Hold Fast – Part 2
Hebrews 4:3-13
July 5, 2015
We are studying through this profound letter that the Holy Spirit inspired to a group of people simply called the “Hebrews”.
Some were Jews who didn’t believe
Some were Jews who hadn’t confessed
Some were Jews who considered defecting
In our current text He is dealing with
Those who are considering abandoning Jesus and returning to Judaism.
Their confession of Christ had been extremely costly.
• Some were mocked
• Some lost their property
• And now they are facing the harsh reality of being cut off from the
synagogue, the temple, and all Jewish privileges.
To a Jew
• No temple access – meant no presence of God
• No sacrifices – meant no atonement
• No priest – meant no intercession
Put it all together and it meant
No forgiveness and thus no eternal life.
Now that is ok because as Christians they had been taught that
All of those things were available through Jesus, not Judaism.
The problem is that they were now having to choose
And the way they respond to this crisis of faith
Will reveal whether they truly believe in Jesus or not.
They have said they did;
How they handle this dilemma will prove their faith genuine or false.
Will they hold fast to Jesus and prove their faith genuine,
Or will they abandon Him and prove their faith was phony?
The Holy Spirit is begging them to stick with Jesus.
Hebrews 3:6 “but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house — whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.”
Hebrews 3:12 “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”
Hebrews 3:14 “For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,”
Hebrews 4:14 “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.”
It’s obvious isn’t it?
HOLD FAST
And these two chapters are dedicated to the purpose of
Telling you why you should.
I told you last week, we can divide these chapters down into three main points
As to why you should hold fast to Jesus.
We saw the first last week:
#1 THE PUNISHMENT FOR DEFECTION
Hebrews 3:7 – 4:2
The writer was very clear to remind us that
You should hold fast to you confession regarding Jesus
Because God punishes those who defect from the faith.
And the writer gave us three very serious warnings.
1) SCRIPTURAL WARNING (7-11)
Quoting from Psalm 95 he reminded us about unbelieving Israel
And how they provoked God to anger.
They said they believed, they painted the blood on the door post,
They passed through the Red Sea,
But when it got tough, they grumbled, defected, and quit trusting God.
God was so angry that He swore they would not enter His rest.
2) SIMPLE WARNING (12-15)
And it was called a simple warning because it is simple to understand.
“Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you and evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”
It doesn’t get any simpler than that.
Make sure that you are not like unbelieving Israel.
Their confession was correct, but their heart was bad.
Make sure your love for Christ is sincere and permanent.
3) SOLEMN WARNING (3:16 – 4:2)
Again the writer was as serious as could be.
“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.”
Can you imagine anything more awful than to spend your life surrounded by Christians, going through Christian motions, but still to come short of eternal life?
Well it happens.
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”
“Many will say to Me…”
In the judgement, there will be many
Who spent their lives in religious routine who will not enter Heaven.
That reality should cause a holy fear to spread,
And that fear should motivate everyone to make sure
Their confession is sincere and their faith is legitimate.
HOPEFULLY YOU GOT THAT FIRST POINT.
The first reason to hold fast to Jesus
Is because of the punishment for defection.
This morning we want to move on to
THE SECOND REASON to hold fast to Jesus.
#2 THE POSSIBILITY OF REST
Hebrews 4:3-13
The first point was a solemn warning about a danger to avoid.
This point explains a wonderful reality that you should seek to obtain.
So following the same pattern as the first point,
Let’s examine this idea of rest.
1) A SCRIPTURAL REALITY (3-5)
Here we realize that the writer is at it again.
He again is bringing to your mind Old Testament Scripture
That he wants you to focus on.
• He quotes Psalms 95:11
• He quotes Genesis 2:2
• He quotes Psalms 95:11 again
Scripture is His benchmark and final authority,
And so he wants to make sure that all of his reasoning stems from that.
And in quoting these verses to you his point should be obvious.
He wants you to know that REST IS REAL
And in order to prove that, he quotes Scripture which verifies it.
Now, why would he feel the need to prove that rest is real?
Think about it:
If you were a Jew, rest is that thing that has always been offered,
But never obtained. It is almost put in a class with that of a “fairy tale”.
And because life is hard, it would be really easy to grow cynical
And see “rest” as something that just isn’t real.
In the same category as secure retirement and affordable health care.
Always promised, never enjoyed.
It leaves one wondering – IS IT REAL?
Let me show you why the Jews were so cynical about it.
It all starts with the passage that the writer quotes.
(3-4) “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. For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS”
Obviously here he wants you to know that believers enter the rest,
Just like non-believers don’t enter it.
But just because some people don’t enter rest
Doesn’t mean it isn’t real.
And that is why he quotes from Genesis 2:2. “And God rested”
We know rest is real because God did.
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.”
