The promise of rest still stands

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion

on the day of testing in the wilderness,

where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for 40 years.

Therefore, I was provoked with that generation and said,

They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.

As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest.

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart,

leading you to fall away from the living God.

But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today,

that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

For we have come to share in Christ,

if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

As it is said,

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

For who were those who heard and yet rebelled?

Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?

And with whom was he provoked for 40 years?

Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest,

but to those who were disobedient?

So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands,

let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.

For good news came to us just as to them,

but the message they heard did not benefit them,

because they were not united by faith with those who listened.

For we have believed, sorry, we who have believed enter that rest,

as he has said.

As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest.

Although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.

For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way,

and God rested on the seventh day from all his works.

And again in this passage he said,

they shall not enter my rest.

Since therefore it remains for some to enter it,

and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience,

again he appoints a certain day, today,

saying through David so long afterwards,

in the words already quoted,

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

For if Joshua had given them rest,

God would not have spoken of another day later on.

So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God,

for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest,

so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword,

piercing the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow,

and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

And no creature is hidden from his sight,

but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him whom we must give account.

Good morning, everyone.

Can I encourage you to have your Bibles open at Hebrews chapters 3 and 4?

Hebrews 3 · chapter mention

I'm about to embark on the sheer madness of trying to teach this entire passage in one talk,

a passage which refers to the books of Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Joshua and Psalms,

and it has something to say about each of them.

So I think we're going to need God's help.

So how about I'm going to need God's help,

and you're going to need God's help to listen.

So let's pray and ask for God's help.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that we can spend this time together meditating on your word,

and please give me clarity of thought and expression as I teach it,

and may my words be faithful and true.

And we pray that all of us might draw encouragement from this portion of the scriptures today.

In Jesus' name, amen.

What do you think is the defining feature of our day?

Is it computer technology, smartphones, social media, the internet, artificial intelligence?

Over the last 50 years, computers and associated technologies have moved from being something marginal

to something that pervades every aspect of our lives.

And now that the AI cat is out of the bag, some jobs are disappearing,

many other jobs are changing, and the world will never be the same again.

Is that the defining feature of our age?

Maybe the defining feature of our day is gender confusion.

The ideology of expressive individualism has run roughshod over science,

over natural law, over logic, and over common sense,

so that now the midwife who makes the plain observation and says it's a girl

is guilty of the crime of assigning gender at birth.

Maybe that's the defining feature of our day.

Or is the defining feature of our day political polarisation?

A hardening of positions, progressive and conservative, left and right,

and a decay, a consequent decay of public discourse, a decay of reasonable debate.

Everything's political spin and name-calling and accusations and demonisation and scaremongering.

And increasingly, people are locked into online echo chambers

where they only hear their own opinions voiced back to them.

Maybe that's the defining feature of our day.

Or maybe the defining feature of our day is climate change, environmental degradation,

the age of the Anthropocene where human activity has become,

the impact of human activity on our world has become so great

that the natural world is starting to collapse under the weight of it.

No, we live in anxious times.

Things fall apart.

The centre cannot hold.

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.

That's how William Butler Yeats described the atmosphere in post-World War Europe in 1919.

But they're words that could fit our day.

The doomsday clock has been set to 89 seconds to midnight.

According to its custodians, this is,

the world is the closest it has ever been to catastrophe.

We live in a world on the brink.

And yet for all this, the Bible says there is another,

much more important defining feature of the present time.

Today is the day when the voice of God is heard.

Hebrews chapter 3 verse 7.

Hebrews 3:7

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

today, if you hear his voice.

The first part of that verse are the words of the author of Hebrews.

The second part of that verse,

in the second part of that verse,

he begins to quote from Psalm 95.

Psalm 95 verses 7 to 11.

Psalms 95:7–11

And Hebrews takes that Old Testament passage,

Psalm 95,

and applies it directly to the New Testament Christian readers and hearers of this book.

This is what the Holy Spirit says to you today.

Down in verse 13, he says,

exhort one another every day so long as it is called today.

He picks up that idea of today and says this entire present time is a succession of today's.

A sequence of days in which the voice of God is heard.

