Hebrews chapter 4, and let's
begin reading in verse 9. Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 9. We'll read the remainder of that
chapter. We're not going to get that far, but we'll read the
remainder of that chapter. Verse 9 of Hebrews chapter 4,
There remaineth therefore 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. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief. For the word of God is quick
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the
joints and myrrh, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and
open in the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then
that we have a great high priest that is fastened to the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession But
we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the fillings
of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted, like as we
are, yet without sin. Let us, therefore, come boldly
to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in the time of need." We've been studying here
in this fourth chapter about the different kinds of rest. We look there in verse 4, the
rest of creation. When God had finished His creation,
He rested, not because He was fatigued, but because He was
finished. And He sanctified the Sabbath
day, called it a Sabbath day, that is what that Sabbath day
is, a rest, and He sanctified it and nobody kept that day holy. From then all the way up until
the time the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt
and was out in the desert, And then the Lord revealed to Moses
His Sabbath day. We have no record of anybody
ever keeping the Sabbath day holy until God revealed it to
the children of Israel and told them to keep the Sabbath day
holy and they rested the Sabbath day. It began on a Friday afternoon
and ended on a Saturday afternoon. That is the rest He was talking
about there in verse 4. And then we have the Canaan rest,
the rest of Canaan there in verse 8. He says if Joshua had given
them rest, then he would not have afterwards spoken of another
day. So the promise of rest of Canaan,
they did rest in a sense when they entered that land, when
they obtained that promise. That was a rest. We've obtained
this land. Now we can rest. We're not out
in the wilderness running around like our parents did. We're here
in the land of promise. God has made good His promise.
So that was a rest. But then, this fourth chapter
here, this writer tells us there was another rest. He said David,
King David, who lived long after the creation of the world, the
seventh day, and long after the children of Israel received the
seventh-day Sabbath, David spoke of another rest. See what he
says there in verse 8? For if Joshua had given them
rest, then would David not afterwards have spoken of another day and
another rest that had nothing to do with the seventh-day Sabbath
or the entering into the land of Canaan. So therefore, he says
there in our text, therefore there remains a rest for the
people of God, another rest. It's another kind of rest. that
had nothing to do with the seventh day sabbath or entering into
the land of Canaan. And then he says there in verse
12, And he that hath entered into his rest, he hath ceased
from his own works, as God did from his. Now his rest, that's
speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's his rest. He has entered
into his rest. Several times the book of Hebrews,
the Lord Jesus Christ is depicted as sitting. He's sitting. There's two reasons that we sit.
One reason we sit is because we're tired. We're fatigued. We've got to sit down and rest.
Remember when the Lord Jesus grew weary in His journey and
He sat down and rested on Jacob's well? But another reason that
we rest is because the work is done. The work is finished. And that's the rest that Jesus
Christ has entered into, His finished rest. He's finished
His work. Listen to some of these passages
that the Lord Jesus mentioned Himself. In John chapter 4 and
verse 34, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me and
to finish His work. The Father sent Him to finish
a work, to accomplish a task. He said in John 5.36, I have
greater witness than that of John for the works which the
Father hath sent me to finish, the same works bear witness of
me that God hath sent me. Two times the Lord Jesus made
this statement, it's finished. The first time he made that statement
was in John 17 when he was praying to the Father. And he said, Father,
I finished the work that you gave me to do. What work was
that? It was his earthly ministry.
He went about doing good and healing all that was oppressed
of the devil. God sent him to do that. You
know his death is important, but you know his life is important
too. The law of God required some man, some fit man, to live
a holy, obedient life unto God. And when the Lord Jesus came
from His mother's womb until He finished His ministry, I tell
you what, nobody could find any fault with His ministry. And
even the Father who knew Him well and watched over Him said,
ìThis is My beloved Son. In Him I am well pleased.î And
He said, ìFather, Iíve finished that.î Now let me ask you this
question. Could anybody go back and follow
him through his ministry and say, wait, you like this. Wait,
you didn't do that well enough. Wait, you omitted this. Wait,
you done that. Nothing can be. He said, Father,
everything you've sent me to do, going about doing good to
the souls of men, loving the poor souls of men, healing those
that are oppressed of the devil, I've finished it. I've finished
it. I've done it. He accomplished
that work, and I'm telling you, there's nothing nobody can add
to that. If it's finished, it's finished, isn't it? Greg does a lot of work on his
guitars, and he's got a beautiful guitar that he made, and it sounds
great and looks beautiful. Wouldn't he be somewhat offended
if he brought that to somebody like me, and I said, Greg, right
here, I need to put this little touch on that. I see this little
thing that I need to do, and then this will be a real guitar.
