Finding The Rest You're Needing | Downtown Campus | October 11, 2026

Um, well, good morning.

My name is Bill, and I am the downtown campus pastor.

I want to start today with a question.

Have you ever woken up in the morning and it feels like your mind is already in the middle of a conversation?

Like you just wake up thinking about things.

I said this to my wife as an opening thing, like, I'm gonna say this on Sunday, and she was like, that's never happened to me.

And I was like, oh, because you're a night person, right?

You're not a morning person.

So think about it if you're a night person, maybe you're going to bed and you can't stop thinking about the conversation in your head.

Um, but this happens to me a lot, where I wake up and I'm already thinking something.

A lot of times it's about work, it's about tasks that need to be done, or sometimes it's my family or a problem I'm dealing with.

Most of the time, though, it's actually something that I need to finish from yesterday that I'm gonna still have to deal with today.

Is that normal?

Am I like a normal person?

Does that ever happen to you?

Um like you haven't actually done anything yet, but somehow you already feel behind.

And I kind of think about this as like static that's going on.

All these responsibilities, all these things that I'm trying to move forward, and I'm trying to figure out how I can get them all done.

And maybe that's what modern life is.

Like that feels like it just describes our modern society.

But what concerns me is that sometimes it actually shows up in my spiritual life.

Let me tell you what I mean.

Sometimes I actually catch myself thinking in the morning, I have to get this Bible study done so I can get to my real work.

Ooh, bad pastor, huh?

But that's what I think sometimes.

Um, and I want you to think about that for a second, because there are times when I'm opening up my Bible and I'm already thinking about getting it over with.

The truth is, if I'm not careful, spending time with God can be another thing standing between me and everything I need to do.

Maybe that's just me, I don't know.

But if we were really honest with ourselves, or if you were honest with yourself, maybe you could relate in some way to what I'm saying.

Maybe for you it's praying, or maybe for you it's coming to church or serving.

Like, I need to get the God things out of the way so that I can get to what I really want to do.

Uh, you probably don't have any idea what I'm talking about, um, but maybe it would look something like this.

You go to church so that you can get it over with so that you can get home to watch the Bears and Packers play this week, right?

Or maybe you're getting church out of the way in the morning so that later you can watch the Brewers participate in a playoff home opener, right?

Just an example, I don't know, maybe that's not you.

Um but I know that we actually do want to do the spiritual things in our lives.

That's not what I'm saying.

Like we know we're supposed to pray and we're supposed to read the Bible, we're supposed to go to church, we're supposed to serve.

We know that those things actually matter in our lives, but somewhere along the way, if we're not careful, our spiritual life can actually feel like another ball that we're juggling in life.

And here's a thing that I've discovered for myself is that actually I can do, I can actually still do my Bible time, I can rush through my time, I can check that box, and guess what?

I still feel guilty.

Because then I start asking myself, did I actually spend enough time doing it?

Um did it actually count?

And maybe that sounds familiar to you, like spending time with God has become something you're trying to get right, or you're trying to do enough of, or you're praying enough, or you're reading enough, or you're serving enough.

You're asking, is God pleased with me, or am I falling behind on that too?

We can do all of these things that we're supposed to do to help us get to know God and still approach him trying to prove like that we're worthy of his acceptance.

And today, as we continue on in our greater than series, Hebrews brings us to a promise of rest.

A promise of rest.

And you probably in your mind already have an idea of what rest is, but in this passage, it's gonna teach us all about what real rest is.

Because the type of rest we're gonna talk about today actually reaches into something deeper than what our full calendar is all about.

It reaches into how we are actually personally responding to God and actually his offer for salvation.

So here's what I want you to have in your mind as we read.

I want you to be asking yourself this question.

Have I started treating my relationship with God as another thing to keep up with?

Or to put it another way, have I been missing the rest that God is inviting me to?

Keep those in your mind.

