FROM SHADOW TO SUBSTANCE: Back to the Future

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow Because

He lives, all fear is gone Because I know He

holds the future because he lives. The Resurrection

Life Sunday Sermon is brought to you by Resurrection

Life Church in Apex, North Carolina, a congregation

of the Presbyterian Church in America. Resurrection

Life Church is pastored by Dr. Mark Kadesh. And

this week we continue our current series on the

book of Hebrews called From Shadow to Substance.

Now, here's Pastor Mark. Last week we talked

about how the author of Hebrews is preaching

on a text, Psalm 95, right? I'm a pastor in 2026

preaching about a sermon that's preaching on

Psalm 95. It gets a little bit convoluted, but

I want to straighten that out because Psalm 95

comes back again and again and again three different

times in our passage. It's like this commentary,

this preaching on Psalm 95 just continues. You're

going to see it pop up. So I'm going to read

for us Hebrews 4, 1 through 12, or 1 through

13. And with what I just said in mind, hear the

word of the Lord. It says this, 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 it did to them. The them there is the

wilderness generation, and we're going to talk

about that. But the message they heard did not

benefit them, because they were not united by

faith with those who listened. And we're going

to talk about who those people are, the ones

who listened. For we who have believed enter

that rest, as he has said. And this is Psalm

95 again. As I swore 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, again

another quote from Psalm 95, they shall not enter

my rest. That is, the wilderness generation will

not enter my rest. Verse 6, since therefore it

remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly

received the good news fail to enter because

of disobedience, again he appoints a certain

day, today, saying through David, so long afterwards,

in the words already quoted from Psalm 95, 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.

So that's verse 1 through 11 is what we're going

to focus on, but I'm going to repeat Hebrews

4, 12 to 13 here. 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 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 to whom we must give

account. So, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,

I've discovered about myself, I was thinking

this past week about crossing the finish line.

Couldn't really settle on a title this week.

It was originally like Back to the Future, and

then it was Crossing the Finish Line, which is

on the literary slide. But I changed it to Crossing

into Glory, I think. You'll see in a second,

whether or not or not. But it's the whole point

of... crossing over from one place of racing

or running into the next. And so I noticed, as

I was thinking about this, all these different

movies kind of came to my mind. As some of you

know, I'm a big Cars fan. I love that movie.

I love Life is a Highway. That's a great song

written by a Canadian, I might add. Great movie,

right? Cars, if you've seen it. I don't want

to give anything away. I'll just say it's a great

movie. There's Chariots of Fire. Some of you

may like Chariots of Fire. I remember watching

that movie as a kid and seeing Eric Little crossing

the finish line. Or does he? I don't want to

give it away. And so you have that movie. You

have one of my favorite, favorite movies. I just

recently showed the kids. They weren't nearly

as impressed as I was. But it's Francis Ford

Coppola's Black Stallion. Anybody? So good. Beautifully

done. Anyway, so this is a beautiful story of

a horse and his boy and racing. And it's this,

what I want to capture for us is just the joy

of crossing over a line and the celebration that

exists because of that. You know, there's so

much stuff going on after the celebration of

winning. Whether you're crossing the finish line

on a horse, or you're finishing the finish line

in a car, or crossing the finish line as a car,

there's celebration. And today we're going to

talk about the celebration that awaits those

who trust Jesus to the end. To the end. We're

going to focus on three things here. There we

go. Crossing into glory. Point one is road to

rest. Then we're going to deal with two points

of application. Forge ahead and avoid failure.

And forge ahead and avoid falling. So that's

what we're going to talk about. For those of

you who really followed along well with this

passage, some of you may be sitting there going...

okay, how is this all going to work? There's

a whole lot of information. Yes, there's a whole

lot of information, but we're going to plow through.

And the first point really is a survey of this

passage. And we're going to break it down into

three parts. Okay. This first part into three,

bring your ticket to rest. Rest begins and ends

with God and the destination is Sabbath land.

So let's jump into this passage because there's

a lot of meat here. Hebrews 4, verse 2 and 3

Hebrews 4:2

says this. For good news came to us just as it

did to them. That is the wilderness generation.

But the message they heard did not benefit them

because they were not united by faith with those

who listened. For we who have believed enter

that rest. As he said, as I swore my wrath, they

shall not enter my rest. Now the word for good

news there is the straight up word gospel, good

news. And so the wilderness generation did not

fuse together faith and these people who were

crossing over into the land of rest. So the good

news was that they had this promised land to

go to, but faith was their ticket to get in.

