Hebrews chapter 3, and I want
to begin reading just a little lengthy. We're surely not going
to deal with all of this, but I want to begin reading in Hebrews
chapter 3, and let's begin in verse 7. Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 7.
Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, Today, if ye will hear
His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the
day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me,
proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved
with that generation, and said, They do always error in their
heart, and they have not known my ways. So I swear in my wrath
they shall not enter unto my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest
there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing
from the living God. But exhort one another daily,
while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin. But we are made partakers with
Christ, of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence
steadfast unto the end. While it is said today, if you
will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation,
the rebellion, 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
swore he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them
that believed not? So we see that they could not
enter in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear, lest the
promise been 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. For we
which have believed do enter unto rest, as he said, as I have
sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter unto my rest, although
the works were finished 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. And did
in this place again, if they shall enter unto my rest, seeing
therefore that it remaineth, that some must enter therein,
and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because
of unbelief. Again he limited a certain day,
saying in David, or by David, Today, after so long a time,
as it is said, today if you will hear His voice, harden not your
hearts. For if Joshua," that's who this is speaking about, Jesus
and Joshua, the same name, "...if Joshua had given them rest, then
would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remained
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. Now these scriptures here talk
about rest. Here in the third chapter I read
to you, the children of Israel could not enter into the land
of Canaan. And we're told there in verse
18 and 19 of that chapter why they couldn't enter into the
land of Canaan. It was offered to them. The two went and came
back that had searched it out with the twelve and said, it's
time to enter in. It's the time of the first ripe
grapes and fruits. Enter in. But they never went
in, did they? They turned back and walked in
the desert for forty years before the next generation went in.
And the apostle here in verse 18 and 19 says they could not
enter in because of unbelief. But then he goes on now in the
fourth chapter to tell us that really this promised land was
not rest for the soul. It was only typical of that rest
that was for the soul. He says there in verse 8 of chapter
4, if Joshua had given them rest, then David, 500 years later,
would have not spoken of another day and another rest. And then
he says, there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. There's another rest besides
the land of Canaan. There's a rest that David was
speaking of, and that's the gospel rest. Rest for the soul. Resting in a finished work. That's the rest he's speaking
of here. And he says here in verse 4,
and this is the thing I want you to think about in these two
verses here. In verse 4, this rest is possible. God did rest
the Sabbath day from all His work. Now here's something that's
so encouraging. Sometimes if we think something
is impossible, you're discouraged from even talking about it or
thinking about it. But he's talking about a rest
that's been experienced before. And the first example he gives
us is God Himself. God rested from His work on the
Sabbath day. I want you to hold Hebrews, put
you a marker, and I want you to look back over in Genesis,
the second chapter of Genesis, and look in verses 1 through
verse 3. Here's speaking of God's rest. and why He rested. And He uses
this to encourage us to see that rest is possible since it has
been entered into before. And He gives us, first of all,
the example of God Himself. And look here in verse 1 of Genesis
chapter 2. Thus the heavens and the earth
were finished, and all the host of them And on the seventh day
God ended His work which He had made and rested on the seventh
day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the
seventh day and sanctified it because that in it He Himself
rested from all His work which God had created and made. Now why did He rest? Why did
He rest? It's finished. It's finished. And not only was it finished,
look at the last verse in chapter 1. And God saw everything that
He had made, and behold, it was very good. He did it. He looked back over His work,
and He said, Everything I've done is very good. So what does
He do? Then He rests. He rests from
His work. Now there have been a lot of
suns rolled over this creation since this day, since the sixth
day, the seventh day. And I know that sin has entered.
