I'd like to speak today about
the rest that Christ provides us. You know, all of religion,
I think all of religion except for Christianity, is built on
man working for his salvation. And people just love to do that
because we, I guess it's built into us to work for things and
feel that sense of accomplishment and the same holds true for religion
too. But the only problem with that
is That's not true religion. True salvation, we do absolutely
nothing for. And that's hard for society to
understand. We passed a lot of churches coming
here today, didn't we? And most of them are all trying
to work for their salvation, and they're going to fall way
short. So anyway, in Hebrews chapter 3 and 4, there is a wonderful
analogy made to the children of Israel getting into the land
of Canaan. And that's a type of salvation. You know, a lot of people in
the religious world seem to think that Canaan is a type of the
advanced Christian life or of the filling of the spirit or
something like that. But it's not because it's very
obvious from this passage that Canaan and the promised land
was a type us as New Testament Christians of salvation itself. And the whole thing about this
chapter three and four of Hebrews is in the analogy it's showing
us that the generation of Israelites who didn't get to go into the
land of Canaan, they fell short because of their unbelief or
because of their rebellion. And it was only the younger generation,
the kids at the time, who grew up in the 40 years in the wilderness
that got to go into Canaan. But the original generation was
locked out of there, except for Joshua and Caleb, from going
in. And the writer of Hebrews here
brings the analogy to salvation. And that's what we want to look
at today. The whole book of Hebrews is a book of better things. You know how the Old Testament
system was just a type of everything that was real, and the sacrificial
system and the priesthood and Moses and all of that were types
of things that are the real things, such as Jesus Christ and his
priesthood and all of that. So Hebrews is a book explaining
to us better things than the Old Testament. It's all about
Christ and what he has done for us and about the rest that we
can realize if we are elect in Christ. So in Hebrews, the first
chapter, it tells us that Christ is greater than the angels, that
the word of Christ is better than the word of angels. In Hebrews
chapter three, it starts off by saying Christ is better than
Moses. And then in Chapter 3, verse
7 is where we want to pick it up, where we get into this subject
of the rest of Canaan. So we start reading in chapter
3, verse 7. Wherefore, as the Holy Spirit
says, today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts,
as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness.
Let's stop there for a minute. This is the whole theme of these
two chapters here. It's right here. Harden not your
hearts, as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the
wilderness. Let's turn to the origin of that
quote. And there's two, in Psalm 95
verses 7 through 11. Psalm 95. 7 through 11. For he is our God, and we are
the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. Today,
if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation,
as in the day of temptation in the wilderness. When your fathers
tempted me, proved me, and saw my work, forty years long was
I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that
do error in their heart, and they have not known my ways. unto whom I swear in my wrath
that they should not enter into my rest." So there's the whole
story in a nutshell of what happened to the children of Israel who
came out of Egypt and who disobeyed God by not believing that he
would take care of them going on into Canaan and they rebelled
and he locked them out of Canaan. Now let's go to the Numbers 14
where this happened. We're not going to read it all,
but I want to read two verses to you. Just to set the stage,
you remember that they got up close and they sent spies into
the land to search out the land. Those spies, ten of them came
back and said, all of them except Caleb and Joshua, they came back
and said, we can't do this. We cannot go there. The people
are giants. We cannot conquer that land.
