HEBREWS 4 REST FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD2017 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Hebrews 4 Rest For The People Of God

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2017. This morning as we look at Hebrews chapter 4, I would begin by asking you to consider what kind of relationship with God that you would have if

If you had no sin issues. Just stop and think for a moment in your mind. What kind of relationship could you have with God? If there was no issues of sin in your life, if there was no weakness on your part, if there was no failure or shortcoming on your behalf, what kind of relationship with God could you have? What if you had perfect access to God? What if you never had to make up

for your mistakes and failures? What if you never ever had to worry about God being angry with you? And what if you never had to fear God's judgment? And what if you never had to earn God's favor or forgiveness? And I would ask you to consider these things specifically because, well, sometimes we forget, but believers in Jesus do have that kind of relationship with God.

That as a believer in Jesus...

God is able to relate to you as if you have no sin issues. And you do have full access to God and you have no reason to fear the judgment of God or God being angry with you. You have no reason to fear that and you don't have to earn God's favor or forgiveness as a believer in Jesus Christ. That is the relationship that God offers to us by faith in what Christ has done for us upon the cross.

And perhaps we know that and we've been taught that. And yet at the same time, we don't always rest in that relationship that God offers to us. This morning, as we look at Hebrews chapter four, I've titled the message, Rest for the People of God.

because God has a rest for you. And that is a rest in this incredible relationship that he offers to you and access to his presence that he makes available to you as a believer in Jesus Christ. Now, as we jump into the book of Hebrews this morning, the book of Hebrews was written to the Hebrews. That is Jewish people who had become believers in Jesus Christ.

But at this time, as the author is writing to this group of Hebrews, they were in the process of turning back to the old covenant. They were turning back to the Old Testament and back to the sacrifices. And so although they had believed in Jesus, they had begun to think that perhaps they needed to, in addition to Jesus, turn

incorporate some of these old things and part of the old covenant into their relationship with God. And so the author of Hebrews throughout the book is writing to these Jewish people and he's addressing the reality that Jesus is superior to all other means of trying to reach God.

The superiority of Jesus over every other attempt at reaching God and achieving right relationship with God. And so here in this chapter, the subject kind of begins in chapter 3. In chapter 3 and chapter 4, talk about this rest and the superiority of Jesus in that he provides a rest,

for the people of God. He's going to look at the example of creation and how there was a rest that God had at the end of creation. He's going to use also the promised land. If you'll remember the children of Israel when they were brought out of Egypt and

And they went through the wilderness for a short trip to get to the edge of the promised land. But then the people said, we're too fearful. There's giants in the land. We are not going to go into the promised land. And then they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years after that. And the author is going to use these examples and illustrations to help us understand this rest that God has for us.

Now, as we talk about the word rest, it's important to understand what we mean by the word rest and what the author of Hebrews meant with the word rest. There are different kinds of rest. And there is the kind of rest that is the hammock on the beach. And that's a quite enjoyable and desirable kind of rest, isn't it? And perhaps that's the kind of rest that you think about when I use the word rest, right?

But I think we have a tendency in our minds and perhaps in our culture specifically to think about rest more like a pause than what the author of Hebrews is intending. So you look at the hammock on the beach and that's great. And that's a beautiful time of rest perhaps. And you can lay there and enjoy a beautiful sunset and have a good time of rest. But

For the most part, when we think of that hammock on the beach, we're thinking of that's a pause because we're working, taking a break, going on vacation, getting in a hammock, spending some time, and then that time comes to an end, and then we come back and go back to work. And so the rest that this picture is for us is a pause in between working before and then working after, and there's this pause in between. Or it's like if you're going for a run.

And you're on this long run and halfway through you're winded. You need to recover a little bit. And so you pause, you rest for a few moments. But it's not the end of the run. Then you get back on the track and you pick up the pace again and you finish out the run that you are on. It's a pause, not the rest that the author of Hebrews is talking about.

