Hebrews 4:1-13

[0:00] Good morning. Good morning. In the New Testament, it's part of the Book of Hebrews. Chapter 3, or I'm sorry, Chapter 4.

[0:13] The Book of Hebrews is a very, it's a tall, needful hall. Every book in the Word of God is a needful.

[0:25] The Book of Hebrews highlights two main subjects, really. One of them being the priesthood of Jesus Christ.

[0:37] You read a lot about the priesthood of Christ and the fact that he is our High Priest. There's a lot of comparisons between the Old Testament and the New Testament, or the Old Covenant.

[0:51] And the New Covenant within the Book of Hebrews, you have to remember though, this was written just as the title of it indicates to us. It was written to a bunch of Jews that would have been very, very familiar with the Old Testament.

[1:05] They would have understood about the law and about the tabernacle, about the altars and all like that. So that's why we find so many allusions back to that within this book.

[1:20] But in the first couple of chapters of the book, first really three chapters, you find the superiority of Jesus Christ, which is the second thing that the Book of Hebrews really highlights, is the superiority of Christ over everything and everyone.

[1:39] You read about his superiority over the angels. You read about his superiority over the law. In chapter three, you read about his superiority over even Moses, which at this time these Jews would have found quite remarkable that someone would be saying such a thing.

[1:59] Because they held Moses in very high regard even to this day they do. But the Book of Hebrews highlights the priesthood of Jesus Christ and highlights the superiority of Jesus Christ over everything.

[2:14] So there are four warnings given throughout the Book of Hebrews, the danger of falling away, the danger of what happens if we neglect so great a salvation, and the great danger of departing from the living God.

[2:28] All these things are found in the pages of this book to the Hebrews here. But where we're going to be picking up at in chapter four, actually the whole passage begins in chapter three, which is why I said to turn to chapter three to begin with, but we're not going to read that part.

[2:49] But it begins in chapter three about verse seven. And the writer to the Hebrews, no one knows for certain who this writer was, but I can promise you one thing, the Holy Spirit is the one who inspired this writing because the Bible says it all, Scripture is breath of God, it's all inspired of God.

[3:09] So God is the ultimate writer of this regardless of what human hand may have penned it. Originally God is the ultimate writer of this, but the writer to the Hebrews in chapter three begins talking about the history of Israel and how they failed in the wilderness.

[3:28] And this is the background of the backdrop. However, you'd like to phrase that this entire passage of Scripture will be reading in a moment from Hebrews four.

[3:39] This is the background that is behind it, is the failure of Israel, the nation Israel in the wilderness after they'd been brought up out of Egypt. They'd already been redeemed.

[3:50] They'd done been brought through the Red Sea Pharaoh's army. They'd done been brought beneath the waves of the Red Sea. Israel was on its way through the wilderness, on its way where?

[4:01] To the promised land, to the land that God promised unto Abraham. Way back over in Genesis chapter 15, God promised Abraham that his seed would inherit this land.

[4:13] This land is called Canaan land sometimes. It's called the promised land. It's called the land that flows with milk and honey in the Scriptures. And they're on their way to this land.

[4:24] And something we need to remember, not only during this part of Hebrews, we'll be reading this morning in Hebrews four, but all throughout the book of Hebrews, that is the backdrop.

[4:36] It's not the settlement of Israel within the land of Canaan, within the promised land. But the backdrop is their journey to that land, the promised land, the land that flows with milk and honey.

[4:52] And in particular, that's the backdrop here in Hebrews chapter three and chapter four. So with all that being said and with all that in mind, we'll begin reading at verse one.

[5:04] In Hebrews chapter four says, Let us therefore fear, lest the promise being left us of entering into his rest. Any of you should seem to come short of it, for unto us was the gospel preach, as well as unto them.

[5:20] But the word preach did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that hurt it. But we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest.

[5:34] Although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. And he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, and God did rest the seventh day from all his works.

[5:47] And in this place again, if they shall enter into my rest, seeing therefore it remaineth, that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not, in because of unbelief.

[6:01] Again, he limited the third day, saying in David, today after so long a time, as it is said, today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, for if Jesus had given them rest, then he would not afterward had spoken of another day.

