Stand On The Promise of Rest

Hebrews Four

The subject of the believer’s rest continues from chapter three and receives far greater treatment here in chapter four. God desires for Christians to understand that He still graciously offers rest to His people (Heb. 4:1-6, 9). Too many believers are uncertain about eternity and their spiritual welfare because they do not realize what they have in Jesus Christ. Too many are not even aware of the promise of rest through the Lord Jesus Christ; therefore, they are working real hard to earn their way into God’s acceptance and favor. Typically these lives are laced with anxiety, insecurity, and uncertainty. They are haunted by their failures and frustrated with their lack of power to live up to their expectations. They cannot progress to maturity in this state…. This is what life is like when we live oblivious of the Promise of Rest offered by the Lord.

Newell stated concerning Hebrews 4:1 that, “this verse indeed apply first of all, to those who may have sorely neglected God’s promises and providences.” The “rest” believers should enter relates to the completed work of Christ at Calvary, the present work of Christ at the Throne of Grace in Heaven, and the future Kingdom Age when we believer’s will enjoy the eschatological inheritance God promised His authentic children. The writer desires for them and us to enter into this promised rest. God’s redemptive work is so comprehensive and substantial that God’s people can take refuge in it. Instead of being racked with anxiety over our eternal welfare, we can be filled with peace and assure in the Lord’s promised rest. He further admonishes us to fear the possibility of coming up short of God’s promised rest and encourages us to take full advantage of the good news of rest by exercising faith in this promise (4:2, 3). Newell said, “Do not try to become worthy by any works, or change of your “character,” but just believe.” He further said, “…we rest where God rests, in the shed blood of Christ! The spiritual rest arises from accepting God’s announcement of Christ’s finished work on our behalf.” These believers were to bear in mind that God’s rest was still available to them. In addition, it is prudent to respond to God in faith now instead of continuing unresponsively towards God’s Word (4:6). We do not enjoy the luxury of doubting God’s promise without falling prey to the consequences of such unbelief!

The writer was encouraging them (and us by application) to by faith take God’s offer—let us labor to enter His rest (Heb. 4:7-11). The lessons from Israel’s experience evidenced how God had been patient with Israel’s slow respond to His offers of rest (4:7, 8). He justifiably expected an immediate response to His offer of rest emphasizing “today” (4:7). They, like so many today, were reluctant and unbelieving regarding the Promise of Rest. Christians; therefore, must likewise diligently put forth every effort to enter into His rest to avoid falling in unbelief (Heb. 4:11). We must cease from our labors to earn God’s favor and chose to rest in the Lord’s work on our behalf! Beloved, we must believe the Promise of Rest offered by the Lord God through faith in Jesus Christ. Newell noted, “…this “universal earnestness” is a great secret of progress, and the great guardian against the sad condition of the Hebrew believers”—immaturity and inexperience in the word of righteousness. We can only mature and progress in our faith as we really believe biblical beliefs—taking to heart what God stated. Through Jesus Christ our sins are paid for and are forgiven, through Christ we have an Advocate and High Priest with the Father in Heaven, and through Christ we have a Millennial Kingdom hope. This is the Promise of Rest to God’s people!

These early Christians were also challenged to trust God’s Word to reveal unbelief and detect genuine faith in their hearts (Heb. 4:12-13). Human beings are not equipped to discern our own spiritual condition or status purely on our own. We need help with this, and the Lord provides His Word. Like these First Century Hebrew Believers, we must bring our hearts before the Lord and His Word for thorough examination and holy scrutiny. “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps. 139:23, 24). This is why we read the Word daily and why we get in on as many Bible messages we can. It is to expose our deceitful hearts to God’s perspective and scrutiny. Newell, referring to the writer, adds “He warns us again and again of the treachery of the human heart. “Let us take heed,” as we are exhorted in Hebrews—for eternity is at stake!” Clearly the living Word can pierce deeply and expose completely the thoughts and motives of our heart (4:12). It will reveal whether we are resting in the finish work of Christ, or if we remain anxious about eternity—yet in unbelief. God’s Word can afford calm assurance to the soul that truly and deeply trust it throughout the multiple challenges of life as well. In addition God will help us understand the condition of our hearts (4:13). There is absolutely nothing hid from His all-knowing gaze.

