Christ’s Rest is Salvation (Part C)

We are now resting in Christ for our deliverance, for Him to lead us, His rest that comes from entering into submission to Him. Because if you are a Christian and you are resisting His leadership, which happens all the time with many of us, you make poor decisions and you suffer the consequences for them. I mean, Christian sin. That's why the New Testament has the letters, the epistles, to tell us how to deal with those things.

When the train gets off the track, here's how you get it back on the track. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Hebrews.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Today, Pastor Rick will conclude his study called Christ's Rest is Salvation in Hebrews chapter 4. If you wanted to get on the wrong side of Jesus, just tell Him Peter didn't love Him.

And Jesus would fix your clock for you, even if you didn't have one. And so this understanding the person of Jesus Christ, it's not a religion we have. Yeah, it's religion in the sense of the dictionary sense of the word.

But we have this dynamic relationship. There are forces at work when we are related to Christ. Every born-again believer knows it. Yeah, you have lulls, you go through struggles. One proof of your salvation is when you're very disappointed with what God is doing. There are going to be those times when you should be happy when something sorrowful happens. Oh, we praise the Lord in spite of those things.

That does not mean we would have voted for it. There are many things I would like to change about this life, even little things. Haircuts. Why do you have to have them? Why don't you just have G.I.

Joe hair? It just stays right there. There's a lot of stuff in this life. Those aren't deal breakers with us. Well, anyway, not being mixed with faith and those who heard it. Faith is the detonator. The word is the explosive, but faith detonates those things and believing them, accepting them, and always recognizing that He actually is Lord. You can read something in the scripture and like it and want it for yourself and not get it and He's still my Lord. That is faith.

That is what those in the wilderness were not willing to do and that's what they're tinkering with here in this audience. Verse 3, for we who have believed do enter that rest as He has said. So I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. We who believe, we enter. We enter. There's rest in this life, yes, from time, but there is a final rest that is coming where there is no more labor in the realm of sin with sin present with us.

It's simple enough. We enter heaven, not Canaan, where He says they shall not enter my rest. He's quoting Psalm 95-11 and He's doing that to say to them, Joshua didn't give them the rest that they would have had, but God did not leave it there.

When He finished them off in the wilderness, God still said there's rest for my people and that has developed through the ages and that's why He quotes David who came 500 years after Joshua and He says although the works were finished since the beginning. That's why He's quoting Genesis 2 too when He says the foundation of the world. It's God's plan.

It's not something random. So it is without salvation, Ephesians 1 4, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should behold Him without blame before Him in love. From the beginning, this has been God's plan.

It's been intercepted by sin. Verse 4, for He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way and God rested on the seventh day from all His works. So the idea of this rest, this concept of rest for believers originates with God and for His people.

It is made available to us also. God's Sabbath out of Eden was broken by man's disobedience. God rested the seventh day, but then man sinned.

Now God is at work. Jesus said, my Father works until now and I work, and so do we because of sin. But before sin, it was just rest.

Everything was nice. Adam walked in the cool of the day with the Lord. We are going to have a superior rest when we enter those gates in heaven. Verse 4, for He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way and God rested on the seventh day from all His work. Verse 5, and again in this place, they shall not enter my rest.

So He's keeping the parallel before them. He's not letting them lose sight of the severity of the consequence that will befall them. God is serious.

He is serious about rejecting those who reject Him. This is our message to the world and we can't lose sight of it. We have what they can get nowhere else, the truth concerning God, sin, mankind. Using Canaan to illustrate the destination and the consequence of failing in unbelief. For the Jews, again, it was the promised land. The church, ultimately it is heaven.

Verse 6, since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience. Do you get the feeling this is being driven, piled, driven in, repeated over? He's stressing it over. He's not letting them get away.

Not for one moment are they catching their breath. He's holding up before them judgment, judgment, judgment for unbelief. They would come away from this doing some serious thinking about departing the faith. There has to be fear at work. What if you had no fear of hell? You would answer the cry of your flesh every time it made a noise.