[6:18] Now there in verse eight, let me call for just a moment where it says, if Jesus had given them rest. This is talking about the man Joshua in the Old Testament. I'm not talking about Jesus Christ.

[6:29] It's a transliteration of the man Joshua's. I want to put that out there for you all real quick. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.

[6:43] There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God, and he that has entered into his rest. He also has ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

[6:56] Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the divine, dividing a thunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discernor of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

[7:19] Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Back to verse one, let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest.

[7:35] Any of you should seem to come short of it, so we read here to fear, lest a promise being left to us. Now, remember this was a letter that was written to the Hebrew people, who the author is.

[7:54] We've already discussed, we're not positive who it was, but it was written to the Jewish people. Judging from the writings that we find in this book, and judging from some of the warnings that we find in this book, and some of the things that are just blatantly said within the book of Hebrews, these Jews, they had obviously accepted Jesus Christ.

[8:18] They had heard the gospel of Jesus Christ preached, and they had accepted this gospel. They had accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, but as I said, some of the warnings here show us in the book of Hebrews, they were in danger of sliding back in to their old ways.

[8:35] They were in danger of sliding back into the ceremonies, to the law, and to the religiosity that we find all throughout the Old Testament.

[8:46] They were wanting ordinances. They were wanting to do something, in other words, for their salvation. They were in danger of walking away from just the grace of Jesus Christ, and depending upon something else, depending upon their own works, depending upon the works of some priest, to make a sacrifice for them, depending upon all these other things that we read about.

[9:12] In the Old Testament, the writer here says, let us therefore fear, let the promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.

[9:23] So this word, that includes everyone, that includes the writer, that includes the people, that he is writing to, and he says here again to read it, left us a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.

[9:42] In other words, as I've already said, these Jews had obviously heard of Jesus Christ, and many of them had accepted Jesus Christ with the writer to the Hebrew here, says, any of you should seem to come short of it, seem to come short of what?

[10:01] Of the promise that Almighty God has made in and through Jesus Christ, of the promise that anyone that believes in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and anyone that repents of their ways, that they shall have eternal life, we just said it in Sunday school a little while ago, that Jesus Christ said, that any man that believed in the words that he had spoken and believed in, he that sent him, had eternal life at that point in their lives, at that point in their time, here only at the moment that you believe in Jesus Christ, you have eternal life, right then and right there, praise God, but here these people, they had heard of Jesus Christ, many had accepted Jesus Christ, but the writer to their Hebrews was saying there may be some of you that are in the midst, some of the people who are there with you, who are congregating with you, who are doing things with you, that seem like they might be Christian, they seem like they might believe, they're singing the songs, they're a manning, the preacher, they're doing everything, they are doing, but they seem that they may be falling short of the glory of God in Jesus Christ.

[11:23] This is the warning that the writer to the Hebrews is giving here, many of them is believed, but he says there's a promise of entering him to rest and that we're in danger of missing out on this promise, that we're coming short of it, any of you should seem to come short of it, for unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them, as unto who?

[11:49] Under us was the gospel preached, including the writer to the Hebrews, he had obviously heard the gospel, whomever this writer was, and whoever he was writing this letter to, whether it was a specific congregation, whether it was many congregations, which is normally the way that these letters that we read all throughout the New Testament was done, it would be read by one congregation, it'd be passed on to another, it'd be passed on to another, but he says that we heard the gospel and he says as well as them, who was to them, that's to them we were talking about in Hebrews chapter 3, the very Israelites that came up out of Egypt, the very Israelites, that God had delivered, they heard the gospel preach, how could they have heard the gospel preach 1500 years before Jesus Christ was ever even born, the gospel was preached through Moses, Moses is the one that delivered the word of God to these people, he is the one that went to these people, and he said, God has sent me to deliver you out of the hand of the bondage of the Egyptians,

[12:56] God has sent me to bring you up out of this bondage, up out of this slavery, to take you to a land that is flowing with no kind of honey, to take you to a land that is promised and to enter into His rest.

