Let's open our Bibles again to
Hebrews chapter 4. We're entitled to the message
this morning, faith and rest. The only way for us to have rest
for our soul and peace in the heart, there's just one way to
have it. It's faith in Christ. If we believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, we have complete rest. If we believe Him, we have rest
from working to earn our salvation. because we believe He did it
for us. We believe Christ, we have rest from fear of death,
rest from fear of judgment, because Christ was already judged and
condemned for us in our place. But if we're here this morning
without faith in Christ, there's no rest, no rest for our souls. Anybody that tells you there's
peace for your heart, peace for your soul, without faith in Christ
is crying, peace, peace, where there is no peace. We have no
faith in Christ, there's only fear. Look here at verse one.
Let us therefore fear. That's the promise being left
us of entering into his rest. Any of you should seem to come
short of it. Now we shouldn't be afraid of
anything ever, ever, if we have faith in Christ. The writer here
calls it his rest. It's his rest, his rest that
he's earned for himself and for his people. We shouldn't be afraid
of anything. We have rest and peace if we
believe Christ. But we should be afraid. We should
be mortally afraid if we do not have faith in Christ, if we don't
believe Him. We ought to fear. Every one of us here ought to
fear missing Christ. Because there's no salvation
without Him. Christ is that one thing needful. We're told to
make our calling and our election sure because Christ is too important
to miss. We should fear appearing before
God in our own works. We should fear that because we'll
never be accepted in our rags of righteousness. It's not for
God we want. We've got to have the perfect wedding garment of
Christ's righteousness if we'd be accepted. Without faith in
Christ, we will come short of this rest. For the same reason
the Jews who died in the wilderness and came short of the promised
land, they died short of it, never entered into it. Why not? Because of unbelief. Because
they did not trust God to do what he said he'd do. And if
you and I come short of this rest in Christ, there's just
one reason for it. Just one reason. Unbelief. Because we don't trust
God to do what he said he'd do. The word short is the same word
found in Romans 3 23. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. That word short means lacking,
but it doesn't mean like I'm lacking just a little bit. The
word also means destitute. It means empty by nature. That's what we've come short
of the glory of God because we're destitute of righteousness. We're
empty of any righteousness, any good deeds at all before God.
Well, the same thing applies to this rest. Without faith in
Christ, we're destitute of rest. There's no rest. There's no peace
outside of faith in Christ. Here's a warning that's applicable
to everybody in this congregation. We ought to fear missing Christ,
appearing before God in our own righteousness. And we should
fear hearing the gospel and not believing it. Verse two. 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
and them that heard it. Now, don't be presumptuous. I
say this to me. I say this to you. Don't be presumptuous.
No one is ever saved because they attend the right church,
because they attend a place where the gospel is preached and they
regularly hear it. Nobody is saved for that, for
that reason. We're not saved. unless we believe the gospel. We must believe on the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We've got to believe in order
to be saved. And the example the writer gives us here is those
old Jews. They heard the gospel. They heard the same gospel that
we hear. That's right. They heard it in
type and in picture and in shadow. Those Jews cut their teeth on
the story of Abraham and Isaac. Substitution, salvation by substitution. They heard how Isaac was spared
because God provided a substitute. That ram caught in the thorn
by his power, in the thicket by his horns. And they heard
the story. Abraham took that ram and he
offered him up in the stead of his son Isaac. Isaac lived because
there was death on that mountain. The substitute died in his place.
They cut their teeth on that. These were the people that observed
the very first Passover. They took that lamb and they
watched it, made sure it was perfect, without blemish. They
took it, killed it, slit its throat, caught its blood in a
basin. They roasted its body, the head and its legs and the
pertinence thereof. They roasted it in fire. They put the blood
on the door and went inside and ate that Passover. They ate that
lamb with the bitter herbs, unleavened bread, with their shoes on their
feet, their staff in their hand. I'm leaving this place. I'm ready
to go. They observed the very first Passover, which pictured
Christ our sacrifice, Christ our Passover, sacrifice for us.
