Make Sure Your Equipment is Secure

Only the obedient will enter the Lord’s rest

A long time ago when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, a guy named Sylvester Stallone made a bunch of movies.

You might not know who he is, but if I said Rocky Balboa, you’d know.

He made a movie titled “Cliffhanger” and for me the beginning of that movie is one of the most terrifying scenes I’ve ever experienced.

It’s about a mountain climber and they go way up high.

The second rung of a six foot ladder is high for me.

The movie begins with a very arrogant climber who brings his not quite so experienced girl friend on a really complex climb.

He was able to keep her safe until he got hurt and that’s when things went sideways.

They were stranded on a very tall peak with no room for rescue.

This is where Stallone’s character Gabe enters the story.

He arrives by helicopter and he and the pilot rig a cable between two peaks.

They rig the hurt guy up with this harness and pulley thingy and they get him across to the helicopter.

Did I mention the cable between the two peaks is hundreds and hundreds of feet in the air?

Next it’s Stacy’s turn - she’s the inexperienced girl friend of the very arrogant climber.

They rig her into the harness and pulley thingy and she starts across.

Halfway across, a little metal retaining clip fails and all of her rigging comes lose.

She hangs there, dangling a thousand feet in the air while Gabe comes to rescue her.

Only she’s inexperienced, and terrified, so terrified that she couldn’t follow Gabe’s instructions.

She was a great actress.

The memory that is burned into my mind is the second she lost her grip and the terror in her eyes as she started to fall.

How does that relate to Hebrews?

It defines something for us.

Our text today is Hebrews 4:1-10.

Go ahead and head that direction in your Bibles.

Kids, the most important thing you’ll ever do is to decide who you will stand for.

It is the prayer of every Jesus follower here that you will choose to stand for Jesus.

Your three words are Rest, Jesus and Fear.

Hear now the Word of the Lord from Hebrews 4:1-10

Hebrews 4:1–10 ESV

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, but the message 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 from 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 formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, 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 of another day later on. 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.

This is the Word of the Lord,

Thanks be to God.

Let us pray.

Father,

Your servant David prayed to you and said, Psalm 26:2 “Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and my mind.”

In the few minutes we have here, secluded from the world and its influences, test our hearts and minds Lord.

Reveal to us the depth of our commitment so we will be honest about Who is holding Whom.

Dear Lord, cause us to hear Your compassion and love for us today.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Jesus followers should live in a constant state of fear

Now before you wig out, let me explain what that means.

Look at verse 1 Hebrews 4:1 “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.”

See the phrase let us fear?

In the original language it’s the word for fear.

There is really no other way to translate it - it’s fear.

But in this case, it’s not a knee-knocking, worried that I am going to do something to cause me to lose my salvation kind of fear.

It’s a kind of fear that the very arrogant mountain climber didn’t display.

Think of it like this.

If you were going to go rock climbing hundreds upon hundreds of feet in the air, what is something that you would absolutely certainly do, without fail, every time you went to climb?

You would inspect every single piece of equipment you were going to use.

Every single piece, down to the little clips that keep straps from slipping.

Now I know it’s a movie, but the lesson is perfect.

If Mr. Arrogant Mountain Climber had inspected every single piece of equipment, chances are that a man as experienced as him would have noticed that little clip was showing signs of stress.

He would have replaced it - Sarah would have lived.

That is the kind of fear the writer is talking about here.

When you have a dangerous occupation, you make sure before you do anything that your gear is in good shape

Because if it isn’t in good shape, and it fails, it will cause you to die.

When you are examining your safety gear, I’m not sure you’d use the word fear for what motivates you to check everything twice

You’d use the words ‘safety - conscious’ or ‘safety first’

Or simply the word vigilance.

That’s the force of the word fear.

You are always on the lookout.

You are painfully aware, that there are things that can happen that will be catastrophic.

And really, this movie opening illustrates this perfectly.

The arrogant mountain climber was so sure of himself, and so caught up in impressing his girlfriend

That he forgot the fear of the mountain.

He was at a point that he believed he’d never slip, he’d never fall

He was fully convinced he was right and he didn’t need to play by the rules.

And in the movie, Sarah paid the price.

This isn’t a call to weak Christians or pharisaical Christians or hyper-grace Christians

It’s a call to all Christians to remain vigilant every day, “…lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.”

It seems like an interesting tension the Lord puts us in here.

He loves the humble, right?

Isaiah 66:2 “…But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

The Lord loves humility.

The Lord loves the one who knows who knows they owe everything to Him.

But at the same time, the Lord expects confidence but this is where we can falter.

It’s not confidence in ourselves.

It’s confidence in the Lord and that we will receive what He promises He will do.

Proverbs 3:25–26 “Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.”

That’s the tension in verse 1, Hebrews 4:1 “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.”

Humble, vigilant, confidence in the Lord.

Look at verses 2 and 3 Hebrews 4:2–3 “For good news came to us just as to them, but the message 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 from the foundation of the world.”

Remember he’s talking about the Exodus here.

The good news came to them - God was rescuing them from slavery and delivering them to the promised land.

Everyone heard the same message

But not everyone had faith in the Lord to deliver.

“…the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened…”

They weren’t all on the same page.

They all saw the same miracles, they all heard the same words from God

For some of them, it made their hearts race - they were going to be free.

But for the vast majority of them, they were just words.

Life had been hard, they expected life to continue to be hard.