[13:11] These people had heard the gospel, they had heard the good news, after 400 years of slavery in Egypt, a little over 400 actually, but after 400 years of slavery in Egypt, good news came to them, a gospel came to them from Almighty God through a mediator named Jesus Christ, folks in the New Testament, down ways in the last 2000 years, there is good news that has flooded this earth, there is good news that entered into my ears, one day there is good news that you're sitting here born again, there is good news that entered into your ears, one day the good news that although you're a sinner, although that you are black and filthy and wretched in the eyes of Almighty God, the good news is that God has sent a deliverer, God has sent one to mediate on your behalf, God has sent an intercessor, He has sent one that took your place upon a tree on a hill,

[14:14] God got that, He has sent one to suffer for you and to bleed for you and to die for you, and to shed every drop of this blood that all of mankind could have left and have it more abundantly, hallelujah!

[14:30] That's my Savior Jesus Christ, that if you're here and born again, that's your Savior Jesus Christ, these folks heard the gospel preach to them, they heard good news preach to them and they believed it not, and folks we're in the same condition nowadays, we preach the gospel, we tell people about the Bible, we tell them about the goodness of God, we tell them, we tell these folks that He is a deliverer, we tell them what a comfort that He is to us, and what a comfort that His Word is to us in the time of knee, we tell them about the comfort and the guidance of the Holy Ghost in our lives, we tell them how rich we were in one time but how God in His mercy and in His grace reached down and picked us up from the bottom of the barrel that we were in, and He raised us up to spiritual life, and we share this gospel with the world and the world ignores it, just like I did for a long time.

[15:32] What it says under us was the gospel preach as well as under them, but the word preach did not profit them, and it tells us why, not being mixed with faith in them that hurt it.

[15:45] This is why the word didn't profit these Israelites because they didn't believe it, they didn't believe it, I didn't believe it for a long time, maybe you're sitting here and you didn't believe it for a long time either, maybe you thought, I'm too wicked for God to say, maybe you're like me, said what God, maybe any number of scenarios that could be given here, but either way, there was unbelief in your life for whatever span of time it was, it could have been a month after God picked your heart with conviction, it could have been for a year, it could have been for 20 or 30 years, one of the case was, hey there was a point in your life where you did not believe but God raised you in a spiritual life and you believed in the Son of Jesus Christ, you believed in the Son of man that came to give his life, a ransom for many, you believed the Word of God because you heard the Word of God, and at that point it was mingled with faith.

[16:50] Folks, we can preach to a blue in the face, we can tell people about heaven, we can tell them about hell, we can tell them about the gospel, but if it's not mingled with faith, if it's not mixed with faith, it will profit them nothing, they must believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, you must not believe just in Jesus Christ, you must believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ came into this world not again to him the world, but that the world through him might be saved, there's a whole slew of people out there that believe in the Jesus, they believe in the cross, but it is not the cross of this Bible, because it's what Christ you believe in, they're face mingled with the wrong thing, they're face mingled with their own cross, with their own gospel, these people that were being written to here in the Israelite to the Old Testament, they were both preached to gospel, they were both preached to good news, they were both preached to deliverance, by God, by miraculous means, and some of them didn't mix it with faith, that heard it, for we which have believed do enter into rest, and he said, as I sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of the world, for he spake in a certain place on the seventh day of this wise, and God did rest on the seventh day from all his works, and in this place again, if they shall enter into my rest, so it says, for we which have believed do enter into rest, we which have believed, folks that's past chance, we which have believed, we which have been convinced, we've been convicted of our sin by the Holy Spirit of God, and we've been convinced that Jesus Christ is the Savior by the Holy Spirit of God, we which have believed, we do enter into rest, we are entering into that rest as we speak, and folks praise God, there is a rest that comes to the child of God, even in this walk of life, it doesn't matter what comes your way, it doesn't matter what billows roll over you, it doesn't matter what sickness, what heartache, what sorrow is there to the child of Almighty God, there is a peace which vances all understanding, and there is a rest that we have, and God that the world does not have, how many?

[19:21] Amen, thank you. Oh, let us have that rest. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, they spin through, you don't look very rested right now. Folks, how may I rest in God? Amen. Praise God. Praise God.

[19:32] Well, thank you. When we get to heaven, those of you that are redeemed, and those of you that are born again, we ain't going to be lounging in hammocks, we're not going to be laying in the bed or in the recliner all day, we will be serving God when we are there, but we will be at rest as we serve God while we are there.

