HEBREWS 4 LET US LEARN FROM THE EXAMPLE OF ISRAEL2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Hebrews 4 Let Us Learn From The Example Of Israel

Well, as we look at Hebrews chapter 4 this evening, I've titled the message, Let Us Learn from the Example of Israel. This is what the author of Hebrews is really saying to his readers.

He's saying, guys, we need to learn from the example of Israel. And it kind of goes back to Hebrews chapter 3. It's a continuing thought of the things he was talking about there. The context of what the author is talking about here is the children of Israel in the wilderness. And so if I could just take a moment to refresh your memory on some of the history of the nation of Israel.

The nation of Israel, remember, originally, they're all descendants of Abraham. And God told Abraham, I'm going to make you into many nations. And they developed into quite a big family, but they didn't really become a huge nation until they moved down to Egypt. Right?

And there in Egypt for 400 years, they were slaves, but they multiplied greatly. And they became a huge nation, a multitude of people there in Egypt, but they were in bondage. And then the Lord raised up Moses and sent Moses to Egypt to lead the people out of Egypt. And the commission was for Moses to lead the people into the promised land.

That was the land back in Canaan where God had sent Abraham originally. And so Moses leads the children of Israel out of Egypt. They're in the wilderness. They experience Mount Sinai and they receive the Ten Commandments. They build the tabernacle. Some important things happen there in the wilderness on their way to the promised land. But as they continue on their journey, they get to the edge of the promised land to a place called Kadesh Barnea.

And there they send out 12 spies into the promised land to go scout it out and see what they're up against. And the spies come back with a difficult report. There's giants in the land. There's big battles that are going to have to be fought. The cities are fortified. There's going to be some really rough things and tough things. And it's going to be quite a challenge, this promised land that God has said we will inherit.

And so 10 of the spies came back and said, we can't do this. We should just go back to Egypt. This is too hard. It's too scary. It's too dangerous. While two spies, Joshua and Caleb said, yes, all of the things are true. There's giants, there's fortified walls. It's going to be difficult, but God's with us. So let's go into the promised land. And so there was this conflict amongst the people. There was different ideas about how to proceed and

as they encountered this difficulty. And ultimately, the people sided with the spies who said, we can't do this. We should go back to Egypt. Now, as a result of that decision, the children of Israel then wandered the wilderness for a total of 40 years because they refused to enter into the promised land. That was the judgment that God issued upon them.

that they would not see the promised land. Instead, the next generation, their children would grow up, become adults, and Joshua would lead them into the promised land. And so the author of Hebrews is looking back at this whole situation, something that the Hebrews would be very familiar with. It was their history that they knew very well.

And the author of Hebrews here is relying a lot upon Psalm chapter 95, and I'd encourage you to check that out later. Psalm chapter 95, he's quoting from it in chapter 3 of Hebrews and chapter 4 of Hebrews, and talking about this rest, which was the promised land that God had promised to the people, but that they did not get to receive. They didn't get to experience the rest that God had promised them.

Now with that background and with that understanding from that context, now as we head into chapter 4, there's some important exhortations that the author of Hebrews gives us. And tonight as we look at Hebrews chapter 4, we're having what I call a Hebrews salad. You know, sometimes you want to get into the meat of the word, right? This time it's the salad of the word because four times here in Hebrews chapter 4, the

The author of Hebrews says, lettuce. Now, he doesn't mean lettuce like the salad. I'm making a pun. It's a joke. I can't hear you laughing, so I'm just assuming you guys are roaring with laughter because it's so hilarious, right? Lettuce. It's a Hebrew salad. Lettuce.

In verse 1, let us, in verse 11, let us, in verse 14, and let us, in verse 16. He tells us four things, and these are directed at us. These are direct application to us. He's calling our attention and saying, all right, so in light of these things that we're looking at, in light of this context, here's what we ought to do. And so we're going to look at these things.

Four pieces of lettuce that the author of Hebrews presents to consider what God has for us as we work our way through Hebrews chapter 4 tonight. So the first one is found. Again, it starts in verse 1. We'll kind of work our way through most of these verses all the way through verse 10. Here's the first point. Let us fear missing out on God's plan. Let us fear missing out on God's plan. Verse 1 says this.