And I know that things aren't what they used to be. I imagine
this earth has changed from what it was when God says it's finished
and rested. But you know something? This
is still a beautiful creation. It can't be duplicated. You and
I have never created a single thing, maybe some trouble. We've
never created anything else. I was talking about Greg's guitar
this morning, but he never created that. He put it together out
of what God has created. But this is a beautiful, beautiful
creation. And even though it's fallen,
even though it's under the curse, I'm telling you, it's beautiful,
it's magnificent to look at, it's humbling to think upon. Is it not? Did you ever go out
like David did and look up at the stars and the moon and say
with David, Lord, when I consider your heavens, the moon and the
stars which you made, I say, what is man that thou art mindful
of him? I heard a fellow preach one time. He was a professor down at Temple
University, down there in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and he studied the
stars. I forgot what they called those guys, but at that time
in the late 70s, around 80, he said, you can take the biggest
telescope that we have available, and if you could take it out
to the nearest star and point it back towards Earth, you couldn't
even see Earth. He said, that's how insignificant
we are. And here we are, you and me,
one little speck on this insignificant earth. And we look out at this
vast creation that God has made. And there was a time when He
pulled His hand back and says, I've finished it. And He rested. He rested. And Paul is proving
to us, brothers and sisters, since God Himself has labored
and He's entered into rest, rest is possible. Rest is possible
for you and rest is possible for me. But one of the things
I've noticed about studying this creation, look here in the first
few verses of chapter 1. It was not only that God looked
at the finished creation. after he had completed and said,
ìItís very good.î But you know, every step of the way, every
time he created something, he says, ìItís good.î Look in verse
1, ìIn the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and
the earth was without form, it was void, and darkness was upon
the face of the deep.î What a messy looking place. And the Spirit
of God moved upon the face of those dark waters. And God said,
Let there be light. And there was light. And God
saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light from
the darkness. He saw the light. And He said,
That's good. But what about the darkness?
What about the voidness? He paid no mind to that. He says,
here's what I'm looking at, what I've just done. And everything
else means nothing right now. I'll change that later. I'll
work with that later. Right now. And you go through
this whole chapter, and every time He created something, He
says it's very good. He saw it and said it's very
good. Now that's important. When we
bring that over to the New Testament, that's important. Look back over
then at Hebrews again in chapter 4. You and I aren't trying to create
anything. We know better than that. We're just admiring what's
already been created. We're sort of resting in it too,
aren't we? One old preacher said, there's nothing benign in it.
There's nothing there that's going to harm us. Mother Nature's
not going to harm us. Mother Nature's gods. Nature's
gods. I'm not going out and standing
in a thunderstorm where it's lightning. But I'm not afraid
of it. This is our Father's world. And
He's created it. It's His. And He's rested from
His creation. We add nothing to it. We just
rejoice that He's done it. Now, in Hebrews chapter 4, we
come to the Lord Jesus Christ. And most commentaries that I
read, almost all of them, one or two exceptions, applies verse
10 of Hebrews chapter 4 to the Lord Jesus Christ. And look what
He says. For he that is entered unto his rest, he also has ceased
from his own work, as God did from his." This is speaking here
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's the second possibility. Rest again is presented unto
us. Here's somebody else who has
finished his work, And He has entered into His rest. God rested
back there as the Creator, and now here the Son of God has rested
after His work of accomplishing redemption. And one of the reasons
I have no problem applying this verse to the rest of the Lord
Jesus Christ, which He entered into, because all through this
epistle, the beginning and the middle and the end, you find
this. that He sat down on the right
hand of God. He's resting. Let me show you
just three of the places. Look in chapter 1 and look in
verse 2, speaking of God who used to speak to the Father in
all manner of ways, dreams and visions and so on. In verse 2,
He hath in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds,
who, being the brightness of His glory, expressed Him as the
very image of His person, and upholding all things by the word
of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins." What
did He do then? He rested, didn't He? He ceased
from that work. Why? For the same reason God
ceased from His work. It's finished. He purged sin
and He sat down. It's finished. He's rested. The
Lord Jesus Christ will never come to this world again to offer
a sacrifice for sin. He's already purged. Look over
in chapter 10 and look in verse 11. Look in Hebrews chapter 10
and verse 11. Here he is speaking of the old
sacrifices the priest offered. They went into the sanctuary
and sprinkled the blood of animals on the mercy seat. Verse 11,
And every priest, notice this, he standeth daily, ministering,
and often, oft times, the same sacrifices which can never take
away sin. Why doesn't he sit down? His
work is never finished. The blood of bulls and goats
cannot take away sin. So he goes in there every year
and sprinkles the blood. But there's no chairs in there
to sit in. He can't sit down and rest because sin is not atoned
for by the blood of bulls and goats. But look in verse 12. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, He sat down on the right hand
of God. He has entered unto His rest. He ceased from His struggles.
