A worthy resolution - entering God's rest

Father, we're thankful that we can count on you being here with us.

Lord, as we open your word, you are ministering to our hearts and in our minds in ways that we don't even know.

And we ask that you would do your will at this time, that you would humble us before you,

so that we can have joy that is eternal, joy that is beyond what the world can give.

So Lord, would you meet with us at this time, we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen. You may be seated.

So if you're like me, you're on vacation, and it's great.

You've probably been looking forward to this time for a very, very long time.

I know that I have. I know that the year was kind of difficult with studies and with work,

and I'm sure that you've felt that as well.

Well, maybe I'm looking forward, maybe I was looking forward to this vacation because I was working too hard.

I was overworked throughout the semester.

I don't know. Maybe it's just because I'm a creature who loves to rest.

And so here we are, resting.

And if you're like me, next week you're going to catch yourself looking at your schedule

to see when is the next time you're going to have a break, next time that you're going to have a vacation,

so you can start planning for it.

We just love rest.

That's just the way that we are made.

You probably heard when Matthew was reading the Bible that it talked about rest quite a bit.

And if you're not a Christian, you might be kind of uncomfortable with the notion that God gives rest.

Maybe if you're not a Christian, you're thinking that God is a judge.

God is a God who sees everything, and he is waiting to just snap on us.

He's waiting to judge us and condemn us.

How can somebody rest when there's a God like that?

And so we're going to look at that today.

We're going to look at this passage in Hebrews, which talks about rest.

So if you have your Bibles with you, you can turn with me.

I would be a great help if you can turn to Hebrews chapter 4.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

We're going to start at verse 1.

And while you're turning there, I'm just going to give a little bit of a background to the letter of Hebrews.

Basically what's happening here, there's a lot of speculation.

We don't know who the author is particularly, but there is...

So we kind of understand this letter to the Hebrews as a sermon.

So basically what we're doing is we're reading somebody else's sermon.

But we're at this part in the sermon where it's talking about rest,

and the threat is that the culture is putting a lot of pressure on the Christians to abandon Jesus,

to go back to maybe Judaism or go back to the ways of the culture.

So let's look at that in verse 1.

It says,

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 here it is.

The promise of entering his rest.

The promise of entering God's rest, that is.

It still stands.

And so it kind of seems like a shock that God would want rest for people

when he maybe is the God who is so demanding.

So let's...

Andrew, if we can have our first point.

I think...

Or...

Yes, thank you.

That's the second point.

So our first point is,

God loves rest and promised to share his rest with ordinary and extraordinary people alike.

God loves rest and promised to share his rest with ordinary and extraordinary people alike.

We usually, in our points, we usually have ordinary people.

I put extraordinary people, just in case you associate more with extraordinary,

so that everyone here is in the picture.

So God loves rest and promised to share his rest with ordinary and extraordinary people alike.

Now, doesn't the Bible care more about judging people and telling people what to do?

This is kind of the question that we were wondering at first.

We'll see later on as the theme of rest develops.

But just to give a small little picture of what it means for God to have a rest for us.

When...

Well, I'm a musician.

Some of you know that.

I love playing music.

I play the French horn.

And I've recorded on some albums.

And one of the most exciting things when we're recording,

we love to play music together.

We love to do the process.

But at the end, when we're done,

we love to listen to the music.

We love to see the final product.

And I think this is the picture of rest that the Bible is trying to paint,

is that God creates everything, and now he dwells.

His presence falls on creation so that he can appreciate all the work that he has done.

And not just by himself.

He created human beings to appreciate it with.

And so this is the biblical picture of God's rest,

that God dwells with his people in full delight, with them,

enjoying the creation and the benefits of the creation.

So let's read verse 1 again.

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.

Now you're probably thinking, hold on a minute.

Fear so that we can enter rest?

Like, fear, like, that's usually, like,

something that is completely contrary to rest.

Like, when I fear, I'm restless.

Like, I don't want to fear so that I can enter a rest.