[19:52] Folks, that will be the most restful time that any of us could ever dream of, that any of us could ever imagine, even though we will be serving and we will be working and we will be doing for the very one that's saying our soul, we will be at rest.

[20:08] Amen. Amen. Oh, my God. This is the rest that I'm going to, this is the rest that's promised. We're going to just a little while ago, that we're remaining there for our rest for the people of God.

[20:22] While we're told here, folks, and we will told. Right. And we will work, and we will cry, and we will get sick, and loved ones will get sick, and loved ones will die, and all these things will happen, even though this happens, and it seems chaotic all around us, and it seems like turmoil on every hand, and at every turn, folks, we have rest in Jesus Christ.

[20:47] We can go to Jesus Christ, we can go to the Word of God, we hear the written Word of God for comfort, we can go to the living Word of God for comfort, folks, we can go to God for our comfort, and for our rest, and for our peace.

[21:03] We can go to Him for all satisfaction that we need in this life. I refuse to look at the world to satisfy me when I know that my Redeemer, Liveth, and He is the one that can satisfy, and has satisfied me.

[21:21] Why look back to the world? That's what these Jews were doing. They were looking back to the old way, they were looking back to the old covenant, and folks, there was never life in the old covenant. It was impossible.

[21:34] There was no life that it could give. It was unable to save. It was unable to redeem. It was able to show the unholiness of man, and it was able to show the holiness of Almighty God.

[21:45] It was able to show us our need for the Savior which came in Jesus Christ. That's what Paul wrote in the New Testament. Hey, the Law and Relations Chapter 3, he said, it was our schoolmaster.

[21:57] It's the one that taught us of our need for salvation. It's the one that taught us of the Redeemer, of the Messiah, that it been promised since Genesis 3 that would come. Praise God.

[22:09] The Law was meant to be our schoolmaster, but these Jews, they were so dead set, on falling back into their old ways. Dear Christian, are you set on Jesus Christ, or are you in danger of going back into religion?

[22:26] Are you in danger of going back into works? Are you in danger of saying, I must do this, or I won't get to heaven? I must do that, or I won't get to heaven? The Bible says they which endure to the end the same shall be saved.

[22:41] They which endure to the end, who gives you the ability to endure? Who gives you everything? Who gave you the faith to believe? Who gave you the mind to repent? Who does these things?

[22:53] Most salvation is completely and utterly and totally of God, and the keeping in your keeping salvation is not up to you. It is completely and utterly and totally up to God.

[23:06] These people were saying, I've got to be able to do something. There's got to be something I must do. I've got to do a ceremony. I've got to have incense burn. I must take a sacrifice. I must take a peace offering with God. The peace offerings were all great, and they were fine, and they were well in their due time.

[23:24] But that had run out at this point. When Jesus Christ showed up, Jesus Christ is our peace according to my scripture. Jesus Christ is the peace that I had with God.

[23:36] These people in the Old Testament, those of you that were here, when we went through the first seven chapters of the Leviticus, we learned that the peace offering, they did not offer a peace offering unto God in order to obtain peace with God.

[23:49] They offered it to Him in celebration of the peace that they already had with God. They had already reclaimed Him. He had already redeemed Him, and they were in good standing with God.

[24:00] Jesus Christ is our peace offering that we have with God outside of Jesus Christ. We are at war with God, and He is at war with us.

[24:12] But through Jesus Christ and with Jesus Christ, we have peace with God. He is our peace. He is our peace, and He is our rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth, that some must enter therein, and they to whom He was first preached, and are not in, becouse of unbelief.

[24:32] He tells us the why here. He tells us the why, I'm sorry. He gives us the what, they did not enter in. He tells us the why. And surprisingly, it's not because of particular sins that they committed.

[24:51] It wasn't because one committed adultery. It wasn't because another stole. It wasn't because of even idolatry. Folks, if the Bible says and it does, and everyone of us know it by heart, and forgots to live the world, and gave his own, and got something, whosoever believes in Him should not believe in Him, and have everlasting life.

[25:10] If the Bible says whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, what is the flip side of that coin whosoever does not believe in Him shall perish?