And if you have your Bibles, you can open them up to Hebrews chapter 4.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

Um, you can use the um the Bible app, the UVersion Bible app.

Um that actually will show you those verses, or follow on your phone, or it'll be on the screens as well.

And as you're turning there, I would love to pray for us.

Lord, we come to you this morning recognizing that often we get in the way and our mindset gets in the way of our relationship with you.

That often we see our relationship with you as another task to be completed.

And so, Lord, we come to you and we pray that as we open your word, that you would speak to us, and not only would you speak to us, but would you use the Holy Spirit to reveal where we are?

And then, Lord, would you show us a path forward to walk with you closer, to truly pursue you.

We pray this in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen.

Okay, Hebrews chapter four, this is what it says.

Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.

For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us just as they did, but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.

Now we who have believed entered that rest, just as God said, so I declare on oath, in my anger, they shall never enter my rest.

And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world.

For somehow somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words.

On the seventh day, God rested from all his works.

And again in the passage above he says, They shall never enter my rest.

Therefore, since it still remains for some to enter rest, and so since those who formally had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, God again set a certain day, calling it today.

This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage 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 later about another day.

Therefore, or there remains then a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.

Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

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

It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow.

It judges the thoughts and the attitudes of the heart.

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight.

Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

This is God's word, amen.

Well, this passage is going to make three connections to God's rest that we need to understand.

The first one is this that the promise of rest is open today.

The promise of rest is open today.

Okay, so this passage actually makes this point in several places in the passage.

Right away, in verse one, he says, Therefore, since the promise of rest of entering, since the promise of entering this rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.

So right away we learn that God's rest is still open to us.

That's pretty clear.

But you're probably asking right away already, what does he mean by God's rest?

Like this is, this passage is kind of like um complicated when you read it.

It's hard to parse out his argument that he's making, especially if you just read it one time.

So what is God's rest?

And I don't want you the entire sermon to be wondering what that is.

And so I'm gonna tell you up front.

Essentially, you can think about God's rest as sharing in God's salvation.

Sharing in God's salvation.

And that actually begins right now as we trust him, but it'll be experienced fully in all of eternity.

Let me say that again.

Entering God's rest means sharing in God's salvation, and that begins now, but also it will be experienced fully in eternity.

And so you might be asking then, how do we get that from the passage?

Well, let's look at how the author takes us from Israel's story to a bigger picture of God's rest.

You kind of have to have read chapter three to understand chapter four.

So if you weren't here last week, you're playing catch-up.

But let me help you out a little bit.

In chapter three last week, we heard about the people that Moses led out of Egypt.

These people were the people who had seen God at work.

They experienced his rescue in the wilderness, but they were also the people who hardened their hearts and didn't trust him.

And so they are denied God's rest.

If that's all we and if that's all we knew of this, we might assume that God's rest is just talking about inheriting land, because that's what the people in the wilderness were going for.

But obviously, when you read this, the author is not saying that the recipients of the book of Hebrews that they have a chance at getting land.

Like they're not getting the promise of like a parcel of land with milk and honey and goats and things.

That's not what he's saying here.

In fact, he's really saying two things.

He's saying to the audience of Hebrews, he's saying, God's rest is open to them right now.

It's not just the land thing back in the Old Testament, it's open right now.

And second, that God's rest is a bigger concept than the Israelites entering the land.

And so if you read the passage carefully, he's basically using the Old Testament to prove his argument about these two things.

Here's how he does it.

First, he talks about creation in verses three through five.

He says this now we who have believed entered that rest.

And he says, Just as God has said, so I declare on oath, in my anger, they shall never enter my rest.

And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world.

He brings creation into this.

For somehow somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words.

On the seventh day, God rested from all of his works.

Now, I'm not kidding you when I say this, that I read this part of the passage like 30 times this week.

Right?

I'm like, what?

What's going on here?

And like 29 times, I didn't know what he was saying.

