Jesus Offers a Better Rest, Part 1

Jesus Offers a Better Rest, Part 1 Hebrews 3:7-3:19

We’re glad you’re here today. Our topic in the book of Hebrews over the next two weeks is “Jesus Offers a Better Rest.” And that topic in the book of Hebrews extends from Hebrews 3:7 to 4:13. We’ll look at half of the scripture passage this week and half next week.

But I’d like to read all of it this morning. Anybody confused? (Two week topic—one long scripture--Half of the scripture this week; half next week. But I want to read the entire scripture passage from which the two week topic will be derived today)

I’ll begin in Hebrews 3:7….Hebrews 3:7…we’ll read all the way through Hebrews 4:13

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. 10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ 11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ” 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” 16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. 4 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,

1 “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. ______

Jesus Offers a Better Rest… Now there are five key ideas that will help us understand this passage and I’d like to address those key ideas up front. Wendy Silvey, one of our in-house artists, illustrated the five ideas for me and she did a great job.

The first idea is the…

■ Sabbath

Now when I mention the Sabbath, what comes to mind? It’s that day each week when Jews cease from doing any work. The word ‘sabbath’ itself in Hebrew means to “cease” or “desist.”

It was God himself who “Sabbath-ed” first. We learn about that in Genesis 2…. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

I have to admit that the idea of God resting from his work has always left me in a quandary. My quandary grew recently when I read in Exodus 31:17 that the Lord “was refreshed” by his day of rest. 1 Go figure! But really we err if we think that God was tired after six days… “Wow…This creation stuff is hard work….I better create a tree so I can have some shade to rest under!” No, it seems that the theme of God resting “hints at a purpose of creation”2 And that’s a pregnant thought—God’s resting hints at a purpose of creation. (It makes you wonder if we could fast forward to the last two chapters in the bible, Revelation 21-22 and say… “The story is finished…and God is resting with his people and his people have entered his rest”…we don’t find those words but I think that is what is going on)

Now why did God give the Sabbath to Israel? Most students of scripture tell us that it served as a sign, or reminder, of two great truths—creation and redemption.3

1 Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (p. 1874). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.

2 ESV Study Bible, page 52

2 That the Sabbath was a reminder of creation shows up in Exodus 20, where the Ten Commandments were given by God to Israel.

So the Sabbath was a reminder of creation. God worked and then he rested. The Jews were to work and then rest. Well In the book of Deuteronomy, God gives the Jews another reason why they should observe the Sabbath and the Sabbath also becomes a reminder to the Israelites of their redemption from Egypt…

So the Sabbath was a reminder to the Jews that God was their creator and redeemer. But it seems like there’s an observation about the Sabbath that often gets overlooked. I can’t help but thinking that the Sabbath served a very practical and humanitarian reminder that we humans need to rest. Life goes better when we punctuate our work with times of rest and God knew that.

Now let me pull it all together with an imaginary conversation between an Israelite living in the land of Canaan and one of his Canaanite neighbors who is intrigued by the fact that his neighbor across the fence, every seven days stops working. So he asks him, “Why do you rest every seven days?” “We rest,” the Israelite might reply, “as a reminder that we have a creator—He worked and He rests, we work and we rest. But our weekly Sabbath also reminds us that we have redeemer who delivered us from slavery

3 Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (p. 1874). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House; O’Brien adds ‘atonement’ , Lev. 16:31

3 in Egypt. But there’s another practical reason we rest—our God calls us to rest. So you see the Sabbath reminds me I have a creator, I have a redeemer, and I have a God who calls me to rest.

I have a creator. I have a redeemer. I have a God who calls me to rest.

It seems that when God established the Sabbath there at Mt Sinai, he was prefiguring the rest he would one day accomplish for the people of God. In other words the Sabbath points to the rest that God will one day have with his people forever and ever and ever. In Hebrews 4—in the second half of the passage we’ll cover next week—the writer of Hebrews will argue that God’s Sabbath rest continues and if God’s Sabbath rest continues the promise of entering his rest continues. Does God’s Sabbath rest continue? Have you ever thought about that?

What refrain follows each day in Genesis 1? And there was evening and there was morning, day 1… And there was evening and there was morning day 2…. And there was evening and there morning, day 3….. that refrain seems to punctuate each day… But after day 7 that refrain is missing. God’s Sabbath, God’s rest still continues!4 And that’s going to be an important part of the author of Hebrew’s argument when we get to Hebrews 4

So the Sabbath is an important background idea for the passage in Hebrews we’ll be looking at this week and next, dealing with rest. Well the second idea is what we’re calling the ‘Wilderness Generation’….