If you're flying on a plane and sipping a cup of tea and doing a crossword and listening to some music on your earphones

and suddenly the captain's voice comes across the speakers,

attention, the plane's engines have failed.

We're gliding over open sea and we'll crash into it within the next three minutes.

Listen carefully and I'll tell you how you can survive.

Well, you would first regret that you hadn't paid any attention to the safety briefing at the start of your flight.

And second, give the captain your full attention.

Cups of tea and crosswords would be forgotten.

The most important feature of today,

as long as it's called today,

is that we hear the voice of God and give it our full attention.

But the word of God we hear is not a new word.

We don't seek God's word in visions and dreams.

The word of God we hear is the ancient word indelibly written down,

passed down through the centuries and spoken afresh to each generation by the Holy Spirit.

The ancient word is the present word.

The Holy Spirit is speaking to us today in the words of the scriptures.

Now, the author of the Hebrews,

the author of this book,

takes the ancient word of Psalm 95 and applies it to the Christians he's addressing.

We can go a step further.

We can take this entire passage,

Hebrews 3 and 4,

as an ancient word addressed in the present to us.

This Hebrews 3 and 4,

an ancient word which includes the even more ancient word of Psalm 95.

So what is the Holy Spirit saying to us today from Psalm 95 and from Hebrews chapters 3 and 4?

Hebrews 3 · chapter mention

Well, verse 7 again,

therefore it begins,

therefore.

Now,

that is what he's going to say in this passage is an implication of what he's just said before.

What has he just said before?

Well,

earlier in chapter 3,

he said in verse 3 that Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses.

Won't go into why Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses.

That would be to repeat the message from last week.

But the point is,

the one we follow,

Jesus,

is more glorious than the one the ancient Israelites followed,

Moses.

The one through whom God has spoken to us,

Jesus,

is more glorious than the one through whom God spoke to them,

Moses.

Because Jesus is greater than Moses,

therefore,

as the Holy Spirit says,

verse 7,

today,

if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness,

where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for 40 years.

Therefore,

I was provoked with that generation and said,

they always go astray in their heart.

They have not known my ways.

As I swore in my wrath,

they shall not enter my rest.

That's the ancient word that the writer to the Hebrews quotes as a present word for his hearers.

We're not going to spend much time on verses 7 to 11 directly here,

partly because we've got another 21 verses to get through.

But more importantly,

because what the Bible then does is draw out three specific things from that quotation from Psalm 95.

This is what Psalm 95 is saying to you today.

But I do want to make one further observation before we get to those three things.

And that is,

so far I've been glossing over a nuance of the text.

Notice verse 7 actually implies two acts of hearing.

As the Holy Spirit says,

today if you hear his voice.

Perhaps we could say two moments of divine speech.

There's an initial moment of divine communication,

if you hear his voice.

And then there's another moment,

as the Holy Spirit says.

That is,

the Holy Spirit is instructing us in what to do when we hear God's voice.

To put it another way,

the words quoted from Psalm 95 are not the complete word of God to us today.

Rather,

they are a word about how we respond to the word.

The Holy Spirit telling us how to respond to the word of God.

But that logically prior word,

which Psalm 95 instructs us in about how to respond to,

that could in a sense be any word of God.

But in context,

it is a specific word.

The word which the writer calls in chapter 4,

verse 2,

the good news.

Good news came to us,

just as to them.

It's the good news of Jesus Christ.

That's the voice of God for us today.

That's the word that is being proclaimed in this day throughout the whole world.

And it's about that word that the writer to the Hebrews instructs us in terms of how we respond to it from Psalm 95.

This word about how to respond to the word.

Okay.

So what do we see from this word about how to respond to the word?

Well,

three things.

First,

verses 12 to 15,

a warning.

Then verses 16 to 19,

an example.

And then in chapter 4,

a promise.

And then finally,

the writer rounds it out with a meditation,

a solemn meditation on the word of God in chapter 4,

verses 12 and 13.

Well,

first,

let's think about a warning for us today.

Look at chapter 3,

verse 12 with me,

a warning for us today.

Take care,

brothers,

lest there be in any of you an evil,

unbelieving heart,

leading you to fall away from the living God.

