Entering God’s Rest

Intro

In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones is trying to obtain the Holy Grail. In order to get to it, he has to pass three trials. The final trial being “The Leap of Faith.” He comes to a large pit that he cannot see the bottom of. The only information he has is from his father’s journal. It says “only with a leap from the lion’s head will he prove his worth.” He hesitates for a while but eventually he decides to trust what his father said and jump. He lands on a bridge that he could not have seen. He needed to jump to pass the trial, and he needed faith in what his father told him. Our passage today in Hebrews 4 presents us with something similar. God has offered us to enter his rest, we need belief to do so because belief is required to enter God’s rest. The question for us is Will we trust our Father and make the leap into belief or not?

Belief is Required to Enter God’s Rest

Read vs 1. The very first word in this passage is therefore. That means that what is about to be said is contingent on what has already been said. Looking back a few verses in Chapter 3, we find that the author of Hebrews has just issued a warning about unbelief and rest.  The rest being discussed here is the Promised Land. We know that because of what verse 17 says. Read vs 17. This wandering for 40 years is a clear reference to the Exodus. But we also know that the rest being discussed in chapter 4 is something different. We know this because of the context of the book of Hebrews as a whole. Hebrews was written to a group of Jewish people who have already professed faith in Christ. They are facing the temptation of falling back into the sacrificial system of Judaism. The author writes this letter to urge them not to fall away from their faith in Christ. All throughout the letter, the author magnifies the name of Christ against prominent Jewish institutions like the Levitical priesthood. In Hebrews 4, the author claims that the promise to enter his rest remains, and because it was written to Christians after the time of Christ, we know that the author is not talking about entering the Promised Land. So then what is this rest? This rest, according to Hebrews 11, is the heavenly Promised Land. In Hebrews 11:13, it says that the faithful who have died did not experience the things that were promised. It also says that they were foreigners and temporary residents on earth, meaning what was promised is not something on earth. Back in our passage today we see that the promise remains. That promise must be heavenly. The rest that we can enter is heaven. That is why it is so important that we beware lest we be found to have fallen short. Read vs 2. The word here for good news is the word for gospel. If we read verse 2 with that in mind it says this. Read vs 2 but replace good news with gospel. The author contrasts the people he is writing to and those in the wilderness. The recipients of this letter received the gospel, and it benefitted them because they believed. The people in the wilderness received it as well, but they failed to believe so it was of no benefit to them. Now there is an important distinction that needs to be made here. The people in the wilderness did not hear the news that Jesus Christ died for their sins because that had not happened yet. They did hear that God was with them and he would deliver them, but they did not believe him. Abraham also did not hear that Jesus had died for his sins, but he believed God and it was counted as righteousness. The recipients of Hebrews did hear that Jesus died for their sins and they believed it. Look how their belief is described here. They were united with those who heard it in faith. How were they united with people they’ve never even known? Through Christ. Galatians 2:20 says for those that believe, it is no longer they who live but Christ lives in them. If Christ is living in all believers, then all believers are united by Christ. According to Romans 6 we have all been baptized into his death, the death he died on the cross as an innocent man in order to take the sins of the world. That passage also says that we will have a resurrection like his. Just like the one he had on the third day after his death when he walked out of the tomb. If we share in his death, we will share in his resurrection. That means that every single believer is united to Christ and because of that, we are all united to each other.

Think of a major league baseball team. There is a 26 man active roster that each team can have . This roster includes 13 position players and 13 pitchers. These 26 guys have different backgrounds, different homes, different languages, and different playstyles. On paper, many of them would never interact. However, they are united. They are united because they are all on the same team. The team is what brings them together. The same is true of Christians. There are people from every walk of life imaginable who profess Christ as Lord. All of them are united by Christ and the sacrifice he made.

That union will be fully realized when we are together in the heavenly Promise Land. Look at verse 3. Read vs 3. Believers will enter the rest. There is a certainty here.