[25:22] That's the flip side of that. That is the flip side. These people did not enter in because they were adulterers and adulteresses. They did not enter in because they were liars, or thieves, or even blasphemers.

[25:36] They didn't enter in because of anything that they said. They entered in because of unbelief. Unbelief in what? Unbelief in God. Unbelief in what aspect of God?

[25:47] That God would redeem them. That God was taking them to the Promised Land. That God had sent a redeemer. That God was delivering them by way of a mediator named Moses here in the Old Testament.

[26:00] They didn't believe God. We've got people all around us nowadays. Their unbelief goes up ten different ways. They believe that they haven't done anything they need to be forgiven of.

[26:12] They believe that they haven't offended the Throsholy God that created the universe. They believe that they've been so wicked that they can't be forgiven. And folks, all of that is unbelief in God.

[26:25] The only sin I can read about in the entire sacred writ of Scripture that we have that is unforgivable is the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. And blasphemy of the Holy Ghost is nothing more than completely and utterly and totally rejecting the Word of God, rejecting Jesus Christ, and rejecting the conviction of the Holy Ghost that He has put on the life of the sinner.

[26:51] It's not calling the Holy Ghost a bad name. That's not blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. Blasphemy of the Holy Ghost is rejecting it. Over and over and over again.

[27:02] That's what can't be forgiven. I praise God. There's people out here that got laughing their bodies. People out here like me that had rejected. The Holy Ghost.

[27:14] That had rejected the offer of salvation. That had rejected the offer of redemption. They still got breath in their bodies. God's not done with them.

[27:25] God's still got the Holy Spirit here in the Holy Spirit. He's still doing His work. God has still got the gospel of Jesus Christ being preached upon this planet. And as long as the gospel is preached and as long as the Holy Spirit of God has liberty to go, to Him from wherever He decides to go, as long as this is the case, there is still offer and chance for redemption to all who will hear the gospel, repent of their ways, and trust in Jesus Christ, trust in the Word of God for their salvation.

[27:58] Hallelujah. These people didn't enter in because of unbelief. And that's the only reason that the Bible gives that they did not enter in. What kind of unbelief did they have?

[28:10] God had led them through the wilderness. They didn't see the miracles. They'd witnessed the plagues over in Egypt. They'd witnessed the plague of the river turning into blood. They'd witnessed the plague of frogs and of lies.

[28:22] They'd witnessed all these things. They'd witnessed the plague of darkness. They never had the plague of darkness. They witnessed the plague of the death of the firstborn.

[28:33] But they were protected from that because of blood. But they had witnessed all these things. And Moses, their mediator, their deliverer, gathered them up by the Word of God and took them out.

[28:47] And they came to the sea. And the sea was opposing them at that point. They came to the sea. They could go nowhere. Pharaoh's army was coming in fast behind. And they were screaming, threatening and slaughtering against the Jews.

[29:00] And the sea lay before them. It seemed like they were without hope and both by a miraculous deed Almighty God threw his man, Moses, the only one of those Israelites that had any amount of faith whatsoever.

[29:14] Moses, their God threw Moses part of the Red Sea. And they marched on through and they got to the other side. And they began their pilgrimage to the promised land.

[29:27] But it didn't take them long to start murmuring. They started murmuring. We don't have food. We don't have water. We don't have this. We don't have that. Moses, did you just bring us out here?

[29:39] The Bible says they chatted with Moses. They argued with Moses. They came against him. And Moses went to God and said, These people are about to stone me. And God says, go to a rock. Take your staff with you.

[29:52] Take the elders of Israel with you. You smite this walking from there. They will drink water. From there they will have their water. But even after that, they weren't good enough.

[30:03] What miracles has God worked in your life? What miracles has God worked in my own life? And yet my faith falters sometimes. Yet my faith, I feel like I'm absolutely faithless at times in my life. And maybe you felt that way as well.

[30:21] But how many miracles have I seen? I've experienced a miracle of the rebirth. I've experienced the miracle of being born into the family of God. And if I can experience that miracle, there is no miracle that my God cannot perform in my life or anyone else's.

[30:39] Hallelujah. But my faith, nevertheless, falters just like them Jews. We can't look down our nose at them. They didn't have water. They wind about it.