But exhort one another every day,

as long as it's called today,

that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

For we share in Christ,

if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

As it is said today,

if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

Now,

this isn't the time to take a deep dive into the doctrine of the perseverance of

the saints,

which I fully believe.

But the implication of these verses is that it is impossible,

it is possible to make some kind of beginning.

And yet to fall away from the living God.

You fall away,

or you depart from,

a position,

a path,

a course of action,

that you previously occupy.

You fall away from a place you already are.

It involves turning away,

it involves leaving something behind.

That's the sense of this word,

wherever it occurs throughout the New Testament.

And the word,

the words in verse 12 are addressed to brothers.

Although brothers,

they're used in an inclusive sense,

brothers and sisters.

But it's to believe it's believers that this,

these words are addressed to brothers,

brothers and sisters.

A non-believer doesn't fall away from the living God because a non-believer has not

come to the living God in the first place.

It is a Christian brother or sister who might.

See brothers,

sisters,

it matters not only how we begin the race,

it matters how we complete the race.

Verse 14,

we share in Christ,

if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

Marathon runners train carefully so that they can sustain their race pace from beginning to end.

They start their race conservatively so that they can finish strong.

And few marathon runners fail to finish the race because they've been tripped over by a spectator

or bitten by a stray dog.

When a runner falls short,

it's because their own physical or mental stamina fails.

Likewise,

in the Christian race,

the greater threats are internal,

not external.

It's not persecution or hardship or difficulties,

although these of course may play their part.

The real danger though is within.

Take care lest there be in any of you an evil,

unbelieving heart

leading you to fall away from the living God.

What we must guard against,

verse 13,

is that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

The battleground is within.

It's over the contested territory of the human heart.

And our enemy,

sin,

does not fight in the open field.

It's a Trojan horse.

Sin's strategy is to deceive

so that we open the gates of our heart to it unawares.

Richard Baxter wrote this,

the devil is a greater scholar than you

and a nimbler disputant.

He can transform himself into an angel of light to deceive.

He will get within you and trip up your heels before you are aware.

You see neither hook nor line,

much less the subtle angler himself,

while he is offering you his bait.

And his bait shall be so fitted to your temper and disposition

that he will be sure to find advantages within you

and make your own principles and inclinations betray you.

Sin deceives us.

See the first step in forsaking God's word

may even seem to us like virtue.

So one rejects unpopular teachings of the Bible

under the guise of compassion and inclusion.

Or on the flip side,

another sees himself as a staunch defender of truth

and under that banner abandons love and grace and humility

as slowly his heart is consumed by self-righteousness.

See, because sin's strategy is to deceive,

our defence against sin is to be part of a community

committed to speaking the truth to one another.

Verse 13,

exhort one another every day,

as long as it's called today,

that none of you may be hardened

by the deceitfulness of sin.

Notice a couple of things about this.

First,

this is everyone's responsibility,

not just the pastors.

The New Testament is full of one another's.

Now,

we're to love one another,

be kind to one another,

forgive one another.

Well,

here we are to exhort one another.

Dave Bott needs us to exhort him

as much as we need him to exhort us.

Pastors are as vulnerable to temptation as anyone.

And the fact that sin deceives

means that the person being deceived by it is unaware.

That's why we need a community,

all of us,

where we are committed to speaking the truth to one another.

Second thing to notice is that exhorting one another

is essentially a verbal activity.

The author of Hebrews calls this book,

the book of Hebrews,

a word of exhortation.

Another way you could translate that is encourage one another,

a word of encouragement.

The purpose is to strengthen,

it's to build up.

And it's true,

we do encourage one another by deeds of love.

But the central idea here is that we exhort one another.

We speak the truth to each other

so as to expose sin's deceptions

and so as to fortify each other in faith.

And we don't fulfil this instruction to exhort one another.

We don't fulfil it by being hypercritical.

You know,

by pulling each other up for every minor fault.

That's not what this is saying.

We don't fulfil it by constantly berating ourselves

for how awful we all are.

In 1893,

18-year-old Winston Churchill

qualified to enter the Royal Military College

at Sandhurst as a cavalry cadet.

