We're looking at the book of Hebrews, and we're going to be looking at chapter 3. We actually started chapter 3 last time, but we didn't get here as far as I thought we would. But you know, that's the beauty of Thursday nights. We can relax. Errol can look at his notes every 20 minutes and then just go off topic. But just to keep you up to speed here, as you're turning to Hebrews chapter 3, the theme of Hebrews, do you remember? It has two streams running, two streams, and they run together. Do you remember what they are? The first one, what's the main theme of Hebrews? For those of you who, just the traditional main theme of Hebrews? Jesus is better than anything and everything. But in particular in this book, he's better than all things Jewish. That kind of tips us off to what the other stream is. What's the other stream? Who remembers? The other stream is an exhortation. What's the exhortation? Don't go backwards. Don't drift away. Don't fall away. And why was the writer of the Hebrews writing this? He was writing this because the Christians, the Hebrew Christians, probably in Jerusalem, were experiencing a lot of persecution from the Jewish, the Jewish religious leaders, and they were thinking, you know what? It would just be easier to go back and be Jewish. So he writes to them, and what he does here, I don't think he was out to write a theological treatise. I believe he set out to write an exhortation to wavering believers to just don't drift away, don't fall back, don't drift away. His arguments for holding fast are theological, and so we have the exhortation, in this exhortation we have a theological treatise about the superiority of Christ. Last time we began a section of the book that begins in chapter 3 verse 1 and goes to chapter 4 verse 13, and it contains no fewer than five exhortations, each based on what? The superiority of Christ. Don't slip away because Jesus is better. And of course, by the way, we make this application for us today. When was the last time anybody here was tempted to convert to Judaism? Probably not. So he said, well, this book doesn't apply to this. No, but you know what? They were going back to the religion they knew. And he was saying, don't do it. You stick with Jesus. But what are we tempted to go back to? The world. Tempted to just, you know, just kind of get sluggish, kind of get lazy, kind of take our liberties for granted. And the next thing you know, we're out of fellowship and we're not in the word and we're not in prayer. And then it shows, you know. And so he says, don't don't let that happen to you. Don't let that happen to you. So last week we talked about the first three, and last week the first one was consider Jesus, chapter 3, verse 1 through 6. The second one was take care not to have a hard heart that results in falling away. That was verses 7 through 12, and I just want to read those first 12 verses, if you don't mind, or even if you do. Hebrews chapter 3, Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful. Isn't that interesting? He's saying don't be faithless by falling away. No, no. Think about Jesus. He was faithful. He was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses was also faithful in all his house. For this one, Jesus, had been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who built the house has more honor than the house. for every house is built by someone, but he who builds all things is God." And there he's saying that Jesus is the builder of the house. In verse 3 and then verse 4 he says that the builder is God. So what is he saying? Jesus is God. Verse 5, and Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward. But Christ, Jesus, as a son over his own house, whose house we are, if we hold fast, there's that exhortation again, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. So he contrasts, he goes, you know, Moses was a great servant in the house. Jesus is the son. He owns the house. He's better. Verse 7, therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today if you will hear His voice, and He's quoting from Psalm 95, today if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, the day, remember we talked about that was the day in which they were ready to go into the Promised Land, and they go, you know what, we're not going in because those guys over there are tall. We can't fight tall guys. Do not harden your hearts as it was in the day of the rebellion and the day in the trial in the wilderness where your fathers tested me, this is God speaking, tried me and then what do they get in return? They get to see my works for 40 years. What's he referring to? 40 years wandering in the desert as punishment for lack of faith. Therefore I was angry with that generation and I said they always go astray in their heart. And they've not known my ways, so I swore in my wrath..." There's the God who, the American God, who only blesses but never judges. It's not the God of the Bible, because what is the God of the Bible? He says, I was mad. I've got news for you. You don't want to make God mad. Okay? So, I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest. And here he presents this concept of rest, which we'll talk a little bit more about tonight, assuming we get to it. Verse 12, the end of what we talked about last time, is he says, Beware brethren, beware, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing, there's another exhortation, don't depart, don't fall away, don't slip away, hold fast. and departing from the living God. So now we begin tonight, fresh material, verse 13. Let me just read some verses to you and then we'll talk about them. He says, he goes on, same sentence, but exhort rather than falling away, he says, exhort one another daily while it's