Like, that doesn't really make sense.

And maybe you're thinking of the old Lucasfilm proverb from a long time ago

in a galaxy far, far away,

where this little green guy said,

fear leads to anger, and anger leads to hate,

and hate leads to the dark side.

Like, doesn't that seem more consistent with reality?

That fear leads to something like that.

Fear leads to anger and hate and all those things.

How can the Bible say that fear leads to rest?

Well, basically what's happening here is that

the writer is continuing an argument

that started in the previous chapter.

He's saying, fear your sinful hearts.

Fear the ability of your heart to sin against God.

See, fear is maybe not so much of a bad thing.

The Bible talks about it in two ways.

And you can read the blog.

There's a lot more detail on that.

I wrote a blog on fear and the fear of the Lord.

And so you can refer to that.

But basically, fear here is not to paralyze us spiritually.

God doesn't want us to be paralyzed spiritually

so that we can enter rest.

That's not what it's talking about.

It's talking about a fear that produces spiritual diligence,

that we are diligent in doing God's will.

See, when I was young, I was taught to fear fire,

fear the element on the stove,

because I would get burned.

But that doesn't mean that heat is evil,

that heat is bad to be avoided in all cases.

We need to master it.

We need to master heat so that we can use it for good purposes.

And so here, the thread of the argument that it's trying to say

is that we need to fear our hearts

and the deception of sin that comes into our hearts.

So if we can have our second point.

One of the wisest things that a mentor told me once

is that he said,

Jonathan, one of the things that we don't fear

is our hearts, is our sin.

See, it's amazing that when we look here at verse 2,

let's read verse 2.

It says here,

For good news came to them.

Good news came to Israel,

that God would deliver them from slavery

and bring them to a land of prosperity and security.

And now here, the good news is coming to us,

that Jesus, when he died on the cross and rose again

and ascended to heaven,

he delivers us from the slavery of sin

to bring us into a heavenly rest now.

And when we go to heaven to be in his presence,

we'll have rest for eternity.

And we can miss that.

We can miss that because our hearts can deceive us.

Our hearts can love sin more than loving the God

who has done everything for us

to enjoy eternal delight in his presence.

Our hearts are sinful and restless

until they find themselves in the God of purity and rest.

One of the things that people critique about Christianity

is that, you know, in order to be a Christian,

you need to have those same kind of views on morality

and politics and all those things.

But it's actually, that's not really the case.

That's not the case at all, actually.

Let's look at verse 2 again.

To be a Christian, it's not just kind of saying,

well, you're not at a buffet and saying,

well, I associate more with this religion

or this spirituality or this Christianity.

When we come to Jesus, we come to the realization

that we are sinful beings

and that God paid for our sins to make us right with himself.

We have nothing to boast about, only the cross.

That God would so love the world, send his son for us.

So looking at verse 2 again,

there's this thing here that it's talking about,

that though the good news came to them,

the message they heard did not benefit them

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

Before I was a Christian,

I had all these strange ideas about God.

Even though I was kind of raised in the church

and I was taught certain things about the Bible,

I thought that by virtue of having,

you know, being raised in a maybe Catholic home

and having gone to a good school

and being part of a good family

and having, you know, a grandfather who was religious

and having friends that are religious,

I thought that somehow God would have mercy on me.

Just for having those things,

being in the right circles,

being born of the right family

and all those things.

But what this is saying is that

it's not about that.

It's not about being part of the right family,

being part of the right background

or all those things.

What verse 2 is trying to tell us is that

it's not about our group,

not our social class,

our religious experience,

our sexual orientation,

whether we're generous or whether we're frugal.

The fact that you've prayed before,

the fact that you've maybe thought

you never needed to pray.

It's not those things that will bring

God's favor upon us.

What it's saying is that salvation

is a free gift from God

that we simply receive by faith

and that we walk by faith.

Salvation is a free gift from God

that we receive by faith

and we must walk in faith.

So this verse here is kind of

alluding to Numbers 14 in the Old Testament.