■Wilderness Generation

Wendy’s illustration shows a whole group of people telling God that they won’t follow His directions.

The wilderness generation is that group of people in our bible who exited Egypt but who wouldn’t follow God into the Promised Land. As a result they were forced to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until all the grownups—those over the age of 20-- died off.

It’ll be helpful to refresh our memories about this group of people. It’s estimated that there were perhaps 2,000,000 of them (if you count women and children). They exited Egypt in Exodus 14. As you may remember, within a few days of crossing the Red Sea, they had come to a place where there was no water. And the people quarreled with Moses and tested the Lord. God ultimately provided water for the people but Moses named that fateful place Massah (which means testing) and Meribah (which means quarreling). This was the first time the wilderness generation tested the Lord but not the last. We learn later that the people tested God some ten times on their way to the Promised Land. In fact one could say that the entire wilderness experience was characterized by rebellion.

Deut 9:7 From the day you came out of the land of Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord

Deut 9:24 You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day I knew you

4 Hughes, page 110

4 Well this people we’re calling the “Wilderness Generation” finally made its way to Kadesh Barnea on the edge of the Promised Land. From Kadesh Barnea—I’m sure you know the story—12 spies were sent into the land to spy it out. Two of the twelve spies said “Let’s go, God can help us!” Ten of the spies argued on the contrary, that even though the land was a good one, the people were strong, the cities were fortified, and there were giants in the land. The ten spies described the land ominously like this, “The land is a land that devours its inhabitants”5 Well the people listened to the ten spies and rebelled against the Lord. (All of the people heard good news about the land but they didn’t believe that God could bring them into it. They heard the good news but it didn’t profit them)

I think it will be helpful if we turn to Numbers 14 and and look first hand at the people’s rebellion….and God’s response to it. It’ll be good for us to get their rebellion into our minds to inoculate us from allowing it to get into our hearts!

Numbers 14…picking up in verse 1…. Numbers 14….verse 1.

Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. (Now at this point in the story, the spies have given their reports. And the people have become convinced that they can’t follow God into the land and they won’t follow God into the land) 2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. (Imagine the sound of that…would you think of something you’d like to grumble about and let’s grumble together. Ready go! ) Well The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” Notice how they are talking to one another.. “Let’s go back!... If only we had died in Egypt! God’s going to send us into the land and kill us all! All our wives and children are going to die! Let’s go back!” And they said to one another. Make a note of this The writer of Hebrews is going to challenge us to speak to one another differently….Hebrews 3:13 ….13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Continuing in verse 5… 5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. 6 And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. In a sense Joshua and Caleb are preaching good news there aren’t they….the land is an exceedingly good land…the rest which 8 God wants to give us is an exceedingly good rest…. Verse If the LORD delights in us, …..and he does….

From our Exodus study do you remember the words that God said to the people in Exodus 19… 4 You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be

5 Numbers 13:32

5 my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

Continuing in verse 8 If the Lord delights in us …AND HE DOES…( if the Lord has called you to obey and do something you can be sure he will enable you to get er done!) If the Lord delights in us AND HE DOES…..he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the LORD . And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.” (Again Joshua and Caleb just preached the good news didn’t they?….“God has planned a wonderful rest for us in the land. Don’t fear! God’s with us!” ) 10 Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. (“Everybody find a stone! Let’s stone Joshua and Caleb!”) But the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel. 11 And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? God has done a stunning number of signs in their midst and he is incredulous that his people won’t obey him and enter the land…. Do you ever wonder if God encounters our unbelief the same way? I’ve done so much for you… how could you not follow me in obedience? 12 I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

Well in verses 13-19 Moses intercedes for the people and God relents. Let’s pick up the story in verse 20…

20 Then the LORD said, “I have pardoned, according to your word. 21 But truly, as I live…God is making an oath here...and the writer of Hebrews in our passage will pick up on God’s oath….so keep that in mind that God swore an oath…. and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD , 22 none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, 23 shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it.

