Rest In Peace

Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 4.

Today, the title for this sermon is "Rest in Peace." Rest in peace. You may see, this time of year, some things like that being profaned and being used out of the context of Scripture about what it means to rest in peace. We're going to attempt to clarify that by really immersing ourselves in Scripture and really understanding what it means to rest in peace, and that the rest in Christ is not a work, but it is a state of being. It is a state of being. It is not a work.

So if you look at Hebrews chapter 4, we're going to cover it in three different sections. The first section will be verses 1 through 10. That is going to be the clarification of rest. What kind of rest are we talking about? That will be in verses 1 through 10, with the clarification. As I was going through this, we are going to have three C's again this time. It doesn't always have to be the case, but we're going to have three C's. I may hear about that later. But it would be great if we do. It means you're listening. Now we've got three C's, if you understand it.

Verses 1 through 10 is clarification, the clarification of rest. And then verses 11 through 13, we're going to understand the critical rest, the critical rest, how critical this rest is. And then in verses 14 through 16, we're going to get into the cause of rest, the cause of rest, and really lean into understanding, how in the world do we get into this rest? And that will be kind of sprinkled throughout this chapter here as well.

So we get into this idea that rest is a state of being. It's not a work. It's not pointing to a continual Old Testament sign. It is not an apostolic teaching to keep doing the work physically of resting every seventh day. We get in here in the first part of this chapter, and it becomes very clear that it's not a work of rest, but it's actually a state of being. If you look at this chapter, there are a few therefores, in verses 6, 11, 14, and 16. And it's working up to a logical conclusion to get to the end of this chapter. This entire chapter here, and we're going to keep it as short as we can, but I want to get our heads and our minds and our hearts wrapped around what God's Word is saying here in Hebrews chapter 4.

This rest is so much more important than a physical rest. If you're searching the Scriptures, you might be like, "Well, does the Sabbath still apply, or does it not?" Dr. Anthony Silvestro had a great sermon on this back in February. It went into very much detail as far as making that distinction between the Old Testament Sabbath and the New Testament Sabbath. We're not going to double down and do that again this time, but I want to emphasize the importance here of dwelling on the gospel, the rest that we achieve, that we enter into because of what Christ did. And this is so much more important than clarifying a work that we would do every seventh day. Today, we won't focus on that distinction.

So let's get into verse 1. Read with me as I read aloud in Hebrews chapter 4. I'll read the first two verses. "Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it." If you look at the verse before that, it gives you an idea of what that therefore is there for: we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. And then in verse 2 it says, "For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them."

And so here we can see that this rest that the rest of this chapter is going to be talking about is a state of being. It is a rest. And it becomes an either-or. You're either in it or you're not. And it all goes back to belief or unbelief. Okay? And to what we'll see here in this idea of entering into the rest: it's based on a promise. And so if you flip over to... It's a promise that we need to enter. So we need to show a progression, that there's a state of being that we were in when we were born, and then there's a state of being that we need to go into and enter into if we're going to be entering into the rest of Christ.

And so there's this idea of going from the Old Testament to the New Testament. We talked about that as a common theme throughout all of Hebrews, that it takes the Old Testament and says the New Testament is better. And now Christ is better, the better High Priest. And so this idea of entering into rest emphasizes a progression, that you're coming from what you were and what you were born into, into a new rest.

Flip over now to Hebrews chapter 11. We're going to get there and dive more into Hebrews 11 as we progress through Hebrews. But I wanted you to see this, how it relates to God's promised rest. Here in verses 13 through 16, this is the Hall of Faith that all of chapter 11 is talking about. And most, if not all, of these people that are mentioned from the Old Testament did not experience the full promises of God. They had not yet seen this ultimate rest that God had been talking about. So in verses 13 through 16 it says, "All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return."

And then drop down to verses 39 and 40, after it mentions a list of more of those from the Old Testament. And verse 39 says, "And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect."

