1Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that
none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2For we also have had the gospel preached to
us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who
heard did not combine it with faith. 3Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has
said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ “ And yet his work
has been finished since the creation of the world. 4For somewhere he has spoken about the
seventh day in these words: “And on the seventh day God rested from all his work.” 5And
again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”
6It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel
preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. 7Therefore God again set a
certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said
before: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” 8For if Joshua had given
them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9There remains, then, a
Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own
work, just as God did from his. 11Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that
no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
12For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it
penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and
attitudes of the heart. 13Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is
uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
The author of Hebrews continues his exposition of Psalm 95, as we saw in Chapter 3.
However, the difference here is that he draws also on the source of the Psalm, he draws on the
Kedash Narrative from Numbers 14. It tells the story of what happened after the small group of
men went into the Promised Land to see what was there. The majority returned and said, there
are too many people, they are too strong, we will not be able to take the land. Yet, Joshua and
Caleb, both said, the Lord is with us, we can go in.
Moses pleads with God not to destroy the people, after they listened and agreed with the
majority report of the spies. God relents and says that this generation, everyone over 20 will die
in the desert, they will die the over the next 40 years. The people say we have sinned, and they
decide to go into the land and take it over, but God is not with them, and the Canaanite and
Amalikites defeat them easily.
Prayer:
I. In the last chapter, the Author of Hebrews established that there is a rest available for the
people of God. It can be missed by disobedience, but obtained by obedience. He continues
now in the 4th chapter with these words, 1Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest
still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.
A. You see in this opening verse of Chapter 4, a real concern for those who make up this
church that he is writing to.
1. He wants to make sure, that no one is going to “fall short” of the rest of God
2. It is difficult to be certain at this point if “rest” is to be equated with salvation,
but it clearly seems to be a possibility
A. The foundation on which this thought is built is that of the example of
those who were disobedient after the crossing of the Red Sea.
B. They did not enter the promised land, with two exceptions, Joshua and
Caleb.
1. Even Moses was not permitted to enter the Promised land, only
to look into it
2.They were refused the God’s rest
3. There is a clear sense there that something of dire importance is at stake. I
would be inclined to say that this is dealing with issues of salvation.
4. The emphasis is not on what happens if one falls short of this rest, but rather
taking steps to make sure that one does not fall short of God’s rest
5. This call not to miss the rest of God is repeated time and time again, let’s not
be like those who heard the voice of God and did not listen, let’s be careful and
listen to the voice “today”
B. So what steps do we take to avoid missing God’s promised rest? What is it that we are
to do? We combine the good news with faith, and then we will find a promise of
great worth. The author of Hebrews continues in these words, 2For we also have had
the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no
value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.
1. Those who were at Kedash with Moses, also heard Good News, they too had
heard the Gospel, just as we have heard the Gospel, the Good News
A. The author of Hebrews essentiality equates all of God’s promises as
Good News, not specifically the God News concerning Jesus of
Nazareth, but all of God’s promises, and in the mind of the Author of
Hebrews all of God’s promises are fulfilled in the Person of Jesus.
B. We have heard the Good News, the Gospel, the promises of God, just
as those standing with Moses at Kedash did
2. Those who heard at Kedash did not find any value in the promise of God,
because they did not combine the Good News with faith. In other words, they
did not believe what God had said, they thought that they knew better.
A. In this regard we can find a great deal in common with them, for it is
very easy not to believe, not to combine the promises of God with faith
or belief.
B. It is at this point that the parallel become dangerous, because those who
did not combine the Good News with faith, they did not enter God’s
rest.
C. If we who have heard the Good News, the Promises of God, the Gospel
do not combine it with faith, we too will miss entering God’s Rest.
C. The Author of Hebrews takes this argument one step further, he writes, 3Now we who
have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my
anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ “ And yet his work has been finished since
the creation of the world.
1. The first portion of Vs. 3, we are given a greater sense of what the “rest” of
God is, he says, “Now we who have believed enter that rest . . .”
A. We who have believed, past tense, now enter that rest
B. God’s rest is not just a future event, an eschatological term for
something that is yet to come, there is a present element here as well,
we who have believed enter . . .
1. This would be a point of speaking about being in Christ Jesus,
about being a part of the Body of Christ
2. There is a present tense element to the Promise of God, as well
as a future, eschatological one.
2. We have entered God’s rest, but for those who do not believe, just as God has
said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’
A. Those who do not combine Faith with the Good News, they do not
enter God’s rest.
