A Greater Rest
Jesus is Greater: An Exposition of Hebrews

Below is an automated transcript of this message

Good morning church; it is good to see you this morning! You look pretty good out there. You got an extra hour of sleep, right? You didn’t use it by staying up an hour later last night, did you? Did you change your clocks last night? I was looking at the crowd at our 9:15 service; they looked so tired. They got too much sleep; I don’t know what happened there. Maybe that’s you today.

Speaking of tired, that’s what we’re talking about today. We’re talking about how Jesus offers a greater rest. That’s what we’re going to be talking about in just a minute, but before we do, I want us to just reflect for a second on what the implication of Jesus being greater is as it regards the Great Commission. The Great Commission is that we’re to go and make disciples of all nations. We take that very seriously as a church, that we are to be a disciple-making church.

Because of that, a couple of years ago, we wrote a workbook called “Life On Life Discipleship.” I hope that many of you have been through this process with us. In fact, 256 people, to date, have been going through this process and we’re really excited about that. It’s a 21 session process, where we learn to become more and more like Jesus, to first of all, be a disciple of Jesus, but then also to be trained to know how to make disciples of Jesus.

Speaking of being trained to make disciples, we have three new disciple makers as of October. I want to recognize them; they are Dwayne Raper, Tyler Dean and Jackie Atkins. Everyone, give them a hand. They started their first time as disciple makers, fresh from being trained to do that. We want to make sure that we recognize what’s happening in our church, that we’re a church that’s serious about being disciples of Jesus, following Jesus, but also being disciple makers.

The thing that we want to be able to do is, not just be a church that’s a “come and see” church where you come and hear the Gospel, but the kind of church that’s producing disciple makers that go and tell. We encourage you, if you have an interest in being part of our Life on Life Discipleship ministry, that you would indicate that on your connection card today. We will connect you with a trained disciple maker to help you get started.

Let’s dig in. We’re in part six of our series, “Jesus Is Greater.” Our theme verse is in Hebrews 1:4 (NLT) “This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.” This is where we get our series theme.

Today, we’ll be looking at chapter four of Hebrews, verses one through 13 . You’ll notice that the word, “rest,” is in those thirteen verses ten times. For those of you that wonder, How does Gary come up with his themes and his title?

One way I do it is, I count repetitive words. What’s this passage about? God, help me to understand what it’s about. I saw the word, “rest,” ten times. I’m thinking that this message could possibly be about “rest.” He is talking about the word, “rest, in these thirteen verses.

It reminds me of the invitation of Jesus. It’s found in Matthew 11:28 (NLT) Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

I wonder, how many of you are here this morning and you need some rest? You need some rest. Maybe, you’re saying, ‘I’m weary. I have heavy burdens. I need rest.’ Probably, the kind of rest that you need is probably more than just a nap. You need more than an hour of extra sleep. You need more than an all inclusive family vacation, although, I’m sure that you would like to have that, but when you got back home, you would be right back where you were.

There’s a deeper need that is unmet today. In fact, have you heard the new name for today’s young generation? They’re called “The Tired Generation.” I read a recent article entitled: “The Tired Generation: Why Gen Z and Millennials Are So Exhausted All the Time.” It gives four reasons why GenZ and millennials are so exhausted all of the time; it gives four reasons why they’re so tired. We’re talking about our young people. I know why we old people are tired all the time. We have an excuse, right? But why are the young people so tired? Here are the four reasons:

The first is ”technology takeover.” It says in this article, “More than 8 in 10 millennials say they sleep with a cell phone glowing by the bed, poised to disgorge texts, phone calls, emails, songs, news, videos, games and wake-up jingles.” “Technology takeover” is causing us to be tired.

The second is “Hustle Culture.” Martin Reed, a certified clinical sleep health expert, says, “If we constantly check our email when we get home in the evening, we make it harder to unwind and prepare for sleep,. We may even be tempted to take our work home with us and finish projects in bed at night.” With more and more people working from home these days, is that you? Are you working from home? You can’t tell the difference between the workplace and the home place; they just kind of bleed together, so we find ourselves as being part of the hustle culture. We’re tired.

The third is “Money Worries.” Young people today have student loans. They’re struggling with student loans, inflation, medicalinsurance costs and saving to purchase a home… The average 25-34 year old has $42K in unsecured debt. That’s why they’ve also been called “The Anxious Generation,” not just the tired, they’re tired and worrisome.