When I see the blood of Christ, I'll pass over you. They were
actually deliberate from Egypt. They spent their lifetime and
their ancestors' lifetime in bondage and slavery in Egypt,
and they walked out of that place rich. They spoiled the country
because the Egyptians were just giving them stuff to get them
to leave faster. They did that. And that's a picture
of Christ delivering his people from the bondage to sin to go
out to freedom and healing. They saw the tabernacle. We've
studied the tabernacle here. We've studied it in our classes
here and in the Bible school classes and Sunday school classes.
They saw that tabernacle. They watched Moses raise it up.
The tabernacle is one of the most clear pictures of Christ.
There he is. They didn't see him. They heard
it, they had the picture, but they didn't see it. They had
the sacrifices. They watched the day every single
day, morning, noon, and evening, they had sacrifices. They all
watched those sacrifices on the day of atonement. They knew this
is an important day, and they watched those sacrifices. They
watched the sin being transferred to the scapegoat, and the scapegoat
being led out into a land uninhabited. They watched the high priest
symbolically transferring their sin, to the head of that sin
offering. And they watched that sin offering
be sacrificed, be killed and put to death for their sin. All
those things were the preaching of the gospel in type and picture
and shadow. But that preaching, they had
Moses. All that preaching didn't do
them any good because it wasn't mixed with faith when they heard
it. They didn't see Christ in all those pictures. So they never
found rest for their souls because they didn't believe Christ. They
never could get past just going through the ceremonies and thinking
those ceremonies was their salvation. Well, they couldn't rest because
they always had to do the next ceremony. They always had to offer the
next sacrifice, didn't they? The gospel was preached to them.
The gospel has been preached to us. Brethren, we should fear,
fear, hearing the gospel and not believing it. We ought to
live in fear of that. God give me faith to believe
that we've heard the gospel preached much more clearly than they did
at all. We've had the gospel preached
after Christ came, after he fully accomplished salvation. We've
had the gospel preached after Christ fulfilled all those pictures,
all those types, all the prophecies of the Messiah. He came and fulfilled
them all. And now we've got that gospel
preached to us so clearly. They just had the picture presented
to them. We've had the person presented to us. So we ought
to fear not believing the gospel. Because if we don't, we've sinned
against a greater light and more clear revelation than they did.
So in order to be saved, in order to have this rest, we must have
saving faith. All right? What is saving faith? What is it? Is it a pie-in-the-sky
theory? What is saving faith? Well, let
me give you a few things here. Number one, saving faith is believing
the gospel. It's just believing the gospel
that declares salvation in Christ. Saving faith believes what the
natural mind cannot comprehend. It's just much less believe,
it's just saving faith believes it. The gospel says God elected
a people in his son to save before the foundation of the world.
Christ stood as surety for those people. He said, Father, I'll
take them. I'll redeem them. I'll bring
every last one of them home to be with you. And the father has
eternally seen those people as saved. He's eternally seen those
people as justified and cleansed and forgiven and accepted. in
Christ, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. This
thing is done in eternity. Look at verse three. Let me show
you that. For we, which have believed to enter into rest,
as he said, as I've sworn in my wrath, if they shall not enter
into my rest, then I don't know why they don't have the word
not in there, but that's the exact quotation. You can look
it up, but here's the one I want to see. Although the works were
finished from the foundation of the world, See, that salvation
was accomplished in eternity. The work has always been done.
We kind of try to pick and say this happened at a point of time,
you know, in eternity. Well, there's no time with God.
This is just eternally being. The work has been eternally finished
in the purpose, mind of Almighty God. God promised it. Brethren, the work was eternal. Salvation is eternal because
the promise of God is just as sure as the act of God. Now I
love this, I find such comfort and assurance in this. Salvation,
my obtaining of it, my keeping of it, it's got nothing to do
with me. Nothing. It's all God. God's will reigns
supreme. Whatever it is that God's willed
to do in eternity is done. It is done. You notice I didn't
say it will be done. It is done. Paul told us in the
book of Romans that God elected a people to save. That salvation
is so sure. Paul said those people that God
elected, those people that God predestinated to be conformed
to the image of his son are already glorified. That's how sure it
is. I can't lose it. This is God's
eternal will and purpose. Now Christ came in human time.
