Rest V

Rest V - Salad Steps to Rest

I. Review

a. Rest is ceasing from our own efforts to do three things:

i. Ceasing from our efforts to gain God’s favor.

ii. Ceasing from our efforts to maintain God’s favor.

iii. Ceasing from our efforts to meet our own needs.

b. We have asked ourselves “what is rest?”

i. It is entering into the relationship that God originally created us for, in which He meets our needs.

ii. It is a rest that begins when we place our trust in Christ to pay the penalty for our sins, and goes on into eternity with a forever relationship with God.

iii. Last week we quoted the passage from Philippians 4:6-7

1. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hears and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

a. Anxiety is the fruit of a soul that is trying to meets its own needs or that isn’t trusting God to meet its needs.

2. And I believe that we learned that the reason we don’t experience the “rest” of God, the “peace” of God that comes from allowing Him to meet all of our needs is that we don’t take many of our needs to Him.

3. James says, “you have not because you ask not.” (James 4:2)

4. I can almost imagine James wanting to “shake” his readers into reality by saying this…”Come on! Why can’t you get this! If you would only learn to trust God enough to ask Him to meet your needs and let Him do it, you would be amazed!”

a. Why are you putting up with so much less than God’s best for you?

b. How much longer will you live with the anxiety and stress and worry?

c. ASK!

Hebrews 4:10-16 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. ¹¹ Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. 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. ¹³ 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. ¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵ 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. 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.

I would like to think that 3 of the 4 steps we will be looking at today from this passage are “salad steps.” Each of them began with lettuce (let us).

II. How to Enter God’s Rest - Steps to Rest

a. “Cease from Your Works” (Hebrews 4:10).

i. “for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work.”

ii. We have been speaking for weeks now about “ceasing” and “resting” from our own efforts.

iii. Review:

1. Cease

2. Shabbat

3. Constrast wages received (earned for work) with the free gift (not earned) of eternal life (Romans 6:23) The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.

4. God’s Sabbath rest began in the Exodus as a sign.

a. God called Israel to receive His provision (His rest) in the desert.

b. God wanted them to display their dependence upon Him by not working one day of seven (unlike their neighbors). They would have more in 6 days than they would have in 7, because God had provided, not their labors.

iv. This is the key ingredient for most of us to BEGIN the process of entering God’s rest.

1. When we come to the end of ourselves and have no where else to turn, we look to Jesus and find the futility of our labor.

2. We must recognize that we cannot “do it,” or “fix it”…we really cannot meet our needs as well as God can.

b. “Hold fast your confession” (Hebrews 4:14)

i. “Let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.” (Therefore, since we have Jesus, our high priest)

1. Hold Firmly: (Kraton)

a. To get possession of, to become master of, to obtain, to take hold of, take, seize, to hold fast, i.e. not discard or let go. To keep carefully and faithfully.

2. Our Confession: our (Homologio)

a. of what or whom we profess to be ours

b. It also “reveals” what is inside our heart

ii. What is a “confession”?

1. It is NOT telling your sins to a priest or a minister.

2. It means to speak out of your mouth the same thing that is in your heart.

3. A Confession is a requirement for salvation.

a. You may have beliefs, but if you do not speak what you believe, your belief is only intellectual.

b. Romans 10:9-10 “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”

c. There is a mystical quality to a “confession.” It has a transforming quality to us

i. Our words are the first step to action.

ii. Example of my “confession” of my faith in Christ at Nabisco.

4. The confession of our faith is what a baptism is all about.

a. It is the public proclamation by a believer that they belong to Jesus Christ.

b. In the early church, such a proclamation brought danger and persecution.

c. It still does today in Muslim countries where becoming a Christian is a capital offense.

d. Yet people make the confession that they belong to Jesus..

e. They proclaim that they belong to Jesus, that He has paid the price for their sins, and that are dedicated to following Him and allowing His Spirit to control their lives, no matter what the cost might be.

5. Let’s look at a parallel passage: 1 Timothy 6:12 take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

6. The Christian is called to take hold of (1 Tim 6:12) and to hold firmly the gift he has. “Let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.” (Heb 4:14)

7. He is to guard it as a treasure, not as something to take lightly.

8. His confession, and his faith in Jesus is to be clung to with tenacity, despite all opposition.

iii. What might lead us to let go, to let loose our grip on this confession?

1. The early church, undergoing tremendous persecution and even death for their faith, looked upon turning back in the face of death as turning back on your faith. Imagine such a thing.

a. Facing death for your faith. We cannot even imagine it. They faced it daily. There are those in some countries that still face it daily.

b. The early church had to come to grips with those who denied Christ in the face of death…they saw it as fearing man more than God.

c. You cannot be a “secret Christian.” There is no such thing.

2. How could we loosening our grip on our faith…

a. It happens slowly. It starts with erosion of our trust in God.

b. We choose to do something in our own strength…we start trusting in our own strength instead of God’s.

c. We make choices not to allow God to provide for us.

d. We short-circuit God’s plan for rest in our lives.

e. We allow obstacles and trials to block our view of God’s provision for us.