Numbers is one of the books in the Old Testament

and tells the story of Israel,

how there were people who were part of this community

who received salvation from God,

who were taken out of the land of slavery

and they were walking with Moses

who believed,

they were walking with Joshua

and Caleb who believed,

but they didn't benefit,

they didn't enter the promised land

because they didn't believe.

So it's possible to be part of this group

of the church actually,

it's possible to be part of the church,

to go to the church on Sundays,

to even drive maybe an hour to get here

and to do your duty to be here

and yet not believe.

So this text is trying to move us

to the place of faith in the heart,

in the mind,

where do we actually believe?

Do we put our faith and trust in Jesus alone?

So let's, if we can have our next point.

So God delivers sinners

and promises them rest

after faithfulness through the desert.

So this is the picture

that it's trying to paint here.

So if you're a Christian

and you've been wondering

why you feel like your faith

is dry like the desert sand,

maybe you're dissatisfied with Christianity.

You've walked as a Christian for some time

and now you're just struggling

with not being content.

This is actually a fairly common thing

and I think a lot of Christians

do experience that

and the reality is that

we don't know what to do about it.

We don't know how to talk about it.

We feel like if we're going to talk about it,

people are going to think

we're lesser of a Christian.

There was a time when I was going through that

and I went to go see a Christian counselor,

which was a very good thing for me to do.

And what they did to help me

was that they used this imagery

that the text here is showing

that God saves us from slavery,

that God saves us

and he prepares us for the promised land,

eternal rest in his presence.

And so I was in the desert season

of my walk with the Lord.

I was going through desert season

and I could no longer remember

the salvation that he had given me.

I was thinking through how I've sinned

and my question was,

does God reject me

or is God finished with me?

So the question is,

is there hope if you're a Christian

and you've sinned

and now you feel restless over your sin?

Well, let's look at verse 3.

We'll be able to find something here in verse 3

that might be able to help us.

For we who have believed,

verse 3,

for we who have believed,

enter that rest.

As he has said,

as I swore in my wrath,

they shall not enter my rest.

And what the writer here is doing

is that he's using a negative

to prove a positive.

He's saying,

they shall not enter my rest

as though there is still a rest

to be entered.

And that's what we'll see here.

That's what he's trying to say.

So 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,

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 afterward

in the words already quoted.

So what this passage is saying

is that there is a theme

in the Bible for rest.

That God,

when he created the world

in six days,

on the seventh day,

he stopped his work

to rest.

And it wasn't just

to stop doing work.

It was to come into creation.

The word rest

also implies

that God's presence

fell onto creation.

It came down into creation

to dwell with human beings,

to see what was going on there,

and to delight

in the presence

of human beings.

And now,

because of the fall,

human beings have sinned

against God.

And we can't experience

that rest anymore.

We're separated from God,

or sin separates us from God.

And now,

God is the God

who is calling a people

to himself

to save them,

to make them

experience that rest again,

to restore things,

so that things can be like

in the paradise

of Genesis 2.

And now,

when Jesus comes into,

as an Israelite,

comes to live perfectly

under the law,

he comes to live

and die on the cross,

and in doing so,

he breaks the power

of the curse

so that we can

experience rest.

So that,

friends,

when you put your faith

in Jesus,

the Holy Spirit

comes into our hearts.

The Holy Spirit comes

and gives us

the assurance

of God's love

and gives us

this experience

of deep rest

in our hearts.

and what is happening here

is that it's eternity

breaking in

to time and space

into our hearts.

There's a rest

that's still to come,

a rest that is

at the end

when we die

or when Jesus returns,

there's a rest there

that is still to come.

But when we believe

in Jesus,

when we put our faith

and trust in Jesus,

there's the rest

that comes

and breaks into

this cursed creation,

this broken body

of ours.

And so we get a glimpse

of what it means

to rest in God

even now.

And so if we can

have our next point,

God's rest

in Messiah

is for me

if I do not

harden my heart

to his voice.

