Hebrews 4:1-11
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Pilgrim’s Progress
Pilgrim’s Progress
Now, I saw in my dream that the highway up which Christian was to go was fenced on either side with a wall that was called Salvation. Up this way, therefore, did burdened Christian run, but not without great difficulty, because of the load on his back. He ran thus till he came to a place somewhat ascending; and upon that place stood a Cross, and a little below, in the bottom, a tomb. So I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble, and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the tomb, where it fell in, and I saw it no more. Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said with a merry heart, "He hath given me rest by His sorrow, and life by His death."
Bunyan, John. The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan .
In the past two weeks, we have made it clear.
Jesus is greater than Moses.
No one would deny. Moses was great. He was faithful. He led the people out of Egypt, but even Moses didn’t make it to the Promised Land. Moses was a believer, but because of sin, God punished him on earth for his sin.
So the author of Hebrews has made his argument.
Trust in Jesus, not Moses.
Moses did not get them to the Promised Land.
In fact, as we learned last week, all the adults from the Exodus Generation died in the wilderness.
I want to remind you of two specific verses from last week, that provide a little of the context for our passage this morning.
Remember the author of Hebrews is providing a warning.
Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.
He then uses that generation who all died in the wilderness as the teeth of his argument.
These people heard from God in his giving them the Law. They tasted of His Mannah. They drank freely from the water from the rock. They sat comfortably in the wilderness with a cloud by day and a fire by night resting of them. They witnessed the outpouring of his wrath on Egypt and they walked through the Red Sea on dry ground.
And after all of this, they stiffen their necks. They dig their heels in and refuse to listen to God.
The author of Hebrews is warning his audience and consequently, us as believers today, to not repeat their behavior.
He will do this time and time again in this book.
I want to remind you: This book is a book with two purposes.
It is unquestionably about the supremacy of Jesus and the fulfillment by Jesus of every staple in the Old Testament. Jesus is better. He is the highest revelation. The very glory of God, the exact imprint of his nature.
It is also a book that warns of God’s judgment, if anyone is blessed with the grace of God to hear of Jesus and turn away in unbelief, God’s judgment is upon them.
And lest we think that God failed in his promise to them. It was not God who failed. It was their failure to believe. They were judged for their unbelief.
God was gracious to them. They saw his glory and turned away to their idols, who are empty of glory and power, and they will experience God’s judgment.
“Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it.
In chapter 4, the message is no different.
They failed to enter God’s rest because of unbelief, and we will experience the same, if we do not believe.
He is continuing the argument from chapter 3 as he picks up in chapter 4.
Look at verse 1.
Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.
This verse is really clear.
He is again alluding back to the unbelief of Israel.
They had the promise of God at their fingertips. God had promised them the land of Canaan. God would have given it to them, but they didn’t believe.
Instead, they would rather give their attention and worship to something worthless.
And that is why every one of them, would fall short of Canaan.
This is what he is saying in verse 1.
A failure to believe should elicit fear. Because if in our unbelief, we do not enter his rest, we can be sure that when judgment falls, we will never rest. Unbelievers will experience the forever unrest of God’s wrath.
“And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”
No rest. Day and night.
In other words the promise of rest, does no good for those who do not believe the promise, and worse, for those who do not believe in the one who promised.
Look at verse 2
For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.
The promise was there. The offer of rest was there, but it did not profit them, because they did not believe.
And verse 2 is saying the same thing to us.
We have had good news preached to us.
If you have sat through a service here, you have heard the Gospel.
You have heard of the promise of eternal life to those who will believe, but if you walk out of those doors constantly in unbelief, then the Gospel, the good news is not good for you, in fact if you continuously reject the truth over and over again, Scripture teaches us that each time, more judgment is being heaped up and stored up against you.
The promise is only of profit to those who believe it.
He says this in verse 3
For we who have believed enter that rest, just 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.
We who have believed, enter that rest.
Believers enter the rest of God.
Its that clear. Do you want rest from your sin?
Do you want rest from your work?
Do you want to rest in the comfort of knowing God and being known by God?
Do you want rest?
Then believe.
Two things are very sure and plain from this verse.
Believers enter.
Unbelievers do not.
Read the verse again.
For we who have believed enter that rest, just 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.
Believers enter. Unbelievers do not.
His works were finished from before the foundation of the world.
What is he saying here?
So far he has been using this term rest.
Do you remember in Scripture, the first person who rested?
It was God. He created it all, and then he rested. This is why verse three refers to it as “My REST.” It the rest God possessed at the Creation of the World.
Look at verse 4, this is what he is saying here.
For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”;
Effectively, he is defining for us what “rest” means.
And he defines this by taking us all the way back to the first chapters of the Bible.
God rested on the 7th day.
God created the world in six days. Stop there and pause for a second to just sit in awe of who God is.
he created everything that is in 6 days.
You can read if that in Genesis 1.
In Genesis 2, it begins with this idea of God resting. Genesis 2:1-3
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
God rested, not because God is tired from all the work he has done.
He’s not kicking off his shoes, throwing up his feet because he is tired.
This rest is more than that.
The Hebrew word here is the word Shabat- which then morphs in English to Sabbath.
God Sabbathed. That is to say he ceased from his work.
He stopped.
Why? Because his work was complete. Creation was good, God and man were dwelling together in harmony.
There was no sin in man.
God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
It was good. Things were right between God and man.