Why not? What consequence do I have to fear from a holy God? Hell changes everything. And that's why the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Yes, we have grace. We boldly enter into the presence of the Lord. But that does not mean for one moment that we're free to be sacrilegious and blasphemous, that we're free to parade about as though God is not holy and serious about the things that he has made clear to us. Interesting thought about this sixth verse that they were practicing the Sabbath, the fourth commandment. That did not entitle them to be right with God. Well, I practiced the Sabbath.

Yeah, well, you're going to have to do a lot more than that. And they eventually became that very way with Jesus Christ. Oh, look, your disciples are breaking the Sabbath.

They're eating grain off the stems and this nonsense. We hold up the Sabbath. Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man, not the man for Sabbath. The church, the church is made for us. We're not for it. We're not slaves to ministry or service in that sense.

God has given us these things and we are to avail ourselves of them. He says because of disobedience, the consequence. And so we find, this was something that was stated in the early 1900s concerning Christianity. At least in this country, what would happen if Christians did not adhere to the Spirit of God?

It goes this way. They will seek religion without the Holy Spirit. We have that. Forgiveness without repentance.

We have that. In other words, I don't have to say I'm wrong before God. Just forgive me. Just behave as though I'm fine. It doesn't matter what I do. This is something that many Christians are infuriated when a church upholds the Word. When we take them and say, no, we're not going to let you do that. You can't come back here until you fix this. This is what the Bible says.

It's right here. They get very indignant oftentimes. Not all the time.

Sometimes they submit and correct it and it's a wonderful story but other times they don't. They want forgiveness without repentance. Repentance involves more than just saying I was wrong. Repentance means you change the direction you're going in. Salvation without rebirth. I don't need to be born again. I just need to go to heaven.

You just need to save me because it's me. We see this happening today. And then the fourth one, the fourth warning for the church, those who seek heaven without hell. Well, in the sense that, yeah, there's no hell in heaven, of course, but what's meant by that is there are those that think only heaven exists.

There is no hell. And that is to, again, call God a liar. I point these things out so that we can be ready to address them when given the opportunity. Verse 7, again, he designates a certain day saying in David today after such a long time as it has been said today, if you will hear his voice do not harden your heart. Now that long time is from the time of, between Joshua and Moses when the people didn't enter in the land and they perished to the time David wrote this and then from the time of David to its being preached right now.

So great urgency is placed on this today. Thrice. This is the third time.

He did it twice in chapter 3 and he's doing it here now. It is always time for a lost soul to come to God. God will never say, oh, no, not yet. I'm not ready for you.

I will never do that. He says today the essence of Christianity is getting right with God in this life through faith in Jesus Christ alone. There are no auxiliary saviors. There's no plan B for salvation. It's through Jesus Christ. And if you don't open your heart today then tomorrow you may find it is too late.

And so falling short of that rest that is heaven. I would also say when he mentions David here that if Jesus is not the Messiah then there will never be one because there's now no way for the Jew to prove that he is from the line of David and Messiah has to do that. Jesus did it, of course. But you can't prove it today.

It's impossible. And that is just another reason why we know he is the Christ, the Messiah of the line of David. If you were to ask a Jew how is he going to prove himself when Messiah comes, how is he going to prove according to the Scriptures that he is from the line of David?

They'll have to make something up because they've missed the window. Verse 8, for if Joshua had given them rest then he would not have afterwards spoken of another day. Now Joshua spoke about another day of rest that God would continue to put them in the land but that's not the pronoun here is God.

Then he would not afterward have spoken and that is a reference to Psalm 95 which we've been quoting today if you harden not your heart. So by merely entering the promised land the Israelites had not entered rest. God speaks of another rest.

Here are three degrees of rest that we can easily see. The rest of entering into salvation in this life, we are now resting in Christ for our deliverance, for him to lead us. There's rest that comes from entering into submission to him because if you are a Christian and you are resisting his leadership which happens all the time with many of us, you make poor decisions and you suffer the consequences for them. I mean Christian sin. That's why the New Testament has the letters, the epistles to tell us how to deal with those things.