called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast at the end. You see how many exhortations are in this book saying, don't slip away. Come on, let's go. This is like the personal trainer. You can do one more sit-up. Come on. Don't flake here. We have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast to the beginning of our confidence, steadfast to the end while it is said. Now he refers again to Psalm 95. He's already done it, but he's going to refer to it again. He says, today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt led by Moses? Now with whom was he, that is God, angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned? And what happened to them? Whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter into his rest, but to those who did not, what, obey? So, he makes his conclusion here at the end of chapter three, so we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Well, if the first exhortation was consider Jesus, and if the second exhortation was take care not to have a hard heart that results in falling away, the third exhortation is to exhort one another daily. Exhort one another daily. This exhortation tells us how to avoid falling away. It gives us some practical things we can do to help ourselves from falling away. The first one is, he says, exhort. Now, we're going to talk about this. It just so happens, it wasn't planned this way, but it just so happens that we're going to be talking about some of these concepts this Sunday morning as well. But exhort, it doesn't mean get up in somebody's business. Some of you think, he's exhorting people. My job is to exhort people. And a lot of people think that that means it's their job to set everybody straight. Now, the word exhort more commonly means to encourage. It means to build up. It means to lend assistance. to come alongside and help. See, it's one thing if somebody's in trouble and you say, you're blowing it, you're out of here, I can't wait to see you suffer. Some people think that's exhortation. No, exhortation is, hey, I see you're struggling, how can I help you? How can I pray for you? What's going on? I see you're struggling. That's what exhortation is. And then he says, exhort who? He says, exhort one another. One another, not just the preacher building up the people, but all of us building up each other. There's one of your one another's here. Build up one another. And by the way, just as a side note, and I'm not saying I'm having any troubles because I'm not smart enough to have any, I think, but how about the people also seeking to exhort the preacher? Don't just expect the preachers to do all the exhortation. Preachers need this kind of exhortation and this encouragement too. Why do pastors not stay in their churches longer? Tom Rainier of LifeWay Research says that so many pastors leave and change churches after 3.6 years. Other research says it's a little longer, but it is considered by most researchers, how long does a pastor stay in a church? If a guy's there for seven years, this guy is like ancient of days. I don't know what that says about me. I must be mummified by now. You know, here we are in our closing in on our 32nd campaign, you know. But pastors need encouragement too. Woe to those who think they don't need the body of Christ. Woe to those who choose to go it alone, choose to be disconnected from the body, especially when they're down, and especially when others who also may be down need them. You know, we don't just go to get encouraged, we go to give encouragement. Woe to those who are in the body, who may be there all the time, but they come with a very self-centered heart and very self-centered lives. He says, exhort one another. He says, exhort one another how often? Daily. Now, that doesn't mean It means you need to call everybody in the church every day. Because if that happens, pretty soon you're going to be smoking somebody's eyes. But what it is, it's a figure of speech to say what? All the time, consistently, regularly. So much for those who are weekly Christians. The world preaches at us. We say this so often, but we need to be reminded the world never stops preaching at us. I mean, you don't even have to watch the shows, you just have to see the commercials. The world is preaching filth at us all the time, trying to pull us away, trying to say, no, no, no, no, this is more fun, do this, do that, do the other thing. Constantly, it's funny, people say, I hate Christians cramming their religion down our throats. Christians don't cram anything down anybody's throats, because most Christians are such fraidy cats to talk about Jesus as it is. It's the world who crams what they have to say down their throats. In fact, if they can't get us to go along with it, they pass a law that says, if you don't, you go to jail. Here's the world just preaching, preaching, preaching. What do we get? We get the Word of God so much less. For many people, if it's once a week, it's a lot. Once or twice a week for you, Thursday night, commandos. Well, what does it say? It says daily. We need to be encouraging and being encouraged daily. And of course, you understand that the greatest place for encouragement is the Word of God. You know, people can come and say, oh, you know, you're going to make it and life is better. And so, you know, better days coming. You know, all that's fun until tomorrow when it's the same thing. But when you got the word of God that transcends my my circumstance, my circumstance doesn't have to change to be encouraged by God, does it? I just need to be encouraged that his kingdom cannot fail, even though mine seems to be trembling, tumbling down around my head. Besides preaching, we need to live in community. We need to be encouraging one