Jesus - Our Desert to His Rest

Hebrews

The Greatest Gift Ever Given - Jesus

Jesus - Our Desert to His Rest

In prior sermons I have mentioned a few times that Spirit directed us to Hebrews for a purpose. To refocus us on Jesus. To prepare us.

After reading Hebrews (in one sitting) multiple times, I spent time praying and asking. Spirit for the road map of topics. Spirit gave me a rough roadmap for each week. The topic for week 4, this week, is Rest.

As I was preparing for the message I spent a lot of time reading a few different commentaries. Two different commentaries made statements that created some anxiety in me:

The first statement: “One of the most….tightly argued sections of Hebrews runs from 4:1-13.”

The second statement; “Scholars have spilled much ink over this question, with mixed results”

Both of these statements were around the topic of rest / sabbath. The central question being dealt with by many theologians and scholars was; Is the “rest”, described in Hebrews, a present spiritual state of being or an eschatological destination?

I have to be honest at this point. I started to laugh when I read those comments.

I can hardly say “eschatological.

I don’t know what that word even means. (I had to look it up).

I am going to rephrase the question for you in the terms I can understand.

Is the “REST” available now or do I have to wait until I go to heaven to experience the “REST”?

As I pondered that question a new question formed along with an answer.

Question: Why has so much time and deliberation been made concerning this topic?

Answer: Because man looks for every loop hole to not “HAVE TO” enter the rest God offers!

The majority of questions man asks have a hidden motive of the heart behind it.

Rather than simply accepting the magnificent and incredible gift of rest mankind tries to find a way around the command of sabbath.

Those who are parents let me ask a few questions.

How often do your kids enjoy bedtime?

How often do they go to bed willingly and excitedly?

How often do they go grumbling?

Even though they don’t want rest, as a parent you can see their need for rest! They yell at you, “I’m not tired”. Then three minutes later they are dead asleep, twitching.

I see the Lord's rest being similar.

We fight it…….but it is so good.

SCRIPTURE FOR THIS WEEK

Please stand for the reading of God’s word.

1 Therefore……. Hebrews 4:1

This is the word of the Lord………..Give someone a high five and tell them “Therefore”.

I want you to remember this Therefore!

This therefore is important so I want to make this moment memorable for you.

Whenever a text starts with a “Therefore”, we need to go back and look at what was discussed so we can grasp what is going to be discussed ahead. Let’s be reminded about what happened in chapter 3 to get a baseline of what is being taught in chapter 4.

WARNING FROM THE FLIGHT DECK AND THE TOWER!!!! TODAY'S MESSAGE IS GOING TO BE A FIGHTER JET PULLING HUGE “G FORCES” AROUND THE BIBLE TODAY. SO GET ON YOUR FLIGHT SUIT AND BUCKLE UP!!!

(CUE UP THEME MUSIC FROM TOP GUN!!!!)

Today’s sermon is going to be broken up into two parts:

“THEREFORE” - THE DESERT OF UNBELIEF:

THE GARDEN OF REST IN JESUS

“THEREFORE” - THE DESERT OF UNBELIEF:

15 As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” 16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his “rest” if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

Hebrews 3:15–19.

The “therefore” in Hebrews 4 is referring to the disobedient Israelites who did not enter God’s rest.

The “rest” they were looking to enter was the promised land of Israel.

Here are a few scriptures the Bible describes as the promised land.

7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; 8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

Deuteronomy 8:7–9.

10 When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied,

Deuteronomy 6:10–11.

The promised land was literally a land that had everything the Israelites needed. It had everything already built for them. No building required. A turnkey country!

The rest being described and referred to here is the actual land. The promise land.

The “REST” wasn’t about the land. It was about entry into an incredible relationship of provision with God. A land already built up. All the infrastructure was done.

A land of plenty, no shortages. No need. Everything provided.

Does this promised land remind you of another land in the bible?

The Garden of Eden.

The garden was a place God walked and talked with man. All of man’s needs were taken care of. The garden was about relationship.

God could have given the Israelites a promised land with no infrastructure. But he gave them something that was turnkey, already ready.

