Sermon #20                                                        Hebrews Notes

 

          Title:            Let Us…”

          Text:            Hebrews 4:1-16

          Readings:     Paul Winderl and Bob Poncer

          Subject:        Entering Into Rest

          Date:            Tuesday Evening – May 16,2000[1]

          Tape #         V-83b

          Introduction:

 

          Hebrews chapter four is a chapter about faith, the blessed rest of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet, it is a chapter filled with exhortations and admonitions, giving us very clear instructions about our responsibilities. You see, faith in Christ is not a passive, indifferent, or dormant thing. It a vital, living principle of grace.

 

          Four times in these sixteen verses we are given two words of admonition. Four times the writer admonishes us, with himself, to do something. Look at them with me.

 

4:1  "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it."

 

4:11  "Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief."

 

4:14  "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession."

 

4:16  "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

 

         

          When I was in college, my professor of homiletics and pastoral theology used to tell us something every preacher ought to always bear in mind. He repeated it almost every time he talked to us about sermon preparation and preaching. He said, “Men, where there is no summons there is no sermon.”

 

          In other words, every sermon preached ought to call for action, not physical action, but moral, spiritual action. If a sermon does not call for those who hear it to make some kind of response to it, it is not much of a sermon.

 

          Let me give you my summons first. Then I will give you my sermon. When I get done, I trust that the summons will be echoing in your hearts as well as my own.

 

Here is something for us to fear.   – Verse 1 --  "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” We ought to fear missing Christ.

 

Look at verse 11 – Here is something for us to do. -- "Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” Let us labor that we may cease from all labor.

 

Verse 14 – Here is something for us to hold. -- "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.” This we must hold with a death grip, for life and death are the issues, eternal life and eternal death. Whatever we do, we must hold Christ.

 

Here is somewhere for us to go. – Verse 16 -- "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” In every time of need, at all times, come to God your Father, who sits upon the throne of grace, come through the merits of Christ your Savior, the merits of his blood and righteousness, and get the mercy and grace you need by the power of his Spirit.

 

Now, I want us to look at these sixteen verses of Holy Scripture. May God the Holy Spirit be our Teacher. I pray that he will graciously speak through these lips of clay to your hearts, taking the things of Christ and showing them to you.

 

Hebrews 4:1-16

 

Verse 1 --“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left [us] of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.”

 

          LET US FEAR – We ought to fear, lest we also, after hearing the gospel and professing to believe it, fall short of eternal life, like those Jews who perished in the wilderness.

 

1 Corinthians 10:12  "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."

 

Philippians 2:12  "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."

 

          Let us not come up short of the promise of eternal life, like those foolish virgins described by our Lord. Rather, let us ever run with patience the race that is set before us, ever looking to Christ, trusting his blood, seeking his righteousness, seeking to know him (Phil. 3:7-14).

 

          May God graciously make my heart pant for Christ, like David’s did, as the hart pants after the water brook!

 

Psalms 27:4  "One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple."

 

Philippians 3:10  "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;"

 

Verse 2 -- “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard [it].”

 

          I do not pretend to understand this, but I know there is such a divine authority which attends the preaching of the gospel that the most solemn business on this earth is the business of preaching it, and the business of hearing it (Rom. 10:13-20; Pro. 1:23-33).

 

          The word preached must be mixed with faith, received by faith, embraced in the arms of faith, or the word preached is of no profit to our souls.

 

The gospel of Christ has been preached to us (the gospel of grace, not of works; the gospel of God's Son -- his deity, his perfect obedience, his substitutionary atonement, his resurrection and intercession; how that in Christ the law of God is honored and the justice of God is satisfied -- Romans. 3:25,26).  But this gospel of Christ was also preached to the Jews who perished It was preached by Moses and Aaron, as it had been by Enoch, Noah, and Abraham. It was preached to them by the types, promises, sacrifices and examples constantly held before them.

 

It did them no good.  It did not save them nor profit them because they did not believe God.  Abraham believed God (Rom. 4:20-25). -- “The just shall live by faith.”

 

Verse 3 -- “For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.”

 

          This is talking about spiritual rest, the rest of faith in Christ.  It is rest from salvation by works, rest from the yoke and burden of the law, rest from all toil and labour to gain life.  It is an enjoyment of inward peace and rest, notwithstanding trials, toils, labors and temptations we endure in this world.