You know what Greg would say to me and what he should say
to me? Keep your lousy hands off of that. That's finished.
I did that. And that's what Christ did. He
finished the ministry that God sent him to do. And something
else, the second time when he prayed that, remember the second
time he prayed that? It was upon the cross of Calvary. Remember that? Boy, he hanged
there red in his blood. Those black locks was mixed with
dried sweat and blood running down His face. He was a bloody
piece of meat hanging there upon the cross. And the Bible says
His vestige was so marred more than any man. You wouldn't have
recognized Him. The swelling, the bruises, the
bleeding. What was He doing? He was atoning
for sin. He was suffering for sin. There
was a transfer of sins from every elect person to the soul and
body of Jesus Christ. He bore those sins in His own
body upon the tree. He suffered the judgment that
belonged to those sins. He accomplished everything that
was required to redeem His people. The Bible says He accomplished
our redemption. And what did He say just before
He breathed out His last breath? It's finished. It's finished. And then what did He do? He rested. He rested. How many times do
we read in this epistle that Jesus Christ is seated on the
right hand of the Majesty on high? And what's He doing there
seated? He's resting. Why? Because the
work has been finished. He is resting. He is resting. When He had by Himself purged
our sins, He sat down on the right hand of God. And chapter
10 says almost the same thing. Those priests stand daily. They
stand ministering and often offering at all times the same sacrifices
that can never take away sin. That is why they keep standing.
That is why their work is never done. But this man, when he had
offered one sacrifice for sins forever, he sat down on the right
hand of God. And what does the Bible in Hebrews
chapter 12 verse 2 tell us to do? Look unto Jesus. who for
the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despised the
shame, and is set down on the right hand of God. Of the things
which we've spoken, this is the sum. We have such a high priest
who is set on the right hand of the majesty in the heaven.
And what did the Father say to him? My son, sit down. Your work
is finished. And I tell you, God would have
never said that if the work hadn't have actually been finished.
When Jesus Christ sat down on His Father's right hand, He entered
into rest. And that's what this verse here
is talking about. He that hath entered unto His
rest, His rest, His accomplishment, what He did Himself. How do we
enter into this rest? Jesus Christ has entered into
His own rest, and it's His rest we need and must enter into.
How do we enter into that rest? Well, verse 10 tells us it's
not by our own personal works. See what he says in verse 10?
For he that hath entered unto his work, he also hath ceased
from his own works, as God did from his. We don't work. We looked at this just the other
day. We don't work to have our sins atoned for. It's already
done. We don't work to be accepted
of God. We're accepted in the Beloved.
We don't work to justify ourselves. His blood justifies us. We don't
work, do we, for righteousness. Then how do we enter into this
rest? One way. Believing. Believing. Look back at verse 3 of this
chapter again. For we which have believed do
enter unto rest. You know, that's the only way
to enter into this rest of Christ and His completed, accomplished
work, is rest by faith, by faith in Jesus Christ alone. Come unto
Me, all you that labor, and I'll give you rest. What does it mean
to come to Christ? It means believe on Him, doesn't
it? He that cometh to Me shall never hunger. He that believeth
on Me shall never thirst. Believing and coming is the very
same thing. We enter into this rest by believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ. It seems like we have somewhat of
a contradiction here. I want you to look in the very
next verse. Look at this. Let us labor, therefore,
to enter into that rest. Doesn't that seem like a contradiction?
