to the King of kings and the Lord of lords. So back over here
in chapter 17, This speaks of the future. Look at verse 13.
Oh Lord, the hope of Israel. Now that's Jesus Christ. That's
the Messiah. He's the hope of Israel. Simeon
said it, didn't he? He called him the consolation
of Israel. That's the same thing. Christ
is the hope of Israel. He is the hope of spiritual Israel.
Listen, somebody says, well, are you excluding the Jews? Listen,
Jesus Christ is the hope of any sinner who is brought by God's
grace and power to believe on His name, Jew or Gentile. Isn't that right? He is the hope
of any and every sinner who is brought to see their sins and
to see their need of Christ, His blood and His righteousness.
He says, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed. All who believeth
not shall be ashamed. And they that depart from me
shall be written in the earth. Now that's a way of saying that
they are citizens of the earth. It's kind of like in Luke chapter
10. You remember when the Lord had
sent His disciples out to preach the gospel, sent them out two
by two. And they were able to perform miracles. He'd given
them that power to perform miracles, to cast out demons, to heal the
sick. And they returned to him, and
that's all they were talking about. They were talking about,
boy, this is something, you know, we can cast out demons, we can
heal the sick. And in Luke chapter 10 and verse
20, he says, well, don't rejoice in that you can do that. He said,
rejoice in this, that your names are written in heaven. You're
citizens of heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven,
Paul wrote in Philippians 3 and verse 20. Well, what he's saying
here is all who do not believe in and submit to the Lord Jesus
Christ as the one and only way of salvation, of righteousness,
of forgiveness, of eternal life and glory, they'll be ashamed.
And what they do is they evidence that they're citizens of the
world. You're of the world. Christ told his disciples, you're
not of the world. But he says, they that depart
from me shall be written in the earth. You know, over in the
book of Revelation, it talks about the two books. The one
book is the books, it's books plural. Wherein all the evil
deeds of all unbelievers are recorded. Why is that? Because their sin is charged,
imputed to them. And they'll be condemned for
their works. Best works and their worst works. Anything that doesn't
equal righteousness in that day will be a ground of their condemnation. And that's called books plural.
It's in Revelation 20 and Revelation 21. And then it speaks of the
Lamb's book of life, one book. And in it is recorded the names
of the elect of God, the redeemed of the Lord, the church, the
sheep. And what it's recording is their union with Christ, the
lamb. They're covered by the blood.
They're washed in the blood of Christ and clothed in his righteousness. But all who reject him and die
in unbelief, their names are written in the earth. They're
citizens of the earth, not of the heavenly kingdom. And it
says in verse 13, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain
of living waters. Now there's another name for
Christ. Starts out the old Lord, Jehovah, salvation, the hope
of Israel, and now the fountain of living waters. Remember over
in Jeremiah chapter 2 and verse 13, how Jeremiah is preaching
the Lord's message. He said, my people have committed
two great evils. They've forsaken me, the fountain
of living waters. and hewed out for themselves
cisterns that will not hold water. Look at verse 14. Here's the
surety of salvation by Christ. He says, Heal me, O Lord, and
I shall be healed. I want to tell you something. If the Lord heals you, you know
what? You'll be healed. No temporary here, see. This
is not a temporary fix. This is a healing. Malachi chapter
4 spoke of that the son of righteousness Cut rising from the east and
coming with what healing in his wings. That's how the Old Testament
ends the son of righteousness Rising in these coming forth
and Jeremiah says heal me O Lord and I shall be healed the old
Christ is the great physician And what kind of healing does
he do now a lot of people want to talk about physical healing
And that's okay, I'll talk about it too. But that's not the kind
of healing that he's talking about here. You know how people
today, they'll talk about physical healing of physical diseases
and sicknesses and infirmities, and they'll always refer to Isaiah
53, that verse that says, by his straps we are healed. That's
not the kind of healing he's talking about. Now when I'm sick,
physically, I pray, Lord heal me. When you're sick, I pray,
Lord heal me. And He just may be pleased to
do so. And what a great day that is, isn't it? Don't we rejoice
when He does? And then we know that one day
He's going to heal all of us who are in Him and who die in
Him. He's going to heal us permanently
and perfectly. But I want to tell you something,
the healing that He's talking about here, that's already taken place
and it's a perfect healing and there'll never be any sickness
again like this. Because sin cannot condemn us.
