Now we're in Hebrews chapter 4.
Hebrews chapter 4 and the Bible reads,
Let us therefore fear lest a promise be left us of entering into his rest,
any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto 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, I have sworn in my wrath that 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 on 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 enter 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 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 remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
For he that entered into his rest, he also hath 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 dividing asunder 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 creature that is not manifested in his sight,
but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed unto the heavens,
Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
For if we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was at all points tempted like as we are yet without sin,
let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Let's pray, dear Lord God, thank you for every soul here right now at this church, Lord,
and I just pray that you bless this service, Lord,
fill Pastor Mejia with your Holy Spirit, Lord, as he preaches unto us,
and pray us and the congregation are edified, Lord,
and bless this time, we pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.
Amen. Okay, we continue this evening with the book of Hebrews,
and we're in chapter 4. I want to encourage you, if you haven't followed the series,
go back and listen to all the sermons, chapters 1, 2, and 3,
because really chapter 4 is a continuation,
it's a continuing thought of the content that we see in the previous chapters,
and in fact chapter 4 is literally carrying off of the latter end of chapter 3,
regarding the children of Israel going into the Promised Land.
And one thing we have to understand is that the book of Hebrews,
particularly here in chapter 3 and 4, when it talks about going into the Promised Land,
it equates that with the rest of God.
And although they physically went into that land, Canaan Land, the Promised Land,
it's figurative of salvation, okay?
And so, although they physically went there, and they physically received rest,
because they were no longer wandering in the wilderness,
they were no longer under the bondage of Egypt,
under the taskmasters of Pharaoh, etc.,
they physically went into that land,
and God gave them rest from all their enemies round about, so to speak.
And so that is a picture of salvation.
And one of the reasons why we know that it signifies salvation
is because of the wording that it gives us
when it talks about those who were not able to enter in,
and it says they weren't able to go into the Promised Land because of unbelief.
And so automatically in the New Testament, as New Testament Christians,
that should ring a bell, this is referring to salvation, okay?
Because of the fact that no one is permitted to go into heaven,
have eternal life, have salvation, if they don't believe, right?
And more specifically, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not based upon your works, it's not based upon your deeds,
your ability to keep God's commandments,
how well you think you have a relationship with God,
it's solely based upon your faith in Jesus Christ, believing on Him.
And if you do all the works, you keep all of God's commandments,
which obviously is impossible to do,
but you live a morally erect life
where you're doing that which is right in the sight of the Lord,
in your own eyes or according to the Bible,
but you've never placed your faith in Jesus Christ for salvation,
you're not going to enter in. Why?
Because of unbelief, according to the Bible.
And we'll get into that in just a bit.
Now, let me say this regarding the book of Hebrews once again,
and that is, when you read the book of Hebrews,
the grammar can be a little confusing,
and this is why people have a tendency to avoid reading
or studying the book of Hebrews because it's so deep,
and quite frankly, people can pull out a lot of various different interpretations
because of the fact that it's very enigmatic in nature, okay?
And this, along with 2 Corinthians,
is probably one of the most more difficult books of the Apostle Paul to read.
And in fact, I believe that this is what the Apostle Peter was talking about
when he talks about Paul's writings,
and he says that they are hard to be understood.
And when you read passages such as chapter 4, you can see why.
It's just like, you know, what is he really trying to get across here?
What is being stated here?
So we're going to clarify some things in chapter 4.
Now, let's go ahead and look at, first and foremost, verse number 1.
We're going to look at this concept of coming short of salvation.
Look what it says in verse 1, it says,
Let us therefore fear, lest the promise being left us of entering into his rest,
any of you should seem to come short of it.
For unto 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.
So right off the bat, what we're looking at here is the Apostle Paul
comparing those who physically were in the wilderness
as being people who the gospel was preached unto,
but it didn't profit them, it didn't help them,
because of the fact that it wasn't mixed with faith, okay?
Now, this is a great verse to show us that salvation has always been the same
from the beginning of time up until now.
Salvation, the message of salvation has never changed, okay?
And there's a lot of false doctrines out there.
They'll try to tell you that people were saved by worse in the Old Testament,
by doing the animal sacrifices, and by doing good things,
and they didn't know about Jesus, and therefore salvation was different.
However, the Bible tells us here in verse 2
that the gospel was preached unto us as well as unto them.
The only difference is, a lot of the people in the wilderness
didn't believe the gospel, okay?
And therefore it didn't profit them, meaning they didn't get saved, right?
So he's telling us here that people need to make sure that they fear,
lest a promise be left to us entering into his rest,
any of you should seem to come short of it.
When he says that people will fall short of the gospel,
it's not saying they'll fall short in their works.
It's referring to the fact that they'll fall short
because they don't believe the gospel, okay?
That's what it means when it says
that they're falling short of the gospel.
And this is an important point here
because of the fact that a lot of people
just really depend on their works for salvation, right?
They depend on their own merits, their good deeds,
how good of a life that they lived,
or how, you know, just well they lived their life,
or whatever it may be, the list can go on and on.
Their ability to repent of their sins
and not commit certain things,
but at the end of the day,
salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ.
And the only work that we should be trusting in
for salvation is the finished work of Christ on the cross.
And this is essentially the difference between Christianity
and every religion out in the world,
and that is that every religion expects for you
to do something to be saved,
whereas Christianity only requires for you
to place your faith in what Jesus Christ has already done.
His finished work on the cross,
the fact that he resurrected from the grave
three days later, this is what the gospel is,
is the death, burial, and resurrection.
Now, this is a callback to the first two verses
to Hebrews two.
If you look at Hebrews three, look at verse 18.
It says, and to whom swear he
that they should not enter into his rest,
but to them that believe not.
So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Now, literally what this is talking about
is the fact that the children of Israel
their carcasses, the Bible says, fell in the wilderness,
meaning that God killed them when they're in the wilderness.
They died in the wilderness.
They were there for 40 years
and never made it to the Promised Land, okay?