His father was disappointed

that he hadn't qualified for the infantry.

And so his father sent him this letter.

He said,

The first extremely discreditable failure of your performance

was missing the infantry.

for in that failure is demonstrated beyond refutation

your slovenly, happy-go-lucky,

harem-scare-em style of work

for which you've been distinguished

at your different schools.

Never have I received a really good report

of your conduct in your work

from any master or tutor,

always behind-hand,

never advancing in your class,

incessant complaints of total want of application.

Do not think that I'm going to take the trouble

of writing you long letters

after every failure and folly you commit and undergo

because I no longer attach the slightest weight

to anything you may say

about your own accomplishments and exploits.

Make this position indelibly impressed on your mind

that if your conduct and action

is similar to what it's been in the other establishments,

then my responsibility for you is over.

because I am certain that if you cannot prevent yourself

from leading the idle, useless, unprofitable life

that you have had during your school days

and latter months,

you will become a mere social wastrel,

one of the hundreds of the public school failures,

and you will degenerate into a shabby,

unhappy and futile existence.

If that is so,

you will have to bear all the blame

for such misfortune yourself,

your affectionate father, Randolph SC.

LAUGHTER

That is not a word of encouragement.

LAUGHTER

Yes, each of us is an incredibly complex mix of good and bad.

Yes, each of us is subject to temptation

and prone to weakness.

But we exhort one another,

not by constantly telling each other how bad we are,

we exhort one another by telling each other how good he is,

by reminding one another of the goodness of Christ,

the beauty of Christ,

the one who's better than angels,

better than Moses,

crowned with glory and honour,

our merciful and faithful high priest.

The aim of exhorting one another is,

as it's expressed in verse 14,

that we hold our original confidence in Christ

firm to the end.

And so the chief theme of our exhortation

is the goodness and majesty and sufficiency of Christ.

After all, it's not being a sinner

that means I fall away from the living God.

It's rather being an unbelieving sinner,

an evil, unbelieving heart.

It's being an unforgiven sinner,

a sinner so hardened by sin's deceitfulness

that I no longer even realise I am a sinner

and that I need a saviour.

The heart of our exhortation is to remind one another

of our perfect saviour and say,

keep trusting in him.

Well, alongside the warning for today,

the words Hebrews quotes from Psalm 95

also give us an example for today.

Look at verse 16, chapter 3, verse 16.

For who were those who heard and yet rebelled?

Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?

And with whom was he provoked for 40 years?

Was it not those who sinned,

whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

And to whom did he swear

that they would not enter his rest,

but to those who were disobedient?

So we see that they were unable to enter

because of unbelief.

The example that Psalm 95 draws on

is the generation of Israelites

who were led by Moses.

They'd been, God had brought them

under Moses' leadership

out of slavery in Egypt.

They'd witnessed the 10 plagues.

They passed through the Red Sea.

They were led by the pillar of fire

and smoke in the wilderness.

They drank water from the rock.

They ate manna from heaven.

They saw my works, God says.

They made a beginning.

They experienced redemption.

They came out of Egypt.

But that's as far as they got.

They did not enter the promised land.

Why?

Well, Hebrews 3, verses 16 to 19

Hebrews 3:16–19

uses a variety of terms for their apostasy.

Verse 16, they heard and yet rebelled.

Verse 17, they sinned.

Verse 18, they were disobedient.

Verse 19, unbelief.

There were a string of instances

of Israel's disobedience and unbelief

in the wilderness.

But the key moment came in Numbers

Numbers 13 · chapter mention

chapters 13 and 14

where Israel arrived at Kadesh Barnea

at the edge of the promised land

and instructed by God,

they sent out 12 spies

to scout out the land.

And the spies returned

and they reported that the land was good

but they also reported

that it was heavily defended.

The people were strong.

The cities fortified.

The descendants of Anak,

giants were among them.

Two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb,

pleaded with the people,

do not rebel against the Lord.

But the people were too afraid.

They did not trust God.

They refused to enter the land.

They were unable to enter

because of unbelief.

Verse 19 says here.

