Entering God’s Rest • 02.12.23
Jack Flaherty   -   February 21, 2023

Hebrews 4:1-13

Entering God’s Rest

Three urgent conclusions on reaching God’s rest

  1. Fearfully believe the promise of entering God’s rest
  2. Faithfully strive to enter God’s rest
  3. Biblically evaluate your heart’s readiness to enter God’s rest

Good morning! My name is Jack Flaherty and I serve as one of the Pastors here at Harvest. If you are visiting, we are thankful that you’re here this morning. Sweet to worship through fellowship, song, prayer, serving, and now in the study of God’s Word. Before we do, 4th-5th graders dismissed. The rest of us as we continue our “Jesus is Better” series in the study of Hebrews go ahead and turn to Hebrews 4. Ushers and Bibles.

 

What comes to your mind when you think about rest?

  • Sitting on the La-Z-Boy with your feet up, holding something good to eat and cold to drink, while you watch the Super Bowl.
  • A solid night of sleep without worries of kids waking you up or what tomorrow will bring.
  • A satisfactory completion of a big project at home or at work.
  • Collapsing to the ground after a hard workout.
  • Hitting submit when your big test your studied for or paper you’ve complete is done.
  • A vacation somewhere nice and warm and sunny– totally unplugged for several days.

 

None of these things are necessarily bad. But each of those ideas of rest (plus others that came to your mind) ultimately arise from different motivations—me time, family time, get away from annoying people or tasks, recoup and regroup from a draining season, etc. Those ideas of rest will also result in different daily living in order to get to those destinations—work hard to ‘get er done’, strive to avoid conflict, skate by to survive and advance, run over whatever might stop me, etc. But what if we had a singular and even better destination ahead? One with a singular motivation which results in a certain kind of daily living? Our passage today does just that.

 

Hebrews 4 speaks of the rest of God. The overarching theme in Hebrews–Jesus is better–is applied to urging believers to run the race with endurance, because after running the race they will enter God’s rest. Believers will be with God where he is! Heaven! Dwelling with God! In my quiet time just yesterday I read this from David says in Psalm 27:4 “one thing I ask from the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” I was convicted—is this my one desire?

 

This week I saw that I am often distracted by the things of life that bring unrest. Busyness. Hardships. Even good things. But all things which can distract me from focusing on the one thing that I should most long for, being with my Creator and Savior. The audience of Hebrews is not so unlike us. Though their persecution was different, the distractions and temptations to get their eyes off Jesus are similar. Let’s read our text and unpack this some more. Read Hebrews 4:1-13

 

Hebrews 4 is further developing the Hebrews 3 argument speaking on rest.  The key word “rest” is used 9 times in the NT and 8 of them are between 3:11 and 4:11! Inception happening here! The author of Hebrews continues to zoom in on Psalm 95, which was written by David to zoom in on Israel’s wilderness generation. Now we are zooming in on all of that!

Chapter 3 reviews the Psalm 95 history lesson about the dangers of unbelief and our text today takes that history lesson and applies it to a contemporary audience. We add a layer to that today! Speaking of today, there is an urgency here in the text! “TODAY” is repeated in both these chapters not because the author is stuck on repeat but because there is urgent warning related to the rest of God that shouldn’t be ignored. Today we are warned to urgently fight unbelief because the only way to enter God’s rest is through faith in the finished work of Jesus!

 

There is much around the subject of rest we could discuss, but we want to focus in on the author’s focus. Thus, we will be looking at Three urgent conclusions on reaching God’s rest. The first conclusion from this text on reaching God’s rest is to…

 

  1. Fearfully believe the promise of entering God’s rest

Start by remembering how we concluded last week. Hebrews 3:12-19 tells us that the wilderness generation “did not enter because of unbelief”.  In Psalm 95 David is exhorting his generation to worship God alone and don’t turn away. ‘Don’t be like wilderness generation but reach your destination!’ Hebrews 4:1 again affirms that this rest David referred to is actually still a viable destination! This brings up the question, what rest are we fearing to miss out on?

 

The answer, eschatological rest. Eternal rest. Heavenly rest! There is a sweet biblical theology lesson here. In v4 we see creation is where the rhythm and expectation of rest was established. Specifically, at creation there was an expectation of resting with God in perfect fellowship and communion. Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested. This is the promised rest God offers to his people. Resting with him! Yet since Adam and Eve were kicked from the garden of rest there has been a barrier to true rest. Nonetheless the promise has remained from the beginning. Hebrew 4:3 somewhat confusingly affirms that. John Owen’s classic commentary helped here. He said that just like speaking of day tells something of night, speaking of not entering says something of entering. Entrance into rest from the beginning is by belief! We don’t enter because of works and it’s been this way from the start.

