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COMPLETE DELIVERANCE. Hebrews 4:1-10. 8/06/23. #13.
1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed 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 faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 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”; 5 and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.” 6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
1. To start is not to finish
a. The journey to becoming a Christian is compared here to Israel’s journey from Egypt to Canaan
a1. Just as learning about Jesus is a prelude to receiving Jesus, walking through the Sinai Desert was a transition to arriving into the Promised Land
a2. Leaving Egypt didn’t guarantee entering into Canaan
b. In order for Israel to safely arrive at their destination, they had to obey God
a1. They heard God’s words, but did not heed
a2. A contrast is made between preaching and hearing (receiving and obeying)
a3. Not those who left Egypt would enter into God’s rest, but those who obeyed him
2. Joshua could not save them
a. Joshua was chosen to be the leader after Moses
a1. Joshua led and instructed, but could not force compliance on the part of the people
a2. Jesus offers salvation, but doesn’t force it on anyone
b. Only “preaching mixed with faith” produces salvation, for an unheeded message is ineffectual
c. Joshua 24 Joshua tells the people that he could answer only for his own salvation
a1. The Jews still carried idols with them that they had brought out of Egypt
a2. Ezekiel 20 9 centuries later, God tells Judah that they had never left their idols from Egypt
d. If the Jews would not obey Joshua who led to physical deliverance, they also did not listen to Jesus, who offered spiritual deliverance
e. When preaching falls on deaf ears, no chance occurs in the hearer
a1. Ephesians 2:1-10 it is grace mixed with faith that produces salvation
a2. As with Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Paul, the warning given must be heeded to be saved
f. Joshua spoke of a different day
a1. Joshua 22:4-5, Joshua offered a blessing of rest, but only on those who obeyed God
a2. Joshua knew that God’s permanent rest was still future
3. God’s completed work
a. God had completed His work of creation and rested
a1. Rested = ceased from labor (everything was finished and very God – Genesis 1:31)
a2. Man was given a perfect body, soul, and environment
b. When man fell, he left God’s perfect rest
c. Through Jesus Christ, God offers to return believers to His perfect rest that He completed
a1. The perfect creation is a type of God’s eternal perfection that cannot be marred
a2. Believers enter into an eternal rest which is free of burdens, labor, trials, and strife
d. Joshua only could offer rest from warfare, but Jesus offers eternal rest for the weary embattled soul
e. Psalm 95:7-8 David repeated the same warning
f. All that separates us from His rest is resisting Him
Key verse: Ephesians 2:1-101 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.