[30:50] God provided them water. They didn't have me. They wind about it. God provided them quail. God provided them manna. And even, even over in the book of Numbers, we read where God finally had enough.

[31:03] He had sent the spies over in the Promised Land to search and ask what they could find. The 12 spies came back and 10 of those 12 spies were against going to the Promised Land that God had sworn unto Abraham, had sworn to these people through Abraham.

[31:24] They refused to go over after they'd been delivered through the Red Sea, after God had caused them manna to rain down from the heavens, after he provided everything that he had for them.

[31:36] They refused to go into the Promised Land, not only those 10 spies, but they turned the entire tribe of Israel against God. And that is the unbelief that as to why they did not enter into the Promised Land other than Joshua and Caleb and those that were under the age of 20 years old.

[31:57] That's because that's what the way God said it would be. He said, these 10 times, these 10 times you have provoked me, these 10 times you have come against me, these 10 times you have not believed me.

[32:10] And because of this, because of this, your bodies are going to rot out here in this wilderness. Your children will inherit it. That's who the book of Deuteronomy was written to.

[32:21] The children of those original Israelites. That's why that's called the book of the second law. It's not really a second law, but it's the law given the second time to the second generation of Israelites that had come out of Egypt because the first generation died out.

[32:35] Why don't they die out? Why don't they not enter in? Because of unbelief, the Bible tells us here, because of unbelief. If you're here to lost, then unbelief will get in your way.

[32:47] Praise God. Some of us, if we're here saved, sometimes unbelief will get in our way. Sometimes we'll say, God, I know you've delivered me five or six times out of this circumstance, but I just don't think it's going to happen this time.

[33:01] Hey, if God delivered you once, He could deliver you a thousand more times in the future. Why are we down? Why are we down? They didn't enter in because of unbelief again.

[33:12] He limited the certain days, saying, and then David today, after so long a time, as it is said today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Now we've gone from these Israelites, 1500 years before Christ.

[33:24] Now we're at David, a thousand years before Christ. And David's saying, if you don't harden your hearts, don't harden your hearts against God. Hey, lost person, the more you reject the Holy Spirit of God, the more you reject the gospel.

[33:39] When you hear it, the easier it will become for you to reject it on into the future to where you will not fill the first pulling or the first growing from Almighty God.

[33:51] You be careful in rejecting the gospel. Say, person, we've got our own warnings. I know that God chastises His own without His chastisements, we're bastards and not sons.

[34:06] And I love that scripture. And I praise God for that scripture. I don't like being chastised now by Almighty God anymore than I did when I was a young and then I get chastised by my parents whenever I've done wrong.

[34:18] I didn't like it, but I appreciate it now. I appreciate now that I'm an adult human being. I appreciate parents that kept me in line. And I appreciate God as a maturing Christian.

[34:29] I appreciate the fact that God, if I get out of line, He will pick me up and He will wear my backside out. I'm like my parents have ever dreamed of doing to me. I thank God that He chastises His own.

[34:42] I thank God that He has through me sometimes because that confirms to me that I belong to Him. Hallelujah. The David says, today, if you will hear his voice, heart and not your heart, it's a warning.

[34:59] It's a warning not only to lost people, it's a warning. You remember who the writer of the Hebrews is writing to. He's writing to believers and Christ folks. He calls them brethren and holy brethren more than once throughout the book of Hebrews.

[35:13] It's much like John in the books of little, in the books of little John was writing to save people, but he wrote about lost people several times throughout those books. It is no different here.

[35:25] He's writing to save people and this warning goes out to save people just as it does to lost people. Lost people are in danger of heartening their hearts and saved people are in danger of heartening their hearts.

[35:36] Well, I got by with it this time. God didn't have a whole lot to say about it. So he must be all right with it. You wait your time. You wait just a little while and that Holy Spirit of God will inside of you.

[35:47] He'll begin to wrench your heart. He'll begin to pull you down to your knees. He'll repent of state to a penitent state where you can repent to the almighty God that saved your soul.

[35:58] Repentance should be a daily thing for us. As Christians, for Jesus had given them rest again, we're talking about Joshua there. If for Jesus had given them rest, then he would not afterward have spoken of another day.

