Sermon Tone Analysis

We are going to look at a very interesting, puzzling, and much debated passage of Scripture.

We are going to attempt to answer the question, “What did the writer mean when talking about entering into God’s rest?”

The passage starts with a transition from those who failed to enter into God’s rest to a promise of rest for the people of God today.

The writer indicates that there is more to the concept of entering into God’s rest than the physical entrance into the Promised Land.

We are to “make every effort” to enter into God’s rest.

Finally, we will look at the power of God’s word.

1.

The Promise of Rest remains today.

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A. The seriousness of the situation.

i.

The promise of rest still remains.

The people of God were promised rest from their desert journey when they entered the Promised Land, but because of their disobedience they never experienced the rest God promised to them.

They died in the wilderness.

Their children entered the Promised Land, but were still rebellious and disobedient and did not experience God’s rest.

The implication is that obedience to God’s Word brings rest.

ii.

“let us beware”

The original language says “let us fear”.

The author is giving his readers a dire warning.

B. Hearing God’s Word is not enough to experience rest.

i.

The good news was that “rest” is available.

The good news was the rest that would be found when entering the Promised Land.

The good news for us is that rest is found through Jesus Christ.

They were to enter into the Promised Land to receive rest.

We are to enter into a relationship with Jesus to receive rest.

ii.

Hearing God’s Word must be combined with faith.

Faithless hearing is ineffective to bring about the promised rest.

Faith must be active to enter into true spiritual rest.

2. What is the “Rest”?

()

Entering into the “rest” is a progression, but what is the “rest”?

The controversy is centered around the understanding of the rest.

Is the “rest” a present spiritual state or a future destination, like heaven?

This is the question that is widely debated.

Here is a question to this about.

How could you fall short of the rest now if the rest is entirely in the future?

A. Believers enter the rest.

B. The disobedient and unbelieving will not enter God’s rest.

C.

There is a connection between the Sabbath and the rest.

D. The quotations are from and .

i.

Both passages use the Hebrew word “katapausin”.

ii.

This is a rabbinical technical argument called “verbal analogy”.

The writer associates two passages of Scripture because they utilize the same word.

E. The rest is not something from the past and involved the completion of work.

F. Conclusion: “The rest is something a believer enters (and thus experiences) now, but this rest in its fullness remains a promised destination for the future.”

(NIV Application, p. 152) So, really, like many biblical understandings it is not an “either/or”.

It is a “both/and”.

We can enter into the rest of God now because we are trusting in the promises of God by faith.

We will enter into the full rest of God when our faith becomes sight.

3. The promise of rest remains ()

A. Some people will enter into God’s rest.

Some people did not enter because of their disobedience.

B. Again, the author quotes from .

God appointed “today” as the day to enter into his rest.

The writer lays out his reasoning with the understanding that people who lived after the failings of the people of Israel in the desert wrote and spoke of entering into God’s rest.

Hebrews 4:8-

i.

David issued a promise for God’s rest in .

ii.

The rest could be experienced if the pattern of disobedience was not repeated.

iii.

God gave the promise of rest through David because the entrance into the Promised Land under Joshua did not fulfill the original promise.

C. A Sabbath rest is still available for God’s people.

These are people who hear God’s voice today and obey God by faith.

This is the first time and earliest time in Greek literature that we find the word “Sabbath”.

It is possible that the writer made up the word based on the Old Testament understanding and observance of the Sabbath.

Lev

This is quite profound.

It is a permanent ordinance.

The people of God are to observe the Sabbath.

They are not to do any work and God will cleanse them from their sins.

This ties together the observance of the Sabbath with the Day of Atonement.

The day of rest is when atonement is made.

Jesus made the atonement for us and our day of rest begins when we cease our work and trust in Jesus’ work.

This means we actively depend on God for salvation, not any human effort.

We work because of our salvation, not for our salvation.

Does this make sense?

Why are the Seventh-Day Adventists wrong about their observance of the Sabbath?

They celebrate the Sabbath on a Saturday.

We worship on Sunday.

We should stop our work from sun down Saturday - Sunday.

Why? Jesus is our atonement.

He rose from the dead on Sunday morning.

He made atonement for us with his own blood.

Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week giving us a new pattern.

No longer do we wait to the seventh day to enter into God’s rest.

We enter into God’s rest on the first day because of Jesus’ work.

“On this day, we are reminded of and participate in the glorious reality that we have already entered God’s rest (; ) and that we await the experience of the fullness of this rest in eternity in the new heavens and new earth ().

We now assemble corporately for worship and enjoy a foretaste of our eternal rest, then go out into the kingdom of this world to work for six days.”

(https://www.ligonier.org/blog/why-christians-worship-sunday/)

We celebrate Jesus’ resurrection and live in the reality of God’s rest throughout our week.

D. Rest is found when a person trusts in Jesus’ work and stops trusting in his own work.

God rested from his work as a pattern for us.

We do not rely and cannot rely in our own works to save us.

We can only rely in Jesus’ work on the cross to give us the rest.

We don’t work to enter into the rest of God.

We surrender.