All right, Hebrews, the fourth
chapter. Now, chapter three ends with
a sad, sad and solemn declaration. We read it with a happiness of
heart. So we see that they could not
enter in. They could not enter in. And to this land promised to
them, and to this land of milk and honey, to this land of joy
and happiness, they could not enter in. But they were turned
back out into the wilderness. And the reason they could not
enter in is unbelief. Who are they? Who's the apostle talking about
here? They. They could not enter in
because of their unbelief. Well, they're the people to whom
God sent the prophets. Moses, Jacob, Isaac. They're the people who had Abraham
as their father. They're the people to whom He
gave the law, the people to whom He gave the
tabernacle, the people who observed the priesthood,
the sacrifice, the atonement. They're the people in whose midst
the tabernacle stood with its holy place and mercy seat, awesome
presence and glory of God. They're the people who saw his
mighty axe, ate of the manna, drank of the rock. They're the people who kept the
Sabbath day, paid their tithes, kept the holy days, and went
often to the tabernacle. They're the people who call themselves,
we are the people of God. And these are the very ones who
could not enter Canaan, the promised land, because of one great sin,
unbelief. Unbelief. Why is unbelief such
a deadly sin? Why is it such a great sin, the
sin which does so easily beset us? Unbelief. The sin above all
sins to be afraid of, to be avoided. Well, number one, unbelief renders
the Word of God unprofitable. Makes the Word of God, that Word
of life, that Word of comfort, to be unprofitable. Look at verse
2 of chapter 4. Under us was the gospel preached
as well as under them, but the Word preached, the Word of God
from the mouth of Moses, did not profit them." Can you imagine
that? I can understand a fellow coming
to hear a preacher, just any preacher, and saying, I didn't
get anything out of that message. I can understand that. But to
hear the Word of God preached, and not get anything out of it,
not profit them at all, not at all. That's terrible. And that's what unbelief does,
it just renders the Word unprofitable. Unless we believe the Word, unless
we believe God, we may as well, we better not hear it, because
it increases our responsibility. A man will be held accountable
for his unbelief, for what he heard and what he could have
heard, and wouldn't. Secondly, unbelief makes God
a liar. It's a deadly sin. John wrote, "...he that..." That's serious, isn't it? No
man likes to be called a liar. And God, most of all, who cannot
lie, God who is true itself, mustn't be called a liar. And
that's unbelief. Unbelief, thirdly, closes the
door to God. The Scripture says, without faith
it's impossible to please God. He that cometh to God, he that
cometh to God for whatever reason, by prayer, by plea, by seeking
for salvation, help, strength, grace, he that cometh to God
must, M-U-S-T, must believe. Two things. He must believe. He must believe that God is. That God is. I am. Secondly, he must believe that
God is the rewarder of all who seek Him. God is merciful. God is love. He must believe
that God is. And that God is the rewarder
of them that seek Him. Unbelief renders this Useless. Closes the door. Unbelief, fourthly, denies the
person and work of Christ. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. He that believeth not the Son,
who believes not the person and work of Christ, shall not have
life. Christ came that we might have
life. Unbelief renders His coming for
you, And me, if we don't believe, useless. Unbelief says there's
no need for him to come. There's no need for him to suffer.
There's no reason for him. That death on the cross is a
farce. Useless, meaningless, says unbelief. Away with him. Unbelief. Turn to Romans 1. Unbelief sets up other gods. Unbelief sets up other gods,
such as reason, human wisdom, philosophy. Romans 1.19. Unbelief sets up other gods.
Romans 1.19 says, Because that which may be known of God, is
manifest to them, in them, about them. God showed it to them.
The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen. The things of God are understood
by the things that are made. Even His eternal power and Godhead,
so men are without excuse. Listen. Because when they knew God, When
they saw the works of God and the hand of God and the wisdom
of God, they glorified Him not as God. They weren't thankful.
They became vain in their imaginations. Their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And they changed
the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image. And they began
to worship other gods made like to man, to beasts. four-footed beast and creeping
things. Now, don't leave that scripture.