We're healed from the condemnation of sin. We're healed from the
power of sin to condemn us. It still influences us. It still
contaminates us. It still bothers us, but it cannot
condemn us. And then he says it here. He
says, save me and I shall be saved. This is no temporary salvation. This is no save today and lost
tomorrow. This is salvation of the Lord.
This is permanent, eternal salvation because it's based upon the righteousness
of God in Christ freely and reputed and received by faith and it
cannot change, it cannot diminish, it cannot be contaminated, it
cannot be blotted, it cannot be taken away. That's our security
in Christ. And here's what he says, for
thou art my praise. Now that's just another way,
let me give you several ways to say thou art my praise. Now
that does mean worship. We worship God. But it's like
Paul wrote in Philippians 3.3. We are the circumcision which
worship God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. That's another way of saying
thou art my praise. Galatians 6.14, he says, God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thou
art my praise. I'm not my own praise. You're
not my praise. Christ is my praise. You see
what I'm saying? Now that's security. If Christ
is your glory and your praise, If his blood is your hope of
forgiveness, if his righteousness imputed is your ground of justification,
if the Holy Spirit has given you life within, and knowledge,
and grace, and a new heart, and you look unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, you're secure in him. Secure in him. Well, secondly, here in verse
15, here's Judah's response of unbelief. Listen to this. It
says, behold, they say unto me, where is the word of the Lord?
Let it come now. Now, Jeremiah is talking about
a great army coming down and conquering Judah and Jerusalem
and destroying it. Hadn't happened yet. So what
do men do when God seems in their eyes to delay? Well, Peter dealt
with that in 2 Peter chapter 3 about the second coming of
Christ, you remember. People would scoff at the preaching
of the second coming. What? Christ is coming again.
And what's he going to do? He's going to gather his people
unto himself and we're going to be glorified. We're going
to be changed in the twinkling of an eye. And he's going to
judge this world and this world is going to be burn up and a
new heaven and a new earth is going to be created in its place.
And we're going to inhabit the new earth. And so people hear
that and they say, well now wait a minute, this thing's been going
along for thousands of years and he hasn't come yet, where
is the promise of his coming? And that's why Peter, you know,
in that one verse when he said, the Lord is not slack, verse
2 Peter 3, 9, that people pervert, that the Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward. Who's the usward there? That's
the people of God in Christ. Not willing that any should perish. That's the usward. But that all
should come to repentance. And what Peter is simply saying
there by inspiration of the Spirit is that the reason Christ hasn't
come again is He's got some sheep yet to be brought into the fold.
That's all he's saying. He said later on, count that
the longsuffering of God is what? Salvation. Now we pray, Lord
come. But we pray, Lord, save your
sheep. Bring your sheep into the fold.
But people scoffed at it, and they scoff at it now. They made
this statement in 2 Peter 3. He said, well, things are going
on just like they always have been. And Peter says, oh no,
oh no, God destroyed this world by a flood. You forget that,
or you either don't believe it. Things do not. Look at the disasters
and the manifestations of God's judgment against sin, which are
meant to do what? To turn His people to repentance
towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, that's
what Judah was saying, verse 15. Behold, they say unto me,
where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now. Boy, what arrogance. Let it come now. It's almost
like they're looking up and saying, God, if you're going to do it,
do it now. Just bring it on. What arrogance that is. That's
the response of unbelief and arrogance go together. But look
at Jeremiah's response of faith. Look at verse 16. As for me,
I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee. That
is an under shepherd, I told him. And he says, after God,
he says, neither have I desired the woeful day. Jeremiah is expressing
the thoughts of his heart. It's not that he's praying that
God would bring judgment against him. Thou knowest, he says, that
which came out of my lips was right before thee, he spoke the
truth. He says, be not a tear unto me, thou art my hope in
the day of evil. What he's simply saying there
to the people of Judah, he said, I'm not going down the tubes
with you, I'm clinging to Christ. Now that's the way it is. My
hope in the, thou art my hope, Christ is my hope. I saw. Now, that may not mean
anything to the world, but it means something to the people
of God. To the people of the world, it's just religion. It's
just your opinion. It's just another thing that
somebody's wanting to say from the bully pulpit or whatever.