And the reason they didn't make it
is because they didn't trust God
to bring them into the Promised Land.
And so, literally, when addressing the children of Israel
in this context, it's not saying
that they didn't believe in him for salvation.
They just didn't trust in him
to bring them into the Promised Land.
Now, that right there symbolically represents
a person placing their faith in their own works
and not placing their faith in Jesus Christ
for salvation in the New Testament.
So even though what's being referred to here
signifies salvation, the Old Testament example that we see
is that people didn't trust in the Lord
to bring them into Canaan Land, that Promised Land.
And the reason I say that is because
a lot of people who died in the wilderness were saved.
There were saved people who were in the wilderness
but they didn't go into the Promised Land physically,
the physical land, Canaan Land,
because they lacked faith in God.
And so that is equated in the New Testament
or given as an example for salvation
because the real Promised Land in the Bible
in the New Testament is heaven, right?
The real rest is referring to salvation, eternal life.
And the way you enter in is by believing on Jesus Christ.
So this is what the callback is to.
And I find it very scary that he says in verse 18,
to whom he swear that they should not enter into his rest.
So this shows us, this is something that's also emphasized
in the New Testament, that there are certain individuals
in this world that just refuse to believe on Jesus Christ.
They reject the Lord and it can get to a point
where God shuts them off and removes their ability
to believe and in fact it says that he will swear
that they shall not enter into his rest.
Gives him over to a reprobate mind.
He essentially removes their ability
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible says, now as Janus and Jambres withstood Moses,
so do these also, listen to this, resist the truth.
And it says, men of corrupt minds
reprobate concerning the faith.
And so the Bible clearly teaches
that people this side of eternity
can get to a point where they can cross a boundary
where they lose their opportunity
to be saved in this lifetime.
We obviously know that when people die
without Christ, they will go to hell
and they've lost their opportunity.
People who are in hell today, they can no longer be saved.
It's too late for them, right?
But what the Bible also teaches is that there are people
where it can become too late now, you understand?
That they can no longer be saved now.
And in fact, we look at an example here
and we'll see later on in the book of Hebrews in chapter six
that God swears in his wrath
that they shall not enter into his rest.
Not because of the fact that they're doing wickedly
or not because they're committing certain sins,
not because they're not keeping the commandments perfectly.
Why?
It's because of their hardened heart,
as Hebrews three puts it,
and their desire to not believe.
They don't want to believe
and therefore God gives them over to that hardened heart.
He darkens their heart, the Bible says in Romans one,
and they lose out on their opportunity to be saved.
And so this is why he said today,
if you will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts, right?
This is a call to the unsaved.
And obviously we know that the book of Hebrews
is directed towards a specific audience, the Hebrews,
but you can have a mixed multitude within these Hebrews,
right, people who are saved and people who are not.
People who think that they're saved,
but they're actually not.
And so he's telling those,
he's kind of admonishing those and warning those Hebrews,
hey, today, if you will hear his voice,
don't harden your hearts as in the day of provocation
and the day of temptation in the wilderness,
and then he goes back to that example.
And so this is still a thing today
where God is calling people to salvation
and he's admonishing and warning people,
don't harden your hearts to the word of God,
don't provoke the Lord,
because it could get to a point where God swears in his wrath
that you will not enter into eternal life,
that it'll be far from you and you won't be able to find it.
It's a scary thought, but it's definitely a real thing.
And it's one of the reasons I believe
the Apostle Paul is writing this particular epistle,
it's because of the fact that he's a Hebrew
and he knows the propensity of the Hebrews
to think that they're saved and they're actually not.
Because unto them were committed to the oracles of God,
they were once the people of God,
and so they can have this mentality,
well, I'm God's chosen people,
and therefore I'm gonna go to heaven or whatever it may be.
However, the Apostle Paul is just kind of tearing down
those ideologies and those ideas
and just kind of telling them like,
hey, you need to make sure that you fear
lest the promise being left you of entering into his rest,
any of you should seem to come short of it.
So he's basically telling them, hey, you Hebrews,
you better check on your salvation.
And it's not like check like,
okay, am I doing the right things?
Am I going to church?
Am I, how long has it been since I touched a cigarette?
Or, you know, how long has it been since I drank alcohol?
How long has it been since I committed this sin?
That's not what he's talking about, okay?
Because people sin every single day.
Even the most moral people in this world
who are Christians, who've been Christians
for decades on end, they continue to sin
because we have this corruptible flesh, understand?
What he's talking about is he's saying,
hey, you better check on your salvation
and make sure that you actually believe the gospel.
Make sure that the gospel that was preached unto you
is being mixed with faith,
so you're not deceiving yourself
into thinking that you're saved because of what you do,
but rather you know that you're saved
because of who you believed in, okay?
This is the emphasis of chapter number four.
Now, the last thing I want to mention
regarding these two verses,
and I kind of already mentioned it a little bit,
is the fact that the message of salvation has not changed.
And in fact, in Acts chapter 10,
you don't have to turn to the Bible says,
to him, referring to Jesus,
give all the prophets witness,
that through his name whosoever believeth in him
shall receive remission of sins.
So according to the Bible,
the prophets of the Old Testament,
and when we talk about prophets,
you can lump in basically everyone from Genesis
all the way up into John the Baptist, right?
All of them preach the same exact message
that if you believe on him,
you will receive the remission of sins,
meaning the forgiveness of sins.
Not just of your sins today,
but the totality of your sins.
And so Acts 10 43 is a powerful passage
in conjunction with Hebrews 4 one and two
to show us that the message of salvation
has always clearly been the same.
Now obviously, has it changed in the sense of now
in the New Testament,
we have to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Absolutely.
But the means by which we are saved,
which is faith in Christ,
faith in the Lord has not changed, okay?
And so it's always been the same,
and that's a wonderful thing,
because of the fact that, you know,
if salvation was by works in the Old Testament,
that means no one went to heaven.
Because there's none righteous, no one that won.
There's none that do with good, no one that won.