 

Other places speak to this but most explicitly seen with the Exodus & establishment of the Sabbath which serves to reminds Israel of their freedom from slavery. BUT also, to remind them that our God delivers not by works but by faith in Him. Still that generation missed it. V2 says they had the good news but failed to believer. Read Ex 17 and see that.

 

Now v8 anticipates an objection. Moses missed it but didn’t Joshua enter the Promised Land? The whole theme of Joshua is the idea of rest! Joshua 21:44-45 “And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. 45 Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass” (also see Joshua 22:4; 23:1). Yet the Hebrews author says this physical location is not it! If they had reached it, the true rest of God, it would not remain. Instead V1 says the promise does remain! V6 says it remain! V9 says it remains.   It’s not that Joshua didn’t get some rest. BUT that wasn’t the rest God had planned from Gen 2, hoped for in the wilderness, that David and Hebrews author knew was coming. A rest entered into by faith.

 

The entry to this rest is truly inaugurate with Jesus, the Lord of Sabbath rest. Matthew 11:28-30 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” There is a rest that we have in Christ now! Entered not by our work but by his. We simply come to him to experience rest! BUT there is tension in Hebrews with past and future tense wordings. Are were there or not?! Yes and no. The snippets of rest in Bible are real but are meant to show what was purposed in Gen and now promised for Rev! Not that we don’t get a taste on the journey, but we wait for consummation!

 

Revelation 22:3-6 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. 6 And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.” This is the consummation of God’s rest which all who believe enter into. God’s promises are sure! They will never fail! If God promises that his rest remains, it is unthinkable that God should fail to fulfil it! The rest remaining is the eternal rest of man with God. What was established at creation, wrecked by sin, shadowed in the exodus, accomplished in the death and resurrection of Christ, is thus guaranteed by God for all who believe. The promise is there. Believe that! This is where the fear comes in.

 

Fear is actually the first word in the Greek sentence of v1, which means its emphasized. There is a warning here. God’s promises are sure so we need not fear that God’s promises will fail. Rather we fear that we may fail to trust in God’s promises. The warning is that the risk of missing rest is very real. V2 says the good news came to the wilderness crew just as to us! But v6 shows hearing good news and being associated with God’s people doesn’t mean automatic entry. We can have some pretty incredible encounters with God, even be in the assembly of believers just like David’s and Hebrews audience, like some of us today, and still fail to believe and reach the promised rest.

 

I loved my strength coaches in college, but they terrified me. We were given some specific expectations and warned of not following them (wrong color, coming late, etc). The warning was not because we had disobeyed already. The warning was to say these coaches would not forsake their promise of punishment. If we believed that, then the evidence was in obedience. Though not many, some on the team did not fearfully believe the promise and pushed the wood!

 

Likewise, the warning here is not to say you have to do a bunch of stuff or that you’ve already failed. Rather the obedience required to enter is belief in God’s promise. V11 says don’t undergo the same sort of disobedience as wilderness crew. What did they do? Failed to have faith in the promises and plan of God. To believe there is a promise of something eternally better and keep moving towards it with endurance. Desired to go back to slavery. For this Hebrews audience and those who are hurting today, in the midst’s of your sufferings its not hopeless. There is an end goal to get to. Believe! In the midst’s of your success and reaching whatever your “Promised Land” might be, in the words of Journey ‘don’t stop believing!’ Lest you fail to get to the real destination. What does this fearful belief look like? How is it impacting my motivation daily life?

Fearful belief about rest seems to ironically take effort. Second urgent conclusion…

 

  1. Faithfully strive to enter God’s rest

We’ve seen these first 8 verses pretty strictly spell out the need to fearfully believe. We’ve seen this idea in v2 and v6 of “good news.” Yet in v9-10 it says some more good news for us. Whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. This is saying just as God stopped creating on day 7 of creation, we stop working for salvation TODAY! This is the assurance of entrance for those who are resting from their works! They aren’t trying to get in. They stopped! They have entered by faith!