[36:12] Therefore, remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. Folks, I've already talked about how I have rest in God now as a born again Christian. I have rested the word of God.

[36:24] I have rested in the Son of God. I have rested in God. Period. But praise God, there remaineth a rest for me and there remaineth a rest for you if you are a child of God regardless of the toll that you go through here, regardless of what pains you must ever have.

[36:42] My Bible promises in Revelation 214, God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There shall be no more sorrow. There shall be no more pain.

[36:53] There shall be no more death. There will be none of these things. Praise God in that land that I'm going to. That there is a perfect rest for the people of God. That remains for the people of God, regardless of how comfortable we are with God here and how much peace he can give us here.

[37:10] There is a peace over yonder on the other side of Jordan that we know nothing about here. I want to experience it one day. I want to experience that rest one day.

[37:23] For he that has entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works as God did from his folks. We will work and we will toll and we will have to do things here in this world not because we want to be saved, but because we are saved.

[37:40] We do toll, we do work, not just on the salvation front. I'm talking about everyday life. We have jobs, we have families, we have things that we need to do. But folks, all that's going to disappear one day after a while.

[37:53] It's as he that has entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works as God did from his. I explained that too long ago. I don't remember if it was a sermon or a lesson.

[38:06] I said God did not rest on that seventh day because he was tired. God did not rest because he had grown weary because his bones ached or anything else.

[38:17] God rested as an example unto man that there was a rest that God has prepared for man. God expects us to rest after six days of work in this world, after six days of tolling for the people of God.

[38:30] God expects a rest for his people. He expects them to rest and to focus upon him. He expects them to meditate upon him, meditate upon his word, spend their time in prayer, spend their time alone with God.

[38:45] Hallelujah, you spend your time with the people of God. The same books where we find the so famous verse and the second the assembling of themselves. It doesn't matter if some is, but we won't get into that.

[38:59] Spend your time with the people of God. Amen. They know where I'd rather be other than church surrounded with the people of God. Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest.

[39:12] Let's name them phallic and the same example of unbelief. Let us therefore labor to enter into that rest. That doesn't mean work to be saved. What the Bible is getting out here and what the Rado to the Hebrews was getting out here is exactly what I just said, that we will toll and we will labor while we are here.

[39:30] But praise God, even Jesus Christ himself said, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Hey, there's a rest that comes from Jesus Christ. Here in this present world, there's a rest that is promised to the people of God that we may have to rest for the people of God.

[39:48] And we labor to enter into that rest. Hallelujah. Amen. We labor, we toll. God didn't say this was going to be a cake walk. He didn't say it would be a piece of pie.

[40:00] First to walk through this life. Jesus said, if the world hates you, know that it hated me first. He gave us warning. And praise God. He said, in the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.

[40:15] That's the words of Jesus Christ. We will have tribulation, I promise. In that tribulation, we will have toll and we will have work. Verse 12, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharp with any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing center of soul and spirit, and of the joints of marrow, and is the center of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

[40:37] Speaking of the word of God in this, I'm not going to dissect each little description that the writer gives here, but he's speaking of the word of God, how it is quick and it is powerful.

[40:49] It is quick and it is able to impart life. The word of God is able to impart life unto those which are dead. It is able to bring life unto that which has no life.

[41:01] It is able to make living unto that which is dead. The word of God is quick and it is powerful and it is sharper than any two-edged sword. The word of God is able to pierce through your skin and through your chest, and penetrate through your heart, and show you the truth of God, and the truth in Jesus Christ, and the truth that you are a sinner, and that you need salvation.

[41:27] The word of God can do all this without leaving a mark on you. It's quick. It's living. Peter confirms that. Paul confirms that. The Old Testament confirms that.

[41:39] And it's powerful. Now, Genneth says it's powerful. Jeremiah says the word of God is like a fire. It's like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces. The word of God is powerful.

[41:51] I do have powerful it was before I was even saved. Because I felt the drawing power of the Holy Spirit using the word of God. But I rejected it. Folkship is powerful to the save.

[42:03] It is powerful to the lost. It has always been powerful. The Bible says that the word of God is forever settled in heaven and God has forever been in heaven therefore.

[42:15] The word of God has always been as powerful as it is now. And it always will be. That's right. It's powerful enough to give us comfort.

