Staying True to Christ

Don't give up on Jesus in spite of the hard time you may be facing. Dr. Tony Evans says God has promised believers a time of rest. That is a place to receive your inheritance.

So don't let folks steal your inheritance by getting you to turn away from the living God. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. A college student pulling an all-nighter to cram for an important exam. A parent with a fussy baby that simply won't go to sleep. We've all experienced times where we just need to get some rest. Well today Dr. Evans brings us good news. God's ready to give His followers rest and He'll tell us what we need to do to receive it. Let's listen in as we dig into Hebrews chapter 4 for a message entitled, Don't Miss Out on God's Rest. In the Christian life, if you're seriously living the Christian life, you will run into challenges, trials, tribulations. In fact, the godlier you are, the more challenges you're likely to face. Particularly the more godless the environment is in which you live. So if you acquiesce to the environment, then you can be more comfortable in it. But if you are seeking to live for God and put God first, the more adversarial you will be perceived to be.

And so that that comes with the territory. But the temptation is to want to go back, to want to not have to deal with it, rather than continuing forward by faith. The author of the book of Hebrews has them on a journey of faith. That is to keep going in spite of the challenges that you're facing on the road that you're moving in terms of your walk with the Lord. He's writing to Christians.

That point is very critical because if you don't know that, then you won't understand some of the things he's saying. He calls them in chapter 3, we saw last time, Holy Brethren, chapter 3 verse 1, Therefore Holy Brethren, partakers. That's our word. Partakers. The word partakers means special companions. You're not just... God just didn't want to save you for heaven. He wants you to become his companion on this journey. And he wants to companion with you on this journey.

He has come to the place where we talk about... He doesn't want you to be like Israel in the Old Testament, who hardened their hearts, verse 8 of chapter 3. When they tested me, verse 9, I was angry with them, verse 10, and swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest. Now God's rest is participation in and enjoyment of his destiny. It is participation in and enjoyment of his destiny, which in the Old Testament, we read last time, Numbers 13 and Numbers 14, the Promised Land. God had promised them a place of rest.

To be in the place of rest is to be in the place God has for you. Some of that is in time. Some of that is in eternity. So now, he comes to chapter 4. Therefore, in light of the warning I gave about Israel in the Old Testament, let us fear if while a promise remains of entering his rest, any one of you may seem to come short of it.

He says, now that's what happened to them back there, but now let me talk to you right here. Let us fear lest we come short of experiencing God's inheritance for us. I don't want you to miss out, he says, on God's plan that he has for you. For indeed, they had good news preached to them as we did, but the word they heard did not profit them, verse 2 says, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. He says there must be a union between the word you hear and the faith you have. Faith activates the word. Cement doesn't become concrete until you mix it with water.

You gotta mix it. You know what I'm saying? Water gotta mix so that it becomes concrete, and God is not concrete enough for many of us because it has not—the word has got to be energized by faith. For we who, verse 3, have believed enter his rest, enter that rest. Just as he said, As I swore with my wrath, they shall not enter my rest.

Although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has said somewhere concerning the seventh day, and God rested on the seventh day from all of his works. And again in this passage, they shall not enter my rest.

Now he does something very interesting. He brings up God's rest on the seventh day of creation. This helps us to understand the concept of rest. On the seventh day, God rested. He didn't take a nap. He didn't go to sleep. Sometimes we mix this word rest with sleep.

Okay? The enter of God's rest didn't go to sleep. God didn't go to sleep on the seventh day.

You know what he did on the seventh day? He enjoyed his work. He enjoyed his work because, he says, he looked at all he made and he said, This is very good. He was having fun with what he had produced. So resting was the enjoyment of what he had done, of his work.

Okay? Now obviously, he's God. He didn't have to work real hard. All he did was talk, and the world came into existence, but he rested in order to participate in that which his work had produced. God created a memorial for that when he created the Sabbath as a law in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, he says you can make any day a Sabbath.

Okay? But the principle of the Sabbath still goes on. It was in the Old Testament. Of course, it was a seventh day like creation. Now he told them, For six days you work, and on the seventh day you rest. When he told them that they were to rest on the seventh day, they were to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Okay? It was a time to sit back, to praise God what had been accomplished the six days, and to enjoy the fruits of your labor. It was a time of enjoying the work, just as God enjoyed the work on the seventh day. So he's using the principle of creation, which was established as the law of Israel, which principle is still in the New Testament.

It's just not tied to a specific day as it was in the Old Testament. And he says, verse 6, Therefore since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter it because of disobedience. Now earlier he said because of unbelief. Now he says because of disobedience, because you prove your belief by your obedience. You follow me? He says unbelief, then he says disobedience, because the way you prove you really believe is by what you do, not by how you feel or what you say. Okay? Again, walking by faith. He says it was for some to enter it.