B. And there is still a rest of God to enter, when we have finished our
work, just as God rested after the completion of his work at Creation
D. To further develop this idea of God’s rest, we read. 4For somewhere he has spoken
about the seventh day in these words: “And on the seventh day God rested from all
his work.” 5And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my
rest.
1. God’s rest is available to those who combine faith with the Good News, for
those who believe God’s promises, for those who accept the Gospel, but those
who do not, shall not enter God’s rest.
2. A rest established at the creation of the world
II. The Author of Hebrews transitions at this point, and moves in a direction that helps us to
realize that there is more to this just being in the body of Christ presently. And that there was
more to it then than just entering into the promised land.
A. The Author of Hebrews writes, 6It still remains that some will enter that rest, and
those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their
disobedience. 7Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long
time later he spoke through David, as was said before: “Today, if you hear his
voice, do not harden your hearts.”
1. Some will still enter into God’s rest, those who had the gospel preached to
them did not go enter into God’s rest because of their disobedience
2. Now long after the people of God entered into the promised land, God spoke
prophetically through David in Psalm 95 and set a specific day to enter that
rest, he called it today.
3. “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts”
1. Obedience seems to flow from believing God’s promise
2. from accepting the Gospel, if we believe we do not harden our hearts
3. Yet, if we do not believe, we will sin and harden our hearts and miss
the rest of God.
B. The focus here is on entering God’s rest by obedience, by combining faith with the
Gospel. To detail this the Author of Hebrews writes, 8For if Joshua had given them
rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9There remains, then, a
Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests
from his own work, just as God did from his. 11Let us, therefore, make every effort to
enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
1. Even for those who stood with Moses at Kedash, there was more to God’s rest
than just obtaining the promised land, there is more to it than just a
geographical reality, there is also a spiritual reality as well.
2. Joshua was not able to give the People of God rest, so there is more.
C. There remains a Sabbath-rest for the people of God
1. A time more than just relaxation, more than a caseation from work, but
something more. Sabbath implies a time of worship, praise, adoration,
communion, community and fellowship
2. This points to both the regular practice of worship, weekly, of Sabbath keeping,
but it also points to the ultimate Sabbath-rest when all the people of God will
be gathered in God’s presence.
A. There is and should be an element of this ultimate Sabbath-rest that is
present in our own regular Sabbath-rest.
B. It also reveals how important it is for Believers to Gather for worship,
for this will be part of our eternity, and so it should be part of our
present as well
C. Vs. 11 points this out in a helpful way, 11Let us, therefore, make every
effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their
example of disobedience.
1. Gathering allows us to encourage one another, it helps us to
support and encourage each other
2. Gathering gives us a sense of the greater community of faith, of
which we are a part, and to which we will ultimately go
3. It helps us to hold fast to our profession, since we are
surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses.
D. The only mountain song, “Will the circle be unbroken” spoke to this,
as you looked at the family, each person was encouraged not to be the
one to break the circle and be absent in heaven, but to be there by
staying faithful.
E. Let’s make sure that we do not miss the Rest of God by our
disobedience, for in doing so we will break the circle
III. We are now given a reminder not to try and pull the wool over God’s eyes, not to say if we
just look the part we will be “OK.” In reality, we can hide nothing from the Living God.
The author of Hebrews reminds us, 12For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than
any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow;
it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13Nothing in all creation is hidden from
God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we
must give account.
A. The Israelites at Kedash attempted after disobeying God’s voice, to go into the
Promised land to make everything right, and yet in doing this they again disobeyed
God’s voice.
1. They realized their sin, but in trying to do then what they were first told, sinned
again and died as a result, the swords of the Amalikites and the Canaanite
were to much for them
2. Our goal now is obedience, to do what God is calling us to do “Today”
A. God’s word lays all bear before his eyes, we cannot do an end run
around God
B. We cannot go back and ask for a do over, we can only more forward
C. Obedience is not centered in what we did in the past but in what we do
in the now, in what we do “Today”
3. So in all of creation, everything is laid bear before God, and he is aware of the
intentions of our hearts, his words divides between soul and spirit, between
joints and marrow, it goes into places we cannot even distinguish
4. And in this we will give an account to God, for what we have done, not for
what we wanted to do.
A. It again comes down to a specific point, obedience or disobedience
B. That is the question that the Author of Hebrews puts before us today
1.Will we be like those at Kedash and be disobedient and miss
God’s Rest
2. Or will we combine the Gospel with Faith and enter God’s rest
by being obedient?