When the train gets off the track here's how you get it back on the track. Because Christians sin and we have an advocate with the Father. But we're not, our sins die at death because of the blood of Jesus Christ. Then there's the day of course that final rest of entering into heaven. Looking at the life of the apostles and the martyrs we know for sure that when they were in this life there was a fuller rest that remained.

That the rest that they had been given in this life is not sufficient to really say this is the rest, the ultimate one. I struggle to study, to try to make it sound sensible, to open the Word of God. I try to have him open it to me so I can just share with you what he's given to me, verse by line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little. And I can tell you that it's a lot of work.

I'm fit for this because he's made me so. He's going to say this at the chapter 11 which we won't get to this morning, he's going to come out and say, be diligent. In fact I'll read it, verse 11, let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest.

You still have hard work here. So he's mixing it as he's moving through. Second Thessalonians chapter 1 tells us of this fuller rest being connected with seeing the Lord Jesus in glory. He says, to give you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. There's a rest coming that supersedes whatever moments of rest we get here and that's Second Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 7. Because they were being persecuted and he's telling them, those that are troubling you, but God's going to give you rest.

It's coming when he shows up. In Revelation 14, 13 he said about the persecuted tribulation saints, that there was a rest for them too. They were being tortured, they will be, this has not yet happened, they will be tortured.

They will be beheaded. They will be persecuted on multiple levels and they will hold to the Lord. And he writes about this in the book of Revelation and they will hear it, it will be preached to them.

Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, write, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works follow them. And so there's that word of assurance given to the tribulation saints and martyrs.

It does apply to us, but it is singled out for them because they will go through a tribulation such as the world has not known. Verse 9 of Hebrews, there remains therefore a rest for the people of God. Now this word here for rest is a different Greek word than what he's been using. He uses the word rest in Hebrews 10 times.

Eight of them in chapter 4. This word is where we get our word Sabbath. It's the Greek word for the Sabbath. And so he says there remains a Sabbath.

Jesus is our Sabbath. But why does he do this? Well, his audience is fully aware of what's going on. They understand what that means. He's joining it to the faith. He's not losing them when he uses this word. He's drawing them in further.

He's very, very clever. And so, and Sabbath means of course rest. Christians, that would be we who believe in Jesus Christ, we have our rest in a person, not a day. That's just one of the reasons why we don't celebrate the Sabbath day. The church, through history, good churches otherwise, have been confused about this. You know, thinking that Sunday is our Sabbath.

It's not. The Sabbath was given to the Jews. The Christians, Christ is our rest.

And this is simple enough. Where he talks about for the people of God, here in verse 9, there remains a rest for the people of God. He's now not talking about the wilderness Jews, but the church. In Romans 5, we hear God speak through the apostle about peace with God. And then in Philippians 4, we hear the apostle speak about the peace of God. Well, if you want to have the peace of God, you have to have peace with God. But whatever peace you have with God and of God in this life is going to be challenged by the sin, Satan, and self in this world.

The peace that comes after this life will not have any trouble. It is again so serious, Paul writes this to the Roman church. He says, consider the goodness and the severity of God, Romans 11, 22, on those who fell, severity, but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness, otherwise you also will be cut off. He never let the church say, you know, you do great damage when you tell someone, oh, once you're saved, you don't worry about it.

You're good. Once you're saved, you got a lot of work to do. Well, it's just Jesus supposed to do all the dying and suffering and work. I have learned a lot over the years about joy in Christ, and it doesn't live up to the coffee mug. You know, someone put joy to the Lord. There is a joy to the Lord that is firm and steady and unwavering. That is in faith. But as far as joy in life and circumstances, it's fleeting.

It's here one minute, it's gone the next. Paul the apostle said, we despaired even of life. Things got so bad for us in ministry. We just wanted to die.