Hopefully you remember from our Genesis study exactly WHY God rested.
• It wasn’t that He was tired
• It wasn’t that He was bored
• It wasn’t that He was distracted
God rested because He was finished.
There was nothing left to do.
Nothing needed to be repaired or remodeled.
He was completely finished and His work was absolutely perfect.
So God rested.
Rest was a definite reality.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Sin happened,
The curse came, and God’s perfect creation was thrashed.
Ladies, it’s like having a perfectly clean house
And then your kids come home from school.
It’s like having a finished building and then a tornado hits.
Sin wrecked God’s perfect creation and the time for rest was over.
Listen to what God said to Adam:
Genesis 3:17-19 “Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
Rest was gone
Now we get toil, labor, striving, working, and ultimately death
REST IS REAL, BUT MAN LOST IT.
And if you continue reading you’ll remember
That man desperately wanted rest back.
A few generations later a baby named Noah was born.
Do you remember what his dad said about him?
Genesis 5:28-29 “Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son. Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed.”
They wanted rest
They wanted relief
And that desperate reality is where man dwelled.
• From Adam to Noah
• From Noah to Abraham
• From Abraham to Moses
AND THEN, ALL OF A SUDDEN GOD STEPPED IN WITH AN OFFER.
I WILL GIVE YOU REST.
There is a land available.
God called it a land “flowing with milk and honey”
Exodus 3:8 “So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.”
God told Israel to go to this land:
Exodus 33:14 “And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.”
This land would be perfect.
The days of striving would be over – They would finally have rest.
Deuteronomy 11:10-12 “For the land, into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you used to sow your seed and water it with your foot like a vegetable garden. “But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year.”
Doesn’t that sound good?
It’s what Israel dreamed of.
BUT THERE WAS A PROBLEM. (It’s what we read about last week)
Most of them didn’t actually believe and they defected
God killed them in the wilderness and they never entered the land.
40 years later some entered,
But if you will remember they disobeyed and refused to drive out all the inhabitants and so they never really had rest either.
Eventually the children of Israel rebelled
So greatly against God that Assyria wiped out the northern kingdom and Babylon wiped out the southern kingdom.
And by the time the writer of Hebrews penned this letter,
Israel was living in the land of promise but under Roman rule.
REST HAD BECOME A FAIRY TALE.
Solomon probably said it best.
Ecclesiastes 2:18-23 “Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity. Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun. When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and skill, then he gives his legacy to one who has not labored with them. This too is vanity and a great evil. For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun? Because all his days his task is painful and grievous; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vanity.”
And that is how many in Israel had come to think.
Rest isn’t really possible.
But the writer of Hebrews wants you to know THAT ISN’T TRUE.
REST IS REAL
Granted it hasn’t often been obtained, BUT IT IS REAL.
Rest is a SCRIPTURAL REALITY
“God rested”
So put that first and foremost in your mind.
REST IS REAL
2) A SIMPLE REALITY (6-10)
Now we just learned that rest is real
Even though most of the people in the past never achieved it.
So look at what the writer says here.
(6-7) “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.”
Did you catch his point?
Since rest is real, but that first group of people didn’t enter it.
“He again fixes a certain day”
That is to say, since He offered it, but they failed to enter it,
God chose to offer it again.
“saying… “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”
He offered it once, they didn’t get it.
So God offered it again.
(8) “For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.”
• Joshua was the successor to Moses.
• Joshua was the man who actually led Israel into the Promised Land.
• Joshua was the man who was supposed to provide rest for the people.
DID HE?
Apparently not, because 400 years later David is still offering it.
Obviously rest was never achieved.
SO WHAT IS THE POINT TO ALL THIS?
(9) “So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.”
That is the point.
Rest remains – Rest is Real – REST IS AVAILABLE!!!!!
It is not off the table
It is not a fairy tale
It is not a myth
Rest is real and available for God’s people TODAY!
Ok, so what are you saying?
We should all go move to Israel and live in the Promised Land and there we will have rest? (Not hardly, watch the news)
THEN WHAT IS THIS REST?
(10) “For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works as God did from His.”
This is such an important verse.
The rest being offered is rest from your “works”
And it is rest just like God rested.
Now I told you earlier, but why did God rest?
• Because He was finished
• Because there was nothing left to do
That is the type of rest that is available to you.
• Not a momentary break
• Not a temporary vacation
• But to be finished with nothing left to do but enjoy your new reality
That rest is available
That rest apart from any more work at all
YOU CAN HAVE THAT REST TODAY
Do you want me to show it to you?
Matthew 11:28-30 “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.”
Jesus came and offered that rest to Israel.
Jesus came and offered that rest to you.
Think about Judaism. (You really ought to read Leviticus to get the full idea)
It was nothing but work
Hebrews 9:6 “Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship,”
And trust me “continually entering” is an understatement.
