Now, as we return there to the
book of Hebrews, chapter four, as I've indicated in the bulletin,
as Mark said, we're gonna be talking about this subject, every
believer's eternal rest. Every believer's eternal rest,
no exceptions. If you're a believer, a true
believer, not just a professor, not just one who claims to be
a Christian, but cannot back it up with scripture, and that's
what we need to do. That's why the Bible tells us
to examine ourselves, whether we be in the faith, the one true
faith, which is the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace
in Christ Jesus. If you're a true believer, I'm
gonna be talking about something that you're interested in today.
and has to do with eternal rest. Oftentimes when we walk through
the graveyard, we'll see engraved upon the many headstones, you
know, he's entered or she's entered into her eternal rest. I don't believe most people think
that that's just talking about the grave itself, but something
beyond the grave. But what I'm gonna talk to you
about this morning in Every Believer's Eternal Rest is something that
if you're a true believer, you've already entered into it. You
don't have to wait for the grave. Now, the passing of this life
into the next realm of living, spiritual, eternal living for
a believer, is the full realization and culmination of this rest. But believe me, if you're a believer,
You've already entered into your eternal rest. Now what is that
eternal rest? Well look, he says in verse one,
he says, let us therefore fear. Now I want you to understand
something. When he's talking about fear here, he's not talking
about a legal carnal fear. Legal fear is that which stirs
men and women up. to trying to earn their way into
God's favor. It's just like a girl said one
time about love. She claimed, she said, I love
my neighbor as myself. Now, we are commanded to love
our neighbors as ourselves. There's no doubt about it. We're
to try to love our neighbors as ourselves. But we have to
understand that we're sinners, saved by the grace of God. And
my love for my neighbor though I wished it was better, is not
what it should be. I have to fight self-love and
self-righteousness. But she was claiming, she said
she had a perfect love for everybody. I believe she's lying to herself
if we read the scripture. But somebody asked her, said,
well, why do you think that? And she said, well, I can't afford
not to. In other words, if I don't love
everybody perfectly, I'm gonna die and go to hell. That's legalism. That's legal fear. And that's
not what the writer of Hebrews is talking about. Let us therefore
fear. What he's talking about is the fear of respect. It's a reverence. A reverence
and a regard to the glory of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, it's a reverent,
like children should respect your father and your mother.
You shouldn't fear them in such a way as that if you don't do
what they say, they're gonna kick you out of the family. And
you parents, why do you want your children to obey you? Because
they're afraid that you're gonna kill them or kick them out of
the family? Or would you rather them obey you because they know
you love them and you care for them and you want the best for
them? You see what I'm saying? So when he speaks of fear, he's
talking about the fear that comes from faith, that is, that regards
and reveres the glory of God in my salvation by his grace,
which I did not earn and do not deserve through the Lord Jesus
Christ. So he says, let us therefore
fear. Now, how does that fear come out? He says, a promise
being left us of entering into And I want you to underscore
this pronoun, his rest. Whose rest? His rest. Entering into his rest, any of
you should seem to come short of it. Now what rest is this? Now here's what I'm gonna show
you from this passage and from the context of the book of Hebrews. This rest is Christ's rest, his
rest. It's the finished work of Christ.
as the surety, the substitute, the redeemer of his people whom
God gave to him before the foundation of the world, before the world
began. Now how do we know that this is the rest that he's talking
about? We'll look at verse 2. He says,
for unto us was the gospel preached. Now the word gospel means good
news. He says, unto us was the gospel
preached. The good news was preached. He
says, as well as unto them. Now who he's talking about there
is the Hebrew children who came out of Egypt with Moses, who
got the law from Mount Sinai through Moses, who disobeyed
God as they were going through the wilderness, and when they
come upon the brink of the promised land, they failed to enter in
because of unbelief. And he says the gospel was preached
unto them. Well now we can talk about the
good news of the promised land that was told them. A land flowing
with milk and honey. But there's a greater spiritual
and eternal application to that to the true people of God, God's
chosen people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
And it's the gospel of salvation by his grace through the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I'm here to tell you that
the Hebrew children heard that same gospel even though there
is an application physically to the promised land. And Christ
himself said that. They not only heard about the
good news of entering into an earthly land, They heard the
good news of salvation by a promised Messiah. Now how do I know that?