And so I wanted us to be able to understand this idea of entering the rest in that way. As we continue forward in Hebrews chapter 4, verse 3: "For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, 'As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest,' although His works were finished from the foundation of the world."

Verse 4: "For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: 'And God rested on the seventh day from all His works'; and again in this passage, 'They shall not enter My rest.'" And so we see here, from the beginning, what is referred to in verse 4: "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works." That was the beginning. And so you would think that it was complete at that time, but it was not. There was still a rest to be obtained. And that is referred to there in verse 5. And there is a continual distinction there, in verses 3 through 5, between the believer and the unbeliever. This is the idea: either you enter the rest, or you remain in your sin, okay? In unbelief.

Continue reading with me in verses 6 through 9. "Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again fixes a certain day, 'Today,' saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, 'Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.' For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God."

So there's a continual reference calling people to repentance. We see that in King David's time, that there's still a call for people to enter into the rest of Christ, to be able to enter into that rest. And so the Sabbath remains; so the rest remains. We know that in Joshua, at the end of the book, he was calling people to obedience. He's like, "Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve." This day. And that day was true, and this day is true. He was calling people to repentance. And so thankfully, the Sabbath rest, as we know it in Christ, whether you're in Christ or you're not, still remains. There are still people entering into the rest of Christ.

Look back on Joshua a little bit more, on how he led them into the Promised Land. That was the idea, that they were entering into a rest. And so we read in Joshua 21 that God fulfilled all of those promises that He had promised them, that He would take them into the Promised Land. And so did God fulfill His promise? Yes. Was it the final rest? No, it was not. These verses here point out, and thankfully we have the New Testament, we're here in chapter 4, these verses call people to repentance, and call them not to harden their hearts. We read that at the end of chapter 3, in the middle of chapter 3. And there's just a continual repetition there: "Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts."

And read with me in verse 10. "For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His." And so that "as God did from His" is a reference to creation, to how God rested on the seventh day. And so that is a progression. You try it on your own, and then you're either going to remain in your own sin, or you're going to enter into His rest. There is a command to enter into the rest of Christ. And so if you don't, you're going to remain in your own sin. You're going to try works on your own. You're going to try to please God on your own by whatever means, by walking people across the street or by doing good deeds. And if you are resting in your own works in that, you will remain in eternal damnation. You will not enter into the rest of Christ, where you would believe in Him, and repent, and turn to Him. So it's very much an either-or here, and very important to dwell on this spiritual matter more so than on a physical act of "Do I rest every seventh day or not?" So let's be thinking about this in a very important manner.

This idea of today being the day of your salvation is found in 2 Corinthians 6:2. It says, "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." This is in the New Testament. It applies very much to us today.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, flip over there. I would like for y'all to see this, especially if you're struggling with this idea and this thought. In Hebrews chapter 1... I mean, I'm sorry, not Hebrews chapter 1, 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I'm going to read verses 21 through 24. This is kind of referring back to this tendency of relying on your own works, or relying on a sign from the Old Testament as if you're relying on your own works, thinking that this is going to please God. Read with me in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I'm going to read 21 through 24. "For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified." Amen. Continue on. "To Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." And then skip down to verse 31: "so that, just as it is written, 'Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.'"

The first main truth for this division is: the rest of Christ is sufficient for all possible righteousness. The rest of Christ, the rest that Christ offers, is sufficient for all possible righteousness.

When you think about your own life, when you think about this, are you still trying to please God with your works? I think that we can struggle with that. We think that an act of coming to church can be an act of work that we maybe put our trust in. And we're like, "God, I am being faithful. I'm doing this. This pleases You." We need to be reminded that the rest of Christ is sufficient for all possible righteousness. There is not a plus-one to the righteousness of Christ. There is not "God loves you more if you do A, B, and C." There is no righteousness that is added on top of what His Son has already done and accomplished here as a man for 33 years.

Not only did He commit no sin, but He also fulfilled the Law. When we think about the righteousness of Christ and what exactly Jesus accomplished in these 33 years, you can think of it in two ways, in two different categories. He avoided sin, so He knew the Law, and He did not transgress that Law. That's one way to think about it. So He did not sin and commit any transgressions. But He also, and this is what blows me away, He also fulfilled the Law. There was a positive amount of righteousness that Jesus did in His 33 years. You see it highly displayed when He's on the cross, when He says, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."

This is where I think we can model Christ best, when we dig into how He fulfilled the Law, how He loved God and loved others in a way that was the most intense. We're going to get into that a little bit more in the third division. But that has just kind of helped clarify that we put our faith in Him. We put our faith in Him, that He had no sin, and yet He also fulfilled all possible righteousness that He could give.

And the opposite of this is also true. To enter into the rest of Christ is true, but people still remain in their depravity. If you're not entering into the rest, if you're not progressing into that, you remain in unrest. You remain in depravity.

There's this... We have received, and we receive, all this possible righteousness. We receive it by faith. We receive it by grace, through faith. Faith is the instrument by which we receive this. And so when I'm telling you this truth from God's Word, you can either receive it through faith, by this means of grace, of my telling you what God's Word says, or you can just reject it and say, "I'm going to continue in my own works. I'm going to continue trusting in that." Or you can receive through faith all the possible righteousness of Christ that He has given to us.

We must get into the habit of saying "because God," because He is the reason for our hope. We talked about apologetics and giving a reason for the hope that is within you. We need to focus on and kind of get into the habit of saying, "Because of Him, because God." And it takes the full Trinity, right? It was the Father who authored salvation. It was the Son of God who accomplished salvation. And it was God the Spirit who applied salvation to your life. It is all God. All persons of the Godhead are Savior.

We need to get into the habit of saying, "Because God redeemed me." Like when someone says, "Well, why are you a Christian and somebody else is not?" Well, because God redeemed me. Because God saved me. Because God forgave me. Because God loved me. Because God remembered me. Because God heard my cry. Because God comforted me. Because God led me beside the still waters. Because God made me lie down in green grass. Because God revealed His greatness to me. Because God gives me strength. Because God mounted me up with wings like eagles, Isaiah 40. Because God made me run and not get tired. Because God... It's all because of the everlasting God.

He is your Shepherd. He is my Shepherd. You know this, and when you're in Christ, you respond with, "I shall not want." May my flesh be crucified. May people stab me in the back. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." And it's not because you're forced to say that. You're not trusting in your own works to say, "I'm supposed to say this, so 'I shall not want'; so I'm going through the motions." It is Christ dwelling within you and saying, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." And so you... Because it's not forced, because you have been changed.

And so rest in peace. In that peace, rest in the peace of Christ. This is not a rest that is somber. This is not a rest that is giving up, a giving-up kind of restful sleep. But it is an awakening. It is "Now I can act. Now I can do things for God. Now I am all about You. I am lifting You up. I am proclaiming Your name. I am doing things for You. I'm not doing things for me. I am doing things for You, Lord." And so it is a call to action to enter into this rest. He saves those whom He does purely because of His good and perfect will. And thankfully, He does.

Look now back in Hebrews chapter 4. In our next division, we're going to get into critical rest, how critical this rest is. And verse 11 says, "Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest." That rest, meaning the rest that I had just been talking about in the first few verses. Now it's saying, "Let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience."

And then verse 12: "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."

Verse 11 here puts the emphasis on the either-or logic that it has been talking about in the verses before that. This idea of the words, this command, "Let us be diligent," is an inclusive us, but it is also a call for those who are in the congregation: "Let us be diligent to enter into this rest." If you're slacking a little bit and kind of doing your own thing, be diligent. Make haste. Stop doing that. Go into His rest. Trust in Him, trust in His righteousness, and be diligent to do that.

Have you ever hurried to fall asleep? No. It is to be diligent to enter into this rest. It is a call to action. It is not a rest to be somber, or to fall over and just do nothing, but it is to make haste. It is to be diligent and to enter into His rest. You are putting to rest all the works that you've done to try to please God. God is fully pleased by the works of His Son.

Colossians 3:12 says, "So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." This is the fruit of the Spirit, right? It sounds very much like Galatians 5:22–24, about the fruit of the Spirit. Or you could say, God's work in you, how it comes from the inside out. This is the effect of Christ dwelling within you: these are the things that come out, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, from Colossians 3:12 and also Galatians 5:23.

Go back here now into Hebrews chapter 4. We get into the power of the Word of God. Let me read this verse again. "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

Not only does God see the innermost state of being, but He has the power to cut to that innermost being. He goes through all the riffraff. Everything that you show on the outward, God's Word, by the power of the Spirit, cuts through all of that. And this is a tremendous truth to come around to, first conviction and then encouragement, that you are laid bare, as verse 12 talks about. Verse 12 says, "And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."

This idea of laying bare is like having an exposed neck and God's Word being ready to sever it in your innermost being, that you are just fully exposed and just in surrender for God to do His surgical work in your innermost being. God knows how to get in there by using, in the reference here, the Word of God. It's so important to read it and study it and understand it, and to be under God's Word, to hear God's Word, to be in a local church where the Word of God is preached faithfully. We want to come to be exposed.

It's hard for us today to trust anything, is it not? With AI and everything that's going on today, it is hard for us to lay ourselves bare to anything. We're like, "Well, there's got to be a catch here somewhere." And there's always a critic, like, "Well, I'm not going to be all in here," for whatever reason. But we must enter into this rest, where we are fully bare and exposed to the work, the surgical work, of the almighty God, who is merciful, who is loving. And so whatever works you may be trusting in, or if you're justifying any sin, I would encourage you to lay yourself bare and to trust in the Lord, dig into Scripture as you're doing that, and trust in the Lord's work in that.

He is able to judge your motivation and your actions, meaning that based on your state of being, whether you are at rest in Christ or in unrest with yourself, you will be eternally placed into one of two places. You will be eternally placed in heaven if you are in Christ, and you will be in hell if you're not in Christ. It's absolutely important to come around to that. We have come around to these truths on Wednesday nights: the final state of the righteous and the final state of the wicked. In the conference coming up, we're going to be talking about how hell is real. And we need to come around to these two things. It's hard for us to do that in this day and age.

But this leads us to the second main truth, for verses 11 through 13, for critical rest. The second main truth is: God judges people based on their innermost state of being. God judges people based on their innermost state of being.

How do you live, knowing that God is all-knowing and present everywhere? Do you have peace with yourself for all that you do? I think we come around to understanding that we cannot have peace in and of ourselves; we can only have peace when we're resting in Christ and resting in the righteous works that He has accomplished. We know that we are reconciled with God if that is the case, that we have received that through faith.

The devil wants you to keep chasing your own passions and desires until you die. The phrase "I can't get no satisfaction," right, very much applies here. If you're always chasing after something, even if you're chasing after trying to please God on your own, and I think a lot of us have somewhat of a tendency to do that, if you're trying to please God on your own, stop doing that. Rest in the righteousness of Christ. Point to Him. I can't wait to get into Hebrews 11 and 12, as we get into some more verses there. I'm mainly thinking of Hebrews 12, but that is going to be very encouraging for all of us.

We know that God judges based on our innermost being, and we know by faith that Christ dwells within our innermost being. And so when Christ dwells within our innermost being and God judges us, your soul, my soul, being indwelt by the Holy Spirit, by Christ, we will go to heaven. And that is a very wonderful and glorious thing to rest in.

Now, in our third division, verses 14 through 16, read with me the first part, verse 14 in chapter 4. "Therefore, since we have... Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession."

This "great" before "high priest" is a reference to a degree of wonder, a degree of surpassing. There is no one who outranks this High Priest. And that's what makes this High Priest so much better: because we have a great High Priest, as this says. No other being in all of creation, spirit or whatever, tangible or intangible, has done what Christ has done. No one has become a man and has conquered the grave. Amen.

And then right after that: "who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God." Jesus, referring to His humanity, His name being Jesus, being the Man, and coupled right there with it, the Son of God. And what He accomplished there is what a high priest would do, passing into the Holy of Holies. He passed straight from there and went to heaven. He performed the task of a high priest, and He passed through the heavens.

And so there is no other righteousness, ladies and gentlemen, that we can do to add to the righteousness of someone like Jesus, the Son of God, who has passed through the heavens. Do not rest in your works. Do not rest in "Oh, I've come to church." It is very, very, very important to get this, that we have a High Priest who has passed through the heavens. I think about a high jumper at a track meet. We have all tried to jump this bar, and we've all failed at that. But Jesus, He was the only one who not only jumped and made the bar, but He has gone up into heaven. All right? He has not just not sinned. He has not just, which is amazing, fulfilled the Law, but now He is sitting at the right hand of God, and He mediates for those who repent and believe in Him.

"Let us hold fast our confession," because it is Christ who is the only way to salvation. There's an urgency there. Anytime you hear the gospel preached and there's no urgency to it, that's a red flag. The gospel should always be communicated in a way where it's urgent. When you're sharing the gospel, you should always leave them with, "So now, what are you going to do? You need to act now. Today is the day of salvation." You need to do that.

Verse 15 says, "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." God teaches us here that Jesus was tempted in all things. Adam: one tree. Jesus: everywhere He went, He was tempted. Everywhere He went, He was tempted in all things, growing up, from what children are tempted with, to being an adult, being accused by the Pharisees and all of that. He was tempted in all things. And in all that, Jesus did not sin, not actively or passively, in thought, word, or deed.

And then we get to verse 16. "Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." We're encouraged to draw near, to approach with confidence. This throne of grace means that there's only One with kingly authority who provides life when you deserve death. There's only one way out. You're either going to remain in your sin, or you're going to enter into this singular way out, this singular way of salvation from where you are currently, remaining in your own sin.

And so let's explore the Scriptures together, what the righteousness of Christ is, and know through faith that God sees Christ when He sees you, and this is a special love.

The third main truth, for these last three verses, is: without Jesus, there is no eternal rest in peace. And I have that in the negative because I feel like it needs to be said in that way, because there's the assumption that all of humanity is going to heaven, is going to have peace with God, when that's not the case. We need to understand that without Jesus, without this singularity, everything else is remaining in sin and your own depravity, and chasing after wind.

We live in a world where we can do pretty much whatever we want, and the idea of a kingly rule is extremely foreign. Going back to the throne of grace: there is only One on the throne of grace, and everyone else who acts like they're on the throne of grace is false. We can say that. The Creator of all creation has cursed all mankind because of disobedience. And for us today, we were born sinners, and so we sin.

And we know in Romans that while we were still sinners, God demonstrated His love toward us, in that Christ died for us, for those who repent and believe in the gospel. To be saved means being liberated from sin's domain. To be liberated, to be free, implies that we were not free before, that we were in prison and that we were in bondage. We must understand that, and this progression of entering into His rest.

And so when you're thinking about this, being laid bare in front of the throne of grace, have confidence that you will receive mercy and that you will find grace. Don't hold on to your guilt. Don't try to dig yourself out of something that you've dug yourself into before. The throne of grace is all the grace we need to be cleansed, to be forgiven, and to go forth. And from that, we enter into His rest, and we have faith and trust in Him. And then we live a life of compassion, humility, gentleness, and love, and we rest in His works. Amen.

Let me pray.

Lord, thank You so much for this truth, for Hebrews chapter 4, to help us understand going from the old covenant to the new covenant. We know that all Your Word is important, but the reality of the gospel we cannot miss. And so thank You for giving us clarity on this critical rest, knowing that You are the cause of the rest that we need in order to escape the domain of our own sin. Help us to enter into Your rest. Help us to be diligent in this as we relate to one another in our church and to those in the world, that we would find peace in this rest in Christ. In Jesus' name, amen.