Hebrews reads like a sermon. So, as we enter chapter four, we’re walking in on a sermon already in progress.
We must give the more earnest heed to what we’ve
heard (Heb. 2:1), lest we drift away and neglect so great a salvation
(Heb. 2:3). Lest we reject and depart from the living God. Heb. 3:12.
Neglecting and rejecting creates hard hearts like those
in the wilderness who rebelled and sinned and did not obey. To whom God swore
in His wrath that they would not enter His promised rest. Ps. 95:11, Heb. 3:11.
Hebrews 4:1
Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest...
Entering His rest
is the theme for the rest of the chapter.
Ten times we’ll read the word, rest.
A promise remains, entering His rest.
What’s he talking about?
The text revolves around Psalm 95:7-11. (Heb. 3:7-11,
15, 4:3b, 7b).
About 1,000 years before Hebrews, the Holy Spirit
through David said, “Today, if you hear His voice harden not your hearts...”
Then, He pointed back about 400 years and said, “as in the rebellion, in
the day of trial in the wilderness...”
He was referring to when He delivered the children of Israel
from Egyptian bondage to bring them into the Promise Land flowing with milk and
honey, their land of rest.
However, they neglected and rejected
and rebelled against Him until He swore in His wrath that generation
would not enter His rest.
Then, some 400 years later through David (Ps. 95), He said,
Today, if you hear His voice, harden not your heart, like they
did in the wilderness.
This reveals that His invitation is still open
to those who listen. However, it comes with a warning. The offer is only good
for a certain time. Today.
When you hear His Voice, it is your today. Don’t neglect it and miss it. Don’t reject it and blow
it. You don't have tomorrow.
Obviously, entering His rest, means more
than a piece of land called Israel, since they were already in the land.
Jesus explains it like this:
Matthew 11:28-29, Come to Me, all you 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.
Okay, since there remains a promise of entering His
rest...
...let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short
of it.
For all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God. Romans 3:23.
Heb. 4:11, Let us therefore be diligent to
enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example
of disobedience.
2 For indeed
the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word
which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those
who heard it.
They all heard, only some listened.
Notice the us and them, comparison.
Us who listen to His Voice
and enter His rest.
Those who refuse to listen
and never enter His rest.
The ten bridesmaids all heard the Bridegroom
was coming, all dressed the part, all had lamps. Only five were prepared, only five
went in. To the others, He said, “I don’t even know you.” Matt. 25:1-13.
By your tradition you make of none effect the Word of
God, is what Jesus told those who knew the word of God, but not the God of the
Word. Mark 7:13.
The Word is Good Seed; it always brings everything
needed to produce faith. Romans 10:17.
However, Good Seed in bad soil produces nothing
according to the parable of the Sower in Mark 4:3-9, 13-20, (also found in:
Matt. 13, Luke 8).
The same Good Seed was planted but only one out of four
took root.
Why?
The problem was not the Seed, it was the soil.
Our text in Heb. 4:2, tells us the Word which they heard
did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
They heard, they did not listen.
When you plant, you prepare the soil, plow it so it’s not
hard, mix the soil with fertilizer and water.
The heart that mixes the Word with faith produces an abundant
harvest. Faith is a verb. It requires action. Faith without works is dead.
James 2.
The preprayered heart is fertilized with faith.
As simple as a whispered heartfelt prayer: Lord, help me hear Your
Voice, and listen, today.
Then the heart that waters, sees lasting
results. Doing what it takes to follow up, to remember the Seed planted. Take
notes, reread, relisten, engage the Word that was listened to. Being not a
forgetful hearer, but a doer, of the work and you will be blessed. James
1:25.
3 For we who have believed do enter
that rest...
Toward the end of Billy Graham’s life he said to be saved
we must:
Repent.
Receive.
Believe. Then, he went on to explain that believe
means to commit.
Amen.
Faithful, covenant, commitment, like marriage vows. We
don’t say, I believe I’ll love you for better or worse. We answer, I do.
I pray we all believe (commit)
and do, enter His rest.
For God swore in His wrath, they...
... as He has said:
“So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ”
That was quoted from Psalm 95:11
Now pay attention as God starts pointing
at His clock.