Because Moses told them. How do I know Moses told them?
Read John chapter five, verses 39 through 45. And you remember
what Christ said to the Pharisees there. He says, you search the
scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life. They are
they which testify of me, the scriptures. Now what scriptures
was he talking about? He's talking about the Old Testament. And
he went on to say, he says, now Moses, in whom you trust, will
be your judge. He says, Moses wrote of me. Moses wrote of Christ. And I
could go through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
and show you pictures of Christ, prophecies of Christ, plain statements,
how God saves sinners, not by works, but by grace. Through
the promised Messiah, who would come in time, God in human flesh
walk this earth and Die on the cross for the sins of his people
charged to him accounted to him reckoned to him imputed to him
Go to the grave, but he wasn't going to stay in the grave. That
was not his eternal rest He came out of the grave. He arose from
the grave Why because righteousness had been established by his death
on the cross. He satisfied justice. He put
away our sins He paid our debt in full He finished the work. And He did it all by Himself.
He didn't have your help or my help. He didn't have Moses' help.
It was all by Himself. And that's what we read over
in Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3 when it talks about He purged
our sins. Look at it, it says verse 3,
who being the brightness of His glory. That's who Christ is. He's the brightness, the effulgence. of the glory of God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Spirit, and the express image of His
person, that means He is God, He's God-man, and upholding all
things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself, not with
your help, not with my help, not with anybody's, He had by
Himself, what? Purged our sins, and when He
did, and listen, the purging of sins is a finished work, it's
not a work yet to be done. And it's not conditioned on you,
it's not conditioned on me, it was all conditioned on Christ
and he fulfilled all the conditions. How do you know? Look at the
next line. He sat down on the right hand of the majesty on
high. He finished the work. Now go back to Hebrews 4, that's
what this is talking about. He says, for unto us was the
gospel preached as well as unto them. What gospel's been preached
to us? The gospel of God's free, sovereign
grace. to save us, to justify us, to
forgive us, to keep us, and to bring us to glory, all based
upon one finished work, the obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus
Christ, His very righteousness, imputed, charged, accounted to
us. That's what it is. Now he says in verse two, but
the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith
in them that heard it. There has to be faith. They didn't
have faith. The gospel commands us to rest
from our labors, stop seeking salvation by our works and efforts,
because it's a declaration of the glorious person and finished
work of Christ for us. But God must give faith. Now
hold on to that thought. Now what is faith? Faith is not
a mere hope in the air. It's not wishful thinking. It's
not just a desire. Faith is realized as a center
by God-given faith, and that's what it is. It's the gift of
God. For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
It's that which brings us, God-given means, to bring us to look to
and rest in Christ for all salvation. That's a gift of God. We don't
have that by nature. If we were left to ourselves,
upon our own volition, or as they say today, of our own free
will, if we were left to that, we'd be no different than the
Israelites that came out of Egypt. But hold on to that thought.
Now he says in verse three, he says, for we which have believed
do enter into rest. Now that word rest, and you'll
see as you go down through here, can be called Sabbath. It's a
Sabbath rest. Now he's not talking about a
day here. He's talking about Christ. Who Christ is and what
he accomplished. What he finished. And he said,
we 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.
Every true believer enters into this rest by God-given faith
in Christ. And this rest has regard to a
finished work that secures the eternal salvation, the eternal
rest of some people, but not all. How do you know? Well, he
says, Back up in verse 19 of chapter 3, we see that they could
not enter in because of unbelief. Now, who's the they? That was
the Hebrew children who failed to enter into the promised land.
That was a picture of sinners failing to enter into the rest
of Christ because they don't believe. Now, there's two illustrations
that he gives here that proves what this rest is. And it shows
here, look at verse 4, he says, he first mentions God's rest
in creation. It says in verse 4, for he spoke
in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise and God did
rest the seventh day from all his works and in this place again
he said if they shall enter into my rest. Now that's talking about
creation back in Genesis chapter 1 and 2. It said God finished
the work of creation in six days and then he rested on the seventh.