Now watch this. All of Israel was promised it. Only two entered it. Okay? All of Israel was promised it. This is not heaven.

This was realizing God's purposes for them in Canaan. Okay? So God has promised every Christian here today rest.

That is, a place to receive your inheritance. Some is now. Some is later.

Okay? And God has to reveal that on an individual basis. So he's promised that to everyone, but only the partakers receive it, just like only Joshua and Caleb received it.

The masses did not receive it because the masses will listen to the wrong people. So don't let folks steal your inheritance by getting you to turn away from the living God, particularly because you see the Canaanites, Jebusites, Hittites. You see the challenge, the trial, the difficulty. So one of my jobs, one of our jobs, is to keep pushing you forward in faith, in spite of circumstances. And that can be hard. It can be hard for me. It can be hard for you. It can be hard for any of us, particularly as we go through difficult times.

So he says they did not enter his rest. He again, verse 7, fixes a certain day today, saying through David after so long a time, just as he had said before, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. Now what does it mean to harden your heart? To harden your heart is to say no to God. Okay?

To say no to God. One of the things you always want to keep is a sensitive heart. Okay? We talk about people being hard.

You know, people being hard. To harden your heart is to get calloused toward God. Okay? Because when you get calloused toward God, you don't hear him speaking anymore. You don't hear him. Not because he doesn't want to speak, but because you got bricks around your heart.

You've closed your heart off to him. You want to keep an open heart to the Lord. Even in the struggle, you want to keep an open heart to God. That's why you want to keep exposing yourself to people and to principles and to thoughts that keep chipping away at the calluses that want to get up around your heart.

Okay? Because he says don't don't close your heart off to God. He says today when you hear his voice, respond. Dr. Evans will expand on that thought when he returns with more of today's message in just a moment. First though, I want to let you know about a book Tony's written that complements the primary theme of Hebrews. It's a work that'll give you the assurance and motivation you need to press on through the tough times of life. It's called, Can God Be Trusted in Our Trials?

This book will help you see the purpose of hard times and help you build a foundation for the future. And it's yours as our thank-you gift when you make a contribution in support of Tony's ministry. And right now we are packaging this book along with all 13 full-length messages in Tony's current two-volume teaching series on Hebrews, Don't Ever Give Up. Get all the details and make your request right away at TonyEvans.org or call our 24-hour resource request line at 1-800-800-3222.

That's 1-800-800-3222. We'll hear more from Dr. Evans right after this. How do you share the gospel with confidence? What's God's plan for our communities?

Why does the Old Testament matter to your faith today? Those are just a few of the questions you'll get answered when you enroll in the Tony Evans Training Center, an interactive online study experience with Dr. Tony Evans where you can grow in your knowledge of God's Word and learn to advance His kingdom agenda in your life. Visit TonyEvansTraining.org to get started today.

That's TonyEvansTraining.org. If Joshua, verse 8, had given them rest, he would not have spoken of another day. In other words, in the Old Testament, Joshua didn't give them.

They went into the land, but they didn't get control of all of the land. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. In other words, the Sabbath principle is still operating, he says. A Sabbath rest where you get to enjoy your inheritance. Remember, Sabbath equals inheritance. Inheritance is what God has bequeathed to you.

And some of that is in time. Some of that is in eternity. And he says, don't harden your heart so that you don't lose your inheritance. Verse 10, For the one who has entered his rest has himself also rested from his works as God did from his. So he takes us back to the creation. In other words, here's how you know you are entering into your inheritance. I mean, this is very simple, but here's how you know that you're getting the peace on this side, whatever that is, that God has for you. When they got to the Promised Land, the sinners had already prepared it for the saints to take it.

Okay? God says, I'm bringing you to a place with wells you did not dig, houses you did not build, cities you did not construct, and plants you did not plant, fruit you didn't plant, and all that's just sitting there. How did all that happen? The sinners did it. He used the Jebusites, Canaanites, Hittites.

Let them farm the land to set it up for the saints to come in and take it. So notice what he says. He says that one has entered his rest, has himself rested from his works as God did for his. So you know you're entering your rest when God has set it up for you. When God has set it up for you. In other words, you don't have to make it happen. You don't have to force it to happen.

You've rested from your work. You don't have to connive and twist and turn because he's prepared the table before me in the presence of my enemies. Okay? So you are able to enjoy the provision of God. That's inheritance. Therefore, verse 11, let us be diligent to enter that rest.

Okay? Let us take this thing seriously to enter God's inheritance for us so that no one will fall through following the same example of disobedience. What example? Israel in the wilderness. Don't follow their example. What did they want to do? They not only didn't want to go to Canaan, they wanted to go back to Egypt.

Okay? Don't go back there. Because you enter his rest through obedience to his word, which is faith. God's word was, I got Canaan. I preached the good news.

Keep going. They didn't buy it. They didn't believe his word, because his word didn't fit the circumstances. Okay?