The author of Hebrews is using the word rest in a way where it's a rest because it is completed. And I would ask you to think about it this way. It's kind of like if this scene was transformed into a puzzle. And as a puzzle, if it's, you know, a big puzzle, perhaps it's a thousand pieces or two thousand pieces, and you're going to be working on this puzzle and putting this puzzle together, you might

Take some breaks. You probably are not going to sit down and put the whole puzzle together all in one sitting. You might, you know, take a break to use the restroom or to have dinner, or you might, you know, just do it once a week and you do it, you know, here and there in between, but it's over a process of time with breaks in between that you complete this puzzle. You might finish it to or complete it to 99%.

and then take a break and walk away for three months, and then come back and put that final piece in. But whenever you're resting, pausing from working on the puzzle, it's just a pause because there's still more pieces to put down. There's still more pieces to put together. And if I go over to your house and I see you sitting on the couch, it's hard for me to tell if

If you are resting because the puzzle is completed, boom, all the pieces are in place. If I only see you on the couch, that's all I see. I don't know if you are finished with the puzzle, if you're resting because there's no more pieces to put in, there's no more work to do on the puzzle, or if you're just taking a break and you're just not working on the puzzle at the moment. It's a pause.

It's hard to tell. And can you see the difference? Here, there's a piece left to do. There's still one more thing to do, one more piece to put in place. But here, then there's nothing left to do. And the rest, well, it can look similar. You sitting on the couch, it looks similar both ways. But there is a difference between resting because the work is completed and resting because

in between times of working before and after. When you put in the final piece, you rest in a different way. There's no more pieces to do. So can you see the difference? Here, there's still a piece. There's still something more to do. And then here, there's nothing more to do. The work is complete. And the rest that the author of Hebrews is talking about is this kind of rest.

It's a rest because the work is complete. There is nothing left to do. There is no more pieces to add to the puzzle. It is complete through and through. And believers in Jesus Christ have a relationship with God that is without the issues of sin, without the issues of our failures and weaknesses, by faith in Jesus Christ because

His work is complete. And so we're going to talk about this rest that God has for us and look at four points here in Hebrews chapter four to help us rest in this relationship with God that he offers to us. The first point is found in the verses we just read, verses one through five, and that is enter God's rest by faith. There is a rest for us and we need to enter it by faith. Verse one and two again say, therefore,

He starts out saying, Therefore,

He's connecting it to some things that he began in chapter 3, talking about the rest that comes from faith in Jesus Christ. And he's saying there remains, therefore, a rest for the people of God. And because this rest remains, because this rest is there, he says, well, there needs to be some fear. We need to be paying attention to make sure that we don't come short of it.

There is a promise that remains. There's a promised rest that God had given to the children of Israel in the wilderness. But the author of Hebrews is pointing out that wasn't just a promise limited to right then, right there with those people. But that was a promise to the people of God. God says, for all of my people, for all of my children, I have a rest for you.

It's a promise of rest. It's a guaranteed rest and it's available for you. And so the author of Hebrews says we need to fear. Now it's not fear like run away from God, but we need to fear in the sense that this rest is available, but that doesn't mean you automatically are experiencing it.

And so there needs to be a healthy sense of fear for us of missing out on what God has provided for us. I kind of liken it in my mind to the fear of missing a plane. I don't know if you've ever missed a flight. I've missed a flight and I've come close to missing flights and I'm very familiar with the fear of missing a flight or maybe, you know, missing that connecting flight sometimes as the delays happen.

And there's that fear. Now the flight's leaving. It's taken off. It's happening with or without me. And in a similar way, the fear of God, it's promised. It's guaranteed. It's there with or without you. And so there needs to be that sense of urgency and sense of fear for us to not miss out on what God has for us. And the author of Hebrews points out because look, the gospel was preached to us as well as to them.

Now he's talking about the children of Israel in the wilderness. And they were promised this rest from God. The gospel was preached to them. That is not the gospel in the sense of, you know, Jesus Christ dying upon the cross, but the gospel in the sense of good news. God has rest for you. And they were delivered this good news, but he says it did not profit them. They didn't benefit from this good news. Why not? Because it was not mixed with faith.