And so God confirmed them in that fate,

sentencing them to 40 years

of wandering around the wilderness

until an entire adult generation

had perished.

I swore in my wrath,

they shall not enter my rest.

They were unable to enter

and they shall not enter my rest.

Well, the word of God drives home

the message of this example

in chapter 4,

likening us Christians

to Israel at Kadesh Barnea,

poised at the edge

of entering the promised land.

Look at chapter 4, verses 1 and 2.

Therefore, while the promise

of entering his rest

still stands,

let us fear lest any of you

should seem to have failed to reach it.

For good news came to us

just as to them,

but the message they heard

did not benefit them

because they were not united by faith

with those who listened.

The last part of verse 2 there

is a little bit difficult,

but I think what is meant there

because they were not united

by faith with those who listened.

The they there is Israel,

the Israelites,

and the those who listened

I think are Caleb and Joshua,

the two spies who did heed

the word of God

and said we must enter.

But the rest of Israel

would not unite themselves

with the faith of Caleb and Joshua

and so were sentenced

to perish in the wilderness.

But we, like Israel,

are promised rest.

I will bring you into the land,

the Lord had promised Israel.

Whoever believes in the Son

has eternal life,

the Lord has promised us.

two different forms

of the one promise,

the promise of entering God's rest.

Good news for Old Testament Israel,

good news for New Testament

disciples of Christ.

And the point chapter 4 makes

is that the promise

of entering God's rest

still stands.

It's open,

it's available.

The promise of entering

his rest still stands,

chapter 4 verse 1.

So let us fear lest any of you

should seem to have failed

to reach us.

Notice again that God's word

calls us,

as in chapter 3 verse 12,

God's word calls us

to a corporate responsibility

for one another.

Let us fear lest any

should seem to have failed

to reach it.

3 verse 12,

take care brothers

that there,

lest there be

in any one of you

an evil,

unbelieving heart.

Each one of us

is to be concerned

not only with our own faith,

but all of us

are to care for everyone.

When I was at Bible college

in our year,

there were,

we had a few classmates

who struggled academically,

who struggled to learn Greek,

or who struggled

at writing essays.

And others in our class

would get alongside them

and assist them

and provide tuition

and help them

with their study.

Because as a class,

all of us

wanted everyone

to reach the goal.

But we,

of course,

have a much greater goal

before us,

don't we?

Which is nothing less

than the goal of life,

the goal of entering

God's rest.

In Hebrews 4,

Hebrews 4:3–10

verses 3 to 10,

the Bible gives us

a brief history of rest,

and the main point

is just to reinforce

the point that's already

been made,

the promise of entering

his rest still stands.

I'll fly through it.

Quickly,

a brief history of rest.

In verses 3 and 4,

we read of rest established.

Rest established.

From halfway through

verse 3,

God's works

were finished

from the foundation

of the world,

for he has spoken

of the seventh day

in this way,

and God rested

on the seventh day

from all his works.

The point

God's word is making here

is that from the very

beginning,

rest has been available.

God created things

and then he rested.

If you look,

and if you look at

Genesis chapters 1 and 2,

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

you see that the seventh day

is the only day

in the narrative

which doesn't end.

For every other day,

we're told there was evening,

there was morning,

the first day,

so on.

But the seventh day

is open-ended.

God created

and then rested

and he's resting still.

Now,

God resting still,

of course,

doesn't mean that he's

sitting back doing nothing.

Jesus said,

my father's working

and I'm working

until now.

God is sustaining

the world he's made.

But with the work

of creation completed,

he established

his rest

as the goal

to which creation

is heading.

The goal

for which

we were made

that we might share

in his rest.

From the beginning,

God rested

and that rest

has always been available.

Rest established.

Secondly,

in this brief history

of rest,

we hear of rest

rejected.

Again,

in verse 5,

again in the passage,

he said,

they shall not enter

my rest.

And verse 6,

those who formerly

received the good news

failed to enter

because of disobedience.

Israel had no one

but themselves

to blame

for their failure

to enter.

Rest was available.

It was promised

to them.

But they rejected it.

They disbelieved

the promise

of God.

thirdly,

in this

brief history

of rest,

we read of

rest

promised

again.