So how do I enter

this rest

that the text

talks about?

How do I enter

this eternal rest

in the presence

of God?

Well, first of all,

let's look at verse 6.

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 afterward

in the words

already quoted,

today if you hear

his voice,

do not harden

your hearts.

So what do we do?

Well, this text

is saying

don't harden

your hearts.

And,

gosh, that's hard.

How do I not

harden my heart?

It starts with prayer.

It starts with prayer.

God,

come into my heart.

God,

make your dwelling

into my heart.

Soften my heart

to your word.

And when we're

walking the Christian life,

same prayer.

God,

have mercy on me.

God,

you know that I've sinned.

Pour out your Holy Spirit.

Soften my heart

to your voice.

God wants you

to experience rest.

This text is saying

that rest is still

available to you.

Whether you've never

given your life to Jesus

or whether you've given

your life to Jesus

this morning

or ten years ago

or whether you

don't even know

when you gave your life

to Jesus,

you've always known Jesus.

His rest is available

to you.

So let's look at

verse 8.

For if Joshua

had given them rest,

God would not

have spoken

of another day

later on.

There's something

really interesting

in this passage here.

Joshua brought

the people of Israel

into the promised land

and yet it's saying

that they did not

have rest.

How is that possible?

How is it possible

to go into

the promised land,

the land flowing

with milk

and honey,

the land of

economic prosperity,

of political

stability

and security

from all your enemies

and still not

have rest?

How is that possible?

Well, again,

this text is saying

that it's about

softening our hearts

before God

to his voice

and so we will

experience rest.

The people,

when they entered

the land,

they did not

experience that rest

because they did not

obey the voice

of the Lord.

See,

it's interesting

that in our lives

we tend to pursue

things like,

you know,

maybe some form

of comfort.

We pursue rest.

We pursue

partying

and just enjoying life

and yet

we seem even more

restless.

How is it possible?

And it presents

a human problem

that we can have

prosperity

and we can have

security

in all these

earthly goods

and yet have

no rest.

The problem is

that we try

to satisfy

our deepest

longings

in things

that are temporal

of no eternal

value.

Now,

whether you're

a millennial

and searching

to make a difference

in life

and that's

your life goal

or whether

you're a professional

trying to earn

a living

or whether

you are retired

and hoping

to find rest

from your labors,

now these are

all good pursuits

but if that's

your only pursuit

you will not

find rest.

There is no rest

in these things

because they're

not meant

to satisfy.

I like to share

the story

of when I was

a child

and I used

to play

in the basement

with my brother

and we had

this big,

big metal

treasure chest

just where we

were playing

hide and seek

and I used

to walk by

and think

like wow

my parents

have this

huge inheritance

for me

like they have

gold in there

and diamonds

and I'm going

to inherit that

one day

and one day

I found out

when they opened

the treasure chest

that it was only

linens and covers

and all that

and I was so

disappointed.

Can you blame me?

I was so disappointed.

Why is that?

Because in a treasure chest

we don't put linens

we put treasures.

It's a treasure chest.

And so we go

through life

disappointed.

We walk the

Christian life

disappointed.

Why?

Because we feed

our hearts

with things

that aren't

supposed to go there.

With treasures

that aren't

supposed to fill

our longings.

It's God

who fulfills

our hearts.

It's to be

known by God

and to know him

that fulfills

our deepest longings.

Now I wanted

to make sure

that it's not

only Christians

who feel that way.

So I looked up

this song

by Mick Jagger

who sang

the song

I Can't Get

No Satisfaction

and he repeats it

for minutes and minutes

and apparently

this song resonated

with a lot of people.

A lot of people

don't get satisfaction

no matter how many times

that they try

and they try

and they try.

See he tells

in this song

how entertainment

how riches

how relationships

and even sexual relationships

cannot satisfy him.

they cannot satisfy him.

That's because

our only rest

and satisfaction

is in knowing God

and being known

by him.