Once again Christians are counseled to rely on the Lord Jesus, our Great High Priest, who effectively resisted temptation and provides help for His people as we need it. Our attitudes as believers should be shaped by the truth that Jesus Christ is the God-Man. He is fully informed and aware of the human plight by firsthand experience. There is no situation where He is unable to sympathize with the human struggle and predicament. Also Jesus Christ is enthroned in Heaven at the right hand of the Father who occupies the throne. This highlights His sovereignty and dignity; He is positioned and postured to care for and respond to the people of God. He can do something definitive about our situation! The Father’s throne is “the throne of grace” (Heb. 4:16) pointing to his benevolence. Often we need grace to help us and sometimes we need mercy because of some failure or trace of doubt in our souls. God does indeed forgive and restore! Jesus, the High Priest, is the focal point in the text; it is His grand presence that permits believers to appear in God’s presence so boldly. God is ministering mercy and grace to believers as we turn to Him for help in our time of need. Christ’s priestly ministry assures believers God will met our every need in the hour of temptation. Newell observed, “Every believer is received according to the full, finished work of Christ!” Why not rest in the finished work and present work of our great high Priest?

Jesus Christ, the Great High Priest, demands two fitting responses from Christians: first to hold firmly to our profession of faith in Christ (Heb. 4:14). “Profession” here refers to ‘confession’ like in the substance of the Christian faith. Newell observed the Christian’s confession is “First, that Jesus is the Son of God; second, that as the Son of God He is our Great High Priest; and third, that He has put away, at the Cross, all our sins forever; and fourth, that, raised from the dead, He passed through the Heavens.” This same Jesus ever lives making intercession for us before the Father in heaven. It is entirely safe to rest in the Lord Jesus. Lastly, in the light of Jesus as our Great High Priest, we Christians must come boldly to “the Throne of Grace” for the help we need. We too often turn to everyone else and every other thing…and when we find these great ideas do not work then finally we turn to the Lord as a last resort. What is wrong with the Lord Jesus that we do not choose Him first? Though the trials and challenges of bold Christian living are great, Christ the believer’s great High Priest, is greater! He will provide the assistance we need as we need it. Trust Him for it! Beloved, we can rest in Him with the greatest assurance. Stand on this Promise of Rest.

Faith Pleases God

Heb. 11:1-6

Theme: We please God when we live by faith instead of by fears. 

Introduction:

As we have stated in previous articles, living by Faith is one of the highest guidelines for Christian experience. By doing so, we please God, sustain a distinctively Christian confession of faith, secure eternal rewards in Heaven, and effectively face the challenges and hazards of a righteous lifestyle.  Though we sometimes face staggering challenges, our faith in Christ gives us the ability to respond to them with confidence instead of fear.  True faith enables us to triumph in all of our challenges. But, we must focus more on the Lord than on the challenge. Too often we forget God and focus more on our difficulties.  This leads to anxiety and worry.

Doubts, fears, anxieties, and unbelief seem to characterize the average person anymore. Mental breakdowns, anxiety attacks, heart attacks, suicide attempts, and a general hopelessness characterize the western world. The sobering truth is we live in an age of terrorism, radical Islam, multiple wars, Geo-political unrest, potential nuclear holocaust, a stagnant US economy, home foreclosures, and high unemployment. All of these problems give people many reasons to be concern about their future. Times really are tough….

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. 4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. 5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:1-6, KJV)

This incredible passage offers us practical insight into what faith is and how it operates in the Christian experience. Throughout Hebrews 11, we discover excellent illustrations of believers who trusted God deeply and pleased Him greatly because they lived acknowledging His will and presence. Through faith we can know, see, understand, and experience daily relationship with God. By the exercise of confidence in His statements in the Scriptures, we have occasion to interact with Him. In doing so, we experience life with Him day by day. Beloved, life was not designed for merely surviving endless series of fearful epics, but in trusting communion and fellowship with the Almighty. Once again the Scriptures prescribe a life of faith for the children of God as the strategy for handling the tough times!

Thesis Statement: Live by faith to be sure your life is pleasing to God. God wants us to become people who are full of faith instead of fear!

Message:

I.                  Are We Living in Fear and Doubt?

Some of us already know that we live more by fear than by faith. The obvious evidence from our lives and perhaps recent events have punctuated this fact for us. Others may be convinced they truly do live by faith in God. How can we know from God’s perspective whether we are pleasing to Him because we are indeed living with confidence in His biblical statements? Really the best way to answer this question is to subject ourselves to an examination. Yes, a test of sorts can help us understand where we are on this matter of faith versus fears.  