They heard the good news. They knew the good news, but they didn't actually believe this news from God. This good news delivered to Israel in the past, similar to the good news that you and I have received, same promise of rest that we have received from God, but it only benefits you when you receive it by faith. Verse three, for we who have believed do enter that rest. Verse

So they didn't benefit from it because they did not believe. But for you who believe, if you believe in Jesus, you enter that rest, he says. As he said, so I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. And so the rest was there. It was finished from the foundation of the world, he says, but they didn't get it. They didn't participate in that rest. Why? Why?

Because they did not receive it by faith. Although it's completed, although it's there, he says, since the foundation of the world, he talks about that again in verse 4. He refers to when God rested on the seventh day from all his works. Going back to Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 2, which records for us the account of creation, where for six days God created the heavens and the earth.

And he set all of creation in place for six days. And on the seventh day, he rested because he had to catch his breath. It was hard work creating for six days. No, that's not why God rested. Why did God rest on the seventh day? Because the puzzle was complete. Not because he was tired, not because he was winded, not because he had to catch his breath. He rested on the seventh day because...

All of the creating work took place on days one through six. And he finished all of the creating that he was going to do there on day six. And so on day seven, he rested. Not because he needed to recover from the hard work, but because the work was done. The work was completed. And yet in verse five, he says, they shall not enter my rest.

Now here, the author of Hebrews is quoting from Psalm chapter 95, which was written by David. He began quoting that Psalm in chapter three of Hebrews and has been discussing that. And so he'll use quotations from that Psalm throughout our passage this morning as well. But the point is the work was there. God finished, he created, he did what he sought out to do, set out to do,

And yet they didn't experience the full and complete work that God had made available to them because they did not believe. I would ask you to consider what Jesus said on John chapter 19, verse 30, as he was there hanging from the cross. It tells us that Jesus received the sour wine and said, "'It is finished.' And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. Jesus said, "'It is finished.'"

Also could be translated paid in full. Talking about the issue of sin, talking about your issue of sin, talking about the need for forgiveness, talking about our access to God. Jesus hung on the cross and there as he breathed his last, he said, it is finished. It's complete. The work of God is

In bringing you and I back into fellowship with God and giving us access to God in offering forgiveness for our sins, it's completed at the cross. Absolutely completed. Again, there's a piece missing prior to Christ. God's laid out his work. It's all set in order. But as Jesus hangs there on the cross, he puts the final piece and he says, it's finished. Done. Completely.

It's not outstanding so that, all right, Jesus says, okay, I've done like 99.99% of the work. Now, all you got to do is come in and do that last 0.01% of the work. And then you can have rest and right access to God and right relationship with God. No, it's not that there's a piece left. Jesus says it's finished. The puzzle is complete. The work is done all together. There is no more piece left.

Everything that needs to be done for you to have absolute and perfect fellowship with God, it is completed. You see the difference? There's a piece left to do, something left that you have to do, something left that is required, some work that you must complete. Or Jesus says, it is complete. I've done it for you. I finished the puzzle. You have nothing left to do except to receive by faith.

that I finished the puzzle for you, that I took care of every sin, that I took care of every failure, that I took care of every issue, that I took care of every weakness. You see, what Jesus did for us is he paid the price, received the punishment, received our judgment, the judgment that we deserved so that we can have right relationship with God right now.

Of course, there's promises of God and we look forward to eternity and all the things that God has promised there because of what Christ has done for us. But the point of the author of Hebrews is not just about the future things, but right now having rest. There is a rest available to you right now that comes through your relationship with the Father. By faith in Jesus Christ, we have this incredible access to God.

And those who believe in Jesus and receive his work upon the cross. Listen, God is pleased with you right now because you have believed in Jesus. And there's no more work to do. And you don't have to run around and try to put pieces together and try to make something happen so that God will be pleased with you. God is pleased with you because you have believed in Jesus Christ. So you can rest. You don't have to earn God's pleasure.

