Entering Rest with God

Hebrews 4:1-13

Immanuel – 2/22/26

          As most of you know, this is my final sermon before Sabbatical. I will be gone for seven weeks, out of the pulpit for eight.  

          Sabbatical comes from the word Sabbath. The Hebrew root of Sabbath is “to cease.” Sabbath is a time to stop working, a time to rest. Since I’m about to enter an intentional time of rest, I’ve chosen this Sabbath day, preceding my Sabbatical, to preach on rest. This sermon is as much for me as it is for you. Already, I have been blessed in its preparation, through the warning and promises found in our passage today. I desperately want to enter God’s rest – I want it for all of us!

          Before I dive into the passage, I want to tell you the main point of these 13 verses. It’s very simple: Receive God’s word with faith, and you will enter God’s rest. Rest is found when you trust in the promises of God.

          So open your heart of faith and hear this: The promise of entering God’s rest still stands.

          Read vs 1

          By way of a brief introduction, let me say three things about the book of Hebrews.

1.      We do not know who wrote Hebrews – though there are plenty of theories. When I refer to the author of Hebrews I will simply say, “The author.”

2.      Hebrews was not originally a letter, like Paul’s epistles. Rather it is a sermon that was written down.

3.      It was written primarily to Jewish Christians who possessed a profound understanding of Hebrew Scriptures.

          Our passage beings with a therefore, so we should briefly look at what came before. In chapter 3, the writer of Hebrews spent much time discussing why Israel, in the days of Moses, was unable to enter God’s rest. In the last verse of chapter 3, you can see why: They were unable to enter because of unbelief. Similarly, in 3:15, unbelief is equated with a rebellious people who hardened their hearts. Let me put it another way: faithlessness means restlessness.

          That generation of Israel was unable to enter God’s rest because of unbelief. They were unable to enter, but – the author says – the promise of rest still stands. The promise of rest is extended even today, as we see in verse 7. They were barred from rest, but you need not be!

Then, the author says, fear lest you fail to reach God’s rest. Fear?

          One of the most common commands in Scripture is “Fear not.” We also read things like, “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18), and “we have not been given a spirit of fear” (2 Timothy 1:7). Yet we should fear missing out on God’s rest? What’s going on here?

          Yes. There is something to fear. There is something that should terrify us. And verse 1 indicates that if we do not have this fear, we will miss God’s rest.

          Read vs 2

          The good news we have received is the gospel: that God became a man in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus lived a perfect life, the life we have failed to live. He died in our place, the death we deserve. Three days later he rose from the grave, defeating our death. Now he calls all people to repent and believe in him. By trusting in Jesus to have done all of this on our behalf, we shall be forgiven our sins and enjoy everlasting life – we shall eternally enter God’s rest. This is the greatest news on earth!

          But the good news spoken to that generation of Israel was not the gospel of Jesus Christ. Rather, through the voice of Moses, God told them good news of a Promised Land. God promised they would inherit the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey. It was a land with cities they did not build, houses they did not stock, wells they did not dig, vineyards and orchards they did not plant, and so on. And though God said Israel would have to drive out the inhabitants of the land, he promised to go before them and defeat their enemies himself. All Israel had to do was enter the Promised Land, face their enemies, and trust God to accomplish all that he said he would do.

This is why the Promised Land became synonymous with God’s rest. The people were to trust. God would do all the heavy lifting.

          But upon hearing this good news, the people were not united in faith; meaning, they didn’t all believe. Perhaps you know the story. 12 men went to spy out the land of Canaan. They observed a bountiful land inhabited by fearsome looking people. Joshua and Caleb knew God could defeat the Canaanites, just as he promised, but the other 10 spies were terrified. Like a virus, the 10 spread their unbelief and fear to the rest of Israel.

The whole population had heard the promises of God – they heard the good news of a Promised Land – and the vast majority did not believe. The God who parted the Red Sea, who fed them with manna, who went before them in fire and smoke; this same God promised to fight Israel’s battles, and still they refused to enter the land and go to battle.

          Because of their unbelief, the good news did not benefit them. For their unbelief God cursed them to restlessness, to wandering aimlessly in the wilderness until that unbelieving generation died off. With false repentance, trying to make it right, Israel picked up their swords and rushed to fight against the Canaanites even though God warned them not to. Where they should have trusted in God, they tried to take things into their own hands. Their foes were too much for them. They were overwhelmed and slaughtered.

          Read vs 3-5

In verse 3 the author makes it clear: belief means entering God’s rest; unbelief means exclusion from God’s rest. Illustrating the negative, he quotes Psalm 95:11. Here’s verse 10 as well:

For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.” Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”                               -Psalm 95:10-11

This psalm says … The rebellious generation of Hebrews allowed their hearts to wander from God. They did not believe God would work on their behalf, so they did not obey him. In other words, they did not know God’s ways; and God’s ways are restful.