The Lord left them in slavery for 400 years, why should I believe my life will be any different now?

Crossing the desert isn’t easy.

Those “deliverance” things don’t happen to normal people.

They won’t happen to us either - that’s not how God works.

But it was how God works.

“For we who have believed have entered that rest.”

There is an interesting phrase to me right here: “although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.”

Ok, I want you to noodle with me for just a second.

This scripture relies heavily on Genesis 2:2

Genesis 2:2 ESV

And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.

So God rested.

Did he work so hard for six days creating everything that he was just flat exhausted?

He couldn’t carry on one more step.

He was dead dog tired - it was time to take the Sunday snooze in the recliner.

Some of you are looking for that this very afternoon, aren’t you?

But that can’t be right can it?

I mean, can the Lord get tired?

Psalm 121:4 “Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”

If we never sleep, we die,

But the Lord - no, tired wasn’t the reason for the Sabbath.

The reason for the Sabbath was His work was finished.

He had already planned everything up to and including Revelation 22:5

Revelation 22:5 ESV

And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

So, now think with me.

If His plan was completed before the Israelites ever left Egypt

Then it was absolutely guaranteed if they would simply cross the Jordan River when the Lord commanded

They would enter His rest.

They would be home.

A land filled with milk and honey.

Guaranteed.

It was guaranteed that they would enter the promised land, but they didn’t.

What went wrong?

Hebrews 4:6–7 “Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.””

Obedience is the key

We talked about this last week in a complete different context.

Remember, Jesus said to take up our cross daily and follow Him

And we said that meant that every morning we murder our desires and pick up the desires of Christ.

I want us to think about something here and see if it applies.

These Israelites in Egypt had lived very hard lives.

Let’s think about those folks who were 20 years old and older.

Every stinking day of their lives had been spent working.

Get up when the sun comes up.

Eat whatever is there.

The men went off to make bricks and carry bricks and lay bricks until the sun started going down.

The women did whatever in the world they could do to provide food and clothing for their families

And raise their children.

They all worked like slaves every day, because they were slaves.

If they were sick they worked.

If they were tired they worked.

If it was too hot or too cold, they worked.

They cried out to God - and Exodus said God heard the cries of his people

But they didn’t see it - until Moses came.

When you’ve established a habit, how easy is it to break?

When you’ve set up a way of life, how easy is it to change it?

You’ve known people who had every opportunity in the world to have the greatest life ever

But they don’t.

Why?

Because they are comfortable.

They know how to live like they live.

And the Lord would never deliver them into anything else.

They’ve heard the same words you have heard and you believed

Or at least I hope you have believed.

Have you checked your equipment lately

I’ve been in church for over 65 years.

How long have you been going to church?

We’ve heard lots of lessons haven’t we?

And we’ve learned a way to live too, haven’t we?

Maybe it’s a good day for us to check our equipment.

We’ve done so well for the most part, we’re pretty comfortable with what the Lord has given us.

But do we have all that the Lord wants for us?

See, the writer keeps talking about entering God’s rest

Look at verse 10 Hebrews 4:10 “for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.”

I think there is potential for us to be like that arrogant mountain climber - at least there is for me.

Life has been good and the Lord has blessed me and my family tremendously.

And I’ve learned how to live in this environment.

And I do pretty good living in this environment.

But the Lord says His “rest” is a reward for hard work.

Don’t raise your hands, but how many of us could use a month off just to sleep?

And at the same time, how many of us can’t take a day off because we know when we get back, it will take a week to catch back up?

I think rest is something we might need to work at.

And not rest like sleepy time, lounge in the recliner rest.

I mean rest as in God has a plan and everything is going to turn out exactly as He promised rest.

I mean rest as in God created His plan before I was born and He proclaimed that His plan for me

Was for His glory and for my good.

Have you thought that deeply about yourself lately?

You’ve made a plan, you are working the plan and everything seems to be going great

But have you checked your equipment lately?

Have you reminded yourself every morning, that you will live your best life if you follow Jesus?

Every morning?

The Puritans prayed this prayer some mornings:

Grant us always to know that to walk with Jesus

Makes other interests a shadow and a dream.

Keep us from intermittent attention to eternal things.

Save us from the delusion of those who fail to go far in religion,

Who are concerned but not converted

Who have another heart but not a new one,

Who have light, zeal, confidence, but not Christ.

Let us judge our Christianity, not only by our dependence upon Jesus,

But by our love to him,

Our conformity to him,

Our knowledge of him.

Do you remember what know means?

It means to intellectual know something that drives us to do something.

Have you checked your equipment lately.

Let me remind us all that, as the writer of Hebrews reminds us, in the beginning, God created all that is.

He made the rules - He showed us how to live.

But we rejected His rules and lived our own way.

That way will lead to our eternal deaths.

But while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus lived a perfect life.

He died because - you read it recently in our Big Bible Reading.

Mark 15:10 “For [Pilate] perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up.”

They wanted what Jesus had - but they didn’t want to follow Jesus.

Doesn’t that sound just like people?

Jesus was crucified for our sins.

He bled out so His blood would wash away our sins.

He was raised on the third day so that we could be raised to new life too.

Will you follow Jesus to the cross?

Will you allow His blood to wash away your sins?

Will you allow Him to give you new life full of unexpected things?

He made a plan before you were born.

Will you confess your sins

Check your equipment

And follow Jesus so He can make you brand new?

Let us pray.