I find this really interesting because so many times in the scriptures we see the exhortation and encouragement to not fear.

right? That there is the exhortation that God is love and love casts out fear, right? When angels appear and people are afraid, they say, do not be afraid. That there is often this encouragement and exhortation. And so we often, you know, recognize that fear is not something that God is calling us to. And yet at the same time, here God issues us a command. As we look at each one of these things that

our exhortations to us. Let us, this is indicating, here's a command for us. You and I are to have some type of, some amount of fear. We're to have a little bit of FOMO, fear of missing out. Fear of missing out on what God has for us. A lot of people use fear in the

They use fear to get people to do what they want, to bully people, to deceive people. Sometimes fear is used as a sales tactic. Perhaps you've had, you know, one of those alarm system salespeople come to your door. Now, Richard's not this kind of alarm salesman, but...

I've had those ADT sales guys, right? They come to the door and it's like, do you know how many break-ins there are and how crime is going up and how things are terrible and what are you going to do if you get attacked in your home? You know, like this is why you need to be afraid and then therefore, you know, buy from me, right? Like it was a manipulation and a tactic that is very distasteful as far as I thought. When God tells us to fear...

We need to understand, first of all, it's not just manipulation. He's not just trying to like stir up something so that you do what he wants. When God tells us to fear, it's because there is real danger. There's a very real threat. We have a real reason to fear. God's not exaggerating to get, you know, results from us. He's telling us the truth. There is reason to fear. There is reason for us to be alert and concerned about

about missing out on what God has for us. The commentator Thomas Constable says that God's purpose and provision does not guarantee that his people will experience it. The children of Israel, this is the example of the children of Israel that we find here in chapter three and four. God had promised the promised land, the land of Canaan. It was their inheritance. It was theirs to possess. And God had provided all the means and resources necessary

He purposed for them to experience it, but that doesn't mean that his people automatically experienced it. Instead, they missed out because they would not trust God, because they would not believe God. The author of Hebrews says this in verse 2, Remember, the word gospel means good news.

The gospel was preached to them. Hey guys, good news. God has a promised land for you. He has a land that's reserved. It's set apart for you. And there's battles to fight, but God's going to fight those battles with you and for you. Good news. God has a special place for you here in this land. They heard it, but it didn't profit them. They didn't benefit from the good news of God's plans and purposes and promises because they didn't believe God. It wasn't mixed with faith.

And so the author of Hebrews is using this as an example and he's saying, look, God has given you good news and we can connect it to the good news of salvation. We can also connect it to the good news that God has a plan and purpose for our life. We can connect it to the things that God wants to do in us and through us and understand there's reason to fear that just because God wants to do something in your life doesn't mean that you get to experience it. You can miss out on

on blessings that God has for you. You can miss out on being part of the work that God wants to do in you and through you. You can miss out on the growth that God wants to accomplish in your life. You can miss out on the deliverance that God wants to lay upon you. You can miss out. There needs to be in our lives, not a terror that halts us and causes us to run away from God, but there does need to be

a healthy amount of fear and recognition. God wants to work in my life and I need to trust him to do that work. Now, as the author of Hebrews is talking about this situation, he's referring to the subject of rest. And there's great details and insights in this idea of rest that we're not gonna get into tonight. But you can think about the Sabbath rest. Let me just read verse three and four. It says, "'For we who have believed do enter that rest.'"

And so here the author is quoting from Psalm chapter 95. And so here the author is quoting from Psalm chapter 95.

That's addressing those who are at the border of the promised land and said, nope, we don't trust God to take care of us. We're not going to go in there. And so God said, all right, they're not going to enter my rest. They're not going to experience what I have prepared and promised them. And so they don't experience the rest. And the author of Hebrews saying, even though God has established from the beginning on the seventh day, a day of rest. And there he quotes in verse four from Genesis chapter two, verse two,

On the seventh day, God ended his work which he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all the work which he had done. The seven days of creation, on the seventh day God rested. This rest speaks of the Sabbath that God had used as a part of the covenant with his people. But then later on as we continue on in Hebrews, we'll see that Jesus is the fulfillment of that Sabbath, that

It speaks of our salvation, our justification that all of the works are completed, that there's a rest from works in trying to please God and trying to, you know, have right relationship with God, that he's done all of the work and so we can enjoy the Sabbath, enjoy the rest and have access to God and enjoy the work of God in our lives on the basis of what he has done and not on the basis of what we do.

