Claiming the Promised Rest of God
Hebrews 4:1-13
“4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left [us] of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. 2 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]. 3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 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. 5 And in this [place] again, If they shall enter into my rest. 6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: 7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God [did] from his. 11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 12 For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things [are] naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. 14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast [our] profession. 15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. ”
Memorial Day Service Pine Bluff Baptist Church
As I sought the message that God wanted me to bring to this Memorial Day service I was drawn back to my childhood. I thought about sitting on these very steps eating my lunch, seeing the people wandering through the cemetery reminiscing about love ones who have gone on before. That is the reason why most of us are here for today to remember our loved ones who have gone on before us. But I want to remind you, what we really are here for, and that is to worship our Lord and Savior. As a young boy I remember walking through the cemetery and asking my dad who was this or who was that and he would tell me some stories about them. You see I never knew them but I know them because of the family stories that have passed down through the generations. Why some of them sound like they were interesting characters to be around. But all of them have gone on to be with the Lord and they are resting in Him now. Yes today is memorial day, a day of remembering our dead; but I want us to understand that what we are really here for is to remember what Jesus has done for us. Capture this now I want to express the opinion that every day that we draw breath, is a memorial to Jesus and that we have to live our life as a remembrance or memorial to him. How wonderful to know that our loved ones are celebrating and praising our Risen Lord and Savior in Heaven now. But we are here on earth struggling through life. Do you know that we don’t have to struggle? That Jesus has provided for you a way to conquer life’s problems.
Today I want us to examine what Jesus really meant when He said that He would provide rest for us. In the world of today many Christians get caught up in the things of this world. We strive to succeed; there is nothing wrong with this if we are doing it for Jesus. But for many of us, we have to keep up with our neighbors, we have to have the newest model car, the latest gadget, and the next promotion so that we can feel validated. This is how the world views success, it is not a Biblical sense of success. God does not measure success by what we have He measure success by what we do with what we have, whether it is a little or a lot. Too many of us are scrambling from one thing to the next. We don’t have time for Jesus or for His Kingdom. We have to get to the next ballgame, or meeting. We don’t have time for Wednesday night service because our kids have practice or we are just too tired. We don’t have time to study the Bible but we do have time to watch four hours of T.V. before we go to bed. Where are our priorities? Have you ever wondered what you could accomplish for Jesus if you put as much energy into His work as you do in the things of this world? Now I am going to step on some toes and make you uncomfortable because I am going to ask some tough questions. How many of you place more or as much importance on your work for Jesus as you do on your everyday job or life? Are you more concerned with succeeding at work than succeeding as a Christian? We struggle to be a success in the eyes of the world and we are failing in the only important thing there is, our service to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What good is it to be rich and do nothing for Jesus? Jesus gave you everything that you have. Well you say I earned it, yes but God gave you that talent so that you could increase His kingdom.
Brothers and Sisters if you are a Christian than you have been bought and paid for. Jesus purchased you out of the slave market of sin when He died on the cross, was buried and rose again. Your are His servant. But not only are we His servants, we also enjoy a unique relationship with God as His adoptive children. We share in Jesus’ inheritance. Jesus wants to share everything with us. He has gifts that He wants to give us. But many of us refuse to accept them. We are to busy to worry about that. One of His greatest gifts that He has for us is that of rest.
What do I mean by this. In verse 1-2 we are told that He has rest for us. 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left [us] of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. 2 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]. This rest is available to every Christian. It is the rest of Faith. The peace of knowing that Jesus saves us from eternal damnation, the peace of knowing that God is in control of all things. And by His being in control nothing happens unless He allows it to happen and that there is a perfect reason for it to happen. There is the peace of knowing that God will provide for all of our needs. And finally there is the peace of knowing that God will fulfill each and every promise that He has made to us in His word. Only when we truly believe these things will we be able to live that restful life that Jesus has for us. I call this a Faith/Rest life. Having the faith that God is in control and rest on His promises.