He ceased from His suffering. He ceased from dying. He will
never die again. He is rested. And look on in
chapter 12, and look in verse 1 and verse 2. He says there in verse 1, seeing
that we also are confessed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.
Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily
beset us. Let us run with patience the
race that is before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him." He
had a joy He was going to enter into. He was going to enter into
perfect joy. It was set before Him, and therefore
He endeared the cross, despising the shame, and now He's resting. He is seated at the right hand
of the throne of God. And the indifference, as I said
this morning, in creation of this world and the redeeming
of this world, there's a great difference. God spake. everything into being. But I
tell you, when this world failed to redeem it, it took agony. It took blood. It took the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But you know something? He has
accomplished that task. And now He has entered into His
rest. He's rested. He's rested. He that has entered into His
rest has ceased from His own work, just like God did from
His back yonder in the beginning. He's resting. What's Jesus resting
in? His completed work. He's resting
in His completed work. And notice this, every step of
the way in His work, from his mother's womb all the way to
the cross, every step of the way, it was good. He saw it and said, it's good. When he was conceived in the
womb of his mother and when he was born, heaven dispatched a
host of angels and said to those Shepherds, I bring you good tidings
of great joy, for you is born in the city of David a Savior,
which is Christ the Lord." Even in His birth, heaven looked upon
it and said, that's good. That's good. Thirty years later,
He entered His ministry. I heard somebody talking about
this back in the lunchroom. And He submitted Himself to baptism. You talk about humility. A man
taking the Son of God and baptizing Him into the waters of repentance
when he had no sin. He did that to please the Father. And He came up and heaven opened
up. The dove came down. The Spirit had lit up on His
shoulders and the voice said, This is my beloved Son. Ain't
He good? In Him I'm well pleased. He went
up on the Mount of Transfiguration. Moses and Elijah spake with Him.
Heaven opened up again when this cloud came over and said, This
is My beloved Son. Hear ye Him. Every step of the
way, everything He did was good and heaven saw it. And there
on the cross, when our sins had been put upon Him, and He lifted
up His voice and said, It's finished. You know what heaven said? You
know what the court of heaven said? You know what the sword
of justice said? That's good. Heaven saw it and said, I'm satisfied. That's good. Just as God looked
upon every aspect, every day of His creation, and saw that
it was good, Christ looked upon His work, every aspect of it,
and said, it's good. It's good. Rest is possible,
brothers and sisters. God entered into rest and here
the Son of God has entered into rest. And rest is possible for
you and rest is possible for me. But it only comes through
faith in Him who finished the work. If you're still trying
to save yourself, if you're still trying to atone for your sins,
you can't rest. You have to become like the Lord
Jesus. You have to cease from your own
work and believe in Him. There ain't no other way to enter
this soul rest but through faith in Christ. They which have believed
do enter unto rest. That's the way we enter into
rest. It's through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And think
of this. The Holy Spirit has begun a work
in the heart. It's a new work that had never
been started before. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. We must be born of the Spirit. Just as sure as the first birth
is essential to get in this world, the second birth is essential
to get into the Kingdom of God. And that's the work of the Spirit
of God. He begins it in our hearts, a
new creature in the Lord Jesus Christ. put on the new man which
after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. And you know
what the Bible says about this work? It's good. It's good. Just as God saw His creation
was good and Christ saw His work of redemption that's good, now
the Holy Spirit comes and He makes a man a new creature and
heaven looks at it and says, Faithful is He who has begun
a good work in you. Being confident of this very
thing, He that has begun a good work will perform it, will complete
it, will continue it until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. He begins it and He will carry
it on to its completion. And every step of the way, dear
soul, every step of the way, As the Spirit of God works in
us to will and to do of His good pleasure, every step of the way,
heaven looks upon that work and says, it's good. It's good. Every brokenness of heart, that's
good. Every tear of repentance that
falls from the eyes, that's good. Every glance towards heaven by
the eye of faith, that's good. Every temptation that's endeared,
that's good. The least experience of joy in
the Lord, that's good. Every feeling of praise and thanksgiving
to God, that's good. When the heart abounds in hope,
that's good. When trials come and the heart
is heavy and you utter that groan, though He slay me, yet will I
trust Him. Heaven said that's good. Why
does heaven say that? That's heaven's work. Just as
sure as God said, let there be light, the Spirit's work is to
work in the heart. Repentance and faith and love
and joy and peace. And when that's manifested in
the heart, the Spirit says, that's good. That's my work. And when death's cold dew lies
upon the brow and the departing Spirit whispers, if ever I love
thee, Lord Jesus, just now, heaven sees that and says, that's good.
