Hebrews Talk 7 (4:1-13)

0:00 We're in Hebrews chapter 4 this week, and could I encourage you, if you have a copy of the New Testament in whatever form, to have it in front of you so that you can keep dipping in as we go through. Because that's the whole idea that we get to understand what these words are saying to us. But we're going to read the whole chapter, Hebrews 4, from verse 1. Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them. Now let's just pause there. Them who? Who is he talking about here?

0:55 Well, the them refers to the ancient Hebrews way back in Moses' time. The us is first century Hebrews and, of course, then on to ourselves because the good news also came to us. So there is a constant to-ing and fro-ing really between the situation many years before with Old Testament Israel and the situation today. For good news or the gospel came to us just as to them but the message that 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 has said as I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest although his works were finished on the foundation of the world for he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way and God rested on the seventh day from all his works and again in this passage he said they shall not enter my rest since therefore it remains for some to enter it and those who formally received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience he appoints a certain day today saying through david so long afterwards in the words already quoted today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts for if joshua had given them rest god would not have spoken about another day later on.

2:40 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing 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, if you've come here new this morning, and maybe even if you haven't, and you're reading this or hearing it from the first time, you may wonder, what on earth is this about? It sounds so complicated and difficult, because actually it is complicated and difficult. And so we need to take time with it. And I'm going to do my best over the next few minutes to walk you through it a little bit.

4:03 Not comment on everything, because I couldn't, but to try to help us through it. And one of the things I would like us to notice is the balance in it. Many years ago, we were on holidays in the Peak District, and I took this photograph, which I hope will appear. and you look at that and you go hmm I wonder if it just go to a wee push will it fall over lots of people have tried some of you have been there no doubt have seen those rocks there is a balance that is maintained by the spirit through these chapters and it's important that we observe it because there is a danger that we go to one extreme or the other. Because these chapters contain a number of very serious warnings. And it is possible that either we take them so seriously that we misunderstand their application and are deeply almost traumatized by them, or we go the other way and we don't take them seriously enough. and that's the task of the spirit here it's also the task that I have seeking to teach this is to maintain that kind of balance and we observe the balance for example back in chapter 3 verse 13 we read watch out brothers and sisters so that there won't be any of you with an evil unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God and that's the warning and in the next breath but encourage each other daily.

5:49 And there's the positive, the encouraging side. Why are they still called today? So that none of you is hardened by sin deception. And there we go back to the warning. That continues in chapter four. Just look how it begins. Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands. That's promising.

6:12 That's positive. Let us be careful that none of you be found to fall short of it. There's the warning sign. Or again, for we who have believed enter that rest. That's the encouraging bit. But then he talks about those who haven't believed. As God has said, I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Or again, whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

6:44 But then he adds, let us therefore strive to enter that rest so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. So you can see what's going on here. He's speaking to a very mixed group. And certain people need to hear certain things. Other people need to hear other things. We all need to hear all of it. But it's important we observe the balance. The heading in our Bible's chapter four could easily mislead us into thinking that since it's a new chapter, the writer has moved on to a new topic, but he hasn't.

7:26 There was no chapter four in the original. This is a continuation of the presentation we read through last time in chapter 3. And at the heart of these chapters, as Chris explained, is a major story. A story from their own history and identity as a nation. That goes right back to when under Moses' leadership, They physically came out of the land of Egypt where they had lived as slaves. And then includes the next bit under Joshua when they went into the promised land. If you don't know that story, then some of this will seem rather strange to you and will be difficult to get a hold of. But that's the basic story behind it.

8:22 So it's going back then to the time when God liberated them as a nation through Moses, but not just politically or economically and socially. Actually, the primary goal was none of these things. Let me quote you what God said to them once they were liberated. This is Exodus 19. I have gathered you with eagle's wings and have brought you to what? Well, we might expect God to say to the promised land or to the desert at this point, but he doesn't say either. What he says is, I've gathered you with eagle's wings and I've brought you to myself. The goal was God.

9:16 The goal was relationship with God. The goal was this rest that comes from that relationship, from knowing God, from following him, from going where he leads. That's the goal. And for that to be possible, therefore, the liberation at the start was not some political thing, not some military thing. In fact, it was deliverance through the blood of a lamb, an animal, and deliverance not from Egypt, but deliverance from the wrath of God against sin because they were just as much sinners as everybody else. That was the fundamental issue. If they're ever going to come to God, to know him, to follow him, The question of their sinfulness needed to be addressed and dealt with because they were entering relationship with the Holy God. So that's what that was about.