And so that's why the focus is like bring your

ticket to rest. Your ticket is faith. You got

to believe. You got to believe to get in. So

how did the original people do it? Well, Caleb

and Joshua, they were among the spies who entered

into the promised land to sneak around to see

whether or not they could take over this land.

totally, totally take over this land with no

problem. So you had this whole group of spies.

All of them said, no, not a chance. There's giants

over there. And then Joshua and Caleb are like,

no, no, no, we can do this. We can do this. In

fact, they say, the land which we pass through

it to spy it out is an exceedingly good land.

If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us

into this land. and give it to us. A land flows

with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against

the Lord, and do not fear the people of the land,

for they are bread to us. They're bread to us.

We can just take it. I want to show you a picture.

Some of you may recognize this from last week

a little bit, but this is the road to rest for

the wilderness generation. This is a 40 -year

journey. And the land of rest, you can see the

promised land there, that's up over there, that

oval shape. And you'll notice that they just

kind of skirt around the whole thing. They spend,

as we talked about last week, 38 years in one

spot where that arrow is. 38 years they spend

there. Takes them about a year to get there,

and then they go all the way around to the finish

line there, right at the edge, and then they

spend one more year, and that's the book of Deuteronomy.

Where Moses is preaching to them and preparing

for them to cross into this land. So this whole

wilderness generation did not couple faith with

those who had faith to go into the land. They

weren't part of that group. They weren't part

of the believing group. Take it into the land

was faith. And so for us, our faith is different.

The good news that we need to believe in is different

than the good news that was talked about here.

Many centuries earlier. The good news for us

is written down in Hebrews 1 .3. What does it

say? It says, Jesus is the radiance of the glory

of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and

he upholds the universe. By the word of his power

and making purification for sin, he sat down

at the right hand of the majesty on high. This

is Jesus. This is our good news. Hebrews 2 .9

says this, Jesus was crowned with glory and honor,

so he's a king, because of the suffering of death,

so that by the grace of God, he might taste death

for everyone. That's the gospel. That's our good

news. Hebrews 2 .17, therefore, he had to be

made like his brothers in every respect so that

he might become a merciful and faithful high

priest in the service of God to make propitiation

for the sins of the people. This is our gospel,

and this is our ticket into glory. And so this

author so far is using this road to rest as a

way to understand, okay, you are the now, the

new wilderness generation. And to get into glory,

you need to have faith. Next one. Rest begins

and ends with God. So after our author is talking

about all this. conjuring up all this Old Testament

imagery. We are now the church, the new wilderness

generation. What does it say? Although his works

were finished from the foundation of the world,

verse 3, for he had 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. What is

going on? on here. This is Genesis 2 -2. Can't

we just be good enough with just staying with

one Old Testament text? Let's just stay in Psalm

95, please. But no, he's now pulling us all the

way to Genesis. And so I showed you geography.

Now I want to show you a timeline. This is the

timeline. So now the author is getting us to

see that when God created everything, he created

rest on the seventh day. This is the destination

for us. He creates rest as he enters his throne

room and he's done all his good works. He's created

all good things. And on the sixth day he said,

this is very good after making humanity. So God

does his good works and then he rests. And that

is an eternal rest for him. In his throne room

where Jesus is right now. And so what he's trying

to get us to see is God inaugurated rest from

the very, very beginning. And then you have this

exodus, right? Which the author of Hebrews gets

into, which we've talked about in the past. And

then we get this 40 -year road to rest. Wilderness

generation outside of the promised land. They're

not entering into the rest God promised. This

promise that was already in Genesis 2 -2. It's

right here for them now, but they're going all

the way around. But for us, we have a new good

news. We're called to do good works like God

so that we could enter into rest. That's the

logic here. And there's a destination still.

And we're going to get now to verse 6. And verse

6 to 10. Again, thick stuff, but bear with me.

Please follow along. 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 points 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. 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. So we have

here a destination that's described for us. I'm

going to call it with tongue in cheek, Sabbath

Restland. Okay, Sabbath Restland. This is the

destination now. God created it in Genesis 2

-2, this eternal rest. And then what happens,

though, is you'll notice that the author is trying

to think through, okay, well, if you're preaching

and you say, they never entered the rest, they

never entered the rest, and people in the back

of the room are saying, yeah, but Joseph got

them in. Joseph got them there. What's the big

deal? They got in eventually. Why do we have

to have all this? Hard work to do outside the

land. Because we're going to eventually get in

anyway. And the author cuts them off of the pass.

Starts yelling at the people in the back. No,

no, no. I saw that. Stop talking about Joshua.