Um, but I finally realized what he's doing because essentially what he's doing is he's talking to the people, uh, the author is talking to the people who are receiving this message, and he's taking them back to Genesis 2, and what he's doing is he's establishing that God's rest as a concept, as a real thing, actually existed before the Israelites existed.

He's intentionally breaking their frame.

You have to remember, these are Jewish people, they knew the Old Testament.

And he's breaking their frame.

That rest is narrowly defined as one thing in the Old Testament, the wilderness generation getting into the land.

And he's saying that in fact, God's it, the rest that we're talking about is God's rest.

He's the one that gives it, and it's a rest that he established before the creation of the world or during the creation of the world.

God created the world in six days, and he rested.

Now, interestingly, throughout the passage, we learn that God's rest is something offered specifically, like the Israelites are getting to the promised land, but it's also something bigger that remains open.

So if you look again at verses six through ten, he says, Therefore, since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who had formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, God again set a certain day, calling it today.

And then he speaks through David, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

And then it says, For Joshua had given them rest, God would have never spoken this later about another day.

And then he says, Therefore, then a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God.

Okay, so he's taking the argument a step further.

The idea you're supposed to have in your head is that God created this rest or has this rest at the beginning of creation.

It happens again when the people of Israel are going into the promised land, and then it looks all the way forward to David.

And here's the argument he's making.

Joshua had already led people into the promised land, they were living there, but generations later, God speaks through David and he still uses this word, today, which means this rest is ongoing somehow.

Basically, he's saying, if entering the land was all that God meant about entering rest, why would he still be inviting people into it if they were already there?

And so he's using their own scriptures to show them that God's rest is bigger than one moment in their history.

And that's how he arrives at verse 9.

There's still a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

And here's actually, you're like, wow, thanks for the Bible lesson.

That felt like I was in seminary for a second, right?

Because that's thick.

That's really thick.

The way he makes that argument is thick.

But here's where it turns to us today, okay?

So if you tuned me out for the last like five minutes, just focus in right now, okay?

Here's where it turns to us today.

The promise of rest is still open.

And this is what it means for you.

You are still invited to share in his salvation.

And thankfully, in this passage, he says to us in verse 3 what's required in in order to enter into that rest, that salvation.

He says, Now we who believe enter that rest.

Church, understanding that argument is super important for us to hear.

Today, God is inviting you to share in his salvation.

And lest you've tuned me out because you're like, I did that when I was 12 or whatever, I did that a while ago.

That's not what's happening here.

God is inviting you to share his salvation right now.

Like in this moment.

It's not a one and done thing or only a future reality.

You are sharing in his salvation.

You are entering his rest by trusting him right now.

Listen, you don't need to actually earn your place with him by proving you've done enough, like I was talking about in the beginning.

He's inviting you right now to share in the finished work of Christ, to experience in the moment-by-moment areas of life his rest.

You know, Jesus, he says that my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

So come to me, all who are heavy laden and burden, and I will give you rest.

The door is open, the invitation stands.

And what the author of Hebrews is doing here is he's reminding these believers, don't forget, he's writing to a church of believers, he's reminding them to not let the reality of God's salvation pass them by just because they're so close to it.

It's a great reminder for us, because he's calling us for to actually actively trust God in real time for our salvation.

And it's really fitting because the next connection to God's rest we need to understand is that our response matters.

Okay, so we need to actually come back to the people in the wilderness, because the author wants us to recognize something that's true about them that could also be true about us.

This is in verse 2.

He says, the good news was proclaimed to us just as it was to them, but then he says the message they heard was of no value to them because they didn't respond with faith.

Now think about that.

The people in his example could have told you what God promised them.

Like they were that close to God.

They walked with him in the wilderness.

They could have told you what God promised.

They knew where he was leading them, but when it came time to actually trust him, they refused.

And that reveals a truth that you and I need to hear.

Because it's possible for us to be around the things of God, it's possible for us to hear what God says and not actually trust him with our lives.