[42:27] It's powerful enough to give us peace. It's powerful enough to be used as a tool, as an instrument and saving our souls. The word of God in and by itself cannot do that.

[42:39] Because it takes to regenerating the work of the Holy Spirit and the life of an unbeliever to make a new creature and cross. The Bible says excuse me the Bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

[42:57] Praise God. You remember we use that verse a lot when we're preaching and teaching lost folks. Folks, the letter to the Romans was written to a bunch of saved people in the church at Rome. It applies to the faith coming by hearing and hearing by the word of God that applies just as much to the saved people as it does about lost people.

[43:19] We just want to use it. Trying to get people saved only. Neither is there any creature that is not manifesting this side, but all things are naked and open under the eyes of him.

[43:31] With whom we have to do, neither is any creature that is not manifesting it in the side. In other words, not only is the word of God quick and powerful and sharp as an A2 edge and sword, but God Himself, there is no creature that He does not know about.

[43:44] There is no human being that He does not know about. There is no creature in the ocean, no creature in the sky. There is no creature that He has manifest, that He does not know about.

[43:57] I believe it was Billy Sunday, he said years ago. He said the reason you don't like this book you own center is because it knows all about you. And there's a lot of truth in that statement.

[44:08] This book knows all about me and it knows all about you and that's why when we were lost we didn't want to hear the word of God preach. That's why when we were lost we didn't want to hear an old man of God come and the pulpit or on the street corner or wherever he was and call out our sin. We didn't want to preach him from the word of God because sooner or later he would get to a point that seemed like it was directive.

[44:31] That exactly at me and my direction pointed correctly at me and that's the way that God works this thing. God will convict you over your own personal sin and show you that you can have your own personal saver in Jesus Christ.

[44:48] Hallelujah. There's no creature that is not manifest in the sight. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in the sight, but all things are laid naked and open and the idol and this term naked means exactly what it means or what exactly what it says naked.

[45:08] But this term open if you read this in the original Greek writing it's actually referring to laying prostrate on the ground. Therefore you're naked and you're laying completely open in front of God. You cannot hide anything from God.

[45:24] It's impossible to do. If he is omniscient, and he is omnipotent, and he is omnipresent and he is all these things according to my Bible. If he is all these things and he is all knowing, if he is these things, I promise you, he knows everything about you.

[45:40] He knows everything about your life before, he knows everything about your life present, he knows everything about your life future, he knows what you do when you're by yourself. yourself. He knows what you do after everybody in the house goes to sleep. He knows what you look at on the TV and on your phone and on the computer. He knows what kind of messages are in your texting and in your messaging and on your Instagram and everywhere else. God knows everything about you. If you think that you are hiding one thing from Almighty God, you are surely mistaken. You are late naked and open in front of the God that said, His Son. Just walk away all that guilt from your life. And walk away all the bills from my life. You were open and naked and ashamed before Him. Let's say this, Son, to die for you. You were trampling on the blood of Jesus Christ. If you were screaming Jesus Christ to the world and still in your blatant sin, you were trampling the blood of the Savior.

[46:39] That's dangerous, grand folks. God knows everything. God knows everybody. He knows what we've all done, where we've all been. We are all open. We are all naked and open.

[46:51] In the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Lost folks. That doesn't mean if you don't have anything to do with Him, He doesn't know about you. God knows it all. God knows your life. God knows your desires. He knows with us and Christians. Same goes for you. God knows all about us. He knows all about our life, our lusts and our desires. Our desire should be as the desire of Jesus Christ was. It was His will to be the Father's will. He came to do His Father's will. That should be our desire as born again Christians to do the Father's will. What is His will? That the gospel go forth. The gospel be preached to every living creature. His will is that we do right. His will is that we walk humbly with Him. God's not harassed and sacrifices folks and He hasn't been for a long time. God's not harassed and the sacrifice of rams and of goats or rivers of old or anything else that we can read about over in the old

[48:02] Testament. The Bible says, says He has shoot the old man what is good and what does the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God. What's God's will that we do justly and we love mercy and we walk humbly with Him. That's God's will. How are we doing? How are we doing? May God bless you all. That's the message.

[48:29] Praise the Lord.