The fourth is “Poor Coping Behaviors.” Fast food, little to no exercise, overly dependent on medications, overconsumption of alcohol and caffeine to get by. We could call the young generation “the most medicated generation.”

I would say that, all in all, it’s not just the young people who are tired. Perhaps, this whole generation of Americans today could be lumped into the category of the exhausted, tired generation. We need some rest. We need real rest; rest that really lasts and Jesus offers it.

I wonder if we can answer two questions today. I want you to listen to see if you can answer them. One is, “What is this rest that Jesus offers?” Then, secondly, “How do we get some rest? How do we enter into this rest that Jesus alone offers?”

We’re going to be looking in the book of Hebrews, chapter four, verses one through thirteen. In this book of Hebrews, the author of Hebrews is primarily addressing Jesus background believers; they have an awareness of the Old Testament. You’ll see the author preaching from the Old Testament and explaining to them why Jesus is greater and why Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. The author continues this in chapter four and he encourages them to find their rest in Jesus.

I think that today, we can find real rest in Jesus. As we look at the text, we’ll see how to enter into this rest, God’s rest. Let’s dig in.

Hebrews 4:1-13 (ESV) 1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them,because they were not united by faith with those who listened. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” 5 And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” 6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did did from his. 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” This is God’s word. Amen.

HOW TO ENTER INTO GOD’S REST:

1. Understand the urgent necessity of entering by faith.

The preacher of Hebrews continues his sermon that he had begun in chapter three and he continues in the same text. He continues to preach from Psalm 95. This is the psalm that he’s quoting. In chapter three, his emphasis was on hard hearts, with a warning against having a hard heart so that you don’t harden your heart towards God’s promise.

Now, he shifts his emphasis from the warning about a hard heart to a warning about missing His rest. This rest is offered to us; it’s available to us. There’s a warning that you should fear missing out on this rest. He’s preaching from the same text from Psalm 95, but he has a different emphasis here about His rest. Notice the urgency of this warning. He has some “time” words here.

If you look in verse one of chapter four, “Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.” While this promise is still available, make sure you get in. Make sure you pursue it.

Verse one begins with the word, “therefore,” and as we know, anytime we see the word, “therefore,” we should always ask, “What’s it there for?” It’s always like an “equal sign” of the text, pointing to something prior.

If you have your Bibles, you can look back in chapter three; the last thing it said was, “so we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” They were the people of Israel getting ready to enter into the Promised Land, but then, because of their unbelief, they turned back and God caused them to wander in the wilderness for forty years. They were unable, because of their unbelief, to enter into this rest.

Now, he says to us today, in chapter four, ‘therefore, be aware of something –there’s still a rest available because that rest was never really the ultimate fulfillment rest that God was really talking about all along. It’s still available. It still stands, so don’t miss out on it.’ There’s a sense of urgency and it’s a necessity.

What’s the necessity? This place of rest that you’re invited into, what’s the key that unlocks the door to get into this rest? Well, make no mistake; he points it out. He says in verse two, “For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.”

The Greek word for “Gospel” is “good news.” He says that there was good news that came to them and there’s good news that’s coming to us. “They” is speaking of the people who turned back and didn’t believe in God. They missed out on the rest because they heard it, but they didn’t fulfill the necessity of the key that turns the lock on the door.

What’s the key? The key is faith. You see, it came to us just as it did to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them because they were not united by faith.

It goes on to talk about those who do believe. Verse three, “For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.” That’s the key. You can’t enter into this rest by your own self effort. It can only be received. There’s two components of this. There’s a message to be heard. There’s a necessity of hearing the good news about Jesus, but hearing alone will not cause you or enable you to enter His rest. They heard, but they died in the wilderness, so there’s something more than hearing that is necessary.

There’s an urgent necessity of entering by faith; you must believe. This is not passive faith. This is not just the esoteric, ‘Yeah, I believe it,’ but it’s active, obedient faith that stakes your life on it. It’s the kind of faith that says, ‘Yes, I’ve decided to place my faith in the Good News that Jesus is the only way.’

Now, when we speak of rest, it’s in this passage ten times. It’s in verses one, three, four, five, eight, nine, ten and eleven. The word, “rest,” is throughout this passage. If you look it up in the Hebrew, if you look it up in the Greek, if you look up in the English dictionary, the word, “rest,” is a rich word. It has several implications.