Trust actually, you should think about it this way.

Imagine you're sitting in a building for a second, and someone runs in and they says, and they say, There's a fire.

The building is burning down, the roof is about to collapse, but guess what?

There's a safe way out.

Follow me.

And you just sit in your chair and you look at them and you say, Well, that's really helpful.

Thank you for telling me.

Right?

But you don't actually get up.

Maybe you turn it into a person next to you and you say, That was a really great announcement.

Like he explained that so well.

It was so clear what I was supposed to do.

I love that.

Right?

But you still sit there.

That would be ludicrous, wouldn't it?

And why?

Because the point of the message wasn't that he was telling you information or just telling you truth you needed to hear.

The point of the message was you for you to trust the person offering to lead you out.

The idea here is that God's promises demand a response.

And without it, without you responding to the message, it's kind of worthless to you.

Faith and trust mean that we actually follow God with our lives, not just acknowledge that a certain set of theological truths are real.

That's why this passage talks about both unbelief and it talks about disobedience.

In verse 2, it describes the Israelites' lack of faith.

And then in verse 6, it describes their disobedience.

And guess what?

Those belong together.

Their refusal to trust God shows up in the refusal to obey God.

So when we hear this in the passage, today, if you hear my voice, do not harden your hearts, that's for us.

It's for believers.

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

And it should cause us to ask some questions.

Like, you want to pray a really scary prayer?

Pray this one.

God, am I willing to respond to what you're saying?

Or have I already decided there are parts of my lives, parts of my life that you don't get a say in?

That's the tough one.

Now I want to be really careful here because having questions doesn't mean you have a hard heart.

Being afraid doesn't mean you've refused to trust God.

It's good and it's it's right to go to God and say, God, I'm struggling.

I don't understand this.

I have doubts.

Please help me trust you.

That's actually somebody who's turning to God in the midst of a struggle.

The warning here is actually about consistently resisting God.

When he is telling you something and you're saying, No, I'm not going to do that.

Hearing what he says and continuing to push God away.

And it actually really helps us understand a verse here that might be complicated because if you look at verse 11, it says, Let us therefore make every effort to enter rest.

That feels a little contradictory, doesn't it, when you think about it.

Let us make every effort to enter rest.

Like work really hard to get the rest you need.

Strive to get salvation, you might cynically say about this.

I mean, I told you earlier that clearly we don't have to earn our place with God, but now the passage it seems to be saying, try harder.

Try harder.

Well, look at how that sentence ends.

He tells us to make every effort so we don't follow their example of disobedience.

And the effort he's calling for is the effort of continuing to trust and obey God.

It's staying with him when you're tempted to pull away.

And honestly, this is the part that we don't talk about because in the modern church, We only talk about grace often, but it can take real effort to continue to trust God through difficult things.

Think about a moment when telling the truth is going to cost you something.

Or forgiving somebody seems impossible.

You know what God has asked you to do, but you can see how it would be much easier to ignore it.

Trusting Him means telling the truth and entrusting the outcome.

Even if you're nervous, even if you don't know how it's going to go, you're acting on the belief that God is trustworthy and his way is good.

That's very different than trying to build up enough good behavior to make God accept you.

And this is where it connects back to what I told you in the beginning.

Because remember, I thought I have to get this Bible study done in order to get to my real work.

I can check the box and still wonder was that enough?

Did it even count?

And so when I hear make every effort, I can easily turn that into more of the same.

Read more, pray longer, try harder to make God pleased with me.

But the effort of this passage calls for is for us to continue to trust him, taking God as word, follow where he leads.

And that actually changes my approach to how I pursue God spiritually.

I'm coming to hear from the God that I'm trusting, who loves me, who I have a relationship with.

I'm asking him to help me believe and to live in response to his word.

And trusting means that when I pray, I can actually bring him all of the static, the responsibilities, the things that I haven't finished, the things that I'm struggling with, the fear that everything depends on me.

