New Salem Baptist Church

Fearing and Striving in Order to Enter the Rest

May 26, 2024

Read Hebrews chapter 4:1-11.

This chapter is about fearing and striving. What feeling do you get when you hear the words, fear and strive? I think most people don’t feel good about those words. Fear is not a pleasant emotion. And, most people do not like to strive. They prefer to get things easily. Yet, the fear of God is mentioned over 1,000 times in the Bible in a positive way. And, not many things in life come to us easily. We often must labor for the good things that we attain.

Salvation is not like that. I mean that our initial salvation, salvation from the Lake of Fire, is never to be sought by striving. Your good deeds and so-called “good” life are never good enough to merit eternal life. Eternal life is a gift of God. You receive it when you stop striving and accept the gift of life that the Father offers you through his Son, Jesus Christ.

The book of Hebrews is not about eternal life. Eternal salvation is mentioned twice in the book because the author’s readers already possess it, but the book is about two main ideas: the exaltation of the Lord Jesus (He is so worthy of it!) and entering the rest or the kingdom to come (both words are used).

Thus, fear and striving are appropriate and ought to be possessed by every disciple of the Lord Jesus.

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.^[1]

We have a promise from God that there is still a rest awaiting us. Verse 1 mentions failing to reach it, so we might think that we can have it now. But this is what is known as a “prospective present.” An author uses the present tense for a future reality to make it appear more real and certain if the conditions are fulfilled. That this rest is future to us is clear from the whole rest of the book and even from the first words of verse 1: “the promise still stands.”

We can have a foretaste of this rest even now. Consider these verses from King David:

    1            O Yahweh, in Your strength the king will be glad,

And in Your salvation how greatly he will rejoice!^[2]

David was glad! We can be glad!

David greatly rejoices in the salvation that the Lord provided. He means salvation from his enemies, not eternal salvation, although he had that too! We can greatly rejoice when the Lord delivers us from our enemies or even any trouble that we find ourselves. He delivers us from your troubles, even troubles of our own making (Lamentations 3:19, 22-23)!

    2            You have given him his heart’s desire,

And You have not withheld the request of his lips.^[3]

The Lord gave David his heart’s desire! He will give you your heart’s desire, unless it is something that would hurt you.

The Lord did not withhold the request of his lips. Neither will he withhold what is good for you when you ask!

3                For You meet him with the blessings of good things;

You set a crown of fine gold on his head.^[4]

He met David with the blessings of good things! Oh! He will meet you with the blessings of good things! If you are not sure about it, just ask. Pray: “Lord, you met David with the blessings of good things! Will you meet me with the blessings of good things?” He already has, hasn’t he? So, you can pray, “Lord meet me with more blessings of good things.

The crown of gold was because he was a king. If you are not a king of some country on earth then you are not going to get that. But you will have these other wonders!

Isn’t it true that:

• gladness
• greatly rejoicing
• getting our heart’s desire
• the Lord listening to us and giving us what we have asked, and
• meeting us with the blessings of good things

…these are all reflective of a restful life?  Indeed they are!

But the author of Hebrews does not refer to these things. They are only a foretaste of what is coming!

According to the author, we ought to fear not attaining the rest that God is bringing. Do you remember that different words are used to describe this rest?

the rest    a Millennium   a our inheritance a our reward

The rest is the Millennium. It is also called our inheritance. In Paul’s other letters, as well as here in Hebrews, it is called our reward.

In Revelation, chapter twenty, the nest age is said to last 1,000 years. This is why it is called the Millennium, because a millennium is 1,000 years. Now, if it is an actual 1,000 years, that is a long time! To not participate in that golden age to come would be the greatest disappointment. But the rest that is coming could be longer than a thousand years. Remember that the book of Revelation is full of symbols. Satan is called a dragon. He is not really a dragon, but he acts like one. The number 1,000 can be a symbol for a long, complete time. It could be that it lasts several thousand years. I do not know and neither do I pretend to know (and neither ought anyone else).

So, the reason we ought to fear of not entering the rest is because it is both long and glorious.

² For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened^[5]

There is more than one kind of good news portrayed in the Bible. The good news to the Israelites was that God was giving them the promised land, a place rich in produce and well-watered land. He told them that he would be with them and give them victory over their adversaries. They were promised rest. That was good news.

In the present age there is good news for the lost and there is good news for those already saved. The good news for the lost is called the gospel of grace and the gospel of Christ. The good news for those who are already walking with the Lord is the reward that awaits the faithful. It is the rest being held out by the author of Hebrews.

What happened to the Israelites who left Egypt under the mighty hand of God? They heard the good news of the promised land, but they didn’t have faith in what the Lord promised. They didn’t live according to the truths that God had spoken but rather lived according to their doubts.

³ For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,

       “As I swore in my wrath,

       ‘They shall not enter my rest,’ ” ^[6]

We have already seen that this believing, or lack thereof, has to with trusting in what God has spoken. When we believe what he has promised then we will enter that rest. Because all genuine belief results in changed lives, those who truly trust the promises will live according to them.

