Entering God's Rest

Hebrews 4:1-13

Good morning and welcome once again to this gathering of Hope Bible Fellowship. I’m honored to get to stand before you each week and proclaim the Word of God.

Have you had a long week? Maybe it’s been a long year and you feel like you’ve been just kind of wandering around going from issue to issue, putting out fires. Maybe you feel like life is a rat race and you are concerned that you’ll never truly have peace. Maybe you think it will always be this way. Well, thousands of years ago a nation wandered around in the wilderness. The Israelites had dishonored God and provoked Him. This generation was told they would not enter into the land that God had promised to the land of Israel but that they would die and their descendants would have the land. Last week we saw that the author of the book of Hebrews calls his readers back to that history to show warn them about the consequences of unbelief and to avoid it. Today we continue digging into the meat of this book in chapter 4 verses 1-13.

Hebrews 4:1–13 ESV

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. 2 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. 3 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. 4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” 5 And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” 6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 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.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

This is a continuation of previous passage and not a hard break for a new idea. It is a continuation that takes us:

I. From warning to  promise .

The author here transitions from delivering a warning to talking about God’s people entering into God’s rest. In the previous section the words of Psalm 95 were quoted and cut sharply in the warning to not harden their hearts to the Lord. If you will remember last week, we saw a warning based on the generation of Israelites who wandered around in the wilderness and provoked God’s anger and as a result perished. But now, the author takes thats that psalm and draws from it a promise that is supposed to give his hearers some hope. Israel’s disobedience serves as a warning to fear God lest the present generation also fail to enter God’s rest. Remember the stakes here. The author is writing to a group of Jewish Christians who are in the midst of spiritual battle. They are being tempted to alleviate the pressure on them by returning to the old covenant Jewish ways. The generation of the disobedient didn’t get to enter the promised land and they are being used as a warning to those who were facing the choice of persevering or hardening their heart which would result in them also not entering God’s rest.

The author continues his discussion of Psa 95 (see Heb 4:3–7) and quotes from Gen 2 to explain the meaning of “rest,” which is still accessible to God’s people (Heb 4:4, 9–11).

There are two Greek words we should just mention because the word rest can conjure up different ideas.

• katapausis is a state of cessation of work or activity, a state of rest or a place of rest.

• sabbatismos is not a synonym but explains what takes place in God’s resting place, namely, an eternal, festive sabbath celebration.

When it says God rested on the 7th day: He ceased his creative work. He was resting from his work.

When we read in v. 4 that ‘On the seventh day God rested from all his work’ (Gen. 2:2), we are to understand that he began his rest then. That God is not said to have completed his rest and resumed his work of creation implies that his rest continues.

The Genesis text is now used to show that this ‘rest existed before as well as after the time of the exodus’

And, as we have moved from warning to the promise of this rest we find that the author wants us to know that:

II. Jesus is superior and provides a superior rest for the people of God.

The main theme of Hebrews is that Jesus is better. Because He is better, than anything else, He is able to provide a rest that is better than any other rest.

entering into his rest For the generation that wondered in the wilderness, rest was more than just a metaphor for a theological reality. It represented an end to the wandering that characterized their life after the exodus. It represented them finally finding peace. Once God’s people had already entered into Canaan (Josh 3:17), the promise of rest still remained (see Psa 95:7–11). Rest for them was the promised land, also called Canaan, where they would be safe from their enemies and no longer have to wander around. It’s important to realize that God had promised this rest and the people looked forward to it and yet, they chose to be unfaithful to God and to His appointed leaders even though they had experienced miracles.

In v. 11 the author implores his audience to strive to enter that rest so that none of them would fall by the same type of disobedience. He’s concerned that his audience would make the same mistakes as Israel and harden their hearts to the point that they would not be able to enter the rest of the Lord. We are in danger of this. We are also on a journey, a faith journey as we walk with God through this life. Many will experience God working in their lives but will not submit to Him but will harden their hearts against Him. Those who do not ever repent of their sin and believe in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection will not experience the grace He offers to them.

Hebrews 4:2 ESV

2 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.

Faith is a word we talk about a lot within the church. The Greek word here entails believing in the promises of God, trusting in His promises. People who don’t trust God’s promises, including the promise of rest and who reject anything that they have not themselves experienced are excluded from the benefits of those very promises.

The rest that the people enter through faith was not just entering into the promised land. As we move through this passage it’s clear that there is yet still for those who live and follow Jesus another rest to enter into. This is God’s rest. The author uses Joshua to show that their rest wasn’t final.

Hebrews 4:8–10 ESV

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Joshua became the leader of Israel after Moses died. Joshua led them in the conquest of the promised land. That land represented rest for God’s people.

Joshua 1:13 ESV

13 “Remember the word that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘The Lord your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.’

The people of Israel in the Bible pinned a lot of hopes and dreams on the hope of resting in the promised land and coming into all that God had promised them. But that rest in the promised land was not ultimate or final. There was still a rest coming. And you see the author continually reaching out to his audience that they not fall back into being Israel centric but urges them to see the arrows pointing to Christ and to be Christ-centered. The promise of rest is still open and should encourage us to endure and to persevere.

III. We enter God’s rest through the Word.

Verse 12 is probably one of the most well known verses in Hebrews. I’m sure when it comes to verses about the Word of God it ranks towards the top.

Hebrews 4:12 ESV

12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The Word exposes us for who we really are.

- Living and active:

This recalls the description of God in Heb 3:12. The word of God is able to examine and judge those who hear it. It will accomplish its purpose (Isa 55:11).

- double-edged sword:

A weapon of warfare. The word of God can penetrate the immaterial and the material—meaning the whole person. cuts both ways

- naked -

The idea here is that all things are open to examination by God. Exposure to the word of God means exposure to God Himself.

- laid bare-

We are helpless before it. The truth about us is revealed. This may be one of the reasons people don’t like to read it. They get shown who they really are and who God really is. It makes us vulnerable.

The Gospel sets us  free  to  enter  God’s rest.

We can understand the concept of rest as an analogy for future salvation.

There was another rest for them to look forward to. There is a rest for us to look forward to.

We can rest from our work and rest in the finished work of Christ on the cross.

Jesus’ finished work is what enables us to have that future rest. It’s not our work. It’s his and He said it is finished.

Gospel here.

Application to change how we live

1. Trust the Gospel

a. Fear God (v.1)

the ot use of “fear” often indicates awe or reverence. To fear God is to express loyalty to Him and faithfulness to His covenant. Those who fear God exhibit trust in Him and obedience to His commandments. According to the ot, those who fear God obtain God’s protection, wisdom, and blessing.

Proper fear of the Lord is a response to His holiness.

It moves us to : Obedience, Loyalty and faithfulness

2. Take heed: to the sad history of Israel and the important lesson it teaches.

3. Keep trusting the promise. (Live a Godly life) Give diligence, the opposite of drifting

Verse 11 is not talking about works based salvation.

This exhortation is directed at believers whose lives should be characterized by perseverance (Heb 4:3). Those who enter God’s rest will participate in the great Sabbath celebration at God’s throne, upon Jesus’ return (12:22–24).

Persevere in your faith. Stand firm in what you believe and trust the Gospel… Trust Jesus till the very end, even as hanging on for dear life… sometimes that’s all we can do...

Do things that build your affections for Christ. (Don’t do those that steal affection away and may cause drifting from the promise)

God is our resting place.

We find our rest in Him and Him alone.