Then the author transports us from the wilderness of Sinai to the Garden of Eden. After creating the heavens and the earth, God rested from his work. It’s not that God was tired and needed to rest. It means that the work was complete. There was nothing more to do.

God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

                                                                   -Genesis 1:31

Everything was in its place. His creation was perfect. God rested because it was finished. There is no indication that when Monday came around, God had to go back to work. God rested, and his rest was total. As the end of verse 3 says, his works were finished from the foundation of the world.

Having ordered everything in just the right way, God invited Adam and Eve into his rest. He planted a garden abounding in food and water and everything good, and he gave it to our first parents. The Garden of Eden was God inviting humanity into his perfect rest. Rest, of course, does not mean idleness, for he gave our first parents a job: to spread the Garden across the planet. There was work to do – work that was joyful and not toil.

Some time later, Adam and Eve chose to believe a lie. Disbelieving God, they began to think God was holding out on them. God’s first image bearers began to work for what God had already given them. Sin brought toil into the garden, and the garden was lost.

Again, the author repeats the words of Psalm 95:11, They shall not enter my rest. This is the judgment for unbelief. Instead of rest, unbelief earns God’s wrath, and God’s wrath is expressed in restlessness.

Jesus spoke often about what happens when an unbelieving person receives God’s wrath. They are cast from his presence to the outer darkness. And though it is darkness, it is like a lake of fire. Imagine the continual writhing and twisting and screaming as you burn alive – forever. Jesus says those cast to hell will forever weep and gnash their teeth. Weeping signifying sorrow without end. Gnashing of teeth signifying eternal contempt. Souls forever writhing, lamenting, endlessly angry: Can you conceive of a greater restlessness. In hell there is no rest for the wicked, for age upon restless age.

And though the thought of hell is horrifically frightful, it is not the thing our passage is calling us to fear.

Read vs 6-8

Israel failed to enter God’s rest, they failed to enter the Promised Land, because of disobedience. They refused to drive out the Canaanites. In fear they did not trust God to win their battles. Because of their unbelief, they were afraid.

But even after that rebellious generation died off, Joshua led Israel to take the Promised Land. They entered the land of rest, but they did not drive out all of its inhabitants. The rest was incomplete. The land flowing with milk and honey was never suppose to be the final rest. Rather, it was a shadow of a greater rest still to come. The Promised Land pointed to a greater, more complete Sabbath.

And this greater and promised rest remains for the people of God. There is a Promised Land that still awaits our conquest!

          And when are we called to enter God’s rest? When is the Promised Land to be taken? Today! The author again quotes from Psalm 95.

          Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

Here we come to the crux of the matter. Holy fear and hellish terror, sinful striving and restful work pivot on this quotation.

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

We don’t have time for it, but now would be an excellent moment to read Jesus’ parable of the Sower in Mark 4. A sower scatters seed liberally, all over a field. Some seed falls on the hard path, other seed falls into rocky soil, some is mixed in with weeds, and some seed is cast in good soil. The seed is the word of God. The soil is the condition of our hearts.

Israel’s problem wasn’t the message, for God’s word was filled with promise and hope and the very goodness of God. The problem wasn’t in the evidence, for they had seen water turned to dry land. The problem wasn’t in the preaching; could there have been better preachers than Moses and Aaron? The problem wasn’t the seed. The problem was the soil of their hearts.

Like compacted soil, they were indifferent and angry and stubborn. Like the thorny soil, they were in love with the things of the world. Like the shallow soil, they wanted what was easy. They did not hear the word of God in faith.

If they had received the word of God in faith, it would have been to them like life giving rain falling on a dry and dusty land. They would receive it with all attentiveness, with hearts rejoicing, with every ambition to do what it says. Such is the fertile heart. But theirs were hard.

So what is it that we should fear, like verse 1 talks about? What is the holy fear we should possess that would help us enter God’s rest? Fear hardness of heart! Fear the freeze that would make your heart grow cold!

The author labors over Moses’ generation, and why they did not enter God’s rest. He was pleading with the 1^st century Hebrews. These Christians were in grave danger of their own hearts becoming hard.

In Hebrews 13, it becomes clear why. In chapter 13 we hear their problems: the love of money, sexual immorality, failure to love one another, disregarding their spiritual leaders, entertaining strange teachings, and trusting in a kingdom of this world. The problem of the Hebrews wasn’t their Jewishness. Their problem was their worldliness!