Unbelief sets up other gods. Unbelief rejects the God of revelation. Revelation in nature, creation,
revelation in providence, revelation in Christ, revelation in the
Word. But unbelief says, I don't believe
that God. I'll have my own God. So it sets
up the God of reason and intellectualism, philosophy, professing themselves
to be wise. They became fools. And then in
the last place, unbelief leads men into all manner of evil. You see, unbelief begins by not
believing God. And it ends by being cut off
from God and being given delusions. Look at verse 25. Therefore,
because they didn't believe, God gave them up. You know, he
said of Ephraim, leave him alone. Leave him alone. He's gone to
his idols. Just leave him alone. What happened to Ephraim? He
said of the Pharisees, remember these men that Religious leaders. Now leave them alone. Christ
said to his disciples, the disciples were worried about these men.
He said, you leave them alone. They're blind leaders of the
blind. And the blind lead the blind. What's the result? The
ditch. Now here's the ditch. Read it. Wherefore God gave them up to
uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor
their own bodies between themselves. All the things that are going
on in the flesh dishonor their bodies. Change the truth of God into
a lie and worship and serve the creature more than the Creator,
who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause, God gave
them up to vile affections. Even their women did change the
natural use into that which is against nature. The men, homosexuality,
leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one
toward another, men with men, working that which is unnatural,
shameful, unseemly. And they receive in themselves
recompense, the consequence, the penalty of this error, which
was justified, which was me. That's the way it ought to be. When men do not believe God,
and turn from God, and the blind leads the blind with their philosophies
and their lifestyles. They fall into the ditch, and
the ditch is dark, and the ditch is cold, and the ditch is wet,
and the ditch is full of disease, and sewage, and filth, and that's
meat. That's the road they chose. They
weren't born that way. They chose that road. The problem is they didn't want
to retain God. No God. So God gave them over
to reprobate minds. Our literature, our TV programs. What's going on? Reprobate minds. Reprobate. To do those things
which are not convenient. That word is not proper. These
things are not proper. These things are not decent. Now, the churches are talking
about honoring this sort of thing and calling it a part of Christianity. And it's not even decent. It's not proper. They're filled
with unrighteousness. See, that's unbelief. Go back
to my text in Hebrew. Unbelief. Oh, what a horrible,
horrible thing it is. And men may They may treat it lightly, but this is where it leads. If we're not going to believe
God, we're going to believe somebody. And somebody is always wrong.
There's a way that seems right to men, and the end is destruction. This is the way of life. So then, verse 1 of chapter 4
says, "...let us therefore fear." fear. Who is us? That's us. These are the people the Lord
Jesus has spoken to through his word. They've heard his word.
They've heard his gospel. Sat at his feet. And Paul tells
us, let us fear. Fear what? Not that the righteousness of
Christ shall fail. That's no fear. We don't need
to fear that His blood won't be sufficient. It will be. That
His grace won't be sufficient. It will be. We don't need to
fear that He'll cast away His elect. He said, I'll never leave
you. I'll never forsake you. All that my Father giveth me
shall come to me, and Him that cometh to me I'll in no wise
cast out. Fear of what then? Unbelief. That's all you've got
to fear. Unbelief. He tells us, Paul tells us to
examine ourselves whether we believe. No, you're not your
own selves, either Christ is in you, except you be reprobate
like those folks. I do believe, don't you? I do
believe. Lord, help my unbelief. I do
believe. Christ Jesus is the Son of God.
He's the Savior of sinners. He's the only hope. I do believe. Give diligence to make your calling
and election sure. If you do these things, you'll
never fail. For if these things be in you,
believe. Believe God. And verse 2 says, that stone
offer is proof of our hope, the fact that we've heard the gospel.
He says in verse 2, unto us was the gospel preached as well as
unto them. Those folks heard Moses. The
gospel was preached to them. But the word preached didn't
profit them, not being mixed with faith. It's to hear the
word and believe the word. I like what the Apostle Peter
said when the Lord asked him, will you go away? He said, to
whom shall I go? Here's the word of life. You
have the word of life. And I believe, I'm sure, that
you're the Son of God. I believe that. You do, don't
you? I believe God. To whom shall I go? The world
has nothing to offer. The religious world has nothing
to offer. The political world has nothing
to offer. The philosophical world has nothing
to offer. Everything's in Christ. I believe
it. And verse 3 says, and we who
have believed, we enter into rest. We enter into the Savior's
rest, into His rest. That's a present
rest. We do enter, we have already
entered into His rest. Now, He said in His wrath to
those people who didn't believe, that they had not entered into
his rest, although the works were finished from the foundation
of the world. God's covenant, God's kingdom, God's grace is
complete, prepared for us before the foundation of the world.
