["In the Hall of the Mountain King"]
Page number 55, when the roll is called up yonder.
And we'll go ahead and sing it out on the first.
Page number 55 on the first.
["In the Hall of the Mountain King"]
rise in the glory of his resurrection share. When his chosen ones shall gather on their
home beyond the skies and the roll is called up yonder I'll be there. When the roll is
called up yonder, when the roll is called up yonder, when the roll is called up yonder,
when the roll is called up yonder I'll be there. On the last let us labor for the master from the
dawn till setting sun. Let us talk of all his wonders love and care. Then when all of life
is over and our work on earth is done and the roll is called up yonder I'll be there.
When the roll is called up yonder, when the roll is called up yonder, when the roll is called up
yonder, when the roll is called up yonder I'll be there. Great singing. Welcome to Verity Baptist
Church in the Wednesday evening Bible study. Let's open up in a word of prayer. Father God,
thank you so much for this church, Lord. Thank you for these wonderful people coming out here
on a Wednesday service. I pray that you bless the service. I pray that you bless the singing.
I pray that to glorify you and I pray that you bless the preaching and the sermon to come.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. All right turn to your song books page number 356.
Page number 356. We're going to sing I Must Tell Jesus. Page number 356. I Must Tell Jesus.
Let's go ahead and sing it out on the first. I must tell Jesus all of my trials. I cannot bear
these burdens alone. In my distress he kindly will help me. He ever loves and cares for his own.
I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus. I must
tell Jesus. Jesus can't help me. Jesus alone. I must tell Jesus all of my troubles. He is a kind,
compassionate friend. If I but ask him he will deliver. Make up my troubles quickly and end.
I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus. I must
tell Jesus. Jesus can't help me. Jesus alone. Page 356. Let's sing it out on the third.
Tempted and tried I need a great savior. One who can help my burdens to bear. I must tell Jesus.
I must tell Jesus. He all my cares and sorrows will share. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus.
I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. Jesus can't help me.
Jesus alone. Oh how the world to evil allures me. Oh how my heart is tempted to sin.
I must tell Jesus and he will help me. Over the world the victory to win.
I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus. I must
tell Jesus. Jesus can't help me. Jesus alone. Great singing.
Amen. We want to welcome you of course to the midweek service here at Verity Baptist Church.
We're glad you're with us. We're going to go ahead and look at some announcements real quickly.
If you do not have a bulletin just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you.
If you need a bulletin just put your hand up and we will get one for you. The verse this week Hebrews
6 10 for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which you have showed
toward his name and that you have ministered to the saints and do minister and that's a good verse
there. We like that. If you open up your bulletin you'll see our service time Sunday morning service
10 30 a.m. We of course invite you to be with us on Sunday morning on the Lord's day for church
Sunday evening service at 6 p.m. and we're glad like we said you're here for the midweek service
if you look at our soul winning times our main soul winning times on Saturday mornings at
10 a.m. and then we have additional soul winning times on Thursdays and Fridays and Sundays at 2
p.m. the Friday the Thursday and Friday of course are postponed this week but we have a soul winning
time on Sunday at 2 p.m. if you'd like to be a part of that and of course if you're a first-time
guest we're glad you're with us. We have a gift we'd like to give you as you walk out of the
church building tonight if you go out our main foyer or if you got our secondary foyer you'll
see a little table set up and on that table you will see these little gift bags please grab one
on your way out as a gift from us to you for being our guest tonight there are several resources in
this bag that we'd like you to have the one I like to highlight is this documentary that our
church made it's called being Baptist very well made very interesting we think you'll like it
and we want to give this to you as a gift so please make sure you don't leave here tonight
without grabbing one of those gift bags on your way out and if you are a guest we'd ask that you
please take a moment to fill out the communication card which is inserted in your bulletin and if you
need a pen just raise your hand one of our ushers can bring you by a pen and you can drop off this
card in the offering plate as it goes by when we're done with the announcements we're going to
sing a song and we'll receive the offering if you look at the bulletin there of course we are a
family integrated church what that means is that children and infants are always welcome in the
service we do not separate children from their parents for any reason we do have mother baby
rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience all the rooms have comfortable seating
the monitors set up so you can watch the service and listen to it so if you have a child that's
been distracting during the service or if you need some privacy we would encourage you to please
use those rooms as needed if you need to be baptized let us know on your communication card
we'd love to baptize you if you look at the announcements and upcoming events of course
we had our worker appreciation sunday on this last sunday that went well and then the workdays
there's a note there that there are no workdays scheduled for this week of course due to
thanksgiving so make sure that you of course are aware of that and we'll resume workdays next week
uh and and we'll have clipboards out and all those things of course tonight is the pie social
so we invite all of you to stick around after the service in our fellowship hall
and we'll have a time of fellowship uh with pies and there'll be coffee and other things there so
stick around for that and then tomorrow morning is the vbc turkey bowl and that is thursday
november 23rd at 7 am there is a clipboard in the foyer if you'd like to sign up for that
make sure you do that vbc choir they've got practice uh on sunday at 5 pm children's
choirs practicing at 5 15 pm and uh home school group they've got pe class on thursday november
30th there's other things there for you to look at please don't forget to turn your cell phones
off or place them on silent during the service that they're not a distraction to anybody if you
look at the back of the bulletin birthdays and anniversaries for this week we had owen
gives birthday on november 19th that was on sunday adrian reels had a birthday on november 20th
my wife miss joanne jimenez of course has a birthday tonight uh november 22nd and then
tomorrow is jeremiah morales's birthday november 23rd ivy grace o2's birthday november 23rd
faith johnson's birthday november 24th miss tina colack's birthday november 24th and remembering
titus vincent on november 24th as well praise report money matters all of those things are
there for you to look at and i do have one baptism certificate to hand out real quickly
and this is a certificate awarded to tiffany lynn Ortiz in recognition of her baptism