You don't have to earn God's blessings. You don't have to earn access to God. You don't have to earn abundant life. We receive all of God's promises by faith because the work is absolutely completed. This means that if you don't have that access to God and that relationship with God, it's either because you don't believe it or you don't want it. If you don't have God's forgiveness, you

It's either because you don't believe in the completed work of Jesus or you don't want it. Those are the only two options because he has done the work. There's not something outstanding where you have to do something else in order to be forgiven. You don't have to go then do 20 spiritual push-ups and then, okay, now I will forgive you. You don't have to sit on timeout or, you know, give some money or do some service and, you know,

Like a judge, right? Giving you community service. All right, you know, do 20 hours of service at the church and then you can be forgiven for your failure and sin. You don't have to earn it. You don't have to work for it. You don't have to deserve it. It is finished, Jesus said. The puzzle is complete. You can enter God's rest and have that perfect access to God and relationship with God by faith.

Again, what kind of relationship with God would you have if you had no sin issues? Why don't you have that relationship? It's available to us, but we don't always receive this access and this opportunity that God provides for us. And that's why he says we should fear. Watch out. Check your heart and check your soul. Are you enjoying the rest of

that comes from the completed work of Jesus Christ upon the cross. We enter God's rest by faith. Going on now to verses six through 10, we have point number two, and that is we enter God's rest by obedience. We enter God's rest by faith and we enter God's rest by obedience. And you say, wait a minute, Jerry, isn't that a contradiction? You just said, I don't have to work for it. And now you say, I have to work for it.

Isn't that what obedience is? How can obedience be required when it's not about works, but it's about faith? Well, here's the reality of scripture that will clear up this misunderstanding. And that is faith and obedience, as far as the scriptures are concerned, they are intertwined and inseparable. Faith and obedience go hand in hand and obedience and faith go hand in hand. And on the contrary, unbelief...

and disobedience go hand in hand and are inseparable. And disobedience and unbelief are, well, they're united. They are the same thing. That is, faith, when we receive the completed work of Jesus Christ upon the cross, it produces in our life obedience. But it's not for rest. It's not for access to God. It's for something else entirely, which we'll talk about in just a moment. But let's jump into the chapter, the verses. It says in verse 6,

Verse 7, Again, he designates a certain day saying in David, Today, after such a long time as it has been said, Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Today, if you will hear his voice, he says, do not harden your hearts.

Again, he's looking back to the children of Israel in the wilderness, how God brought them to the edge of the promised land and said, walk with me. There's going to be rest as you enter into the promised land. And they said, oh, there's giants there. And they said, no, we can't do it. They did not enter because of disobedience, because they didn't believe that God would actually be with them in the midst of those battles and in the midst of that promised land. And so they disobeyed

Because they did not believe. You can see this also illustrated in Hebrews chapter 3 verse 19. We're talking about the same situation, same scenario. He says, we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Here in verse 6, they did not enter in because of disobedience. Chapter 3, they did not enter in because of unbelief. Unbelief and disobedience go hand in hand. They are the same thing. They did not obey because they did not believe. They didn't believe.

And it caused them to miss out on this rest that God had promised. But that wasn't the end of the story. He points out in verse 7, a long time later, the Lord brought forth a message through David and said, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Now, looking at the history for a moment of the timeline, you'll look back to the time of Joshua and

After that generation did not enter into the promised land and they wandered in the wilderness, then the Lord raised up Joshua and he led the children of Israel into the promised land. But this rest that God had promised was not strictly about the promised land only. What he was offering to his people was relationship with him that involved them trusting him and going into the promised land with him. And they said, no, we don't want to do that.

Later, as the next generation did that, they did get into the promised land, but that wasn't the finish of this promise of rest. Because now 400 years later, that's his point, a long time later, the Lord spoke through David and said today. Now, if the promise had been fulfilled 400 years previously, the Lord would not have been speaking about that day today, saying, if you will hear his voice, if you will hear God's voice again, notice this.

What God is ultimately interested and most interested in is relationship with us. If you want to hear from God, here's the key, God says. Don't harden your heart. Be soft, be open, be receptive, and be obedient as God speaks to your heart. We enter God's rest by faith. And as we enter into God's presence, we have unhindered access to the presence of God, unhindered access to the forgiveness of God. And we can hear from God.