And it was for all who would believe. But these people wouldn't
believe. They turned away. Let's turn
to Matthew 11 and read what our Lord says about this rest. Matthew
11. He'd been talking to these religious
Jews in Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum, and he says in
verse 23 of Matthew 11, listen, "...but thou, Capernaum, which
art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell. If the
mighty works which had been done in thee had been done in Sodom,
it would have remained to this day." But I say unto you, it'll
be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment
than for you. There's a responsibility that
goes with hearing the Word and seeing the works of God. And
at that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and the prudent, and hast revealed them to babes.
Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things
are delivered unto me of my Father." All of it's in Christ. Life,
glory, grace, mercy. No man knoweth the Son but the
Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and
he to whom the Son will reveal him. That's all finished. That's
finished before the world began. All things in Christ, covenant,
mercies, the kingdom of God, all finished, finished, complete,
prepared for those that love Him. So, look at the next verse.
Come to me. Christ said, believe on me. Come unto me, all ye who are
laboring and heavy laden. You don't have any merit. You
don't have anything to recommend you. You don't have any works
to bring? In my hands no price I bring.
Just come to me, you who labor and are heavy laden, under the
load of sin. Come to me, I'll give you rest.
Right now, I'll give you rest, right now. We who have believed
have entered into His rest, right now. It's finished. It's not some future blessing.
It's finished for the foundation of the world. It's complete in
Christ. Now, you come. I give you rest. Read on. And take my yoke upon you and
learn of me. Learn of me, not just from me. Learn of me. Learn of me. Christ is the teacher,
but He's the lesson. He provides the way, but He is
the way. Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. You'll
find rest unto your souls." See, you come to me and you enter
into rest. Look back at our text. We who
have believed do enter into the rest. We do enter into rest. We believe on Christ, we've already
entered His rest. And the more we learn of Him,
The more we study His Word and learn of His sufficiency, of
His unchangeableness, immutability, of His love and mercy, of His
grace, of His effectual atonement, the more we learn of Him, His
high priestly work, the more rest we have. Now, Paul explains what that
rest is not. Look at chapter 4 again, verse
4. He said in verse 4, 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 not the rest we're
talking about. He that believeth enters into
rest. It's not a Sabbath day. God did rest from all his works. Why? Because he was finished
with them. There were other works of providence
and God's purpose and the accomplishment of His will, but nothing to be
created. Everything was finished. And
He set up a day there, gave to the Jews to keep that Sabbath
day, but that's not the rest. And then verse 5 and 6, and in
this place again, if they shall enter into my rest, this is Canaan
He's talking about. The Jews, the Israelites came
to Kadesh Barnea, and there was promised land Canaan. God said,
go in and take it, land of milk and honey. Some of the fellows
said, let's point a committee and go spy it out and see if
we've got strength enough to take it. That's unbelief. So
they appointed 12 men and sent them down into the land. They
spied it out and they came back and 10 of them said, can't take
it. The giants down there, the strong
men, the big armies and all these things. Two men, Caleb and Joshua
said, we can take it because God told us it was ours. And they didn't believe. And
they turned around, 40 years in the wilderness, and all of
them died. They were over 20 years of age when they left Egypt.