He says to enter into His work, we cease. To enter into His rest,
we cease from our own work. Then turns right around and says,
Let us labor to enter into that rest. And the ungodly look at
a passage like this and they say, Ah, we've got you now. Look
how silly this is. Look how it contradicts. But
you know the Word does not contradict itself. I think sometimes the
Holy Spirit puts these things here for the ungodly to stumble
over. And they do. And they find a place like this
and they haven't even read but two or three chapters in the
Bible. I found a contradiction, they say. And your men theologians
have studied this all of their life and they said there has
never been a book written so consistent. We just have to rightly
divide the Word of Truth, don't we? Have to look up what words
mean, definition of words. We study, study. And He says,
You let us labor, therefore, to enter into His rest. And this word labor, here's what
it means. Several places in the New Testament
this word labor is translated, and it's translated study, it's
translated endeavor, it's translated earnest or diligence. Ephesians
4.3, listen to this, endeavoring, that's that word labor, endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace. 2 Timothy
2.15, study to show yourself approved unto God, labor. 2 Timothy
4.9, do thy diligence to come shortly unto me. 2 Peter 3.14,
we're foreseeing that we look for these things, the destruction
of this universe. Let us be diligent that we may
be found of Him in peace. So it means to be diligent, to
labor, to study, to endeavor to enter into this rest. Let
me give you an illustration like this. If you were just a poor
man, I mean just in poverty, and you had a friend that you
trusted, And He come to you and handed you a shovel, and He said,
there's a treasure in your backyard that can't even be estimated,
it's so great. What would you start doing? You'd
start digging, wouldn't you? You'd start digging. You'd start
digging. And if you dug a hole and didn't
find anything, would you quit? You'd dig another hole, wouldn't
you? And you'd have holes all over your backyard. Why? You
believed there was a treasure there that would satisfy all
your needs. And I tell you, after you dug
a bunch of holes, you wouldn't look around and say, man, look
how I've been digging. Man, I'm a good digger. And lay
your shovel down and rest. Why wouldn't you do that? You
haven't found the treasure. and you've got a blister or two
on your hands, you wouldn't say, man, I've really been working
hard. That's it. That's enough. So I'll rest. When would you
rest? When you found that treasure.
When you saw that treasure, when you laid your hands on that treasure,
then and only then would you say, now I'm rich. Then you can lay your shovel
down. Now I've found that treasure. You know, some people, when they
hear, they believe immediately. I mean, they enter into that
rest. You think about that Philippian jailer. When he said, What must
I do to be saved? Paul said, Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. As far as we know, he believed and entered into
that rest. But it don't come that way to
others. Man, some struggle and they pray and they read. But I tell you this much, nobody
enters into this rest This heart rest that is in Jesus Christ
and His accomplished work, nobody enters into that rest who does
not have a careful attitude about it, who is not sober and diligent. No indifferent, uncaring person
will enter into that rest. And that is what He is telling
them here. Be careful. Be careful here, He says. Don't
be haphazard about this. Don't be lazy about this. You
want to really find this heart rest that's in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he says, listen to me, if
you're not sober about this, if you're not honest and truthful
in seeking Christ by faith, you may end up just like those Jews
of old. Because they're set forth here
as an example of unbelief. And if they wasn't honest, if
they didn't seek the Lord, if they weren't diligent, if unbelief
overcame them, be careful that it don't do you the same. One
way to find this rest that's in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
that's by heart faith in Him. That's the only way. That's the
only way. Lest any man fall after the same
example of unbelief, he says there in verse 11. One of the
things I tell you that scares me to death, and I still find
it in myself, is this awful sin of unbelief. It scares me literally
sometimes to death. I so often think, Lord, please
don't stop working in me. When I can't see Him working
in me, I cannot believe. And it scares me. Because I know
and you know there's no salvation apart from believing in Jesus
Christ. Who is He that overcometh the world, but He that believeth
that Jesus is the Son of God? This is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith. Our faith in Him, our faith in
God's Word. We can't be saved, we can't be
justified, we can't please God, we can't walk with God apart
from believing. And I tell you, when this unbelief
arises, do you find yourself like that poor man? Lord, help
my unbelief. Do you ever pray that way? Lord,
help my unbelief. Because I know, boy, if we fall
into unbelief, it'll turn our blessings to cursing. It'll tie
our hands, stop our ears, our eyes. It's an awful cursing.
Be diligent lest you fall after the same example of unbelief. Do not fall short of this true
heart rest of Jesus Christ entering into it. Now he goes on here
in verse 12 and he goes back again now to the Word. He says
here in verse 12, For the Word of God is quick and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword. Paul made this statement
here in verse 2 of this chapter. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit
them." The Word did not profit them. Is the Word weak? How could the Word not profit?
And somebody might read that and think, Man, is the Word that
weak? It didn't profit them. It didn't do them any good. No,
it's not weak. It's not weak at all. And he
goes on here in verse 12 to say that it's quick. That word means
it's alive. And it's life-giving. The words
that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they're life. And he says it's powerful. That
word powerful here means active. It's operative. It's effectual.
You remember that passage in Isaiah where he said, talking
about the rain coming down from heaven and producing fruit on
the earth, and he says, So shall my word be that goes out of my
mouth. It shall not return unto me void. It isn't going to return and
say, I'm sorry, I just couldn't accomplish anything. He says,
It shall accomplish that which I please. It's going to fulfill
my purpose for which I sent it. Paul was writing to those Thessalonians
and he said, when you receive the Word of God, you didn't receive
it as it was the Word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word
of God, and then he made this wonderful statement, which effectually
worketh in you that believe. That believe. God has just ordained
this that it helps those who believe it. It helps those that
believe it. The same Word that shut the first
generation of Jews out of Canaan through their unbelief brought
the second generation into the land of Canaan by faith. So the Word of God will not be
defeated. It will accomplish its purpose.