So there's the Sabbath rest that he's kind of alluding to here, but then there's also the rest that is the obedience rest, that is the promised land as he's alluding to it. And there's different things that you can kind of meditate on in those different types of rest. In verse five, he goes on to say, and again, in this place, they shall not enter my rest. And so again, he's quoting from Psalm chapter 95, verse six, since therefore it remains that some must enter it,

And those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience. 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. For if Joshua had given them rest, then he would not afterward have spoken of another day. Now you might be a little bit dizzy with all these references, right? Like there's a lot that the author of Hebrews is referring back to.

He's referring to, quoting from Psalm chapter 95. He's quoting from Genesis and talking about creation, talking about the children of Israel on the edge of the promised land and refusing to enter in. Then later on, talking about Joshua who did lead them in, right? So let me try to lay this out for you in a way that makes sense. He's saying, first of all, in verse five, they shall not enter my rest. That's what God said for the children of Israel who refused to enter in.

But here's what happens. They weren't going to enter into the rest. The next generation was going to enter into that promised land. And so you might think, okay, so then that promise of rest was fulfilled when Joshua led the children of Israel into the promised land. But the author of Hebrews is saying that's not what happened. Joshua did lead the people into the promised land, but that wasn't the end of what God was talking about when he was saying that they would not enter into the rest.

And we can tell that because 400 years later, David, inspired by the Lord, talks about this rest. And so this is 400 years after Joshua had led the children of Israel into the promised land. And David says, hey guys, I've heard from the Lord. There's still a rest that God promises. There's still part of these promises that God wants to fulfill in our lives. And it's not quite finished yet. And so he talks about being saved.

Recipients of this rest today. In verse 7, again, quoting from David in Psalm 95. Today, after such a long time, again, 400 years, as it has been said, today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Today if you will hear his voice, if you want to experience this rest that God is promising, notice the connection here. The rest that God promises to us, the rest that we need to fear that we don't miss out on,

It's connected to hearing the voice of God. It's connected to hearing from him and obeying. You see, this is the issue. When the children of Israel first got to the border of the promised land, they heard God's voice, but they wouldn't obey it. Later on, under the leadership of Joshua, they heard God's voice and they obeyed and they entered in.

But they also experienced some difficulties inside the promised land because they would hear God's voice and then not obey it inside the promised land. And so they didn't get the full experience of the rest that God had promised to them. And through the prophet David, the Lord is speaking to us and saying the same thing. There is the opportunity for us to hear from the Lord and obey him and experience this rest that God has for us.

And going back to verse 1, the author of Hebrews is saying, look, you need to be concerned. You need to have a bit of fear to make sure that you don't miss out on the rest that God has for you. Let me ask this another way. Think about it this way. Do you ever not do something that God has asked you to do?

Is there ever experience in your life where you know that God's spoken to you? Perhaps it's a clear scripture in the word. Perhaps it's something that God put upon your heart personally. And you know, this is something that God wants for me. But then you don't do it. Have you ever had that experience? I've had that experience. I think we've all had that experience, whether or not we like to admit that. Have you ever had the experience of knowing that there's something that God wants from you?

But then you don't follow through and do what it is that God has asked of you. And there might be a variety of reasons why. You might not do the thing that God has asked you to do because you are fearful. That's a scary thing that God's asked me to do. You might not do it because it's hard. Boy, that's a really tough thing. I mean, I know that's what God wants, but I don't think I can do that. That's going to be so hard. Or maybe you don't do that thing that God has asked you to do because you feel unworthy.

I can't do that. I can't serve in that way or pray for that person or take that job. I can't do that. I'm not worthy. Maybe you don't do that thing that God asked you to do because you feel unqualified. I'm not ready for that kind of responsibility. I'm not prepared for that task, for that role. I can't do that. I'm unqualified. I'm unworthy.

That's hard. I'm fearful. There's a variety of reasons why we might choose to not do something that God has asked us to do. And that's exactly what the author of Hebrews is asking us to consider right now. That's what happened to the children of Israel. They got to the edge of the promised land and they were fearful. They said, God, we can't do what you're asking us to do because that's going to be really hard and it's going to be scary and there's giants and there's difficulties and it's going to be a great challenge. We can't do that.