on the 15th day of november of the year 2023 presented by verity baptist church with the verse
therefore we are buried within by baptism into death that like as christ was raised up from the
dead by the glory of the father even so we should walk in units of life and we have pictures here
for miss tiffany to remember the day of her baptism and let's go ahead and give her a round
of applause all right and then also have a baby announcement and we want to announce that evelyn
faith gonzales was born on november 19th 2023 at 9 47 p.m weighing seven pounds four ounces 21
inches long and of course miss melody and the baby are everybody's doing well so praise the
lord for that if you'd like to sign up to bring meals to the gonzales family just see my wife
after the service and she has a clipboard to get signed up for that okay for tonight since we
normally on wednesday night we of course go through our prayer sheet but since tonight is
our pie social we're going to skip the prayer sheet but we do want you to have a copy of the
prayer sheet so if you did not receive a prayer sheet on your way in just raise your hand and
we'll have the ushers go through and get those for you and we're also going to sing this chorus
which you should have an insert called thank you lord as we prepare to receive the offering
this evening and you should have received these with the prayer sheet as well so if
you don't have one of those you don't have a prayer sheet or if you don't have a chorus
just raise your hand and one of the ushers will get to you with that and this is a short one so
we're going to go ahead and sing it out twice as we prepare to receive the offering this evening
sing it out there on the first thank you lord for saving my soul thank you lord for making me whole
thank you lord for giving to me thy great salvation so rich and free good let's sing it out
one more time thank you lord for saving my soul for making me whole thank you lord for giving to
me my great salvation so rich and free amen all right we'll have the guys come up and help us with
the offering at this time and let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer
heavenly father lord we do love you we thank you for allowing us to gather together tonight lord
we pray that you had blessed this evening and we do uh thank you on this thanksgiving
a holiday for sending your son to die on the cross for our sins for all the blessings that
we've received lord we ask that you would meet with us as we take some time to open up your
words to the bible together we pray that you bless the fellowship afterwards as well in
jesus name we pray amen
so
please open up to hebrews 4 hebrews chapter number four if you don't have a bible please
put your hand up and unless you can bring your bible hebrews chapter number four
we will read the entire chapter as our custom
hebrews 4b verse number one let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entering into his
rest any of you should seem to come short of it front to us was the gospel preached as well as
unto them but the word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that
heard it for we which have believed do enter into rest as he said as i have sworn that you
as he said as i have sworn in my wrath and they shall enter into my rest although the works were
finished from the foundation of the world for he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on
this wise and god did rest the seventh day from all his works and in this place again if they
shall enter into my rest seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein
and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief
again he limited a certain day saying in david today after so long a time as it is said today
if you if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts for if jesus had given them rest then would
he not afterward have spoken of another day there remain is therefore a rest to the people of god
for he that has entered into his rest he also had ceased from his own works
as god did from his let us labor therefore to enter into that rest lest any man fall after the
same example of unbelief for the word of god is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged
sword piercing even to the to the dividing ascender of soul and spirit and of the joints
and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart neither is there any creation
that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we
have to do seeing them that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens
jesus the son of god let us hold fast our profession if we have not high priest which
you cannot be which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points
tempted like as we are yet without sin let us therefore come boldly into the throne of grace
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need let's pray heavenly father thank
you for this evening god i thank you for your word and for our church everyone that's here
please give us all attend our hearts with a message tonight and please be other pastors
to strengthen him and from your spirit we love you in jesus name pray amen
amen all right we're there in hebrews chapter number four and of course on wednesday nights
we've been going through a sermon series a book study in the book of hebrews we're going verse
by verse chapter by chapter and tonight we are here in hebrews chapter number four and if you
remember last week we actually read the first 11 uh verses of hebrews 4 and the first 11 verses
deal with the subject of the sabbath day and last week i preached an entire sermon about why we
don't keep the sabbath day and if you remember that i gave six biblical reasons as to why we
don't uh keep the sabbath day and i didn't really go through this passage of scripture
because this passage of scripture is dealing with the sabbath day and i felt like it might
be a little bit of a disservice since there's so much false teaching on the sabbath day
to teach the passage although there's nothing wrong with the word of god nothing wrong with
the passage uh it could be misunderstood by people if maybe they've been exposed to wrong
teaching or something like that so last week i spent uh the evening going through and explaining
why we don't keep the sabbath day like i said i i gave six biblical reasons and i'm not going to
re-preach that sermon tonight it's it's on our website and it's on online you can check it out
if you missed it tonight i'm going to actually just preach through the passage about the sabbath
uh and and i'm not going to deal with the false teaching on the keeping of the sabbath day so
the sermons obviously is a bible study it's all connected we're going verse by verse in context
uh but even more so i would say tonight's sermon is in context with last week's sermon because i'm
going to ignore just the false teaching on the sabbath day just teaching what the bible is
teaching here about the sabbath day uh and and and moving forward with the assumption that you
understand why we don't keep the sabbath day if you just understand that biblically or if you
were here uh last week for the uh wednesday night bible study now i also want to say this of course
it's our uh pi social tonight so i'd like to move as quickly as i can and and preach this uh not not
spend any more time uh than we need to but i would like you to notice really just kind of two headings
or two different sections regarding uh the sabbath day and the first one and if you're taking notes
and i encourage you to take notes on the back of your course of the week there's a place for you