Let me give you five descriptions that I found in the Oxford dictionary. The first one that comes to mind, perhaps for you, is “to cease from work or activity, to rest from activity.” The second one is “to be placed or supported in a specific position,” like ‘My Bible is now resting on this podium.’ A third meaning would be “to be based on, grounded in or depending on.” ‘I rest myself on the Constitution of the United States.’ I “rest” in Jesus means that I depend on Him. Here’s a fourth meaning, “to relax, to be refreshed, to take a nap;” that’s rest. Finally, there is this one; maybe you haven’t thought of this one – “to conclude a legal case.” ‘And so the defense rests,’ which means they’ve concluded. They’ve laid out their case and they’ve concluded. It means “completion,” so the word, “rest,” can mean that you’ve come to a place of completion.

All of these might be worthy of our study today. It’s not the study that we’re doing today because we’re following what the preacher is saying here in Hebrews, chapter four, but it might be worthy of our consideration to rest on the Word. Rest for a minute and just think, Jesus accomplishes all this for us. He causes us so we can cease from our own self. Attempts at righteousness always fall short because of that fifth description of “rest.” He rests His case because He has completed all of the work necessary. He can say ‘the defense rests’ because He’s already accomplished all that’s necessary.

We can, also, say that we can relax in Him. We can lean back and rest in Him because He is Lord and He is God. He made us.

There’s just so many aspects of this word, “rest.” I would encourage the study of the word, “rest” and ask yourself, ‘Where is your heart restless today?’ If you’re a believer today, if you have believed the Good News and placed your faith in Jesus, where are you restless? Wherever that is, it’s the place that you’re not resting in Jesus, because His invitation is not to a promised land but to a promised Person. He says, “Come to me and I will give you rest.”

This rest is found in Jesus and there’s a timing to it. He uses a word here that you might find surprising in verse one, “… let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.” This idea of “failed to reach it,” in the Greek, has the idea of “to be left behind,” “ to be running a race and fail to reach the finish line.” Uh

He uses the word, “fear.” Now, this gives us trouble, doesn’t it, as believers. Wait a minute, doesn’t the Bible contradict itself on this? In the Bible, doesn’t 2 Timothy say, “God has not given us a spirit of fear?” There are things that are right things to fear and there are wrong things to fear, so be careful when you study God’s word. Don’t just pull one verse out and read the whole thing in context. There are things that God wants you to fear and there are things that God doesn’t want you to fear. The fear of man he warns against, but he says, “the fear of God leads to wisdom and eternal life.”

In this passage here, he says that you should fear missing out on the peace of Christ. That should shake you up that you would miss out on this wonderful opportunity to enter into the peace of Jesus because, after all, we’re the “tired generation.”

My wife and I have ten grandchildren. Sometimes, we have all of them around us at the house and sometimes, we might want to cross the street with them. Now, we can put a couple of them in our arms. We’ve only got so many arms between us and then we can have one or two little ones hold hands with some of the older ones, but there’s always those “crumb snatchers” that get loose. Do you know what I mean? There are those ones you can’t get a hand on, they’re moving and, if you’re going to go across the road, you should fear that a car might come and hit one of your grandkids and you want them to have the same fear. I’m trying to teach them. You should fear crossing the road without looking both ways. That’s a positive fear . That’s a good fear. You should fear not just wandering out into traffic without looking both ways.

Where are you restless today? Where’s your heart not at peace? Where are you wringing your hands? Where are you biting your nails? Where is that place you’ve yet to enter into the rest of Jesus because He offers real rest. This entry is by faith alone.

We see in Romans, the necessity of hearing and believing. Romans 10:14, 17 (NLT) “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? … So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.” There’s an essential of hearing, but hearing alone will not “turn the lock” for opening the door to rest. There must be hearing plus believing to enter into His rest.

This is what we see in the first three verses, “let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.” Let us fear missing out on this. Let us enter into it with urgency.

HOW TO ENTER INTO GOD’S REST:

2. Recognize the ultimate fulfillment found only in Jesus.

We’re going to be working on the latter part of verse three through verse ten. We’re going to take a “big bite” right here on the second one, “Recognize the ultimate fulfillment found only in Jesus.”

