I'm not gonna have you stand up and hug each other. Everybody says amen. Yeah, we got that down. We got that down. We can't greet like that in here with a whole body thing. Some of you do get some of that because you're huggers. We know how that works for a lot of us. But we're thankful that the Lord has watched over us and made it possible for us to come back and begin to look outside ourselves again. And begin to recognize people who are sitting by us in front of the bank or something where you can't get in yet, or maybe not today. Or the hospital where you gotta do the scanner thing and whatever else they do. And you gotta wait on all that and go in the hospital and where do folk go? I don't see anybody. It's a big cavern and nobody but Sheil in here goofing around. What's that deal all about? It's a different day, but we're moving, and I think we have to purposely, and I feel like the Lord's nudging me about that. I've been talking to you quite a while about turning our eyes out, seeing the lost, and I'm not telling you to stretch beyond your gifts. I'm telling each one of us that we need to find out in our journey what our gifts are and lay them on the table and say, use me, Lord, use me, Lord, use me, Lord, and make it valuable in this body as well. Let's go Hebrews. I'm going to try to talk slow. Is that okay? Sometimes when I can talk, I talk fast. I'm going to talk slow. I want you to hear what's communicated in this letter. Two chapters of Hebrews. Hebrews, how many of you like to read Hebrews? Isn't that a marvelous book or how many of you have not tried it? How many have not tried it? Reading all the way through it. Okay, honestly. There's a couple more. When we get a book in our hand or in our life and it's significant, it's a book in the Bible particularly, it is now referred to by me and by you, if we're getting it right, the Word of God. The Word of God. Not a word about God, but this text revealed by revelation is a part of the Word of God. When I hear the Word of God, maybe that one line comes sailing out of it, two or three words, and spins right into your hearer. And then you think, I'll see that later, but he won't let you. So while somebody else is preaching, you're flipping pages, and you're finding your space, and you see something. How did that get there? Got there by revelation. Got there by the work of the Holy Spirit who reveals the Word of God, puts it in our heart, gets it in our mind, has it so working in our lives that there is nothing we can do but bow before a Holy God and say, Lord, pick me up. Don't let me go any further down any road that's not yours. Let me understand this book. Let me understand this Word so that I might know you better, fully. I like this book. When I talked to Robin Behe this morning, now, Robin, when he calls you to see how the pastor was doing, he calls early on Sunday. And so he called and said, Pastor Dan, I'm home. I said, I knew you were coming, brother. I'm glad you're there. And we got to talking about something he mentioned the other day. when we were having a discussion on the phone. That's all the access we've had for robbing like you. We basically stayed out of interrupting anything in the home. We've just used the telephone. been able to do it. Well, we got to talking about it, because he said to me, you know, Pastor Dan, I remember when we were studying these two chapters. I remember when you preached these two chapters. I remember what I learned in those two chapters, and I remember that I discovered things about it that made me appreciate it more than ever before, because now I saw that it wasn't a letter or a series of verses that were doing any kind of tearing down or opposing God. They were simply delivering a disciple and putting him in a place where he could yield to that God that looked like he was doing him evil, but he wasn't. He was establishing his going in Christ Jesus. He said, I found out I was connected to the seven verse Let me find it for you. It's got it right here. And I'll read in just a little bit. For we who have believed have entered that rest, as he said, as I swear in my wrath they shall not enter my rest. That's the fourth chapter in the book. Although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. When did Jesus finish his work? From the foundation of the world. There it is. And then he goes on to say, for he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way. Seventh day. Was that Sunday in Hebrew? Yeah, Hebrew. Seventh day, Sunday. Became the Sabbath. Set it up as the seventh day. God is setting all this up. He's putting everything he's making is being made. It's going to be put together and left. And he said, for he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way. And God rested on the seventh day. from all his words, and again in this passage he said, they shall not enter my rest. There are going to be a lot of folks that do and did enter the rest that's provided for them. They saw and believed and became a part of the people of God, but there are many who did not see it, could not embrace it. Let me read this to you just to hear this part. I was going to go back and do all of the third chapter too, but that would be too long. Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands. This is written right in the beginning of the fourth chapter, and the writer is saying, therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, still a promise there for rest to come, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. Any of you who seemed to have failed to reach it. For good news, what would good news be in the other word? Gospel. For good news came to us just as to them, us, them. But the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. And here's another way of saying this, it did not meet with faith in the hearers. There was no agreement between the hearers who are talking now and the hearers who would respond because there was no one with faith. 