He doesn't elaborate, and I'm glad he does not elaborate. Without this knowledge, you begin to think joy in Christ is something other than it actually is, and you feel cheated when you don't get it. Or you feel like, oh, it's me, and I'm all mad. No, it's, we're in a cursed world. And joy is like manna.

It burns off on the heat. And if you're going to have joy in Christ, you're going to have to fight for it. How many of you feel like singing all the time?

If you say, me, you're just one of those annoying ones that we still love, but most people aren't that way. How many of you wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed every single morning? How many of you go to bed, first get on your knees and spend 20 minutes in prayer because the joy of the Lord is with your strength? So this Christian joy, it's serious stuff. Satan knows about it. He knows how vital it is, so he attacks it.

And to behave as though he doesn't is to be delusional. He attacks it. We are to counter-attack. We don't wait to feel the joy to counter-attack. We do those things by faith, the swinging of the sword. We don't, you know, there are times you sing, I got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. And there are other times you just can't find the song.

That's okay. Just keep marching. Your joy will be complete one day, and you know it. And that's why you persevere. That's the meaning of those, we're almost done, the meaning of those words in Christianity, endure, persevere. Those words only come to life under hardship. There's no enduring, you know, an ice cream sundae. That's not enduring. Endurance is when something is pressing on you, and God has taken away your choices, and you simply have to suffer through it.

And perseverance is suffering through it the right way. The world can endure, but they cannot persevere in Christ. They cannot adhere to Him. They cannot stick to Jesus no matter what, because they don't have Him.

But you and I can. And every single one of us is too weak to do it on our own, without exception. When you may think you're strong, you're not strong enough. That help comes from Christ, and He gives it, and we know it by faith. When Paul went through whatever he was going through in Ephesus, he knew Christ was going to show up. He just didn't know how much he had to endure until he showed up.

But in the end, he won. Verse 10, for he who has entered his rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from his. God has given us example. Remember, God ceased from his works when there was no sin. We will sin from, we will cease working ourselves, ultimately, when there is no more sin.

No longer will the Jewish Christians to depend on the Mosaic rituals and rites to give them a sense of fulfillment and rest. They were to rest in Christ. He rested when He said, it's finished, but He rested from the cross.

It was death that issued in the final rest. So yes, Jesus says, come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, amen, that is true, but let me tell you, it's still a yoke and it's still a burden. That's ministry.

And if you enter into serving the Lord and you think there's no yoke to hold you on course while you plow, if you think there's no burden to weigh you down, you don't understand what ministry is, and you're going to end up being burned out or problematic or something, but when you understand that He will be with me in the midst of a burden and yoke, then you gain strength. They're not beer mussels. They're mussels that come from faith. Faith has everything to do with truth and destiny, where we're going.

It is predestined in this sense. You go to your grave loving Christ, there is nothing that can stop you from seeing Him and being with Him in heaven eternally. Nothing. And that eternal salvation will never ever end nor be challenged ever again. Jesus answered them, my Father has been working until now and I have been working.

And we say the same thing. My Lord Jesus has been working and I am working. He gives me rest in this life, but the final rest is coming after this life, and that's what I'm working for. If you took that away, what would you bother doing? If God said, well at the end you get beef jerky.

Who would bother? But He says what I'm going to give you is so wonderful. You will enter in. You will not perish in the wilderness. Just stick with me.

And so our salvation is based on the finished work of Christ. And thank God it is that way. You've been listening to Cross Reference Radio, the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel in Mechanicsville, Virginia. As we mentioned at the beginning of today's broadcast, today's teaching is available free of charge at our website. Simply log on to crossreferenceradio.com. That's crossreferenceradio.com. We'd also like to encourage you to subscribe to the Cross Reference Radio podcast. Subscribing ensures that you stay current with all the latest teachings from Pastor Rick. You can subscribe at crossreferenceradio.com or simply search for Cross Reference Radio in your favorite podcast app. Tune in next time as Pastor Rick continues teaching through the book of Hebrews right here on Cross Reference Radio.