You will regularly find out in your Christian pilgrimage that God's word and your circumstances don't match. In other words, what he said and what you're dealing with, they ain't connecting right now. Okay? Okay? So if you stare at the circumstances too long, his word will shrink in its impact and influence in your life. Okay.

So he's got to deal with that, and he closes his chapter out by doing that. For the Word of God is living and acting. It's not dead information.

It's not just makeup data. It's alive and sharper than any two-edged sword. But notice what he says. Verse 13, And there is no creature hidden from his sight.

Well, wait a minute. He says the Word of God is active, and now he personalizes his sight. Because now we got the cross from the written word to the living word. And the living word uses the written word to unveil us, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. You are never alone.

Okay? Everything is laid bare, like a surgeon just slicing you open. Everything is laid bare even to the thoughts. But then he comes, he closes us out. It's sweet, sweet. 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. So let's pause here. He says, Jesus doesn't know sin, but he knows the temptation to sin.

Okay? There's one part where he's like all of us, and there's one part he's like none of us. When it comes to being tempted, he is like all of us. And not only is he like all of us, he's been tempted more than any of us.

He's been tempted more than anybody else because he's resisted it perfectly. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. Now, who occupies a throne?

A king. I want you, when you're tempted to go back—watch this—the temptation to go back is the invitation to draw near. Okay? Every time you feel like retreating, backing up, moonwalking, you know, every time you feel like that, that is literally an invitation to draw near because you're struggling. Of course, when you're tempted to go back, you don't always feel like drawing near, emotionally.

Okay? But he says, I want you to draw near to my throne. And my throne, he said, let me describe my throne, it's a grace throne.

Grace is the goodness of God that he supplies us, that you don't earn, you don't deserve, you can't buy it, but grace is free. He gives it away. But you've got to draw near. Don't stay away. Come closer. You're coming to a benevolent sovereign. He's king, but he's also sovereign, and he's also benevolent.

Why? Why are you drawing near? So that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. You come to the throne of grace, but he says, I'm gonna give you two things. I'm gonna give you mercy and grace.

Okay? Mercy is not getting what you do deserve. Grace is getting what you don't deserve. Mercy is not getting what you do deserve. Grace is getting what you don't deserve.

Okay? Mercy is not getting what you do deserve. Cuz you may have blown it. You may have failed.

You may have fallen on your face. Well, now you need mercy. Okay, let me put it this way. You need grace to keep you from falling on your face, and you need mercy to get up if you've fallen on your face.

Okay? So mercy and grace, he says, if you will draw near to me, I will walk you through this. And he tells you why—because of his role as a high priest. Dr. Tony Evans, talking today about some of the wonderful benefits for followers of Christ.

If you don't yet count yourself in that group, that can change for you right now. Here's Dr. Evans to explain. If what you just heard has impacted your heart, if what you just heard has quickened something within you to want to enter into a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, then I want to invite you to respond right now to the invitation to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. So right now, why don't you go to God and let him know that you now receive Jesus Christ into your life for the forgiveness of your sins, for the gift of eternal life, because you believe he died on the cross for you. If you will do that right now, God is ready and waiting to receive you and to give you the greatest gift that anyone could ever be given. Dr. Evans would love to tell you more about that gift. Just visit tonyevans.org and follow the link that says Jesus.

We have a helpful video there that'll answer your questions, along with some great downloadable resources to get your new life started off right. Well, Tony, we'll come back with a final word to close our message in just a moment, but in the meantime, don't forget to request your copy of our current 13-part teaching series on the book of Hebrews, Don't Ever Give Up. As a reminder, for a limited time, we're packaging all the audio lessons from this two-volume collection, including entire messages we won't have time to present on the air, together with Dr. Evans' easy-to-read guide, Can God Be Trusted in Our Trials. This package is offered to you as our way of saying thanks for your contribution toward the support of this ministry.

Contact us right away at 1-800-800-3222. Members of our resource team are standing by to help you, or visit tonyevans.org, where you can make the arrangements online. That's tonyevans.org, or by phone at 1-800-800-3222. In the Stories from the Storyteller animated series, everyday moments in the lives of the Evans family are turned into perfect opportunities to uncover meaningful biblical truths, and a new episode is being released this Friday. In Hidden Treasure, the story is told of how their pet dog Tyson came to the family, and the kids learn why a relationship with God and the pursuit of his kingdom are priceless. Check out Stories from the Storyteller at tonyevanstv.com.

That's tonyevanstv.com. A lot of people can point you toward God, but tomorrow Dr. Evans explains that only one person can connect you with him. Right now though, let's listen in as Tony wraps up today's message with this brief but important thought. No matter what you're going through, keep going. When it looks like the world is falling, you keep going, and don't just count on the pulpit. Have some people in your life who will tell you to keep going, because there is a rest that awaits the people of God.