Entering God's Rest

Take your Bibles if you would please and turn to Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 3 verses 12 through 19. That's where we are. And I'd like to preach to you a message today entitled, Entering God's Rest. Entering God's Rest. What a loaded word the word rest is in the text. And it's going to take a few Sundays to unpack all of it. It has layers of meaning. But I want to start with the text today and how we can understand our responsibility in entering God's rest. To reject God's rest is essentially to accept His wrath. And so entering into God's rest is basically salvation in Christ. And we're commanded to come. We're commanded to repent. And we're commanded to turn from our wicked ways and come to Christ. And so to be disobedient and unbelieving is to not enter God's rest. That is very clear in the text today.

Let's read it together in Hebrews chapter 3 verses 12 all the way to the end of the chapter. Take care brethren that there not be any of you with an unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day as long as it is still called today so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if, if you like to circle words in your Bible, that little word, if is a good one to circle. If we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm and to the end. Again, if you like to take notes in your Bible, that is a good spot to put the doctrine of perseverance at the end of verse 14.

Verse 15 says, "While it is said today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me. For who provoked Him when they had heard indeed? Not all those who came out of Egypt lived by Moses. And with whom was He angry for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned and whose bodies fell in the wilderness, the wilderness of sin?" In verse 18 it says, "And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient." You can underline the word disobedient. Keep pointing the text in verse 19, so that they were not able to enter God's rest because of unbelief. Unbelief is another key idea in the text. That keeps you from entering God's rest.

Now, you would say to yourself, "Why in the world? How could they? How could they not enter into the promised land? How could they not enter into rest?" I mean, God miraculously brought them out of Egypt through parting of the Red Sea and through the wilderness. Should have been a short journey, but they made it into 40 years and ended up dying there. How could they come so close to Canaan land, the promised land, and come short of it? How could they be disobedient when God was so good to them? All that God had done to them, providing water and manna throughout all of the wilderness, even through their disobedience, how could they do that? Well, let's transition that thought to you and where you sit and those who are around us. How could you not enter God's rest after all that God has done for you? You see, we are on this side of the cross and we are more responsible because we know more. How could we? And you look around and you say, "How could you?" Essentially, don't feel sorry for people who are disobedient. I'm scared for them.

And so are you. You don't feel sorry for people who are disobedient and who continuously harden their heart against God through unbelief. You're scared for them because you know that to reject God's rest is to accept His wrath. And so you plead, come to Jesus. You plead, repent, and believe the gospel. You plead with them, "The kingdom of God is at hand," which, by the way, is not building literal bricks on top of bricks, on top of bricks. The kingdom of God is at hand. What does that mean except for the fact that Christ in you is the hope of glory. God's kingdom is bringing together His house, His people.

So now you see in the text that the preacher of Hebrews is saying, "Take care, brethren, that there not be in any of you an evil and unbelieving heart." Now, a good Bible-believing Berean would say, "Well, is this text really for us?" Well, let's kind of go through it and answer that question. In verse 7, back in chapter 3, it says this. If you skip down or over, "Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, today if you hear His voice," so yes, by way of application, this is speaking to you. And then in verse 12, it says, "Any of you." And then again in verse 13, "None of you." And then in verse 15, "If you." And then again down in chapter 4 and verse 1, "Any of you."

Now, this is interesting that not only is this text by way of application for you, for me, for everyone who is alive today, but it is most certainly driven home through an analogy. Look with me in the text and see point number 1, "Rest is for you." Point number 1, "Rest is for you." And it is driven home by the preacher by way of an analogy. The force behind this passage comes from a comparison. And so this personal application of the analogy is seen, first of all, in verse 8, chapter 3 and verse 8, "Look with me, do not harden your hearts as when they." You can put parentheses around, "as when they." And right underneath that, an analogy for today. This analogy is comparing, "as when they," the stubborn, rebellious Israelites, "as when they," and that comparison is applied to you in your life. And so don't be a stubborn Israelite. Don't resist God's wrath. Come to Jesus.