They didn't enter in, unbelief. But that's not the rest we're
talking about here. Verse 6 says, "...seeing therefore
it remaineth that some must enter therein, those to whom it first
preached entered not in because of unbelief." That bunch that
left Egypt didn't go into Promised Land. And then, it's not a typical
rest. Verse 7 says again, he limited
a certain day, saying in David in the psalm, today after so
long a time, as it is said today, if you hear his voice, harden
not your hearts. If Joshua had given them rest,
then he would not have spoken of another day. Joshua brought
them into the land where they enjoyed worship, great
prosperity, success, great kingdoms under David, Solomon, That's
not the rest that he's talking about here. And it's not heaven. That's not what he's talking
about. Verse 9, there remaineth therefore
a rest to the people of God. There is a Savior's rest. It's a present rest. Oh, it's
future fulfillment of all that he gives us now. There's an entering
into his rest. And I'll tell you what it is. The gospel is preached. The gospel
of Christ. We're sinners. What the law saith, it saith
to them who are under the law, that every mount may be stopped
and all the world become guilty before God. We're under the judgment
of God, under the wrath of God. Sinners. God, in love and mercy,
sent Christ to this earth. Christ, the Son of God, second
person of the Blessed Trinity. God became a man in human flesh. And what we couldn't do because
of the strictness of the law and the weakness of our flesh,
He did, as God meant. He kept the law. Jesus Christ,
our representative, our Lord, walked this earth in human flesh,
tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. He loved God
with a perfect heart. He loved his enemies with a perfect
heart. He loved the will of God, the word of God, the way of God,
the law of God. He fulfilled it perfectly in
the flesh as a man, representing us. One day he went to the cross
of Calvary, burying our sins in his body on the tree. And
there, the very judgment of God, the wrath of God, God turned
His back on Christ. I can't explain that. I just
know that's what Christ said, My God, why have you forsaken
me? He bore all the sins of all the elect, of all generations
in His body, and the justice of God unsheathed that sword
of God and plunged it into the heart of the Son of God, and
he burned under the judgment and wrath of God, the hell of
God for all our sins. Paid for. Paid in full for all
who believe. And he went to the grave as our
scapegoat, and God raised him from the dead. God raised him
from the dead, our justifier, our redeemer, our captain of
our salvation. And God took him to glory and
set him down at his right hand as our intercessor and advocate,
as our only mediator. He prays for his people. He intercedes
for his people. He stands for his people. He
enters glory for his people. They are in him. And all who
believe on him and receive him are saved. They are redeemed. And when they believe, they enter
that rest right there. Rest. What kind of rest is it? Well, now listen to me. Let me
give you five things. It's a rest from all works of
religion, trying to please God. Saul of Tarsus was a religious
man. He said, I was born a Hebrew
of Hebrews, a Pharisee of Pharisees, I kept the law, I paid my tithe,
I kept the Sabbath day, I read the scriptures on the street
corners, I did this, gave alms, fasted, did all these things
to please God. Worked so hard, labored so hard,
ran around in circles trying to do religious works to have
God accept me on the basis of my goodness. I gave that up. I entered his rest. I counted
all but dung, garbage, that I may win Christ to be found in him.
That's the rest. Secondly, it's the rest from
self-righteousness. I told my class this morning,
a man sat in this church one time, and after I preached, he
said to me, you're the first preacher I ever heard, owning
the pulpit, that he's a sinner. I said, well, whether they own
it or not, they are a sinner. I'm a sinner born in Adam, a
sinner fallen in Adam with a sinful nature. That's the reason I need
Christ. And I believe on Him. He put
my sins away. But I'm still a sinner saved
by grace. I'm still a sinner redeemed by
the blood of Christ. I'm still a sinner with a natural
body and a natural mind, a natural heart. that wars and conflicts
are all the time against that spiritual man. But He's my righteousness. I don't have any of my own. I
don't have any holiness of my own. But I have His holiness
and His righteousness and His sanctification. In Him I'm perfect.
You are too if you believe. So I don't profess to have any
righteousness and I don't profess to be holier than anybody else.