to write down some notes that the first heading uh when it comes to this idea of the sabbath day
or the rest i would call it the primary rest the primary rest and if you're taking notes maybe you
can just write in parentheses next to that statement the primary rest and realize this
that the primary rest is salvation and uh when we are uh when when we are looking at this passage
and the the word rest is coming up what is being referred to here is salvation now you you may ask
well how do you know that and again just look at the context and it should be pretty clear hebrews
chapter four look at verse one let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entering into
his rest now here's what he's saying he's saying when he says let us therefore fear he's saying
there is something you should be afraid of there is something we should all be afraid of and when
he's talking about all humanity there's something that all human beings should be afraid of and
here's what that is he says let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entering into his
rest any of you should seem to come short of it and here's what he's saying he's saying we should
all be afraid every human being should be afraid of coming short of the promise of entering into
his rest he said we should all fear everyone should be afraid to miss that promise everyone
should be afraid that they would and i want you to notice this wording come short of it so we
understand when we look at this passage that the rest being referred to here is salvation and when
he says you know you out of fear lest you miss the promise of entering into his rest what he's
saying is you out of fear uh lest you miss salvation uh lest you do not uh enter into
salvation because the bible says and as it is appointed unto men in the book of hebrews later
on in the book it says and as it is appointed unto men once to die and after this the judgment
and once we die uh then the the time is up the the bible says that today is a day of
salvation and it's not something that we should put off for another day because you don't know
that another day is promised to you so he says we should fear lest the promise being left us now
you may ask the question and and and some who maybe want to teach false teachings about the
sabbath day would ask this question how do you know this is talking about salvation well i'm
going to point it out to you and it's going to become extremely extremely clear as we go through
the verses but let me just point out one uh just initial thing that you can maybe see and make a
connection and it is this phrase at the end of verse one where he says come short of it come
short of it now keep your place there in hebrews that's our text for tonight go with me if you
would to the book of romans romans chapter number three matthew mark luke john ax romans romans
chapter three now we believe here that the king james bible is god's inspired preserved inerrant
word we believe that there are no accidents in the bible there is nothing in the bible is is also
incidental or accidental or coincidental and the fact that the writer of hebrews which i believe
is the apostle paul is using this phrase come short this is a phrase that is very well known
and i think he's trying to point this in a direction and to let us know that he is referring
to salvation here's another very famous verse that uses this phrase you know it romans 3 23
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god the bible says that because of sin we come
short and here the writer of hebrews is saying go back to hebrews 4 let us therefore fear lest a
promise being left us of entering into his rest any of you should come short of it he says
you should be afraid of coming short of it for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
god so how do we know that the primary rest is salvation and again if you've been with us through
the book of hebrews you know that one of the themes of the book of hebrews is the fact that
jesus is better we've been seeing this all throughout the book of hebrews we began with
this idea that the prophets spake but in these last days god has spoken through his son and the
idea is this that though the prophets were good jesus is better we've looked at the fact that
moses was good but jesus is better the angels were good but jesus is better the old covenant was good
but the covenant of jesus the new testament is better and the idea is this that in the old
testament there was this idea of rest and it's a good concept and it was a foreshadow of things
to come but the rest that jesus offers is better so we see here that he's talking about salvation
and the first hint that we get to that is the fact that he says be afraid to come short of it but
then in just in case you're thinking yourself well that's not very that's not a very good piece
of evidence that could just be a coincidence maybe that term is used a lot and i don't think it is i
think that's being used for a reason but verse two makes it undeniably clear that it is talking
about salvation look at verse two for unto us was don't miss it the gospel preached all right so
there you go this is absolutely talking about salvation the rest is salvation he says in verse
you ought to be afraid you come short of it and then in verse two he makes it clear what
he's talking about he says for unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them by the way
this is a great verse for dispensationalists because here the writer of hebrews is saying
the gospel the same gospel in the same way that the gospel is preached to us as new testament
believers it was also preached unto them in the old testament for unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them notice what he says but the word preached did not profit them
now i don't want to spend a lot of time on this because later in hebrews in this very chapter
he's going to talk about for the word of god is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged
sword but here he tells us that the word preached didn't profit them but he explains why it did not
profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it so notice that the only way that
the word of god is going to profit you or profit me is when it's mixed with faith it has to be
mixed with faith in order to give us salvation but i want you to notice in verse one he says come
short in verse two he says the gospel was preached and then in verse two he also says that it needed
to be mixed with faith in them that heard it so he's talking about sin come short the gospel
the death prayer and resurrection of jesus christ the messages of salvation and the only way that
it can profit you or anyone else is if we believe is if it's mixed with faith is if we receive it
through faith for by grace are you saved through faith so we see that it's very clear that the rest
the primary rest the best rest the better rest being referred to here is the rest of salvation
that we must enter into his rest and that is a reference to salvation and look when it comes to
salvation we just have to remember this that there are only two gospels out there there might be many
religions there might be many different churches out there but there's really only two belief
systems out there either you are resting in your faith in christ or you are trying to work your
way to heaven and if you're trying to work your way to heaven that's not rest and that's not
salvation and that's not the gospel look at verse three hebrews four and verse three for we which
have believed notice the emphasis again do enter into rest as he said as i have sworn in my wrath