10:24 It wasn't a matter of brute force or political maneuvering. It was God intervening in sacrifice to bring them out into the desert and then to follow him through Moses' leadership and journey through to the promised land. That was the gospel that was preached to him. That was the announcement made to him. That was the good news. Now, of course, physically, they all got out with Moses. But as verse 6 states, those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in. They didn't go into their rest.

11:06 They didn't go into the inheritance in the promised land because of their disobedience. They deliberately refused to follow God. They deliberately refused to go into their inheritance, which demonstrated, according to chapters three and four, it's repeated time and time again, that they were not genuine believers. That's the fundamental issue here. Notice again what he says. The message they heard did not benefit them. Why not? Because they were not united with those who heard it in faith.

11:50 There was no faith about them. The only ones who heard it in faith were Joshua and Caleb. The rest did not, and they perished in the desert. But we might protest at that point, but didn't they get out of Egypt then? Well, of course they did. Physically, they got out of Egypt. But the gospel preached to them didn't say, look, the big thing is to get out of Egypt. And once you do that, well, it's up to you what you do then.

12:22 I mean, if you want to just hang around the desert, that's fine. And make your home here. That doesn't matter. See that business about a promised land and following through the desert? It doesn't matter. The big thing is to get out of Egypt. There is no such gospel. There was no such gospel.

12:38 It was all one package. And the vast majority simply didn't believe it. And as a result, only two of the adult generation that came out of Egypt with Moses went in to their inheritance. Now, with that in mind, he says in verse two, we also have had the gospel preached to us just as they had. Exactly the same message? No, not exactly the same. For us, it's not deliverance through the blood of an animal, but it's deliverance through the self-giving of the divine Son of God himself, Jesus Messiah, through the sacrifice of Jesus for the sin of the world. that the Passover lamb was simply an early sort of picture in advance.

13:38 It never dealt with sin because animals know nothing about sin. But here is the divine son of God taking upon himself the sin of the world. That's the gospel preached to us. But not just deliverance, but deliverance followed by a journey. not just a geographical journey, although it does involve geography because we've all got to live somewhere. You've noticed that? That's very hard not to live in geography. We all do.

14:10 But it's more than that. It's a journey with the Lord Jesus himself, a journey of getting to know God, a journey of following him, of learning what obedience is as we travel with him towards that inheritance, not of some real estate on earth, but the eternal rest. of the inheritance in heaven for us. We need to notice that there is no kind of two-stage gospel here. The gospel isn't divided into part one. The big thing is to get forgiven. After that, you can do what you like.

14:51 There is no message like that in the New Testament. Although sometimes when people preach it, It sounds as if that's precisely what they're saying. There is no gospel like that. Because the gospel involves repentance. Repentance is not simply a confessing that I'm a sinner. Repentance involves turning around. Ceasing my reliance on self. Turning around from running my own life and being king of my own life.

15:20 And making Jesus king of my life. And following him. Trusting him. understanding that he's called me out of this world to travel with him towards that eternal destiny that's the gospel it's all one package and the problem therefore was that some of the first audience for this letter were in serious danger of repeating the fatal mistake their ancestors had made of not taking the gospel seriously, of not believing it. Now, as we read through and as we read it, one difficulty might arise in our minds because the writer doesn't simply say that the people were not able to enter God's rest because of their unbelief. He also says, for example, in verse six, that they didn't enter because of their disobedience. And that might shake us up a bit because, well, have you ever disobeyed God?

16:35 I certainly have. And when you read this, we realize that all of us fall short, all of us sin. All of us disobey God on occasion. So does this mean that a genuine believer could disobey the Lord so seriously that he or she would lose their salvation? Well, that isn't what Hebrews is saying. It is true that all of us disobey. And the Bible is quite clear elsewhere that if a genuine believer persists in disobeying the Lord, that will result in discipline in his or her life one way or another. But that isn't what disobedience means here.

17:27 The writer is using a very particular word which is missed by our English words. The word he is using, it never refers in the Bible to the disobedience of genuine believers. It refers to the disobedience of those who do not believe. Indeed, to refuse to believe is disobedience, and there is no salvation for anyone who refuses to believe. This is made clear, for example, in John chapter 3, verse 36. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him. In other words, in this context, disobeying the Son is the opposite of believing the Son. And we see it again in our chapter.

18:30 If we compare the verses, we have believed, enter that rest. They did not go in because of their disobedience. Disobedience is the opposite of faith. The writer is not talking about genuine believers who sin and disobey from time to time. He's talking about those who never believed. Believed what? Well, this isn't about, well, I believe that God's going to do this and that and the other thing in my life. That's not what we're talking about here.