In the three chapters prior, the preacher of Hebrews has already told us that Jesus is greater than all. He’s greater than the prophets before Him. He’s greater than the angels. He’s even greater than the founder, Moses, and now he’s going to keep going. He’s going to say who else Jesus is greater than. He’s greater than Joshua and not only that, He’s greater than the Sabbath itself. He’s greater than the Sabbath. Do you know why? Because He’s the ultimate fulfillment of all and that’s what he’s going to be saying here in these next few verses.

In the latter part of verse three, he shifts gears from Psalm 95. He turns back to that first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis. He goes back to Genesis, chapter two, verse two. The quotation is in verse four.

Now, this is funny to me. Here’s this guy; he’s preaching to a Jewish audience and he doesn’t remember what book of the Bible that talks about God creating things.This is a play on words. He knew he was quoting Genesis. Well, of course, that’s the first scroll; that’s the book of Genesis. You don’t even have to read, but two chapters and you’re there. I don’t think he forgot the address of Genesis 2:2. It’s just a way of saying that he has spoken of the seventh day in this way and God rested on the seventh day from all of His works. He’s taken this word, “rest” and he’s driving it deeper than we ever expected. He takes it all the way back to creation. How about that? He’s gone past psalm 95. Now he’s done, dialed. He’s dialed the clock back. He’s climbed in the time machine , taking us all the way back to creation so that we can understand that God had something deep in mind. When He rested on the seventh day, He had something very powerful in mind and he’s dialing it in right here.

We could actually find this. I’ll put it up on the screen for you to remind you. Genesis 2:2-3 (ESV) 2 “And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” In other words, He completed creation and so the word, “rest,” also has the idea of “to complete” a thing. Now, He’s rested from it because He completed it, but it was more than that because this is before the Fall. This is before Adam and Eve sinned. He called the seventh day, “holy,” before they sinned .

If you think about it from that perspective, he’s dialing back here. He’s given us something to really consider, that this idea of Sabbath precedes even the ten commandments when it was written down. So, he’s dialing all the way back here.

The author of Hebrews keeps going. He’s talking about this in verse six. He says, “Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience,” He’s just reminding those people that wandered for forty years in the wilderness and neglected to believe.

In verse seven, he goes back to Psalm 95. He’s going to wrap this up in a second. Don’t get confused. Let’s go back to Psalm 95. He wants to emphasize the word, “today” and he wants to make the point that David was writing centuries after the book of Genesis was written and he’s wanting to let us know that David was writing centuries after the book of Genesis. He’s writing centuries after Joshua. He’s saying that there’s a rest that’s still available that still hasn’t happened. God was talking about it back there in Genesis. He was telling Joshua. Joshua led the people into the Promised Land, but they didn’t really find rest once they got there. Verse 7 says, “again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

In verse eight, he says, “For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.” Joshua wasn’t able to do it. This was a play on words too. Some of you might have the King James version of the Bible with you. It actually says, “for if Jesus had given them rest,” but it’s not talking about our Jesus. It’s talking about Joshua.

Do you know that “Joshua” is the same word in the Hebrew, “Yeshua.” It means “God’s salvation.” Joshua’s name is the same in the Greek as Jesus, right? When we say, “Jesus,” it’s the same name.

Joshua, the one who led them into the Promised Land, failed to give them the rest that God promised. So, why is David talking about this place of rest? It’s because it’s still laying out there, available. Someone hadn’t come along yet to fulfill it.

In verse nine and ten, it says, 9 “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.” This is the good news. There’s still a rest that’s still laying out there. He’s saying to this Jewish background audience, ‘I know you looked up to Moses. I know you looked up to Joshua, but all of them were foreshadows of Jesus. I know you make a big deal about remembering the Sabbath and so you should, but I want you to know something. There’s one greater than the Sabbath. He’s the fulfillment of the Sabbath. He is our Sabbath rest. His name is Jesus. He is our Sabbath rest. He is the One who fulfills it, so that we can rest, just as God has rested.’

Mark 2:27-28 (ESV) 27 And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” He’s the Lord over the Sabbath. He’s over the Sabbath; He’s not under it.

In Matthew, He talks about His fulfilling of things. Matthew 5:17 (ESV) “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law orthe Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” He comes to even fulfill the law of the Sabbath. “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.” He is our Sabbath rest.

He comes to fulfill that portion of the law. Thus, in the book of Psalm we see this instruction, Psalm 37:7 (NKJV) “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him…” Rest in Jesus. He is our Sabbath rest.