 

But then what’s up with v11? Strive to enter that rest?! I thought we are not supposed to work?! Here is the paradox of this passage. Our striving is not a work in order to get us to rest. But a work which marks one who believes God’s promises. There is a rest. We “have entered!” So striving is from faith not to faith. ‘From’ faith not ‘to’ faith. “Striving doesn’t merit the rest but is only way to the rest” Mark Dever. Strive by not working BUT believing!

 

But this is hard. Why is it that humanity wants to doubt God and contribute to our own salvation? We want to make it on our own or contribute in some way! Even if we don’t say that, we function that way. Every other worldview in the world falls into this category. We are a restless people because we want to contribute something! Why else are we so anxious depressed, enslaved, afflicted, arrogant, etc. We are striving as a work. Instead the only thing we should strive for is resting in God promises! Don’t do the disobedience of the wilderness generation who didn’t trust God! Who wanted to work and whined about needing more. Whined about wanting to go back to slavery. This is not who we are to be. But how?

 

First, we ask God for help!

  • Help us know the finish line. We can often get so caught up in blurring the line that we get crushed with perfectionism while fail to deal with power and deception of sin; we seek spiritual experience over Christ; we think the church should be perfect now. NOPPE! God says its coming. Remember and trust that.
  • Help us fight sin. Discussed this last week but it comes up again in v7. Don’t get hardened by unbelief. But let right fear keep you believing and fighting sin! TODAY! Don’t say I got tomorrow. You don’t know that!
  • Help us no be hardened. This is something we ought to pray about! Hearing/knowing isn’t enough. Again, this is an exposition about wilderness folks who just saw miracles and then didn’t trust. Joshua’s generation also. David’s too! Hebrews not so far from Christ and events of Act but still tempted to wander. Let us not think we are exempt from having spiritual experiences and yet failing.

 

A second idea is to strive for rest by actually resting! v 9 says the Sabbath rest remains. I do not think we need to worry about observing exactly like the Israelites did. NT passages talk about not elevating certain days. However, this rhythm is one I do think stays because it’s bound up in creation! As Christians, the NT even specifically shows us the 1st day of the week rhythm of the church establish by the resurrection of Jesus. We slow down. Stop work and running and doing. Spend time with God. This reminds us there is an end point. A goal!

 

How are you doing at resting? I’m not very good! We stay so busy as we’ve been ingratiated with the American can-do-ism feeling! Does this help us? I don’t think so! You know the beautiful news is God doesn’t need us! Thomas Goodwin reminds us that while we were made to work, we are also made more primarily to fellowship and commune with God!  Goodwin says, ‘God made us so that he would be our chiefest good and that he and his glory might be our chiefest end.’ Are you ever taking time to reset priorities, attitudes, and end goals? To see what your actually striving for? Particularly are you looking back on what Jesus accomplished in order to gain us this future rest? Nothing we ever do in our works and calling will bring us home. ISNT THAT FREEING! No wonder Jesus can say his yoke is easy and burden light! We strive from not to! Strive yes, but do so in faith. Rest from the burden of works so that we don’t fall by the same sort of disobedience.

 

A third idea is to strive with one another. Pastor Nick mentioned much of this last week. The idea is we are to exhort and encourage one another in the faith. This includes meeting together, praying for and with each other, giving each other words to spur on when down and confront when sinful. We are on a journey to rest and the destination is so grand we ought to motivate each other on the way, like a good running buddy does. This chapter parallels Hebrews 10 in many ways. I like how it was put in a book I am reading called The Sabbath As Rest and Hope For The People of God, by Guy Prentiss Waters. “Presently believers are on pilgrimage and therefore require “endurance” in the way of “faith” (10:36, 39); they need to “strive to enter that rest” through “faith” (4:11,2). SO as a help to believers, God calls his people to gather together weekly. These weekly gatherings serve by the grace of God, to “stir up” believer’s” to love and good works” and to “encourage” them—that is to say, God intends those meetings to be precisely the help that pilgrims need as they make their way towards their heavenly home.” (pg 116). Do we take this gathering seriously? HS guys conversation on Wednesday challenged me to consider this. Be real. And allow others to be real with you.

 

Well, how do I know if my striving is from faith rather than to fair? I suppose the writer of Hebrews could have gone into a gigantic list of things here. Some good questions, some helpful analogies, some particular examples, but what does he do? Maybe some of the more well-known verses are what we see next. Why this, here? Because the way we evaluate our striving as from faith rather than towards faith is through the Word of God. This is the instrument God has given us to diagnose where our hearts really are aimed and what we really trust in. The final urgent conclusion is to…

 

  1. Biblically evaluate your heart’s readiness to enter God’s rest

Let’s first consider what is said about God’s Word here.