And he accomplished, he came to do a job and he accomplished
everything God purposed to do in eternity. This is God's eternal
purpose. The work's been done from the
foundation of the world. Christ just came to let you and
me in on it. That's all he came for. He came to accomplish what
God, what God purposed to do. He came to be the representative
of his people. His people are lost in sin. They
cannot and will not keep God's law. So Christ came and he kept
it. for his people as their representative.
He obeyed the law perfectly to his people, for his people. And
he gave that obedience to them. That's how they were made righteous. See, this thing of the gospel
is done in representation. God only ever sees the whole
human race in two men, two representative men. God's people and all of
the human race were made sinners through the disobedience of Adam.
God's elect are made righteous through the obedience of Christ
the second. That's why he came as the representative
of his people. And when he fully accomplished
obeying the law, honoring and magnifying God's law, he kept
it so perfectly, he magnified and honored God's law. Then he
went to the garden and he took all of the seed away from his
people and he took it into himself. He was made sin for his people. I'll tell you one thing that
I'm sick and tired of. I'm just sick and tired of it.
People caviling with the gospel. I'm sick and tired of it. Christ
was made sin. Nobody in their right mind ever
thinks Christ was made a sinner. Nobody ever thinks he sinned.
Of course not. He was made something worse.
He was made sin. He was made the sin of his people.
That awful, horrible, dark, black load. He was made sin. And the father poured out his
wrath upon his son. He took the sin of his people
in his own body on the tree. And the father poured out his
wrath on that body, on that soul, on that man, our substitute,
and he died. The blood of his sacrifice washed
away all that horrible black mountain of sin and put it away. That's how he perfected his people.
Made them, he took their sin away from them, put it away.
How righteous did he make them? I mean, you know, there's no
degrees of righteousness. Either are or ain't. One or the
other. He made them perfectly righteous. He made his people
the righteousness of God. And to prove He did it, as evidence
to you and me to remove all fear, to give us rest, He rose from
the grave as the evidence that His death justified His people.
And He sent it back. The Father accepted Him. Sent
it back to glory. What a homecoming that was. And
the Savior appeared again in heaven. And the Father said,
sit here on my right hand. Do not make your enemies your
footstool. And he sits there on the throne of glory, ruling
and reigning over all. One purpose, to do what he promised
to do. Bring all his people home to
glory, to be with him forever. And in the meantime, he sends
out his preachers to preach the gospel. Going to all the world
and preaching this gospel. And whoever believes it is baptized
and saved. It's not up to the preacher to
do it. It's not up to the preacher to accomplish this. God, the
Holy Spirit comes and gives faith. He mixes faith in what's heard
with God's people. He gives them faith to believe
it. And the Savior shepherds his people all the days of their
life. He feeds them. He waters them. He protects them.
He comforts them. He brings them through every
trial, every storm, every trouble, and brings them all the way to
glory. Oh, what a wonderful gospel story. What a gospel We have
to preach and believe. Isn't that wonderful? I mean, I just love that. But
that's just a warm, fuzzy story. That's all it is. Unless we believe
Christ. That's all it is. Let's all pray
that God will grant us the faith to believe this gospel when we
hear it preached. Because he's the only one who
can give it. All right, second, faith. Faith is based solely
upon the word of God. Saving faith does not trust religious
feelings. Saving faith doesn't trust in
God's blessings. I think, well, God's pleased
with me now because he's blessing me. God's mad at me now because
he's not blessing me. No. Saving faith has nothing
to do with the circumstances of this life, whether God's blessing
us or whether he's trying us. Faith is not based upon that.
Faith is not based upon our experiences, our religious experiences. You
know, I hear some of those old stories that that Henry would
tell about all these, when the gospel in the 50s and 60s, the
things that was going on, how the gospel is just going out
in this country. I think, oh man, I'd like to experience some
of that. I'd like to see some of that. But you know what? It
wouldn't improve our faith one way. The saving faith is not
based on experiences. We show you that in 2 Peter 1.
Saving faith is solely based upon the Word of God. Now, God blesses His people. God, you know, the worship of
the Lord, it involves our emotions, doesn't it? It involves thanksgiving.