And they set the whole congregation off into unbelief because of
their words. And the whole congregation decided
not to do what God commanded them to do, except for Caleb
and Joshua. And in verses 22 and 23, This is what God has said to
them in judgment. Because all those, I guess I
should say that Moses and God had this conversation, and God
wants to wipe them all out. And Moses says, no, Lord, you
can't do that. It's your honor at stake. What
if the rest of the world hears that you brought these children
out of Egypt and then You wiped them all out. You won't be glorified
in this. Of course, this is all God's
teaching to Moses of what it's all about. And so he says, all
right, I won't, but I'm going to make them stay out of the
land for 40 years. And so in verse 22 and 23, because
all those men which have seen my glory and my miracles, which
I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these
ten times and have not hearkened to my voice, surely they shall
not see the land which I swear unto their fathers, neither shall
any of them that provoked me see it." The children of Israel
had tempted God, and God was keeping count, ten times. We could go back and find those
ten. Do you remember some of them where they would start whining
about the good food in Egypt or not having water or this and
that? Why did you bring us out of here
in this wilderness. They were very ungrateful. Ten
times they provoked God. And I don't know that I've never
noticed this before, but the temptation that's going on here
is not temptation to the children of Israel. It's the children
of Israel tempting God with all this whining they're doing. And
so here it is, the judgment. That's the background of Hebrews
3. Now let's turn back to Hebrews
3. So what he's doing is he's quoting in verses seven and eight
this passage. Harden not your hearts as in
the provocation, that word really means rebellion. It's a Greek
word, it means rebellion. And the day of temptation in
the wilderness. When your fathers tempted me,
proved me and saw my works 40 years. Wherefore, I was grieved
with that generation, and said, They do all err in their heart,
and they have not known my ways. So I swear in my wrath they shall
not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Now, this
word for departing is apostasia. It's apostasy. So, here we understand
that if, like the children of Israel, there are people in modern
times who supposedly have a love for God and then depart, like
the children of Israel at the gates of Canaan saying, no, we're
not going to believe God anymore, then that is apostasy. They never
were really saved. But that's what it is. At least
four times in Hebrews, that's the theme of this book, is warning
passages that we are not of that group, that we do not shrink
back, that we do not stop believing, but that we're of the ones who
continue to believe, showing that we're truly elect, truly
saved. So these are warning passages. And so we go on from 12, but
exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any
of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we
are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast unto the end. There is the verse describing
true salvation. We will be, it'll be proved in
the end that we were Christians, that we are partakers of Christ
if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence under the end. Verses 15 through 19 is the comparison
of salvation to Canaan, so watch carefully. While it is said,
today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in
the provocation, For some, when they had heard, did provoke,
howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom
was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had
sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom
swear he that they should not enter into his rest? but to them
that believed not." There's the whole crux of the matter. No
belief. Lack of faith. And of course we know that God
gives faith. So we see that they could not enter in because of
unbelief. So there's the whole basis of
what we're talking about. The comparison to Canaan and
to the people who didn't believe God and did not enter into Canaan
like people in our age who do not truly believe in God and
that he has finished the work of salvation through Christ. Now, let's move into chapter
4 where the rest that God gives is likened unto faith in Christ. Verse 1 and following, let us
therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entering into
His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto
us was the gospel preached as well as unto them, but the word
preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in
them that heard it." So the reason it didn't take hold back in Canaan
with those people was that it was not mixed with faith. God
had not given them faith, they were not elect, and so that first
generation was kept out of Canaan and in fact evidently not saved. 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. This is really
deep stuff here because God's works have been completed from
the foundation of the world. 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. So now he's applying the analogy
to creation. in the fact that God did these
marvelous works for six days and then he rested. He truly
had done all of creation and he rested from that activity. And so it's exactly the same
way with salvation. Jesus Christ has accomplished
everything for our salvation in his work on the earth and
at the cross and that, it's done. We can't add a single work to
salvation, to earn it for ourselves. So here are all these analogies
floating around. And in this place again, if they
shall enter into my rest, seeing therefore it remaineth that some
must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached
entered not in because of unbelief, again he limiteth a certain day,
saying in David, today after so long a time as it is said
today if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts this is
neat now he's going to that passage in Psalm 95 and he's saying guys
that wasn't the only today that wasn't the only today way back
there with the children of Israel in the wilderness David created
another today in the Psalms by saying today again If you hear
his voice, don't harden your hearts. And so the writer of
Hebrews is saying, it's still today. It's still an age in which
people, God saves, and it's today for them. Today, don't harden
your hearts. Four, if Jesus had given them
rest, now don't be confused with this. This is not Jesus, this
is Joshua. King James got it wrong here.
