A Study of the Book of Hebrews
Jesus
is Better
Sermon # 7
“Entering Into Rest!”
Hebrews 4:1-11
According to Charles Swindoll, “Two of the top prescribed medications in America are Valium and
Tagamet. The former is a muscle relaxant to help people deal with stress. The latter stops
the flow of hydro-chloric acid to ease a churning stomach plagued with ulcers. If
pharmaceuticals are any barometer to where our culture is at emotionally, we’re the
most uptight, stressed-out, anxiety-ridden culture on the face of the earth. Why?
Because we’ve never learned how to rest.
Probably because we’ve never under-stood what it really means to rest. We tend to
equate rest with sleeping in on a rainy morning…with basking on the beach, while
pouring sunscreen and poring over a best-seller… with an afternoon snooze on the
couch to the soothing TV background music of marching bands and half-time activities.
But the “rest” that Hebrews
describes is quite different. We don’t have to take off work to obtain it. Nor do we
need to drive to the beach. Or spend any money. It is available all day, every day. And it’s
as close as a prayer!” [Charles
Swindoll. The Preeminent Person of Christ. A Study of Hebrews 1-10. (Fullerton,
Calif.: Insight for Living, 1989) p. 64]
The people of Israel were so close to entering into
God’s rest, they literally stood on the banks of the Jordan looking over into the
Promised Land. It was not that they did not understand what God had promised. They
just would not believe God. Instead of being filled with faith, they became filled
with fear and they did not enter in!
Just as the land of
promise stood before the children of Israel so the promise of God’s rest stand before
us, but entering in is not automatic.
This morning I want to share with you the
ABC’s of Rest.
First, The Availability of Rest (v. 1)
“Therefore, since a promise
remains of entering His rest, ??let us fear lest any of you seem
to have come short of it.”
What is this rest that is being offered?
The word “rest”
translates a compound word (kata + pausis) and means “to cease, or to stop something.” Applied
to God’s rest, it means no more self-labor as far as salvation is concerned. It means
the end of trying to please God by our own feeble efforts. God’s perfect rest is a
rest in free grace.
The Canaan rest for Israel became an
illustration of the spiritual rest available to Christians. This rest is seen in two aspects.
First, when we come to
Christ by faith we find salvation rest.
It is what Jesus was talking about when he said in Matt 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest.” It is
the rest of knowing that your sins are forgiven, that the load of your guilt has been
lifted and that you have a home in heaven. It is the consciousness that you now belong to
Christ!
Secondly, when we
yield to Christ and learn to obey Him and submit ourselves completely to Him we enjoy submission rest (11:29-30). The first is “peace
with God” (Romans 5:1) the second is the “peace of
God” (Phil 4:6-8). “It is by believing that we enter into rest and it by obeying God by
faith and surrendering to His will that His rest enters us!” (Warren Wiersbe. Be Confident.
(Wheaton, Victor Books, 1982) p. 43)
No more shifting
from one thing to another and never finding satisfaction in anything.
Not only the Availability of Rest but...
Secondly, The Basis of Rest (vv. 2-7)
There are two
obligations that we must understand if we are to obtain this promised rest.
· It Requires Faith
Verse two tells us, “For indeed the gospel (literally good news) was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard
did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in
those who heard it.” Although the good news about God’s
rest was preached to Israel it did not do them any good because they failed to believe it.
Just as those who have yet to come to real faith in Christ may be associated with the
church in some way but have never really committed themselves to Christ.
But the Apostle Paul
defines saving faith
Verse three continues with, “For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ”although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. (4) For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works";
What is being referred to in these verse is
Gen 2:2 which says, “And on the seventh day God
ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which
He had done”
All the other verses dealing with each day
in the creation story end with “and the morning and the evening were the 3rd
day, 4th day etc.” The fact that there is no morning and evening
statement ending the seventh day is suggestive that the seventh day, God’s Sabbath,
still continues. God’s rest began with the completion of the cosmos and continues on
and on – and is thus still available to his children today.
“There
is a place of quiet rest
Near
to the heart of God
A
place where sin cannot molest,
Next
to the heart of God.”