That's good. Why? Because it's the work of
God in the heart. You don't see that, do you? You
don't see those groanings of your soul to be His work? But
why does the soul groan? He that wrought us for the selfsame
thing is God. Why do we groan? Because we have
the Spirit of God within us. Why do we cry, Father, Father?
Who's that crying? That's the Spirit in us, isn't
it? Father, Father. Should you and I not rest in
the work of the Spirit within us? Does not He always point
us to the Savior and say, Rest? It's finished. Rest. It's finished. Don't you hear
His voice in your heart? Pointing you to Calvary and saying,
Rest. It's finished. We live our lives by faith. We seek His will. We labor in
His kingdom for His glory. And all the while, He's encouraging
us to rest. Rest. Listen to Psalms 37, 7-8. Rest in the Lord. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently
for Him. Fret not thyself because of Him
who prospereth in His way, because of the man that brings wicked
devices to pass. Cease from anger and forsake
wrath. Fret not yourself in any wise
to do evil. Rest in the Lord. Always be resting
in the Lord. That is the Spirit's work within
us. Can you rest in Christ? Are you resting in Christ's finished
work? Then that's the Spirit's work
of creation in you. Every virtue we possess and every
victory won and every thought of holiness is His and His alone. Oh, we say, what about all this
darkness in me? I see such darkness. He don't
see it. What's He looking at? He's looking
at the light He put there. Oh, all this unbelief. I feel
this unbelief and I'm grieving. He don't see it. He sees the
faith that He's put there. What about all these doubts and
fears? He don't see them. He sees the confidence that He
put there. That's what He's looking at,
what He's doing. Not what you're doing or what
you are, but what He's doing. It's good. It's good. Always
be resting. in the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter
says it like this, Humble yourselves, brethren, under the mighty hand
of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your
care upon him, for he careth for you. You mean I'm not supposed
to bear my burdens? Well, if you want to bear them,
go ahead. But he said cast them on him.
Is that what he said? Cast them on? All of them? All
of them. You want to rest? It's not as
easy as we say, is it? This is a strange word, but labor,
therefore, to enter unto that rest. Ain't that strange? Labor
to rest, but don't we have to labor to enter into this rest?
It's not just saying it. It's bringing the heart to do
it. I mean, when you're under burdens, boy, and it hurts, and
you're so heavy you can't hardly breathe, and you say, Lord, these
things are killing me! Life is killing me! And you take
them to Him and leave them there? That takes grace to do that.
It's more than saying it. To rest in the Lord from your
burdens. I had a former pastor tell me
about this woman who got on a bus and she had this heavy suitcase.
One of those buses where you stand in the middle and hold
to the pole and you're going down a few blocks. And she had
this heavy suitcase and the man said she was just standing there.
He could tell it was just straining her to death block after block. And finally he said, Lady, if
you'll set that suitcase down, this bus will carry it and you
too. Well, we laughed, but don't we
try to carry our suitcase? And we swap hands with it and
our muscles are hurting and we're sore and we're tired. If you'll
just set it down, you'll carry it too. Bring your burdens to
the Lord and take them back with you. No, leave them there. Leave them there. I don't know what you may be
burdened with. Everything from a guilty conscience to your job,
to your family. I don't know what it is. I don't
know what may be burdening you and getting you down, but cast
your cares upon Him and rest. Rest in the Lord. I don't do that all the time.
No more than you do. I'm just a human being just like you.
