Hebrews 4
Notes
Transcript
The Promised Rest
The Promised Rest
Therefore!
Therefore, since the promise to enter his rest remains, let us beware that none of you be found to have fallen short.
The author says, basically, in light of everything that you know about the examples that we have in the OT, do not fall short of God’s rest like they did.
To clarify a point that is important: Those Israelites did not miss out on heaven - they were God’s chosen people, so they have that - but they did miss out on His promised REST. That rest, for them, was entering into the Promised Land.
See part of the REST that we need to understand is being able to receive and enjoy the earthly blessings that God has planned for us, as a sneak peak of the TRUE REST, which we find in heaven.
Beware - this is such a great word. Beware = to be cautious and alert of dangers.
It reminds me that we need to not be ‘asleep at the wheel’. We need to be on guard. Why? Because it can be easy to get in a rhythm. Without paying any attention we can fall into the trap of complacency. That leads to sin.
True followers of Christ won’t lose their salvation, but we can miss out on the blessings God has in store. So BEWARE.
For we also have received the good news just as they did. But the message they heard did not benefit them, since they were not united with those who heard it in faith.
Now this is a very good part of Hebrews when in the lens of exegesis. What is the author speaking of here? This good news. Notice the author does not use the word GOSPEL, and it is likely not capitalized in your Bible. Little hints here.
Let’s go back and re-read the last bit of Ch3. Sometimes it helps to get our minds right. The Author is in the midst of talking about the Rebellion of the Israelites in the wilderness. And continues this thought moving into Ch4.
So what was the promised REST that the rebellious Israelites missed out on?
Entering the Promised Land - the land of Canaan.
There is a comparison here of 2 groups of people. Those who heard the message, and those who received the message in faith.
For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it all who came out of Egypt under Moses?
Heard and rebelled.
For we also have received the good news just as they did. But the message they heard did not benefit them, since they were not united with those who heard it in faith.
Received - or Heard in faith.
So if you remember the story of the Israelites in the wilderness, they come to the border of the Promised Land. They had not been in the wilderness long. This is PRE 40 years.
Numbers 13.
They get to the edge. They can see the other side. There is a decision made to send spies into the Promised Land on a recon mission.
How many spies? 12 Spies.
How long was their mission to last? 40 days!
They did their mission, even brought back some grapes on a stalk that had to be carried by 2 men! They brought back figs and pomegranates. They said the land was flowing with milk and honey!
Oh It sounds great!
But there are all these people there. Fortified cities. Even the descendants of Anak, who came from the Nephilim! We seemed like grasshoppers next to them in our own eyes, and they must have thought the same!
So 12 men went, 1 from each tribe.
How many believed God and said: WE GOT THIS? Only 2 - Joshua and Caleb.
The other 10 convinced everyone that they could not take the land, and the nation believed the majority. But the majority were so broken by this that they wished they had died in Egypt, or the wilderness. And check this out:
So they said to one another, “Let’s appoint a leader and go back to Egypt.”
Rebellion.
Which leads to the ultimate plea, which we remember:
Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole assembly of the Israelite community. Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who scouted out the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite community, “The land we passed through and explored is an extremely good land. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and give it to us. Only don’t rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land, for we will devour them. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us. Don’t be afraid of them!”
But the people didn’t believe. You can read the rest of Num 14 and will learn that God gives the people exactly what they requested: if only we had died in the wilderness, leads to God saying: your corpses will fall in the wilderness.
It truly leads to the words: be careful what you ask for!
For we who have believed enter the rest, in keeping with what he has said,
So I swore in my anger,
“They will not enter my rest,”
even though his works have been finished since the foundation of the world.
For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in this way: And on the seventh day God rested from all his works.
Again, in that passage he says, They will never enter my rest.
So here we have something interesting. The Word of God maintains this lesson on rest by bringing in how God rested on the 7th day, after working for 6. This is obviously modeling the importance of Rest, but also demonstrates something about that Rest.
God did not sleep all day on His day of rest. Instead we learn that God enjoyed the work that He had done.
The Word of God says that God looked upon all He had done, said it was Very Good, and rested.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.
So what was this work that God had done: it was the place of blessing. And God enjoyed it. And man was given the opportunity to enjoy it.
But compare that with the Israelites. They spent their time in the wilderness. They saw God do Miracle after Miracle. They saw the glory of the Lord. They followed the Lord ‘smoke and fire’. And yet they were disobedient. In their repeated disobedience, they failed to enter the Promised Land of Rest.
