#9: Do Not Fail to Enter His Rest!

I. Introduction
A. Today we come to another firm yet loving warning given by the author of this epistle to these Hebrews who have become Christians and yet are now being pressured to forsake Christ and return to Judaism.
B. I also want to remind you that we have been taking little bites off of one long passage: a passage in which the author of Hebrews uses Ps.95 to make application of the rebellion of the Israelites in the wilderness.
C. The story of the ten spies
1. To one extent or another, all of us know the tragedy of coming so far and yet missing out on the prize we worked for, sought after, and counted on. This is the tragedy of the Israelites.
2. God promised the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants. The promise then was passed on to Abraham’s son Isaac and then to Isaac’s son Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons, who were to become the 12 tribes of Israel. But they were jealous of young Joseph and sold him into slavery in Egypt. And when famine came to the land, God used Joseph to save Jacob’s family and they all moved to Egypt where they enjoyed an abundant life. But it wasn’t long before their life of abundance turned into a life of slavery and the Israelites lived under Egyptian oppression in Egypt for the better part of 400 years. So the Israelites had lived in slavery for many, many generations when Moses showed up claiming God wanted to set His people free. It was hard for them to believe until Moses began performing miracles in defiance of Pharaoh. After the 10th plague, which involved the killing of his oldest son and the oldest sons of all the Egyptians, Pharaoh finally released the people of Israel. (The oldest sons of Israelite families had been spared on account of the Passover blood applied to the their doorframes.) Then Pharaoh changed his mind and pursued them to the Red Sea, where, trapped between the sea and the Egyptian army, it looked like all hope was lost. But when Moses raised his rod, God parted the sea and they fled across on dry ground. After a big celebration, the Jews were faced with the prospect of survival in the wilderness. For the first 3 days, they searched for water and found none. After the Lord provided water, they still had no food. They were so distressed that they began to wonder if this whole fleeing from Egypt thing had been a mistake. Eventually God provided manna for them to eat, but life was hard for this mass of people trying to survive in the desert. Then they got attacked by the Amalekites and had to fight them off. About a year after they’d left Egypt, a year of eating only manna & drinking only water, they finally made it to Mt. Sinai, where they stayed for a few months. There they entered into covenant with God and received His law and built the tabernacle and ark of the covenant and established the priesthood. After a few months at Sinai, they finally began the journey to the promised land, and arrived at the doorstep of Canaan over 6 months later.
3. It’s important to remember how uninhabitable the wilderness was.
a. There were no hotels, no vehicles to travel in, no AC, and no restaurants along the way.
b. These people were not living in the wilderness, they were just passing through. No one was enjoying this trip. Their hope was all resting in getting to their new home in Canaan.
c. They had endured more than they felt like they could handle.
d. This is one of the reasons why going into the promised land is called “entering My rest.” (3:18)
e. When we moved to our present home in 1987, the hassle, the logistics, the uncertainties, the unexpected obstacles were overwhelming. I said I never wanted to move again. Many of you know what I’m talking about. Well, nobody likes to live in that transitional place. You go through it only to get to a place of permanence, a place of stability, a place of home.
4. When the Israelites began to get closer and closer to Canaan, their sense of expectation began to increase as they saw signs on the side of the road: Canaan 22 miles, Canaan 15 miles, etc.
a. Their hard journey was about to end. Their toil and their troubles were almost over. The land flowing with milk and honey was just up ahead.
5. But then came the pop final exam. You see, God had been preparing them for this over the last two years. He had shown them that He was bigger than the mighty nation of Egypt. He had shown them that He was bigger than the dryness of the desert. He had shown them He was bigger than the Amalekites. He had shown them He was bigger than the foodlessness and the meatlessness of the wilderness. He had shown them He was bigger than the biting serpents. He had shown them He was bigger than all their problems, all their enemies, all their obstacles, all their needs.
6. And then they arrived at the doorstep of Canaan and sent the 12 spies into the land. I’m sure after all they’d been through they expected the doors to be flung open and be able to find rest and enjoy all that milk and honey.
7. But instead the spies reported that the land was filled with giants! “We can’t attack those people! They are stronger than we are! These are people who eat enemies for breakfast! We look like grasshoppers next to them!” (Numbers 13:31–33)
8. Moses and Joshua and Caleb tried to assure them that God with them and would give them the land (Num.14:8-9). But...
9. “That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud: ‘If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! 3 Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt? We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.’ ” (Num.14:1-4)
10. And then came the devastating news. God made another promise, this time a negative one. “I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’ ” (Hebrews 3:11)
a. They would not be allowed to enter the promised land after all. Not only this, but they had to live in the wilderness until they died.
b. After all the walking, all the hassle, all the danger, all the uncertainty, all the deprivation, all in the hope of going to a good land, they are now turned away on the threshold of the promised land.