now we've already looked at this because this quote is coming up a lot and it's psalm 95 we've
already seen it in previous weeks psalm 95 is clearly talking about when the children of israel
chose to not enter the promised land when they made it to the edge of the promised land
remember they sent the 12 spies in the 12 the 10 spies came back with an evil report and they chose
not to come to go into the promised land and god says that he swore in his wrath that they should
not enter into my rest although look at the last part of verse three although the works were
finished from the foundation of the world so again i just want to give you another cross reference to
look at just to show you that this rest is talking about salvation it's talking about the gospel it's
talking about believing in the lord jesus christ bring your faith in jesus christ and and it's
telling you to be afraid that you come short of it for all i've said and come short of the glory of
god look at last part of verse three from the foundation of the world he said the works were
finished from the foundation of the world he said look you don't have to work your way to heaven
because all you need to do is believe is is mix it with faith the message of the gospel the word
needs to be mixed with faith and he says as far as works you don't have to work he says because the
works look at the last part of verse three the works were finished from the foundation of the
world all right let's look at a cross reference go to revelation 13 last book in the new testament
should be fairly easy to find revelation 13 look at verse number eight revelation 13 eight
revelation 13 and verse eight the bible says this and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship
him whose names are not written in the book of life now here's talking about those that are
going to worship the antichrist now notice it's saying everyone's going to worship him
whose names are not written in the book of life of the lamb and then it says this of the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world so the bible tells us that jesus was the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world hebrews tells us that the works were finished from the foundation
of the world and the idea is this that god already had it planned from the foundation of the world
he already knew that adam and eve would sin and that that that his son would have to die as a
sacrifice to bring salvation it was already as good as done from the foundation of the world
which by the way is why the writer of hebrews can say for the gospel for unto us was the gospel
preached as well as unto them because people say well how did they preach the gospel to people in
the old testament if jesus hadn't died yet well the works were finished from the foundation of
the world now god had already decided and and and determined that jesus would die on the cross
and when god promises something is it is as good as done he speaks of things that are not as though
they already are so it was already done so in the old testament they would look forward in faith
believing that jesus would die on the cross for their sons for their sins we of course look back
to the cross in faith believing that he has died on the cross for our sins but the works were
finished from the foundation of the world and they could have believed on it from the foundation of
the world and they did believe in it from the foundation of the world the bible says all the
way in the early chapters of genesis that men were calling upon the name of the lord and we know of
course that's reference to salvation go back to hebrews hebrews chapter 4 so i want you to notice
we see the primary the primary rest is being spoken of here and what is that primary rest what
is the best rest that any of us could have and it is the rest of salvation the fact that we can rest
in our salvation so we see the primary rest but then i want you to notice that the writer of
hebrews beginning in verse 4 gives us the pictures of rest so first he talks about the primary rest
which is salvation and then he gives us the pictures of rest and if you're taking notes
and you'd like to jot a heading down you can jot that down the picture of rest and if you'd like
you can put in parentheses symbolic now the primary rest was salvation the pictures of rest
are symbolic and they are symbolic of salvation and what the writer of hebrews does is he gives
us two different examples or illustrations of rest now these are examples and illustrations
they are foreshadows of the primary rest which is salvation they are old testament pictures
of rest that picture the primary rest of salvation are you with me let me give you
a couple let me show you these examples that the writer of hebrews gives he gives two different
examples the first one is in verse four notice what he says for he spake in a certain place
now the certain place he's referring to because he's about to quote the old testament is genesis
chapter 2 verses 2 and 3 and we're going to turn there here in a minute for he spake in a certain
place of the seventh day so the first example because remember he begins talking about the
primary rest what is the primary rest salvation he says don't come short of it he said it's the
gospel he said you have to mix the word being preached with faith you have to believe in it
the works were finished from the foundation of the world he said the primary rest of salvation
he says but there are some pictures of rest in the old testament and he says there is a certain
place where he spake in a certain place of the seventh day so the first example he gives is that
of the sabbath day now again i preached a whole sermon last week about why we don't practice the
sabbath day as new testament believers i'm not going to deal with that subject tonight but he
gives us example of the seventh day or the sabbath day and he says this verse 4 for he spake in a
certain place of the seventh day on this wise and god did rest the seventh day from all his words now
let's let's run the verses keep your place there in hebrews 4 go to genesis chapter number 2 should
be fairly easy to find the first book in the whole bible genesis and only the second chapter
genesis chapter 2 this is right after the creation story in genesis chapter 1
genesis chapter 2 and verse 1 in genesis 2 and verse 1 the bible says this
thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the hosts of them and on the seventh day god
ended his work which he had made and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he
had made and god blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested
from all his work which god created and made all right so we see here this is the establishment of
the of the seventh day the first seventh day or sabbath day where god labored for six days creating
the heavens and the earth and then he rested on the seventh day the writer of hebrews is telling
us that is an example or an illustration of salvation and we actually talked about this
last week that salvation is this when we cease from our own works and enter into his rest
in the same way that god did rest the seventh day from all his works he sees from his own works
and he entered into rest so that's the first example the first example is the example of
the seventh day go back to hebrews chapter four let me show you the second example and again i
want to try to move through this as quickly as i can i want i want to teach you the content
and and give you all the information you need but i want to move as quickly as possible