19:11 This is that fundamental belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. As John puts it in his letter, this is the faith that overcomes the world. The faith that believes that Jesus is the Son of God. One belief is to refuse to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And it is the number one sin in the Bible. Now that might surprise you. Because very often we tend to think that the big sins are sexual sins. Or they're sins of greed and jealousy and so on.

19:57 Well those are all sins. but the fundamental sin of unbelief is the cardinal sin. The refusing to believe that Jesus is the son of God. And that unbelief, according to Hebrews three and four is deceptive. You notice the emphasis on a person hardening their heart and it can happen. Sometimes people listen to the message, Christian message, get involved with Christians, join in with Christian groups and activities. may even join a Christian church. But deep down, they have never truly believed.

20:56 And it eventually comes out. It may feel great for a while, but then when the nice feelings, the lovely emotions die down, and opposition, hardship, reversal, disappointment of some kind comes along, Then they discover that Jesus and his word are really not that important to them after all. They can take it or leave it. And they begin to drift away because they were never genuine believers in the first place. There was no true repentance, no true abandonment of confidence and self. and placing all their trust for life and for the future in Jesus. When I think about this, my mind went to Judas Iscariot. How often did he hear God's voice?

21:59 Thousands of times. And yet in the end, he allowed his unbelief to harden his heart and discovered that a few pieces of silver were worth more to him than Jesus. So the writer thinks of this crowd. And it's not, he's not threatening them. I imagine him saying these words with deep empathy, even tears in his voice. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart

22:50 because it is today isn't it still today the reference today here in this chapter is not to a specific day of the week it's today it's this period of time it's this opportunity that you have to hear the word of God and you're hearing it and today if you hear his voice Do you sense God speaking to you? Has he, for example, made you a little uncomfortable? Forced you to face up to certain things in your inner life? Made you realize that there are decisions you need to make that you haven't yet made? And perhaps you can't wait to get out of here. today if you hear his voice don't let your refusal to believe in Jesus harden your heart

23:58 but reach out to him call out to him because today God is giving you an opportunity to say yes Lord I do hear you I've heard you for some time but this time I'm going to respond I'm going to repent I'm going to turn decisively away from the old me and entrust myself to you what celebration there would be in heaven and what rest you would experience now and in the future. So let's talk for a few moments about that rest because this chapter is full of the idea of entering God's rest. What does it mean? What does it mean to enter it? Is it present tense or is it something still in the future or is it both? Well, for the ancient Hebrews who were delivered from Egypt, rest was in the future.

25:00 It was a promise referring to entering the land of Canaan under Joshua's leadership, A land described as flowing with milk and honey. Their God-given inheritance. And for us today as Christians, we also have that future dimension to God's rest. Jesus talked about going away when he was with his disciples. I'm going away. I'm going away to prepare a place for you. So that one day I'll come back so you can be where I am. The Father's house, the place of rest, eternal rest.

25:37 Peter writes about it in these terms, about a future inheritance. What cannot spoil our faith, which is kept in heaven for us, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. This is future. When Jesus returns, And the whole fullness of what salvation means explodes upon us. That's what we look forward to. Our eternal rest, our promised land, if you like. A rest that's still in the future, waiting for the return of Christ. But that doesn't mean that there is no rest that we can enjoy in this life.

26:24 Let's go back to the ancient story. There are two major aspects to it, aren't there? there is all those books that talk about the journey towards the inheritance, but then there's a bunch of books that talks about them actually in the land, in their inheritance. Isn't that interesting? So it looks at it from two different aspects, going towards it and being in it. And they discovered when they were in it, it was a land flowing with milk and honey. And God gave them amazing victories as they entered. but they discovered that in order to enjoy it they needed to fight for it.

27:07 They needed to fight not simply against external enemies but against the enemies in their own heart. Against their own sin and their constant running away after false gods and wanting to live like everybody else and refusing to be loyal to God. To enjoy rest involved a struggle for them. And it does for us. Peter talks about our future inheritance. But if we turn to Paul, for example, in his letter to the Ephesians, he tells them that we who are Christians are spiritually joined to Christ and therefore already, since we're joined to him, We're raised with him and already seated with Christ in heavenly realms. Now, I know that's a wee bit hard to accept.