To rest you must have faith. This is not a lip faith where you say you have faith but a faith that is real and doesn’t waver. In verse 1 Paul talks about fear. This is the fear of not reaching this rest. He warns us about becoming lax in our service to Christ. He illustrates his point by pointing out that the Jews had heard the word but that they did not profit by it. In other words they did not have the faith to believe that which they heard preached. They new the word but yet they still rejected what Jesus offered them because it was not what they wanted. They wanted an earthly kingdom not spiritual redemption.
What about us? Do we not do the same thing? We become more concerned with our worldly lives than our relationship with God. Our Jobs, clubs, sports, and other activities become more important than our walk with Jesus Christ. We don’t have time to worship wait let me rephrase that, we don’t take time to worship because we manage to make time for everything else we want to do. God is not important enough to take center stage in our lives and if He is not center stage in your life, if anything is more important to you than Jesus Christ then you are not living in Faith. This is the reason why we often feel overwhelmed, as if the world is pressing in around us, about to bury us, and people are pulling us in all directions. Stop take a hard look at what you are doing. Satan is tricky and He has clouded the eyes of many Christians. He knows that he can’t have your soul but he sure wants to keep you from serving Jesus. He wants to make your testimony worthless. He wants to overwhelm you with worldly concerns so that you can’t function for Christ. He wants you to go to church because it is something you think you have to do instead of something you want to do, you need to do, because your soul craves to learn about your Lord and Savior. This is what Paul means when says they heard the word but it did not profit them. The Israelites had the word, they had heard the word preached, and they studied the word but it did them no good. They failed to unite the word with faith. The word really had no meaning to them. It was not important enough for them believe. You can know what you are supposed to do, but unless faith is present it is not profitable to you. We are to fear being like the Israelites who failed to accept God’s promised rest. Don’t be as hard hearted as they were. The Israelites even after seeing all the miracles God performed delivering them from Egypt still did not have the faith that God would take care them in the wilderness. Look at Ex. 17:1-7 17:1 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and [there was] no water for the people to drink. 2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD? 3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore [is] this [that] thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? 4 And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me. 5 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not? They accused God of delivering them out of bondage to their death, they failed to have faith in Him and rest on God’s promises of protection. I want you to capture what I am about to say, nothing that you have, your money, your house, the cars, your job, land, what ever it is you have, you did not earn. God gave everything that you call yours to you. He controlled the circumstances whereby you got your job; He controlled the situation so that you made your money. Now the question is what are you going to do for God with what He has given you.
In Verse 3 of Hebrews chapter 4 we are told that if we are believers we will enter into this promised rest. What is this rest? It is the rest of faith or having the knowledge and the assurance that God is in control and that nothing happens without His consent. That He will always be there for us and that He will provide for al of our daily needs. It is there for all of us we just have to claim it. Some will find this rest while many others will not because they refuse to give up their worldly views. Their pride in themselves prevents them from spiritual growth. How many of us today are guilty of this pride? How many of us are missing out on the promised rest of God. This rest is a peace of the soul, the absolute knowledge that Jesus has completed the work of salvation, that God is in charge of all things and there by in control of all things. So we can rest in the knowledge that all of our trials and tribulations are for our own good.
This Faith/Rest life is not a one-time deal but it is a way of life. One we live daily. This type of life is what allowed the ancient saints to go their deaths singing praises of glory for God. The Romans hung them on crosses, feed them to lions, and burned them; but they still went willingly to their deaths because they refused to renounce God. Their eyes were not on this world but on Jesus. It will be this same Faith/Rest life that will sustain the saints of the Tribulation period as they are martyred for their faith in Jesus. This is a faith that is sure in the knowledge that God will provide for you. That He will answer your prayers, maybe not the way you want them answered or at the time you want them answered, but in His perfect time and perfect way. He knows what is best for us. We must understand that trials and tribulations are for our benefit. They help us to grow spiritually and strengthen our faith. The more we trust God to provide all things the more our faith grows.
Verse 6 tells us that some will enter into this rest and others want because of disobedience. 6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: There is no way to sugar coat this. Whenever we don’t do that which Jesus says for us to do we are disobeying Him. I believe that many Christians today fail here because we are too focused on the world and not on Christ. We are world centered and not Christ centered. We are more concerned with what the world has to offer than on what Christ has to give.