We can receive from God. And as we do, well, he's going to be putting things upon our hearts and stirring up things in our minds and calling us to obedience. It's not obedience so that we can have access to God. It's obedience so that we can, well, enjoy the fullness of all that God has offered to us. Israel missed out and did not go into the promised land. And so they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.

But the next generation entered in, but it wasn't the end of this promise. In verse eight, he says, for if Joshua had given them rest, then he would not afterward have spoken of another day. It wasn't just the promised land. That's not what this message of rest was all about. It was about a relationship with God. In verse nine, he says, there remains therefore a rest for the people of God. That's us. That's what the author of Hebrews is saying. There remains a rest for you.

Where God still says, if you want to hear my voice, don't harden your heart. Enter in by faith. Enter in and receive what I have for you. You can enter God's rest by obedience. Now again, this obedience is not a list of works that you must do in order to then have access to God. Remember what Jesus taught in John 6, verse 29. Some people ask Jesus, what work...

do we need to do to do the work of God? And Jesus said, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he sent. This is the work that you would believe in the one that the Father has sent, that is Jesus Christ. That's the work. The work is completed. Jesus, upon the cross, did the complete work, restoring and repairing the relationship with God that was necessary for

He took care of all of the sin. He took care of the broken fellowship at the cross. And now the only thing that he asks us to do is to believe. That's the work that we must do. To receive the work that he has done. To believe in the one that the Father has sent. But so how does that work with obedience then? Well, because the very first thing that the Lord commands you is to believe. Obey. Obey.

God commands you to believe. God commands you to receive this rest and to enjoy the relationship that he is offering to you. And so you must believe. God commands you to believe. You enter to God's rest by obeying this command to believe God at his word and receive this relationship with him. And let me go on to say after that,

The Lord does call us to other things. He does place other things upon our hearts. He does, you know, give us commands in other areas. And I will explain that this way. And maybe it's not exactly the same, but I think it really paints an important picture for us in our minds and in our hearts. We believe in Jesus Christ. We're commanded to believe in Jesus. So we believe in Jesus. We receive that rest. And then everything after that is for fun. Think about that.

everything after that, it's for fun. The only thing that's required is that you believe in Jesus Christ and receive what he has offered to you. But beyond that, everything else, it's for fun because the real work has been completed. Now listen, we know how to take something fun and turn it into work. We know how to take a game and turn it into a sport, right? And

There's all this big, you know, to do right now about, you know, the New York Raiders that are fighting the Kansas Bullfrogs. And are they doing it for fun? It's a game. Are they doing it for fun? No. It's work. It's their profession. It's how they make a living, right? It's serious. And even the people watching it are serious about watching the people do serious things for the game, right? We know how to take things that God has given to us,

for enjoyment, for our blessing, for our benefit, and to turn it into work. And God says, here's my word. Spend time in my word. He gives it to us, not as a means of, and then you can have right relationship with me.

No, he gives it to us as a means of, then we can enjoy fellowship together. We can explore, you know, and understand what I have in store for you and find out the will of God. And it's your relationship with God. But we take that and maybe we start out good, but over the course of time, it happens where suddenly I began to turn that into work. And now I read my Bible because I have to, to be right with God.

I have to, to be able to relate to God. I have to, to be forgiven of God. And I come to church and I serve in this capacity and I do this and I do that and I give and I, you know, we have now these things that God has given to us for fun. Again, fun is not the exact right word, but you get the point. You understand that.

It is meant to be for your enjoyment. It's meant to be for God to work in you and you to enjoy the relationship and all that God has provided for you. And you enter God's rest by obedience to believe in Jesus. And then you obey beyond that. But that's not your entrance into God's rest. It's just for fun. What God has given you for your benefit for now and for all of eternity. That when you believe in Jesus...

You get to be part of his eternal work. You get to be part and it's not required. The only thing that's required is that you believe in Jesus Christ and receive what he accomplished for you upon the cross. Enter God's rest by obedience. Believe his command. I'm sorry, obey his command to believe. Everything else. There's no more pieces left. Those commands that he gives us are not for salvation. They're not for access to God.