It involves joy and praise in the heart. It involves a feeling
of such humility before the Lord. But we have those feelings and
God blesses His people with them. I remember Brother Donnie Bell
saying one time, I was a young man, and he said, salvation is
a whole lot more experience. He said, but it sure is an experience,
isn't it? You have those things. But we're saving faith founded
upon. Where's its foundation? 1 Peter
1, verse 16. We've not followed cunningly
devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the
Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from
the excellent glory, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well
pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven, we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount. Peter
there is talking about the Mount of Transfiguration. They saw
the Savior transfigured. They saw his glory shine forth
as the Son. They saw the Father. They heard
the Father speak from heaven. They saw Moses and Elijah appear
there with him, talking about the death that he would accomplish
in Jerusalem. He saw all these things. All
right, verse 19, look what he says. We have also a more sure
word of prophecy. Peter said, yes, I saw that. But tell you what, brethren,
don't you desire to see it? I'd trade seeing that for the
word of God. I really would. Look what he
said. We have a more sure word of prophecy, more sure than that
vision. Where into you do well that you
take heed as into a light that shineth in a dark place until
the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts, knowing
this first. that no prophecy of the scripture
is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. This is the very word of Almighty
God to me. Saving faith believes it. Saving
faith is found solely upon what we read in the word of God. Now
back to the children of Israel. They didn't have all the written
word we had, do they? No. But they had the spoken word.
They had the promise of God. And if they would have believed
that word, they would have entered into the promised land. If you
and I believe the word of God, which reveals Christ the Savior,
we will enter the promised land. We'll enter rest for our souls.
See, the reason that we believe what we believe, why don't you
children listen to this now. Remember, remember what I'm telling
you. The reason we believe what we believe here, the reason we
teach you what we teach you in the classes and out here, is
different. It's different from what you
see in the world, different from what your friends, you know,
talk about when they talk about going to church. The reason we
believe what we believe, the reason we preach what we preach,
the reason we teach you what we teach you, is we believe the
Word of God. We teach the line upon line,
precept upon precept, everything in it. And like I said in the
class this morning, we don't pick and choose what we believe.
Well, I believe this, but not this. No, whatever it is God
says in his word, faith believes it. Even when I don't understand,
I just believe it because God said it. This is the word of
God. So our faith is solely based upon the word of God. And thirdly,
there's just one object of faith, the living word. Christ the Living
Word. Faith trusts Christ. Period. Trust Him. We trust Christ to
be all of our righteousness. His obedience is enough to make
me righteous. We trust Christ for the forgiveness
of sin. His death is enough for God to
say my sin's forgiven. His blood's enough to cleanse
me from my sin. Christ is enough to make me accepted
before the Father. Saving faith solely trusts Christ
alone. So like Peter told us about seeing
the miracles and the signs and the wonders, saving faith really
isn't interested in seeing those things. Saving faith doesn't
need to see a miracle. It doesn't need to see a sign,
doesn't need to see a wonder. And you know what wouldn't do
us any good if we did? You think of the wonders the children of
Israel saw. They saw Moses take a stick and
smite the Red Sea, and they saw water stained up his wall. They
saw that. After they saw that, they said,
God can't give us more. Saving faith's not interested
in seeing miracles and signs and wonders. Saving faith's got
one interest. Give me Christ or else I die.
Let me see him. God, let me see him. Just give
me a glimpse of him. I must have him. I must have
him. The person with saving faith
is not interested in going to heaven and not going to hell.
Now, I don't want to go to hell. I don't. Saving faith is interested
in knowing Christ. It's not that I want to go to
heaven. I want to know Him. I want to be with Him. I want
to be made like Him. That's saving faith. Saving faith
looks only to Christ for everything. from beginning to end, salvation's
Christ. I believe Him. He's my sole object
of trust and faith. All right, here's the fourth
thing about faith. Look at Colossians chapter one.
Saving faith never quits. Never quits. Colossians chapter one. Verse
23, if you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the
gospel, which you've heard, and which was preached to every creature,
which is under heaven, where have I, Paul, have made a minister? Saving faith continues. Grounded
and settled right where it was first planted, on Christ. Now,
the writer of the Hebrews is using Israel is an illustration. Well, Israel started out good,
didn't they? They started out in Egypt, crying to God. They
called to the right place. Moses came. They followed Moses.