That's a stench in the nostrils of God. He's my righteousness. I'm resting. Doris and I give a little offering
every Sunday, but we don't do that to be saved. We do it because
we love God, because we love His Kingdom. I come to that house
of worship, I'd rather be here than anywhere. I'd rather be
reading His Word, hadn't you? But that's because I'm saved,
not in order to be saved. A sinner saved by grace. So I'm
resting from this business of self-righteousness and personal
merit and trying to prove to somebody that I'm holy. I don't
have to. Christ made us holy in His sight. It doesn't matter what other
folks think. Thirdly, it's to rest from the
burden of sin. David said, my sins are ever
before me. I think about my past. I think
about the sins, the dumb things I've said, the dumb things I've
done. Don't you? Well, quit thinking about them
and rest. They're under the blood. They're
paid for. They're put away. He said, I'll
remember your sins no more. What are you going to do about
them? Weep over them. Well, that's
all right, but they're done. They're paid for. They're put
away. Rest! People talk about making restitution. Well, it may be alright in some
places, other places it makes a mess. I had a friend that Rob
stole from the government back in World War II. He was in the
lumber business and he did a lot of contracts for the military
and he cheated on most of them. And about 1950, he got saved. He got religion. And he wrote
to the government and told them about this, back there in World
War II, how he cheated on these things, you know. So they started,
they had to go dig up all these papers. It cost the government
thousands and thousands of dollars to review all that and get a
bunch of lawyers and find out if he's telling the truth and
all that. And they finally wrote to him and they said, We consider
this matter closed. Next time you get saved, don't
write to us." That's a true story. Rest. We've entered his rest. Fourthly,
fear of death. I don't know exactly how to handle
this, but I just know there's no condemnation to them who are
in Christ. There's no judgment. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saints. To leave this earth is to go
to glory, to be with Christ. Paul said, I'm in a strait betwixt
the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is
far better. And some of us sitting right
here this morning, we're in the sunset years. We're on the edge of eternity. We're about to depart and be
with Christ. So rest. Our days are determined
by Him. Not by men, not by doctors. They're
determined by Him. The number of months are with
Him, not with anybody else. That's why I'd rather have it,
hadn't you? I'd rather have it in His hands.
My times are in our hands. And let me tell you this. Rest. Rest. Rest. No judgment to them in
Christ. Fifthly, this rest is like a
child in the home of his parents. You know, people say there's
no place like home. Why? Because it's your home. You're
not intimidated. I go places and stay with people
and there's a certain uneasiness. I get up in the morning early
sometimes and open my coffee and I go into the kitchen and
everybody else is still asleep. The lady of the house and the
husband are all asleep. I try to open all those cabinets without
making any noise. Find the filters, find the coffee,
find the pot, find the things, you know, make coffee. And it
ought to be in the same place where the coffee pot ought to
be here and the filters right above it and the coffee right
beside it, but it's not. The coffee pot's here and the
filters are somewhere else with the cereal or something over
there and the coffee's in the refrigerator and I'm trying to
open this so she won't think I'm prying in her cabinet, you
know. Try and keep from waking anybody. Well, I don't do that
at home. I'm comfortable. You children,
you're in your daddy's house. That makes it your house. And
so we're in our father's house. We're living with a Father who
loves us, who adores us, who will never cast us out, and really,
we can't do nothing wrong. That's about right now, because
I'm still a son. I'm still a son. I might go out
and leave all the lights on, but I'm still a son. That's right, I'm still a son.
That's my Father's house. That's the reason David said,
I'd rather be a doorkeeper in his house than dwell with the
wicked. So rest. It says here, they've entered
into rest. Now let me read two verses and
I'll quit. Here's an illustration, verse 10. He that has entered into his
rest, he also has ceased from his own works as God did from
his. You know who that's talking about? That's talking about the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ finished
His redemptive work. He fulfilled the covenant, fulfilled
the Old Testament types, He fulfilled our righteousness, He fulfilled
our atonement, He fulfilled our justification, our sanctification,
He went to glory. And what did He do? Sat down. Sat down. He's loving us and He's calling
us and He's revealing Himself to us and all these things, praying
for us. Interceding. But the work's done. No more
creation. No more creating a new creature.
It's done. Salvation's finished. And he's
resting from his works. Alright, listen to the next verse.
Let us labor. Why would he use that word labor?
Because it's the most difficult thing. impossible thing a man
ever had to do is stop trying to please God and rest in Christ. Stop trying to work out a righteousness
and rest in Him. Stop trying to prove anything
and rest in Christ. Let us labor, strive, endeavor
therefore to enter into that rest, the Savior's rest, the
Savior's Righteousness, wisdom, sanctification, and redemption.
It's all in Him. All things are in Him. Enter
it! And rest. Lest we fall after
the same manner of unbelief. These Jewish people came there
to Kadesh Barnea, and there was the land. And the Lord said,
enter it. And they said, we can't take
it. We can't do it. We don't have the resources or
the strength or the power. And I come to this rest of salvation,
redemption. Christ said, it's done. It's
finished. Enter it. By faith. Believe me. Believe
me. That which is impossible with you is possible for me.
You can't overcome your enemies, but I did. You can't conquer
that flesh, but I did. You can't take a body out of
the grave, but I can. You can't make a man like Christ,
but I can. Enter it and rest.