...although the works were finished from the foundation
of the world.
4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the
seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh
day from all His works”;
That was a quote from Gen. 2:2.
Around 4,000 BC. 6,000 years ago.
5 and again in this place: “They
shall not enter My rest.”
That was a quote from Psalm 95:11.
About 1,000 BC. 3,000 years ago.
6 Since
therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it
was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again
He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after
such a long time, as it has been said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts.”
8 For
if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have
spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest
for the people of God.
This hits closer to home than you think.
Notice the Lord highlights two days. God rested on the
seventh day of creation. And He designates a certain day,
saying in David, Today...”
Remember, how God signed off each day of creation by
saying it was good, and then, very good, on the sixth day.
But on the seventh day, there was no
signing off.
It appears He wanted His creation to dwell with Him forever
in Today, listening to His Voice, abiding in His rest.
However, the day was interrupted.
The serenity of the perfect peaceful paradise of rest
was shattered.
Man willingly stepped out of the eternal seventh day
rest and fell into the world of the knowledge of good and evil.
Like the matrix movie, he entered an alternate world
of death.
But God is love.
Love never fails.
God's Divine plan from the foundation of the world sprang
into action. In the fulness of time, Jesus took off His crown and put on skin
and penetrated the world of the flesh, through the womb of a virgin.
Knowing He must follow all the rules,
endure all the pain, be tempted in all the ways, yet live sinless, die blameless.
That was the price.
He paid it.
With His own blood.
He was born, so we could be born again, back into the perfect
peaceful paradise of rest, with Him, again.
He just wanted His family back.
Okay, remember we mentioned time. Although God
abides outside time, He has a clock. Not a chronos clock, like ours. But a Kairos
clock. He does everything in the fulness of time. At just the right time.
God doesn’t waste time, so when He starts talking
about time, we should pay attention to time. Notice the references He made to
time: Today, the seventh day, a certain day, after so long a time...
Now, speaking of time, consider three generations
represented in our text.
The first generation that God delivered from the bondage
of Egypt, failed to enter His rest.
Then, the first
generation, God delivered from the bondage of sin, failed to enter His
rest. (The Jewish leaders rejected their Messiah).
Now, we are the first generation
since God delivered Israel from the bondage of the world, putting them back in their
homeland, Israel. (77 years ago, May 14, 1948).
As we approach the seventh millennium since creation of man, is
God preparing for His final deliverance?
When He pulls out His Bride.
Pours out His wrath.
Purges His planet of those who refuse to hear His
Voice.
And then, finally getting back to the seventh day of
rest, which was so rudely interrupted by sin.
Today, when You hear His Voice, will you enter His rest?
10 For he who
has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from
His.
Will we enter His rest and cease from our works as God
did from His?
How do we do that?
R.I.P. We must do what Jesus did. Die.
We like He, must say “Not my, but Thy will be
done.”
Gal. 2:20. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live yet not I but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and
gave Himself for me.
Dead to self, alive to Christ.
Jesus says in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, My
peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your
heart be troubled, Neither let it be afraid.”
Will we believe in (commit to) Him enough to enter His
rest, His peace, and reside there?
Today when you hear His Voice, R.I.P. Reside In
Peace. His peace, like our dear friend’s text yesterday:
“Well, I’m heaven bound! It’s a fast paced cancer from
my colon and spread to my liver and lymph nodes. Without chemo, I have a few
months to live. With chemo, I have maybe a few more months to live, but those
months could be like pure Hell. I chose my manner of my death. I saw my first
husband suffer for four months in pain. His laughter, his kidding, his joy was
taken from him. I chose NOT to go out screaming in pain or nausea! I chose to
shout glory hallelujah as my Savior reaches down and takes my hand!” Shirley
MacKenzie: 7/15/25.
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, thank You for the great honor,
and joy, of listening to Your Voice. We choose to reside in Your peace. So,
like Your dear Shirley, no matter the news, we will shout hallelujah and reach
toward You. As we do, please reach through us and draw all those You’ve given
us, to You.
Thank You.
We love You, forever.
Amen.
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This was feed for you to read. Now it’s
Seed for you to sow.
Thank you for sharing.
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