There's a lot of reasons why God calls us to things and commands us things. But you can rest in that your relationship with God is based upon the finished work of Jesus upon the cross. So point number three now going on to verses 11 through 13, work hard to enter God's rest.

God's rest is available. It's there. Whether you participated in it or not, it's there. It's available by faith. It's available by obeying God's command to believe. So work hard to rest. Work hard to receive. That's what he says in verse 11. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

Resting in what Jesus has done for us is not automatic, nor is it an easy thing to do. This rest really does require some deliberate choice made repeatedly that we would keep ourselves in this place of trusting Jesus and his work in this way. And that's why he says, be diligent, work hard, labor hard.

You could think about it like being vigilant, be paying attention to make sure that you keep yourself in a place of not turning the game into a sport, not turning the fun into work, but that you keep yourself in a place of rest, that you do what you do for God because you want to, because it's enjoyable, not because you need his forgiveness, not because you're trying to earn his favor or get him to bless you.

No, you receive all of that by believing in Jesus and his finished work for you upon the cross. Now, anyone who's ever experienced an injury that required time to recover, you know that it's hard work to rest. When I broke my foot and I had to go through the time of not putting any weight on it, it was hard work to rest.

I had to purpose. I had to deliberately choose to not put weight on that foot. It wasn't the natural thing. It doesn't just happen automatically. It was something I had to choose to do. And if I didn't choose to do that, well, I would put weight on it too early and it could fracture again and cause more problems. And so there was a deliberate choice. And anybody who's gone through surgery or, you know, had some type of injury, you understand that. Although maybe, you know, laying...

in a hammock all day sounds desirable in one sense. You know, when you actually have to do it, it's not that enjoyable. It's only enjoyable when you want to do it. When you have to do it, it's work. In a similar way, we're commanded to rest, and it's going to take a deliberate choice. And the automatic thing for us is to begin to use the things that we do for God as works of

trying to get God's approval, get God's forgiveness, and earn our blessings from God. That's the position the Jews were in. They were tempted to participate in the law again. It's understandable. Everything they'd always known before becoming a believer in Jesus, you know, dealt with the law, the old covenant and culture. That was still a big part of their life. It was easy for them to slip into their old ways. And that can be true for all who are coming out of a strong religious background.

I know those who've, you know, come out of Catholicism and how it can be a struggle to go back to, well, I can't pray to God directly. I need to go through this saint and I need to go through this person and I need, that's not what the Lord says. The Lord gives us access to the Father directly because of the completed work of Jesus upon the cross.

And so those coming out of that religious background can slip back into those old ways and try to relate to God in that way again. But also, even if you didn't come from that strong religious background, it's easy for us as believers to take the things that we do in our walk with God that perhaps even began out of just complete joy. I just love Jesus and I want to do stuff for him. And then it becomes works over time. It slips into this mentality and we begin to think that we

have earned God's fever and earned God's blessing. And so we need to work hard to enter God's rest and to keep ourselves in this place of knowing that Jesus has done the work. Everything else, it's for fun. It's just for the sheer joy of our relationship with God and our love for him. Verse 12.

For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account."

Here, the author of Hebrews says, listen, God knows whether or not you are really in his rest. God knows. Maybe other people don't know. Maybe we ourselves look in the mirror and we can't tell. But God knows. The word of God lays us open. We are naked and exposed, completely open before the eyes of the one to whom we must give account. The Lord sees exactly where your heart is and where your motivations are.

And so I might look at you and think, wow, reading your Bible like a pro, man. Way to go. Good job. Enjoying the rest. God looks and he sees, you think you're earning my favor. You think you're earning my blessings because you're so faithful in reading the Bible. You're trying to make up for some failure with that contribution that you're giving. You're trying to accomplish something to...