There's many other occasions throughout the scriptures that you see men and women of God who hear from God and then they say, I'm unworthy. I can't do that. I'm unqualified. I can't do that. When we allow those things to bring us to the place of disobedience, we miss out on what God has for us. Let us fear missing out on God's plan. Don't miss out. As scary as it would have been to go into the promised land,

It was way better for the children of Israel. And what they experienced in the wilderness was much harder than what they would have experienced inside the promised land. All the battles that they thought they were saving themselves from, they faced harder challenges, worse challenges, more difficulty in the wilderness. The same is true for us. Whenever we are fearful and so we don't do what God has asked us to do, or we feel unworthy or we feel unqualified or we feel unprepared,

We miss out. There's so much that God wants to do in your life and through your life. Let us fear missing out on God's plan. Verse 9 tells us, There's a ceasing of working. Now that doesn't mean a ceasing of obedience.

That's a ceasing of trying to be righteous through our own efforts. There's a rest for the people of God, that we have right standing before God. And so we can expect his blessing. We can trust in his promises. We can rest on the truths that he has given and the promises that he's given to us. So many times we have a really bad understanding or a wrong and distorted perspective about God that

We have to work so hard to please him. We have to work so hard to get him on our side. He's already on your side. You've believed in Jesus. He's on your side. He's fighting for you. He wants what's best for you. And anything he calls you to is for your good. Let us fear missing out on God's plan. Well, moving on to verses 11 through 13, we get the second point to consider this evening. And that is, let us diligently be genuine.

Let us diligently be genuine. Let's read verses 11 through 13. It says,

Here as the author of Hebrews continues on, he calls us to be diligent. This next bite of the Hebrews salad, let us diligently be genuine. Now, first of all, he says, let us be diligent to enter that rest. So again, he's talking about this rest of the earth.

these promises of God, this work of God that we want to be careful to not miss out on. Now he says, work hard to rest. In the King James, it says, labor to enter that rest, right? Kind of counterintuitive in our minds, right? You work hard to rest. It seems like if I'm working hard to rest, then I'm not resting, I'm working hard, right? But here the Lord is saying, look, be diligent. Make sure that this is not going to happen like without you putting any effort into it.

This isn't going to happen automatically. It's not going to happen, you know, without your intentionality. This is something that you must make decisions about. You must choose to deliberately go in a direction of rest in God. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest. And again, the warning, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

You see, we are vulnerable to the same pattern that the children of Israel were. We can hear from God and have the good news and miss out on what God has for us because we don't believe God and so we don't obey God. When I don't do what God has put upon my heart to do, it's disobedience. It's unbelief because I'm fearful, because I'm scared. It's unbelief. It's disobedience.

And so he's saying, look, let's be diligent. Let's work hard to set ourselves on the course of obedience, of trusting God, believing him and entering into that rest. But then he connects it to verses 12 and 13. Now, verse 12 is a very famous verse. You've probably heard it a bunch of times about the word of God.

and how it's living and powerful. It's a two-edged sword, right? All of these things. And many times we look at this verse and separate it from the chapter. We just focus on, you know, the descriptions of the Word of God here. But notice the word for in verse 12. He's connecting these thoughts. Let us therefore be diligent to enter. Why? Because the Word of God is living and powerful.

Because the word of God is living and powerful, let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest. He's not saying, here's the word of God, that's how you enter the rest. He's saying, let's be diligent to enter the rest because of these aspects of the word of God. It's living, it's powerful, it's sharper than any two-edged sword. Now, these are really important and true aspects to the scriptures.

But the point that the author of Hebrews is making is that the word of God uncovers our hearts. It reveals the truth. And so it's living and active. It's living and powerful. It's sharp so that it can pierce even to the division of soul and spirit.

Bible scholars, philosophers, all kinds of people try to figure out what's the difference between the soul and the spirit, right? You have a body, soul, spirit. What's the soul? What's the mind? How do these pieces all fit together to, you know, make the humans that we are? We can't figure it out, but the word of God is able to pierce and to make a distinction between the soul and the spirit. And he goes on to say, it's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

See, the Word of God is able to cut through all the clutter, all the facade that we put up, all the show that we put on, all the masks that we wear. And it's able to reveal the actual things that are happening, the intentions of our heart, the thoughts of our mind. It's able to reveal and uncover what's really happening within, what our real motivations are. And so when we say, well, I couldn't enter into that rest because of, and we have some reason, right?