Now, I want you to consider something for a moment; keep yourselves engaged. I’m getting ready to fly at 35,000 ft. I’m getting ready to go high because that’s what this Hebrews author has done. He wants to give the broad view of the word, “rest” and he takes it all the way back to Genesis and then he dials forward again and goes through Joshua and then he comes all the way back to David, in Psalm 95 and then he brings it to today. So, if you think about this whole overarching theme of “rest ,” you could say it’s creation. It’s the Fall. It’s the season of redemption, and then, that future season that hasn’t come yet called glory.

Can I just carry that thread of rest through for just a second? Would you hang with me for just a second? Back in Genesis, during the season of creation, Sabbath meant this – He had finished everything. So now, Adam and Eve lived in permanent Sabbath. They lived with a permanent Sabbath rest and they fellowshipped with the Lord in the cool of the evening. Sabbath, for them, was a complete connection to Him and fellowship. So they focused on Him, with the full enjoyment of God in their life and also a complete dependence on Him because every need was met. There was no worry, there was no trouble, there were no tears, they were at complete rest in that season of creation. He rested and it was a perpetual rest, until they sinned. When they sinned, they rejected God’s Sabbath. They rejected His rest . They believed the serpent, that they could be like God and that they could do it their own way and then,the Fall came. Now, we’re in this “second economy,” if you will, of reality. This is the economy of the Old Testament because now it makes sense why God gave them the fourth commandment, “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy” because they had fallen, but if they could take the seventh day, if they could take the seventh day and rest from their labors and focus on God, they could get a foretaste of what they had lost. They could focus on God. They could read His scriptures. Even in the wilderness, He gave them enough manna on the sixth day, so they didn’t have to gather on the Sabbath. They were to focus on fellowship with God and, and remember that they were dependent on Him and for His provision, so that they rested one day a week . They were just as busy as anybody. They were farmers. They had to work.

If you’ve ever worked on a farm, it’s hard to rest any day of the week. I remember spending summers with my grandfather and getting up at 4 a.m. to milk the cows. I thought it was fun, but I was only 11 years old. It wasn’t fun for long, but it was fun then.

It’s hard to rest when you’re working in an agricultural environment, but they rested because they recognized God as their provider. He was teaching them during the Fall. It’s an explanation for why there was a fourth commandment, “Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you.”

Now, we move into a season that was inaugurated by the coming of the Lord of the Sabbath, the one Who came to give us true rest. That’s the season of redemption that we live in now. Now, we’re invited to live in Sabbath rest because the Sabbath is not a place nor a day of the week. It’s a person ; His name is Jesus. When you enter into Him, you enter into Perpetual Sabbath, which is a foretaste of what some theologians call “the already, not yet.” You already have it, but not yet because you’re still surrendering parts of your life that are still restless, but as you surrender them to Jesus, you find rest in all of those places. So, we’re in that season of redemption.

Christ completes his work of redemption. He rests on the seventh day in the tomb and then He gets up and is raised on the first day of the week, which is the day that we worship. We worship on the first day of the week because we live in the age of redemption. The lost treasures of the Sabbath are restored in jesus. Whatever was temporary about the mosaic Sabbath is left behind for the perpetual Sabbath of Jesus. He is Lord Sabaoth; He is the Lord of the Sabbath.

We celebrate on the Lord’s Day, but truly, we should celebrate every day. Have you ever wondered why we celebrate on the first day of the week? It is because that’s the day He conquered sin, death and the grave. He got up.

There’s no command to keep the Sabbath in the New Testament. Do you know why? It’s because He fulfilled it; He is the Sabbath. He is your Sabbath rest. If you want to find rest, look to Jesus. That’s where your rest is. It’s in the name of Jesus. He is our Sabbath rest and He’s not finished because we have this “already, not yet” because there’s a rest to come. Oh, it’s better and it is the season of glory that is right around the corner. It’s going to be better than creation. It will be similar to creation because we will have fellowship with the Father. We will be with the Lord always and every need will be met.

It will be better. It will be better than it was for Adam and Eve because Adam and Eve were innocent, they’d never shed a tear. They’d never had a trouble, they’d never suffered. They took for granted the rest that God gave them, but we won’t. We’ll live in glory. He’s going to wipe away our tears. He’s going to give us a new glorified body. There’s a heavenly rest. We already, in Jesus, have a foretaste of it and we have the assurance that this is coming, this heavenly rest.