Because Joshua got them in there. Yes. But if

that was the final destination. Why would King

David come centuries later? In Psalm 95. And

say there's a rest yet to come. And so we have

this timeline. Again, I'm going to expand the

timeline now. Where we have this crossing over

the Jordan. Which happens, right? The wilderness

generation all die. Except for Joshua. And except

for Caleb. Right? Even Moses couldn't get in.

And so they go into the promised land. Into this

rest land. Right? They made it. But then the

author goes, no, no, no, but wait. King David,

King David says in Psalm 95, there's a rest still

waiting. There's a rest still waiting. Joshua

brought them into the land of rest, but it was

not the final resting place. And it was not the

ultimate resting place. And so the author is

comparing two types of rest places. One is geographical,

temporary, geographically lateral, somewhat precarious.

It's maintained based on the people's holiness.

But Sabbath Restland is eternal, started at the

very beginning of time. It's spiritual. It's

geographically vertical, it's permanent, and

it's based on God's holiness, not ours. There's

a play on words here, a couple things that are

important to note. Joshua and Jesus are the same

word when you read it in the original language.

And so the author is using a play on words here

with two types of leaders. The one that's the

temporary one named Jesus, and the other one

that's the eternal one named Jesus. But one is

much, much greater. Jesus is much, much greater

and superior than Joshua. Another thing to note

is that Sabbath Restland is not your typical

word for Sabbath. So Sabbath was referred to

as the seventh day. Sabbath Restland, when you

see the word Sabbath rest in the text, it's one

word and it's a technical word. And it's a word

that means what one experiences when one enters

Sabbath. It's the celebration. It's the festivities.

It's the worship. It's the connection with friends

and family. It's the joy. It's what we're doing

here. It's the celebration of the resurrected

Lord that we get to taste a little bit here,

but in its fullness and ultimateness to come

in glory. And so when he's talking about Sabbath

Restland, you know, that land is the new heaven

and the new earth. That's where we're headed.

And it's going to be a place of celebration.

It's going to be amazing. No more tears. No more

disease. No more weariness. No more hard work.

The way it was defined in the Old Testament.

The work that we get to do will be life -giving.

It will be fulfilling to us. We'll be able to

Travel. We'll be able to eat sushi every day.

These are the kinds of things that we get to

look forward to. It's a daily congratulation

to each other. You made it. You made it across

the line. You made it to glory. Way to go. It's

Jesus saying to us individually, well done, good

and faithful servant. You've made it to my father's

rest. To the place I have called you since the

very foundation of the world. It's the place

where the battle is over. That's where we get

to look forward to, folks. So that, in a nutshell,

I've got way too many notes here, is what we're

talking about, what the author's trying to get

us to see. With both geography, where it moves

from lateral to vertical, but also time -wise,

the rest that started there, beginning, something

we get to look forward to. He's drawn, and he's

using Old Testament imagery to try to get us

to see the trajectory of what we get to look

forward to. But, now the challenge is, what do

we do from now until we cross the finish line?

What do we do? Well, two things. You'll notice

that verse 1 and verse 11, kind of flank this

passage with command verbs. And so verse 1 and

verse 11 are kind of sandwich all this really

important stuff that's happening in the middle.

So we dealt with all the theology stuff, but

now what does that mean for us? Well, the first

thing it means is that, what it says here, 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. So this kind of fear

is like a seriousness, like we got good work

to do and we got to make sure we do it well.

Like it's taking the journey to rest, our journey

to rest as the church, as the new wilderness

generation, we are called to fear the fact that

others may be falling behind. So it's not like,

oh, I'm scared for myself. No, it's like, I'm

worried for the people around me. To making sure

that they're going on this race with me. We're

not going to leave any man behind. Last week

I quoted Anna Knowles' professor, Dr. James Bibsa.

a professor at Grove City, and I want to quote

it again because I think it's so important. It's

kind of a theme that's running throughout this

book. This is a word. He was actually referring

to a different verse, but I'm going to make it

apply to this verse as well. This is a word against

those who want to practice hermit Christianity.

This verb. We've got to worry about others to

make sure that they don't fall away. Like it's

a little ironic that on Wednesday we're going

to talk about how to handle worry. It's not that

kind of worry. We got to be concerned and take

seriously going on this journey together. This

is a team sport. This is doing things so that

we're not making sure any part of the house is

not getting built into the house. And so the

challenge is like don't, we can't do this ourselves.

To not be lazy. And we can't get comfortable.