Skip to verse 28… 28 Say to them, ‘As I live..again there is the oath terminology which the writer of Hebrews will pick up… declares the LORD , what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: 29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, …. God knows exactly who is on the census…God knows who has grumbled…God knows who said “I won’t follow you!” How does this passage on rest end…Hebrews 4:13… And no creature is hidden from his sight but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him 30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected.

6 Notice, there in verse 31, that the wilderness generation rejected the good news and were prevented from entering the rest of God. But their children, the next generation, were allowed to go into the land. So we see here a pattern of promise—promise rejected—promise renewed.6 And again I want you to make a mental note of that. Again that’s going to be a theme when we’re back in Hebrews—each generation will be challenged afresh to enter God’s rest.

So here are the three facts that we want to bookmark in our thinking about the wilderness generation… 1.) They heard the good news about the land… God’s rest….but hearing was not enough. 2.) As a community they failed God’s test and spoke disparagingly to each other about God’s plan for them and they ended up rejecting God’s plan 3) Their story is an example of the promise of rest being offered, the promise being rejected and then the promise being offered again which we will see in our Hebrews text.

So it’s going to be this ‘wilderness generation’ who is going to supply the negative example for the writer of Hebrews. “Don’t be like them!” he’ll say. “Don’t have an unbelieving heart like them which will lead you to fall away from the living God!”

Well let’s move forward in time. The wilderness generation dies off. They hardened their hearts against God and his will. They had been hardened by the deceitfulness of sin and wandered away from God. And in the book of Deuteronomy, a new generation is poised to enter the Promised Land and we find these words in Deuteronomy 12…

So the new generation, the generation of children whose parents died in the wilderness, is poised to inherit the rest which God intended for his people. God offered rest to the wilderness generation. They rebelled and God offered the rest to their children.

And a verse at the end of the book of Joshua confirms that the second generation experienced God’s rest.

6 Lane, pp. 97-98

7 By the end of the book of Joshua the people are in the land. So “rest” was initially a place—it was the Promised Land. It was the place where God was, where God was present to protect and provide.

Now it’s important that we make an observation here… “The notion of rest within the Scriptures is one of expanding horizons”.7 Even these five illustrations up on the stage, when you see them, will communicate that. And again the point is, that as we trace the concept of ‘rest’ throughout the scriptures the idea changes, the idea expands At the end of the journey—heaven, the new heavens and the new earth, “rest” will be a place. But it will also be a relationship with God. In fact between last week and this week, I thought of a way to try to visually communicate this expansion of the idea of rest.

OT is Old Testament. NT is New Testament. ET is Eternity

Well that brings us to our third idea or passage….

■Psalm 95

You can see from this illustration on the stage that the Psalm is organized in a very interesting way. The first half is an invitation to worship God as the great king. The second half of the psalm is a warning to not be like guess who? the wilderness generation. {So catch that-- the author of Psalm 95 is going to use

7 Hebrews, Lane, “The notion of rest within the Scriptures is one of expanding horizons. For Israel at Kadesh, and in the Hexateuch generally, the promise of rest connoted entrance into Canaan. But the review of Israel’s failure to enter God’s rest in Ps 95, long after the conquest and settlement of the land under Joshua, indicated that those events did not exhaust the divine intention. They represented only a type of the rest promised to the people of God.”

8 the wilderness generation as a negative example in his time. And we’ll see that the author of Hebrews is going to use the wilderness generation as a negative example in his time. More evidence that the promise of entering God’s rest by faith is available to every generation}

Let’s look at the Psalm first hand. Turn there with me if you would. We don’t know who the author of psalm 95 is. (Although the Greek translation of the Old Testament attributes the authorship to David and that possibly correlates with Hebrews 4:7. If you were to look at Hebrews 4:7 it seems to say that David spoke the words…. Today, if you hear his voice…. ) We don’t know exactly when it was written but we can surmise that it was probably written several hundred years after the wilderness generation was on the scene.

Look at verses 1 and 2…

Oh come, let us sing to the LORD ; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! And then in verse 3the psalmist gives us the reason why should we make joyful noises to God. Why should we come into his presence with thanksgiving? 3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. The author is saying, “Let’s worship God with all that we are. Let’s make a joyful noise to him. Let’s come into his presence with thanksgiving.” Why? Because He’s a great God and a great King above all Gods.

In verse 4 and 5 God owns it all… Verse 4 From bottom to top the earth is his Verse 5 The sea is his! The land is his!