I received another video from my buddy, Mickey, who’s been my tour guide on every trip I’ve taken to Israel. He sent us another video yesterday to pray for Israel. He taught us a little song; Robin , you probably remember this little song. It’s an easy song that we would sing on the bus, especially on Sabbath Day – “Shabbat Shalom, Shabbat Shalom, Shabbat, Shabbat, Shabbat, Shabbat Shalom.” We sang this little song on the bus. Maybe, one day we can go back.

Here’s something that Saint Augustine said as he was considering this rest. He says, “Thou hast made us for thyself, oh Lord and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.” Do you have a restless heart today? You need to enter that rest and that rest has a name – it’s Jesus.

HOW TO ENTER INTO GOD’S REST:

3. Give unblinking diligence to applying God’s Word.

The preacher of Hebrews concludes with a kind of exhortation in verse 11, “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.” Strive to rest seems paradoxical – work to rest? Labor to rest? How does that make sense?

There is a sense in which the best rest comes after labor, that it is the best rest. If you just lay around the house all day, don’t you kind of feel worn out afterwards? Yeah, I’m more tired now than when I took a nap. There’s a kind of rest that we need, that’s deeper than the body. Sometimes, laboring, actually checking off some boxes that you’ve been worried about, actually will bring you rest.

Perhaps, there are places that I can think of where you can work and then rest makes sense, but here he seems to have something else in mind. He has the idea of being diligent, not taking your eyes off, having an “unblinking diligence” about remaining in the rest of Jesus. You get to where you more quickly recognize when you’re walking in the flesh instead of walking in the spirit. You recognize your heart more quickly. Oh, wait a minute, why am I restless right now? Why am I nail biting again? Why am I worried? But why am I not at rest?

He has this idea and, at first read, it gave me difficulty. Maybe it does for you, too.He’s been talking about rest and then he, all of a sudden, in verse 12 decides to start talking about the word of God. It almost looked like he started a new topic, but he introduces it with the word for an explanation. He is basically saying that what he just said will explain how to do this by striving and being diligent.

The word, “strive,” could also be translated, “to study.” The Greek word could be translated “to labor,” “to study,” “to be diligent,” “to strive to get in that rest and stay there for the word of God.” I don’t think that’s an accident. I think he’s teaching us that right now. Do you know what’s going to help you stay in the rest of Jesus? It is to get in the Word. Get in it and don’t just get in it, just hear it and just read it for intellectual purposes, but get in there and start letting the Holy Spirit apply it to you for the word of God is living. That’s the Greek word that we get the word, “Zoe,” from. It’s this kind of life that’s full.

He says the word of God is alive. It’s not like any other book on planet Earth. It’s alive.

If you go back to the passage there, he was quoting David in verse seven when he’s talking about Psalm 95, but if you go back to chapter three, when he was preaching on Psalm 95, he said he was quoting the Holy Spirit. Which is it, preacher? It’s both. He’s teaching us something about the word of God, that the word of God is both divine and human. It’s 100% divine. It’s 100% human because the Holy Spirit inspired men of God to write as He directed. Each one of them wrote according to how he was directed. It would be like me picking up different colored pens. I’d be the same guy writing, but here I’m going to write in black. Here, I’m going to get myself a red pen and write in bold. Here, I’m going to get myself a highlighter. See, I could pick up different pens and they would all look different, but it’d be the same words.

Godusedover forty human authors over a period of 1500 years in 66 unique books. There’s no other book like it.

The author of Hebrews is talking about this book here. He says it’s living and it’s living right now because I’m living and I’m talking to you about it. The fact that I’m reading it brings it into the present. So it’s incarnation, it’s brought back into life as I read it and when you read it and study it, the Holy Spirit enlivens it to make it alive for you. It’s not a dead book. It’s a living book. It is active and it’s living.

The Greek word for the word, “active,” is “energēs.” It’s where we get the word, “energy.” The word of God is energetic. It’s effective. It produces results.

He’s not finished. He says it’s like a two-edged sword and he begins to do surgery with it, “sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” This is a scalpel. He’s talking about a scalpel. Who is it that’s going to do the heart surgery, because it’s about the heart? It is Jesus. Do you know who is the best heart surgeon of all? It’s the spirit of Christ, with the scalpel in his hands right here. It is this two-edged sword, this scalpel and He takes it.