It is just the word Jesus in Greek, which is Joshua as well
as Jesus. So, for if Joshua had given them
rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. So, it's better than that rest
back then. It's better than the rest David
was talking about. It's the rest now of salvation,
and it remains now a rest to the people of God. For he that
is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own
works as God did from his. Now, this is talking about the
works for salvation. This is not talking about the
fact that the rest of the Bible teaches us if we really are saved,
we will have works that are the fruit of our salvation. Don't get confused by that. But
we have no works having to do with our salvation at all. We
need to realize this. We need to realize that we have
ceased from any works for salvation. It's all done by Christ. And
what a relief it is to us, and what joy it should bring to our
hearts about that, that we have not added a single thing to our
salvation. It's there, it's ours, and it's
done. I think one of the greatest passages
in the whole Bible is John 19, 30, where the Lord Jesus said
from the cross, it is finished. A wonderful phrase that he said
there, and he meant The whole salvation thing is finished for
the elect. It's done. It's done right now.
And that is exactly what this is saying. So there's another
today. Now is the time of salvation. We Christians have ceased from
our works for salvation as a result of the work of Christ. So the rest that it's talking
about is a cessation from works. It's faith in Christ's works
for us. Now, look at verse 11. This is
a bit of a paradox, but it's not. Let us labor, therefore,
to enter into that rest. Have you ever thought about that?
What's he saying here? All of a sudden, is he switching
horses and saying, let's work to get in there? No, this is
the word for to be diligent. Really, King James shouldn't
have translated that, let us labor. It's to be diligent. It's not to add any works. It's
just to care. You know, when God works in somebody's
heart, they start caring about these things. They start caring
about spiritual things, about salvation, about the Bible. And so he's saying, let us therefore
be diligent to enter into that rest. And that's the truth fruit
and proof that God's working on somebody is they all of a
sudden care about this. Lest any man fall after the same
example of unbelief. Okay, now finally we're going
to look at verses 12 through 16 and I've got a little something
to propose to you that you may think I'm strange about but I'm
not really set on it but I'd love to hear what you have to
say about it. He goes right into this It's not, I mean, Bible's
not disjoint. So why does he go right into
talking about the Word of God? What I would propose to you,
I'll go ahead and tell you the end instead of after I read it.
I think this is talking about Christ and not scripture. But just follow me for a second.
For the Word of God, Logos, the Logos of God, is quick and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
slender of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither
is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight." You
say, well, that proves it, it's a person. Well, no, in the Greek,
that could be his or its, so we can't camp there. But keep
going here. But all things are naked and
opened unto the eyes of him or it with whom we have to do. Well,
that's a person, right? The Bible doesn't have eyes.
Seeing then that we have a great high priest. He hasn't switched
topics again, has he? That is passed into the heavens,
Jesus the Son of God. Let us hold fast our profession,
for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted
like us. We are yet without sin. Let us
therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. As I said,
I am not set on this. It could be the word of God or
it could be the word. But I just think it's very interesting
that it's the way he ends this whole passage about the rest
of Christ, that Christ has won for us, and then he goes into
the fact that perhaps Christ is the one who is so quick, powerful,
sharper than a two-edged sword, and can look straight to a man's
soul, and divide, and then he is that high priest. and that
everything is naked and open to him. So what we've seen is that the
rest that God provides is the rest of salvation. It's likened
unto the children of Israel who blew it and did not enter into
the land of Canaan. It's because the Lord Jesus finished
everything for us on the cross and at the resurrection it is
finished is what he said. So we should totally trust in
his works for us for the judgment and for our salvation. There
are no works of salvation we can provide except Christ's works. Obviously faith itself is not
a work It's a gift of God, so that's not a work. And so this
whole passage is about faith versus apostasy. Those who harden
their hearts, those who don't hear this warning and take it
to heart, they're the lost. They're the ones that will not
enter into God's rest. And it's because of a heart of
unbelief. And Christ is the discerner of
our hearts and the high priest knows exactly what we're all
about.