6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! 7 For (here’s the reason) he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

When we talked about the wilderness generation, we said that when the people came out of Egypt, that within a few days, they came to a place with no water. And they grumbled and quarreled and rebelled against God. Moses called the place Massah (which means testing) and Meribah (which means quarreling). What should they have done instead of grumbling, quarrelling, testing and rebelling? What should you and I do when we come to a hard place? What should you students do as your crying uncontrollably as your parents leave (I cried when my mom left me off at Texas A&M) or later this week when you lie on your floor overwhelmed by syllabus shock? What should we do when we encounter difficult places? I think it’s time to worship! How’s that for a counterintuitive move!

9 I think the wilderness generation—when they encountered difficulty-- should have worshipped. Worship is a great way to remind ourselves of who God is and who we are.

Let me put words in the mouths of the wilderness generation…

O Yahweh you are a great God, …there’s no water for us but you are a great God. You are a great King above all gods. We worship you with all that we are. We make a joyful noise to you. We come into your presence with thanksgiving. Why? Because You’re a great God and a great King above all Gods. From bottom to top the earth is yours The sea is yours! The land is yours! The Letourneau campus is yours! My statics professor…he’s yours! Let us worship and bow down… Because You are our God… And we are the people of Your pasture And the sheep of your hand…

Do you think that would have caused history to be different?

Well when the Israelites came to Kadesh Barnea and found out from the spies that the cities were fortified and populated by giants, what should they have done? Again they should have worshipped. Worship is a great way to remind ourselves of who God is and who we are.

Well they didn’t worship, they quarreled and rebelled. And so in the middle of verse 7, Psalm 95 turns to warning…. Today, (notice ‘today’ would be the day when the psalmist is writing) if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as at Meribah (that’s quarrelling) as on the day at Massah (that’s testing) in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.

We harden our hearts when we become stubborn and obstinate and we stop believing the truth 8 Our hearts are hardened when they become dull and unresponsive to God and his word. 9 The poster child for one who hardened his heart is Pharaoh.

10 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.” 11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.” Look at verse 11, notice the ‘oath’ by God…. I swore in my wrath. And notice how the psalm ends with the word ‘rest. ’ So the psalmist is telling his generation not to fail to enter God’s rest.

8 OBrien

9 ESV Study Bible

10 So in verse 8, we see the mention of Massah and Meribah which occurred just days after the people left Egypt—we’re talking Exodus 17. By the time we get to verse 11 it’s pretty clear that the psalmist is thinking about Numbers 14. 10 So from the moment they exited Egypt all the way to Kadesh Barnea, the people were rebellious.

Well that brings us to our fourth idea…

■Already/Not Yet Rest

Let me explain the illustration. It’s a man holding his pillow. Here’s the deal. There is a question among students of scripture about whether the rest promised in our passage in Hebrews is entirely future (the rest we will experience in the millennium or the new heavens and earth) or whether there’s an already-but-not-yet dimension to the rest mentioned here11. Now what do I mean by the ‘already- not-yet’ phrase? In Christ, the rest of God has been inaugurated; we as Christians experience a type of rest already through our fellowship with God. The rest is ‘already’ but it’s not yet the rest we will experience in the eternal state. Didn’t Jesus say “Come to me and I will give you rest?” So in relationship with Jesus we have a measure of the rest God intends but it’s not yet the final rest that we will experience in the end times.

We use this ‘already/not yet’ concept a lot when we talk about spiritual things. How about when we talk about the kingdom of God? Is the kingdom of God present? Or is it only future? Or has it been inaugurated already in a preliminary form. I believe the kingdom of God is in our midst already in a preliminary form. Where ever the gospel lands, there is God’s kingdom. And yet we know that the kingdom of God will come in power in the future. So we talk about the kingdom of God as an ‘already/but not yet’ kingdom. What about our ‘location’ as believers? What do I mean? Ephesians 2:6 tells us that we are already seated in the heavenly places in Christ. In some sense we are already there with God but we know we are not yet there as we will be. Hebrews 12:22—taking a peak at the end of the book-- tells us we have already arrived at the heavenly city. What are we to do with that? In

10 The influence of Num 14 on the quotation is pervasive (see especially the analysis of Hofius, Katapausis, 118–31). The opening line, “Today, if you hear his voice” (v 7), is a response to the charge lodged by God in Num 14:22, “They did not listen to my voice,” an accusation that is echoed in subsequent references to the episode at Kadesh (Deut 9:23b; Ps 106[LXX 105]:25b; CD 3:7–8; Ps-Philo, Bib Ant. 15.5). The rare term παραπικρασμός, “rebellion,” in v 8, which occurs nowhere else in the LXX (but cf. 1 Kgs 15:23 Aq.; Prov 17:11 Theod.) and was apparently coined on the basis of the cognate verb παραπικράνειν, “to rebel,” at the time the psalm was translated, was well chosen to convey the concept of rebellion in Num 14:35. The “day of testing in the desert” has clear reference to Num 14:11b, 21–22, when the Israelites defied God in a particularly offensive manner, in spite of the fact that they had experienced the miraculous intervention of God in Egypt and the desert. The complaint, “Their hearts are always going astray” (v 10b), corresponds to Num 14:22b, “They have already tested me ten times.” It indicates that God’s anger (cf. Num 14:11, 23, 43b) was not aroused by a single incident but by a persistent tendency to refuse his direction. Finally, the quotation of God’s solemn oath resumes Num 14:21–23, 28–30. The formulation of v 11 corresponds to the words in Num 14:30, “You will certainly not enter the land!” The finality of God’s oath and the judgment it sealed must be seen as a just and adequate recompense for Israel’s tragic defiance (Hofius, Katapausis, 126). Lane, Word Biblical Commentary….It would appear that the writer had the Book of Numbers opened before him when he composed this section of the sermon. In 3:1–6 he seized on Num 12:7 and found in the testimony to Moses’ faithfulness an occasion for comparing Jesus and Moses. In Num 13:1–25 he read of Israel’s encampment at Kadesh, the gateway to Canaan, and of the sending of scouts to explore the promised land. In response to their report (Num 13:26–33), Israel determined to defy the Lord and return to Egypt, in spite of the assurances of Joshua and Caleb. Their rebellion called forth the solemn oath of God that barred their entrance into the land (Num 14:1–35).

11 Schreiner, page 136 has a list of scholars that fall in either camp—those who believe God’s rest is only future and those who believe that an ‘already-but-not-yet’ dimension of the rest is present.

11 one sense believers have even now arrived and come to the heavenly city, but in another sense the heavenly city is still future. And so this already/not yet idea helps us understand several spiritual concepts.

And that’s the way it is with the rest of God. “The rest (of God) is fundamentally eschatological, and yet the eschaton has penetrated the present”12…I realize that a sentence like that should never be read in church…Every so often I read a sentence like that publicly to just feel smart….. What did that sentence mean? what it means is that God’s rest is fundamentally future, at the end of time, and yet the end times have penetrated the present. So in the illustration, Bob the Believer is holding a pillow.

“Believers enter God’s rest, which has been accessible since the day of creation; but they have not entered the fullness of his rest, for they must continue to believe and obey until the end to obtain it.” 13

Well the final illustration of rest is…

■The Eternal State…11:10; 13-16, 12:22; 13:14

In Hebrews, the final rest is called the heavenly city (11:10, 16; 12:22; 13:14), a homeland (11:14) and an unshakable kingdom (12:28) what Hebrews 12:22 calls Mt Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22-24)14

And there we will experience the fullness of God’s rest.

Five ideas that will help us understand our passage this morning… The Sabbath, The Wilderness Generation, Psalm 95, The Already/Not Yet Rest, and The Eternal State

______

Well let’s begin looking at verses 3:7-19 in our remaining time.

If you were with us two weeks ago, Justin looked at the first six verses of Hebrews 3 where the writer highlighted the faithfulness of Moses as a servant in God’s house and the faithfulness of Jesus as a son over God’s house. Hebrews 3:6 says but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son and we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. Notice the ‘if’ in verse 6. A person is truly a Christian if he endures to the end. True believers persevere to the end.

And wasn’t that the issue with the original recipients of the book of Hebrews? They had originally turned to Christ BUT because of persecution perhaps, they were tempted to return to their Jewish roots. They were tempted to drift away from Christ and from the faith they once held dear. They were tempted to not follow Jesus all the way to receive the rest that God offers through Jesus.

12 Schreiner, page 137

14 O’Brien

12 And so he begins with the warning section of Psalm 95…

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, Notice that ‘today’ is now ‘today’ of the first century. This warning applies to every today we could envision. And it applies to us….’today’ 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,…the author has in mind Massah and Meribah, Exodus 17

And again we harden our hearts when we become stubborn and obstinate and we stop believing the truth. We harden our hearts when we let our hearts become dull to spiritual things because of the sin in our lives. We harden our hearts when we keep the truth at arm’s distance. Hardening our hearts “refers to stubbornness and willful disobedience [Blm, NCBC], and refusal to listen or understand [NTC, TH]”. 15 The Israelites’ hearts were unyielding and embittered against God because of the wilderness hardships [Lns].16

9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. 10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ As we said, rebellion characterized the wilderness generation. They always went astray. 11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ” As we said God made an oath that they would not enter his rest. And the concept of rest at that point in biblical history meant the land of Canaan.

Now from verse 12 on, the author of Hebrews is going to take key words from Psalm 95—heart, day, today, hear, enter, test, rest and unbelief17—and weave them into a strong warning…. His readers must take care, they must see to it, they must beware lest they fall away from the living God.

Look at verse 12…

12 Take care…watch out…see to it… brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. What might an unbelieving heart sound like? God doesn’t love me. God’s not going to care for me. God’s not involved in my life. Ever thought or said those things?

13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

15 Greenlee, J. H. (2008). An Exegetical Summary of Hebrews (2nd ed., p. 97). Dallas, TX: SIL International.

16 Greenlee, J. H. (2008). An Exegetical Summary of Hebrews (2nd ed., p. 98). Dallas, TX: SIL International.

17 Guthrie, page 129

13 Verse 12 tells us that an unbelieving evil heart will lead us to fall away—and ‘falling away’ is the Greek word from which we get the English word apostasy—an evil heart will lead us toward apostasy from the living God.

It all starts with the heart doesn’t it? John Owen the Puritan writes… “It is the duty for every believer to be alert on every occasion, in case at any time he should possess a sinful, unbelieving heart. This verse shows the principle of evil, a sinful, unbelieving heart, and the effect of that principle, turning away from the living God.18 The Christian life is all about heart maintenance. You wake up in the morning and negative things are coming out of your mouth… It’s time to do some heart maintenance. What’s in your heart? What’s in your heart today? Watch over your heart with all diligence, Proverbs 4:23, says, for from it flow the springs of life.

Well we’re not only to be introspective, verse 12, but we’re to be deeply involved in each other’s lives. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today’

The verb exhort19 has a range of meanings—from warning and reproof to encouragement, and the implication is that it should be done in a loving way (Forkman, Religious Community, 47–50).20

Encouragement and exhortation, the author believes, are a community project and a mutual endeavor. 21

We need to humbly say to the drifting, “Today, brother, today, sister, listen to his voice, so that you may not be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness, making tomorrow’s repentance and faith more difficult.” 22

You remember the wilderness generation. They grumbled to each other. They complained to each other. “Let’s go back to Egypt”. The writer of Hebrews says… 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Verse 14 gives us the reason why we must exhort one another…

14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

18 Owen, J. (1998). Hebrews (p. 66). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

19 παρακαλεῖν

20 Lane, W. L. (1998). Hebrews 1–8 (Vol. 47A, p. 87). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.

22 Hughes, R. K. (1993). Hebrews: an anchor for the soul (Vol. 1, p. 103). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

14 The author again sounds the note of perseverance….we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence….in other words those with a genuine faith will persevere.23 And those who persevere to the end will find God’s rest.

What does the author mean by we have come to share in Christ (ESV, NIV) OR we are made partakers of Christ (KJV)?24 In a general way the word ‘sharers’ means associates or companions. James and John were sharers, associates in Peter’s fishing business.25 But the author of Hebrews is probably saying that they have become Christians. We are “in Christ” …we’ve come to share in Him, we’ve come to share in his joy, we’ve come to share in his labors, we’ve come to share in his fellowship…. if indeed we hold our confidence firm to the end.

Verse 15…

15 As it is said,

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

The author returns to Psalm 95… Become pliable, attentive, and eager to do what the Lord commands. Don’t imitate the wilderness generation, which hardened themselves against the Lord and resisted his instructions so that they failed to enter Canaan26

In verses 16-18, the author drives home his point home with a series of questions and answers.

16 QUESTION… For who were those who heard and yet rebelled?

ANSWER Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? In other words was it not the roughly 2,000,000 people who left Egypt? The people who saw God’s signs and wonders in Egypt, who witnessed Pharaoh being brought to his knees and who experienced a mighty deliverance at the Red Sea?

They really experienced God… all of them but they rebelled.

23 O’Brien, P. T. (2010). The Letter to the Hebrews (p. 149). Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

24 On balance, the phrase probably signifies that they are sharers in Christ: as companions of the Son of God they share his joy (1:9); and since he is the heir of all things (1:2), they participate in his inheritance (1:14). Since they are his brothers and sisters (2:11–13), their hope is of sharing with him in the honour and glory attained through his death and exaltation (2:8–9), and so of participating in his heavenly, unshakable kingdom (12:28). The imperfective aspect of the verb, which signals intensity,146 indicates that both author and hearers are ‘sharers in Christ’. It is not stated when they became companions of the Messiah, but the discourse suggests that it was on the occasion when the message of salvation was received by and confirmed to them (2:1–4). O’Brien, P. T. (2010). The Letter to the Hebrews (p. 150). Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

25 Luke 5:7

15 17 QUESTION…And with whom was he provoked for forty years? The author is driving home how long the wilderness generation experienced God’s wrath—40 years. The wilderness generation provoked God. Rebellions has terrible consequences, doesn’t it? ANSWER Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?....what a picture…dead bodies all over the wilderness

18 QUESTION And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, ANSWER…but to those who were disobedient?

19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

The wilderness generation had many defects…

They had hardened their hearts (3:8, 13, 15) They tested God (3:9) They went astray (3:10) They rebelled (3:15-16) They sinned (3:17) They were disobedient (3:18)27 Here the author identifies their sin as unbelief…. the root of every other sin.

Listen to Hebrews 3:12–13 from the Message…

So watch your step, friends. Make sure there’s no evil unbelief lying around that will trip you up and throw you off course, diverting you from the living God. For as long as it’s still God’s Today, keep each other on your toes so sin doesn’t slow down your reflexes.

We’ll cover the first 13 verses of Hebrews 4 next week. And the rest of these foundational ideas will come into play

Chapter 4:3 “Already/Not Yet” Rest Chapter 4:3, 7 Psalm 95 Chapter 4:4-5 The Sabbath Chapter 4:9-10 Eternal Rest ______Three points of application….

1. Don’t be like them. When God tells you to do something in his word, do it! Don’t let evil unbelief lead you to fall away from the living God. Where is your heart today?

2. Jesus offers a better rest.

27 Schreiner makes this list, page 131

16 28 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.”

“As Jesus looks out on a desert-wandering humanity, his solution is “Come to me.”

Not, “Come to a set of teachings” (although Jesus does call us to that as well); Not, “Come to church” (although Jesus does call us to a community of faith); Not, “Come to your psychologist” (although God can use gifted counselors); Not, “Come to a vacation” (although we could probably all use a break).

No. Rather, he says, “Come to me.”

Jesus offers the ultimate source for true rest, for true rest is found only in a right relationship with the person of God. The rest is his rest, for his people, found by obeying his Word.28

Have you entered the rest that Jesus offers?

3. As we gear up for the fall after a wonderful summer, let’s make sure that we’re richly hearing and obeying all that God would say to us in his word.

Colossians 3:16---16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

QUESTION—In what way is the word of Christ to dwell in us richly? It is to be an integral and permanent living force in us, and not merely an outward performance [TH]. It dwells in us as we meditate on it, think about it, memorize it, absorb its truths and principles, get to know it [SSA]. We are to know it, to understand it, to be under its influence and to allow it to have its way in our lives [Ea]. We should recognize its authority and let it rule in our lives [WBC]. It is to be our guide [Lns]. It is to be operative as a powerful force and not merely as a passive resident [EG, Herm], producing its effects in the conduct of the community of believers [Herm]. It should govern everything we think, say, and do [NTC].29

This fall let’s gear up to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly! Hearing the word, Reading the word Studying the word, Memorizing the word and Meditating on the word.

You students don’t neglect the Word! You Fathers don’t neglect the Word! You Mothers don’t neglect the word! You children don’t neglect the Word!

28 Guthrie, G. (1998). Hebrews (p. 166). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

29 King, M. (2008). An Exegetical Summary of Colossians (2nd ed., pp. 272–273). Dallas, TX: SIL International.