Now why did God rest? And what does that mean, God?
Does that mean God, is He like us? You know, you go out and
you work a hard day, you come home and you've got to rest because
you're tired. Your physical flesh has give out. And you hope that
night that you'll get a good night's sleep. Is that why God
rested? And the answer is no. God didn't
get tired. He doesn't get tired. Don't reason from the ground
up now. That's what people do. They think God's like us. That's
why people preach false gospels, because they imagine God is one
likened to themselves. And so they reason from the ground
up. The gospel is a revelation from heaven down. It's whatever
God says. He doesn't get tired. He didn't
expend all of his energy. You know why he rested on the
seventh day? Because he finished the work. It's done. No more
to do in creation. God created the heavens and the
earth. God said, let there be light. There was light. God set
the sun and the moon in the heavens. God created all living things.
God created man. And he created woman. And it's
done. So that's what it, God's Sabbath
rest in that sense. He finished the work, there was
no more to be done. And that's what he's talking
about. He rested on the seventh day because his work of creation
was finished. So, in the same way, God the
Son incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ, rested in the seventh
day of time and entered into his rest forever because he finished
the work of what? Of redeeming his people from
their sins. Purge it, he finished it. How do you know he finished
it? Well, he died. And he went into
the grave. And he didn't stay there. He
arose from the dead. Why was he raised from the dead? I'll tell you why. Because he
finished the work. He completed it. Daniel chapter
9 and verse 24 describes it beautifully. He finished the transgression. He made an end of sin. He brought in everlasting righteousness. You see, all the righteousness
that God requires and that we must have in order to be made
right with God is finished by the Lord Jesus Christ in His
obedience unto death. You don't finish it. You don't
seal the deal. Your believing doesn't seal it
or finish it. He finished it and if He finished
it for you and He finished it for me, you'll believe. And He'll
finish that too because Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 2 says,
he's the author and the what? The finisher of our faith. You know if you're a true believer
right now, you're a miracle of God's grace. You didn't pull
yourself up by your bootstraps. You didn't separate yourself
from the crowd of unbelievers. God reached down and grabbed
hold of you. And the Holy Spirit convicted
you of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, and showed you
who finished this thing, who finished this work, and he brought
you by faith to rest in him. Stop working for your salvation. Somebody said, well, aren't there
works to be done? Yes, but not for salvation, not for righteousness. He finished that work. We'll
look on. The next illustration he used
is the Hebrews rest in the promised land. Look at verse four again.
For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise,
God did rest the seventh day from all his works, that's God
in creation. Verse five, and in this place
again, if they shall enter into my rest. Verse six, seeing therefore
it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it
was first preached enter not in because of unbelief. Now the
Hebrews did not enter into the promised land because of unbelief.
Look back at Hebrews three. He speaks there. Verse 15. He says, while it is said today,
if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation.
The provocation was the day when the Hebrew children provoked
God by not believing him. That's unbelief. Do you know that unbelief is
the root of all sin? Do you know that unbelief is
the greatest of all sin? Do you know that unbelief leads
to all other sin? Unbelief, it denies the glory
of God. The glory of God is engaged in
his promise to save sinners through the blood and righteousness of
Christ. If you don't believe that, you're calling God a liar.
That's right. Dishonors every attribute of
his nature, unbelief does. I heard a preacher say one time
that unbelief is the unpardonable sin. You better hope it's not,
because we're all by nature unbelievers. When Paul was walking on the
Damascus Road at the beginning of his journey, he didn't start
out as a believer, did he? Unbelief is not the unpardonable
sin. In fact, there's no such thing. That's not what those
verses teach in Matthew chapter 12. You know what it does teach?
Here's what it teaches. Now listen to, the unpardonable
sin, that was something created by the Catholic Church to scare
the hell out of people. That's what it was given for.