You are. But I've experienced something of what it is to rest,
bud, when your burdens have got you down and you think you can't
take another step. And you take them to Him and
finally you cast them on Him and see He's carrying them and
you rest. They get you down, but He can
carry them. He's a lot stronger than we are.
Rest in the Lord. And I tell you, when I think
of dying, and when I think of eternity and the judgment, I'll
be honest with you, brothers and sisters, that's a burden
I can't bear. And I took them to Him. I want to see all my
sins washed away. I'm trusting in the finished
work of Jesus Christ on my behalf. And I'm facing death with nothing
but Him and His finished work. And I can rest there. Wasn't
easy. It ain't just coming to Him sometime
and saying something with your lips. It's enter unto Him and
His finished work by faith. They which have believed do enter
unto rest. Return unto thy rest, O my soul. for the Lord hath dealt bountifully
with me." Rest. It's possible. It's possible
to rest. Rest your guilty conscience in
His blood. Rest the weight of your soul
facing eternity in the judgment on Him. Rest your cares of this
life and the temptations and the burdens of it all. Rest it
on Him. You ain't going to do that being slothful. I tell you
that. You start being neglectful, and I'm telling you what, buddy,
you ain't going to do it being that way and living that way.
Bringing it to Him and being sober and honest with Him and
believing. And when death comes, it's going
to bring a deeper rest, ain't it? We can rest in this life
in Christ. And boy, death's coming. I've
got to preach the funeral on Tuesday. And I dread it like
everything. I lost a man. There won't be any rest for him. I'll
have to be careful what I say and how I say it. Because I ain't
wanting to offend anybody. But I'll make it plain. If you
die outside of Christ, there's no rest. Ain't no rest. Nothing but trouble. Man trouble.
But I tell you, when a saint dies, When a man who has entered
into rest in Christ's cheer, when he dies, he's going to enter
into a greater rest. Listen to Revelation 14, 13.
I heard a voice from heaven. Now this is heaven's witness.
And this is what he said. Right. Blessed are the dead which
die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit. He'd never
lie to us, would he? That they may rest. from their
labors, and their works do follow them. Oh, brothers and sisters,
labor on. Be diligent in your labors. Do
all that you do for the glory of Jesus Christ. Promote His
kingdom in this work. Promote Him. Work, work, work
for His glory. And when you die, you can rest.
That's the time to rest. And there remains a greater rest
than that, a permanent rest, eternal rest. Listen to this.
To you who are troubled. Troubled. Are you troubled? Boy,
we're troubled, aren't we? I'm troubled sometimes in my
heart and you are too. Troubled by other people. Troubled
by Satan. Troubled, troubled, troubled.
Somebody wrote a song. Troubled, troubled, troubled.
Going into trouble, in the midst of trouble, and coming out of
trouble. Troubled, troubled, troubled. You who are troubled,
rest with us. When? When the Lord Jesus shall
be revealed from heaven." Boy, that scares the world to death,
don't it? That's your hope. He's going to be revealed from
heaven. You read it this morning, Randy. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, the sky is going to roll back. And the Son of God
in our glorified humanity is coming. And He's bringing all
of the spirits of those just men made perfect with Him. There's
going to be a resurrection, the body of the saints and everybody
is going to be raised. Christ is coming in flaming fire,
taking vengeance on them that know not God, that obey not the
gospel of the Lord Jesus, who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord. But He's coming,
listen, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired by all
of them that believe in that day. I believe, don't you? I
believe and I've entered into His rest. I believe Him. And
therefore, I can look forward to that eternal rest when the
body and the soul are reunited and they'll be with the Lord
forever. What a day, a glorious day that
will be when He takes me by the hand and leads me through the
promised land. What a day, what a day that will
be. And one dear old man said this,
Beneath His smile my soul has lived, and part of heaven possessed. I'll praise Him for His grace
received, and I'll trust Him for the rest." Trust Him. The only way to enter into His
rest is to believe Him. Believe Him. God's rested. The
Son of God has rested. They've rested in their works.
Ain't it strange that some of us are the only ones that's not
rested? You bet heaven's resting. Rest. Rest in the Lord Jesus. God bless these words.