Those practices matter because they keep us turning towards him, keep us trusting him.

They were never meant to become a way of proving we've earned his acceptance.

Church, our response matters.

And God is inviting us today to trust him, to try and that trust actually shapes how we listen, how we pray, how we respond when he asks us to obey.

And here's the thing: this is one thing in life that is actually impossible to fake before God.

You can't actually fake this.

Because the last connection to God's rest we need to understand is that God sees the truth of our response.

One of my favorite passages, Hebrews 4, 12 through 13, for the word of God is living and active, is sharper than any double-edged short.

It pierces to the division of soul and spirit, joins the mirror, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Nothing in creation is hidden from God's sight.

Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

And when people talk about this passage, they usually are doing it in a way that's showing you how God's word is active in your life.

That it's real, that it's alive, that it's working.

And that's all true, but when we read it in the context of this passage, it's actually really sobering.

Like people love uh Hebrews 4.12, but a lot of times people don't read Hebrews 4.13 because it's hard.

Because the idea here is that God is actually using his word in your life to reveal your heart.

As you encounter God's word, it goes deep to expose whether or not you are truly trusting God.

And it says that God knows.

That's why nothing in creation is hidden from his sight.

Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Church, sometimes when we come to church, we get to hear messages that encourage us, they give us hope or solace, or they help us understand God better, or maybe it's wisdom for your life, or it's just helpful for you all around.

But I'm gonna be honest with you, the point of this part of the passage is a hard truth that we need to hear.

That God knows when you're faking it before Him.

He actually knows.

He knows your real heart, the real you.

And you might have everyone in your life convinced that you are a super Christian, that you do all the things, you serve, you volunteer, you pray, you're kind, you've cleaned up your language, maybe everything on the outside looks right, but guess what?

God sees what's going on in your heart.

You can never fool God.

He looks right into your heart, and that should sober us.

But I also want you to notice here that guess what?

The invitation still stands.

And so listen to this from the passage.

Since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of us be found to have fallen short of it.

And today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart.

Trust God.

And finally, let us make every effort to enter that rest so that no one will perish by following the example of disobedience.

Church, today the promise of sharing in salvation is open to you no matter who you are.

If you've never come to him, it's open to you.

It didn't close at some point in the past, it is open to you right now.

If you know his word right now, but you would say, I'm not really trusting God, or I'm not trusting God in this area, listen, it's open to you.

His rest, his salvation is open to you.

If you are walking with him, but you're struggling, guess what?

His rest is open to you.

His salvation is open to you.

If you feel like your heart is growing cold and distant and hard, his salvation, his rest is open to you.

But what it requires of you is for you to actually truly trust him.

Not just subscribe to a set of beliefs, but to actually trust him.

Trust him through the struggle and doubt.

Trust him with your struggle of sin.

Trust him through life's distractions.

Trust him.

And if you don't know what that looks like in your life, guess what?

Run to God and say to him, God, I don't know what this looks like in my life.

I'm having a hard time trusting you.

I'm not even sure I know what that means, but Lord, I know I need you.

And lay everything before his feet because he is the God who loves you and wants you to enter his rest.

Church, will you pray with me?

Lord, we come to you, and there's hard parts of this passage.

To know that actually, right now, in this moment, that each of us, you see each of our hearts and you know exactly what's going on.

That can be sobering.

It can make us feel really vulnerable.

And yet, Lord, we know that you love us.

We know that the invitation to enter your rest, to step into your salvation, is open to us right now.

And so, Lord, I pray that you would give us an ability beyond ourselves to trust you, to bring the things before you that we haven't been trusting you with and to lay them at your feet.

And Lord, we pray that you would lead us into that trust.

That moment by moment, day by day, we would look to Jesus, the author and the perfector of our faith.

Lord, thank you so much for the salvation that's open to us.

Lord, help us to truly trust you.

In Jesus' name, amen.