here's example number two so so we've got the primary rest salvation then we have the picture
of rest right because the whole book of hebrews is about how the new testament is better than the old
text so he's giving us two old testament examples of rest and he's saying these were good but this
one is better these were good but these are foreshadows they are pictures of the primary rest
the primary rest is salvation what are the pictures what is the symbolic uh a picture of
salvation well one is the seventh day the sabbath day where you labor for six days and then you cease
from your labors and you enter into rest that's just like salvation you stop trying to work your
way to heaven you stop trying to go to the communion uh or or the confessional booth you
you stop trying to turn over a new leaf or repent of your sins and you just believe on the lord
jesus christ and you rest that's example number one the seventh day then in verse five he gives
us example number two we've already talked about it a little bit but let's look at it again hebrews
4 and verse 5 and in this place again now he's quoting psalm 95 verses 8 through 11 he says
and in this place again because he's been quoting psalm 95 through the book of hebrews it's not the
first time he brings this up and in this place again if they shall enter into my rest seeing
therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein and they to whom it was first preached
entered not in because of unbelief notice verse seven again he limited a certain day saying and
david today after so long a time as it is said today if you will hear his voice harden not your
heart so what is he talking about and again i'm not going to have you go to psalm 95 we've gone
there a lot but these are all quotes from psalm 95 and when he and when he's talking about the fact
that they harden their hearts or the fact that he's sworn his wrath that they would not enter
into his rest he is referring to the fact that they refused to go into the promised land now if
you're paying attention and i realize probably most of you are not and that's okay just let's
pretend you are okay if you're playing attention you would ask the question if you are an intuitive
student of the bible which i'm just going to assume you are you would ask the same question
that i asked myself when i was reading through this text and i the question that i asked myself
was this well i understand how the sabbath day or the seventh day is a picture of salvation because
you are laboring for six days and then you're ceasing from your labor and you're entering into
rest but how is it that the children of israel refusing to enter the promised land how does that
picture salvation and specifically i can understand how it could picture salvation
but how does it picture rest but here's what you need to understand i'm just going to give you the
answer because i don't have time to give you go through the passage and explain it all we preached
to the numbers recently so hopefully you're you're kind of caught up the answer is this
the children of israel had just spent 400 plus years in slavery they spent hundreds of years
serving and working and god sends moses and delivers them out of work and is trying to give
them free land cities they did not build vineyards they did not plant the idea is this
you've been working i want you to cease from your labor and enter into my rest but
when the 10 spies came back and gave the evil report the people's hearts filled with fear which
is the opposite of faith and the bible says look at hebrews 4-6 seeing therefore remaineth that
some must enter therein and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief
they had been laboring as slaves in egypt god wanted to have them enter into his rest the
promised land but they did not enter in because of unbelief and he says this is a picture of
salvation it's actually a picture of less you should fear less you miss the promise and you
come short of it because the reason that people don't get saved is because they're not willing to
stop laboring and enter into his rest so we have the primary rest of salvation then we have the
picture of rest the symbolic rest the seventh day in the promise and and the promised land now
i do want to deal with something in verse eight we'll start in verse seven just so you get the
context and i'd like you to notice it here in hebrews four and seven again he limited the
certain day saying to david and david today after so long a time as it is said today if you will
hear his voice harden out your heart now why does he bring up david he brings up david because he's
quoting from the book of psalms and it's a song that david wrote that's why he brings up david
but the psalm is about moses and the children of israel and the 12 spies and the 10 spies that came
back with an evil report and the two spies that came back with a good report and the fact that
the children of israel did not enter into the promised land did not enter into his rest because
of unbelief all right so he brings up david because it's a psalm written by david but it's
about moses and the children of israel are you are you with me does that make sense now no notice
verse seven again he limited a certain time a certain day saying and david today after so long
a time as it is said today if you hear his voice harden out your hearts verse eight for if jesus
i want you to notice that name there jesus for if jesus had given them rest then would he not
afterward have spoken of another day now again if you're not paying attention which i realize
maybe some of you are not you would read this passage and assume that in verse eight when it
says for if jesus had not given them rest that the jesus there is referring to our lord and savior
the lord jesus christ the one who was born in bethlehem the one who we are going to celebrate
his birth here in a few weeks but i want you to understand that that is not the case in hebrews
four and verse eight the jesus referred to here for if jesus had given them rest is actually
referring to the old testament character joshua now i want you to to get this okay
remember the context is about what story the children of israel refusing to enter the promised
land refusing god wanted them to come out of egypt where they had been slaving away working
away he wanted them to cease from their labor and enter into his rest the promised land moses
failed to bring them in but there was an old testament character who brought the children
of israel into the promised land and he is known in the old testament as joshua so in hebrews four
and verse eight the person referred to here whose name jesus is actually joshua for if jesus had
given them rest then would he not afterward have spoken of another day and here's what the writer
of hebrews is saying he's saying i understand that joshua did bring them into the promised
land but he says that was still symbolic that's not the real rest joshua did not give them eternal
rest he says for if joshua if jesus had given them rest then would he not afterward have spoken of
another day so i want you to notice that hebrews 4-8 when it says jesus there it is not referring
to jesus christ our lord and savior it is referring to the old testament character joshua
now let me just some of you are like i don't know about that okay let me give you an example another
example this is something that we see in the in the new testament go to the book of acts
acts chapter 7 matthew mark luke john acts acts chapter 7 let me give you another example of this