But how can you have this Faith/Rest Life. The first step for developing this type of faith is to give every aspect of your life to Jesus. Which is His anyway because He purchased you. But you can’t know this if you don’t study the Bible. Today one reason why so many fail to develop this type of faith is because many of us do not have a daily Bible study in our lives. We don’t communicate with God because too many of us He is not a personal God. We don’t see the reality of God in the world or in our lives. And because of this attitude we take the time to study God’s word. Well let give you a word of warning, the Bible is God’s word. It is the blueprint for your life. There is no excuse that we can give that can justify our not knowing God’s word. We have been blessed to live in a nation where we have free and complete access to the Word of God. We don’t have to live in fear or hide to study God’s word. Many places in the world today just owning a Bible could get you a long prison term or death and yet in these very nations who are trying to stamp out Christianity it is growing. What excuse do we have then for not studying? Oh, Lord I am sorry but I was to busy with my life to study your Word. Our entire spiritual life is built on the foundation of God’s word. I challenge you to find what I have told you today not to be in God’s word. We may wish that it was not because we have no desire to work for Jesus. A daily bible study is absolutely essential in your life if you are to grow in Christ and rest in Him. It is the meat and milk on which we as Christians thrive. Would you quite eating anything because you are too busy to eat. Would you give up eating forever? No, because you would starve to death. The same happens if you don’t study the word you soul starves. By studying the Bible we learn God’s word and we have the tools that we need to live a Faith/Rest life. The more we study the more secure we become and the better able we are to face each day and the trails that come with it. We have the weapons to face adversity because the Word is quick, powerful and sharper than any two-edge sword.
Once we know God’s word we then can claim the promises of God. In times of crisis’s we two choices to make. We can either lean on God or we can hit the panic button. God promises us that He will not put more on us than He has prepared us for. Remember that whatever happens to you God has prepared you for it.
The Faith/Rest life is a way of life but it is also a thought process. Verse 13 tells us that God knows what we actually think. 13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things [are] naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Even though we say we have faith in God to do what He says He will do we must also believe that He will do it. We can’t pay lip service to this. Belief must be present also. He knows what we really think. When we turn a burden over to Him we must have the faith that He will take care of it and no longer worry about it. Too many of us want to box God up on Monday and place Him on a shelf until next Sunday. But that is not the way it works. God is not toy or an appliance that you can turn on and off whenever you want to use Him. He is real, He is our creator and as such He deserves our full attention not the left-overs that we been giving Him.
Once you get to this point in your spiritual growth you will want to witness for Jesus. You will want, no you will need to share Jesus with others and tell them what He has done for you. Many will want what you have. There will be a need for you to work for Christ.
Finally a Faith/Rest Life includes prayer. Verses 14-16 calls for us to boldly approach the throne of grace and mercy. We are to constantly pray. I had a young man who I was leading to Christ a few weeks ago who said I can’t pray I don’t know how to pray. My answer to him was this. Do you have a telephone? Yes he answered. Do you talk on it? Yes he said. Then you can pray. Prayer is like having a conversation on the telephone. Just pick it up and start talking to God. He will be there and He will be listening. Don’t worry about using fancy words and phrases He knows what you really are praying for. In times of crisis pick up the phone and talk to God about it. Give Him your burden. He is waiting for your call.
Finally I want to close with the following story about Faith. Hudson Taylor a missionary to China in the 20th century was sailing to his destination. The captain of the ship had been giving him a hard time because of his faith. One day the ship was becalmed. No wind was blowing. On the Horizon a pirate ship was spotted. It was still moving because it had oars. The Captain called Taylor and said “Okay preacher man if your God is real pray us out of this one.” Hudson said, “ I will gladly pray but first put every bit of sail that you have on this ship up. You see I believe that God will answer my prayers but I want pray until every bit of sail is up” The Captain replied “ Man you must be crazy my men will think I lost it if I put all the sail up now.” “ Well I want pray until it is up” The pirates kept getting closer and closer and finally the Captain order the men to put up the sail. When it was completed Hudson knelt and prayed. By the time the amen was out of Hudson’s mouth there was a puff of wind then a breeze and the ship sailed away from the pirates. Here was a Faith/Rest life.