They followed God's servant, his prophet. They followed him
out of Egypt. They trusted the Lord. But as soon as the way
became hard, they quit trusting. Those trials revealed they didn't
have true faith because they quit when the way got hard. They
quit trusting Christ the moment they needed Him the most. They
quit when they didn't understand what God was doing. And that
was the very moment they needed to trust Him the most. They quit,
didn't they? Saving faith won't quit. Saving
faith won't quit in times of trial, in times of trouble. It
continues. It just continues and continues
and continues over the long haul. until we join those brethren,
Hebrews chapter 11. These all died in faith. Saving
faith believes God no matter what happens, even in things
most painful to this flesh. I thought about the things that
would be the most painful to me. Whatever it is that would
be most painful to you, you fill in the blank. I don't even know if I can say
them, they're so painful. I thought, what would happen
if the Lord just suddenly took James away? That would be so
painful to me. Oh, that would be so painful. I don't even like to think about
it being so painful. What happened? What would happen
if God doesn't save my children? That's so painful. I don't know. I mean, the answer is I just
don't know. God does not give account of His matters to us.
And this is all I can say about that. It would be my prayer that
God give me faith. Faith, to say with Eli, mean
it. It's the Lord. God give me the same faith as
Job did. To say it, mean it. The Lord
gave. The Lord took away. Blessed be
the name of the Lord. God does not quit being worthy
of my trust when his will is contrary to mine. Did you get
that? God doesn't quit being worthy
of my trust if his will is contrary to mine. I'm not God. He is. And the sooner we learn that,
the happier we'll be. That's right. Saving faith never
quits. All right, that's something about
faith. But remember the titles, faith and rest. But what about
resting? I'm interested in rest for my
soul, aren't you? I need it, do you need it? Saving
faith produces rest for the soul. And a writer gives us three examples,
three words of encouragement here. Number one, faith gives
rest from our works of religion. Here in verse three, he says,
for we which have believed do enter into rest. As he said,
as I've sworn of my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest,
although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
I touched on this a minute ago. The works of salvation were finished
before God ever created anything. They're eternal. They don't have
a beginning. They won't have an ending. Now, Christ came in
time and actually did the work that was necessary. The sacrifice
had to be offered. The law had to be obeyed. He
came and did it. And the work of salvation is
finished. Completed and done. And our Savior
cried, it is finished for the peace of our hearts. So we know
it's finished and we rest in Him. The work of redemption had
been finished for a long time. Long time. Finished eternity. It was, I guess the best word
I can think of, ratified 2,000 years ago in the blood of Christ
at the cross. It had been finished a long time. Rest from all your works of religion.
Quit trying to make yourself righteous by your obedience and
rest in Christ. Quit trying to save yourself
all your religious works and all your moral life and rest,
rest in Christ. Now, by no means does that mean
that the believer does nothing. A believer, someone who really
believes Christ is very active. It's serving the Lord. We rest,
but we're very active. Our rest is complete, but we're
very active. But now it's a service out of
love and thanksgiving. Not because we're trying to earn
anything from the Savior, but we serve him out of love and
thanksgiving. We serve him out of care for
others, that others would hear the gospel. The believer's prayer
is, Lord, use me in your service. Use me in your kingdom. Help
me spread your gospel. Let me help your people. I think
about Brother Cody Groover. In his home and in our home,
every time I ever heard the man pray, before we sat down to eat,
every single time, without exception, he prayed, Lord, use us in your
service. The Lord used him in his service,
didn't he? Is there a connection between prayer and service there?
This is the believer's prayer. And the believer, when God gives
us opportunity, works, works like it all depends upon me.