We're a wilderness generation. It's uncomfortable

in the wilderness. So don't pursue comfortability

in us. We gotta do this together. And we gotta

make sure we're caring for other people. So a

few questions before we get to our second application.

Who may be around you in your life who you have

a sense is failing to reach the finish line?

Take a moment. Think about it. Who may be falling

behind? Who may be going through struggle? Like

who may be someone who's struggling and was a

super strong Christian at one point in time and

you could just sense them like the priority of

the relationship with the Lord is sort of like

decoupling from them. The unity that you felt

with them with faith is sort of not there anymore.

Who is that person? Are you praying for that

person? Are you thinking about what they're up

to? Are you inviting them into your home? Are

you reaching out to them and sending them a text

and say, hey, I've been thinking about you. How

are you doing? Perhaps you are one of those people.

And you are feeling like, man, my faith is on

the rocks. I want to encourage you to pursue

someone in your life who could help you and who

can mentor you and who can ask you the hard questions.

Inviting them into this faith journey and saying,

I'm struggling. I don't know. doubting, whatever

the case may be. If that is you, we want to help.

We do. And I'm not just talking like on an official

basis. Like with elders and deacons, obviously

we're here and we want to help you and support

you. But maybe it's just someone who's just across

the aisle who you just know and trust and cares

for you. Take up that person. Take that person

up. on some type of journey with you. So that

you're not going on this wilderness journey alone.

So that's the first application point. The second

one is in verse 11. Forge ahead to avoid falling.

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest so

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

I find it so ironic, you know, in a sermon when

I'm talking about celebration and joy and rest,

that we get these two verbs that are nothing

about resting. It's all about forging and pushing

and prodding and getting through. It's because

we are the church, this new wilderness generation

called to hard work. Like the Lord worked for

six days and rested, our rest is coming. It's

just there, but it's going to be ultimately experienced

one day in Christ. Along the way, we've got to

strive. This word for strive is originally used

as a word for speedy. We've got to go. We've

got to go hard. We've got to go fast. We've got

to go. We've got to go together. We've got to

strive. Keep pushing. For the Christian, there

is no quit. And I find it so fascinating that

both verbs are all about making sure that no

one is left behind, whether they're failing or

whether they're falling. We need to be concerned

about them. We need to strive together. This

is a challenge for the Western church. When we

value individualism so much, and my personal

relationship with Jesus, you're not good alone.

You're not going to make it. You need to strive

together. We need to strive together. And so

a few questions. In what areas are you not striving,

but you're sort of lazy or lackadaisical? Are

you lazy with your thoughts? Are you lazy with

your language? The under the breath kind of language.

Lazy with your prejudices that isolates yourself

from people rather than walks alongside them.

Lazy with your judgmentalism, which again isolates

people from you rather than linking and uniting

together in faith. As the wilderness generation

looked inside the land of Canaan, they see bigger

giants and they see idols. Are those distracting

you from the vision that we need to keep on with

Christ? Are you working towards Sabbath Restland

as your destination or other destinations distracting

you and pulling you away? Are you on the borderland?

Not quite there. What sin remains hidden that

shackles you down? These are important things

for us to wrestle through. I want to share a

story that kind of illustrates some of this and

pulls it all together. The importance of running

to the end. Because as I'm going through this

book of Hebrews, it is very clear to me, and

I hope it is to you, that these Roman Christians

are struggling. And this author is not quite

sure whether or not they're getting it to the

finish line. And they're just distracted. They

see persecution coming down the pike. They see

the bigger buildings, the bigger temples. They're

a small little group there in Rome. And will

they make it? So the challenge that he has, and

for us today, make sure we persevere to the end.

And so here's a story about that. In 2016, at

the World Triathlon Competition, There was all

these runners from around the world who came

together. There's two runners from Great Britain

who came in second and third. One runner from

Britain was named Johnny, and he was way ahead

of the pack. So he was en route to becoming first.

And these marathon announcers, they may have

the hardest job on planet Earth. They've got

to call a marathon and make it exciting. They're

all excited, right, because he's nearing the

end, and their job's almost done, so they're

excited. And so they're just calling out a normal

end of the race, and he makes his first, Johnny

makes his first turn, or the last turn towards

the end, and you could just all of a sudden see

he's just starting to lose it, and he's getting

disoriented, and he kind of is hardly able to

walk. And so he actually falls slightly over

to his left, and a water boy kind of holds him

up. to keep him from falling wall to the ground.

And he's just there. He's totally out of it.