Why?

So Father could provide His children with more relational rest time to just be with him.

Yet they fell short of it.

They did not obey.

Their hearts became hard.

What was the root issue that caused the Israelites to disobey?

Let’s look at a story that will shed light on the root issue.

(A Little Background Reminder). The Israelites, after they left Egypt, wandered through the desert. While in the desert they had no food. Every morning God provided fresh mana from heaven. He told the Israelites to daily gather this food. But only gather what they needed for the day. If they gathered more than they needed it would rote and become full of maggots.

23 He said to them (Moses is speaking), “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’ ” 24 So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. 25 “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a sabbath to the Lord. You will not find any of it on the ground today. 26 Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.” 27 Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. 28 Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? 29 Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

Exodus 16:23–30.

What was the root issue that caused the Israelites to disobey?

Unbelief.

They did not believe God would provide.

There was a progression of this unbelief:

Faithlessness

Forgetting

Ignoring the mighty power of God

Fear

Whining

Murmuring

All of this birthed out right rejection when they voiced their willingness to go back into slavery.

Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

Numbers 14:3–4.

They feared the rigors of desert life that would toughen them and make them ready for the conquest ahead.

While in the desert the Israelites were supposed to learn that God is “THEE” provider.

They were supposed to learn that they can depend on Him and “REST” in His provision.

God wanted a relationship with His people, a relationship based on trust!

All of that gets us caught up to the “Therefore” of Hebrews 4:1.

Let’s now jump back into God’s word.

(Congregation please read the word REST)

1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his REST still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. 3 Now we who have believed enter that REST, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my REST.’ ” And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God RESTED from all his works.” 5 And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my REST.” 6 Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that REST, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, 7 God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them REST, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a SABBATH-REST for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s REST also RESTS from their works, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that REST, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

Hebrews 4:1-11

Give your neighbor a high five and say, “WE STILL HAVE A REST”.

The second part of the message is:

THE GARDEN OF REST IN JESUS

I remember as a child and teenager learning about rest and sabbath. Rest and sabbath was a command. Rest and sabbath was a requirement. Rest and sabbath was one of the ten commandments. It was a concept I learned about in church as a “to do”. It was part of the list of requirements to be a good Christian. But it was also confusing to me. My family went to church every Sunday but my Dad also worked on Sunday (providing for our family). He had to work on Sunday. But we were a good family. We didn’t do bad things.

The question would arise in my mind, “Are we good enough obeying the other things to make up for not fulfilling the requirement of a day of rest and sabbath? However, I was also glad to not do rest & sabbath because the practice of it sounded terribly boring. How could anyone just lay around doing nothing? What are you even supposed to do to connect with God? How does that work?

I didn’t dare ask the question, “Why don’t we do rest and sabbath?” If I asked the question things might change. My parents might feel guilty and change something. I didn’t want to do it so I decided to just stay quiet about it and did not ask the question.

Yet something in my spirit, even as a teenager (15-18) was crying out, “There is so much more you don’t yet have!”

I moved out, went to college, got married, got a career, purchased a house, got a couple of dogs. Life changed. But my understanding and rhythm of rest & sabbath did not change. I did a morning quiet time (from time to time). I did not “work” on Sunday. I went to church (most of the time). Yet something in my spirit, even as a 20 & 30 something was crying out, “There is so much more you don’t yet have!”

In the Western Church there exists an epidemic of believers that are not dependent on the rest of Jesus. (For the majority of my life I was a member of this epidemic. I willingly told myself I was obeying when I knew in my spirit I was not).

To try to emphasize my point let’s relook at the statistics I used last week and then add a new one.

55% of Christians in the US pray daily.

32% of Christians in the US read the Bible daily.

21% of Christians in the US attend religious services every week, a rate much lower than the 77% of churchgoers who take a day of rest.

If you look at these decreasing numbers and consider the issues of our culture; do you really believe that 77% of Christians are entering into the “TRUE REST”.

Or do they just take “Sunday off” and are judging a day of rest simply defined by “not going to work”.