These were Christians! Week in and week out they went to church, sitting in their pews. They knew the Scriptures, deeply. They lived in the time of the Apostles, hearing some of the best gospel preachers ever. And still, hardness of heart crept in.

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts!

It’s a hardness of hard that creeps in, slow, over the years. You hear God’s word, yet you forget it when you go home. You hear God’s word, but there is a screen, there is an activity for your kids, there is everything else to do, and God’s word is choked out. You hear God’s word, but you sit there and say to yourself, “I’ve heard this all before. Nothing new.” Or maybe, “I know someone who really needs to hear this message,” and like a fool you do not think it is for yourself.

This goes on year after year, and bit by bit your heart crusts over, hardening, and the beat of true life is lost. And you question if you are worthy. Am I beautiful? Do I have what it takes? You feel the need to keep proving yourself. And the fears that love was meant to cast out overwhelm you. Why is it that no matter how much I sleep, I’m exhausted? Restlessness.

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts!

Read vs 11-13

Though verses 12 and 13 are very well known, I’m going to spend almost no time speaking about them. Honestly, the meaning of these verses is very much embedded in the entirety of this sermon.

Verse 11: strive to enter God’s rest. Work to enter rest. How’s that for a paradox?! Work to rest. Because if you do not strive, you are a disobedient unbeliever, the fate of Moses’ generation will be yours.

What is this work we must undertake that will bring us into God’s rest?

Receive God’s word with faith! If your heart is rocky, thorny, or shallow, what work must be done to prepare the soil of your heart? First, go to Jesus!

The Tree of Life stood at the center of Eden. By enjoying its fruit Adam and Eve lived in God’s rest. But in sin they chose another tree, and God’s rest was broken. Their work, once part of God’s rest, was filled with toil and pain and thorns.

God knew the only way to restore rest unto man would be nothing short of establishing a new creation. So he took that tree of life upon his own shoulder, in its twisted form, wrapped in thorns. In agony, in the shame of nakedness, he died on the cross. When Jesus died there, the death of the restless, the old creation died with him.

But with his death, he was making something new. Just before his life escaped, he cried out in a loud voice, “It is finished!” All was accomplished. Then he rested from his work, bowed his head, and died.

The doom of us all. Jesus’ body was laid in the tomb. Death swallowed Jesus like a void. Darkness. Formless. But the Spirit rested upon the Beloved Son, and into the darkness spoke the Creator, “Let there be light!” In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, The Light of the World burst from death to life! On a Sunday morning came forth the new creation!

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.        

-2 Corinthians 4:6

          If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.                                                          -2 Corinthians 5:17

If you believe these things, if you trust in Jesus to have finished all the work on your behalf, then God promises you are his son or daughter. You are forgiven, you are righteous, you are blessed, you are anointed, you are loved. Your Heavenly Father promises you the new heavens and the new earth as an inheritance – the Promised Land is yours! All the promises of God are yes in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20).

This is the good news! You have heard it!

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts!

Receive God’s word with faith! And we know it’s God’s word we are to receive because of how this passage ends.

Read vs 12-13

Today, and just for today, I jettison my normal “Think, Believe, Do.” I want our entire focus to be on answering the question, how do we receive God’s word by faith? Because receiving God’s work in faith is how we enter God’s rest. This is the striving of verse 11, the striving that would bring us into God’s rest.

          Whenever you hear God’s word – whether you’ve read it in the Bible, heard it taught in Sunday School, sat under faithful preaching – listen with a hungry heart. This should be the perpetual posture of your heart: “This word is for me. I desperately need to believe it. I need it to transform me. Without this word, what have I got?”

          Then, having listened to the word with an eager and faithful heart, do what it says.

          But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

                                                                                      -James 1:22

          Don’t listen with indifference. Don’t forget what you’ve heard. Don’t let it get choked out by worldliness or self-reliance. Don’t just be a pew sitter. Receive God’s word with faith and you will enter God’s rest. Know that you have listened with faith because you go and do what it says; to take the Promised Land, to lay hold of eternal life, striving to enter God’s rest.

          Let me rapid fire a few passages at you.

          Isaiah 55:10-13

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.  “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”            

Jeremiah 23:29

Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

1        Peter 1:23

You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.

It is finished. Rest in the completed word of Christ. Faith rests in the truth that …you are God’s adopted children. You are forgiven. You are righteous. You are blessed. You are anointed. You are loved. Your Heavenly Father promises you will inherit the new heavens and the new earth – the Promised Land is yours! The victory is yours! All the promises of God are yes in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20).

You have nothing to prove. There is nothing to earn. It is finished. Christ has done everything for you. By faith, rest, now go and do what Jesus has said.

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.