But that's not what it is. You know what that verse in Matthew,
those verses in Matthew, and he talks about the blaspheming
the Holy Spirit and all that? He's simply saying this. that
without Christ, now listen to him, without His blood and His
righteousness, there's no forgiveness for anybody for any sin. The Bible tells us that the blood
of Jesus Christ brings His people forgiveness of all sin. That
doesn't give us an excuse for sin. But without Christ, There's
no possibility of forgiveness of any sin. I don't care what
it is. But I'll tell you what, in Christ, there is forgiveness. There is pardon. There is grace,
mercy for sinners in Christ. That's what that's talking about.
Well, look here, this is Hebrews 3. He says in verse 16, for some,
when they had heard, did provoke, when they heard the promise.
Howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. Verse 17,
but with whom was he grieved 40 years? Was it not with them
that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? Remember
how they had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years? Verse
18, and to whom swear he that they should not enter into his
rest, but to them that believe not? You realize that unbelief means that you're a God-hater.
It means that God's oath is engaged against you. That means everything
that God is, is engaged not on your behalf, but against you.
You see, what I want to know is this. You know, the Bible
says, if God be for me, who can be against me? I want to know,
is God for me or against me? Well, how can I know that? Enter
into His rest. If you're in Christ, if you're
pleading His blood and His righteousness alone, I can tell you right now,
according to God's word, He's for you. His oath is engaged
on your behalf, not against you. His nature, His glory, all the
attributes of God's glory, is on your side because that's the
glory of God. Well, verse 19 says, so we see
that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Now again,
as this is applied to the Israel of old, the physical nation,
they couldn't enter in because of their unbelief. As it applies
to spiritual Israel, it's because of God's eternal purpose and
His eternal decree. Look at verse six again. There's
something very interesting in this verse that you need to see.
Not all entered in. But he says in verse 16, therefore
it remaineth that some must enter in. There are some who must enter
in. You know who that is? That's God's elect. Because God
chose them before the foundation of the world and gave them to
Christ. Remember Christ told his disciples when they were
journeying up through Samaria, and he said, I must need to go
through, I must go through Samaria. Why? Because one of his sheep
was there. A Samaritan woman. Somebody who
no Jew, no respectful Jew would even consort with. But God, by
his grace, chose that woman. Just like he chose all his people. Not for anything in us or done
by us, not for any foreseen goodness or decision. It was totally God's
sovereign purpose and will. Christ has some sheep and he's
going to bring them into the fold. How's he going to do it?
Somebody said, well, what can I do? If I'm not one of his sheep? You know what he says about his
sheep? He said, my sheep hear my voice. Isn't that what he said here?
Harden not your hearts. How do people harden their hearts?
They deny what God says or they ignore it. Walk away. You seek the Lord. He said, my
sheep hear my voice and they follow me. Follow him. Enter into his rest. Well, he
says the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
This is God's purpose and decree. You know, in God's mind, it's
always been a done deal. That's the way God is. You say,
well, I can't figure that out. Well, who would expect you to?
You're not God. His ways and His thoughts are
much higher than our ways and our thoughts. This is God's purpose
from the beginning. So he says in verse seven, look
at verse seven of Hebrews four. 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.
And then he goes to verse eight here, he says, for if Jesus,
now Mark read that right. That's talking about Joshua of
old. You remember Joshua fought the
battle of Jericho. He's the one who led the next
generation into the promised land. Jesus is the Greek transliteration
of the Hebrew name Joshua, Yeshua, which means God, our salvation. Well, if Joshua had given them
rest, that is this eternal rest, then would he not afterward have
spoken of another day? Another day. Now, what day is
he talking about? The day of the Lord. How do you
know that? Alright, look at verse 9. He
says, There remaineth therefore a rest, a Sabbath, to the people
of God." Are we Sabbath keepers? Yes, but not like the world thinks. You see, the Sabbath that he's
talking about here is not a day. You know, they had many Sabbaths
under the Old Covenant. They had a Sabbath day, the seventh
day. They had Sabbath years. They had several Sabbaths that
they were to keep as a nation. You remember the Sabbath of Jubilee?