There's not a just man upon earth that do with good
and sin is not, the Bible says.
So if salvation is only by faith in the New Testament,
every single person in the Old Testament
is currently in hell right now.
But thank God, that's not the case.
The Bible says of Abraham, who is in the Old Testament,
prior to the Levitical law being instituted,
that Abraham believed God,
and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
It goes through many of the patriarchs, such as David,
describing the same type of salvation
that we believed on today, and so it has not changed.
Now let's continue reading here in verse number three.
This is where it gets from verses three up until verse 11.
It can be a little confusing when you read it,
because, you know, the Apostle Paul's notorious
for these run-on sentences,
where he's just like, there's just no period,
it just keeps going and going,
and you're like, what is he talking about, you know?
But this particular section here in Hebrew chapter four
highlights the Sabbath and it highlights the rest.
Now, keep in mind that the narrative,
or the theme, so to speak, of the book of Hebrews
up until this point, has been that Jesus Christ
is superior to everyone, right?
Prophets and priests, and he deserves more glory than Moses.
He is superior to the angels, he's superior to everyone.
And the Apostle Paul's putting that forth
to kind of help the Hebrews understand,
like, he is the most important.
And this is, one of the reasons he does that
is because if there was a Hebrew
who thought that they were saved,
and they kind of flinch at that,
that's kind of an indicator
that they're probably not saved.
You know, if you're exalting Christ,
and then there's a Christian who has a problem
with you exalting Christ as being the only way of salvation,
there's an issue with that, right?
Because no saved Christian will ever call Christ the curse.
No one's gonna say, well, well, you know,
he's not the only way of salvation.
You also need Buddha, you need, you know, Hinduism,
can get you to heaven.
You know, at that point, you would say,
this person's not saved, okay?
And so he's constantly confirming and showing forth
that Jesus Christ is superior,
and I believe that chapter four,
he's bringing that thought, once again,
to say that Jesus is superior
to the rest of the Old Testament.
And when I say the rest, I don't mean like the remainder,
I'm saying the rest, as far as the promised land,
so to speak, the physical promised land,
the physical Sabbath that people have to take,
he's superior to those things.
And in fact, the Bible says
that he is the Lord of the Sabbath, right?
So let me explain a couple things here.
Look at verse number three.
He first addresses the sabbatical rest.
He says, for we which have believed do enter into rest.
As he said, as I have sworn in my wrath,
if 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.
So what is he talking about?
He's talking about the fact
that God created everything in six literal days,
and on the seventh day, he rested.
And it's based upon that particular thing there
in the creation that God bases the sabbatical, right?
In Exodus chapter 20, where he commands his people
to not labor on the seventh day.
This is what's known as the Sabbath.
And in fact, it's typically on Saturday,
and you think of the Spanish term,
the Spanish word for Saturday is sabado, right?
Which means literally Sabbath.
And the concept here from the Old Testament
was that God labored for six days.
On the seventh day, he rested, not because he was tired,
not because he just doesn't have any more energy or whatever.
He's putting that forth as an example
of what his people are to do on a weekly basis.
So when you have that Levitical law being instituted,
God's people were commanded to labor for six days,
and then not labor on the seventh day.
And they did that every single week.
Now, why?
Well, because of the fact that the Levitical law
was instituted to prime the minds of Israel,
to prepare them for when salvation would come, right?
It was supposed to be as a reminder
that we cease from our works,
and we rest in the finished work of Christ.
So just as you people labored for six days,
but then on that seventh day they rested,
well, in like manner for salvation,
when people believe on Jesus Christ for salvation,
they are resting on that seventh day,
and they're ceasing from their labors.
They're no longer working for salvation.
You understand what I'm saying?
The Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.
Listen to this, not of works, lest any man should boast.
The Bible says, not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his mercy,
he saved us.
So you have these Hebrew roots movement types
who want to continue to observe the Sabbath,
and say we're supposed to keep that Old Testament law,
whereas the Bible says, therefore shall no flesh
be justified in his sight through the deeds of the law.
It says, therefore we conclude that a man is justified
by faith without the deeds of the law.
So we know that the law can't save us,
and the reality is this, is that once Jesus Christ
was crucified, he brought in that New Testament,
and now he embodies the Sabbath.
Because once you believe in him, he is our rest,
and therefore the six days of laboring,
referring to anything before you believe on Jesus Christ,
you were working, you were trying to do good,
trying to go to church, you were trying to live
a right life, those kind of symbolize the six days
of labor, but once you reach the seventh day,
which seven is the number of what?
Perfection, completeness, once you reach the foot
of the cross, which is Jesus Christ, you rest
from your labors, you cease from your labors.
And in fact, we have an example in the Old Testament
of a man who decided to disregard that law,
and on the seventh day, was found picking up sticks,
he was working.
And what happened, he was physically put to death.
And people were like, oh man, he was put to death,
the death penalty was instituted on him,
just for picking up sticks?
Yes, because it signified what would happen to you,
what would happen to me, if we decided to work
for our salvation, you know what would happen?
We would experience the second death, okay?
No matter how much good you think you can do,
it's not good enough.
Because the Bible says that our righteousness
are as filthy rags in the eyes of God,
we have to ask for the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
And so, salvation is us ceasing from our works,
and resting in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
The Bible tells us in Matthew 12, verse eight,
for the Son of Man, referring to Jesus,
is Lord even of the Sabbath day.
This is why we don't meet on Saturdays,
or stay home on Saturdays to observe the Sabbath.
The Bible tells us, let no man therefore judge you,
and meet, or drink, or respect of a holy day,
or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath day,
and it says, which is a shadow of things to come.
What is a shadow?
It's a likeness of something else
that's the real deal, right?
And if I were to turn a corner, before I turn a corner,
if I casted a shadow, you wouldn't say,
that shadow's Bruce Mejia, it would show you
that I'm around the corner, I'm coming around the corner.
Well, a lot of these Old Testament ordinances
were to foreshadow Jesus Christ, which was to come.