When it's not a valid reason and it's just an excuse, well, you might fool everyone else. And everyone else say, yeah, that's a good reason for you to not do that thing that God wants you to do. I can understand why you didn't do that because, yeah, you got a good reason. And the Word of God cuts right through that and says, that is nonsense. You're just making stuff up to try to make yourself feel better. You didn't believe God and you disobeyed. The Word of God cuts right through and it reveals the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Now, he goes on to elaborate on this even further in verse 13 when he says, There is nothing about you that's hidden from God. There is nothing about you, nothing in your mind, nothing in your heart, nothing in your history, nothing in your internal workings that is hidden from God.

Everything is naked and open. You are laid bare before God and he's the one you're going to give account to. He's the one you're going to give it. You're going to stand before God and he knows everything. And so any trick you try to pull, any, you know, lie you try to tell, any fake reason you try to give, God's not going to be fooled by any of that.

He's not going to be tricked even for a moment. You can't say squirrel, you know, and he's like, what, what? Looks away. No, no, he sees through all of the tricks, all of the fake reasons, all of the things that we put on that other people around us totally buy, or at least we think they totally buy it. Now, here's another word of warning. You think a lot of people buy that story that you're telling, but actually probably a lot of people see right through that fake story that you're given. That's the truth.

We're not as clever as we think we are. I've been on jury duty countless times. And it's interesting in the waiting room before you go in to, you know, sit with the judge, there's all these people saying all of these tactics and techniques and ways that they're going to get out of jury duty. And it sounds so clever. And it sounds so good, you know, out there amongst the jurors. But then they get up and they stand before the judge and they try to present that argument.

And it's such a weak argument. And the judge can see right through it. And there's just like, they're laid bare. It's the same for us. We're going to stand before God. God sees everything about us. He knows everything about us. And so I made this point. Let us diligently be genuine. Let's be diligent in our genuineness before the Lord.

in thinking about entering into that rest, that we're not trying to put up a show, that we're not trying to fake it before God, but that we come before God genuinely. So that when I'm fearful and I want to disobey God because I'm fearful about the thing that he's asked me to do, that I don't try to make up some other reason, but that I come before God and I say, God, I'm fearful about this thing that you've asked me to do. I don't want to do this thing that you want me to do. I don't want to go the direction that you want me to go.

I'm not qualified. Whatever reason that we might have, whatever reason we might be thinking, whatever we might be wrestling with, let's be genuine before the Lord about that. Because the word of God is living and powerful. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces through. It discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. And so we're not fooling God. So many times we try to pitch those same falsehoods

to God that we pitch to other people. And we need to understand God sees through all of that. We will never experience the rest of God without being genuine before God. But if you'll come to God honestly and say, God, I'm really struggling with this. I'm really angry about that. I'm really fearful about this. I'm not feeling prepared. I don't feel like I can handle this situation. We come to God in our weakness, but genuinely, and you know what?

There's a rest. The Lord told the Apostle Paul, when Paul was dealing with a great affliction, God said, my strength is made perfect in weakness. My strength is made perfect in weakness. You can experience a rest from God by being genuine, honest, and real before him. You can't pull the wool over his eyes. You can't trick him about anything. Commentator Leon Morris says,

What the author is saying is that God's word can reach the innermost recesses of our being. We must not think that we can bluff our way out of anything, for there are no secrets hidden from God. We cannot keep our thoughts to ourselves. Every thought that you have, God sees it, he knows it. Don't try to pretend it's not there. Go to him with those thoughts. Ask him for help in those thoughts. Ask him for help in those things that you're dealing with and struggling with.

He can handle it. Bring it before him. Be diligent to be genuine so that you can experience the rest of God. Well, verse 14 gives us the third point to consider tonight, and that is let us hold fast to Jesus. Let us hold fast to Jesus. Verse 14 says, seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

Third bite of the salad, next piece of lettuce. Lettuce, hold fast to Jesus. I mentioned this on Sunday that the people who this letter is written to were Jews who were living in a time where the temple was still standing. And they had believed in Jesus, but there was persecution. There was things going on that they were greatly tempted to try to go back to their old system of

sacrifices, the temple. It was part of their culture. It's part of their upbringing. You can understand there would be great temptation to return just for that, just because their family didn't understand them anymore and cast them out and didn't want to have anything to do with them because they had different beliefs now than they had before. Everything that they had done together as a family for all their life right now, all suddenly that's changed. But then there was also persecution. And so they're tempted to go back. And the

Look, you're in the same situation as the children of Israel on the edge of the promised land. You have Jesus, you know about Jesus, and you're really tempted to let go. And just as the children of Israel were like, hey, we should go back to Egypt, it's going to be better there. The author of Hebrews is saying, look, you're in that same spot. You're about to let go of Jesus because you think it's going to be better if you go back to where you were. But it's not going to be better. And so he says, seeing that we have a great high priest.