joshua is called jesus in the new testament and it's not jesus our savior
acts chapter 7 now if you're familiar with acts chapter 7 you have stephen preaching his great
sermon right before he is stoned and stephen in his great sermon is detailing the history of the
children of israel and he's going through their history we'll just start here in verse 44 because
i want you to see the context notice what stephen is talking about act 744 our fathers had the
tabernacle of witness in the wilderness what's that talking about that's what we're studying in
the book of numbers right as he had appointed speaking unto moses you see moses we're talking
about what time frame the time frame of moses the tabernacle in the wilderness that he should make
it according to the fashion that he had seen verse 45 which also are fathers that came after
so he was talking about moses but then he says our fathers that came after now let me ask you this
who came after moses joshua right genesis exodus leviticus numbers deuteronomy those are all about
moses then you have the book of joshua notice what he says verse 45 which also our fathers
that came after that came after what that came after moses brought in with look at it jesus
into the possession of the gentiles now the possession of the gentiles is the promised land
did jesus bring the children of israel into the promised land jesus born of bethlehem jesus the
nazarene no jesus there is referring to joshua joshua is the one that brought them into the
possession of the gentiles you say why are you showing us this well first of all maybe you'll
start paying attention when you read the bible and i'll just assume that because you see jesus
it is referring to the lord jesus christ because joshua is the one being referred to here now you
say well why is he called jesus why is the old testament character of joshua called jesus in the
new testament you know i i found an article on it and i just feel like reading the article it was
said very well here and i just thought that that would be best let me just read this short article
for you uh it's entitled why is joshua called jesus in uh the new testament and i'll just read
this for you and hopefully you'll understand jesus and joshua are really the same name although in
different languages the greek form in english is jesus the hebrew form in english is joshua
in the old testament hebrew joshua's name is transliterated into english this is where we
get the english name joshua but when the hebrew name is translated into greek the original
language of the new testament it becomes esus and this is where we get the english name jesus the
same type of linguistic metaphor metamorphosis occurs today among names for example a man with
the spanish name Jorge can choose to go by the english form of his name George both George and
Jorge are the same name in different languages if Jorge were to travel the world then his name
might become giorgio or yuri or jurgen or juris or jersey or gorka or sauras depending on the
country he was visiting regardless of the form his name takes he's still the same person in the
same manner the old testament joshua remains the same person even if called by the greek version
of his name jesus so hopefully that makes sense to you but here's what you just need to understand
joshua is the the greek form of the same name translated into english when you take the hebrew
form and translate it into english it's joshua when you take the greek form and translate into
english it's jesus but it's referring to the same individual now this might seem like you're there
in acts right go to acts 13 this might seem to you like oh that's just a really interesting piece of
of information there it's just a really interesting nugget and and i think it is
you know i think that you we should know that and we should understand these things
but there is a biblical illustration and a biblical application in this passage
and actually um my sister miss michelle cruz actually brought this up to me several weeks ago
um and and and she was telling me that'd be cool to preach a sermon on that so i'm doing
that or i'm preaching a sermon on it because here's what's interesting about this is that in
the bible moses and i won't take the time to run the verses because we don't have the time but you
can do this on your own if you'd like moses throughout the bible pictures the law the law
is often being equated with moses in fact sometimes they just refer to moses and they're
referring to the law the law of moses moses and the law now here's what's interesting is that moses
represents the law in the old testament and the new testament but the old testament character
joshua is a old testament picture of jesus in fact they have the same name joshua and jesus
have the same name we just call them joshua in the old testament because it's the english version
of the hebrew name we call them jesus in the new testament because it's the english version of the
uh greek name but here's what's interesting and here's why i actually think uh the writer
of hebrews is bringing it up he's not just bringing it up to try to confuse his writers
he's bringing it up kind of with this i think wink wink do you get it and the idea is this
that in the old testament what moses was unable to do which was to bring the children of israel
out of bondage and into the promised land what moses was unable to do joshua was able to do
he brought them over the jordan river and they finally entered into his rest the idea is this
that in the same way that moses could not and joshua could what moses represents the law
will never bring you out of bondage and give you rest but what joshua represents the lord
jesus christ he will the idea is this that what moses could not do joshua could do and what the
law that is represented by moses cannot do regarding salvation jesus who's pictured by
joshua can do he can bring you out of bondage and you can enter into his rest
it's salvation it's pictures of salvation in fact let me just give you a passage just to prove it
acts 13 look at verse 38 acts 13 verse 38 be it known unto you therefore men and brethren
that through this man now i don't have time to go through the passage
but this man is referring to jesus it's clear in the context that through this man is priest
unto you the forgiveness of sins verse 39 and by him by whom by this man referring to jesus
and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which he could not be justified
don't miss it by the law of moses the law of moses can't justify you but joshua can the law
moses can't justify you but jesus can't a picture of salvation is the sabbath day that we labored
for six days and we cease from our labor and enter into rest but another picture of salvation is the
promised land that the children of israel slaved away and bonded for hundreds of years and then
they left that bondage they seized from their labor but they didn't enter into rest because
of unbelief but joshua brought them what the law could not do jesus could do what the law could not
do joshua could do what what justification could not come by the law did come through the the lord
jesus christ which is why the bible says and by him all that believe are justified from all things
from which he could not be justified by the law of moses go back to hebrews chapter 4 hebrews
chapter 4 now real quickly let me give you the application to these illustrations right because
we have these illustrations the illustrations are the example of the sabbath of the seventh day