So once he was crucified, he became the culmination
of all of those Old Testament ordinances,
which is why God doesn't want anyone to do them anymore.
Because anybody who persists to continue to keep those laws
is disregarding and really denying that Jesus Christ came.
So if people are keeping the Sabbath,
they are doing the animal sacrifices,
they're adhering to these dietary laws,
they're basically saying that the crucifixion
of Jesus Christ is not real,
because that's what it was supposed to do.
The crucifixion of Christ was essentially the completion
of all of those symbolic meanings
that we see in the Old Testament,
which is why we don't do those things anymore.
And this is why it's important for us to understand
the differences in the law of the Old Testament, right?
God's moral law has always existed,
it existed prior to Moses going up into Mount Sinai.
Murdering was still wrong prior to Moses
going up to Mount Sinai, it's not like people
were just murdering and then all of a sudden,
God said, thou shall not kill, and it's like,
oh man, I've been killing people this whole time,
I wish I would have, well thanks for telling me now,
wish you would have said something sooner.
No, everyone already knew, and God had already
stated that it was wrong, a lot of these things are wrong,
and in fact, even now the Bible says that the law of God
is written in our hearts, okay,
and it's referring to that moral law.
The only thing that's been repealed is those meats,
drinks, diverse washings, carnal ordinances,
that which was supposed to foreshadow the coming of Christ
and other spiritual truths of the New Testament.
This is why we can eat shrimp, amen, and lobster,
and you can have pork chops, and all those good things,
because we are New Testament Christians.
I'm sure Peter and John and many of the disciples
who were Jews, once they transitioned into that
New Testament, well actually Peter, it took them a while.
After a while, they're just like, wow, we can eat shrimp,
and they're eating pork and all that, and it's permissible.
The Bible says that every creature of God is good
and nothing to be refused if it were received
with thanksgiving, that's part of the New Testament,
that's why the New Testament is better, amen?
And so, this first section of that rest is referring
to those six days of God laboring,
and then resting on the seventh.
Now, even though that was something that God had done
in Genesis, there was still another rest
that was supposed to come, which is the promised life.
Now look at verse six, it says,
"'Seeing, therefore, it remaineth that some must enter in,
and they to whom it was first preached entered not in
because of unbelief, again he limited a certain day,
saying unto David, Today, after so long a time,
as it is said, Today, if you will hear his voice
harden not your hearts, for if Jesus had given them rest,
then would he not afterwards have spoken of another day.'"
So, what is he talking about here?
Well, he's obviously addressing the children of Israel
in the wilderness, and let me just explain something
that in verse eight, when it says,
for if Jesus had given them rest,
it's actually referring to Joshua, okay?
Joshua, the son of Nun, because he was the one
who actually led the children of Israel
into the wilderness, Jesus is simply a transliteration
of the name Joshua, okay?
So, it's saying here in verse eight,
"'If Joshua had given them rest, then would he not afterward
have spoken of another day.'"
He referring to David, who existed long after
the children of Israel went into the promised land,
he said, look, if Joshua gave them rest
by bringing them into that promised land,
bringing them to Canaan land,
then why is David talking about another rest?
You understand what I'm saying?
He's basically saying, you know,
that's not the ultimate rest.
When God rested from his labors of creation,
that's not the final rest.
When the children of Israel were able to go
into the promised land and inherit buildings
that they did not construct, you know,
vineyards that they did not plant,
wells that they did not dig, that was a rest,
a physical rest that God gave them
from their wilderness wanderings in Egypt,
but there remaineth yet another rest
the Bible's talking about, okay?
And that rest is referring to salvation.
And more specifically, the fact that Jesus Christ would come
and, you know, the Word of God would be made flesh
and dwell among them and fulfill prophecy.
And this is why he says in verse nine,
"'There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God,'"
referring to the fact that there's still
another rest to address.
So the first rest is referring to that creation,
the second rest is referring to the promised land,
but the third rest that he's addressing
is the rest of salvation, okay?
Now you can see how those first two are something
that's highly emphasized in the eyes of the Hebrews, right?
That's something that's very important to them,
keeping the Sabbath, going into the promised land.
I mean, to this day, you know,
Israelites are still fighting over the land, you know,
because it's something that they exalt
as being important, whereas Abraham,
the Bible says that Abraham sought for a better country.
So he understood the concept that even though
these were things that physically took place
in the Old Testament, it all signifies a spiritual truth,
which is to rest in Jesus Christ for salvation.
He says in verse 10, "'For he that is entered
"'into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works,
"'as God did from his.'"
So what is he talking about?
Well, he's referring to that final rest.
So anyone who chooses to place their faith
in Jesus Christ exclusively, by the way,
not adding him to your plethora of deities
or belief systems, exclusively believing on Jesus Christ,
the Bible says that you've ceased from your labors,
you've ceased from your works.
This means that if you say, well, I'm saved
because I believe in Jesus Christ,
but I also do good works, you have not yet
ceased from your works.
Because the Bible says, the Bible tells us
in Romans chapter 11 and verse number six,
"'And if by grace then it is no more of works,
"'otherwise grace is no more grace.'"
So salvation is not something that can be obtained
by this duality of, well, I believe,
but I also have to add my own works to it
because I gotta really confirm that I'm saved
and I just wanna cover all my bases,
and so I just need to make sure that I'm saved.
Well, you can't have it at that point.
Because work is something that you do to earn something,
and salvation can never be earned.
I mean, it has, it's priceless, really, right?
And in fact, the only thing that can buy salvation
is the blood of Jesus Christ.
So he's already bought it.
So the Bible's telling us here that salvation
is something that, when you believe on it,
you've mentally and spiritually understood
I no longer have to work for my salvation.
So the mentality of laboring and making sure
that I'm confessing my sins, that I'm doing good works,
that I'm going to church,
that I'm keeping God's commandments,
that mentality has to cease, right?
Now, it's not to say that we don't do those things, though.