But it means something to the people of God. My hope is in
Him. And I'm not going to perish with
this world. I'm not going to do it. Verse
18, he says, let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not
me be confounded. Well, how is it that I'm not
going to be confounded? You know that word confounded.
You know what it means. It means without understanding. It means
confused. Well, how is that going to be
possible? Well, look to the word of God. Keep your focus in His
word. I was talking to a fellow the
other night who down in Albany who's wanting me to baptize him.
Been under the gospel for a couple of years. And he was telling
me, he said, you know, he said, I want to learn to talk to people
about Christ, about the gospel. I want to learn to be, I want
to be adept, you know, at dealing with people. And I told him,
I said, well, I've learned this over the years, that the best
thing we can do with people and talking to them about Christ
and about salvation is take them constantly to the scriptures
and don't let them get away from it. Take them to the word of
God. And I've been amazed over the
years how sometimes I'd be talking to people and they'd either state
an opinion or ask a question and a scripture would come to
mind that I didn't even know I memorized. That's the way that
God works, isn't it? Keep them in the Word. What does
the Bible say? They'll want to tell you their
opinion, their ideas, their denomination, their experiences, their dreams.
You tell them what God's Word says. That's where we begin,
isn't it? So let me not be confounded.
Well, stay in the Word of God. Keep your eyes on Christ and
Him crucified and risen and don't look anywhere else. He says,
let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed, disappointed. Bring upon them the day of evil.
That's the day of disaster. That's not God having some principle
of evil or some nature of evil, but he's talking about the wrath
of God for their evil. And he said, and destroy them
with double destruction. Now, we've talked about this
before. Double destruction doesn't mean
give them more than they deserve. but it means give them completely
what they deserve, everything they deserve. You know, whenever
we see the world in disaster, perishing in unbelief, we should
always be diligent in seeking out Christ's sheep by preaching
the gospel against all opposition. And we know that it's only by
the grace of God that we will, that we'll stand firm. But we
also recognize God's justice in bringing his wrath upon the
wicked. And I know that may seem like that's a contradictory thing
within us, maybe something, a struggle within us, and maybe it is because
of our feelings. We know, think about this, we
know that were it not for the grace of God, we would be destroyed
just like the wicked world. Isn't that right? If God were
to give us what we've deserved and what we've earned, but at
the same time, just like this verse 18, we've got to recognize
that God is just. And he's going to do what's right.
Well, this chapter closes with a message on the Sabbath, a message
on the Sabbath. Now you might wonder, well, why
in the world would he talk about the Sabbath? Let me just read
these verses. Look at verse 19. He says, thus
said the Lord unto me, go and stand in the gate of the children
of the people, whereby the kings of Judah came in and by which
they go out and in all the gates of Jerusalem. Now he's talking
about the gates of Jerusalem. Remember, he studied about the
gates of Jerusalem. And here's what he's telling
Jeremiah. These were gates of activity. These were gates where, at these
gates, you know, they had certain gates, they did certain things,
but these gates, people entered into the city, went out of the
city, they conducted commerce, visitors came in, the kings,
he mentioned the kings. Some say that's the Benjamin
Gate, I don't know, but that's where the king went in and went
out. It's the gate of judgment, that's where they held court.
So these were very busy places, you see. Remember, one time he
told Jeremiah, go to the temple and preach your message at the
temple. Now he's saying, Jeremiah, go to the gates of the city and
preach this message at the gates. Now here's the message, verse
20. He says, and say unto them, hear ye the word of the Lord,
ye kings of Judah. Now see, this is a message for
the king too. And all Judah, all the inhabitants
of Jerusalem that enter in by these gates, thus saith the Lord,
take heed to yourselves and bear no burden on the Sabbath day,
nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem, conducting commerce,
carrying loads on the Sabbath day." That was the seventh day
of the week. That was instituted to this nation under this covenant,
under the fourth commandment. Verse 22, and there were other
Sabbath laws, too, that carried with that. Verse 22, neither
carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, neither
do you any work, but hallow ye the Sabbath day, as I commanded
your fathers. Keep it holy, the commandment
says. Remember the Sabbath day. Verse 23, but they obeyed not.