A.     Do our apprehensions and worry please God? 

Will our Lord be pleased with a believer too paralyzed by their cares that they are unresponsive to Him? The Bible says, “But, without faith it is impossible to please Him.” It is not that it is extremely difficult to please God, much like winning a marathon. No, it is utterly and emphatically impossible to satisfy God’s will outside of a life of faith—a trusting interaction with Him. It is as impossible as it is for us to grow wings and fly! God has not changed. He is still the one absolute constant! He expects us to believe Him always. The more consistently we live with Him in trusting interaction—in responsive belief in His Word—the more pleasing we are to Him. 

B.     Have you ever wondered how God feels about our living in fears and worry instead of by faith? 

How does the Lord Jesus feel about this?  What would He say to us? Christ’s interactions with believers on the subject of faith are quite revealing.

1.      Mark 4:40 …Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
2.      Luke 8:25 …Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.
3.      Matthew 8:26 …Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
4.      Matthew 14:31, And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
5.      Matthew 17:17, Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.

Our Lord’s interactions with real believers inform us that He is not pleased when we are more attuned to the challenges than to His promises in the Word. The Lord Jesus consistently expects His people to trust Him even in life-threatening storms; He expects us to face those storms by faith. When we believers cannot impact our communities and culture for Christ, it raises serious questions about the legitimacy and veracity of our claims of faith in God. Beloved, with these scandalous developments…how can the Lord be pleased with Christians who believe their fears more than they believe Him?

    C.     The Lord is Not Pleased When we Live in Doubt. 

It is quite obvious that there are different levels of faith and that the Lord wants us to be people of faith.  It is also plain to see that He is not pleased with Christians who are filled with doubt, anxiety, worry, fears, and unbelief. There should be a holy desire in every believer to please the Lord whom we love! Beloved, with every facet of my being I want to please the Lord--I want to obtain a good report like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and the others (Hebrews 11). Obviously, they according to God's testimony on their behalf "obtained a good report" (Heb. 11:2, 5, 6, 39).  What can we do?

II.                  What Does Living by Faith Involve? (Heb. 11:6)

Faith is knowing God is honest and all He says is true. Therefore, whatever He communicates we accept as fact, whatever He promises we anticipate, and whatever He commands we follow obediently. What are the major characteristics of living by faith? What does trusting interaction with the Lord look like?

     A.     Living by Faith Involves Believing God and Acting on It.

                    1.      Faith is Confidence in The Trustworthiness of God

                          i.      Hebrews 11:1, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
a.                   Faith knows the things hoped for are already ours, and it provides unshakable evidence that the unseen, spiritual blessings of Christianity are absolutely certain and real.  Faith enables us to understand what God does. Faith enables us to see what others cannot see (note Heb. 11:7, 13, 27). As a result, faith enables us to do what others cannot do!
b.                  People laughed at these great men and women (Heb. 11) when they stepped out by faith, but God was with them and enabled them to succeed to His glory.

                                                  ii.      Faith is the conviction that what God says is true and that what He promises will come to pass (11:1). God is totally worthy of our most profound trust!
a.                   Heb 6:17-18, Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: 18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
b.                  Titus 1:2, In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
c.                   Num 23:19, God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

                          iii.      Faith is not limited to possibilities but invades the realm of the impossible. Someone has said, “Faith begins where possibilities end. If it’s possible, then there’s no glory for God in it.”

2.      Faith Is Always Based On Some Communication From God (Rom. 10:14, 17; Luke 16:29-31). 

                                                       i.      It is never a mere whelm, an inner hunch, or a nebulous feeling.  Faith is not positive thinking; that is something quite different. Faith is not a hunch that is followed. Faith is not hoping for the best, hoping that everything will turn out alright. Faith is not a feeling of optimism. Faith is none of these things though all of them have been identified as faith.

                                                       ii.      Faith always demands the most reliable foundation—“Thus saith the Lord.” It is only faith if it takes something God said or promised to heart.

a.                   Why did Enoch walk with God? God told him to.

b.                  Why did Noah build an Ark? God told him to.

c.                   Why did Abraham leave his family and idolatry? God told him to.

d.                  Why did Moses lead Israel out of Egypt? God told him to.