Verse 7,

and so again,

God appoints

a certain day

today,

saying through

David so long

afterward,

in the words

already quoted,

today,

if you hear

his voice,

do not harden

your hearts.

The point

the Bible's

making here

is that

in Psalm 95,

God is

reiterating

his promise

of rest

several hundred

years after

that generation

that fell

in the wilderness

through David.

Now,

you might say

Psalm 95

sounds a bit more

like a warning

than a promise.

Where's the promise

in Psalm 95?

It's a stern warning.

But let me say

a couple of things

about that.

Firstly,

that the warning

actually implies

a promise.

if you were

to go to the zoo

and go to an

enclosure and

there's a sign

at the enclosure

that says,

do not feed

the chimpanzees,

you would expect

to see chimpanzees

and feel pretty

ripped off

if you didn't.

Likewise,

the warning

of Psalm 95

is don't

harden your

hearts.

It implies

the promise.

God's promise,

God's offer

of rest

is still

available.

Don't

harden your

hearts

so that

you don't

miss it.

But indeed,

secondly,

if you look

at the whole

of Psalm 95,

the first

half is

indeed

an invitation

to come.

The second

half,

which Hebrews

quotes,

is a warning

not to reject

the invitation.

So how does

Psalm 95

start?

Psalm 95,

O come,

let us sing

to the Lord,

let us make

a joyful noise

to the rock

of our salvation.

Let us

come into

his presence

with thanksgiving.

Let us

make a joyful

noise to him

with songs

of praise,

for the Lord

is a great

God and a

great king

above all

gods.

Psalm 95

is an invitation

to enter

God's presence,

to share

in his joy,

and then a

warning not

to reject

the invitation.

Rest

is promised.

But another

might object,

hold on,

yes,

a generation

of Israel

perished in

the wilderness,

but what about

the next

generation?

Didn't

they enjoy

rest?

Didn't

Joshua

lead them

into the

promised land

and God

gave them

the land

and they

enjoy,

in fact,

even if you

look at the

book of

Joshua,

the book

of Joshua

says,

in chapter

21,

verse 43

and 44,

thus the

Lord God

gave to

Israel

all the

land that

he swore

to give

their

fathers

and they

took possession

of it

and they

settled

there and

the Lord

gave them

rest on

every side

just as

he'd sworn

to their

fathers.

Didn't

they get

rest in

the land

after all?

Well,

the writer

of the

Hebrews

replies to

that potential

objection

in verse

8.

If Joshua

had given

them rest,

God would

not have

spoken of

another day

later on.

So then

there remains

a Sabbath

rest for

the people

of God.

The

reiteration

of God's

promise

through

David

hundreds of

years after

Joshua

demonstrated

that the

promise was

incomplete.

It

demonstrated

that the

good things

Israel enjoyed

in the

land from

the time

of Joshua

onwards

didn't

exhaust

God's

promise of

rest.

that at

most it

was a

foretaste

but not

the true

rest

which God

offered his

people.

True rest

was not

temporal and

earthly

but eternal

and heavenly.

It's not

something that

can ever be

satisfied by

our present

fallen

broken world

world.

Whether in

the land

of Israel

or the

land of

Australia.

No matter

how good

your long

service leave

that's not

true rest.

No matter

how good

your retirement

that's not

true rest.

true rest.

Not even the

12 weeks of

holidays a

year that

school teachers

get are

true rest

as I'm

sure they'll

testify.

True rest

is entering

the presence

of God

with

thanksgiving

with songs

of joy

and sharing

in his

rest.

rest.

And that

promise

remains

open.

The

promise of

rest

remains.

Verse 9

again.

There

remains a

Sabbath

rest for

the people

of God

for whoever

has entered

God's rest

has also

rested from

his works

as God

did from

his.

So the

main point

of this

brief

biblical

theology

of rest

is that

the promise

remains for

us today.

Indeed we

who live

after Christ

enjoy a

privileged

position

because all

of history

has been

building to

this point.

The goal

of life

anticipated

since

creation

promised to

Israel but

constantly

slipping out

of their

grasp.