Now, the author of Hebrews is going to continue on in the coming chapters to really develop this aspect of Jesus, that he is the great high priest. He is the best opportunity for us to have access to God. There is the high priest in the, you know, Jewish religion, the high priest that God had established, but he wasn't a great high priest. He was just the high priest.

Jesus is the great high priest, and he's the one who provides the real access to God. The high priest served the tabernacle on earth, but Jesus, the great high priest, passed through the heavens. His service on our behalf is far superior. It's a heavenly service, not an earthly service, and he's Jesus, the Son of God.

Jesus who is God and became man. So incredible things about Jesus. And so the author of Hebrews is saying, let's hold fast to Jesus. Don't let go of him just because it's hard. Don't let go of him just because it's difficult. Don't let go of him because you think it'll be easier to go on to something else. You have the best access to God possible. You have the best high priest possible.

You have Jesus, the son of God there within your grasp as you have believed in him. Don't let that go. Hold fast to Jesus. Well, the final verses to consider, verse 15 and 16, give us point number four. And that is, let us always ask God for help. Verse 15 says, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin.

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And so here he goes on saying, look, our high priest, this great high priest, Jesus, he can sympathize with our weaknesses. And so as we think about being genuine before God, we can think, whoa, I don't know if I can be genuine. That's pretty scary. I mean, some crazy stuff goes through my head.

There's some dark stuff in my heart. I don't know if I could be genuine before God. And the author of Hebrews is saying, look, your high priest, Jesus, he can understand. He can sympathize. All those areas where we are weak, all those battles that we face, he can sympathize with our weaknesses because he was tempted in all points, yet without sin. Now, sometimes we can think about that and we can think, well, so, you know, he's Jesus, he's God, so...

you know, it's kind of like a fake temptation, right? I mean, he wasn't going to sin. So, you know, temptation, can you really understand my temptation? Because, you know, the things I'm tempted with, they're pretty strong temptations. I mean, there's some really powerful things that I have to battle. And, you know, I don't think Jesus had to battle that much, right? Like you could think that way. But you need to understand that we never experience the fullness of temptation because we give in to temptation before it reaches its max, right?

Jesus experienced far more than you or I experience because he didn't give in to the temptation. He experienced the maximum temptation. So he can sympathize with you. He knows what it's like to be attacked. He knows what it's like to be experiencing the things that we experience in our humanity. He became man. Now, that doesn't mean that he sinned, right? He says, yet without sin, right?

but he experienced the temptation so that he can sympathize with us. And so the author of Hebrews concludes then in verse 16, "'Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace.'" So therefore, let us, here's what we ought to do. We have this great high priest who is Jesus, who knows exactly what we experience and can sympathize with us. So let's come boldly to the throne of grace."

Now, this idea of grace is intertwined with the idea of rest. The whole reason why there's rest is because there's grace. That God works for us. God wants to bless us. He wants to work in us and through us on the basis of what he has done. It's his goodness towards us that we don't deserve. And so let's come boldly to the throne of grace. Let's come right in before God.

Because of his grace, he says that we may obtain mercy and find grace. You know, so many times we want to receive grace, but we don't go to the throne of grace to receive the grace. We go to some other avenue, some other arena, and we try to receive grace from something that's not the throne of grace. Look, if you want grace, if you want God's goodness fulfilled in your life, go to the throne of grace. Go to the presence of God.

Run to the Lord in your weakness, in your temptation, in your failures, in everything. Run to the throne of grace because that's where you find grace, at the throne of grace. And you don't just find grace, you find mercy. Grace is God's goodness towards you that you don't deserve. Mercy is the withholding of judgment that you do deserve. None of us deserve God's blessing.