If you let Him apply it to you and say, ‘Lord, search me and know me. Why am I restless right here? Why am I worried? Why am I wringing my hands right here?’ If you let Him, He’ll bring a word to you. He’ll bring the word of life, the word of God to you. If you’ve got a place of unbelief, the reason that there’s restlessness is because there’s unbelief underneath it. There’s a place you’re not trusting God for provision. There’s a place where you’re not trusting God with your future. There’s a place of unbelief and when the word of God is applied to you it’s applied to your heart. I’m not talking about just reading it for knowledge’s sake. It’s applied to your heart. He uncovers, He discerns, He judges your thoughts, intentions, motivations and inner workings that you’re not even aware of – the things that are motivating you to think and feel the way you do. He cuts all the way to the “quick.”

Verse 13 says this, “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” No one can hide from Him. Nothing is hidden. This scalpel is kind of like a laser. It lights everything up; everything comes to light. This is how you strive. You study to apply what The Great Physician who uses to help you understand what’s making you tick so that you can give it to Him and find rest. It shouldn’t seem strange that striving and resting go together.

Let’s read the rest of Christ’s invitation. We read the first part but let’s read the whole thing now in Matthew chapter 11, “Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” We stopped there at the beginning but let’s keep reading, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” There’s still work to be done. He’s done all the hard work. He’s done all the “heavy lifting,” but now He gives you this “light work.” It’s the work of following Him. It’s the work of resting in Him. So we work at resting in Him.

If you’re a mama and you’re changing diapers, you can rest in Jesus as you do it. You have a newborn, you’re not getting a lot of sleep, but you can rest in Him knowing that you’re doing what He’s called you to do. I could keep going. You have a job that you have to put in long hours. You can work, resting in His strength. Lord, give me energy to do this. Whatever you’re facing today, you can get at it in a new way, with a new heart and new motivations, so that you’re energized to do the work that He calls you to do because you’re resting, you’re supported, held up in Him and He makes you stand. He allows you to do it.

Where are you today? Were you wringing your hands? Were you biting your nails? Were you worried and upset? Were you anxious and unrested? Give “unblinking diligence” to God’s word. Allow the surgeon, which is the Holy Spirit, Who loves you, to expose to you the motivations of your heart so that you might turn it over to Him.

I’ve been trying to think of hymns to close these sermons over the last couple of weeks. One came to me this week, while I was working in the yard. I couldn’t think of one when I was writing the sermon, but just a short little line and I can’t find it anywhere online. The only way I know this song is from the Willow Branch quartet, which was my mama’s quartet. She’s with the Lord now. I don’t know if the name of the song is “At the end of the road,” which speaks of that glory phase.

At the end of the road, many loved ones I’ll see There with Jesus, my Lord, I forever shall be. I will ever press on to the blessed abode. There’s a heavenly rest at the end of the road.

We have a foretaste of Jesus right now, but the full thing is coming. Oh, glory. It’s coming at the end of the road.

Let’s pray. Lord, thank You for Your word . Thank You that we have rest in Jesus. Oh, my friend, have you given your life to Jesus? You can find real rest in Him. You can do it today. The entry, the key is faith. You must place your belief in Jesus and you can express your faith by prayer. Would you pray with me? ‘Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner. I believe that You died on the cross for my sins, that You were raised from the grave and that You live today. Come and live in me. Forgive me of my sins and make me the person that You want me to be. I want to be a child of God. I want to follow You. I believe in You as my Lord and Savior. I give You my life.’ If you’re praying that prayer, believing, you’ll find rest in Jesus. You’ll find salvation in Jesus. Others are here today and you believe in Jesus. You’ve given Him your life. You’re a Christ follower, but you’re restless today. You’re exhausted. Are you carrying something that you’re not supposed to carry? There’s something to give to Him, that heavy burden, that weariness we are to give to Him and He wants to replace it with something built for us –a work, a calling. Are you wringing your hands over something? ‘Holy Spirit, right now, would you examine my heart? Examine my heart. Where am I not at rest? Is it some expectation I’ve had that’s unmet? Is it some concern about provision where I am not at rest? Lord, help me, today, to find my complete rest in Jesus.’ It’s in His name we pray. Amen.