another all the time. And can I just give this little exhortation to you, if I can? And not just being together talking about everything under the sun, but being together encouraging one another in the faith. Be the catalyst in the conversation when you're hanging out with Christians to talk about the Lord. It doesn't mean you have to just be quoting verses 24-7 to each other, but you know, we need to be, we need to be encouraging each other in the Lord. Not just about, I mean, what now, any group you go to talk to, everybody just wants to talk about politics. You know, I can't wait till that's over, but you know. Sports I mean sports are fine, but I mean if that's if that's the depth of what we have in common We don't we have trouble when you talk about the Lord with one another asking people. How are you doing? How can I pray for you? You know frequently when you ask a Christian, how can I pray for you? They'll say well, I don't know. I can't think of anything Okay, fine, but you know what? There's plenty of people out there say hey, you know, is it how can I pray for you? Oh, you got some time? I'll give you a list He says that we're to exhort, we're to exhort one another, we're to do it daily. And then he says, well, it's still called today. Here he repeats the reference in verse seven. He repeats the reference here that he talked about up in verse seven, which is, by the way, a quote from Psalm 95. It's kind of interesting, we have scripture, quoting scripture, referring to an incident that happened in scripture. And then the writer of the Hebrews is saying, you know, hey, remember what David wrote about what Israel did? So we got three, and they're separated by hundreds of years, and yet it's still pertinent. Today was the day that Israel needed to turn to the Lord instead of hardening their hearts and then end up dying in the wilderness, right? That was the day. That was their day. That was the day they could have made the better choice. Today was the day in Psalm 95, hundreds of years later, when David wrote about the incident and he wrote to encourage himself and whoever was reading what he wrote. And then today was the day, once again, when the writer of the Hebrews quoted these things. And you know what else? Today is still the day. Today is still the day. You know, I mean, start your... Look, let me just give you a tip. Never start, never start a diet on the weekend. No, on the weekend, you want to hoover up as much food as you can. Just, you know, you want to get as much food as you can so you can start your diet on Monday. Listen, Monday is the day to start diets. You can forget them by Tuesday, but start them. Listen, today is the day to start going for it with Jesus Christ. Huh? Today is the day. Today is always the day to encourage one another in the faith. Why? He says, he goes on, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. You know, he says, our hearts get hard when we are deceived, when we're lied to by sin. Do you realize sin lies to you? I mean, that's what sin's all about. What did Satan say in the Garden of Eden? He lied. He said, you can't trust God's word. Did God really say it? No, He didn't say that. He lies about God. He lies about God's Word. He lies and says, you won't die if you disobey. You'll actually be better off. You'll be like God. You know, the true fulfillment in life is to do the wrong thing, according to Satan. He hasn't changed. And even when it's not him personally, sin tells us the same thing. You'll be fulfilled. You'll have fun. This will be so great. You'll just be so glad. You'll thank me, no? It's not true. Where do these deceptive lies come from? Well, Jeremiah 17 9 says, The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. And don't don't misunderstand that to just be all those hearts of those evil, wicked people out there in the world. No, no, no, no, no, no. Our hearts lie to us, too. We still got baggage, right? Even those who've been walking for the Lord with the Lord for decades, sometimes our hearts lie to us and they tell us things that aren't true and we and we fall for it. Even those who walk closely with God can be deceived. And the reason why is because we all struggle with sin. And we all struggle with the... that sin lies to us. And we struggle with the fact that our hearts become hard. So we get lies on two fronts. We get lies from within in our hearts and we get lies from without in the world and from our sins. Think of Think of anyone you know who's walked with God, but who has fallen away. And I dare say that anybody who's walked with God for any length of time can think of at least somebody and say, yeah. And you know, whenever this subject comes up in the scripture, I always like to think, you know, I always like to think of the ones who walked away, who shocked us. You know, sometimes people walk away and you go, yeah, it didn't seem like they were really into it anyway. But then you see people and it's like, they walked with the Lord, man. They seemed serious. They weren't involved in ministry. They were doing, and they were going, and they were being, and then what happened? What happened? Well, he tells us what happens. Their hearts maybe were tender at one time, but they fell away and their tender hearts became hardened. And one of the most important ways to protect your heart from hardening through the deceitfulness of sin and your, and you know, who is it saying you're cheating heart? It was a twangy one, wasn't it? Who is it? Was it? Was it Hank? See, I'm a Hank Jr. guy, but I don't know too many of Hank Sr. songs. But, you know, you're cheating hard. You know what? How about you're lying hard? That's in the Bible. It happens. We get tripped up. The most important way to protect your