• It was offering after offering
• It was sacrifice after sacrifice
• It was ritual after ritual
• It was festival after festival
• It was ordinance after ordinance
And it was non-stop.
If Israel learned nothing else from her religion
It was that pleasing God is a lot of work.
AND THEN COMES JESUS.
He comes offering rest from all that work.
Here comes Jesus
• Living in perfect righteousness
• Dying on a cross to fully satisfy God’s wrath
• Rising from the dead to prove it worked
• Ascending to the Father where He sits at His right hand
Remember what Jesus said on the cross?
John 19:30 “Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”
He finished His work.
What did He do next?
He rested
Hebrews 1:3 “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”
“He sat down…”
That is something no priest before Him every dreamed of doing.
That is because no priest was ever finished.
But Jesus was and so He rested.
JESUS WAS THE FIRST AND ONLY JEW
TO EVER ENTER GOD’S REST
And Jesus said, “Come to Me…I will give you rest”
CURRENT REST from your striving to please God
ETERNAL REST in heaven from the toils of this life
Revelation 14:13 “And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘ Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!'” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”
FRIENDS THAT IS WHAT JESUS OBTAINED AND OFFERS TO YOU
When you placed your faith in Jesus Christ, He made you pleasing.
He finished all your work.
Now you can rest that God is satisfied,
And there is nothing left that must be done.
Can you see why the writer of Hebrews wants you to hold fast to Jesus?
Why would you let go of your only shot at rest?
Why would you return to a system of work?
Rest is not only real, rest is available through Jesus.
That is the SIMPLE REALITY
So, there is a Scriptural Reality (Rest is Real)
There is a Simple Reality (Rest is available)
3) A SOLEMN REALITY (11-13)
Once again the writer is going to get very serious with you.
He has a strong admonition and then another warning.
(11) “Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest”
That is to say that achieving rest ought to be your main objective.
You ought to do whatever it takes to get it.
“so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.”
• You need to make sure that you are not like unbelieving Israel, who fell away and missed out on God’s rest.
• You need to make sure that you are seeking the rest that only Christ can provide and that you do not miss out on it.
Don’t fall away from Christ
Don’t defect back to Judaism
Keep your eyes forward, focus on Christ, hold fast to Him.
And here is the SOLEMN REALITY:
BECAUSE IF YOU DON’T, GOD WILL KNOW IT
(12-13) “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”
This passage reminds us that when it is time for judgement,
God’s word will accurately discern
And accurately judge every single human heart.
Jeremiah wrote:
Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.”
The human heart is a tricky and deceptive thing.
It can fool the most discerning of men, but it can’t fool God.
He alone can discern it
He alone can read it
He alone can lay it bare and expose it for what it is
The point then being that no imposters
Will trick God and make it past His gaze.
His word cuts deep like a surgeon’s scalpel
“piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow”
And then it performs accurate judgement
“able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
You and I can see WHAT a person does,
God can see WHY they do it.
“And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”
DO YOU CATCH THE WRITER’S POINT?
Be real – enter rest
But please, please, please – don’t try to fool God.
If you have an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God – He will know it even if no one else does.
John MacArthur wrote:
“In the day of the great judgment His Word is going to penetrate and lay bare all hearts who have not trusted Him. The sham and hypocrisy will be revealed and no profession of faith, no matter how orthodox, and no list of good works, no matter how sacrificial, will count for anything before Him. Only the thoughts and intentions of the heart will count…The sword of His word will make no mistake in judgement or execution. All disguises will be ripped off and only the real person will be seen.” (MacArthur, John [The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Series: Hebrews, Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 1985] pg. 105)
SO THERE IS YOUR SOLEMN REALITY.
• Rest is real
• Rest is available
• And you should “be diligent to enter that rest” because God will know.
Well, that leaves one important question:
HOW DO I ENTER IT?
Matthew 11:28-30 “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.”
What did Jesus say?
• “Come to Me” – there is the first step.
Jesus is the giver of rest, so you have to go to Him.
• “Take My yoke upon you” – (like with oxen)
You submit yourself to His control and plan. He gets to direct from here on out.
• “Learn from Me” – so now you walk your life with Him
Any failure to come to Him
Any failure to submit to Him
Any failure to stay with Him or to pull away
Will forfeit rest in your life.
So, have you ever come to Jesus?
Have you ever been made aware of your sinfulness before God and
seen your need for His atonement and forgiveness?
Have you submitted your life to Christ?
Given up your rights to rule and lead, and handed the keys of your life
to Jesus?
And are you remaining with Him, learning from Him, following Him?
That is where rest is found.
And we should be diligent to obtain it.
HOLD FAST TO JESUS
Because of the Punishment for Defection
Because of the Possibility of Rest