Now, if you go back and read what God says in Num 14, you will get God’s perspective. He does not just use the word disobedience. God says that the people of Israel ‘despise’ Him and do ‘not trust’ him.
Despise is a strong word - it means
Despise - spurn, treat disrespectfully, discard - to look down on with contempt
So an important lesson here is this:
Disobedience means that you despise and do not trust God.
Disobeying God means you treat God disrespectfully, that you discard what He says, because you do not trust Him.
If you can’t say AMEN, say OUCH! Because that HURTS.
So here in Heb 4 we have that they failed because of their disobedience.
In Heb 3:19
So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
God says they failed because their unbelief.
Major lesson here:
FAITH is the marriage of hearing and doing.
Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news did not enter because of disobedience, he again specifies a certain day—today. He specified this speaking through David after such a long time:
Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.
Let’s simplify this statement: harden your heart.
To harden you heart, in the simplest term, means that you tell God: “NO.”
Every time you tell God no, you put a brick down. If you do it enough, you will have built a wall between you and God.
The Word of God says, do not build a wall! Instead, surround yourself with others who have faith, who are believing, and TEAR DOWN THAT WALL!
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people. For the person who has entered his rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from his. Let us, then, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience.
Continuing in the lesson of REST, the Word of GOD reminds us that a Sabbath Rest remains for God’s people. It is so important that it is in the 10 commandments.
We are reminded that God rested on the 7th. That we are to rest on the Sabbath from our own works. This rest is a blessing.
Listen, God commands us to rest so that we do not fall into the trap of GO GO GO. Of staying on worldly activities that have no eternal value.
Our Father Commands us to rest.
Let us not DISCARD that command.
Let us not fall into the trap of saying: NO (BRICK) I have to get this done today.
Why? Because what we are really saying is this: I do not trust that God will bless my efforts and work the other days to accomplish what must be accomplished, so I am going to do this on my own power and disrespect God and discard the blessing that HE intended for me.
I am going to do this MY WAY. (doesn’t sound very poor in spirit)
Let us never fall into that trap.
For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. No creature is hidden from him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.
The Word of God, Scripture, it is ALIVE. That is a truth that makes the Bible unique and different that any other book that you will ever read. Sure some book may teach you lessons and contain knowledge and help develop wisdom. There are subjects that need to be learned. You may even read something that dives into your heart.
But the WORD OF GOD is the only book that is ALIVE and not just dead words on a page. The WORD OF GOD is Jesus Christ my friends! Alive and Sitting at the right hand of the Father. The WORD OF GOD became flesh.
And HIS WORD - this Bible - does something no other Book can do. It cuts deep. Deeper. And into your soul. Into the spiritual realm in which you cannot fathom. It separates the Spiritual from the worldly.
And it goes even further.
The WORD of God judges your thoughts and intentions. It lays all things bare before you, and you bare before it! Which is why sometimes when you are reading the Bible you feel so exposed and vulnerable. You are never more exposed and vulnerable than when you are NAKED! So God uses this word and He says you are NAKED AND EXPOSED.
When you encounter the Word of God and you are cut deep it can hurt and it leads to LIFE CHANGE.
Our Great High Priest
Our Great High Priest
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to our confession.
Let’s recap real quick: Because of everything you have heard and are reminded of, and because the Word of God is cutting you, judging you, exposing you, and changing you, HOLD FAST!
This WORD OF GOD was made flesh, and we have a HIGH PRIEST, who has entered into the REST that no High Priest has ever entered into. HOLD FAST to the confession.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.
Such comforting words.
God understands fully everything you are going through. He has been tempted in every way that we were tempted, and yet without sin Jesus remains.
It is crazy: God is like us in that He was tempted in every way, experienced incredible hardships, went through terrible pain, suffered loss and humiliation, was despised and rejected.
And God is nothing like us: He never sinned.
and He is our High Priest.
Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.
approach the throne of grace with boldness.
PRAY! Prayer is how we approach the throne of God.
Check this out: Temptation is an invitation to pray!
so that we may receive mercy and find grace.
Mercy - not getting what we deserve
grace - getting what we do not deserve.
You have to approach the one who is able. And you do that through prayer. And the Word of God says: COME GET WHAT YOU NEED to get through this world.