lying heart from deceiving you and hardening you through the deceitfulness of sin is to give, you listening, is to give and receive exhortation from each other on a regular consistent basis and let that exhortation be laced with scripture, not just with well wishes, you know, good thoughts. I love when people say, oh, my thoughts are with you. Really? I got plenty of my own. I need your thoughts. I'd go for some prayer. But just the fact that you're thinking about me, that's not going to help anybody. Those who are giving and receiving, and notice I say giving and receiving. Those who are giving and receiving exhortation, that kind of encouragement that we're supposed to be enjoying and having between each other, those are the ones that are more likely to endure. Those who do not give and receive exhortation are prime candidates to fall away in departing from the living God, which is what the Scripture says. In verse 14, the truth stated back in verse 6 is restated. He says, those who endure to the end are partakers of Christ and will hold steadfast to the end. You know, we've said it so many times, but we need to be reminded of it. It doesn't matter how well you run at the beginning of the race, if it's a marathon. You know, at the beginning of a marathon, not too many people take off from that starting line like they're getting ready to do a 100 meter dash. Because they may be able to keep it up for 150 or 200 meters, but after that, they've got their hands on their knees and they're huffing and puffing. Now granted, true marathoners start out running faster than most of us are able. And then they keep it up. But we don't want to talk about them. They make us feel bad. But the fact is, it doesn't matter how good you started off, it doesn't matter how well you charged out of there, it doesn't matter, at the first water station, you were the first guy there, and you drank it, and you poured it on your head, and you were like, yeah! And then the finish line, you didn't show up. So, big deal! You looked good at the beginning. Those who endure to the end will be saved. We see that over and over again in the Scripture, in the book of the Revelation. Who is it? The overcomers. Those who overcome, those who stick with it. Why am I saying this to you? To browbeat you to say you better stay in a bed? No, I'm saying let's help each other. We need to exhort each other. We need to encourage each other. We need to be on the lookout for people who are struggling. And you know, if we got our eyes open, we can see when somebody's countenance is down. We can see the people we know when their chin is on their chest and their eyes are on the floor, and they're just kind of shuffling instead of walking. You know the difference between that look and a look of someone who's got the joy of the Lord in their lives. So take a chance. Walk up and say, hey, what's going on? And when they say nothing, say, no, no, really. How can I pray for you? Not everybody will open up, but some will. Holding fast to the end. They'll be the partakers of God's grace received through faith. The fact that people carry on demonstrates and validates that one is a partaker in Christ. You don't become a partaker of Christ because you stay in the race. But if you are a partaker in Christ, stay in the race. Keep your head in the game. Holding fast does not save, but one of the strongest evidences that one is saved is that one holds fast. That's why the Puritans used to say assurance is not something you, you know, someone, oh, they hear a great evangelistic message, and they, you know, they respond to that, and they maybe even cry, and then the first thing you tell them, you are saved, and don't let anybody tell you, no, no, no, no, no, you don't know that yet. You know, let's wait for the paint to dry and see if it sticks. Huh? We gotta watch. And so, but what does that say? And I know I'm not speaking to everybody, but I'm speaking to many of you when I see this. What does that say to us who have walked with the Lord by God's grace for a number of years? Every day, every week, every year that we endure is that much more of an evidence. You know what? I think I really am a child of God. Because I've been so strong? No, no, no, no, no. Because God has held on to me so tightly. Because God has been so gracious to me. That's the way it's always got to be. Verse 15 through 18, the writer again refers to Moses and the children of Israel, and he talks about how God rescued them from Egypt, but because they didn't have faith to continue on into the promised land. Verse 17, what was God? Angry. Again, you don't want to make God angry. And as a result, that entire generation, except for two guys, what's their names? Caleb and Joshua. Other than those two guys, all the rest of them, they didn't make it. They died in the dust. They fell in the wilderness. Here's the question, why did they miss out? Verse 18 answers disobedience. Verse 19 answers a lack of faith. So which is it? Was it disobedience or a lack of faith? The answer is both. Because understand this, a lack of faith and disobedience are inseparably linked. Why don't I obey? When I'm in disobedience, why am I not obeying? Because in that moment, I'm not trusting God. I'm believing something else. And if I am obeying, and if it's sustained obedience, why am I obeying? Because I'm believing in God. It's faith and obedience, they go together. It's like the old song, trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus. Trust and obey. Again, obedience doesn't save, but the saved obey. And the saved are growing in obedience. Are you growing? Are you finding yourself growing? Or do you look back and go, how long ago was it that I topped off? How long ago was it that I plateaued