“REST FOR GOD’S PEOPLE”
Hebrews 4:1-10
July 20, 2008
Pastor John L. Harper
Warden Assembly of God
I am deeply indebted to Andrew Murray for his main points
Introduction:
Swindoll quote
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]
A Beleaguered Mother
A few years ago a mother sent the following note to the attendance secretary of South Side High School in Rockville Centre, N.Y.:
Please excuse the absence of my daughter. She has been suffering from a severe head cold. Since she has been home, she has consumed 18 doughnuts, three quart containers of orange juice, a half-gallon of cranberry juice, four two-liter bottles of Diet Coke, about 30 Pop-Tarts and all of the family’s Christmas candy canes. MTV has been blasting incessantly. I had to extend my credit with Nynex due to the volume of her telephone calls. The house is knee-deep in used Kleenex. Today, FedEx delivered seven Chia Pets and four boxes containing the Clapper she ordered from the Home Shopping Channel. With the thermostat set at 78 degrees, I need extra fuel delivery, and the wallpaper has peeled off the bathroom wall as a result of her hourly "therapeutic" sauna baths. Our cat is in a state of shock from being repeatedly bombarded with Hall’s mentholated cough drops. Although she is not exactly 100 percent yet, she will attend school today. Please do not send her home unless she lapses into a coma. I need a break.
I. THE REST OF FAITH (vs. 1-3)
A. This rest is promised
B. This rest can be missed
1. The Bears at Yellowstone Park
ILLUS: If you’ve ever been to Yellowstone National Park, you were probably given a piece of paper by a ranger at the park entrance. On it in big letters was the warning "Do Not Feed the Bears." You no sooner drive into the heart of the park, however, than you see people feeding the bears. When I first saw this I asked a ranger about it. "Sir," he answered, "you have only a small part of the picture." He described how the park service personnel in the fall and winter have to carry away the bodies of dead bears -- bears who have lost their ability to fend for food. That’s what’s happening to us. -- Howard Hendricks
2. This promise did not profit them
3. This promise was not mixed with faith
4. “There is a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God a place where sin cannot molest near to the heart of God.”
C. This rest can be entered
Application: Are you prepared to enter the rest of God?
II. THE REST OF GOD (vs. 4-8)
A. God rested when His work was done
1. Our work is not done, but God gives us glimpses of our final rest.
2. God gave us the example to rest from our labor.
a. True rest is from God
Matthew 11:28-30
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
b. True rest prepares us to work more diligently
B. God’s rest is forfeited by disobedience
1. J.I. Packer quote
“We are living in a time when we blame everything around us for our restlessness and losses, but it may be time that we examine the real reason
for our lack of rest...our own avoidance of obedience to God’s Word!”
2. Not listening to His voice
3. Not having a tender heart
C. God’s rest has not come to pass
1. Entering God’s rest was not found in the Promise land.
2. Entering God’s is embracing the promise of a land that is our final resting place.
a. BEULAH LAND
Beulah Land
I’m kind of homesick for a country
to which I’ve never been before
No sad goodbyes will there be spoken
and time won’t matter anymore
Beulah Land I’m longing for you,
and someday on thee I’ll stand
There my home shall be eternal.
In Beulah Land, Sweet Beulah land
I’m looking now across that river,
to where my faiths ’gonna end in sight
There’s just a few more days to labor,
then I will take my heavenly flight
Beulah Land I’m longing for you,
and someday on thee I’ll stand
There my home shall be eternal
In Beulah Land, Sweet Beulah land
In Beulah Land, Sweet Beulah land
Words by Squire Parsons Jr.,
Music by Glenn West, L.R.Q.,
Lumber River Quartet ©M.S. Productions,
2003 BMI, All Rights Reserved.
Thou shalt no more be termed
Forsaken; neither shall thy
land any more be termed Desolate:
but thou shalt be called Hephzibah,
and thy land Beulah:
for the LORD delighteth in thee,
and thy land shall be married. Isaiah 62:4 [KJV]
b. ON JORDAN’S STORMY BANKS
On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand,
and cast a wishful eye
To Canaan’s fair and happy land,
where my possessions lie.
Refrain
I am bound for the Promised Land;
I am bound for the Promised Land;
oh who will come and go with me?
I am bound for the Promised Land.
O the transporting, rapturous scene,
that rises to my sight!
Sweet fields arrayed in living green,
and rivers of delight!
Refrain
There generous fruits that never fail,
on trees immortal grow;
There rocks and hills, and brooks and vales,
with milk and honey flow.
Refrain
O’er all those wide extended plains
Shines one eternal day;
There God the Son forever reigns,
And scatters night away.
Refrain
No chilling winds or poisonous breath
can reach that healthful shore;
Sickness and sorrow, pain and death,
are felt and feared no more.
Refrain
When I shall reach that happy place,
I’ll be forever blest,
For I shall see my Father’s face,
And in His bosom rest.
Refrain
Filled with delight my raptured soul
would here no longer stay;
Though Jordan’s waves around me roll,
Fearless I’d launch away.
Refrain
c. I’VE NEVER BEEN THIS HOMESICK BEFORE
I’ve Never Been This Homesick Before
By Dottie Rambo
Verse I
There’s a light in the window the table’s spread in splendor
Someone’s standing by the open door
I can see a crystal river so I must be near forever
Lord I’ve never been this homesick before
Chorus
See the bright light shine; it’s just about home time
I can see my Father standing at the door
This world’s been a wilderness, I’m ready for deliverance
Lord, I’ve never been this homesick before
Verse II
I can see the family gather sweet faces all familiar
No one’s old or feeble anymore
This lonesome heart is crying: think I’ll spread my wings for flying
Lord, I’ve never been this homesick before
Repeat Chorus: tag,
Lord, I’ve never been this homesick before
Application: Are you not enjoying the rest of God because of disobedience?
III. THE REST FROM WORKS (vs. 9-10)
A. There is a rest for God’s people
1. No rest for the wicked
Isaiah 48:22
There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.
2. Those who have been following Jesus have not missed the rest.
B. This is a ceasing from work
1. Fruitless efforts
2. Work that can never be done
3. Work that takes a toll on the body
C. There will come a day we will enter His rest.
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.”
We Rest On Thee
Words: Edith G. Cherry
We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender!
Thine is the battle, Thine shall be the praise;
When passing through the gates of pearly splendor,
Victors, we rest with Thee, through endless days.
When passing through the gates of pearly splendor,
Victors, we rest with Thee, through endless days.
Hymnal
1. We will have fruitful efforts
2. We will have all eternity to labor for Jesus
3. We will not have to worry about dealing with the curse of sin.
Application: Are you tired of laboring in vain, then enter the rest of God.
CONCLUSION: Hebrews 11:13-16
13These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
14For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
15And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
16But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
The man who walks the tracks
Some men remind me of a poor immigrant who was discovered walking on the tracks of a railroad in New Jersey. On his back he carried a huge bulk and as he trudged on, worn and weary, he resembled Bunyan’s pilgrim with his burden. In passing a station an agent ordered him off the track, reminding him that he was liable to arrest for trespassing. The man demurred and produced a railroad ticket good for passage from Jersey City to Scranton. The agent looked at him in amazement and asked why he was walking when he might ride. The stranger replied that he thought the ticket gave him only the privilege of walking over the road. His right was explained to him and the tired man with delight boarded the first train for his destination.