Because the Bible tells us,
not by works lest any man should boast,
but then it goes on to say,
for we are as workmanship created in Christ Jesus
unto good works which God hath before ordained,
that we should walk in them.
So God does command us to do works after salvation,
just not for salvation.
He said, well, what's the point
of doing works after salvation?
Well, there's something called rewards.
There's something called a profit.
And according to the Bible,
if you choose to labor after salvation for the Lord,
you will receive a recompense for the labors that you do.
Okay, and obviously, there is a myriad of different things
that you can participate in in order to be rewarded of God.
But if you choose never to participate,
if you choose never to do any works,
you still have salvation.
You just ain't getting nothing once you go to heaven, though.
You're just gonna be broke once you go to heaven, okay?
And obviously, in the short term,
you may think to yourself,
well, you know, who cares,
because at least I have salvation.
And you're halfway right.
But once you stand before the judgment seat of Christ
for payday, and it's like it's time to clock out,
and you put your time card,
do time cards even exist anymore?
Do they?
You guys know what time cards are?
Okay, my first job, I had a time card.
It was like a little, it was like this.
And you put it in, and it stamps the time in for you,
and then you stamp out.
You guys don't know what I'm talking about, okay.
Let's see, it's this big now?
Yeah.
What's this big?
Oh, the card is this big.
Well, anyways, the concept of the time card, though, okay?
I don't know how you guys time in, time in,
clock in, clock out, or if you're a clock watcher at all.
But you clock in, you clock out,
well, that's what the judgment seat of Christ is,
is you clocking out.
And then you're gonna take that,
and I'm speaking facetiously here,
you take that to the Lord Jesus Christ,
and he's gonna see what kind of work you put in,
but if you didn't put anything in,
he's gonna be like, this is what he's probably gonna say,
well, at least you're saved.
What'd I get?
Nothing but at least you're saved.
I mean, that's what 1 Corinthians 3 tells us, right?
You know, he himself shall be saved, yet so is by fire.
So it's just like, you know, you walk away,
you're putting hands in your pocket,
and everyone's like, what'd you get?
And you're just like, I'm saved, you know?
And your buddy's gonna be like, amen.
Praise the Lord.
I mean, because it is a good thing, right?
But there's obviously gonna be a sense of regret
for many people, because of the fact that,
you know, the rewards that others are gonna receive
is gonna cause us to have that regret,
and say, man, I wish I would've done something
while I was there.
I wish I would've won more people to Christ.
I wish I would've led more people in righteousness.
I wish I would've served the Lord to a certain capacity.
So I have something to show for it.
Because let's just be honest, if you're saved,
you're gonna be there a lot longer than you are here.
You know?
And so it's important for us to realize
that the Bible says the night cometh
when no man can work.
And so he's telling them here that once you,
I'm sorry, the point that I was making
is the fact that even if you don't do those things,
you're still saved, because salvation doesn't require works.
And in fact, the Bible tells us in Romans 4 and 5,
but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him
that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness.
So the Bible seems to go out of its way
to tell us excessively that salvation is not by works.
And some of the most clearest passages of scripture
dealing with salvation tell us that.
You know, it won't be cryptic at all, actually.
It's just very blatant that it's not by works,
it's only by faith.
And then as you grow in the Lord,
you run into passages that encourage labor and working,
not in the context of salvation,
just the labor for the Lord
so you can receive a reward for it.
But the point that the Apostle Paul is making
in this passage is that once you enter into that Sabbath,
which is Jesus Christ, you've ceased from your labors,
you no longer have to worry about doing works for salvation,
which, you know, I think all of us who are saved
can agree 100%, that we came to a realization
where we had that sense of relief, right?
Once we got saved, it's just like
a load is lifted off our shoulders,
and the sense of relief that we have
that we no longer have to labor and work to earn salvation.
Because think about people who do that,
they don't really know if they've ever actually achieved it.
They'll never know.
They're always living in this doubt of, is it enough?
Well, we know that Jesus is always enough,
and so if we place our faith in Him,
the works that He did is enough.
And so it's great to be a saved person.
There's so much confidence and peace that you have
by just recognizing that you've placed your faith in Him
and that He has already done all the work for you,
and so that's a wonderful thing.
But look at verse number 11.
Now, verse number 11 is a very complicated verse,
or it can be a complicated verse, because of the wording.
And let me just explain something before we read it,
is that a lot of false prophets and false religions
or sects of Christianity that teach
a wrong way of salvation,
in order for them to teach false doctrine,
they do need to cherry-pick verses, okay?
And what I mean by cherry-picking verses
is that they need to pick a very enigmatic passage
and base their doctrine off of that passage.
Okay, let's talk about salvation, for example.
Because when you look at this verse, it says,
Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest.
And at face value, you may think to yourself,
oh, that means that we're supposed to work for salvation,
because if rest is referring to salvation,
then that means we have to labor
to enter into that salvation.
But it's important that when you study the Bible,
you have to compare this with the entire Bible.
Because the Bible doesn't contradict itself.
And so when you study the subject of salvation
and doing works and faith and things of that nature,
collectively, all the verses of the Bible
dealing with salvation teach us that it's not by works.
And if this is all you have to run by to say it is by works,
then you have to explain all the other dozens of passages
that tell us not to do works.
You understand what I'm saying?
And so if you have 10 passages,
which obviously there's a lot more than that,
that teaches us that it's not by works,
you do not interpret those 10 based off of this one.
What you're supposed to do is interpret this one
based off of the 10.
And if you realize that it's God's divine word,
which is inerrant, infallible,
and it doesn't make any mistakes or contradictions,
you have to believe both and reconcile both passages
and realize verse 11 isn't teaching
a workspace salvation at all,
because we have other passages of scripture
that teach the opposite,
and those are very clear on what it's talking about.
So let's explain what verse 11 is referring to.
It says, let's read it again.
Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest,
lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Well, look at verse 10 again.
It says, for he that has entered into his rest,
he also had ceased from his own works.
So it's telling us here,
if someone has entered into the rest,
it's an indicator that they're no longer
trusting in their works, right?