It doesn't work that way. And the Lord sees through it, is what he's saying. Man, Lord, show us our hearts. Are we trusting in ourselves? Are we trusting in our work? Are we trusting in you? Pastor Dave Guzik says in this passage, he's made it plain that they can't give up on Jesus and keep it hidden from God. They were going back to the old covenant, back to the sacrifices,

And maybe they had lots of good reasons externally and lots of good words they would say about it and very convincing in the way that it sounded. But the Lord saw what was going on in their hearts. They didn't really know for sure that the work of Jesus upon the cross was sufficient and complete for them to have right relationship with God. And that's what it comes down to. Work hard to enter God's rest and

He knows. Let the word of God lay you bare. Let the word of God expose those issues of your mind and heart where you are convinced that you are contributing to the forgiveness, to the access, to the righteousness, to what you need to have right relationship with God. Are you trusting in your devotions for God's forgiveness or trusting in your giving or trusting in something else? Or on the other side, are you far from God because you don't trust Jesus? Are you far from God because you failed?

That's because you don't believe. That's unbelief. Because Jesus has paid the price for all sin. There's no reason for you to be far from God. Whether you are in what you consider victory or whether you are in what you consider defeat, there's a rest available for you. And we may convince ourselves that we're resting when we're not, but the Lord says it's here. He knows what's going on in our hearts. He's inviting us in and he says, you need to be diligent and pay attention and work hard to enter into that rest.

the work is completed. Make sure that you receive it. Make sure that you enjoy full access and right relationship with God. Again, what kind of relationship with God would you have if there were no sin issues? That's the kind of relationship that God offers to you. That word justified is such a powerful word where it means that God deals with you just as if you had never sinned, not even once. That's the position that you have as a believer in Jesus Christ.

There is no sin issue. There are still things that we fall short in. There's still things, but the Lord says, none of that hinders your access to God by faith in Jesus Christ. None of that has to hold you back. None of that has to slow you down. You come back to the presence of God. You walk and you hear from him. You have access to God. And so finishing it up in verses 14 through 16 with point number four, we need to rest in God's mercy and grace.

Here's the rest that God provides. It's in his mercy and grace. Verse 14. Verse 16. Verse 17.

In the previous verses, he says, And that could be a really frightful thing, couldn't it? Except he goes on to say, We have a great high priest, he says.

Now again, he's talking to Jewish people who are going back to the high priests of the temple. And the author of Hebrews is saying, we have a far superior high priest than that. That high priest can go into the Holy of Holies one day a year, you know, through the veil. This high priest has passed through the heavens. That one serves the model there at the temple. It's the model of what exists in actuality in heaven. Jesus...

is the high priest of the actual temple, the actual presence of God. He is the one who has passed through the heavens. And yet at the same time, he is God who became man, God who added humanity to his existence so that he has experienced this life. He's experienced the pain, the sorrows, the difficulties, the struggles. He's experienced this.

And so he can sympathize with our weaknesses, he says, because he was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. And so although being laid open and bare before the Father could be a frightful thing in our minds, we need not fear because our high priest, he's sympathetic. He sees the weakness, the failures, the struggles. And he says, I understand. I understand. I understand.

He's not like a righteous Pharisee seeing our weaknesses and saying, you wicked person and passing judgment. But instead he is extending mercy. Jesus is a superior high priest. Now the high priest's job was to help people maintain their relationship with the father. They were a spiritual mediator.

But now we have a far superior mediator than anyone before. Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 2.5, there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. You don't need anybody else to go between you and the Father because you have Jesus. You don't need to go to a priest. You don't need to go to a pastor. You don't need to have someone else communicate to the Father for you or for you to receive from the Father. You don't need to have somebody

Someone in between you and God, because the one mediator between God and man is Jesus Christ. And he is a sympathetic high priest. He knows your weaknesses. He knows your struggles. And instead of beating you for them, he offers to you mercy. Verse 16, again, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Is there anything that you have to do

Before you come into the presence of the Father, you have to do confession, do a bunch of spiritual pushups, run around the church a thousand times. No. What if you've been really bad? What if you've messed up horribly? No. Because you have Jesus as your mediator, Jesus as your high priest. And so let us come boldly, therefore.