So you're probably

thinking

boy that's the

most depressing

New Year's sermon

I've ever heard.

We're not done.

So let's turn

to verse 9.

To verse 9.

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 here

it's talking

about a Sabbath rest

and you might have

noticed that

a few other times

that I talked about rest

it didn't talk

about Sabbath rest.

Now it's talking

about Sabbath rest

and even the Greek word

is different.

Here it's

sabbatismos.

Don't ask me

what that means.

Well actually

you can ask me

what that means.

I looked it up.

I did my homework.

It means Sabbath rest.

Okay.

So the implication here

it's actually

it's from a Jewish

word that says

that is

when we say it

it's Shabbat Shabbat.

Sabbath Sabbath.

And when we repeat it

twice it means

ultimate Sabbath.

This is not just

any type of Sabbath.

This is a celebration.

It's an eternal

celebration.

A festive celebration

with God.

See the Jewish people

used to celebrate

the

well they still do actually

to this day.

They celebrate the Sabbath

on the Sabbath day

which starts

Friday at sundown

and goes all the way

through Saturday.

And some of you

have been to a Sabbath dinner.

We've done that

over the years.

And what happens

at the Sabbath dinner

is that we have

the company of our friends.

We have wine.

We have fresh bread.

And we have a meal together.

We sing songs.

We pray.

We do all these great things

and it's so much fun.

And here the text

is saying that there

remains a Sabbath celebration

for the people of God.

That God's intention

is that we would

experience the eternal

delight of his presence

now and forever.

That when we put our

faith and trust in Jesus

we can experience

his Sabbath rest.

That's what awaits us.

See in a world

that is so hopeless

and so restless

Christians can have hope.

Christians can have rest.

Christians can know

for sure

that because Jesus died

and rose again

and promised us rest

that we will have rest.

There's not many people

who die and rise

from the dead.

But when somebody does

you better listen.

So maybe some of you

are looking forward

to tonight.

You're looking forward

to your New Year's celebration.

It's going to be fun.

There's going to be

friends, family,

maybe pop a bottle of champagne

and there's going to be

a warm fire,

nice dinner

and maybe even fireworks.

And this is great.

But tomorrow morning

if you party a lot,

if you party enough

you'll realize

that there's only so much

that these earthly rests

and earthly parties

and celebrations

can do.

There's only so much

that they can satisfy.

You might feel really,

really tired

and it might be hard

to get out of bed tomorrow

depending on how much

you party.

And that's just going

to prove to us

that these things

only point to

these parties,

these celebrations

only point forward

to God's rest.

Only point forward

to this eternal rest

where we will never

be tired of celebrating

in God's presence.

So if we can have

our next point.

God's rest is eternal

in quality and length

for us now

by faith in the

crucified Messiah.

Now what this point

is trying to say

is that

the quality of the rest

is eternal.

We don't understand that.

We're so stuck

in time and space

but it's when

eternity breaks in

and it's available

to us now

by faith

in the crucified Messiah.

So God is inviting you

to this rest.

Now let's read

verse 10 again.

For whoever has

entered God's rest

has also rested

from his works

as God did

from his.

Now there's an

interesting parallel here

that's trying to show

that there's a future

rest for Christians

in the presence of God

in the new creation

where there will be

no more toil

or anxious work

trying to make a living

nor will we need

to strive

anxiously for holiness.

All we'll know

is holiness.

All we'll know

is the delight

of purity

in our hearts.

See,

we spend so much time

working

and doing all

these activities

that are fun

whether you're an artist

you love to make music

or paint

or these things

and these are great things

but the problem

is that we lash

onto it.

We put our identity

in them

and the cross

severs that.

The cross helps us

to find our identity

in God.

As we conclude

let's look at

verse 11

with a final exhortation.

Verse 11 reads

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 alive 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.