Someone may say, I know what the Bible says. But I'm not going
to concern myself about it. I've got too many things going
on in my life. I'm too busy. Well, okay. Okay. If that's the case, but
know this. You may not believe it. You may
purpose to go on your way and not believe it, but just know
this. That's not the end of it. God has spoken again. He's spoken more. Those Jews
said, ìWeíre not going in.î Okay, youíre not going in. But know
this, God has spoken another word to you. ìI swear in my wrath,
youíll never enter into my wrath.î A man may deny the truth. A man
say, ìIíve got my own life to live. Iím not concerned about
that word.î Okay, thatís fine. But just remember, thereís another
word too. Thereís another word too. God
has not only spoken to those who believe His Word, He's spoken
to those who won't believe it too. You hold our text right
there and turn over to John chapter 12 and look what the Lord Himself
said. Look in John chapter 12 and look
in verse 42. John chapter 12 and look in verse
42. Nevertheless, among the chief
rulers also many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees
they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the
synagogue." Cowards, weren't they? Cowards. And when he says
they believed, they didn't believe in their hearts. They believed
in their heads, the ascent of the mind. They gave ascent. Yeah,
this is their prophet. But it wasn't a heart faith,
a saving faith. That's why they were such cowards. the praise of men more than the
praise of God. Jesus cried and said, He that
believeth on me believeth not on me, not only on me, but on
him also that sent me. And he that seeth me seeth him
that sent me. I am come a light unto the world
that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. Don't you love that? I tell you,
I was in darkness until I believed His Word. And I tell you, it
brought such light to me, didn't it you? Don't you see clearly
now what you couldn't see before? Those who believe in Christ have
light. They have light in their heart
and their spirit and their minds. They see! They see! If any man hear My words and
believe not, I judge him not. For I have not come to judge
the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth Me and receiveth
not My words, he hath one that judgeth him. The word that I
have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." See that? These Jews said, Well, we know
that's the land flowing with milk and honey. We know that.
We see the fruit. Man, they brought these grapes
back. And no telling what else they
brought back. But they said, we just don't believe God's going
to give us that land. We just don't believe Him. And
besides, there's giants over there, and those cities are walled
up to heaven, and it just ain't worth it. Just ain't worth it. Let us get us a king and go back
to Egypt where we can eat our leeks and our melons and sit
by our flesh pots. Okay. If that's what you guys
want to do, you go ahead. But listen, listen. The same Word that's going to
bring your children into the land of Canaan is going to judge
you and find you guilty. So a man may say, The heck with
His Word. I don't have time for it. I don't
care. I don't care what He says. I've
got too much to do. I've got a life to live. Okay.
But just remember, just remember, the same Word that comes in saving
life-giving power to those who believe it will judge you for
not believing it. We can't escape this Word, can
we? It's not weak. It's quick and it's powerful. It's powerful. It's the words
of the King, the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look back over what else he said
about it in chapter 4 and look in verse 12. Remember when John
saw this vision of the Lord Jesus there in Revelation 1 and remember
what was coming out of Christ's mouth? A sharp two-edged sword. That's what's coming out of his
mouth. That's what he says here. The Word of God is quick and
powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even
to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit. Now some says this soul here
might be taken for the whole body, just the body of man, the
person himself. And the spirit is the soul. That may be true. Sometimes when
you see soul in the Scripture, it's taken for the person, just
the person. Ben Wayne talked sometime, and
both of us are just amazed at the unity between the body and
soul. And some way or another, they
can be divided. We know they are at death. But they're so
woven together now, we can't divide them, can we? What touches
your soul touches your body. What touches your body usually
touches your soul. We can't hardly distinguish or
divide between the body and the soul. But the Word can. The Word
can. It divides asunder the soul and
the spirit. And this probably is really taken
to mean these two things that we can't see, the soul and the
spirit. We have a soul and the soul has
a spirit. And these two things are unseen.
And how do you divide those? We can't, can we? But you know
the Word does. It's just like He said, you're
the joints and the mire. My goodness, the bone and the
myrrh is so united together. How do you divide that? I mean,
if you cut the bone in two, it's woven together, isn't it? The
myrrh is inside the bone, but it's just one. It's one. And it's the same way with the
soul and the spirit. Who can divide it? The Word.