28:04 You look around you, this doesn't look particularly heavenly, does it? You know, these seats and maybe the people sitting next to you and all the rest of it. It doesn't seem that terribly heavenly, but it's not something that we see. It is something that is real spiritually and something that we can experience by faith and enter into the good of it now. But, says Paul, it's going to involve struggle. And so he encourages us. We're involved in a fight, Ephesians 6. Not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

28:44 And so God has provided armor for us to put on, to enable us to stand in the midst of the storm that rages around us and enjoy at least to a certain degree that wonderful rest. The rest that Jesus promised. I just love the center of Matthew's gospel has the King of Kings standing in this world and said, are you tired? Are you burdened? Come to me and I will give you rest as a gift. in the midst of the storm, living in occupied territory with all your sins and failures, with all your family problems, with all those other things, those things aren't going to disappear. But at the heart of it, you can experience my rest on this basis if you come to me. It's a gift.

29:46 That amazing gift of forgiveness, of salvation, of acceptance with God where I know, faced with failures and sins and the old thoughts that go through my mind every day that made me wonder, especially when I was a teenager, but they still do sometimes, how could you possibly be a Christian and have all that stuff going on inside to know the rest that comes from Christ. Not my rest, but his rest. This is God's rest that he gives for us to enjoy in the middle of life's storms. But it does involve struggle. And it's so important to realize that. It was going to for these folks. They were already experiencing it.

30:43 Opposition, suffering, hardship, reversal, disappointment, and struggles within that Paul will go into, for example, in Romans and in all the other letters. Struggling with sin and finding it. You know, find that as the flesh wars against the spirit inside so that you don't end up doing what you would naturally do. But there's this battle inside. When I became a Christian, I was 11. I didn't really know anything until I was 13. And then all the hormones started to change and life started to change. And I was becoming a Christian every other day.

31:20 I don't know if anybody else has had that experience. It's common for folks who became Christians young because you look at all this mess that's going on in your inner life and you think, how could I possibly, I mustn't have done it the right way around. So you get down into your bed and you pray again and you add a few more theological terms and sound more impressive to God. God, I hope you're impressed that time. Now I know I'm saved and that lasted till Friday and away you go again. You know, some people never get out of that because they've never understood that we experience God's rest in the middle of storm.

31:59 In the middle of a battlefield and the battle isn't just out there. It's in here. Do you find that encouraging? Those internal struggles aren't the things that convince me anymore that I'm not a Christian. They're the things that help convince me that I am because this is what I was told to expect. And therefore, not passively sit by and just let it all happen while I couldn't help myself. No, take the armor of God and learn to fight. Get to know the Lord Jesus.

32:35 follow him put his word first in our life that's how we can experience rest this is nothing to do with observing a day of the week that's not what this chapter is about and if you've heard that said well they're on the wrong tack this is not the direction of one day of the week this is the direction of the whole of your life. This is entering God's rest. Sadly, in history, this has often been misunderstood, and people have thought that the fourth commandment was the same as all the others, and was a moral command, when Jesus clearly taught that it wasn't. And we Gentiles, anyway, were never under the covenant of which it was part. There was a picture in advance of something far bigger. The rest in Christ for the whole of life. Wonderful thing. The challenge then is, have you entered it?

33:43 Is the hope of the heavenly inheritance so firmly fixed in your thinking and living? Are you prepared to put on the armor of God and fight to enjoy the benefits now of that rest? I can't answer that for you. And I'm not asked to. You notice how the chapter ends. It ends with the power and life of God's word. And tells us that all of us have to give an account of ourselves to the Lord. And that is a serious thing, isn't it?

34:31 It's not, again, said as a threat. This is actually liberating. Because I don't have to pretend anymore. God's word is just so powerful, so full of life. It reads us. It gets in under the surface. It's like a scalpel's knife that divides the bits out. Well, I was never called to be a surgeon because I fainted when they showed me a model of the human eye.

35:03 So that was the end of my ambition. But it's just genius the way these stories, this ancient word. speaks and uncovers the reality of our heart. Not as a threat because I don't have to give an account to you but I have to give an account to the Lord. And there's no point in me coming to him and saying do you know Lord I'm actually better than the guy down the street. I'm not talking about the guy down the street.

35:36 It's you. Give an account for yourself. To me. So stop hiding. because it's futile. Everyone and everything is exposed, naked before God, before his word. Let the word work. Today, if you hear his voice,

36:05 do not harden your heart, but rather allow God to speak and respond to him as he speaks. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the wonderful balance of these chapters. They are serious. They are difficult because life itself is serious and difficult and complex. This isn't a fairy story we're reading or some little children's book. This is your word which is living, powerful, active, and comes at us in all sorts of directions because life is messy and deep and complex.

36:54 And the thoughts and intentions and motivations of our heart are often even hidden from ourselves. We pray I can do or anybody else can do. It's only what your spirit working through your word can do that your word would operate in our lives and bring us to Jesus and to the rest he promises to give. In his name we pray. Amen.