· It Requires Action (v. 7)
He gives additional information about the
important of the timing of obedience when he says in verse seven, “again He designates a
certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said:
“Today, if you will hear His
voice, Do not harden your hearts.”
This verse points to
the truth that God has set a limit on His offer of rest. It will not always be available. But as long as the heart is sensitive to what the
Holy Spirit is saying, as long as one can hear God’s call then it is time to be
saved. God’s rest is still available. Only God knows how long that is for each
person. Today, right now, is the only day is the only opportunity that we can be sure of!
A truth that needs to
be recognized is that – “Delay hardens the heart, especially when we are fully aware that we have heard the voice of God in the inner
soul. Every shrug of the shoulder that put off action on God’s urging for change,
every toss of the head that says, ‘I know I should, but I don’t care,’
every attempt at outward conformity without inner commitment produces a hardening of the
heart that make repentance harder and harder to do.
There is a line, by us unseen,
That crosses every path.
The hidden boundary between
God’s patience and His wrath.”
[Ray Stedman. Hebrews.
“The IVP New Testament Commentary Series.” (Downer’s Grove,
Ill.:InterVarsity Press, 1992) p. 57]
Not only the basis of rest but …
Third, The Character of Rest (vv. 8-10)
“For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not
afterward have spoken of another day. (9) There remains therefore a rest for
the people of God. (10) For he who has entered His rest
has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.”
In
verse nine it literally says, “there remains therefore a Sabbath rest.”
This special word (sabbatismos) for God’s special rest is
found nowhere else in the Bible. It is a word that paints a beautiful picture. It is the
picture of a farmer who comes in after a hard day and he takes off his dusty shoes and
lies down to rest. It is also the picture of a traveler who completes his lengthy journey
and finally has a chance to rest. God has his own Sabbath rest for his own true people.
Hebrews 4:10 anticipates the final day when we cease from all effort and as promised by
John in the book of Revelation enter into the presence of Jesus - (14:13) – “… that they may rest
from their labors, and their works follow them.” But the rest of God is not cessation from
activity but rather peace within the toil. The ability to rest while in the middle of life’s
continuation is an indication of a maturing child of God. Rest then is being at His place,
abiding by His timing, doing what He has planned, and depending on His strength and His
resources. The thought here (v. 10) is of
completeness.
Not
only the
nature of rest but…
Fourth, The Demand of Rest (v. 11)
“Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.”
The word translated “be diligent” (spoudazzo) means “to make haste” or “to work diligently.” Some translations
of this verse are “make every effort to enter that rest.” But
whether it is “Giving effort’ or “be diligent” it does not mean we need to
try harder and harder and get busier and busier dong more and more so that we can somehow EARN our rest. God’s rest comes by
simply faith in the finished work of Christ. Learning to function from a position of rest
is the secret to avoiding burnout in the ministry. We are to be as the Apostle Paul terms
it “co-laborers
with God.”
John Philips gives us
a good illustration of what this means. “A man is swept out to sea on a homemade raft. Under pressure of
wind and wave, it give every indication of instant dissolution. The man on board struggles
desperately just to keep the raft afloat. His paddle used repeatedly against the pounding waves, does nothing to bring him any
nearer the shore.
He looks up from his labors and sees a ship
has come alongside. The crew throws him a line and invites him to come on board. He at
once abandoned his own efforts to save himself and accept the salvation now offered him.
He is saved! He paces the deck of the great ship with solid planking beneath his feet and
massive engines driving that vessel on its way. His standing is now secure.
He is taken to the captain who says, ‘Welcome aboard, friend.’ After some conversation, the captain continues, ‘And now we would like your help. We are shorthanded. The cook could sure use some help in the galley. Would you be willing to help?’ That has to do with his state. His salvation is sure. Nobody is going to pitch him back overboard if he refuses to help. But his gratitude is such that he is only too willing to help get the necessary work done. Helping out on board has nothing to do with his salvation. He can rest in that even though a hundred tasks beckon to him now that he is saved.” [John Philips. Exploring Hebrews. (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Bro., 1988) p. 59]