That's how quick it is. That's how powerful and that's
how sharp it is. They said Rome came up with these
swords that had the double edge. Before they'd make them that
just had one edge. But when they found out that
you could shorten both edges, they said it cut. Coming and
going is what they said. Coming and going. And when you
stabbed somebody with it, man, it went deep. It pierced. And
Paul said here, the Word of God is piercing, pierces deeper than
any two-edged sword. It divides asunder of the soul
and spirit. And notice what else he says
here about this word. And is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the hearts. And notice what he does here
in verse 13. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifested in his sight. All things are naked and
open in the eyes of him. Notice how he does this. He just
sort of slyly goes from the written Word to the essential Word, to
the incarnate Word that was made flesh, Jesus Christ. He is speaking
there in verse 12 about the Word of God. Then he turns right around
and says there is no creature that is not made manifest in
His sight. So he is really speaking of the
Words of God, the written Word, but he goes right in to say the
incarnate Word. Jesus Christ is called the Word
of God. But notice what he says about
it here. It's a discerner of the thoughts. How often do we
read in the Scriptures that Jesus perceived their thoughts? He,
knowing their thoughts, said, Wherefore, thank you, evil. Thank
you, evil, in your heart. I could never tell anybody Because
I don't know people's hearts. I don't know their thoughts.
When the Lord Jesus was risen from the dead and He appeared
to His disciples and said, ìPeace be unto you.î And He said, ìWhy
are you troubled and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?î David said, ìHe knows my down
settings and my uprisings. He understands my thoughts.î
Boy, He knows us perfectly, doesn't He? He knows our thoughts. That
used to scare me to death when I was lost. You know, I lived
in such pretense. I wanted to put on a show and
people thought I was doing so much better. And the boy, when
I got along, he said, I know your thoughts. I know you inside
and out. I know you. You can't hide from
me. You can't hide from me. The Lord
was right into the church and said, I will kill her Jezebel's
children. I will kill them with fire. And
all the churches shall know that I am He which searches the reins
and the heart. I search the heart. Who can know
the heart? The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. In the very next verse, the Lord
said, I know the heart. I try the reins. And one more
thing he says here, look at this, not only does he know, but he
says here he knows the intents, he knows the purpose and motives
of the heart. To know the thoughts is mysterious
enough, but he knows why you're thinking that way. Somebody say,
Bruce, you don't know my motives. I don't. I don't know. And I'll tell you one of the
most difficult things. for me is to know my own motives.
I do things and come to find out why in the world did I do
that. I thought I was doing so right and my motives were so
wrong. Other times you do something
and you think, boy, my motives are wrong and they're right.
You just can't already know motives, can you? That's why we should
be careful. Don't judge one another so quickly
and so harshly. A pastor told me one time that
They had a fellow in their congregation, and I came to him and said, Oh,
so-and-so, I saw him coming out of the bar. Down in the bar. I said, I just want you to know
it, and I think he needs to be brought before the church. And this straightened
out. I said, I saw him with my own
eyes coming out of that bar. And he called the fellow in,
and he said, this is what so-and-so has told me, and he's really
troubled about it. And he said, I need to ask you about this.
You've been going to the bars and things. And he said, yes,
I was in that bar. I was in that bar. He said, I
know the bartender there. Used to be a friend of mine,
not anymore. But he said, he used to be a friend of mine.
He called me and said, your son is here, and he's drunk. And
if we let him leave, he may kill himself or somebody. Could you
come and get him? And he said, I was there getting
my drunken son to bring home. Yeah, he'd come out of that bar,
but what was his motives for being there? It's difficult to
judge one another's motives and intents, isn't it? And you know
that's what the Lord judges, isn't it? He looks upon the heart. We can't judge, but boy, He can. He can tell us why we're doing
what we're doing. That's how thoroughly He knows
us. Search me, O God, and know my heart today. Try me, O Savior,
and know my thoughts, I pray. I tell you, I think only a Christian
can really and honestly pray that. And see if there be some
wicked way in me and cleanse me. I know that He knows me. And that's so confident to me
that He does. And when He searches me and finds
sin there, it's still confident to me because He's the Savior
who cleanses us from all sin. And what a joy it is to have
Him to reveal to us there's a sin in your heart. Then you confess
it with a confidence that His blood cleanses you from all sin. We love it when He searches us
out And we love it to know that He knows us. That He knows us. Well, that's the only time we've
got. Went just a few minutes over. Let's pray.