Hebrews Chapter 4

Introduction:

Recap 1- 3 (2 minutes)

(2 minutes) Read entire passage

Point 1: Sin breaking Rest

The kids are screaming, the TV is on, and your running around trying to make it to church on Sunday. Perhaps you get there and your mind is elsewhere, work, house hold chores, wondering if the preacher will be long or short this Sunday, and the list goes on.

What is clear of this picture is this is not just a Sunday problem, but this is life in Western society. Life is busy, I’ll sleep when I die.

This is all due part in result of the fall of man, who failed to enter the sabbath rest and chose to disobey God. God created man on the sixth day and to enter the Sabbath rest on the seventh.

Man was from destined to rest in God, the work was done on the sixth, man was created and should have fallen into rest with God, but he did not.

We’ve talked at length up to this point of the curse that was brought upon man upon his rebellion against God and have been pointed to Christ who is the author of Salvation and our high priest.

What does Christ offer as rest? Is this rest still connected to the Sabbath day as given in the ten commandments, instructed by Mosses?

First it should be established that the Sabbath day is not created with Mosses, but rather a creation mandate. One that is both given in a physical day and one with an enteral reality.

Adam if he obeyed would have entered this physical day of rest with the Lord. He would have entered this as he did each day but with a more devout focus, to allow the subduing of earth to take rest. To focus his entire day upon the Lord which is the only rest one enters.

God in his decree created a day, the seventh day for man to enter rest psychically and spirituality.

It is important to understand this rest is not created as something new for God’s people when Mosses gave the law. It is just more evident or restated to that which is known of God and His creation.

Because Adam failed to enter this rest, Mosses failed to enter this rest. I as a Pastor and in this season serving as a Pastor to you, fail in entering this rest. I can’t give you this, I can at best give the fourth commandment and instruction, but only Christ can give this rest.

Man’s purpose is to glorify God, we do this by resting in His work and not ours. Sabbath rest points to the finish work of God that in Christ is sustained for all eternity. If Adam has obeyed the covenant of works, this rest would have been His and all his offspring.

In rebellion God still gave His people the day of rest, commanded the seventh day as stated in the fourth commandment which is fulfilled today in Christ. The seventh day pointed in the shadows to the promised that would give rest. The seventh day was never about obedience of can I do such and such on the seventh day, but rather was to point man to rest in Christ and find enjoyment of God.

Point # 1 The Sabbath is a created order that is still an effect today and yes there is a day today in obedience with it. Under Mosses the day was the seventh, because the promise of Christ had not yet come, the finished work. The work the First Adam failed, but the work the second Adam (Christ) succeeds.

Today the day is the first day of the week, called the Lord’s day. Where as in the Old Covenant one works towards the sabbath, but in the New Covenant the week starts in the Rest of Christ.

Point 2: *4* The Lord’s Day

Christ calls us into His rest, but in one regard this rest is here and not yet. The Lord’s day is designed to bring us into worship of the living God, and draw us to rest in Christ’s finished work.

As a Christian Sunday (The Lord’s day) should be the day in which we rejoice, are excited about, and provides physical and spiritual rest. The Sabbath was not made for God, but for you to enjoy God. Christ who is the Sabbath, in created ordered brings you this day in His fulfillment of it. The writer of Hebrews is not telling the Jewish audience the fourth Commandment is abrogated, rather he restates it is fulfilled and Christ is a far better sabbath.

The Lord’s day is not to bind you in law as the Pharisees of yesterday or today insist. Rather today is to free you to enjoy Christ and day where you are able to reflect upon the finished work of Christ and the future hope of His return.

The Lord’s day is not a day for debate, it is evident with this passage who and what the Sabbath is. It is not mandated out of law, but rather created and fulled in Christ for you .

How shall this day be observed?

Christian, you are called to assemble each Lord’s day, to not forsake the assembly of believers. The church from Christ Resurrection to this day has declared that this very day, the first day of the week be our gathering. So in every manner possible use the previous six days to prepare your orders so that on the day of rest through Christ alone, you enter this rest a fulfillment in Christ and a taste of heaven.

Naturally the Christian should have space on this day for private and family worship. I would never advise a Christian be at church all day. You should return home to enjoy a physical and spiritual rest in Christ. There is not within scripture any rules that state how long a service should be or how many should be had each Lord’s day. If any religious tasks be it Sunday it School or potlucks take away from your rest in Christ and can’t be done in faith let it go. The only commands in scripture is the church must assemble for the worship of God in Christ and Christ alone. This day should be devoted to Christ alone, worldly affairs and recreation should cease. *There is debate on how far this applies, so I encourage you to let scripture speak and the Spirit to convict*

Point 3: Entering this Rest

How shall one enter this rest?

As stated in our previous messages, this rest is only had through Salvation in Christ alone.

Enjoy Christ and use the day created to be set apart as Holy to fully enjoy Christ. Friends, this world today offers a lot of entertainment (which is possibly why it is so hard to pull away on the Lord’s day) but those entertainments, careers, money, and even religious organizations can not satisfy the soul, it can not bring true joy *It brings pleasure, but not joy* but Christ who not only is Sabbath is your true joy. So on this day which He established at creation, fulfilled in the atonement calls your attention to be devoted fully to him in which all peace flows.

Practical Tips on entering this rest on the Lord’s Day

Engage in the word of God by study and hearing. If a church is faithful, the minister is preaching the word to you each Lord’s day and expounding upon the scriptures to point you to Christ. In your private times during the Lord’s day pick up His word or a book that teaches his word.

Prayer: Notice the later in this chapter speaks of Jesus being the High Priest, one that intercedes for man to God and God to man. Christ is the High Priest. Pray unto Him; within the church this shall be done and within your private affairs. If you set time on the Lord’s day, how great are the hours to which you can spend in the throne room of God. Where Christ receives you and presents you blameless to the Father.

Fellowship with other believers. By this I do not mean idol talk, but rather fellowship togehter around the word. Sunday school is a wonderful place to do this. There is nothing wrong with meeting during the week, I encourage it if you can, but most the week is work and work is good. The Lord’s day is where the saints are called to fellowship around His word.

If possible it is good and fitting for the church to have morning and afternoon services. *Not required, but good* It provides enough rest in the private closet of prayer, and enough structure to keep the Christian in complete devotion to the Lord on His day, so that He enters the rest that God has destined to be in Christ and given us a day for a taste of heaven.

Application

Do not ingore the call of the fourth commandment. Isaiah 58:2 “Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.”

Isaiah 58:2 ESV

Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.

Dr. Joseph Pipa in His book the Lord’s day would point out how the Puritans would view this day as the market day for the soul. Indeed it is for the Christian to use this day to delight and draw near to God.

Do not strangle yourself with laws of the sabbath, but remember while the day is important, Christ is your sabbath. If you are simply performing “sabbath duty” without faith it is useless to your soul and absent of Christ.

This day is but a picture of the enternal rest in Christ upon either His great return or if we shall Him before He comes again.

Conclusion

Christ is the fulfillment of the Sabbath, the Lord’s day draws us closer into a relationship with the Lord, and points us to the greater rest, the greater promise land of the New Heavens and New Earth. So come boldly this day before the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.