But rest in Christ who did it all. Does that make sense? I work hard in preaching. I work
hard in preaching and studying and preaching. I work hard like
the salvation of your souls and the feeding of your souls, the
comfort of your heart depends upon me, knowing it doesn't. but resting entirely on Christ
to make it effectual. I do my best, really, because
God's glory deserves at least that, more than that. But I trust
God who giveth the increase. Now just apply that to everything
you do. Everything. You're praying, you're teaching,
you're witnessing, you're helping, you're giving, you're going to
work, you're coming home, how you live with your family life. Apply it to everything. knowing
it's not your goodness, it's his. It's not your power, it's
his. Work, resting on the Lord, relying
on the Lord to make it effectual, not because you're trying to
earn something from it. All right, number two, faith gives rest
from the works of the law. Verse four, 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. In this place again,
if they shall enter, into my rest." Now, this is talking about
the law of the Sabbath. On Saturday, seventh day of the
week, the people were to do no work at all. And this was serious
business. If somebody did too much work,
if they picked up too many sticks or took too many steps, they
were to be put to death. It was serious business. Now,
that was given as a picture of rest in Christ. We rest because
He already finished all the work. There's no more need for our
work to be added to it. That Sabbath was done away, just
like all the law, all the ceremonies was done away in Christ. But
you know what? Believers still keep the Sabbath.
That's right. If you have faith in Christ,
you're a Sabbath keeper. But our Sabbath is not a day. Our
rest is not a day. Our rest is a person, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Anyone who believes Christ has
rest for their soul. because you don't have to do
work to add to his to make salvation effectual for you. He did it
all, so you just rest in him. And buddy, you can rest in a
job well done. Verse 10, for he that has entered
into his rest, into Christ's rest, hath also ceased from his
own works as God did from his. Now we looked at the story of
creation to begin the service. God created the world in six
days On the seventh day, he rested. God didn't rest because he was
tired. He rested because the work was all done. And when God
looked at it, when God looked at everything he created, he
says, perfect. It was all very good. Very good. Well, that's the work of creation.
The work of salvation is the same way. The Lord Jesus Christ
has finished the work of redemption. That's why he sat down in glory.
He didn't sit down because he was tired. He sat down because
there's no more work left to do. And it's a job well done. It's a perfect work. It can never
fail. Now just rest. Just rest. Quit trying to earn God's favor
from all your religious doings. And just rest in Christ. He's
already finished it. You're complete in Him. Now rest. And keep believing Christ. Rest
in Christ and continue to serve Him. God rested from His work
of creation, didn't He? On the seventh day, He rested.
But now, He didn't rest from His works of providence. Thankfully,
He didn't rest from His works of salvation. So this is what
I'm telling you, believer, those who have faith in Christ, you
rest from all your works of righteousness. You rest from trying to make
God happy with you and just rest in Christ. Quit your works of
righteousness, trying to please God. Quit and start serving God
out of love and thanksgiving. Keep doing whatever it is you
can do to support the gospel. Because bless your heart, somebody's
going to believe it. I know many people hear it and
it won't be mixed with faith. It won't profit them. But somebody's
going to hear it and enter into Christ. Look what he says in
verse 6. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter
in. Somebody's going to believe Christ.
Somebody's going to enter into rest in Him. They must. Because
the other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also
I must bring. I must bring them in. Will there
be one foal and one shepherd? They must enter in because the
Father purposed them to enter in. He purposed their salvation.
The Son purchased it with His precious blood and the Holy Spirit
will apply. They must be given life. They
must be given faith. They must enter in to this rest. Here's the warning we looked
at last week. He gives it to us again. Many are going to hear
the gospel. Many will hear the gospel of
Christ, but they won't have rest because they won't believe. Brethren,
today is the day of salvation. Today is the day of the gospel
The gospel is being preached, believe Christ now. Not, when we say believe Christ
today, I don't mean this afternoon. I mean right now, where you sit. Believe Christ. You'll have rest
for your soul today. See what he says in verse six?
Some must enter in, and they to whom it was first preached
entered not in because of unbelief. So again, he limiteth a certain
day, saying in David, today. After so long a time, as it is
said today, if you'll hear His voice. Harden not your heart
and believe Him, and you'll have rest for your soul. All right,
here's the third thing about rest. Faith gives us rest in
Christ. Our rest is a person. You come
to Christ and you believe a person. Faith is in Christ. Faith is
the sole object of faith is a person. Well, our rest is found in the
same person. Christ is our rest. Verse 8. For if Jesus, and that
is Joshua, I don't know why they translated that Jesus, but Jesus
is the Old or the New Testament name for Joshua. He's speaking
here of Joshua in the Old Testament. 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. Joshua led
the children of Israel into the promised Moses couldn't lead
the people in because Moses represented the law. There's no rest in the
law. You'll never find rest for your soul through the deeds of
the law. Joshua led the people into the promised land because
Joshua is a picture of Christ. He's a picture of Christ who
gives his people spiritual rest. Now, rest on this earth is not
a place. You know, God's eternal purpose
of rest was not the land of Canaan, was it? No, it couldn't be. The
rest God promises people is not Canaan. If that were the case,
when they got there, they would have quit observing the Sabbath
day, wouldn't they? Because they'd have had the rest God promised.