They obeyed not. neither inclined their ear, but
made their necks stiff." In other words, they rebelled. "...that
they might not hear nor receive instruction." Don't speak to
me of this. Verse 24, "...and it shall come
to pass, if you diligently..." Now here's the conditional terms
of the covenant. Now, you understand they're under
that conditional covenant. And he says, and here's the obedience.
He said, and it shall come to pass, if you diligently hearken
unto me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates
of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day to
do no work therein. Then shall there enter into the
gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne
of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their
princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and this city shall remain forever. Now, That's the terms of the
covenant. Now you know, and I know, God
knew. God knew that that wasn't going
to happen. This is not his sovereign, secret will of decree. And the next chapter really proves
that. The potter and the clay. Israel's the clay and there's
a mar in the clay and he has to reshape it. He does reshape
it. We'll talk about that Sunday
night. But listen, listen. What's the point of all this?
What's the point of the covenant conditioned on sinful man? It's
to show us our sin. Why was the law given? That the
offense might abound. And he'd already said in verse
23, they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but they stiffened
their neck. So this is already a done deal, but he shows them
blessings of obedience, you see. And he says, look at verse 26.
He says, and they shall come from the cities of Judah and
from the places about Jerusalem and from the land of Benjamin
and from the plain and from the mountains and from the South,
bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices and meat offerings
and incense and bringing sacrifices of praise under the house of
the Lord. Now, Somebody might ask the question,
well, if they kept the Sabbath, but broke every other commandment,
would it be okay? No, because that Sabbath was
a symbol. The Sabbath under the old covenant
was a sign of the covenant. Now you can read about that in
Exodus 31. We won't go there, but mark it down. Exodus 31 begins
in verse 12. Talks about the Sabbath being
a sign. You know, that old covenant had several signs. First of all,
the blood of sacrifice was one of the signs of the covenant.
Remember when it was first instituted at Sinai? What did Moses do?
He slew an animal and he sprinkled all the people. He sprinkled
the instruments and all of that. Sprinkled the book rather. And
another sign of it was the circumcision of the males. That connected
them with Abraham. The physical nation of Abraham. They were
known as the circumcision. But the Sabbath was a sign of
the covenant too. And the Sabbath was indicative
of the whole realm of covenant obedience, that conditional covenant. And so that Sabbath was one of
the greatest acts of disobedience that pervaded the people of Judah,
was their breaking the Sabbath. And not just the day, but the
weeks and the years. You see, the Sabbath was given
to Israel by God as a rest for the people, but also the animals
and the land. Remember every seven years they
would let the land rest and not sow on the land. And then you
had the year of Jubilee. You ever noticed as you read
through the Old Testament that you never see Israel keeping
the year of Jubilee? They never did obey that law.
You remember that's how when everything went back to the original
law. And that was God's way of ensuring that they kept the land.
They didn't keep it, but God kept them together and brought
them back to it for His purposes. The Sabbath was a recognition
that their life and their blessings and their benefits were all the
work of God and not the work of man. And they were to rest
in God and praise God and honor God and depend upon Him for all
these things. The Sabbath was an expression
of worship of God. It was an expression of love
to God and loyalty to God. The Sabbath observance recognized
God as our Creator and our Redeemer. That's what's under the Old Covenant.
And so it witnessed against idolatry. It guaranteed God's people rest
which they could not obtain from idols. No rest in idols. And it was one of the unique
features of Israel's religion because it signified that special
covenant relationship between Jehovah and Israel. And the problem here is this,
that the people had become so affluent and so busy that they
were more concerned with material prosperity than with worshiping,
serving, and thanking the Lord for what they had. And you know
that was a perpetual problem. Sometime when you get an opportunity,
read Amos chapter eight. This was before Jeremiah. Amos
was back before Jeremiah. What was the problem there? When
the Sabbath came, the people talked in their, they spoke in
their hearts. They said, well, when's it going
to be over so I can get back to buying and selling? I can
get back to doing what I really want to do. That was their heart. And then you can read about it
in Nehemiah 13. This was after they came back
out of the captivity. They still did the same thing.