It is just as certain that those who do not trust in the promises will then fail to enter God’s rest as it is certain that those who do trust will enter.

Then Paul, who I think was the author, states that God rested from his own works since the foundation of the world. Why does he mention this? It is because God’s creation-rest on the seventh day is typical of his redemption-rest on the seventh millennium yet to come.

If one holds to a very literal reading of the book of Genesis then we are in the sixth millennium right now. The seventh is next.

⁴ For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” ⁵ And again in this passage he said,

       “They shall not enter my rest.” ^[7]

Verse 5 is now the sixth[8] time God is warning us that some are not going to enter his rest! If the Lord is saying something five times we must pay attention!

Yes, for God to say something five times must mean that he wishes to impress upon us its importance. But read verse six:

⁶ Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience,^[9]

Seven times! The promise of the rest remains yet we must remember that God’s people in times past failed to enter and this still holds true in the present age as it was in the past ages. Some will fail to enter because of disobedience.

“But, pastor, did they fail to enter because of a lack of trust or because of disobedience? Which is it?”

It is not either/or. It is both. You see, genuine faith, truly trusting in the Lord (not just with the lips), will result in a change in the way we live. We will obey the Lord when we trust him. Our living manifests what is in our heart.

⁷ again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted,

       “Today, if you hear his voice,

       do not harden your hearts.” ^[10]

This is now the fourth[11] time Paul is warning us not to harden our hearts! Maybe some are growing weary of these warnings. If so, this may mean that your heart is becoming a little bit hard!

On a particular day in 1881, in the town of Evenmouth, England, there had been stormy weather for a whole week, which kept the fisherman from going out. But on this day the sun broke forth in the morning with a clear blue sky. By appearances, the storm had passed. However, the Harbormaster hoisted the storm flags indicating that there was another storm coming. He observed that the fisherman were ignoring them and starting to go out to see. They had barometers then, so it was clear to the Harbormaster that there was a bad storm coming. He went out to the docks and yelled warnings to the fisherman to not go out. Most ignored him. Some were warned by their wives to not go out. They ignored multiple warnings. Forty-one fishing boats went out that day, each boat carrying five or six men. The storm came in great and destructive fury. Only a handful of boats returned. Over a hundred men lost their lives that day. Wives were now without their husbands and children were now without their fathers. Because those men did not heed the warnings.

Let us appreciate these warnings and not allow our hearts to become hardened.

⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. ⁹ So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, ¹⁰ for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. ^[12]

Again, Paul says that the rest remains for us. Verse 10 shows that it is not available yet. Because we are still working for the Lord in this age.

¹¹ Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.^[13]

Because this rest is awaiting us we need to strive to enter it. Robert Govett has pointed out that there are two admonitions in this verse, one positive and one negative. The positive one is that we are to strive.

• The KJV has “let us labor to enter therefore to enter into that rest.”
• The NIV has “let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest.”
• The LSB has “therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest.”

You get the idea. There are things we must do. It’s a positive admonition.

But Paul goes on to say that the rest can be missed by disobedience. This is the negative admonition. Therefore, we both need to press forward in what the Lord has commissioned us to do and we need to flee sin.

[Application and Conclusion] What are we to do? Most obviously, we should fear and we must make every effort to enter the rest of God. How can we do these things?

We fear by being confident that the rest is till future to us. As I have said before. There is a sense that we have rest now, but this is not Paul’s main thought here. If the rest is only the peace we have because of our faith then is this really a reason to fear? I don’t think so. Of course every disciple prefers to have peace rather than a lack of it. But just missing a present peace is not a reason to fear. But, missing out on the glory to come in the next age is a reason to fear, especially when you consider the parables of our Lord in the gospels (in Matthew and Luke), which ought to stir up fear in the possibility of the Lord excluding us from the age to come.

How do we strive or make every effort? There are many things that we can do, such as helping the less fortunate, serving others, praying, exhorting one another daily, and listening or watching good teaching by good teachers. But, if we can do three things regularly then we will be doing well. Our efforts will not only result in an abundant entrance into the kingdom, but we will discover that these other things will fall into our lap. These three activities are:

• Read and study the Scriptures
• Be attentive to your sins and flee temptation
• Be involved in the battle

These are the three things that the author mentions (either directly or by allusion) in chapters three and four of the book.

He writes, “if you hear his voice” and “the Holy Spirit says…” (3:7) He means primarily the Scriptures. He writes that the Israelites “failed to enter because of disobedience” (4:6,11).  And, by using the example of the Israelites being fearful to fight their adversaries (see Numbers 13:25 – 14:19), we see that we, too, must be involved in the battle.

How do we strive? By doing these three things! I wish to suggest to you…maybe suggest is too light of a word…I exhort you to write these three things down on a piece of paper and tape it to your bathroom mirror so that you see them often:

• Read and study the Scriptures
• Be attentive to your sins and flee temptation
• Be involved in the battle

You are able to do these things because you have the Spirit in you. He will motivate you unless you have hardened your heart.

“Thank you, Lord, for giving us your Spirit to enliven us and empower us. Even encourage us to make every effort to gain our reward. Amen.”