and the example of the promised land here's the application to those illustrations because there's
always an application there's always an application in the word of god notice hebrews 4 and verse 9
they remaineth there for a rest to the people of god here's the application application number one
for example number one what was example number one the seventh day what's the application verse 10
for he that is entered into his rest he also has seized from his own works as god did from his
the first application is this if someone is going to be saved they must cease from their own words
they cannot be saved while still trying to work their way to heaven
because salvation is rest and you cannot rest while you're working so the application is this
for he that is entered into his rest he also has seized from his own works as god did from his look
at verse 4 he said in verse 4 as well for he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise
and god did rest the seventh day from all his work so here's application number one you must
cease from your works to enter into rest you must stop working if you're going to be saved
you cannot be saved until you stop working that's application number one here's application number
two it's in verse 11 let us because remember what's what's it's application number two for
example number two application number one for example number one example number one was the
sabbath day so application number one was you have you have to cease from your works to enter
into rest that's the same as salvation here's application number two for illustration number two
what was illustration number two the promised land and here's the application verse 11 let us labor
therefore to enter into that rest i love how he says that he says let us labor to enter into that
rest it's like when jesus said you know the works that you must do are to believe uh you know the
idea is this if you're going to work for anything work to rest work to believe let us labor therefore
to enter into that rest lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief what's what's the
application the application is this you will not enter into the rest of salvation if you don't
believe now you say well those are pretty simple and those those are pretty you know we understand
that go go to go go to verse six real quickly let me just show it to you in verse six as well
seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein and they to whom it was first preached
entered not in because of unbelief all right now just real quickly because i got to finish this
thing up go to the book of ephesians ephesians chapter two i'm not sure if you kept your place
in acts i meant to ask you to keep your place there but after acts you have the book of romans
first second Corinthians Galatians then Ephesians acts romans first second Corinthians Galatians
then Ephesians Ephesians chapter two
i don't know sometimes i feel like maybe i'm not expressing myself as clearly as i'd like to but
i just want you to understand this okay i want you to understand this passage he begins by
talking about the primary salvation the rest which is salvation he says don't come short of it
we heard it through the gospel the word is preached and the word must be mixed with faith
and the works were done from the foundation of the world that's the primary rest
salvation then he says let me give you two pictures of that salvation two old testament
pictures of that salvation that rest is better than the rest in the old testament but the rest
in the old testament pictures this rest and then he gives us two examples of those pictures one
is the sabbath day we cease from our own labors and enter into rest and that tells us that you
cannot be saved while working you have to stop working in order to be saved and then he said
another example is the example of motus and jesus which he met joshua entering into the promised
land and the fact that they did not enter because of unbelief they labored in egypt and god wanted
to give them rest but they refused to go on because of unbelief and he says the application
there is you cannot enter into rest until you believe so he says he's he's explaining look if
you're going to enter into the rest of salvation you have to stop working and you have to believe
you say well why is that important because here's what i want you to understand these are coupled
together and the reason for what he's saying these two examples have to be true at the same time for
anyone that is going to be saved let's look at the verses i know there are common verses you know
them but let's look at it eph 2 8 and 9 for by grace are you saved through faith not unbelief
and that not of yourselves what does that mean and that the word that is referring to being saved
let's have a real quick english you know sentence diagramming for by grace are you saved the subject
is being saved we're saved through faith through faith is describing how we're saved and that not
of yourselves is describing the being saved if you're going to be saved it's not of yourselves
meaning the word of is referring to source it doesn't come from you you don't save yourself
i don't save myself for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves why is
it not of yourselves here's why it is the gift of god it is a gift that he paid for the works were
finished from the foundation of the world it's already been paid for it is the gift of god he
says look not of works because the gift is not something you work for it's not something you earn
not of works lest any man should boast what is the idea here's the idea you need to number one
not work and number two believe in order to be saved now why is it important to know that and
i know that's foundational but it's good for us to be reminded of these things
because you know there's people out there who don't believe but are working
do you understand what i'm saying i mean there's mormons out there there's mormons
out there that are better people than you are i'll tell you that right now
i don't know them but i know you that's all i gotta know i mean i'm saying there are mormon
people out there who are honest and have character and have integrity and they don't i mean they they
just they live sober righteous i mean they don't even drink coffee you know just they good life but
they're not believing on the lord jesus christ not the lord jesus christ of the bible and look if you
work but you don't believe you're like the children of israel that came out of the promised
land they worked but they did not believe they did not enter in so i don't care if you're a hindu
i don't care if you're a muslim i don't care if you're a mormon i don't care what you are you
might be following your path following your life living a good life doing your best but if you
don't believe on the lord jesus christ jesus said i am the way the truth and life no man cometh unto
the father brought by me if you don't believe in christ you're gonna die and go to hell no matter
how much you work if you don't believe you won't enter in that's what the promised land teaches us
they labored for 400 plus years but because they did not believe they did not enter into rest
but then there's another group out there another group says well i will i do believe but i also
want to work right isn't that what most so-called christians well yeah we believe in jesus but you
also have to yeah we believe in jesus but if you do something really bad then you'll lose
yeah we believe in jesus but wait a minute that doesn't work either because the other illustration