Let me give an example of effort of entering REST:

I have mentioned this before and I am going to mention it many more times in the future. In 2020 my friend Jordan Lindstrom asked me, “Have you ever gone out into the wilderness to be with the Father like Jesus did? No agenda. No plan. Just go to a lonely place, in the wilderness, to be with Father?”

I was not the only person Jordan asked this question of. Jordan has invited, to be conservative, roughly 35 men to go to a lonely place in the wilderness to seek Father. An invitation to simply go and try it. He knows of 5 who have taken him up on this challenge. Of the 5, 3 have made it a dedicated practice, 30 never even attempted.

Based on my personal life experience and the many conversations I have had with people in ministry over the last 30 years, I have come to know that the majority of the “Christian” population are totally missing the point of REST & SABBATH.

I want to dig a little deeper into this.

Look back at Hebrews 4:1-11

The author is talking about REST………………REST, REST, REST, REST, REST, REST, REST, REST, REST, REST (11 TIMES).

If REST is all about not working, then it should be super easy to judge the obedience of it.

Do you work or do you not?

Do you honor it or do you not?

Easy judgement……..done!

But then the author says something that is an immediate abrupt change in the text.

Verses 12-13 are a bit shocking.

These verses require you to pause.

These verses make you stop dead in your tracks.

It is like your life is all of a sudden flashing before your eyes.

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:12–13.

Why did the author add these verses to the encouragement of entering into REST?

Why?

Because the core of the rest of sabbath has nothing to do with work.

It has everything to do with the heart!

A heart that hungers to be in a dependent, trusting, relationship with Father!

The majority of the 77% that believe they are obeying the rest of sabbath are totally, and I would venture to say, “willingly”, missing the invitation.

The hard truth is that Hebrews 4:12-13 points out that a sword is coming that is going to reveal it.

An account will be given.

Nothing is hidden.

(Going back to my 30s and 40s)

I started to mature and pay attention to the voice speaking to me that was saying, “There is so much more you don’t yet have!”

I started to understand that I was looking at Christianity as being defined as a set of rules that must be kept. But what I was slowly starting to learn was that Christian freedom doesn't say there are no rules, but rather that we shouldn't need rules. The Bible is not a book of rules. The Bible reveals the God whom we serve, and have an invitation to serve him gladly.

I was missing the true meaning of the rest our good good Father offers.

Father loves us so much that He wants to be with us.

Father missed the days in the garden in which he simply walked and talked with (man) Adam & Eve. The days in which man rested in God’s presence in the garden of communion with Father.

And then sin happened and caused separation between us and God.

But God had a plan………….a plan for man to enter into rest again.

That plan was Jesus Christ…………the greatest gift ever given!

Jesus is our rest.

CLOSING (Worship Team Come Up - No Background Music)

Rest is more than a single day defined by a “24 hour cycle”.

It is more than a day of not working.

It is so much more than a commandment to keep.

It is an invitation.

It is a gift.

It is available to us right now, right here, anywhere you go.

It is about choosing to enter into an intimate trusting relationship with Father every moment of everyday.

To close our time this morning I would like to invite us into worship in The Secret Place. (IT IS ALL ABOUT HIM!)

When I begin my time in The Secret Place I will often sit in silence for 20 - 30 seconds and then I call upon the name of the Lord.

I inhale “Jah” and then exhale “Weh”.

This moment is all about honoring him. (IT IS ALL ABOUT HIM!)

I would like to invite you to stand with me and pause before we enter into worship that is all about Him.

Open your hands in a posture of receiving.

And close their eyes.

Image standing before Jesus in a lonely place, a place of solitude. Just you and Him.

He sees you.

After 20 seconds, breathe 3 times Jahweh.

ENDING (BENEDICTION):

The series we are in the middle of is entitled “The Greatest Gift Ever Given - Jesus” for a reason. Jesus is our rest. God loved us so much that He gave us His son Jesus to reconcile us back to the Father. So we can be in a trusting relationship with Him. May you rest in that reality.

This is the body given to you, eat in remembrance of Him.

This is the blood given you, drink in remembrance of Him.