Now before

anyone goes out

of here

to try to make

things right

so they can have

good rest

before anyone

goes out

to find a new job

or quit their job

or find new friends

and all that

what the text here

is trying to say

this exhortation

is saying

is moving us

to strive

to enter that rest

is saying

go to God's word

go to God's word

and let God's word

go to your heart

go to God's word

and let his word

go to your heart.

See verse 13 says

no creature

is hidden

from his sight

but all are naked

and exposed

to his eyes

to the eyes

of him

to whom

we must give

account.

See if you're not

a Christian

here today

and you read

something like this

it might be

frightening to you

and

you know

reading that

I would be

frightened too

but when you're

a Christian

when you put

your faith

in Jesus

this verse

brings comfort

that you are

completely known

by the God

who created

all things

and created

all things

for rest

that you can be

in his presence

fully seen

fully known

your heart

your mind

your thoughts

everything

known to God

yet loved

and cherished.

See since the fall

this picture

is of the fall

in the garden

where Adam and Eve

walked before God

naked and unashamed

and when they

sinned

they became ashamed

they saw their nakedness

and they wanted

to hide from God

so what they did

is that they put

fig leaves on them

on themselves

to hide them

to hide their bodies

to hide their shame

before God

and humanity

has been doing that

ever since

that we've been trying

to hide our shame

from God

that we're trying

to get rest

from God

because we know

that he sees us

we know that he sees

our hearts

we know that he sees

our thoughts

and it's led us

to do stupid things

really

we try to hide

from God

and we try to

start all sorts

of weird religions

that are causing

more anxiety

spiritualities

that are

that are just

causing more

restlessness

and we see

the culmination

of that

that when we

don't allow God

to expose

to come into our hearts

when we don't expose

ourselves to God

we see the culmination

of that

when Jesus

came

and he was crucified

by the religious leaders

in Israel

and the Roman soldiers

they crucified him

they crucified

the son of God

they tried to get rest

from the son of God

so they killed him

on the cross

what they didn't know

what they did not know

is that Jesus

is the great high priest

who entered heaven

what they did not know

is that Jesus

is the one who came

to fix them

to fix their problem

to clothe them

with righteousness

and that's what he does

at the cross

is that he died

for those people

who killed him

and he died

for you and me today

see when Jesus

as the great high priest

the priest is the one

who immediates

the presence of God

and humanity

and when Jesus

was crucified

he didn't shed

the blood of an animal

he shed his own blood

his sinless blood

so that by his blood

we can be forgiven

completely

and we can experience

that rest of God

that rest

that eternal quality

of rest

see in 2018

the year that's coming ahead

we're going to have

a lot of pressure

as Christians

to turn away

from the faith

to walk away

and to try to find rest

in things that

do not give rest

the things of the world

maybe passions

and riches

and all those things

and it's going to

even use force

it's going to

maybe

people are going to try

to push you away

from your jobs

and going to try

to put pressure on you

to abandon that

but what this is saying

is that you're going to

if you give up Jesus

you're going to give up rest

eternal rest

now and forever

so please stand

just to conclude here

I'm going to read

the next

three verses

that follow the text

that we've looked at

and it's going to help us

to understand the gospel

so at verse 14

since then

we have a great

high priest

who has passed

through the heavens

Jesus

the son of God

let us hold fast

our confession

for we do not have

a high priest

who is unable

to sympathize

with our weakness

but one who

in every respect

has been tempted

as we are

yet without sin

let us then

with confidence

draw near

to the throne of grace

that we may receive mercy

and find grace

to help

in time of need

let us pray

Father thank you

that you have done

everything for us

to come into your rest

that Lord

when we try to find rest

in things that don't satisfy

you come

and you

you've done everything

for us

to be in a right

relationship with you

so that we can

experience that rest

and so that we can

look forward

to being in an eternal

rest with you

Lord would you

lighten our eyes

and our hearts

to that reality

help us to

to be more

affectionate with Jesus

to be faithful to Jesus

to persevere to the end

Lord give us grace

give us mercy

we come to your throne

in the name of Jesus

with that

the plea Lord

in Jesus name

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen