[0:00] Hebrews chapter 4. Holly, you want to stay up here or you want to go with Mrs. Perkins?
[0:14] Mrs. Morris. Hebrews chapter 4. Remember chapter 3 was why Israel did not get to go into the rest that God had for them.
[0:37] Going into the promised land because of unbelief. If you want to sum it up in one word. Because of unbelief. Chapter 4, he's continuing on with that theme, but he's now talking to the Hebrews.
[0:48] Of this generation and why they have to be careful that they don't miss God's rest. And he's talking about reaching God's rest and how he's going to be able to do that.
[0:59] And first, he gives us in verses 1 through 3 an unacceptable response. We talked about this last week, but just to review. Look at verse 1, beginning at verse 1 with me. Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest.
[1:16] 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.
[1:32] That is so important. I have that underlined in my Bible. The word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. And that same thing applies to us today.
[1:43] We have the Bible. We have God's word in front of us. But if it's not mixed with faith, we're not willing to follow it and trust it. What good does it do us? Verse 3. For we which believe do not enter into rest, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath, that if they shall enter into my rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
[2:07] He's saying everything was prepared, everything was done. All it took for them to do was to believe. It was all set and all ready to go. And he says they didn't get to enter into the rest because they did not trust me.
[2:22] They did not follow me. They did not have faith in what I was doing. And notice that he starts off, verse 1 there, let us therefore fear. What is it like not to be able to see God's hand at work, not to be able to see God doing what he wants us to, give us what he wants us to have?
[2:40] They had so much offered to them, but because of unbelief, it did not happen. They refused to follow him because they were afraid of the things that they saw.
[2:51] I read to you last week, Deuteronomy 32, 20, it says, And he said, I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end shall be. For they are a very forward generation, children in whom is no faith.
[3:08] Ah, no faith. We have to have faith in what God is doing and what he's promised to do. If we want God's rest, we have to just put our trust in him. Israel had seen all the miracles.
[3:22] They knew everything that God was capable of. Why did they not think he was capable of getting them into the promised land? If he can part the Red Sea and they walk over on dry land, why did they not think that he could handle the people who were there?
[3:36] He had got them out of Egypt. He handled the Egyptians. The different plagues he put on the Egyptians, he handled them all no problem. Why did they think he could not handle the Canaanites and those that were there?
[3:49] Just, again, it amazes me, but I also know us. And we probably do the same thing. And when we don't trust him, what happens? In 2 Peter 2, we read verses 20 through 22.
[4:05] In 22, it says, We have a tendency.
[4:17] We follow God so far. And then when we stop following, we don't believe, we don't do what he wants us to do, we go backwards. We go back to the things that we know. Well, the things we know, we understood at one time, were not good for us.
[4:31] That's why we follow God. So why are we going back to them? But it's because we're comfortable there. We feel it. We know those things. So, they had an unacceptable response.
[4:47] Then, because of that unacceptable response, second, they had an unappropriated blessing. He goes on, verse 4 through 11, he talks about the blessings that they could have had and how they didn't get those blessings.
[5:00] They did not enter into God's rest because of that unbelief. You know, he says, look at verse 5 and 6.
[5:12] He says, And in this place again, if they shall enter into my rest, seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter in, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief.
[5:29] God has a place for us. He has things that he wants us to get. And again, he's emphasizing it's because of unbelief. Come ahead 400 years.
[5:42] Psalm 95, David writes this in Psalm 95, 10. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways, unto whom I swear in my wrath that they should not enter into my wrath.
[6:02] He says, what happened to them? They erred in their heart. They would not trust God and what he had said. So here's 400 years later, and they're not doing what God wanted them to do.
[6:14] They're not entering into the rest. And now he's telling these Hebrews here, after Jesus' death and resurrection, he says, these Hebrews here are about to do the same thing.
[6:25] If you go backwards, if you don't trust God. Look at verse 9 and 10. He says, there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
[6:36] For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from his. He says there still remains a rest.
[6:47] There's still a place where you guys can go. There's still a place that you can have fellowship with the Lord and see him work in ways that most people don't get a chance to. And he says, one of the things you have to do, what does he say?
[7:00] Look at verse 10 again. For he that entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works. It is not our works that get us into God's rest.
[7:14] It's trusting in what he has done. God's rest is attained by faith in him and nothing that we do. Which brings us to the third thing where we left off last week.
[7:25] He's going to give them an unavoidable truth. An unavoidable truth. Let's have a word of prayer and we'll talk about this. Father, I pray this morning that you would just help us to understand the things of your word, Lord, here in Hebrews as we continue going through it.
[7:39] Lord, I know from my experience, and I'm sure others do here as well, how much we want that rest that comes through Jesus Christ.
[7:52] Lord, most Christians I know are tired. Most Christians I know are somewhat discouraged. Lord, things that are going on in our world that we see. Lord, we just need to know that we can come and have that rest that you offer to us.
[8:07] Lord, help us to see this morning that we can have it if we will just follow the truth. Lord, speak to our hearts, we pray in Jesus' name.
[8:19] Amen. Look at verse 12 and 13 here of Hebrews 4. 12 and 13 said, See, in the Old Testament, those people were unfaithful.
[8:49] And they acted on the basis of their feelings instead of faith. Their feeling was, we can't go into Canaan. Look at those people. Look at the size of those guys.
[9:00] They're going to cream us. They're just going to wipe us out. And our children will be wiped out. Everybody will die. We can't go there. See, they went on their feelings.
[9:11] Not on faith and what God had done for them in the past. And God was willing to do for them now. His word was clear. What did he want them to do? He wanted them to go into the land that he had promised them.
[9:25] He wanted them to go into Canaan. He wanted them to take over. He was very clear about it. No ifs, ands, or buts. But they went based on feelings.
[9:39] So often we do the same thing. We go based on feeling instead of what the word of God says. And so here he is saying to them, look, forget your fears.
[9:51] Forget your doubts. Forget all of those different things. He says, for the word of God is quick and powerful. You know, what are some areas today that we let our feelings take over instead of following what God has for us?
[10:06] What is it we do instead of following God's word? Listening to the crowd. What does the crowd say?
[10:18] What are they saying we should do? Should we follow them or should we follow what God's word says? Anything else? Based on what we think is the right thing to do.
[10:29] What we think is the right thing to do. What we feel is the right thing to do. I think this and I think that. God's word says this I know, but I think. It doesn't matter what you think.
[10:41] What does God's word say? I mean, you have to be so careful. In verse 12 there, he describes the word of God and he describes it, first of all, as quick. It's quick.
[10:54] Does that mean if I read it faster I get it better and I understand it more? No. It means it's alive. It's alive. It, one of the things I love about the word of God, you're probably like me, you've read through at different times.
[11:11] See what it says, you know, you're reading through, trying to let God speak to you. Have you ever noticed you can read the same passage multiple times and learn different things from it?
[11:23] And part of that depends on what am I going through at the time? What am I facing at the time? And God will point something out in a passage you've read numerous times before and you go, I never saw that before.
[11:37] See, it's quick. It's alive. It's helping you now where you need it. Five years from now you may read that same passage again. Something else is going on in your life. There's something different happening.
[11:47] And you read that same passage and God will point out something else on it. He'll, I didn't see that last time. Well, if you can do this, which one is the actual message?
[11:58] Both. God knows how to speak to your heart no matter what you're going through. Because we face different things at different times. Right? You've gone through your life.
[12:09] You face different things at different times in your life. Different trials. Different situations and stuff. So, I read a passage and I say, this is what God's trying to tell me right here.
[12:21] Five years from now, like I said, I read through it again. Oh, God pointed out that. Maybe I missed, I got this word or two out of it the first time and now I got this word or two is now showing me something to help me in this situation.
[12:35] So, they're both right. It's just, it's what I need. Like I said, it's alive. If you go to somebody and you ask them advice or something and they give you advice about, you know, whatever the situation is.
[12:50] Later, you go to that same person and you ask them for advice about another situation. You know, they're going to give you advice about that too. God's word is doing basically the same thing. He's saying, here's how you handle this situation.
[13:02] Then later, he's going to say, that's how you handle this situation. You know what I'm saying? It's still the word of God. Same word of God. It's just, I'm facing different things and God is using it to say, handle it this way.
[13:16] Take care of this. So, they're both right. It's just, I'm facing different things and I'm looking at it from a different perspective. Sometimes the situation looks exactly the same.
[13:33] Everything looks exactly the same. But background events or circumstances have changed from the first time to the second time.
[13:46] And that's probably why you get a different meaning from God. Because he can see behind the scenes and what's going on. Well, we can't always.
[13:57] Take the verse, Romans 8, 28. All things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose. Well, I'm going through this.
[14:09] It doesn't seem good. But God's word says it's going to work out okay. Five years from now, I'm going through this situation. God says, word says all things work together.
[14:21] They're two totally different situations. But God's saying this here. He's saying this here. Kind of the same thing, but it's for the situation that I'm in and what I need. So, okay.
[14:34] No, no, no. I'm not saying that. No, no, no, no. Uh-uh. God's word is God's word.
[14:46] I'm saying we're coming at it from different perspectives. And God is helping us in our perspectives that we look at it saying, this is what you need. I'm not saying that God's word isn't fixed.
[15:00] It is. His word is fixed. It tells us that in Psalms. Three different places. So, God's word is fixed. But what I am facing may be different.
[15:13] And so I may take it a little differently and help me in the situation I'm in. Yes. Isn't it like the Gospels were written by four different men?
[15:27] Yeah. And each man had a different role in life. And so each one God used to talk about a different aspect of the same event.
[15:38] Yeah. Yeah. It was just their... You get what she's saying? And they all saw the same thing. Yeah. The Gospels. You have four different versions of the same thing.
[15:49] Because they were looking at it from different perspectives. Each person saw the same event. But what they did with it might have been different.
[16:00] How they handled it. Because Matthew was writing from a Jewish perspective. Mark was writing from actually Peter's perspective of things. Luke was doing it as a Gentile who was a doctor.
[16:14] And John as a very close friend of Jesus. So they all saw the same things. But they all kind of... There are some things in one Gospel that's not in another Gospel. And they may know they do.
[16:26] So they saw it from a different perspective. But they saw the same thing. The thing that happened was... It happened. The Word of God is the Word of God.
[16:36] But sometimes people, as they read it, are going through different things. And they need different help. And so God's Spirit will speak to them. So you just said...
[16:48] You can get four different answers from four different people over the same passage. So... How can you get an answer to the Word of God?
[17:02] But they didn't. No, that's not what I said. That's not what I said. What I said was... You got four different men coming from four different perspectives. Same event happened.
[17:15] The event did not change. Their view of the event may have changed. Because of what they... What their background was. What they were facing. So I'm not saying the Word of God is not the Word of God.
[17:29] I'm saying... The Word of God is the Word of God. But sometimes... Somebody's facing a divorce. Somebody just had somebody die in their family. They may read the same passage.
[17:42] And God may comfort this one in one way. And comfort this one in another way. Same passage of Scripture. The Scripture did not change. But what they needed out of the Scripture...
[17:54] At that point. What they needed God to speak to them about. He will use His Word to do that. The Word doesn't change. Well, I didn't say the Word changed.
[18:04] I'm talking about the interpretation of the answer. Well, we do know that people do that. Otherwise, we wouldn't have so many denominations. So...
[18:16] Well, I lay that in salt and pepper. I should make that flavor better than you. Oh, okay. So... But, you know, that's what I'm saying is... Depends on what we're facing.
[18:28] How we come... Sometimes... The Holy Spirit will use things to... If you were to read a certain passage of Scripture... Let's say... And it talked about going to the North.
[18:42] Just a simple phrase like that. Going to the North. What does that mean? To you. It means they went North. But if you're a college student who's about to graduate... And wondering what God wants you to do...
[18:54] Now that you're graduating from school... Should I stay in the South? And should I do things here? As far as going... Using my teaching degree? Or should I go back up to the North?
[19:05] Or should I go home to my home church? That's getting ready to start a school? What should I do? And you're coming along... And you're just reading this one passage... And all of a sudden... Those two words just pop out. Go North.
[19:18] See, I was looking for direction. What did God want me to do? And those words just popped out at me. Go North. And that's what I did. I came North.
[19:29] Helped start a school. Still going today. So... See... You kind of get what I'm talking about? I can see not. Okay.
[19:42] All right. The word of God is quick. It's alive. It also says it's powerful. It's powerful. It's unlike anything else that we know.
[19:53] It's not like the timid fear that they had. They were fearful about where they were going to go... What they were going to do and how they were going to go. And God's telling them, go into the land.
[20:06] But they were fearful. And they were timid. And he says, no, the word of God is powerful. And then he says, it's incisive. Because it says it's like a two-edged sword.
[20:20] It can cut. And the thing about the word of God... This might... Maybe not. But... You take a sword. Most swords have one side.
[20:34] And you have to keep coming this way and this way and this way. A two-edged sword, though. I can go... And take care of a whole lot of stuff.
[20:45] But the word of God, he says, it's like a two-edged sword. Or... But it doesn't just cut you. It can... It says... I don't know what word exactly.
[20:58] It says, it's piercing even as the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. And of the joints and marrow. And as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
[21:10] He says, the thoughts and intents of the heart. Think about it. Sometimes... We do things. And they're good things.
[21:22] And we say, you know what? I'm going to do this thing. And I'm going to do it in this way. And everybody thinks, wow, that's really good. But your intent was...
[21:33] People are going to think that. People are going to think that's really good. People are going to like me because I did that. See, he divides in between the thoughts and the intents. My thought was, I'll do this thing.
[21:44] The intent was, so people will like me. Whereas it should be, I'm going to do this thing because I believe God wants me to. And he says, the word of God is a discerner between the thoughts and intents of the heart.
[21:56] When we get into the word of God, when we look at it, it will show us things in our life. When you read the word of God, does it point out things in your life? Things that are happening? Things that are going on?
[22:07] Yeah. I'm doing this or I'm doing that. And you read the word of God and it says, you know what? What you're doing is a good thing, but why are you doing it?
[22:18] What was the purpose behind it? So we need to be careful. Because he says, the word of God is going to come. And we're going to see exactly what God wants us to see in our lives.
[22:31] You know, it knows. It can point out to us. When we're having consistencies in our life or excuses we're trying to make or things of that nature.
[22:44] The good of God will show us what we're doing. Look at verse 12 and 13 again. How does it show that there's a unity between God and his word?
[23:21] When we read that passage, how does it show that there's a unity between God and his word? God knows everything that's going on in our life.
[23:37] God knows every thought that we have. God knows everything that we're trying to do and accomplish. He knows everything about us. This passage says the word knows that too.
[23:49] Now what does that mean to me? Go ahead. I'm sorry. I'm just going to say this emphasizes that he's omniscient. He knows everything. Yep. He's omniscient and he knows everything.
[24:01] But to me it also shows, remember back in John 1.1? In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. See, the word that we have is God speaking to us.
[24:15] This book that we have is God speaking to us. So this word that we have and God himself are a unified thing. So when we read this word, so often we read it and go, well, yeah, that's what the Bible says.
[24:31] That's what good. Don't think of it like that. This is God speaking to me. This is what God wants me to do. This is what God has for me to know today.
[24:42] This is what God wants me to understand. So we don't just read it as words. We read it as God speaking to us. We need to be so very careful that when we come to it, it is God that is talking to us.
[24:54] We deceive ourselves sometimes into disobeying what this word says. You know, we rationalize our choices, going back to the feelings thing, going back to, well, I think this, going back to, we try to rationalize those things.
[25:13] And he says in verse 13, he says, everything is naked and open under the eyes of him with whom we have to do. We can't fool God. We may fool other people as to what we're trying to do and what we're trying to accomplish and stuff, but God knows.
[25:31] He knows the intents of what we're doing. Remember, other verses talk about the fact that God is light. So God is shining down on us, and he's illuminating our every action, every thought, every desire, every motive that we have.
[25:48] He is shining down on us. And go back to kind of what Fred was saying.
[26:01] God judges our life by a fixed standard. The Bible is a fixed standard. If it says do this, do this. If it says don't do this, don't do this.
[26:11] So there are places in the Bible that do that. They're very specific, very clear. Don't do this. Or do this.
[26:23] No. We may fear. We may question. We may have our own ideas about things. But we should never go against his word and what he has for us. A holy God has spoken his holy word to us.
