This is the Scripture-Driven Church broadcast brought to you by Teaching the Word Ministries. The Church of Jesus Christ must be the Scripture-Driven Church, relying on God's inspired and inerrant Word as our sole authority and our infallible critic in every area of life and ministry. And now, here's author, Bible teacher, and Teaching the Word president, Dr. Paul Elliott, to introduce today's program. Today we are continuing a series of messages titled, Remembering the Reformation. Dear friends, so many people in the so-called evangelical church today have no idea what it really means to be a Protestant. So many Christians have forgotten that at the time of the Reformation God's people rediscovered great privileges that had long been veiled in the darkness of Roman Catholicism. Today we are going to hear part one of a two-part message about the greatest of those privileges from chapter 4 of the book of Hebrews. What is that great privilege? Are you taking advantage of it? Stay tuned to find out as we look into God's Word together. Our Father in Heaven, Your Word tells us that the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ possesses great and precious promises. Father, as we look into the Scriptures today, I pray that Your Spirit will cause each listener to be keenly aware of the privileges of the believer in Christ, and if there is anyone listening today who is not a believer, and therefore at present has no access and no right to those great privileges. May this be the hour in which you would bring that soul to saving faith in your Son and open the windows of heaven to pour out your blessings on that soul. I pray these things in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. This evening I want to call your attention to the words that we find in the fourth chapter of Hebrews. The last part of the chapter As we consider and commemorate the Reformation, I'd like to call our attention this evening to something that was brought back to light, to blazing light at the Reformation by the Reformers, by the Spirit of God, by His grace, and that is the fact that we, as believers in Christ, have a priceless privilege. We need not go through a human mediator. We need not pray a rosary. We can come directly into the very throne room of God by the intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ. So I'd like to call our attention to Hebrews chapter four, beginning at verse nine, and reading down through the end of the chapter. Hebrews chapter four, beginning at verse nine. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God, For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from his. And in this, the writer is speaking of God's rest on the seventh day of creation week. And then verse 11, let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, that Sabbath rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. And here he is referring to the discussion that precedes this concerning Israel's unbelief in the wilderness. And then verse 12, for the word of God is quick, alive, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. The portion of scripture that we have before us this evening speaks about three things. It speaks to us about the power of the word of God. And that was certainly a great rallying principle of the Reformation, scripture. It speaks to us also about the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it speaks to us about his intercessory work on our behalf. It also tells us how we are to approach the Lord when we come before him, and the key word in this passage is the word rest. Rest. This is the believer's priceless privilege, resting in him, resting in the Lord Jesus Christ. There were so many at the time of the Reformation who were struggling, who were without rest, who were kept in a bondage that did not permit rest, constant penance, constant contributions to the church in order to gain favor, constant concern that I have not done enough. That was the position. and constant concern that I needed to come to a human intercessor in order to confess my sins and in order to have a proclamation that my sins had been forgiven, but in order for my sins to be forgiven, a priest would tell me, this is what you must do. These verses form one of the climax points in the book of Hebrews. The writer's been building up to this point He has said, first of all, and the overall theme of Hebrews is this, that Christ is all superior and all sufficient. The Holy Spirit through the writer to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus himself is sufficient, that he is superior to the prophets, that he's superior to the angels, he's superior to Moses. He's superior to the priests of the old covenant system. He's superior to Abraham, our father in the faith. And he is superior to all that great line of faithful saints who are mentioned in chapter 11. We come to chapter 12, looking away from these things unto Jesus, the author and finisher, the perfecter of our faith. Hebrews tells us that Jesus' atonement is superior. His priesthood is superior. He's a high priest not in the Levitical line, but he's a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And Hebrews tells us that by being both our great high priest and the perfect sacrifice for sins in one, that Jesus is our all sufficient Savior. The author, the finisher, the perfecter of our faith. So that's the theme of the book that we're considering this evening, the superiority and the all-sufficiency of Christ. And that in itself is an excellent summary of the Protestant Reformation, a return to the superiority and the all-sufficiency of Christ. But secondly, we need to remind ourselves why the book of Hebrews was written to a particular people at a particular time. It's written to Hebrews. It's written initially to Jews. And it's clear from the later chapters of Hebrews that the author is writing this book by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to people who might be attempted to fall away from Christ and back into legalism. To fall away from the grace of God back into what must I do? What kind of work must I have? They might be tempted. It's clear that the writer was afraid. He was afraid that they would be tempted to try to add works to the gospel, to try to add rituals to the gospel. And in that sense, Roman Catholicism was a religion and is a religion that keeps people, in a sense, in bondage to a distorted form of the old covenant. But the writer to the Hebrews is exhorting believers to recognize the superiority of the new covenant to the old. He's encouraging them to stand firm in the new covenant. He's reminding them that the reality of the new covenant in Christ is far superior to all the types and shadows of the old covenant, which were but types and shadows, not the reality. And at the beginning of Hebrews chapter four, the writer, makes another vital point. He recalls the fact that there was an entire generation of Israelites who came out of Egypt, but never made it to Canaan, except for two men, Caleb and Joshua. They never made it to the place of rest that God was preparing for them in the promised land. He says, chapter 3, verse 19, that they could not enter because of unbelief. Unbelief in what? Well, the writer tells us, he makes it plain, At the beginning of chapter four, notice Hebrews chapter four verses one and two. He says, let us therefore fear, having told his readers about this condition of the people in the wilderness. Let us therefore fear considering this, a promise being left for us of entering into his rest, into God's rest. Lest a promise being left to us, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us, notice the gospel was preached as well as to them, but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. Their unbelief back in the wilderness was unbelief