3.      Faith Believes God and Controls the Believer. It is a confident attitude toward Him; a persuasion that His statements are true (Heb. 11:13). We are so convinced by what God says in the Word that we are moved, motivated, and controlled by it.  

                                                                           i.      The primary idea is trust and there are many degrees of faith all the way up to full assurance of faith –being fully persuaded and absolutely free of doubt (Heb. 10:22).

                                                                         ii.      Jesus commended the Gentile women for her great faith—“O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt” (Matt. 15:28).

                                                           iii.      Stephen in Acts is described as “a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 6:5) and “full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles” (Acts 6:8). He was controlled by his great confidence in God! Some have described him as being bold and brilliant for Christ. Though he had many reasons to be intimidated and afraid, he still spoke and acted with incredible confidence in the Lord Jesus. 

4.      Faith Is A Trust In God That Generates Commitment and Action (Heb. 11:13; Js. 2:17, 20)! Faith involves commitment to God’s will and plans for our life.  The believers listed in Hebrews 11 were people of active commitment and faith.

                                                                           i.      Consider Abel who offered a blood sacrifice to God (11:4),

                                                                         ii.      Enoch who walked with God in righteousness while his contemporaries wallowed in wickedness (11:5),

                                                                        iii.      Noah building the Ark to save his family from the Flood (11:7), and then

                                                                       iv.      Abraham followed the call of God and left his homeland unsure of his actual destination (11:8).

These believers were not perfect, but they did act on God's commands, promises, and prescriptions for life. They actually did something based on God's guidance. They faced incredible odds, total impossibilities, new challenges, un-pioneered territories, deep perplexities, physical limitations, popular opinions/perspectives, serious oppositions, and on the list goes. In every single instance, a life of faith triumphed! Faith in the trustworthy character of God and the specific statements of God enabled these ordinary believers to experience extraordinary things as they interacted with the Lord God by faith! Perhaps our lives are so boring because we do not live interacting with God daily!         

B.     Living by Faith Involves Giving God His Proper Place, And Putting Man In His Place Also (Heb. 11:6: 10:22).

Someone has said that faith is not "believing in spite of evidence, but obeying in spite of consequence." When you read Heb 11, you meet men and women who acted on God’s Word, no matter what price they had to pay. Faith is not some kind of nebulous feeling that we work up; faith is confidence that God’s Word is true, and conviction that acting on that Word will bring His blessing.—Warren Wiersbe

 Faith, mighty faith the promise sees,

And looks to God alone; 

Laughs at impossibilities 

And cries, “It shall be done.” —Author unknown. 

He Expects us to Become a diligent seeker He can reward (Heb 11:6).  Faith not only believes that God exists, but it also trusts Him to reward those who “diligently seek Him.” Believe God will reward our faith in Him with forgiveness and righteousness, because He has promised to do so (Heb. 10:35; Deut. 4:29; 1 Chr. 28:9).

He wants us to Attempt great things for His glory by faith! (Heb. 11:32–40; Matt. 21:21; John 14:12). Note the wonderful things done by the men of faith as recorded in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. Jesus attributes a kind of omnipotence to faith (John 14:12). The disciple, by faith, will be able to do greater things than his Master. Faith is a mighty Niagara of power for the believer. The great question for the Christian to answer is not, “What can I do?” but “How much can I believe?” for “all things are possible to him that believeth.” (Mark 9:23) 

Faith is the belief that God is real and that God is good. Faith is not a mystical experience or a midnight vision or a voice in the forest.… It is a choice to believe that the one who made it all hasn’t left it all and that he still sends light into the shadows and responds to gestures of faith.

Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want. Faith is the belief that God will do what is right. –Max Lucado

    

Conclusion:

How does your life reflect faith on a daily bases? When it comes to real faith, is yours a question mark or an exclamation point? What Does God Expect Of Us In Relation To Faith?

He Expects us to Become a diligent seeker He can reward (Heb 11:6). He wants us to Attempt great things for His glory by faith! (Heb. 11:32–40; Matt. 21:21; John 14:12). He wants us to face our future with confidence in Him. 

Ask God to make you a vivid demonstration to your associates and friends of a triumphant faith in Christ—an exclamation of faith, not a question mark.

He wants us to live daily by faith to overcome the doubts and fears that assail us.