[26:36] We need to remember it. Some people ignore what God has said. Some people, some of these Israelites, some of the professing Christians, they know what God's word says, but they don't always follow it.
[26:55] They don't always do what they know God's word has for them. God is a standard. God's word is a standard. That's what we go by. Last thing.
[27:12] He is this unavoidable word that we have. Unavoidable truth. Thank you. This unavoidable truth is given to us, is put into operation in us by an unlimited priest.
[27:32] By an unlimited priest. See, I'm trying to explain some things this morning. If Jesus was here, he'd explain them a whole lot better than I would. Because he's our priest.
[27:43] Look at verses 14 through 16. It says, That was started back in chapter 2.
[28:19] Look at chapter 2, verse 17. Wherefore, in all things, it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in all things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sin of the people.
[28:35] For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted. He went through everything that we face.
[28:46] He faced everything. All the temptations and everything. He faced those things. And by doing that, he can now be a high priest who understands what we're going through.
[28:58] He understands the things that we're facing. He knows how to give us the right advice. He knows how to tell us how to handle different things. We'll talk about that more as we go through chapter 5 and chapter 7 through 10.
[29:10] It talks more about him being the high priest. But here he is. He came and died on the cross. So he understands death. He understands all the different pains that we can go through.
[29:22] He understands all the temptations we can go through. He understands everything about us. And then it says he passed into the heavens, verse 14. And now he's sitting at the right hand of the Father.
[29:34] Look at chapter 7, verse 25. Chapter 7, verse 25 says, Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, they come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth, to make intercession for them.
[29:50] He's there making intercession for us. The great high priest, it says there in verse 14, is Jesus, the Son of God, who became human just like us, who resides in heaven now, ministering on our behalf.
[30:08] And he says to hold fast. What does it mean to hold fast? To grasp something wholeheartedly. Don't give it up. Hold on to it.
[30:19] Make a wholehearted commitment to it. Instead of forsaking the faith and trying to go back. Grab a hold. Hang on. Keep on moving. Chapter 10.
[30:31] Chapter 10, verse 23. Notice what it says. Chapter 10, verse 23. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.
[30:44] For he is faithful that promise. He says hold on without wavering because Jesus is faithful. He is going to be there.
[30:54] He's going to take care of you. He's going to meet the need that you have. Look at verse 15 again. It says, For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are.
[31:11] There's a lot of people say, Oh, Jesus doesn't understand us. He doesn't know. He's, he was in heaven. He's in heaven. He doesn't really understand us.
[31:23] That's not what that verse says. He's been through it all. He's faced it all. He came and he did everything so that he might understand exactly what we go through.
[31:35] He's a compassionate high priest. And because he's a compassionate high priest, what does the writer say we can do? Verse 16. Let us therefore come boldly before the throne of grace.
[31:47] We can come to God with anything, about anything. And he's going to help us. He's going to speak to us. We need to keep our focus on him.
[31:59] You remember when Paul had his thorn in the flesh? 2 Corinthians 12, verses 8 through 10. He says this, For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
[32:12] And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
[32:25] Therefore, I will take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in stresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Jesus, as our high priest, knew exactly what Paul was going through.
[32:43] Jesus, as one who had come down to earth, been born a human, one who grew up as a human, went through all of those different things. When Paul comes to him and says, I've got this problem, Jesus understood exactly what he was going through.
[32:56] And Jesus said, You trust me. You keep your eyes on me. And I will take care of it. He says, When you come to me, you're stronger than you would ever be if you wanted to do this by yourself.
[33:10] You know, sometimes we like to think we can handle all the different things that come along in our life. And he says, No. He says, When I am weak, then I am strong. When I have to go to God and the Lord Jesus and say, I cannot handle this on my own.
[33:28] He says, Then you have the strength that you need. Then you have the strength that cannot be conquered. So, he's a high priest, understands us, and gives grace to us, and he knows how to handle everything that comes into our life.
[33:44] Through his ministry, he enables his people to reach the rest that they need to have. He's been talking about chapter 3 and 4, entering into God's rest.
[33:57] How do we do that? We come to Jesus and trust him. And him alone. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this time. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[34:07] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.