And that happens for a while until the second

place guy comes around, makes the turn, and passes

him. And shortly behind the guy who passes Johnny

is another guy named Alistair, his teammate from

Great Britain. And he passes that turn. And the

first thing he does is he stops. Now keep in

mind, the guy in first place, he could have caught

up to. But instead of going to the finish line,

he stops. And he just grabs the arm of the dude.

And just throws it over him. And he starts running

with him. Now he's running fairly solidly. Johnny's

like all over the place. Like literally, like

it looks like he's holding him up to run. And

it's so interesting hearing these commentators

talk. They're like, I don't even know if this

is legal. And the other guy's like, who cares

if it's legal? It's a beautiful moment. In fact,

one of them says, in my 28 years of watching

international triathlons, I have never seen anything

so gripping, so powerful. And you can see it,

the crowd, everybody's going crazy. And so Johnny

is barely making it. Alistair is bringing him.

And what Alistair does, the finish line is right

here. What Alistair does is he just pushes him

over. And then he crosses to get third. It's

a beautiful moment. And one of the reasons why

I want to share this story. Because there are

a lot of stories like this. There's several out

there that are somewhat famous. And so I researched

a bunch that were kind of like, oh man, these

are really inspirational. But what I love about

this story, what I love about this story is that

Alistair and Johnny aren't merely teammates.

They're brothers. They're brothers. Because when

you think about what they're doing is they're

holding up each other, not merely as teammates,

but because they're a family. And it's that kind

of language. You've heard family language this

whole series. Jesus is our older brother. He's

sitting on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

I want to read for you. This absolutely beautiful,

beautiful verse that puts it all together. Hebrews

2 .10. For it was fitting that he that is Jesus

for whom and by whom all things exist in bringing

many sons to glory should make the founder of

their salvation perfect through suffering. Folks,

we could strive all we want. But at the end of

the day, it's Jesus. It's Jesus who takes our

arms and just throws it, flops it over his, and

he's bringing us to glory. We cannot get into

heaven riding on the coattails of our parents,

but we can get to heaven riding on the coattails

of Jesus Christ. He gives us a promise to rest.

but also a promise of sustenance. He's going

to help us. Excuse me, to the end. And so if

you are heavy laden, if you are weary, if you're

struggling, and when you're told you gotta work

harder and you gotta strive, I wanna give you

a tremendous word of comfort here. Jesus Christ

is with you. When Jesus Christ says, I am with

you always to the very end of the age, it means

he's with us. He's not merely sitting on the

right hand of God the Father Almighty. Through

the power of the Holy Spirit, he is with us,

drawing us to the end. With the image of finishing

triathlon in the back of your mind. I want to

read for you and we're going to conclude with

this. Hebrews 12, 1 -2. Hear these words and

let these words skewer your soul. Therefore,

since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of

witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and

sin which clings so closely and let us run with

endurance the race that is set before us. looking

to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith,

who for the joy that was set before him endured

the cross, despising the shame, and is seated

at the right hand of the throne of God. Let's

pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, we are so humbled

by the power of your word. We thank you, Lord,

for the way it does wield like a sword. And we

pray, Lord, that wherever we find ourselves this

morning, wherever heart condition we may be at

today, we pray that we will rest in the fact

that Jesus is with us all the way to glory. Lord,

we thank you for the cross that he took and endured.

We thank you that he tasted our death, that he

is our propitiation, that this is our gospel,

and to trust in this to the end. Help us to grow

boldly and confidently in our faith. Help us

to strive. Help us to fear. All the while concerned

about those around us, making sure that we leave

no man behind. Thank you for the strength that

we receive through the Holy Spirit. And we thank

you, Lord, for a moment where we get to celebrate

communion. A time where we get to look at a little

piece of bread and a little cup. And they point

us, Lord, to something much greater as well.

They point us towards Jesus' sacrifice for us,

to his blood, to his body, the food we get to

receive, the spiritual nourishment we get. For

the strength of the end, we pray in Christ's

name, amen. Amen. You have been listening to

the Resurrection Life Sunday Sermon from Resurrection

Life Church in Apex, North Carolina. Resurrection

Life currently meets in the Apex Middle School

Auditorium at 400 East Moore Street near downtown

Apex with additional parking off of Highway 55,

East Williams Street. Resurrection Life Church

is pastored by Dr. Mark Kanesh of Apex and Associate

Pastor Jeff Smith of Cary. Resurrection Life

meets for worship every Sunday morning at 10

a .m. Join us this Sunday. And if you found this

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miss next week's Resurrection Life Sunday Sermon.

I can face tomorrow because he lives. All fear

is gone because I'm Just because he lives