 

We have spiritual ease and comfort in Christ, our Lord.  Only believers enjoy this rest. God has sworn that those who believe shall not perish (Matt. 11:28-30; Rom. 5:1; 8:1, 33-35).

 

Matthew 11:28-30  "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (29) Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (30) For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

 

Romans 5:1  "Therefore being justified, by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:"

 

Romans 8:1  "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

 

Romans 8:33-35  "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. (34) Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. (35) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?"

 

“Paul begins here to describe this spiritual rest we have in Christ by removing all other rests mentioned in Scripture.”                                                                           Henry Mahan

 

Verse 4 -- “For he spake in a certain place of the seventh [day] on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.”

 

          We do not keep a seventh day sabbath as they did in the Old Testament, or a first day sabbath as religious legalists would have us do today. We keep a gospel sabbath, the sabbath of rest in Christ.

 

·        As God ceased from his own works at the end of the first week, so we cease from our own works when we trust Christ.

 

·        As God rests in his love (Zeph. 3:17), so we rest , we sweetly acquiesce in our Savior, resting in his blood and righteousness, goodness and grace, power and providence, promise and person.

 

Verse 5 -- “And in this [place] again, If they shall enter into my rest.”

 

          The seventh day rest was a typical day of rest. And the land of Canaan was a typical land of rest. The unbelieving Jews did not enter into Canaan but turned around and wandered in the wilderness until they died. They never entered into God’s rest.

 

Verse 6 -- “Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:”

 

          The multitudes perished in the wilderness, but the Word of God did not and could not fall to the ground. Canaan must be inhabited by Israel. Israel must possess the land of God’s promise. Therefore, God raised up Joshua (the type of Christ) to do what Moses (the type of the law) could never do. And Joshua led the chosen nation into the land of promised rest.

 

          Don’t miss this. – The type must be fulfilled! The Lord Jesus Christ, our great Joshua, must and shall bring God’s Israel into the blessed rest of eternal salvation, every one of them. The covenant promise must and shall be fulfilled.

 

Verse 7 -- “Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”

 

          Nearly four hundred years passed between Joshua’s day and David’s day; but the Word of God was the same. And the day in which God speaks to us, Today,” is our day, the day of grace and salvation.

 

          This seventh verse specifically speaks of this gospel day. God set this day as the day when chosen sinners would enter into this true rest which he promised by faith in Christ. Today, this gospel day, is the day of salvation; now is the accepted time. We have nothing to do with the legal, typical rests (sabbath days) of the Old Testament. We now possess what those days only pictured.

 

Colossians 2:16-17  "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: (17) Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ."

 

Verse 8 -- “For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.”

 

          You will remember that Joshua’s name was changed fro Oshea (“Let God save”) to Joshua (“God shall save”), when he was sent to spy out the land of Canaan (Num. 13:16).

 

          The law may bring us into a dry, thorny, desolate wilderness, where we may pray for a Savior and cry, “Let God save.” But the gospel brings us into the land of rest and gives us a Savior, Jesus, who is Jehovah our Righteousness!

 

          Joshua is here called “Jesus” because his name in the Old Testament means exactly the same thing as Jesus in the New Testament, of whom he was a type. Yet, even the rest he gave in Canaan was only a typical rest and spoke of another, more glorious rest.

 

Read on –

 

Verse 9 -- “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.”

 

          The word “rest” here is “sabbath” or “a sabbath keeping.” This rest is Christ our Sabbath, the sabbath rest we find in him. Those sinners chosen of God in eternal election, for whom Christ died, and to whom faith is given, those who believe on the Son of God do enter into a spiritual rest. It will be perfect rest in glory; but it is begun here. Heaven is but a perfection and a continuation of what he begins in our hearts when he brings us to faith (John 6:37-40).

 

          All the sabbaths of the Old Testament, all those sabbaths required by the law of God in the days of carnal, ceremonial worship, were designed to portray this glorious gospel rest and the rest of heaven that shall follow. Ours is a sabbath without end.

 

1.    Genesis 2:2  -- As the Lord God ceased from his works, so we have ceased from our works, when we trust Christ. That is what the law of the seventh day sabbath portrayed.

2.    God also required Israel to keep a seven year sabbath, during which the ground rested from its slavery, curse, and toil, portraying that rest which shall soon come to God’s creation and his people (Rom. 8:20-21).

3.    Then, the law required a seventh seven year sabbath, every 49 years whole land celebrated a year of jubilee. During that time all debts were discharged! -- All mortgages were cancelled! -- All bondmen were set free! -- And all that had been lost was restored!