That's just a pretty safe assertion of that verse.
Verse 11 says, let us labor, therefore,
to enter into that rest.
So verse 10 is telling us that the person
who has entered into the rest has ceased from their labor.
Verse 11 is telling us, let us therefore labor
to enter into that rest.
Where is the laboring in all this?
It's prior to entering into this rest, not after the rest.
So what is this teaching us?
Well, what this is referring to here
is the importance of unsafe people looking for the truth.
That's what it's talking about.
When it says labor to enter into this rest,
it's referring to the fact that you're supposed
to strive to enter in at the straight gate.
You understand what I'm saying?
Because you don't do works to be saved,
but you know, it takes work to find salvation,
which the Bible would also indicate as being
responding to the light that God gives you, right?
Looking for the truth.
Now, no person who is looking for the truth
will be able to save themselves,
but when a person searches the truth and wants the truth,
they will situate themself where God will send someone
to give them the truth, okay?
So he's saying, let us labor, therefore,
to enter into that rest.
Why?
Unless any man fall after the same example of not working,
no, it says of unbelief, further confirming the fact
that the rest is referring to salvation
that's received by believing, and so once you've labored,
and I would say that all of us, to a certain extent,
prior to salvation, we labored to find the truth.
You know, someone gave you a link to a gospel presentation,
or you went to a church to find the truth,
or you sought it out, because anybody who saved
sought out the truth.
Now, obviously, we on Sundays, we go door-knocking,
and we go preach the gospel, and we'll meet that person
at their home to present the gospel to get them saved,
but let me say this, every person that receives your message
and gets saved at the door was someone who was laboring
to find that truth, which is why they got saved
in the first place.
You know, I remember being a teenager,
and in fact, even before that, I remember being a kid,
and my sister was dating a guy,
and this is one of the earliest memories I have of this,
is that my sister was dating this guy,
and he ended up taking us all out to dinner one time,
and he gifted us all King James Bibles.
I was like seven or eight, and he's like,
I wanna give you guys all Bibles,
and he gave us all King James Bibles,
and you know, looking back, I'm like, man,
I wonder if he was a fundamental Baptist,
because that's such a specific gift,
not just any Bible, a King James Bible, right?
Well, I kept that Bible throughout the years,
up until I was an adult, and I remember throughout the years
reading the Bible, just not understanding it,
and I remember even thinking to myself,
I wanna get closer to God, so I wanna read the Bible,
and I would start in Genesis and quit somewhere around,
I don't know, chapter five or something like that.
It's just like, I don't know what's going on here,
and I remember I'd be really determined,
I'd be like, I'm gonna read the Bible,
I'm gonna read the Bible, I'm gonna start in Genesis,
and you know, it's real interesting in chapter one,
obviously, because it's the creation,
what kid doesn't like to read that?
And even as a teenager, I'd read that,
but then after a while, it's just like,
these names are just, who in the world is Arphaxad?
Who would name their kid Arphaxad?
And then it's just like, I'll try next year.
But I remember laboring to know the truth, though.
And even when I became a teenager,
when I'm 16 and 17, there was seasons in my life
where I was looking for the Lord in different churches,
all the wrong churches, obviously,
some of them weren't even cults and I didn't even know it,
but I wanted to look for the Lord,
and I remember going even to a cult
by the name of La Luz del Mundo.
Now given, the reason I went there was because of a girl,
but I did want the truth, though.
And I remember going there and thinking to myself,
like, they talk more about the apostle than about Jesus.
And I remember going back and trying to read the Bible,
but obviously, an unsaved person is blind to the Bible,
they can't understand the Bible,
but I can literally think of specific times in my life,
seasons in my life, where I legitimately wanted the truth.
And it wasn't until I was 21 that I had taken a trip
to Guatemala and I had made an oath, believe it or not,
that when I came back that I was gonna just,
I'm gonna get this settled, I'm gonna find God.
I'm just gonna, somehow I'm gonna find,
so when I came back, I just started going
to all these churches, I went to Pentecostal churches,
I went to black churches, I'm talking about the soul churches
I'm talking about the soul churches.
I even took my mom there, and my mom's Spanish speaker,
you know what I mean, she's like,
I don't know what's going on here.
But I tried my best to find, I went to Calvary Chapel,
I mean, I went to everything, and I just didn't find it.
But at the end of looking for all those things,
it's when a soul winner came to me and said,
why don't you come to this church,
which is a fundamental Baptist church,
I ended up going, and they gave the clearest presentation
of the gospel I've ever heard.
I mean, I'm going through all these churches,
and not a single one of them can give me
a clear presentation of the gospel.
It was all weird stuff that was going on there.
It wasn't until this lady invited me,
I went to that youth conference,
they gave a clear presentation, and I'm like,
I've never met a group of people
that are so certain about their salvation.
It was incredible to me, and I thought to myself,
how do you guys know this so well?
And I remember thinking to myself,
I asked one of the people that I was like,
so you could never lose your salvation for any reason?
And he just quoted Ephesians 2, verse eight through nine,
he's like, run for it by grace, for your safety and faith,
and that not of yourselves is the gift of God,
not of works that any man should boast.
And he was just kinda flippin' about it,
and it was just like, ding, I was like, wow, this is it.
And I was like, everyone knows that they're safe here.
Like any person I talked to,
they could just give a clear presentation of the gospel,
and I got saved.
So here's the thing, me looking for the truth,
it didn't get me saved, but it situated me in an area
where God saw I wanted to be saved.
And so therefore, he gave me the purest form of the message
because I legitimately wanted to be saved.
This is what laboring into his rest means.
And so the Apostle Paul is stating here,
to the Hebrews, labor to enter into that rest,
lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Meaning, don't be like these Old Testament guys
that went into the wilderness thinking
that they were gonna go to the Promised Land,
but they never really believed on the Lord to begin with,
to get him into the Promised Land.
You understand what I'm saying?
And again, it's a warning against apostasy.