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. For we who have believed, here it is, we who have believed enter the rest, as he has said. Now let me ask this question. Are we, do we, is it possible for us today to live in what we would finally describe as the rest of God? Let me give you some examples of what we can take a word and put it on some of these things. How about the rest that remains? At several places there's always at the end of something that's called for the believers to stand up and to awaken those who hear his voice. Time for you to wake up, it's time for you to say, hey, today, wake up. I want to get it back to verse 7 of chapter 3. I'm going to read a little bit of it. Verse 7 of chapter 3, a rest for the people of God. And the reason we're looking at this is because this was a poem, so to speak. It's kind of a series of words. A word, actually, came out of it. And this is what was said in regard to the rest, R-A-S-T, for the people of God. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, and that's the only place in this series of communications about the rest, whether it's in the fourth verse or fourth section or the or the third section, there is not another place in all of these, hey, if you notice, pay attention, calling for repentance or calling for receiving that gift. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, for only place in these two books that use the word Holy Spirit, it referred to who was being the one speaking. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts is in the rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness where your fathers put me to the test saw my works for 40 years therefore I was provoked with them with that generation and said they always go astray in their heart they have not known my ways as I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest Now this shall not enter my rest goes on and on. Same words repeated over time in the history of these books, in the history of the church. This was being spread out. Sometimes you've got something quoted that happened way back in the history of God's people. And this was the day for the word. It opened, saw it. for you to get right with God. And God would say, hey, listen, today, if you really wanna get in on what God is doing, this is the time to turn toward home. This is the time to put your confidence in Jesus. I think sometimes what we do, when I was born again, when I came to an altar to receive Jesus, how do you say that? altered to receive Jesus, are you receiving him or is he getting you? Those things have to be kind of worked together and so there it is. But here is this Holy Spirit doing what he's doing and then when you get through with this poetry here, take care brothers lest there be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart. leading you to fall away from the living God. Is that possible? Listen to this again. Take care, take care. Notice how he puts these words together. Take care, brethren, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. You mean, yes, the thing that's going on in you, it's the thing that's being embraced while you reject the invitation. See, it's not just, we sometimes get this, we talk about the fact of God's choice in dealing with human beings, and it's true that he calls us, it's true that he calls on us to come. But I'll guarantee you, when God's harvesting, those that are his will show up, and he will make a way. because the way is our domain in Christ Jesus. And we are living as his by his grace. Listen to this a little bit further. Unbelieving heart with the falling away spirit. That's kind of tough to get out of, isn't it? So if you're looking at your life and you're thinking, I don't feel that kind of salvation. I don't know if I know Jesus or not. Sit down with somebody. Send over one of your brothers or sisters, the one that best fits who you are, and say, I'd like to meet with you for a little bit before we go home from church. And you tell them, I don't know if I'm really saved. I don't know if I'm really trusting in Jesus now. But if you're not, these pauses that leave the invitation open to come to the one who paused is the one that's going to give us just enough time to ask the question, am I ready to follow Jesus? Will I follow him? You can ask those questions. He's beckoning you. He's giving you the invitation. He's saying, wouldn't it be good if you got up tomorrow and you went and sat on a log Country boy, that's the best place to sit if you just want to hurry away. Sit on a log and you're going to think about who it is that has called you to himself and what it means to be called out of darkness into light and sit there on a tree. Makes it almost, makes it gleam with expectation. Can we respond like that? Do we want to go beyond, put your name on the book? You want to get to a place to where you can say yes to Jesus and give your life to him? Hey, listen, we also want our young people to follow Jesus. In fact, when I was a kid, that was who they were pursuing all the time in church. It was always us. We were being captured by the church to follow Jesus. Every time we met, we had something going on. Man, I loved when I got a chance to start preaching and I grew up with teenagers. I was 20 years old, I had a great time because God's anointing kept on working and people kept on asking, please, Lord, forgive my sin, set my life free, call me close, bless me today that I might build blessing to somebody else. Hmm, hmm. A little more. Exhort, he said, rather than having an unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God, exhort one another every day as long as it is called today that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. All those things are warnings. All these distractions can draw you away from Jesus. Draw you away. Look at this little mini piece of scripture right here. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God, but exhort one another every day as long as it is called today, because the opportunities are still there when it's called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." An unbelieving heart, deceitfulness of sin, oh man. For we share in Christ. We share, brother and sister, in Christ. If indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, talking about that period of time in the wilderness, the opposition to God and his leaders. And it was a horrible deal. I mean, what had God already done in the sight of those people? Everything! led them out of bondage, provided for them out there in the wilderness, kept them safe in the midst of hard times. And even when they wanted to rebel against him and overthrow him and take over and forget about all this stuff with God, he wouldn't let them. Moses tried to get rid of them. He said, they're your people, not mine. You take care of them. They're your people. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all these who left Egypt, led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest? but to those who were disobedient. So we see that they were unable to enter because another reason now, unbelief. Unbelief, disobedience, the messing around of sin, it's deceitfulness that works on your life. All these things disturb and hinder turning away and toward home. Rest, or having rest, implies unique experience, unique to everything else obtained by some church, a state of perfect peace, and rest equals the rest of faith. We can find the rest of that which remains arrested by the Holy Spirit's work led into the place of resting before God. Then this one where Hebrews seems to point to heavenly rest which awaits the follower of Christ. Do you believe that? Heavenly rest when we get through with the journey. A share of the rest into which God himself has entered. Which points in my thinking at that time when those who are seeing how it is, look up and there is the door open for a moment. Come on, come on! The gospel! The king! And they draw nearer. And they're in that place when they're inside the rest. They find they are inside the rest with God, the rest of God, the rest that God blesses every day, the rest that causes us. Now if you've got a Sabbath rest, You have a rest where you can sit and enjoy the Lord's greatness and blessing and intimacy, right in the place of rest because that is what God has done for you. And when he brings you through all of this stuff that tends to take you away and you keep moving up to catch hold and you're inside with him and the blessing is so rich, all you can do is stop for a while and worship him. Is he with us when we gather in a meeting like this? You know, kind of a unique prayer meeting. It's not, people are not going to talk and run around and say things real loud because we're careful here. But when you're done on a regular service and we've really sought the Lord and we're really praying, we're really ready to go home now. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to look back and say, Holy Spirit, wash over us. Give us all that rest requires and bless us a journey. Amen. I'm telling you, the blessing of God's presence, the perfected kingdom of Christ somewhere down the line, entering upon the blessedness, which is to be there and be theirs. The key is faith on some things. There is faith that opens up the way. And if we come to him for life, you will not bring him anything except your trust in the truth of that gospel. See, what a lot of people do is have a midway thing in this so that when they get outside the meeting place again, they're busy looking for something to do so God will like them better. It'll never be that way. God does not negotiate. He does not endeavor to increase your income in order that you might serve Him. But when He does catch your heart and your eyes have caught them well and He pulls you into His very place of peace and love, you will know. You will know what being redeemed really is and what it means to be in His presence without restrictions around us. Those times of loving God, or some people say loving Him back, those things of loving God are pretty precious for us, to be able to be in His service and just worship, just worship. It is a good Sunday. This is a good word. And the presence of the Lord is real among us. Let's open our hearts to him. Let's look and see what God is doing as we travel around outside the buildings. As we enter the places we have to go to, to do business with whoever we have to see this time of year, just stop if you see, and you will know by the Spirit that there is someone there who wants life and doesn't know where to find it. Speak your word to them, but point to Him the living word of God. Let's pray. Father, I wanna thank you for loving your people. And I wanna thank you for just keeping us in the place that you have put us. Remind us that we do not belong to ourselves, that we have not been taken away from a slave camp altogether, but we've been given life in Jesus Christ. Yours, beautiful, the saints of God. Help us, Lord, to preach your gospel. Help us to live it. Help us to be attuned to the work around us. Don't let us miss the hungry heart. Don't let us miss the troubled soul. Give us grace for our strength and blessing. Your will be done, in Jesus' name. Let's stand together.