The author also quotes Psalm 95 here. Psalm 95 further specifies that those in the wilderness failed to trust God and made him angry. It even goes as far as to say that they tested God. Because of this, they were not allowed to enter into his rest. This is especially striking because his works have been finished since the foundations of the world. That means that the people in the wilderness always had to opportunity to enter into the God’s rest, but they openly defied him and did not believe in him so they did not. Read vs 4. This verse expands the idea of rest a little more. It tells us that God rested from his work on the seventh day. He did not stop being God, communing with his people, are sustaining creation. He finished creation. Emphasis on finished. It was not as though God was so exhausted that he could not create anything else, but that he had completed what he set out to do. But he is still involved with his people. So, God’s rest is a place, the heavenly promised land, but it is also a state of being. One that is directly linked to having fellowship with God. That is only possible through belief. Read vs 5-7. These verses corroborate what we’ve already discussed. Unbelievers will not enter God’s rest because we must believe in order to enter his rest.  Verse 6 tells us that the ability to enter his rest still remains. There is absolutely nothing that should hinder us from believing because we still can. We can still enter into this rest. Verse 7 goes back to Psalm 95. The author makes the connection that since David wrote this Psalm, the rest was available in his day and is therefore still available when Hebrews is written. But there is another caution. Do not harden your hearts. In other words, do no be overcome by unbelief. Because belief is required to enter his rest. Read vs 8. The point continues to be that rest was still available for those in the wilderness. Joshua could not have led them to the final rest because King David, many years later, writes about a rest still being there. Read vs 9. Because of that there is still a Sabbath available now. This Sabbath rest will not be fully realized until the new creation. All of the rest in the Old Testament, God’s rest from creation, the rest of the Promised Land, the Sabbath, all of it has its fulfillment in the rest that Christ offers to his people. That rest in eternal life with him. Verse 10 continues this thought. Read vs 10. We will rest from our own works just as God did when we enter his rest. Because of the qualifier of “just as God did,” we know that the works we will rest from will be completed when we enter the rest. We will not enter that rest until we die. Only then will we step foot into the heavenly Promised Land. Until then we have a job to do. We are to make disciples of all nations. We are to proclaim the Lord’s death and resurrection until he comes. That is not a job reserved for pastors. That is not a job for that upper echelon of Christians. That is a job for every person who professes Christ as their Lord and Savior. Until the day that we die we will have that task. But what a glorious task it is. What a joy it is to show others the light of Christ so that they can enter his rest as well. Read vs 11. This verse is a beautiful cap on the argument being made by the author. Let us make every effort to enter that rest. We must do everything we can to maintain our belief. We must do everything we can to be found faithful. That is not to say we are working for our salvation, but it is to say that the stakes are high. This is serious. Eternity is on the line here. This is not something to take lightly or scoff at. We must treat this somberly. If we do not, verse 11 says that we will fall into the same pattern of disobedience. That will prohibit us from entering his rest. That is because belief is required to enter his rest.

Imagine you’re going to a concert. You’ve planned the whole thing out. You know when you need to leave your house, you know how long it will take to get there, you know what songs the artist will sing. This is a big deal for you. It is your favorite band of all time, and this is the only chance you have to see them in concert. You get all the way there and stand in the line for the entrance. You get all the way up to the gate and the attendant asks for your ticket. You check your pockets and your bag only to find that you do not have a ticket. Your ticket into God’s rest is belief in him. You will not be able to enter his rest without it.

If you’re in this room and you’re a Christian, what areas of your life are causing you to waiver in your belief. Is it a job? Is it health issues? Is it family? Let me remind you that none of those are outside of God’s purview. He knows the trials you face and he is with you in them. All you have to do is believe in him. Believe that he died on the cross, believe that your home is not this world, and believe that He loves you. Simply just believe.

If you’re in this room and you are not a believer, the promise still remains for you to enter his rest as well. All you have to do is believe. But you must hurry. this promise will not be here forever. You can be united with Christ today, in this very moment. All there is to do is believe in him.

Conclusion

Come back to Indiana Jones for a moment. He needed belief to get to the Holy Grail. We need belief to enter God’s rest. As we go out from this place, be like Indiana Jones. Make sure your belief is in Christ so that you too can enter his rest. Pray with me.