in the gospel, the same gospel, the gospel of redemption through their Messiah. There has been, is now, and always will be only one way. One way to God through faith in Jesus Christ. In those days, it was the gospel, of course, looking forward to the cross. For us today, it's the same gospel looking back to the cross. But we're told that in the case of this generation of Israelites in the wilderness, the preaching of the gospel didn't profit them. In the original, it means that there was no advantage to them. And the reason was that the hearing of the gospel was not mixed with faith to produce salvation. The preaching of the gospel was not united with faith. And we know from Hebrews, or excuse me, from Ephesians and from other places in the scriptures that faith, saving faith, is the gift of God. And one of the great scriptural rallying cries The Reformation was Romans 1.17, the just shall live by faith, faith alone. The Holy Spirit in the work of bringing an individual set to salvation unites the message of the gospel with faith that he implants in the heart. And the writer to the Hebrews reminds us, chapter four, verse 10, that those who have entered into God's rest have ceased from their own works just as God ceased from his on the seventh day of creation week. God ceased from his work because creation was complete. We cease from reliance on our works because Christ's work of salvation is complete. This is great truth recovered at the Reformation. And in chapter four, the writer also reminds us that even though that generation of Israelites failed to truly receive The faith, God's promise of eternal rest for those who do believe remains unchanged. The gospel offer still stands. So that brings us with that background, I would like for us to consider the verses before us this evening. What's the writer saying to us? He's saying, first of all, verse 11, that we need to be diligent to enter into that rest. He exhorts us to do that. to rest in Christ, not fall away through disobedience. Why does he do that? We have the little connective word at the beginning of verse 12, the word for, F-O-R. Every time we see that word in scripture, or every time we see the word therefore, for example, so many times in Paul's epistles, we need to remind ourselves of what that's all about, that connective. What was it that came before in the writing? that we need to consider, what's the basis for what we're about to read? We have the answer in verse 12, he says, for the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, literally in the original language, a critic of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The reason we need to be diligent to enter into the rest that is in Christ and not fall away is because you cannot fool God. You cannot fool God. In verses 12-15, make it clear, make it plain why this is true. There are three reasons. First of all, the Word of God reveals who you are. As verse 12 tells us, God's word is a discerner. In the original language, it's actually the word kritikos, or critic. The word is a critic of your thoughts and intentions. No earthly priest can be that. No earthly system can do that. But the Word of God is a critic of your thoughts and your intentions. You need the Word of God to speak to you and to tell you if you're truly resting in Christ. We're not fit to judge this on our own. We're not fit to have some other man judge this for us. This judgment must be by the Word of God alone. Our feelings rise and fall. Circumstances change, circumstances can confuse us. We need to rely upon the word of God as our discerner, our critic. And the scriptures have the life and power, they're living and powerful to do that for us. So first of all, God's word reveals who you are. Secondly, you cannot hide anything from God. In verse 13, the writer reminds us that all things are naked and open before the one with whom we have to do, or a more accurate translation would be before the one to whom we must give account. What you are, who you are, what you do, what you think, these things are all laid bare before God. None of it's hidden. naked and open. You don't get any more plain spoken than that. The two-edged sword of God's Word has once and for all laid open everything that you are, everything about you. You cannot hide anything from God. You might be able to hide things from an earthly priest, an earthly mediator, but you cannot hide anything from the one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. And thirdly, the writer also reminds us that Jesus understands your situation from firsthand experience. In verses 14 and 15, we're told that the one to whom we must give an account is also our high priest. He understands what we're going through in this life from firsthand experience in human flesh. The God of the universe, Philippians 2, took on the form of a servant, was found in the likeness of men, God and man in the same body, unmixed. He was tested in all points as we are. In all the points where you and I fail, He was tested, yet without sin. So God possesses complete and intimate knowledge. of us, everything. But how does that tie back to the idea of entering into God's rest in the previous verses? If that is true, if we looked at that and that were simply true by itself, divorced from other truth, that fact might cause us to squirm and struggle. But the inspired writer is telling us that it is a vital fact, a day-to-day part of entering into that rest from works, that we rest in the God who knows it all. The God who knows it all. If you are truly resting in Christ for your salvation, then one of the outworkings or evidences of your faith in Christ should be that you are resting day by day in the intercession of the Lord. His intercession at the Father on your behalf. The Apostle Paul, Colossians chapter 3 verse 1 says, if indeed you're risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. And that brings us to verse 16. Verse 16 tells us how we should come before God, what our expectation should be as we come. Let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. The one who knows all extends grace and mercy. Let us therefore come, says the writer. In the original, this speaks of approaching or drawing near. It was a term that was used in that time to describe what took place when someone came into the court of a monarch or a ruler. We need to remember that we're drawing near, we're approaching the holy God and sovereign of the universe. And verse 16 says, let us therefore come There's another connective. In other words, because these things are so, let us therefore come because, verse 9, there remains a rest for the people of God in Christ. Let us come, verse 10, because we need to cease from reliance on works. Let us come because you need to be diligent to enter into your rest in Christ. Let us come because God's Word reveals who you are and what you are. Let us come because God knows you intimately. You cannot hide anything from him. And let us come because Jesus is a high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses. Because Jesus was tempted in all points as we are yet without sin. Because of all these things, the writer says, let us therefore come. Here once again is Dr. Paul Elliott with some closing comments. clicking the contact link on our homepage. Just let us know that you would like to receive the book called Authority and be sure to give us your complete name and mailing address. If you're listening in North America you can call us toll-free anytime 24 hours a day at 888-804-9655. Once again, our toll-free number for listeners in North America is 888-804-9655. 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And until next time, may God richly bless your personal study of His inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word. of God.