They neglected the Sabbath. Well look at verse 27. He says, But if you will not
hearken unto me to hallow the Sabbath, day, and not to bear
a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the
Sabbath day. Then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof,
and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not
be quenched." And that's exactly what happened. Now turn over to Hebrews chapter
4, and this is where we'll close tonight. Neglect of the Sabbath under
the Old Covenant is the equivalent spiritually
of a sinner refusing to believe and trust and rest in Christ,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and His finished work, Christ who is
our Sabbath, and by whose finished work we have spiritual and eternal
rest. Now that's the equivalent. Christ
said, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and
I will give you rest. That Sabbath day, back under
the old covenant, and that Sabbath week and year and that year of
jubilee, all of that was a picture of this glorious high throne
upon which Christ is seated having finished His work in whom we
rest spiritually and eternally for all salvation. That's what
it is. Somebody said, what is the Christian
Sabbath? Well, here it is. Read Hebrews
chapter 4. Let us therefore fear, that's
worship, lest a promise be left us of entering into, underscore
this, his rest. Now we could say in some form
that we enter into our rest, but it's not rest from our labors
in the sense that the work has been finished by us. And that's
why I like this language. It's His rest. Lest any of you
should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel
preached. Now where's the declaration of
that rest, His rest, in the gospel? As well as unto them, that's
the people of Israel, But the word preached did not profit
them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. Faith
is the gift of God, it comes by hearing. By faith we enter
into His rest. For we which have believed do
enter into rest, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath,
if they shall enter into my rest, although the works were finished
from the foundation of the world. Now what works is he talking
about? He's talking about the purpose of God to send Christ to finish
a work. In verse 4, for he spake in a
certain place of the seventh day on this wise and God did
rest the seventh day from all his works. That's creation. God
created this world in six days and then he rested on the seventh.
Again, you know that doesn't mean God got tired and had to
re-energize like we do. But it means he finished the
work and he was satisfied. That's what it means. He finished
the work, he was satisfied. Verse five, and in this place
again, if they shall enter into my rest, he's talking about the
children of Israel going over into the promised land, they
failed because they did not believe. They couldn't enter in because
of unbelief. Verse six, seeing therefore it remaineth that some
must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached
entered not in because of unbelief. And again, he limiteth a certain
day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time, as it is
said, Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
For if Jesus, now that Jesus there is referring to Joshua,
the captain of the people of Israel who took over for Moses
when Moses could not enter into the land after the forty years
of wandering in the wilderness. This is Joshua. That's the Old
Testament name. For if Joshua had given them
rest, that is when he took them over into the promised land.
Now, you see what's happening here? He's diverting the Hebrew
believer's attention away from these earthly things to spiritual
things. And he says, now if Joshua had
given them the rest that we're talking about here, then would
he not afterward have spoken of another day. Joshua was a
prophet in that sense. He spoke of another day. He pointed
sinners to Christ. And he says, verse 9, There remaineth
therefore a rest, that word rest there is Sabbath, to the people
of God. Now what is that rest that remaineth
to the people of God? Verse 10, For he that is entered
into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, and here's
the key, as God did from his. Now who's he talking about there?
Who entered into his rest, who ceased from his own works just
like God did. Is he talking about me? Lord,
no, no. Talking about you? No, talking
about Christ. The theme of the whole book of
Hebrews, Christ is better. He's a better rest. The only
one who can say to have ceased from his labors as God did, like
when he created the world, talking about that powerful work, that
divine work, is the Lord Jesus Christ who ceased from his rest,
his labors, when he cried from the cross, it is finished. That's what he's talking about.
And he said, Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit. gave up
the ghost the veil was written to from top to bottom in the
temple. And so then he says, verse 11, let us labor therefore
to enter into that rest. In other words, set your mind
and your heart and your focus upon one thing, and that is entering
into the rest that Christ has earned by his finished work,
lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. Christ is
our Sabbath. And you see, what Jeremiah is
saying to these people back here, that's what that whole Sabbath
is about. And if you don't enter into his rest, Christ, our Sabbath,
his finished work, that blood which put away all our sins,
That righteousness which justifies us eternally, completely, and
immutably before God. If you don't enter into Christ,
who is our Sabbath, our Sabbath rest, then you have nothing to
look forward to but wrath and judgment. And this rest is seen
from His glorious high throne. How do you know that? We come
boldly into the throne of grace because we have a great high
priest who's already passed through into the heavens. He's already
finished his work. He's seated at the right hand
of the father and we come unto the father by him. All right.