3. Unless we deliberately choose to trust Christ, we will “lose” the experience of rest that God has promised us.

4. “Holding firmly to our faith” means to hold firmly to Jesus.

a. To give Him everything and let Him give us everything.

c. Be Diligent to Enter God’s Rest

i. We are called to “be diligent to enter His rest” (Hebrews 4:11)

1. Diligent means to make “haste and earnest effort.”

2. Diligence implies that we make this a top priority of our lives.

3. Diligence doesn’t mean that we are to be trying to be diligent to EARN God’s approval.

a. We don’t become secure in Christ by doing stuff. (like the rich ruler asks Jesus, “What good thing must I do to have eternal life”).

b. We hold tight to the promises that he gives us. Our diligence is toward faith in Him, not in trying to do more things to earn or keep His favor.

4. It is diligence to KEEP trusting in Christ’s Provision even when it is difficult to do so.

a. Taped to her desk, (Olympic Gold Medalist) Mary Lou Retton has this thought: "Good morning! This is God. I will be handling all of your problems today. I will not need your help. So, have a good day!"

ii. Another translation of this passage is to “make every effort to enter His rest.”

1. We are being exhorted to “make every effort to not trust our own efforts”

2. The Israelites did not enter (see v11 also) because their discontinued belief.

a. They grumbled in the desert for food and water and refused to trust God to meet their needs.

b. They refused to enter the land because of their fear of the giants and failure to trust God’s word.

c. They refused to repel all of the inhabitants of the land as they grew complacent and did not believe God when He told them to do so…and thereby suffered the consequences.

3. Making every effort to enter God’s rest means that we look at trusting God to be the very top priority in our lives.

a. Is it the top priority in your life? Or is it simply a necessity at times of crisis.

b. Do we “give up on God” when He is slow at meeting our needs or when He meets them in a different way than we want?

c. Until trusting God to meet your needs becomes your continued and top priority...you will not know His rest.

d. “Draw near with confidence to the throne of Grace.” (4:16)

i. How do we draw near with confidence?

ii. There are three elements of this step:

1. Draw Near

2. With Confidence

3. To the Throne of Grace

iii. Draw Near:

1. This requires that we want God’s solution for our needs.

2. We have to make a choice to seek Him.

3. Drawing near requires that we get close to God.

a. We don’t keep Him at arm’s length, we spend time needed to get close.

b. Just like a relationship with a person, either you work at drawing close or you will drift apart.

4. We approach Him.

iv. With Confidence:

1. Imagine if you asked someone for help with a difficult task and you got a very negative response, like, “Why can’t you do it yourself?”

a. What would you feel like?

b. You wouldn’t feel very safe about approaching them for help again.

2. I believe that many of us transpose our experiences of our own parents and lives upon God.

a. We were taught to be self-sufficient, perhaps with the experience of rejection and pain.

3. Many of us don’t approach God with confidence, if and when we approach Him at all.

a. We say, “I would only go to Him if it was really, really urgent, and even then I am not sure He would help me!”

4. But we are called, in this passage to have an more positive view of God.

5. Our views of God are made by the wrong things.

6. The Word of God is the place where we need to develop our view of God.

7. Look at what it says about Jesus in this same passage that tells us to draw near with confidence: (in context)

8. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin! (Therefore, because of this truth) Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Heb 4:15-16)

a. Jesus is God in the flesh; a high priest who isn’t removed from our troubles, but who has experienced the temptations, trials and pains of life just as we have.

b. If we want to experience “rest” then we need to remember how we come to the throne of grace…by the merits of Jesus. It is He who makes it possible for us to draw near. He knows us.

9. What does it mean to “draw near with confidence?”

a. Proserchomai meta Draw Near: "Let us keep on coming to" our high priest, this sympathizing and great high priest. Instead of deserting him, let us make daily use of him.” (Robertson)

b. Parrhesia - freedom in speaking, unreservedness in speech, openly, frankly, without concealment, free and fearless confidence, cheerful courage, boldness, assurance

c. For help in our time of need (literally, “for help in the nick of time,” for well timed help” or “to obtain help before it is too late”)

v. To the Throne of Grace:

1. When I fail or succumb to deeply ingrained habits or temptations, it is very easy to think that God is like me…as if God is exasperated with me.

2. There is a temptation, when we sin, to feel like there is something we need to do to pay for our sins.

3. As if we can do a good work to make ourselves feel better and somehow get God to like us more.

a. Jesus paid it all. He cannot pay any more. It is finished. Rest in this!

4. We beat ourselves up.

a. We should go and confess our sin to God and receive His forgiveness and cleansing as He has promised in 1 John 1:9

5. We treat ourselves as unworthy.

a. We cut ourselves off from God and others

b. This is a lie from Satan to exclude us from the very One who can heal us

6. Our answer is to claim the promises of God and REST in them.

a. Don’t depend upon what you feel.

b. Depend upon what God says about you!

c. Find our Rest in the finished work of Christ.

d. Example of deliverance for me from this attitude that prevented me from experiencing this because of “my unworthiness” before and after failure.

7. Imagine that parent again. That is a lie. God is not like man.

8. Jesus not only knows your weakness and mine, He bore our weaknesses and now stands ready to take your pain, your shame and your hurt.

a. He has already taken the penalty for your sin.

b. Won’t you give Him your shame as well?

c. He has taken it all. Let go of it today.

e. A very deep longing on the part of us is to identify and relate to someone who sees our faults and accepts us anyway. Not only do they accept us, but they are committed to our good. Isn’t that what we want from a friend?

i. Jesus is that person.

1. He wants to have you enter into His finished work.

2. He wants you to receive the rest He offers.

3. Won’t you do that today?

Good place for a closing.