And the Hebrews are those who are probably, in my opinion,
and I can back this up,
the most susceptible to apostatizing.
Why?
Because of the fact that there was such in close proximity
to the truth.
Unto them were committed to the oracles of God,
they're of Israel, they have such a rich biblical history.
And so you can see how many of them can think,
oh, I'm saved because I'm a Hebrew.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I believe that.
But deep down in their hearts,
they don't really believe that.
But here's the thing, folks,
is that Hebrews aren't the only ones susceptible to that.
People who just go to church are susceptible to that.
Where they go to church week in, week out,
and they're not really saved.
And this is why he's saying, labor to answer to that rest.
What does that mean?
Make sure that you're saved.
Make sure that you actually believe in your heart,
lest you fall after the example of unbelief.
How do you know you'll fall?
Well, you'll find out when you die.
You die and you realize, you know what?
I actually never believed this in the first place,
and this is why I'm here right now.
It's a scary thought.
But it's a legitimate concern,
and obviously, it's a big deal because of the fact
that the Apostle Paul keeps bringing it up,
not just in the book of Hebrews.
He does it in Galatians.
He does it to the Corinthian church.
He's constantly telling them,
examine yourselves if you're being in the faith.
And he says, no you're not,
that Christ is in you except you be reprobates.
He's trying to get them to question their salvation
based upon whether they believe or not.
Not based upon the works that they do,
based upon if they truly believe or not.
And so the first rest that he's referring to is that Sabbath.
The second rest is the physical,
physically going into that Promised Land
to give them physical rest from their enemies,
from Egypt, from the wilderness wanderings.
But then he says, this is all picturing
the most superior rest, which is Jesus Christ.
Because Jesus is better than all of that.
Jesus is superior to the Sabbath.
In fact, he's Lord of the Sabbath.
Jesus is superior to the Promised Land
because he's the only one who could legitimately take you
to the heavenly Promised Land.
Because I am the way, the truth, and the life,
no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
He's the only one who can actually take you to Mount Zion,
to the New Jerusalem through faith in him.
So his rest is superior.
Because you think about the sabbatical rest,
that's something you only get to do every seven days.
Whereas Jesus, once you believe on him,
it's just total rest from here on out.
You cease from your labors.
And the Promised Land, I mean, they were there for a while
but you know, God kicked them out like a bunch of times.
And you know, it's not really something
that's legitimate anymore in the New Testament.
Because it was only supposed to figuratively,
you know, picture that salvation.
Now, look at verse 12.
Because it seems to switch gears here
but it's not really switching gears.
Because it says four.
Four is another way of saying because, right?
It says, for the word of God is quick and powerful,
sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit
and of the joints and marrow
and is a discerner of the thoughts
and the intents of the heart.
Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight
but all things are naked and open
unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Now, what in the world does that have to do
with what we just read?
Now, I love quoting the scripture
because it just kind of brings in
the power of God's word, right?
But in its context, it's referring to those
who are in unbelief.
And what it's saying is this.
It's like, look, you can fool me.
You can fool people around you
but God can see all the way through your heart.
Because who legitimately knows?
Like, we could look at each other
and assume that we're saved based upon what we're saying
but no one really knows.
I can't really tell if you're saved
beyond a shadow of a doubt, right?
I can only base it off of what you're telling me
that you believe the right things.
The only person who really, truly knows who's saved is God.
Now, obviously, God has given us some stipulations
whereby we can judge someone
whether they're saved or not, right?
And it's based upon the confession of their mouth.
If you ask someone, are you 100% sure
if you died today, you go to heaven?
They say, yes, because I believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, it's not by my works.
We would assess that person
and say, this person's saved, right?
It's not of works, I don't believe in that.
I believe you have to place your faith in Jesus alone
and say, this person's saved.
But at the end of the day,
the only person who can truly see into the heart,
to peer into the heart, to see if they're saved is God, right?
And this is why it's telling us that the word of God
can pierce through soul and spirit.
I mean, it even breaks apart the bones and the marrow.
It can see your thoughts and your intents.
And he says that, in verse 13,
that neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in His sight,
but all things are naked and open unto Him.
In other words, you can't lie to God.
So you can lie to anybody, but you just cannot deceive God.
Like, God knows whether you're truly saved or not.
And I think of the passage in 2 Timothy,
I believe it's in chapter two,
when it talks about Hymenaeus and Philetus,
who the Bible says, you know,
they were teaching that the resurrection was passed already
and overthrow the faith of some.
And then it says thereafter that the Lord,
or I'm sorry, it says that the foundation of God
standeth sure, the Lord knoweth them that are His.
So he's like, Hymenaeus and Philetus
are overthrowing the faith of some,
and it's like, well, were they saved?
Well, let me just say this.
The foundation of God standeth sure.
The seal of God is that God knows who are His.
He knows who are His children, He knows who are not.
And this is important, because of the fact that
the Bible consistently teaches that even in a church,
you will have people who play the part,
but they never really truly believed in their heart.
Like, is that a real thing?
You guys ever heard of Judas?
That's a prime example right there.
Judas was literally ministering with Jesus Christ.
He was one of the 12 disciples,
and it's not that he lost to salvation
because he never had it, Jesus said of Judas
that he never believed from the beginning.
So he's doing all these things,
he's performing all these miracles
because God, the Lord, gave him the authority to do so,
yet he wasn't saved.
And obviously he's doing it for nefarious reasons.
The word of God, which is Jesus,
was able to see the thoughts and the intents
of Judas' heart, he knew why he came into the group
to begin with, why he was playing the part.
God knows it all.
So that's why it's important that when we talk about this,
especially in a church setting,
don't try to, I mean, you can fool us if you want,
you can play the part as much as you want,
but you'll never be able to fool God.
Everything is open and naked before Him,
He knows what you truly believe.
And so, what he's telling the Hebrews here is like,
don't fool yourselves,
don't fall after the same example of unbelief,
don't think that you're saved
just because you live this religious life,
but you never really believed to begin with.