and nothing's changed since? Don't be content with that, brothers and sisters. Don't be content. Until you arrive at the absolute sanctification and are in the perfect image and likeness of Jesus, fat chance, then you've got more room to grow, more room to grow. So all the Israelites, all of them, they all left Egypt. There's no record that any of them stayed. But not all of them entered the Promised Land, actually only two. By the same token, there are people in the church, in the body of Christ, who though they appear to be Christians, do not possess saving faith. And what gives the proof of the pudding in that? The fact that they fall away, and especially if they fall away absolutely. God's people this side of heaven. We are always a mixed multitude. It's not our job to start pulling the weeds out. You remember with the parable, you know, the wheat and the weeds, and should we tear out the weeds? No, no, no, because you'll disrupt the wheat while you're at it. Just wait. God will do it. God will take care of it. But we can see when it doesn't look very encouraging. A lack of faith and the corresponding disobedience that is the result of a lack of faith, it results in missing out on what the writer of the Hebrews calls God's rest. Verse 18, they didn't enter into His rest. It's an interesting concept. The concept of rest. Do you see what the writer of Hebrews is saying over and over in this? He's saying don't turn away. Don't slip away. Consider Jesus. Beware lest you fall away due to unbelief. Exhort one another. Lest your heart be hardened. Do it every day. Do it every day. And just to understand how serious this is, it's a matter of life and death. It's a matter of heaven and hell. So that's why he says, take care, brethren. Take care. Watch out. Because your eternal destiny is at stake. He says, don't take this lightly. That's what he's saying. You know, here's the interesting thing. Most people, most people, they don't ever think it's going to happen to them. True. Most people, oh no, I'm good. I'm good. But, a lot of times the people that are the most sure that it'll never happen to them are the ones to whom it does happen. Because those who have a certain, and we'll get into this in a moment, those who have a certain measure of a healthy distrust of themselves. I mean, I hope you know yourself well enough to know that every single one of us, take your shoes off and check, you've got feet of clay. Every one of us does. In one area of our lives or another, we're all a few bad decisions away from being in deep trouble, spiritually. Does not take much. It does not take much. So take care that it doesn't happen to you. And one of the ways to take care is to give and receive biblical exhortation daily, encouraging one another. You know? I mean, I love it when my The guys in my discipleship group, we get emails back and forth to each other. By the way, I didn't respond, but that's a good article. Another one from Piper's ministry that I got today. But we share stuff with each other. Some more than others, but we share stuff with each other. We encourage each other. Not just at a weekly meeting, but in our lives. Sharing our lives together. The original audience of the Hebrews was being tempted to turn away from Christ back to Judaism. That's probably not a big temptation for any of us here. But falling away back to worldliness is always a temptation because the world is so alluring. They're promising so much fun. And, you know, if we just would take note, you know, the fun that the world promises. It's so fleeting. Half the time, it's not even as fun, you know, I mean, it's going to be great and it's over. That was it. Well, the beginning of chapter 4 is a fourth exhortation, so let me read some verses from chapter 4. for indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them." Notice he's saying, remember how all of the Israelites left Egypt, but they didn't all make it to the promised land. He's saying, he's connecting the dots here for us. All of them, the gospel was preached to us as well as to them, but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with what? Faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest. That's the third, I think that's the third time. I guess it's the third time that he's mentioned that business of rest here in this section. won't profit them not being mixed with faith those who heard it for we who have believed do not do enter into that rest as he said so I swore in my wrath they shall not enter a rest here again he refers back to the passage in in Psalm 95 that he mentioned earlier although the works were finished from the foundation of the world God's already done his part for he has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way and God rested on the seventh day from all his works and again in this place they shall not enter my rest Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, speaking of the rest, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter into that rest because of disobedience, again he designates a certain day, saying in David or in the Psalms, today, after such a long time as it has been said, today if you will hear his voice do not harden your hearts. That's good news. That means it's not too late. For Joshua, He's the one who finally, Moses couldn't take him into the promised land, but Joshua did. But Joshua, for if Joshua had given them rest, then he would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered his rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from his. Well, I think that we could sum up this exhortation in verses 1 through 10 by saying, fear missing out on all that Jesus purchased for His people. And we have the example, I mean, all of the Israelites were delivered out of Egypt, but they didn't all make it to the promised land. And by the same token, we've been given all the promises of God that we may enter into the rest, but many of us don't, because we're content to eat on the bottom shelf. So what are we supposed to be afraid of? Well, what are the things that people are afraid of? Failing health? Plummeting finances? The election? Listen, don't be afraid. Next Tuesday is not the end of the world. I don't care what anybody tells you, it's not the end of the world. You want to know why? Because Jesus Christ is still God. And His kingdom cannot fail. And, you know, we might say this is the worst presidential election in our lifetimes, especially those of you who are like 13. But even those of us who are like 18, you know, this is bad. But God is on the throne. And the Word of God says all of the nations of the earth are but a drop in the bucket compared to Him. Literally, that's what Isaiah says. They're like a moat of dust on the balance scales. How much does a moat of dust throw the balance off? Not much. Friends, the biggest fears in most of our lives are either foolish or inevitable or they never materialize. You ever do that? You ever have like a meeting, you got to talk to somebody and you're like, oh, you're wringing your hands, you know, mouth is dry, palms are sweaty. Oh man, I got to talk to this guy. Somebody get a gun and shoot me. Then you go talk to him and it's over. You go, oh, it wasn't so bad after all. You know, we're so afraid that things are going to be worse than they are. Bunch of chicken littles here, you know. Sky is falling. But what does God's Word tell us to be afraid of? Fear of missing out on all that Jesus has for you, Christian. We should fear that. Not with a debilitating sort of paranoia that keeps us from functioning in the world. We don't want to just all go sit in our houses and be nervous. But we need to have a healthy fear based on the knowledge that, you look at, not one of us is any better than anybody who's ever fallen away. Right? We're not any better. We're not any better at all. What causes us to miss God's best, verses 18 and 19? Faithless disobedience, which is the same thing we've talked about. And then in chapter 4, verse 2, it reminds us that merely hearing the gospel doesn't save anyone unless the hearing is mixed with faith. I don't know how many people you talk to and they say, I already know that, I already know that, I already know that. Well, how come it doesn't show in your life? The children of Israel heard it, but because they didn't believe God enough to go into the promised land, guess what? They melted into the desert sand. It took 40 years for them all to go. Isn't it kind of ironic, too? Because remember one of the things they said in the rebellion? They said, Oh, Moses, you just want to take us out of Egypt and lead our children out here to die. And God says, Oh, you don't want to go in. You're worried about your children. I got news for you. You're going to die. Your children are going to go in. That's how much you can trust me to take care of your children better than you can. Verse 3 encourages true believers that we who hear must also believe and obey to enter God's rest. And folks, understand this, the spiritual rest of God provided by Jesus is superior to the physical rest found in the Promised Land. You know, all these things in the Old Testament, we're even told this in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, all these things happen to them and are recorded to teach us spiritual lessons. Listen, it's not about the real estate in the Middle East. It's about the new heavens and the new earth. It's not about, it's not, all those things are just to give us pictures, images of greater things that come in Christ. Verses 4 through 7 of chapter 4, we learn a few truths about God's rest which is in Christ. Here's a few of them. The first one is this, the concept of rest was established by God. How? He established the Sabbath. How in the world do we think, where in the world do we get the audacity to pick one of the Ten Commandments and say it doesn't matter? God have mercy. You know why I say that? Because Jesus says, turn to it. Go to Matthew. I want you to see this. He talks about the law. Law doesn't save. We know that. We know that. We're not trying to go say you get saved by doing the law. But if you look back at Matthew chapter 5, look at verse 17. Jesus says, "...do not think I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle will by no means pass away from the law till all is fulfilled." And I went outside just before and it's all still out there. So the Lawson passed away. Watch this though. Watch verse 19. Therefore whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, now you ready for this? And teaches men so. I'll be bold to make a statement. If you're listening to someone who tells you that one of the Ten Commandments doesn't matter, stop listening to that person. Okay? Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever doesn't teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Now, what are we talking about? Some of you already know. What's the commandment that he's talking about in Hebrews? Sabbath. Sabbath day. God established the Sabbath. It's not Jewish ceremonial law. The Sabbath is not Jewish ceremonial law. We can't write it off and say it doesn't matter because that was for the Jews. It was established by God of creation. And it was given to the Jews before the ceremonial law was given. It was just reiterated in that law. He rested from his works, not because he needed the day off, but to show us. It's a commandment. No matter what anyone tells us, we need to take more seriously. Second thing he says about this rest, the Sabbath rest was and is for God's people who, like God, rest from our labors. Spiritually, of course, it means we stop striving to convince ourselves that we're good enough, or stop striving to pretend we're good enough, or to be good enough to be accepted by God. No, we rest because we know we can't, but Jesus has done it for us. And so we say, thank you to His grace. But also, the picture of that Sabbath is still a part of the law of God, which is to say one in seven is to be a day set aside for special times of worship and charitable acts. And if you read the commandment, it warns us against commerce on those days. The third thing, the promised land was a type of God's rest for the children of Israel, though the generation who left Egypt failed to experience it because of a lack of faithful obedience to God. A fourth observation, it's in verse 9. There is a spiritual rest for the people of God, that the Sabbath physical rest and the rest of the promised land is merely a preview. What is the spiritual rest for the people of God? Well, I think there's two aspects of that rest. First, God's rest is the life of faith in this life. It's a life of resting from our labors to make ourselves acceptable to God, which we can't do anyway. Jesus has done it all for us. It's a life of faith in Christ so we rest from our works. We can rest because Jesus has paid the price so that our sins are forgiven. Secondly, these are the spiritual aspects, by the way. God's rest is the ultimate rest that we'll all enter into if we're in Christ when we go to heaven. Where we will rest not only from our labors, but also from all trial, from all tribulation, from all evil, from all pain, from all suffering, from all tears. God's people will someday enter into a complete and eternal rest. What's that going to be like? Probably good. That's what I'm thinking. Referring back to David in Psalm 95 verse 7, the writer exhorts his audience again, today is the day to hear God's rest, to enter God's rest. So it wasn't limited to the time of Moses, it wasn't limited to the time of Joshua, it wasn't limited even to the time of David in Psalm 95, or even it was not limited to the time when the writer wrote this book to Jewish Christians in the first century. Every day is the day to enter into God's rest. Why? Because every day is today. Today. Now's your chance. Verse nine, there remains a rest for the people of God, if we will enter by faith, being careful not to fall away due to a lack of faithful obedience to God. There's one last exhortation of the five. It's in chapter four, verse 11 through 13. Let me read it to you. Let us therefore be diligent to enter the rest. Boy, you see, you think he's got something on his mind about this rest? lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of the soul and the spirit and of the joints and of the marrow, and it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And by the way," it doesn't say that there, but you kind of get the sense, and by the way, there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. I think he closes off these five exhortations, this being the fifth one, by saying, be diligent to enter the rest. So he says in verse 11, therefore let us be diligent to enter the rest. See, I didn't come up with it. It's right there. Verse 11, be diligent not to follow the fateful footsteps of the children of Israel who had an opportunity to enter the promised land, but because they didn't believe enough to obey, they missed it. Verse 12 and 13, These two verses tell us why we must be diligent. Four, which means because. Be diligent because the Word of God will expose the truth about what's in our hearts. Okay, isn't that what it says? The Word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, even to the division of the soul and the spirit and of the joints and of the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Word of God does this. That's why we need the Word of God. Not only is the Word of God able to expose the truth about what's in our hearts, revealing the thoughts and intents that live in those hearts, but also there's no creature hidden from his sight. Now this is interesting because if you just follow the grammar of this thing, he's talking about the Word of God as an it, and then in the same breath he starts talking about the Word of God as him. What's he doing here? What's he doing? No creature is hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account." Well, first of all, it's about judgment. This is about judgment. God was angry with the children of Israel for not trusting Him and He condemned them all to death because He was angry. You don't want to be there. Those who fail to trust in Jesus Christ will not only miss out on a victorious life here and now, they will experience even greater fury and greater judgment of God for eternity. They will not merely miss out on the land of promise. They will not merely miss out on the abundant life of faith. They'll miss out on heaven. Psalm 2, you know, and again, why? Because Psalm 2 says, kiss the son lest he be angry with you. You know, that's a great passage just to remind you, you've got to love Jesus Christ. Don't think that he could just be like a buddy on a string. Whenever you need like a yo-yo, you can just bring him back when you're in trouble and then toss him away when everything's going fine. No, no, no, no, no. kiss the Son, love the Son, adore the Son, worship the Son, follow the Son, live for the Son, testify of the Son, lest he be angry. In verse 12 and 13, speak about being judged. Well, by the way, just getting back to this. Well, no, it's verse 12 and 13, those are the two verses we're looking at. Verse 12 and 13, speaking about being judged by the Word, and as I said, in verse 12 he talks about the Word as being an it, and then The focus is on the written Word, the Bible. The Bible does this stuff for us, but then in the focus in verse 13 is on the incarnate Word, the Son of God, Jesus, a person. Remember that John chapter 1 says that Jesus is the Word of God. And Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1 and 2 says God has spoken. He has spoken. His communication, His Word is in His Son. It's in His Son. You know, the summary of these five, of these five exhortations is really pretty simple. Consider Jesus. Consider. That means give careful thought to something. Doesn't mean, oh yeah, I thought about that once. No, no, no. It means consider. It means mull this over. Keep your eyes on Him. Consider Jesus. Consider who He is. Consider all He's done for us to rescue us from sin. Consider that the Son of God left the glory of heaven to come and live on a planet where it stinks. I mean, compared to heaven, you think? And then while he was here, he didn't just come to float around and glow in the dark. He came, but he lived in a bubble. No, no, he came. And he didn't just become a man, he became a poor man. He became a hated man. He became, as the Bible says, a man of sorrows. He struggled. He struggled throughout his life. He struggled with people in his hometown constantly murmuring because in that day being quote-unquote illegitimate was a stain and that's what they always said of him. Remember how they said, well we know our father, you don't know where you come from. What were they talking about? He had to live his whole life with that stigma hanging over his head and it wasn't true. And then he came with the gospel. He came and began to preach. He healed. He performed all these miracles and people loved him when the miracles were flowing. They turned on Him really hard, didn't they? They turned on Him really hard. They turned Him over to the religious leaders, turned Him over to the Roman leaders, and they crucified Him. Consider Him! Consider Him! You know, the writer of the Hebrews speaks later in chapter 12, It talks about looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now sat down at the right hand of the Father. Consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. For you have not yet resisted to bloodshed and striving against sin. Jesus did. Jesus did. You know, whenever you're tempted to say, man, nobody knows how bad my life is. Yeah, he knows, because his was worse. And he deserved better. Consider Jesus. And then take care. Take care not to have a hard heart that results in falling away. Take care. Be careful. You know, I dare say if any of you were walking a tightrope, especially if you weren't like trained in it. Anybody here trained in that? Okay, this will work. I dare say if any of us were walking on a tightrope, we probably wouldn't be walking. We'd probably be down, straddling that thing, holding on like this. for fear of falling. Isn't it amazing? I can take any one of these cracks in the concrete and I can walk right on them and no problem. I keep my balance and everything's good. But if that was even like four times as wide, was a two by four, and it was extended up over the ground by a thousand feet, I'd be really scared to walk that thing. But if I had to, guess what I'd do? I would take care. Take care. Give careful thought. Think about your soul. Take care lest you fall away. Don't have a hard heart resulting in... Exhort one another. As the body of Christ, let us exhort, let us encourage. Let us be concerned enough to check in on one another, to ask one another, to see how we can serve one another, how we can pray for one another, how we can just love one another. Because that will avoid the hardness that results from the deceitfulness of sin. And then he says, fear. That's consider and taking care to the next level, isn't it? Fear, really fear missing out on all that Jesus has purchased for you. You know what? Honestly, I can't speak for anybody, but you know what? Just ask yourself this. Do you spend more hours of your life concerned that you're missing out on everything that Jesus has for you as much as you're concerned about missing out on the fun this world has to offer? I mean, I can't read your heart, maybe I'm the only one. But boy, when there's something fun coming up, and I don't mean worldly meaning evil, sinful, I just mean the pleasures of this world. I'm so concerned I'm going to miss out on the pleasures of this world. I mean, when the game went into extra innings last night, I thought, come on. I was more concerned about that at that moment than I was about my soul. And it's the Cubs and the Indians for crying out loud. Right? Fear missing out on all that Jesus has for you. Look at me. Jesus has more for every one of us than we are currently enjoying. Because like Esau, we're trading our birthright for a bowl of stew. Huh? Well, you know, I've done this enough times and I haven't gotten in trouble, haven't gotten caught. I probably can do it again. Yeah, maybe you can. But you're missing out on what God has for you because he's got better. And then be diligent. Be diligent to avoid falling away, which will result in judgment, because every single one of us will stand before Jesus Christ. And you know, He wants to bless you so much more than He wants to judge you. Do you believe that? He wants to bless you so much. You want to know how I know that? Because if he wanted to judge you more than he wanted to bless you, then when he came the first time, he would have come and said, you're all going to hell. But instead, he says, I'll die for you. That's good news. Father in heaven, we thank you so much for your word. Lord, please help us. Please help us.