And there was rest.
For both God and Man.
So when we come to the book of Hebrews, we should understand, the rest that he speaks of here is speaking of much more than a nap on a Sunday.
Rest here is speaking much more than not doing work on a specific day of the week.
When he speaks of entering the rest of God, he is speaking of being back in a spiritual condition that is right with God.
Only then can there be rest for us.
When things are good, between us and God.
Can you say that of your own soul?
Can you say it is well?
There is no rest for the wicked.
Apart from genuine belief in God, there is no rest.
Believers have rest. Unbelievers do not.
This is proven in the past and it will be proven in the future.
Verse5-7 really give a summary of what has already been said in the past few verses.
and again in this passage, “They shall not enter My rest.” Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.”
Again this is a summary of what has already been said. He repeats it for emphasis.
We need to be clear.
Unbelievers will not enter the rest of God.
This is was proven by the unbelief of the Israelites. They were not allowed into Canaan, because of their unbelief. How can we expect to be allowed into eternal rest of God in unbelief.?
The hope in verse 6 is this.
It remains for some to enter it.
Today, there is a possibility of entering into the rest of God.
It happens through the proclamation of the Gospel and believing it.
But it is urgent that this happen today.
And I believe true believers will believe and will submit today.
Why would we run from rest?
Why would you want to continue in rebellion against the God who created you?
If there is rest to be had, why would you run from it.
The reason is unbelief.
This is where it is really discouraging to hear people say, I’m waiting.
I’ll do it someday. I’m gonna live my life first.
I’ll start coming to church when I have children.
This is dangerous. Why?
People who put off submitting to God, do so, not because they are believers who are just waiting.
People who put off submitting to God, do so, because of unbelief.
They do not believe that God will really pour out his wrath of them. I think they believe they will escape.
Worse even than that.
They do not believe that there is true rest to be found in Christ.
They continue their work, thinking there will come a day of hope for them.
But one thing is true.
Having today, does not guarantee that you will possess tomorrow.
Don’t test God.
It is a dangerous place to be, to know the truth and to put off believing it.
Verse 7 is clear.
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 4
TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS.”
Believe and find the true rest of God.
See the rest of God is more than a strip of land in the middle east.
Its better than Canaan and it is better than what even Joshua could provide.
The rest of God. That is the greater rest to be found in Christ, but it is ONLY found through believing in Christ.
See, this passage refers back to the Israelites not making it into Canaan because of their, but eventually the children of that rebellious generation would make it it.
But even then, they would not stay there.
they would begin to worship the idols of the Canaanites and God would judge them again.
In other words, Joshua may have led them into Canaan, but he did not provide them with biblical rest. Sin still existed. There was not perfect harmony like existed at the beginning.
Look what verse 8-9says.
For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
Joshua bringing them into the land of Canaan, was not ultimate rest.
Ultimate rest is rest with God, a removal of sin, and eternal fellowship with God.
Canaan did not bring that.
Joshua brought them in and gave them rest from their earthly enemies, but he did not defeat the enemies of sin and death.
Joshua was able through the power of God to secure a small parcel of land in this fallen world, but he could give entrance into the new heavens and the new earth.
Jesus has done far more for us than Joshua did for the children of Israel.
Again, like Moses, Joshua was a great leader, God did mighty things through him, but his inadequacies are meant to point us forward to the ONE who has no inadequacies.
JESUS.
Jesus gives true Sabbath. He gives true rest.
How through his work of obedience and atonement.
Jesus’s declaration on the cross “It is finished.” What happened the last time God declared something finished. God and Man rested.
Which tells us this, that all those who find their hope in the finished work of Christ will indeed possess the rest of God.
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Your burden of sin.
Your burden of pain.
Your burden of sickness. All of which lay heavy upon us.
We weep over these things.
Jesus says, come to me. Find Rest.
What does this mean for the believer?
For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.
This means the work of salvation is done.
Your salvation is accomplished.
In Jesus, you have genuine rest.
We can sleep comfortably secure knowing that what was necessary has been provided by Him. You can say “It is very good.”
Believers I hope you know that deep in your soul. That Jesus is all you need. And that you can rest in him. My prayer for those of you truly trusting in Christ, that your rest in Jesus would drive out doubt and fear and instead produce confident obedience.
Lastly,
Verse 11.
Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.
Let us be diligent.
While we rest from the work associated with salvation, now our work has just begun.
Once we have Christ and His righteousness, then we take every effort and pain to run the race.
This is what he means here by be diligent to enter the rest.
Our lives are to be characterized by zeal and perseverance, not disobedience.
Which means, while we possess a true and eternal spiritual rest now, we live in a world of unrest.
We live in a world that is not our home.
We live in a world, that as a whole does not possess the rest of God.
So We must fix our eyes on heaven, and work here is this world, and we look forward to and long for eternal rest with God in heaven through Christ.
Maybe :
Now, I saw in my dream that the highway up which Christian was to go was fenced on either side with a wall that was called Salvation. Up this way, therefore, did burdened Christian run, but not without great difficulty, because of the load on his back. He ran thus till he came to a place somewhat ascending; and upon that place stood a Cross, and a little below, in the bottom, a tomb. So I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble, and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the tomb, where it fell in, and I saw it no more. Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said with a merry heart, "He hath given me rest by His sorrow, and life by His death."
Bunyan, John. The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan .