The Rest of Faith

Hebrews 4:1-11

January 21, 2001

           

The casual way that the name "Christian" is tossed around in our day would have been a major affront to the writer of Hebrews. For him, there was no room for entertaining other passions or loyalties and still be called a believer. With a pastoral heart he writes to exhort these professing believers to (1) be certain of their faith in Christ and (2) to enjoy all the wonders of being in union with Christ. To hobnob with the world or play loosely with the anchor of their faith in Christ was inexcusable. Yes, for him, it was even damnable.

 

Rest is the optimum word in our context, as it embodies the eternal salvation that is ours in Jesus Christ. To trust in the merits of Jesus Christ alone is to know the "rest of God." To deny and turn from the sufficient merits of Christ is to be barred from God's rest. With tenderness, the writer contemplates that a few among them were dangerously close to the "warning track," approaching the point of denying Christ and turning from the sufficiency of the gospel. So he calls for their attention and action. Such a warning is for us as well, for there may be those among us who are quietly playing loose with the gospel of grace, embracing other passions, and turning in heart from the sufficiency of Christ they've heard proclaimed. The eternal rest of God is found only through faith in Christ. How do we diligently enter that rest?

 

I. Rest considered

 

Whatever this idea of rest might be, the writer has intense concern that some of his audience might not be certain of it, or worse yet, might fail to experience rest. He certainly does not intend to create doubts on the part of any who are genuine believers. But he does want to shake the spiritually lethargic and spiritually unconcerned from their slumber. And he wants to show those genuine believers who are struggling with the threat of persecution that the "rest of God" would be adequate for whatever they faced. With this in mind, let's consider the various possibilities he sets forth concerning rest.

Possibility of...


1. Coming up short

 

After seeing how he had already set forth in chapter 3 the reality that some of the first generation out of Egypt did not enter the rest of God because of their unbelief, he now makes application of his teaching through a strong exhortation. "Therefore," draws a secure knot on the doctrine just stated (3:7-19) and instructs, "let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it." The "rest" of which he speaks encapsulates the whole work of Christ in salvation. He does not suggest for a moment that this "rest" has been denied them or that it is impossible to enter into or even that they are past any sense of hope. But he does warn of the possibility that there are some who have heard the promise of God with great clarity yet might possibly come up short of the promised rest.

 

To "come short of it" is a vivid term that describes someone that is falling behind. It pictures a company of soldiers marching along with one person that cannot keep step and continually falls farther and farther behind. He appeared to be with the rest of the pack but in time he falls short. The perfect tense of the verb implies that this is not a momentary lapse or a brief struggle with sin; rather it is a settled condition, an abiding failure to enter into God's rest. The people of God go marching forth; he ever slips back into the world. It is someone who has gone along with the people of God, apparently "marching to Zion," but never making it. It was described by our Lord as those who cry, "Lord, Lord," declaring all that they have done, but hearing the declaration, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who work iniquity" (Matt. 7:21-23). They have a start on the Christian life, but they do not finish. They are around believers, talk like believers, and maybe even engage in service like believers; but they "come short" of God's rest: they have never known the saving grace of God.

 

So that we might understand what he means by this strong implication, our writer tells us, "For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard." He returns to that first generation that heard the promise of God about entering into Canaan Land. It was Moses who preached and God who promised. At Kadesh-Barnea it was Joshua and Caleb who preached and God that promised. They heard the good news of what God would do; but they would not believe God. Again the perfect tense is used in the phrase, "had good news preached" to describe the adequacy of the message preached. It was not that they did not understand what God had promised. They just would not believe God.

 

Could that be the problem of someone in our midst? You have heard the good news of the gospel of Christ, just as the Israelites heard the good news of God's promise. You have understood what was preached, but you do not believe. Maybe you think that Jesus Christ's death and resurrection is not adequate for your salvation. Or maybe you think that God's promise cannot be trusted so that you must add something else to the work of Christ.

 

Why did the good news not profit these Israelites? "Because it was not united by faith in those who heard." "United," describes a sure, certain faith in the good news of Christ. It is a faith that is settled upon Christ rather than running to and fro toward every new "revelation" that comes through town or every whim that passes the thoughts. Have you anchored your faith upon Jesus Christ?

 

2. Entering into rest

 

The wonderful promise is, those who have had the good news preached to them and believe, enter into the rest of God. "For we who have believed enter that rest," he declares. Like the Apostle Paul, this writer puts an emphasis on the proclamation of the gospel, hearing it, and believing. "How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?" (Rom. 10:14). We must never despise the proclamation of the gospel, for it is only in hearing that believing is possible. Without proclamation, whether from pulpit, classroom, one-on-one, or the written page, the mind will not be engaged upon the sufficiency of Jesus Christ in his person and work for our salvation. And the wonderful reality is that when the gospel is proclaimed, through whatever means God grants, there is the grand potential of a sinner coming out of his darkness and into the glorious light of a living, Christ-transforming relationship with God.

 

The present tense of "enter" literally implies "we are already in process of entering." He wanted these weary pilgrims to be encouraged. To know Christ is to enter into an eternal rest that will carry you through the adversities of this life and on into the glories of eternity. Rest is yours in Christ, but only in Christ.

 

3. Entry barred

 

By the same token, the writer wants his audience to be aware that some will not enter the rest of God. Contrary to those espousing universalism, not all will know the eternal rest of God. "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." It seems that the immediate question that comes to mind when thinking of the eternal condemnation of sinners is injustice on God's part. Some how God did not do what was necessary so he is the one culpable in the damnation of sinners. But the example given in our text helps to clarify that the one to blame is the sinner himself.

 

By the Lord having "finished from the foundation of the world" his works, the writer points to the readiness and willingness of God to save. Leon Morris comments, "The writer is saying that God's rest was available from the time Creation was completed. The "rest" was thus the rest he himself enjoyed" [Expositor's Bible Commentary, 40-41]. There was never any inadequacy on the part of God. The problem was in the heart of those who had heard the "good news" but would not believe. Our writer answers, "Those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience." He uses a strong word to describe "disobedience." It reveals the response of a heart of unbelief. It means that though God himself had given his promise, the Israelites at Kadesh-Barnea were not persuaded by the word of God and therefore disobeyed the command to enter into the land. And so the condemnation was irreversible, "As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest."

 

I'm sure that you realize that his interest at this point was not the Israelites who had lived and died in the wilderness 1200 years before. Their experience merely reinforced his point. He was concerned about this band of professing believers, some of who were considering turning their head the other way from the gospel message in order to look to other things for their salvation. The good news had been preached; would they obediently trust in Jesus Christ-the message of the good news? Fast-forward 2000 years. The warning our writer gave his 1st century friends he gives to us. This same "disobedience," this disbelief in the gospel, will bar your entry into the eternal rest of God. Are you anchored upon the sure foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ? A faith that rests in the merits of Christ is an obedient trust in him alone.

 

II.  Rest qualified

 

With all the talk of rest we must consider for a moment what the writer means by the term.

Described as...


1. Not equal to land

 

We are not to confuse the rest of which he speaks with merely entering a parcel of ground. The reason the Israelites would not enter the Promised Land was that they did not believe the Lord. It was a deeper issue than olive groves and vineyards. The heart of the matter was their trust in the Lord. They evidenced their unbelief by their disobedience to his word. They were not weak believers but disobedient unbelievers. They did not enter the rest of the Lord. How do we know that this was what our writer meant? "For if Joshua had given them rest, he would have not spoken of another day after that." There was more than a parcel of ground; there was the eternal rest of the Lord.

 

David himself saw this as well. Israel was firmly entrenched in Canaan Land under the reign of David. Yet he spoke of a rest beyond the land. "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'." For in Psalm 95 from which this portion is quoted, David points to yet another rest of the Lord. He did not want his fellow Israelites to find their satisfaction in land and houses when there is an eternal rest in the Lord available to all who believe.

 

2. Present and future dimensions

 

The rest is an ongoing relationship to the Lord. It is a present reality that has future dimensions: "So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God." The old Scottish preacher, John Brown explains, "The rest here is that state of holy happiness which Christians enjoy on earth as well as in heaven, and into which they enter by the 'belief in the truth'" [Hebrews, 208]. What was missing in this first century church? Many had a genuine relationship to Christ so that they knew this "holy happiness" of which John Brown has spoken. But some were on the edge. Their actions of moving away from Christ and the gospel produced evidence that they did not know the same "holy happiness" that filled the confidence of our writer. These people were fearful of persecution and opposition, but this pastor tells them they need to fear missing out on the promise of God's rest in Christ (v. 1). The implication of "there remains a Sabbath rest" is that this is not just something for the future. But it is adequate and delightful in the present. It is a continuing sense of holy happiness that will carry them through the narrow gap they were passing.

 

"Sabbath rest" is a term unique to this writer, possibly even one that he coined. For he wanted to make sure that these believers understood that he meant a different kind of rest, one that was likened to that of the Lord. It was a restoration of what Adam and Eve had known before the Fall. It is what our Lord spoke of when he said, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). It is the rest of knowing that your sins are forgiven, your eternal guilt removed, and your standing with God one of righteousness. It is the consciousness that you belong to Jesus Christ, that by the Holy Spirit he indwells you, and that his promises are "Yea, and amen." It continues with the assurance that this life is not the end; that where Christ is there will you be also (John 14:1-6). Do you know this Sabbath rest that comes through faith in Christ?

 

3. Identified with God's rest

 

This rest means that you have now entered into such a relationship with God that you are fully identified with his own rest. "For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His." At the creation of the world, for six days God worked to create the vastness of the universe. Each day had an end described by "There was evening and there was morning, a second day...a third day...a fourth day...." But no such comment is made of the seventh day. He ever lives in that Sabbath rest which has no end, a rest that our writer speaks about. But God certainly continues working in his governing the universe. However, there was a unique sense of finality in creation that our writer wants to get across. God ended his work and rested in it. Leon Morris writes, "There is a sense in which to enter Christian salvation means to cease from one's works and rest securely on what Christ has done. And there is a sense in which the works of the believer, works done in Christ, have about them that completeness and sense of fulfillment that may fitly be classed with the rest in question" [43].

 

With Paul we say that we are "complete" in Christ (Col. 1:28; 2:10), nothing can be added to our salvation. In him we end the laborious task of trying through our own works of righteousness to appease the wrath of God. Our works ended at the cross. "But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith" (Phil. 3:7-9). Yet knowing Jesus Christ does not mean that we fold our hands and await death. Instead, "for this purpose I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me" (Col. 1:29). The Christian rests in the salvation wrought through Christ and works joyously, thankfully as an expression of praise to his name. It is not a labor to achieve standing with God but a labor that flows out of a consciousness of being redeemed by the precious blood of Christ.

 

Do you know this kind of rest in the Lord? His rest will sustain you through all of life's demands and envelope you for eternity.

 

III. Rest attained

 

But how is this rest attained? The practical edge of this pastor's doctrinal teaching comes into full view as he exhorts them to action.

Calls for...


1. Intense concern

 

Both verse one and eleven contain a similar Greek construction that calls to mind the need for action. "Let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it." In light of the peril of God's wrath and the danger of a hardened heart that will not listen and obey, "let us fear!" Roosevelt was incorrect when he said, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." We must fear a holy God who is certain to carry out his word. And we must fear our own rebellious hearts that shrink back from obeying the word of God and leave us facing destruction. If you are not presently trusting in the merits of Jesus Christ as your only standing before God, then you have something to fear. If you are clinging to an outward profession of faith or baptism or Christian parents, and not Jesus Christ and him crucified and raised from the dead, then you have something to fear. If you have been delaying your response to the gospel of Christ, thinking of sins in which you want to indulge, trying to think of ways to get around the demand for repentance, then you have something to fear. If you think that because you are in the Christian crowd and you will make it to heaven on those grounds, then like the Israelites who thought being with Moses was enough, you have something to fear.

 

But fear can be paralyzing. We can be fearful but stymied to take action. So our writer, in true pastoral language, exhorts, "Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience." "Diligent" describes someone in hurry or someone in earnest or someone that concentrates his energies upon a particular goal. Do you have that kind of concern for your soul? He is telling those struggling people, "Don't delay! Take action! Set your affections upon the rest of God." Is there someone among us who needs this exhortation? You have delayed action-but to do so means that you are in danger of being "hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." You have grown careless-but to do so means that you are too much like the Israelites upon whom the divine verdict was, "They shall not enter My rest." Then take action; seek the Lord and discover his mercy.

 

2. Passionate caution

 

Once again, as in our previous text, the writer uses the word, "Today." "Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." Today suggests that you are still hearing and God is still willing to take action in your life. It implies that grace has been offered so that you might move from your apathy toward your spiritual condition, to the fount of all mercy in Jesus Christ. Today does not mean tomorrow, delay as long as you like. It declares that you can presume no longer upon the mercy that God has continually shown to you. Today! Today! His voice calls to you. Rather than hardening the sensitivity of your heart by disobeying the voice of God through the proclamation of the Word, passionately turn to him.

 

3. Earnest reflection

 

Just in case we think that God really will not move against us or that we have plenty of time to consider our spiritual lives, the writer reminds us of the ancient Israelites. He wants us to reflect upon them for their story remains in Scripture for our good. "Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience." What did the Israelites do? God showed great mercy to them in bringing them out of the bondage of Egypt. He showed his mighty hand through the miracles at the Red Sea, provision of water, and manna for their food. He brought them to the edge of his promise-the opportunity to enter the Promised Land. God told them that it was their land; he would ensure that and be with them each step. But they disobeyed. They heard God's word and in willful defiance turned the other way. That was the "example of disobedience." To follow it is certain failure-not just in this life but also for eternity.

 

Conclusion

 

Have you entered into the rest of God? Or have you delayed dealing with your own soul? Turn away from the vain things that hold your attention. Turn to Jesus Christ, who through his own sinless life bore your sins in his body on the cross. In him find rest for your souls.

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