is that salvation is like the sabbath day you seize from your labors and you enter into rest
so you cannot say well i'm believing and i'm still working that's like saying i'm resting
and i'm working well you can't be doing both you're either resting or working you can't do both
so we look at the people that are working and say but you don't believe you're like the people
the promised land you're not going to enter in and then we look at the people that believe but
they're also working they're not going to enter in either because you have to seize from your
labors and enter into rest see the only way that salvation works is this you stop working and you
believe it's the only way it works well i'll just keep working and believe doesn't work it's the
sabbath it's the picture of sabbath it's the eternal sabbath the sabbath of wrath the lord
jesus christ oh i'll work but not believe that won't work either you won't make it into the
promised land you'll wander in the wilderness like the children of israel because what we need
to understand this is the last verse i'll have you look at it we'll be done ephesians chapter 1
is there any ephesians 2 just flip back to ephesians 1 verse 13
what people don't understand is this that the when the bible uses the word faith and believe
words often have different definitions didn't we learn that tonight jesus is referring to joshua
in hebrews and acts by the way those are the only places that happens just so you're not you know
you're gonna we're gonna be i'm gonna be preaching a christmas sermon i'm gonna be like
jesus the savior is born today and you're gonna be like i don't know is that jesus was that joshua
okay it's just hebrews and acts okay those are the only places i promise what people don't
understand is this that when the bible uses the word faith and believe the word faith and
believe has multiple definitions one definition is like believe like you believe that something
exists like i don't believe in santa claus he doesn't exist right
the bible says that the devils believe and tremble like they believe that god exists but
are they saved the definition of believe in faith that is used for salvation is not just do you
believe like it exists is are you placing your trust your confidence in let me give you a one
verse ephesians 1 13 in whom ye also notice the word trust in after that ye heard the word of
truth the gospel of your salvation in whom also after that ye believed you were sealed with the
holy spirit of promise notice that's consistent throughout the bible it's always you hear the
word you believe on the word you put your faith but i want you to notice here in this verse
it says in whom also after that you believed and it says in whom ye also trusted the word belief
and trust are being used interchangeably why because when we say belief that's what we're
talking about are you trusting in jesus to save you is your confidence in jesus to save you
and if you're going to place your confidence on christ then you can't say well i'm kind of
trusting him and i'm kind of trusting myself i'm leaning on him a little bit and then i'm
leaning on my work no you must cease from your own words and trust completely in him enter into his
rest so well i'm just going to trust in myself completely i'm just going to be a good hindu
and and and a good sikh or a good muslim and try to do all the things that i'm supposed to do and
then but i'm not going to believe in jesus well that won't work either you'll just wander in the
wilderness see salvation is this and this is what the bible is trying to teach us and this is what
the writer of hebrews is teaching us that salvation is rest and what that means is
we must stop working and we must believe trust put our confidence in the lord jesus christ
and when you do that you enter into rest when it comes to salvation tonight i can tell you this
i don't have it all put together but i can tell you this about salvation i'm at rest
there's nothing i'm trying to do to get my self to heaven there's nothing i'm trying to do to
earn favor with god oh well you you're a pastor and you preach and you go sword winning and you
tithe and you do this and you do that there's lots of things i do but none of them to be saved
and i have no doubt that there's nothing i need to do to save myself not of yourselves and there's
nothing i can do to lose my salvation you know what you call that rest and the writer of hebrew
says you know what you're out of fear you know what you're out of fear is that there's this
promise out there of rest you're out of fear that you would come short and not enter into that rest
but if you believe and if you cease from your works and you can be saved
and you can have the best rest the primary rest the rest of salvation through the lord jesus christ
that's why i had to have a word of prayer heavenly father thank you lord for your word
thank you for the bible lord i pray you'd help us
these teachings are basic i understand but it's good for us to be reminded
that salvation really is rest we cease from our own works and we believe
and lord i pray that you'd help all of us understand that help us to make that clear
to others as we preach the gospel to them and lord thank you this thanksgiving week we want to
thank you father for giving us salvation sending your son to down the cross for our sins
we love you in the matchless name of the lord jesus christ we pray amen
all right well we're gonna have brother rj come up and lead us in a final song and then of course
we want to invite all of you to stick around for our pie social right after the service if you go
into our fellowship hall we'll have pie and i think there's coffee and waters and whatever
we'll have a time of fellowship tonight with with pie and if there's anything of course we can do
for you please let us know i'm gonna ask for rj to lead the song and if you want to upstairs
not rj i wish it was rj i'm gonna ask moses done rj is offended now moses would you mind leading us
and also praying praying what moses could not do rj could do i'm just kidding lead us into the
pie social anyway moses please lead the song and pray for the food thank you
just a little darker than rj just a little bit but turn to page number 41
we're gonna sing the sweet bye and bye
page number 41
sweet bye and bye and let's go ahead and sing it out on that first verse
there's a land that is fairer than day and by faith we can see it afar for the father waits over the
way to prepare us a dwelling place there in the sweet by and by we shall meet on that beautiful
shore in the sweet by and by we shall be on that beautiful shore we shall sing on that beautiful
the melody of songs of the blessed and our spirit shall sorrow no more
not a sigh for the blessings of rest in the sweet by and by we shall meet on that beautiful shore
in the sweet by and by we shall be on that beautiful shore let's sing it out on the last
to our bountiful father above we will offer our tribute a praise for the glorious gift of his love
and the blessings that hallow our days in the sweet by and by we shall meet on that beautiful
shore in the sweet by and by we shall be on that beautiful shore great singing any guests have any
any guests have any questions about salvation or baptism the pastor will be in the front
and let's close in a word of prayer father god thank you so much for this day lord thank you
for this pie social i pray that you'd bless this food our body thank you for the people who brought
it i pray that you'd bless our all our thanks savings tomorrow and keep us safe in jesus name
i pray amen
so