None of us deserve ever, not one moment in our life have we ever deserved God's blessing or for God to do good things for us or to work in our lives or to use us in some capacity. None of us have ever deserved God's work in our lives. Everything that God does, it's the basis of his mercy and his grace. He says that we might find mercy and grace to help in time of need. When do you need mercy the most?

when you deserve judgment, right? Isn't it interesting? The enemy loves to use our guilt to drive us away from God. I feel guilty. I know I deserve judgment. And so I'm staying away from God. The author of Hebrews says, you've got it backwards. Flip it around. You're feeling guilty and you know you deserve judgment. Run to the throne of grace that you may obtain mercy and find grace to help in your time of need. Let us always ask God for help.

Always, no matter what, no matter how bad you've been, no matter how rebellious you've been, no matter how you've fallen or failed or what you're struggling with or what's happening inside, always ask God for help. If you want to experience rest and peace, safety and stability from God, ask God for help. And so here we get this Hebrews salad. Let us learn from the example of Israel.

Let us fear missing out on God's plan. God has some good things in store for you. There's going to be some challenges in your life and battles in your life, just like there was going to be challenges and battles for the children of Israel in the promised land. But God's promise was to be with them, to bring them to victory. Ultimately, it was going to be for their good to face those giants and to have those battles. But they missed out on God's plan. Let's learn from them. Let's be warned. Let us fear missing

that we don't miss out on the things that God has for us. Let's diligently be genuine before God. Let's purpose. Let's be determined in our mind not to try to fake it or to try to put up some facade before God, try to pretend like, you know, we're this...

good Christian or good husband or good wife, try to pretend like we're this strong believer, try to pretend like we're seeking the Lord and want his will, trying to pretend like we, you know, desire to serve the Lord. Let's not try to pretend. If you have no desire to serve the Lord, be genuine about that before God. And the idea isn't that, all right, God, you know, this is how I am. This is who I am. And so you're just going to have to deal with it. I'm just genuine.

No, no, the idea is you come before God and say, God, I know you want something different, but this is where I'm at. And so God, I need you to work in me. I need you to change me. Be genuine, be real, and give God that opportunity. Hold fast to Jesus. He is your great high priest who gives you access to God, access to the throne of grace so that you can always ask God for help.

You can always go to him with whatever you're dealing with and wrestling with and struggling through. You can always go to God. And if you will eat this salad, take these pieces of lettuce and fear the idea of missing out on what God has for you and be diligent to be genuine before him and hold fast to Jesus and always ask God for help. Listen, there is a rest that God has for you that you'll just not be able to believe.

There's promises that God has for you that are going to blow your mind. There's work that God's going to do that's going to be exceedingly abundantly above all that you could ask or think. And it doesn't come from us being so impressive. It comes from us believing God and obeying him. I want to finish up with this last quote from Warren Wiersbe. He says,

The emphasis in Hebrews is that true believers have an eternal salvation because they trust a living Savior who constantly intercedes for them. But the writer is careful to point out that this confidence is no excuse for sin. God disciplines his children. There's the balance here. God has great things in store for you. He wants to do good things, but it's not an excuse for us to

to try to take advantage of the grace of god and to just continue on in sin listen the children of israel were miserable in the wilderness for those 40 years they were much better off obeying god and heading into the battle they would have been much better off but but god also didn't just abandon them and say okay you're gone know that 40 years in the wilderness that was discipline

They didn't lose out on the opportunity to know God and walk with God. They didn't lose out on the opportunity of heaven because they didn't enter into the promised land. Some of them turned and learned and were disciplined. So they were corrected in that time. They had the opportunity to still experience some of the things that God had for them. God disciplines his children. And so understand the options here. The choices are believe God and enter in, go forward, rest, and

in him and trust in him or try to do it on your own. Try to go your way and experience the discipline of God. He's not going to give up on you. He's not going to just quit and just walk away. He's going to work in a different way in your life. It's not a way of rest. It's a way of discipline. It's a wilderness experience. And the author of Hebrews is saying, let's wake up. Let's be fearful. Let's be alert and be warned that we don't go that route.

Because we have the potential and the possibility to go that way. Instead, let's trust God. Let's believe God. And let's go forward in what he has for us. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word that you desire to move us into a deeper relationship with you. That you invite us into your very presence no matter what we experience or go through. And Lord, you have good things for us. Not based on how good we are.

but based on how good you are. And so, Lord, help us to trust you, to believe you, and to walk in the life that you've called us to. We pray this in Jesus' name. 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.