And this is not to say that we shouldn't live
a religious life, because the Bible tells us
to live a religious life.
Sorry, modern day Christians, it is about religion.
Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this,
to visit the fatherless and the widows in their afflictions,
to stay unspotted from the world.
The Bible talks about religion, it's important to have that,
but if you're replacing salvation
and your belief with religion, no good.
It's not gonna do you any good,
and in fact, it's gonna cause you
to be damned even more because of it.
And so, this is where he's getting across here,
this is what he's trying to get across here,
is the fact that he's kind of putting forth to the Hebrews,
you better check yourself, you better examine yourself
to see if you truly believe.
And here's the thing, folks, is the Bible tells us
in Romans chapter eight that the spirit bears witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God.
And I think everyone here, to a certain extent,
at one point or another, kind of wondered,
wait, am I safe?
And you're like, yeah, I'm safe.
Because the spirit's like, yeah, you're safe.
Oh, I believe on Jesus Christ.
You kind of go through all the doctrines, right?
You're just like, I believed on him, yeah.
I don't hate the Lord, I place my faith in him.
I don't remember when I got saved.
Maybe some of you do and you're just like, yeah, I'm safe.
It's like the spirit is bearing witness with our spirit.
And it says that we are the children of God.
So it's just like, you know,
because people can get to a point sometimes
where they're so backslidden, you know, they're into sin,
that they can't question their salvation
only because carnality, that's what carnality produces.
When you're in the world and you're living
such a carnal life for such a long time,
it can produce a sense of doubt to the point
where if you're doubting and you start questioning,
it's like you begin to have this monologue with yourself,
really with the Holy Spirit and the spirit of God
that dwells within you.
And then it's just like the new man is just like,
well, about time you want to talk to me.
You know, it's just like, yeah, you're saved.
I mean, I don't know about your flesh though.
Your flesh is just like living like trash right now.
But yeah, I'm still here.
You didn't imagine this.
You got saved.
And look, I've run into people
who've been backslidden for years.
I'm talking about like decades, okay?
And they'll tell me like, I know that I'm saved.
And you know, I was just like,
well, how do you know you're saved?
They're just like, I've trusted in Jesus.
I remember when I trusted in Jesus.
And they'll often say this,
I'm just really backslidden right now.
And so it's interesting that some of these people
can just remember even that.
But you know why?
It's because they have the testimony within themselves.
They have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within them.
They have the new man.
They're starving him, but they have that new man.
Whereas a person who's not saved,
you know, they can monologue all they want,
but they're not gonna hear anything
because there is no new man there, okay?
And to that person I say,
harden not your hearts as in the day of provocation
or the day of temptation,
today if you will hear his voice.
You know, we hear the voice.
It's the fruit of the Holy Spirit through the word of God.
But you might be hearing his voice now through the preaching
and you might not be saved.
You're just like, you know what, I need to be saved.
And so this is what the warning is about here.
And I'm gonna finish off 14, 16 next week
because it really goes into the high priest
and it kind of carries over to chapter five there.
And so I'll finish with that.
But let me just finish off by saying this is that,
you know, what chapter three and chapter four
are getting across here specifically
is that Jesus Christ's rest is superior
to any physical rest that the Israelites did
in the Old Testament.
You know, he's superior to the manna, right?
Because they have to collect the manna every single day.
Whereas when you believe on Jesus Christ,
it's like and unto eating the manna
and never being hungry again.
It's like he's likened unto water,
which when you drink, you'll never thirst again.
It doesn't mean you'll never physically thirst.
It means you'll never thirst for salvation ever again
because he satiates the need for salvation.
The flesh of Jesus Christ satiates
that desire and that hunger for salvation.
His rest produces a permanent rest
where you no longer have to search for salvation.
You no longer have to labor for it.
You cease from your works.
It's a wonderful thing to be saved.
You know, when you think about all these things.
And it goes back to this concept and this idea
that Jesus Christ is superior in every single facet.
Amen?
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your word
and thank you for the rest that you've given us, Lord.
And we're so thankful for salvation
and the fact that you, even though you came
2,000 years ago in the first century,
Lord, really, in eternity past,
the Lamb of God was already sacrificed for us.
This is already predestined and predetermined for you
to sacrifice yourself for our sins, Lord.
But we're thankful that you physically came into our world
and you did that for us, Lord,
and that we could look back 2,000 years later
and heartily believe these things in our heart,
that you died and you rose again the third day.
And all we have to do is believe on you
exclusively for salvation.
You'll give it to us free of charge.
And Lord, may we think upon those things
and as we think upon the rest that you provide for us.
And obviously we know that there's an ultimate rest
coming even to us in heaven
where we cease from our labors here
and fully rest in eternity with you.
But may we think upon the salvation
that you've brought to us already.
And I pray that you bless us as we go on our way, Lord,
bless our weekend and all there is, Lord.
We love you, we thank you,
pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.
All right, we have one last song, song 325,
Trust and Obey, song 325, Trust and Obey,
everyone all together nice and strong.
When we walk with the Lord in the light of his word,
what a glory he sheds on our way.
While we do his good will, he abides with us still
and with all who will trust and obey,
trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
but his smile quickly drives it away.
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sign or a tear can abide
while we trust and obey, trust and obey,
for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus,
but to trust and obey, not a burden we bear,
not a sorrow we share, but our toll he doth richly repay.
Not a grief nor a loss, not a frown nor a cry,
not a grief nor a loss, not a frown nor a cross,
but is blessed if we trust and obey, trust and obey,
for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus,
but to trust and obey, but we never can prove
the delights of his love until all on the altar we lay,
for the favor he shows and the joy he bestows
are for them who will trust and obey, trust and obey,
for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus,
but to trust and obey, then in fellow we pray,
but to trust and obey, then in fellowship sweet,
we will sit at his feet, or we'll walk by his side
in the way, what he says we will do,
where he sends we will go, never fear only trust
and obey, trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Amen, wonderful singing tonight.
You are.