Now that's not arrogantly. That's not, you know, confidence in our own works. That's coming with a confidence in Jesus Christ. And you can come boldly to the Father and say, Father, I need mercy. What is mercy? Mercy is not receiving judgment that you deserve. When do you need mercy the most? When you have done things that are worthy of judgment. Now when I've done things that are worthy of judgment, I've done things that are worthy of judgment.

It's not my normal tendency to march boldly into the presence of God and say, God, give me mercy. That's, no, because I know I deserve judgment. And so here's what happens. Many times we are out of the rest of God because we've messed up, we've blown it. And so we keep ourselves, we put ourselves on time out. I got to stay, oh man, I really messed up. But in the time of need, he says, you can come boldly to the throne of grace. And what do you find? Mercy.

Mercy. When you believe in Jesus Christ and you come to God by faith in Jesus Christ, you will find God withholds the judgment that you deserve. Not only that, you know what else you find? You find grace. And what is grace? Grace is God's goodness that we don't deserve. Mercy, he holds back the judgment I deserve and then he just like spreads this frosting like just all across my life. Here's my blessing. He's just...

Because I love you. Because I'm good. Because you believe in Jesus. Just frosting everywhere. I don't know, frosting sounds really good, so. You get the point though. It's grace. God just being good because he wants to. And you get to experience the grace of God and the mercy of God, not because you've earned it, not because you've deserved it. And even though you failed, that doesn't mean that God withholds his mercy and grace. By faith in Jesus Christ.

You can come into the presence of God. If you are distant from God for any reason, you're not resting. If it's because you don't do enough good works, it's not resting. If it's because you failed, you're not resting. If you're running from God, you're not resting. If you're distant because you're trying to draw near in your own way and it's just not quite working, it's not rest.

God offers to you a rest, a closeness with himself that comes completely because of the work of Jesus Christ. And you can rest in God's mercy and grace. I like what Warren Wiersbe says about this. He says, to the unsaved, God's throne is a throne of judgment, but to God's children, it is a throne of grace. When you are tempted, you can come to your great high priest for mercy and grace.

If you sin, you can come to your advocate for forgiveness. The way is always open. The way, your access to the Father is always open because of Jesus. Now to the unsaved of the throne of God, it's a place of judgment, but to God's children, and listen, you are God's children if you believe in Jesus Christ.

John 1, verse 12, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name. Believing in Jesus gives you access to the Father and gives you everything that God has for you and gives you everything that you need to be able to walk with God. You get the mercy and the grace that you need.

God's work in your life and God's blessings, it's not something that you can earn. He finished the puzzle on your behalf. He did it for you. That's the rest that he offers. And so the author of Hebrews says, enter God's rest by faith. Believe God, believe this and don't stay away from the presence of God. Don't cry, don't stop from crying out to God. Don't, don't base it upon your works or your merits or your failures.

Be obedient. Believe God at his word and enter into the presence of God and work hard to stay there. Be vigilant and diligent to make sure that you don't turn the enjoyable things that God calls you to, the things that he gave you for your benefit, that have eternal value. Don't turn those into works that you now have to achieve in order to have relationship with God. No, work hard to stay in this position of rest and

and rest in that mercy and grace that God offers to us. This is the rest that God offers to his people. Let's pray. Lord, as we consider these things, I pray for each of our hearts. And Lord, you know exactly, as your word says, you've laid us open even this morning with your word.

And you see what's really happening in our minds and in our hearts. Lord, you see where we've stayed away because of our failures and sin issues. Lord, you see where we try to atone for those things and make up for those things with our efforts. You see where we try to earn your rewards and blessings by being diligent, Lord, in our religious behavior and our duties, Lord, and the things that are good things. But Lord, we've turned them into work.

trying to earn your forgiveness, trying to earn your favor, trying to earn your pleasure. Lord, I pray that you would help us to come to the place of rest this morning, to really look to Jesus at the cross and believe that it is finished, that there is not one more piece required, but that in that you have provided everything we need for us to receive your love, your forgiveness.

for us to hear your voice, for us to talk with you, for us to cry out to you and experience all that you have for us. It's done. Lord, I pray that you would help us to truly believe that and to keep ourselves in that position of rest. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.