 

          Do you get the picture? Christ is our Sabbath. We rest in him by faith, and by faith alone! That is exactly the interpretation the Holy Spirit gives us in verse 10. –

 

Verse 10 -- “For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God [did] from his.”

 

          This verse very clearly applies both to Christ and to his people. The Lord Jesus Christ had a work to do in preaching the gospel and in obtaining the salvation and redemption of his people. This work was given to him and he finished it. He ceased from these works never to do them again. He is seated in heaven, having entered his rest (Heb. 10:5-14), just as we are told God ceased from the works of creation when he had finished them.

 

This is exactly what every believer does when he comes to Christ. We cease from a religion of works and rest in Christ.

 

Verse 11 -- “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”

 

          Let us labor to quit laboring! There is nothing in all the world more difficult, more contrary to our flesh, than this. Without question, we all, if we enter into Christ’s rest, enter into it by degrees.

 

“‘Tis done, the great transaction’s done –

I am my Lord’s, and He is mine!”

 

That is rest!

 

Verse 12 -- “For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

 

          It matters not whether we say this word is Christ or the Scriptures. What is said here is true of both the written Word and the loving Word.

         

          Bro Mahan explains the passage in this fourfold way…

 

1.     The Word is alive.  The word 'quick' is an old English word for alive.  This is a living book, the words of our living Redeemer (1 Peter 1:23-25; James 1:18).  The Word is the living seed.

2.     The Word is powerful.  Our Lord and his Word are active and effectual. He spoke for the elect in the council and covenant of grace (Heb. 7:22).  He spoke all things out of nothing in creation (Heb. 11:3; Gen. 1:6,9).  He spoke and revealed the Father (John 14:10).  He spoke and the dead came forth (John 5:24,25).

3.     The Word is sharp as a two-edged sword.  The Word is all edge; it has no blunt side. It is alive all over.  You cannot come near the Word of God without its having some effect on you (2 Cor. 2:14-16). Our Lord comes 'not to send peace but a sword', and that sword begins in our own souls, wounding and killing.  However, it kills nothing but that which ought to be killed -- our pride, envy, lust and sins.

4.     The Word is piercing and can find its way anywhere.  Although the soul and spirit are invisible and the joints and marrow are covered and hid, so penetrating is the divine Word that it reaches the most hidden and secret things of men and women.  It is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  Christ knows the heart and will make manifest all that is therein by the Word (Luke 16:15).

 

Verse 13 -- “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things [are] naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”

 

Christ, our Lord, is the omniscient God. Nothing is hidden from him. By his word, he strips us naked and lays us open, exposing the thoughts and intents of the heart.

 

·        Believers rejoice and find comfort in this – Peter!

·        Unbelievers, hypocrites are made to tremble at the thought of it.

 

Verse 14 -- “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast [our] profession.”

 

          What a Priest Christ is!

·        Real – Not Typical!

·        Eternal – Needing No Successor!

·        In the Heavens!

 

Yet there is more. Look at verse 15.

 

Verse 15 -- “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin.”

 

·        Christ is a compassionate High Priest, one who has been pierced by the very same things that pierce us.

·        He tempted in all points like we are.

·        He is a Priest accepted in heaven, because he is a Priest without sin!

 

          Still there is more. Christ is a Priest upon a throne, and his throne is a throne of grace!

 

Verse 16 -- “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

 

·        Come reverently, as unto God upon his throne.

·        Come freely, as to a friend.

·        Come gladly to him whose throne is the mercy-seat, the place of grace.

·        Come for the grace you need.

·        Come as often as you need it!

 

Here is something for us to fear.   – Verse 1 --  "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” We ought to fear missing Christ.

 

Look at verse 11 – Here is something for us to do. -- "Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” Let us labor that we may cease from all labor.

 

Verse 14 – Here is something for us to hold. -- "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.” This we must hold with a death grip, for life and death are the issues, eternal life and eternal death. Whatever we do, we must hold Christ.

 

Here is somewhere for us to go. – Verse 16 -- "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” In every time of need, at all times, come to God your Father, who sits upon the throne of grace, come through the merits of Christ your Savior, the merits of his blood and righteousness, and get the mercy and grace you need by the power of his Spirit.        AMEN.



[1] Bethel Baptist, Spring Lake, NC (05-28-00)