You remember every 49 years, and on the 50th year they were
to rest, and all the lands were to be given back to the people
who originally owned them, and all their debt was to be wiped
out. Boy, wouldn't we like to have a Jubilee now. Do you know
there's no record in the Old Testament of the nation Israel
ever keeping that day? It was there. It was commanded. There's no record in the Old
Testament of them ever doing that. I wonder why. Maybe it's due to the selfishness
of man. That's what would happen. And
that was one of God's ways of enabling them to keep that land
and not lose it completely. Those were all Sabbaths. What
were they? They were all pictures and types
and foreshadowings of our eternal rest in the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the believer's Sabbath. Now, I know people don't like
to have their sacred cows kicked, but I got
news for you. Sunday is not our Sabbath. Sunday's
not the Christian Sabbath. I don't care what the Westminster
and the London Confession says. I don't care. Our Sabbath's not
a day. Now, does that mean that we don't
meet on, no, Sunday's the Lord's day. It's a special day. We're
to meet on the first day of the week. You notice that you have
seven days and this is the eighth day? You can look at it that
way. What's the number eight? In the
Bible, it's the day of new beginnings. The Hebrew children, the males,
were circumcised on the eighth day. That pictured regeneration
and conversion. When God, the Holy Spirit, gives
you spiritual life, that's a new beginning for you, isn't it?
Some say, well, this is the day on which Christ rose from the
dead. Okay. Whatever day it was. We celebrate that every day,
don't we? Somebody asked me, he said, do you have your Easter
message ready? I said, every Sunday. Every Sunday. We celebrate the resurrection.
We preach his righteousness. That's his resurrection. So Sunday's
the Lord's day. Every day's the Lord's day, but
this is a special day. We're meet together. That's what
we're to do. We're commanded to do that in
the New Testament. But our Sabbath, our rest, is Christ, a person,
who finished the work. Now how do I know that? Look
at verse 10. Look at, for he that is entered into, there it
is, his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works as God did
from his." Listen, Christ ceased from his
work of redeeming his people in the exact same way that God
ceased from his labor and creation. He finished it fully, completely,
perfectly. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified, Hebrews 10, 14. Christ finished
the work of redemption. He paid our debt in full. He
put away our sins. He established all the righteousness
that God requires of His people. It's done. The gospel's not do
and live. The gospel's live and do. The
gospel is not a work that you need to do or decide upon. It's
a work done, which will bring you to look to Christ. There's
no more work to be done. Christ said that in his high
priestly prayer back in John chapter 17. He was speaking here
in anticipation of the cross. He'd come to go to the cross,
to die on the cross, to be buried, to be raised again the third
day. And he says in John 17 1, these words spoke Jesus, lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come Glorify
thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee, as thou hast given
him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent." Verse four, listen to it, "'I have glorified
thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
you gave me to do.'" His own glorification, listen,
His own resurrection from the dead, His own glorification,
His own ascension unto the Father was because He finished the work
that God gave Him to do for His people. And what was that? To
bring forth an everlasting righteousness of infinite value whereby God
could be just to justify His people. That's what He did. So He says in Hebrews chapter
Four, verse 11, let us labor therefore to enter into that
rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Now I'm going to deal with that next week in more detail, this
laboring. But he's not talking about working
for your salvation when he says labor. In fact, Christ, his command
to his people in Matthew 11 is, come unto me all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest." That's the eternal
rest that we find in Him. It is a labor, and I'm going
to talk to you about what kind of labor it is. It's a labor
that God gives us. It's a labor that God brings
us to. It's a diligence is what he's talking about. Again, he's
not talking about, now you start working for your salvation. The
moment you start working for your salvation, you've not entered
into His rest, you've hardened your heart. But there is a labor We're brought
by God to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works. And
we rest in Him. Have you rested in Him? That's
the question. Because if you hadn't, you need
to seek the Lord. You need to look to Christ as
the author and the finisher of your faith. Look unto me and
be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, saith the Lord. All right.