 

Its alive/living. Probably referring to the scriptures quoted, namely Psalm 95. Preacher/author is hoping God’s Word he just exposited will have the intended impact! This is also true of all Scripture, including what we read. God’s Word is a live and meant to impact you. That’s why v7 says TODAY With emphasis on TODAY! TODAY if you hear don’t harden! That means you need to repent today! We don’t know tomorrow! You might wake up and be staring at God! So don’t wait! Today! This living Word is giving you a living warning!

 

It active. “Spirit says” in 3:7 not said! The bible is not some dead ancient text. THAT is why we can continue to use it to understand the dynamic hearts we have. How our self-perfections stack up to God’s, both of our identity and of our understanding of our relationships with God, others, and our circumstances. This has been molded right in the text! David spoke to lessons to wilderness generations applied these to his generation. Hebrews took David’s lessons and applies it to his generation. No we get to apply it in our generation!

 

It sharp/pierces—joints and marrow. Cuts through the junk that we tried to hide behind. There is no fig-leaf, fib, firewall, or Christian freedom argument that can keep God’s Word from cutting us to the true heart motives! Do you let the Bible do that for you?

 

It discerns perfectly—thoughts and intentions. Doesn’t just get in there but makes sense of things. This is terrifying and freeing. How would you feel about your thoughts and intentions being broadcast? I do not feel super great about it. But I do often wish we knew why we do what we do. And why interactions play out the way they do. God’s Word can answer that. Our thoughts and heart intentions can be discerned by God’s Word. Getting to the ‘why’ & helping us change!

 

Back to question, how do I know if I am in disobedience of unbelief? Simply put, use God’s Word! The Bible ought to cut you deep, open you up, heal you up, and build you up! How are you doing at using the Bible to help you walk the Christian life? How are you doing at letting others use their Bible to help you walk the Christian life? TODAY, don’t harden your heart. The rest is coming but urgently so. Are you ready? Let the Word help you. Because the day is coming where preparation is over. That’s how v13 ends.

 

None can escape it—God sees (naked and exposed). All must give an account! Every person up here and downstairs and out there will stand before the God who sees. Not only stand but have some explaining to do! Do you think about this?  Here is the really scary piece. Do you think you are ready to see God and give an account? How you respond to that examination depends on the OBJECT of your belief. Not the strength, not the length but the object. Pastor Chris hit on this a few weeks back at our Men’s breakfast and I’ve still been chewing on this. Am I seeking to call on and stay committed to Jesus above all else? Is it from faith in him that all desires and thoughts and actions flow? If not something else is ruling my heart! Fruit exposes the root. So at the root of my faith I must solidify on the object, the person, whom I place my faith in!

 

You have TODAY! TODAY! Or you might be hardened. Don’t toy with sin! AND don’t presume upon tomorrow! Urgent that we challenge any actual or functional unbelief in our lives. Actual meaning you acknowledge it and know it but need to get to the Word to be assured. Functional means you’re a sinner who isn’t yet perfect and need to be conformed to the image of Christ. That means we all need it! Urgent! Because the promise of rest remains!

 

Romans 10:17 says faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ! The Bible is a book meant to be studied and understood so that we grow in our faith! To help us know God better, to trust him more, and to share about him with others. So ,read and believe God’s Word! It is the Good given tool to grow our faith and bring us to rest. To borrow from Matt Merker, the Bible is useful for exaltation, edification, and evangelism. It brings glory to God when we grow in faith through the Word. The Word brings blessings of growth when shared with others. And its how God has chosen to bring lost people to himself. Jesus was sent to experience unrest on the cross so that we might experience eternal rest in heaven. Jesus rose up from the grace so that our death brings us into his presence forevermore. That’s the rest we ought to look to and long for. That’s the picture of rest we ought to run to above all else.

 

God offers rest to us if we would believe in him. While that rest remains, act on it TODAY! Act by striving in faith. Stop working like a hero for your own salvation in unbelief instead trust in the true our hero who did all the necessary work for us evidenced by the cross and empty tomb. Instead of being righteous in our own view trust him who was made to be sin that knew no sin so that in him we might be become the righteousness of God. Fix your eyes on the author and perfecter of faith. Urgently have confidence in and be committed to God’s rest.