Promised

again by

David,

by God

through

David.

That

promise of

rest is

offered to

us in

the gospel

of Jesus

Christ.

Come to

me,

Jesus

said,

all who

labour and

are heavy

laden,

and I

will give

you rest.

But what a

madness it

would be to

come to the

one who

gives rest

and yet

refuse to

enter the

rest he

gives.

So,

verse 11,

let us

therefore

strive to

enter that

rest so

that no

one may

fall by

the same

sort of

disobedience.

Consider all

that God's

rest means

in terms of

what we

leave behind

and in

terms of

what we

enter into.

we leave

behind labour

and struggle

and hardship.

We leave

behind grief

and pain

and tears

and death.

we leave

behind temptations

and stumbling

blocks.

We leave

behind loneliness.

We enter

into the

love of

God.

We enter

into his

joy and

gladness.

We enter

into a

life of

eternal

blessedness.

rest.

So,

let us

strive to

enter that

rest.

At a

cross-country

race in

2013,

Kenyan

distance

runner,

Abel

Mutai,

was in

first place

approaching

the finish

line.

But as

Mutai

approached

the finish

line,

he was

confused

by the

signs

and

stopped

short,

a few

metres

short,

thinking

he'd

finished

the

race.

Spanish

athlete

Ivan

Fernandez

was in

second

place,

right

behind

Mutai.

He

could

easily

have

just

run

past

Mutai

and

finished

first.

Instead,

realising

what had

happened,

he started

shouting

at Mutai,

keep

running.

Mutai

didn't

understand

Spanish.

So

Fernandez

came up

behind

him,

speaking,

pointing,

pushing

him,

urging

him on,

so that

Mutai

could get

across the

finish

line

first.

There

remains a

Sabbath

rest for

the people

of God.

So let's

push one

another

towards

that

goal.

And in

this

day,

today,

while the

voice of

God is

heard,

let's

not

harden

our

hearts

to

it.

Verse

12,

for the

word of

God

is

living

and

active,

sharper

than any

two-edged

sword,

piercing to

the division

of soul

and of

spirit,

of joints

and marrow,

and discerning

the thoughts

and intentions

of the

heart.

God's

word is

living and

active.

It's

powerful and

effective.

It will

accomplish the

purpose for

which he

sends it.

God's

word

penetrates to

the very

core of

our being,

judging the

thoughts and

attitudes of

our heart.

it leaves

us utterly

exposed.

Dave

asked the

question for

us.

Are these

words

hopeful

or are

they?

I can't

remember the

other word

Dave used.

Terrifying?

Fearful?

Fear-inducing?

Intimidating?

Thanks,

Dave.

Are these

words hopeful

or intimidating?

They sound

ominous,

don't they?

But this

is exactly

the instrument

we need for

our hearts.

Sin may

deceive us,

but it

can't deceive

God.

And the

word of

God is a

sharp

scalpel.

It slices

through our

pretenses and

rationalisations.

It reveals the

secret workings

of our

heart.

God cuts

away sin's

deceptions so

that we may

hold on to

the promise

of God.

So,

brothers and

sisters,

do you hear

the word of

God?

Do you hear

the word of

God's promise

drawing us

into his

rest?

Do you hear

the word of

God's

warning?

cutting away

our doubts

and unbelief?

Well,

let's heed

the warning.

Let's hold

on to the

promise

and let's

exhort

one another

daily

so that

all together

we might

reach that

goal.

Will you pray

with me?

Amen.

Heavenly Father,

we thank you

for the

promise of

rest that

still stands,

that all

who come to

Jesus and

trust in

him

and cling

to him

our

saviour,

our

Lord,

will enter

your rest.

We thank you

that this

promise is

certain.

We thank you

that it

doesn't depend

on us

but on our

saviour who

went before

us.

and so

we pray

for each

and every

one of us

here

that you

might guard

our hearts

from the

deceitfulness

of sin.

Please keep

us trusting

in Jesus

until the

very end

and help

us as a

church to

exhort and

encourage one

another in

this so

that none

of us might

stumble and

fall.

We ask

all of this

in Jesus

name.

Amen.