But even in the promised land, the land of rest, the land of
flowing milk and honey, every seventh day they observed the
Sabbath day. To keep reminding them, every
seven days they were reminded, we're still looking for the one
who's going to come and give us spiritual rest for our souls.
And Christ is that rest for His people. The reason for our rest,
the reason for our peace is Christ. And we who believe Him have rest
for our souls right now. This is a present rest. It's
to be able to rest even in the midst of a storm. It's to be
able to rest even when we don't understand Him. It's to be able
to rest even while we're serving Him. We have rest from that awful
burden of trying to earn salvation by keeping the law. We have rest
from having to do everything that religion, the burden that
religion lays upon men and women. We have rest in that, rest from
that in Christ who already finished the work. We have peace and rest
in Christ because he did a perfect, complete job. Now, here's a word
of admonition to us. Now labor to enter into that
rest. Labor to enter into Christ and
rest in him. Verse 11, let us labor therefore
to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example
of unbelief. Work at resting? Doesn't resting just come naturally?
Well, physically it does, yes. but spiritually it does not.
The law demanded the people rest on the Sabbath day, didn't it?
And the law had to threaten them with death if they didn't. You
ever wonder why did the law demand that? Wouldn't the people just
gladly take a day off? Yeah, yeah, they gladly take
a day off from having to go work, but they would not take a day
off from working to please God. They wouldn't take a day off
from trying to earn their salvation by all the law and all the ceremonies
that they had. They did want a day off, but
they didn't want to spend that day thinking on the Lord. That's
what God told them to do on a Saturday. Just rest and think on the Lord.
Well, I don't want to do that. I mean, that's just grievous.
And they made up, they ended up making a work out of resting.
They had to force themselves to not do work one day a week
because they couldn't make themselves rest in Christ that day or any
other day. And God gave the Sabbath to constantly
remind them, you don't have that rest. The only place it's found
is not in observing the ceremonies. It's by faith in Christ. Now
look to Him. Rest in Him. And the same thing
is still true today. By nature, people who are lazy
and want a free lunch, want the government to provide everything
for them without working or paying into it, they still demand to
be able to work during their salvation from God. Isn't that
backwards? They don't go and work a job
to pay for their food and their housing and their clothing, but
they insist on working for salvation from God. That's our nature. Now, I know this. I know. I look into your faces every
week. Oh, how I want you to know Christ. I look into your faces
every week and I know there's some who are trying to believe. Let me ask you a question. I
know this about you. I know that you would do anything
to be saved. Right? You'd do anything. to no good. Here's the question. Will you do nothing? Are you willing to have it freely?
Are you willing to have it without cost? Are you willing to have
Christ to do all the work for you? If you are, that's faith. Now rest in Him. Work hard to
quit working and rest in Christ. In this life, This labor, this
rest is always going to be labor. Faith in Christ is not a passive
thing. Faith is living and actively
looking to Christ. It's actively seeking Him. It's
actively trusting Him. Work hard to quit trusting in
your religious works. Rest in Christ. Work hard at
getting them grave clothes off. Just work hard at getting them
off. Because you know what that old man does? He's constantly
putting them back on. And you constantly got to be
taking them off. Work hard at getting those things off and
rest. Constantly lay aside the sin
that does so easily beset us. Sin is unbelief. Constantly lay
it aside and believe Christ. Make it your business to seek service. Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for your work, how we thank you for this sweet promise of rest
in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is all of our salvation. Father,
I pray that you give every heart here this morning faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, that we'd see that we'd see him as our
all and in all and cause us to have this sweet rest in Christ
our Savior. It's in his matchless name we
pray and give thanks.