But this analogy doesn't stop there. In verse 15, look with me in chapter 3, verse 15, "While it is said, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they." Again, put parentheses around, "as when they," provoked me, "as when they." This comparison is being used by the preacher so that you would take and look at the life of the Israelites and don't be like them. This is truly a guilty analogy, a guilty analogy. So the Israelites were guilty of being rebellious. Oh, they were so stubborn at heart. They were always going astray in their hearts. And this guilty analogy, analogy of their guilt is for your benefit. So look to their lives and do not be stubborn like them.

We see this as when they, not only in verse 8, but look with me in chapter 4 and verse 2, "For indeed we have had good news preached to us." Praise God. By the way, we've got some really strong evangelists in our congregation. I'm so grateful and thankful for their drive to go and reach the lost and to preach the gospel publicly. We're not ashamed of the gospel and we're not shrinking back from the gospel. We're reaching as much as we possibly can. And look here, "For indeed if we have good news preached to us, just as they also." Isn't that interesting? "That the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ was preached to the Israelites. But the word they heard did not profit them." Listen to me. You're responsible to profit from preaching.

You, your life, your mind, your heart, you are responsible. Even down to the little children in the congregation. I'm so glad for each and every one of you. Listen until you comprehend something. Underline things in the Bible. I love seeing their Bibles slipping, they're circling, they're underlining, they're comprehending, they're taking notes. Parents, let me tell you, it's your responsibility then to help drive the points home. Not just as you're driving home. Break out those notes. Talk through your Bible study that you went through at 9:30 in the sermon now, in the Wednesday nights. Make sure that you are leading them to Christ. Parents, first job is to evangelize their children. Help them by teaching them the Word of God so that they would profit from the preaching and the teaching of the Word of God.

But as you continue in this text, it says, "Because it was not unified by faith in those who heard." They had to unify both the teaching and the truth of the Word of God with faith. You have to express your faith, the faith that's given to you by God. God gives you faith. It's a gift, Ephesians 2:8-9. And then when you have that faith, you confess, you believe that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. This rest, entering into the rest of Jesus, salvation in Christ, this rest, point number one, is for you. The promise remains and is applied to everyone who is alive. The future depends then upon your obedience or disobedience.

Now, I've mentioned that rest is a loaded term layered with meaning. Rest, according to the preacher of Hebrews, is using the concept of rest in a past, present, and future sense. And he goes not only into Genesis and roots this idea of rest in the creation account in the past, but then he also applies it presently so the rest is promised to Israel to enter into God's rest, referencing them in the wilderness and their history of being stubborn. Don't be like that. In the land then is representative of God's rest. If they would believe and obey and enter into that presently. Now, again, there's another layer of application here because there still remains a rest for you and I to be able to be saved. And then as well, it's applied eternally to the future rest, that perfect rest that we will have eternally in heaven, perfect peace, perfect unbroken communion with Christ. What a loaded word. What a wonderful word that the Hebrew preacher is bringing up.

So the past rest is from God resting after His work in creation and presently, Hebrews 4:3, believers entering the world. And in future, Hebrews 4:11, to be diligent to enter into that rest. Philip Hughes says it like this. First, the Sabbath rest is from works. Secondly, Canaan rest is from toil. And thirdly, heavenly rest that is promised is true rest. And I would say to you that there is also a continuous rest. Those of you who are not familiar with the rest of the Bible, a continuous rest. Those of you who are restless, anxious, stressed out, enter into rest. Be at peace with Christ. God is in control. He's on the throne. We've studied that in chapter one. He's ruling and reigning. He upholds all things by the word of His power. Everything that is being sustained is sustained by God's will.

Rest in that sovereign control. Charles Spurgeon said that sovereignty was the pillow in which he rested upon. And so you too can rest that God is in control. Fretting doesn't do anything but stress you out and cause bad health, lost chunks of hair to fall out. I recommend rest. Rest in Jesus. This continuous rest is from restlessness, to be at peace, to have this idea of being secure with Christ. Mankind has ample opportunity to enter into Christ and enjoy His rest. And Christians have ample opportunity every single day, not only to enter into the peace and rest of Christ and communing with Him, but then is also to our ultimate rest, the symbolic preview of the believer's ultimate rest in heaven.

Don't you long for that to shed off all the sinful body that we have to deal with? It's like a dead corpse on your back. Don't you long to be in perfect communion with Christ and away from all the toils of this world, the sweating of our brow to be able to make money and all of the pains and sufferings that are in this world? Don't you long for heaven, long for glory, long for this perfect rest. His ultimate rest is made possible by the gospel. There's an allusion I want you to turn to if you would in Matthew chapter 11 verse 28 in regards to rest. Matthew 11:28, please turn there and I would love for you to see this wonderful concept of rest that Jesus not only says, but builds off of the concept from a quote in the Old Testament in Matthew chapter 11 and verse 28. Jesus says, come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden.

Now let's just pause there for a minute. This is not just talking about the weight of sin, trying to live up to the law and that exhausting you, but that continuous application of resting in Jesus, working out your own salvation, submitting to the Lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ, being filled with the spirit, all of these wonderful commands is for you to shed off the weight of this world and not be underneath the weight of sin.

If I could just pastorally speak to you for just a moment and encourage you not to crawl underneath the weight of sin, especially those who are in sin. Listen, have you ever been around someone who was anxious and you have caught that anxiety and it rubbed off on you? Have you ever been around someone who was worried and stressed out and all of a sudden you're worried and stressed out? Have you ever watched the news too much? Have you ever crawled underneath the weight of this world? Remember Hebrews 1:3, Jesus Christ upholds everything by the word of His power and you are not designed to carry the weight of this world. You are truly a sheep. And so am I.

Someone did an experiment and they put luggage on the back of a sheep. And guess what the sheep do when you put luggage, you know, donkeys, horses, elephants, they're designed to carry weight, right? But sheep, oh, they just lie down and quit. And they complain and murmur. They'll actually stay there and die. They're not designed to carry weight.

And Jesus also encourages us to come unto Him, all of you who are weary and heavy-laden. The apostle Peter said it like this in 1 Peter chapter 5 in verse 7, "Cast all of your anxieties upon Him, upon His shoulders, because He cares for you." Boy, is that not a daily practice of prayer? Casting weight. Casting, casting. Don't stay underneath the weight that you're not designed to carry. Cast that weight. Are you worried about something? Cast it to Jesus. Live sin free. It's the best you possibly can because you know that worry is a sin. Do not worry about your life. In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus said, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry." It's a good command. Memorize it. Do it. Apply it every single day. Work on it.

And so, back to Matthew chapter 11 verse 28, "Come unto me." All right, be saved. And then work out your own salvation. "Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Oh, what a promise. "Take my yoke upon you." What vivid imagery to these wonderful people, this yoke, this partnership, this wooden tool yoking or uniting two oxen together so that they can work together. Two is better than one. So if you come underneath the yoke of Jesus Christ, it's so much lighter to walk with Jesus. It's so much better than to carry that yoke on your own.

But seriously, are you trying to carry a yoke that's designed for two by yourself? "Take His yoke upon you and rest and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." In verse 28, if you write in your Bibles, I would write Exodus 33:14 and turn there with me. Exodus 33:14, the Jehovah's Witnesses say that Jesus is not God. Check this out.

Exodus chapter 33 and verse 14, "And he said, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest." What do you think Jesus was alluding to? In Matthew chapter 11, verse 28, when He said, "I will give you rest." "I will give you rest." Well, obviously, the Israelite hearers would have heard from their Old Testament perspective, saturated in the Scriptures, knowing the Old Testament law. This catchphrase, "I will give you rest," would have triggered their mind, and now they would believe that Jesus is claiming to be God, because only He can give this kind of true rest.

And this loaded, wonderful word, "rest," here, is alluding forward to not only having some type of rest from all of their toil and coming into the promised land, but to have true rest in Jesus Christ. And so Jesus quotes from Exodus when Moses asked God how to know Him better, and then God replied, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." True rest, then, would be rest for their souls. Rest for their souls.

Now, this Hebrew idea of rest is so fascinating. It means settled and comforted. The root word, "nuach," is the Hebrew word for "rest." And this is the root idea of Noah's name. Oh, what rich imagery unfolds and continues to unfold from this wonderful word, "rest." Noah, in all that God did through Him, in the circumstances, in his life, in his preaching, by the way, he only won his family to Christ, and he was a faithful man of God who made it into the Christian Hall of Fame chapter of faith in Hebrews chapter 11. And so he preached before people to be faithful, okay, faithful to God. Noah was faithful.

This church growth scheme today would say Noah was ineffective, essentially unfaithful. Somehow he didn't measure up to adding to the kingdom. That's such a lie out of the pit of hell. Preaching is something that God does through men to save souls, and He is sovereign in all of that. And so we do it by obedience, and we want to see souls saved, amen, but we don't do it for a pragmatic purpose.

So Noah embodies nuach, this Hebrew word of rest, this ark of salvation being settled inside, being comforted from the wrath of God. As God poured out His wrath, as God poured out His judgment through flooding the earth, those who were saved, gloriously saved, who came into the ark, who were coming into Christ, symbolically speaking, they were comforted, they were at rest. And so Noah's flood signifies bringing humanity into the peace and rest of Jesus. And so if you go with us to the Creation Museum and the ark coming up this summer on a church trip, there's still room to plan and save and go with us. It's going to be another phenomenal trip to be able to go into the ark, a life-size, to the tee, to the specs model of the ark. Oh, it's just beautiful. You can truly come in and see all that God did through that and tour the whole thing all day long.

And so Noah's flood signifies bringing humanity into peace and rest of the Lord Jesus Christ. So come to Jesus. Come, come, come. Point number two is do not reject God's wrath. Do not reject God's wrath. Back in Hebrews, chapter three in verse 11, you remember the Bible says this. God says this, "As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter My rest." I swore. God swore in His wrath. And you know that God punishes rebellion.

Now, the problem with Christianity today is that they believe in a little God and therefore think of His wrath being small. But the bigger you believe in a big, big God, the more you understand that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. You actually tremble at disobeying such a phenomenal, wonderful, gracious Creator. He swore in His wrath here that they would not enter into this rest. Israel did not trust God and they did not enter into the promised land. They didn't fear God.

This is terrifying to think of such. Turn to Numbers, chapter 14, and see an account of the story yourself. In Numbers, chapter 14, you see their rebellion. And you see how they were slaughtered in the wilderness because of their disbelief. They should have fully obeyed God, but they didn't. They didn't follow. They didn't obey.

In Numbers, chapter 14, and verse 16, just this one single verse for right now, it says this, "Because the Lord could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by an oath, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness." God takes no joy in this. He doesn't take any joy in Sodom and Gomorrah. He doesn't take any joy in lost people dying. There's no joy in that. That's the reason why He spends His entire word prompting people to repent, drawing people to Jesus Christ His Son. In verse 22, Numbers 14:22, I'll read and follow. I just want you to see how this land promises to be understood as God's promise of rest, not just a place, but a real true peace with God. It's a symbol of rest in Christ.

Numbers 14:22 and following says this, "Surely all men who have seen My glory and My signs, which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness yet have put me to the test. These ten times they have not listened to My voice, shall by no means see the land, which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it. But My servant, Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and he has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land which he entered and his descendants shall take possession of it." Praise the Lord.

Verse 25, now the Amalekites and the Canaanites lived in the valleys, turned tomorrow and set out to the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are grumbling against me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are making against me. Say to them, "As I live," says the Lord, "just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do it. Your corpses will fall." You could say it like this, "They're as good as dead." "Your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number, from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me. Surely you have not come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh and Joshua, and the son of Nun. Your children, however, whom you said would become a prey, I will bring them in and they will know the land which you have rejected."

And so you see the point of this whole text is that they rejected the rest of God and now died in the wilderness unnecessarily. And this is a gradual drift away from God, okay, not appreciating all of the works of God and then starting to get self-centered and grumbling and then even rebelling against His promise and then the rebellion gets punished. You see this gradual drift away from the Lord and people's lives around you when it is agonizing to the heart because you see it playing out also in Scripture. And you want better for people and so you do exactly as the Hebrew preacher does. You warn, you, warn, and you warn and you beg and you plead and you persuade just like the Apostle Paul and Peter did in their preaching. They, they persuaded, they reasoned from the Scriptures, "Turn from your wicked ways. Come to Jesus. I want more for you." The heart of the evangelist loves lost people and tries to bring them towards Jesus. You want to see them come to Christ, to be in God's rest and not to reject God's rest. And the source of it is disobedience and an unbelieving heart.

Back in Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 12, the Bible acknowledges this, "Take care brethren that there not be an evil one of you, an unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God." This idea of unbelieving, having an unbelieving heart is the source of sin. You're at fault for your unbelief. You're at fault for your doubt. You're at fault for God and then unbelief angers God. Unbelief is the cause of falling away and hardening and provoking and dying in the wilderness state and not entering rest all because of unbelief. That my friends is just simply a synopsis of the verses from verse 12 all the way to verse 19.

Turn with me to Philippians chapter 2. I mentioned to you already that we live in a day when people just do not fear God. We live in a day where they'll have reverence for the Lord. We live in a day where people think more of themselves than they do of God. The more spiritual you are, the less you think of yourself and the more you think of God. And so grow that chasm between your self-worth and the worth of God. Do you trust yourself or do you trust the Lord? Grow that. Become completely dependent upon an all capable God. Grow that.

In Philippians chapter 2 and verse 11 it says, "And that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So then my beloved, not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling." If you've been saved, continue to work out the sanctification of your salvation. Your salvation is going to prompt you to continue to grow in Christ. Work that out. The duty of growing in Christ, the duty of obedience, the duty of not doubting, the duty that you must embrace will then lead to delight in Christ. But you must discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness, 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 7b. You must truly deny the self and take up the cross and follow Him. Your job is to crucify the flesh, to grow that chasm in between the flesh of man and the spirit that's inside of you. Feed the spirit. Give the spirit scripture, memorize scripture. Deny the flesh. If you don't have anything good to say, don't say it. If you don't have anything good to do, don't do it. Deny the self. Deny the flesh. Grow that chasm in between flesh and the spirit. Be filled. Truly. Do this not only out of duty, but also out of respect and fear of God. Because He is able to bless your life or to remove blessings from your life. He is to punish you or to reward you according to your works. Your works. Revelation chapter 2 verse 23b says, "I am He who searches the minds and hearts and I will give to each of you according to your deeds."

And so back in Philippians chapter 2 the Israelites are now called out again because they didn't fear and they grumbled. In verse 13, "For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling and disputing so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent children of God. Above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of God so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain." Oh the transparency of the preacher and pastor and evangelist and missionary Paul. Here where he is truly encouraging the Philippian church, "Don't grumble, don't be sinful." I really do want the fact that my labors implanting this church would come to fruition and you would be alive in Christ and it would not be labor, had not labored in vain. Don't grumble, don't dispute. View God with fear and respect and honor. Do not reject His rest.

So point number one is that rest is for you. Point number two is do not reject God's rest. Do not reject God's rest like the Israelites did. And lastly, point number three is strive toward God's rest. Now if you think about that, it's a bit paradoxical. Strive toward God's rest. Can I just sit down and be at rest? Well that's not what the text is teaching. Back to Hebrews chapter 3. Let's take a look at it and how you are truly to strive toward God's rest. Hebrews chapter 3 in verse 12 says, "Take care." Okay, take care brethren. Verse 12 it says to encourage in verse 13, encourage one another. In verse 14 it says, "Hold fast, hold, fast." And then verse 15, "Do not," this idea of striving towards God's rest may seem like a contradiction or like a paradox, but you are commanded to guard your heart. You're commanded to come to Christ continuously. You're commanded to encourage one another. You truly have to participate in encouraging one another lest you break this command. It's not a request.

And so when you come to church, you are not to be about yourself thinking about, "Oh, what kind of coffee do I want to sit? What temperature I would like to have it." No, no, forget all of that. We've had good saints here say that they love this dear church so much that even if we were having to meet underneath the trees, we would do it. Had to meet inside of a garage, we would do it. And we wouldn't complain. And we'd still love one another and encourage one another and be the church. Hebrews 3:13 is not optional. Encourage one another daily. You have no idea what your neighbor is going through. Don't ignore your neighbor in the room. You have no idea the strain that may be upon their life. You have no idea what your words of encouragement, your smile, what your hug, shake, what your acceptance, what your look of approval may give someone. And you got to be here to do that. We have people in here who may lose a loved one at any moment. They're not living day by day. They're living not even hour by hour, living minute by minute.

There's such a need for you to be a vessel of the Lord, to love and to encourage and not ignore. And so when you do that, you're striving in Christ, producing rest in yourself and in others, removing anxiety and putting people at peace through your Christ-likeness, through your demeanor, through your love and through your kindness, through your listening ear, through being the church. You are the hands and feet of Christ. So every single one of you are so important. I know that most of you are truly missing Sarah Alsup. What an encourager she is. What a smile she has. And to see her moving around here, just looking for someone to encourage.

Lord, I pray that you restore her to fullness of health so she can return and be who you've designed her to be here in the local church. We need her, don't we? Not only from some of the oldest of ladies, but to the youngest of kids and how wonderful it is to interact with Esther. Oh, she brings a smile to my face. Cutest little girl ever. I'm telling you, it's just wonderful. You have no idea how when people are coming to church, how they need Jesus, and you may give them a taste of Jesus. And so you can help people to continue in God's rest by being alive in Christ.

The opposite of this is found in 2 Timothy chapter 2. Look with me if you would. 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 16. What a shameful existence to have had called out in the Bible forever to have to live with for eternity. I don't know if how many of us and Philetus are saved and in heaven, but oh, what a black mark on their character they have. In 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 16 and 17. The apostle Paul warns Timothy, "Avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness. And their talk will spread like gangrene, among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray." Do you see this? Men who have gone astray. And when you stray away from Jesus Christ and the centrality of Him in your life, the result is gradually being given to more and more sin, even to the point of being conditioned to the point of gossiping and divisions among the brethren. Keep yourself guarded. Guard your hearts. Be before God daily and live it out. This is so important not to become a Hymenaeus or Philetus if I was to use their name symbolically. And essentially, this is maintaining a heart attitude, heart attitudes that really determine your spiritual attitude.

And so you do not listen to your heart, that wicked, that evil heart. You truly instruct your heart. Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart's a deceiver and desperately wicked, and it's one of deceive you." The feelings are futile. They go up and they go down. They go up and they go down. And so you set your heart continuously on Christ by the standard and so instruct it and tell it what to do according to the objective truth, not to internal feebleness of their feelings. Your desires will ultimately turn into deeds. And so you ask the question, "Why strive then so that you don't fall into temptation? Why strive to enter this rest? Why pursue Christ? Why keep your disciplines alive and well of Bible study and prayer and church and fellowship? Why continue to evangelize and make disciples? Why continuously do these types of things? Because you are keeping your heart right with God lest you drift away. Hebrews 2 verse 1 warns us, "Do not drift." Why strive? Because I know me.

I need to keep pursuing Jesus for my own spiritual temperature's sake. I need to keep submitted to the Lord for my own spiritual sake. I'm not an island to myself. I know that I affect other people. I must keep right with Christ. This is truly important to be able to do this, to not only enter into God's rest, but to keep from having an evil, unbelieving heart.

Sadly, some will fall away. What about those who do fall away? Chapter 3, verse 12 says there will be some though who fall away. Now, by way of illustration of those who fall away, in Luke chapter 8 there's a parable of the sower and the seed, and there's four seeds, four different types of soils. In Luke chapter 8, verse 13, it addresses those who fall away. In verse 12, it starts the parable, those who are beside the fruit, they don't believe. Verse 13, those who are in rocky soil, they fall away. Those in verse 14, they're among the thorns with no fruit. And those in verse 15, good soil. And the Bible attributes these characteristics to those who are in good soil. They hold fast, they bear fruit, and they persevere. Hold fast, bear fruit, and persevere. All the other seeds are lost. And the ones that fall away are like the ones who are on the rocky soil, on the edges of life. They're pushing the edges. They're outside of the church, can't get them to come. They're outside of Christ, you can't get them to study the Bible. They're outside of fellowship and worship. They're just outside. I mean, the path is right here, but they're right beside the path. And you're a heck of nice. And you're like, please, and you pray, you reach out, and you're like, bring, bring yourself back. I can't pick you up and put you here, but you can come. You plead, and you warn, and you beg, and you lead, and you guide, and you do the best that you possibly can. Do your due diligence. And you tell them things like Matthew chapter 7 verse 14, the gate is narrow, and few be it there that find it.

In 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 1, it says, "But the Spirit explicitly says that in latter times fall away from the faith." Do you fear? That is scary to think of falling away from the faith. Don't think too much of yourselves. Have a humble and contrite heart before the Lord. God, I'm going to pray like Jesus prayed in John chapter 17. Keep me, keep, me, keep my brothers in the fold. Keep them in Christ. Keep them, Lord Jesus.

A.W. Pink states of this hardening of the heart condition with this quote, and I quote, "There is no sin so great, but it may be pardoned if the sinner believes, but he that believeth shall not be damned." One of the strongest men of preaching sound doctrine, A.W. Pink, cut it clear. When he boxed, he took his gloves off, and he swung hard. He laid it out. And here, even one whom was one of the clearest of sound doctrine says this, "There's no sin that can't be pardoned. Come to Jesus, He can forgive it all. He is bigger than your sin. He could truly forgive those who are farthest away from Jesus."

And we naturally drift away from the Lord Jesus Christ so that it takes our duty and our striving toward Christ to be able to remain in His rest. And if you are remaining in His rest, then you have become truly content with your circumstances. Philippians 4:11, Paul learned this. He said, "I've learned to be content whatever state that I am in. I've learned to be content in my circumstances. If you are truly resting in Christ, then you're content in Christ. And if you are doing that, at the same time, you are doing the due diligence of hating your sin and clinging to Jesus." In Romans 12 and verse 9, it says to "abhor what is evil and cling to what is good." This is a daily practice as you're praying, as you're pursuing Christ, as you're striving in Christ to hate your sin. Know yourself, know your weaknesses, know where you fall short and hate your shortcomings. Put passion to it and be angry at sin. Hate it. Seriously. Romans 12 verse 9 says, "Love must be without hypocrisy. Hate what is evil. Cling to what is good." You see the chasm again. The more you are clinging to what is good, the more you are hating what is evil. The more you are thinking about God and of Him and His worth, the less you are thinking of yourself. The more you're striving to be filled with the Spirit, the less the flesh is dominating. And so this is how you are, according to the text, not to harden your hearts, how you're taking personal responsibilities for the condition of your faith.

I said already that Jesus said, "Come unto me and I will give you rest." John Bunyan makes a quote here, a poem, and I want to end with this. It's beautiful. John Bunyan wrote this, and I'll give a little bit of a preference here, because we often strive and get worn out. We often try to live up to the law and get worn out. We're not really resting in Christ. Sometimes when lost people are trying to come to Christ by way of obeying the law or obeying a religious system, they're absolutely exhausted and they're weary and heavy laden. So this is lost people coming to Christ. John Bunyan wrote this, "Run, John, run, the law commands, but it gives us neither feet nor hands. For better news the gospel brings, it bids us fly and gives wings." To be truly in Christ is to feel like you're flying. The uplifting, encouraging aspects of being filled with the Holy Spirit puts a pep in your step. It puts a melody on your heart. It gives you confidence in God and it puts you at peace with whatever circumstances are, because God is in control. This is a supernatural peace for those who are saved.

If you're not saved, be saved. Come to Jesus. How do you do that? The Bible says that if you would confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that He died and rose again for your sin, you can be saved, gloriously saved. And so repent and believe the gospel. Come to Jesus, obey His command to come and believe in His substitutionary death on your behalf. I pray with you now. Let's pray together. Thank you for this time together. And I pray that you will continue to help us not only to have a heart for the lost, but have a heart that is soft towards you to be able to walk with you, truly moldable, not hardened. Lord, if there's ever one of us and even one of us now that is in danger of having their heart hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, may they really, truly take this analogy of Israel personal and run from their sin and cling to Jesus. Deny the self, continuously, and take up their cross and follow you. And even greater, Lord, if one here is not saved, gloriously saved, would you give them the faith to confess you as Lord and Savior and be saved? And may they continue in the faith and be biblically baptized and truly become one of us as a member of this church and learn how to study their Bible and make disciples and be an evangelist and a disciple maker and a worshipper and a follower and a witness of you. God, we love you and we ask all of these things in your precious name, Jesus. Amen.