II. Explanation of Hebrews 3:15–4:1
A. 15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
1. Here he quotes again from Psalm 95:7-8, repeating the exhortation not to repeat the mistake of the Israelites in the wilderness.
2. Then in 16-18 he goes on to give a little commentary on things said in Psalm 95...
B. 16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?
1. He makes the point that the same group who were miraculously delivered from Egypt at the hand of Moses were the ones who disobeyed in the wilderness and as a result were prevented from entering the promised land, wandering for 40 years and dying in the desert.
2. 17 Dying in the wilderness: “whose bodies fell in the wilderness”
a. English translations are being polite here. The word here is not the word for body but the word for corpse.
b. 600,000 men (Num.1:46) = about 1,200,000 adults dying in 40 years (14,600 days) = an average of 82+ people died per day for 40 years.
c. The picture he wants to evoke in our minds is of scattered corpses, a pretty horrific scene. (Is this the backdrop of Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones?)
C. 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
1. It’s not that God randomly slammed the door in their face when they got there. “They were unable to enter because of unbelief!”
2. That’s what happened to the Israelites. But then in 4:1 the author turns it on his Hebrew Christian readers...
D. 4:1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.
1. There’s a promise that we will enter God’s rest. But in one sense it is a conditional promise.
a. “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31)
b. You must believe. And if you say you believe and then stop believing, the promise doesn’t apply.
c. So, make sure you don’t give up the faith, or you’ll fail to reach God’s rest as well.
E. 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
1. Don’t think of them as different than you. They had the gospel preached to them as well (in its OT form), but hearing the good news doesn’t do you any good if you don’t embrace it by faith.
III. 1Corinthians 9:24–10:12 is a passage with so much overlap to Heb.3:15-4:2 that I want to bring it to our attention. It’s one passage, but I’d like to look at in two parts. The second part specifically goes into the Israelites in the wilderness part of the story but it’s all one passage.
A. 1Cor.9:24-27 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
1. Think of the Christian life as a race. That’s the analogy Paul uses here.
2. You sign up to be in this race. And so you show up and the starting gun goes off and you run, and you run, and you run, and you run, for it’s a long race.
3. And then you ‘hit a wall.’ Now that’s a running term that uses the feeling of hitting a wall to describe what happens at some point in the race when you feel like you’ve given everything and have nothing left to give. There’s no more bounce, there’s no more oomph. Your body cries out for you to stop, to give up.
4. 27 “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” Paul won’t let himself give up because he doesn’t want to be disqualified.
5. One of my favorite books in the world is, The Horse and His Boy (by CS Lewis): Shasta & Aravis were riding Bree & Hwin, desperately trying to outrace the Calormen army to alert the castle of Anvard of their impending danger. Just when they felt like they had no more energy to run, a lion roars behind them and chases them: “At that moment everyone’s feelings were completely altered by a sound from behind. It was not the sound they had been expecting to hear — the noise of hoofs and jingling armor, mixed perhaps, with Calormene battle-cries. Yet Shasta knew it at once. It was the same snarling roar he had heard that moonlit night when they first met Aravis and Hwin. Bree knew it too. His eyes gleamed red and his ears lay flat back on his skull. And Bree now discovered that he had not really been going as fast — not quite as fast — as he could, Shasta felt the change at once. Now they were really going all out.”
(1) They ran their race well, but when they were tempted to give up, God sent them the special motivation of fear of the horrifying consequences of stopping.
B. 10:1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.”
1. Here Paul shows parallels between Israel in the wilderness & a present day Christian congregation like Corinth (or Gainesville PCA).
2. We already saw the author of Hebrews talk about this parallel in Heb.4:2 “For good news came to us just as to them.”
3. Here Paul says that like us the Israelites were baptized, and like us they drank and ate food which represented Christ: 1Cor.10:1-5.
4. There other parallels as well. They were God’s chosen people. They had been delivered from a life of slavery. They entered into covenant with God. They had a great leader. God did a lot of spectacular things in their midst.
5. “Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.” – 1Cor.10:5.
6. The point is this: Just because you hear the good news, just because you’re among the saved, just because you’re baptized and take communion each week, just because you have been shown enormous favor, just because you’ve seen God do wonderful things, it doesn’t mean you’re safe.
7. There is an assurance of salvation which is harmful.
a. This is what Paul is talking about in 1Cor.10:12 “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.”
8. And there is a fear which is healthy.
a. Heb.4:1 “Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.”
b. Fear is commended here. The doctrine of assurance is often misunderstood to mean there should be no fear. But fear is an essential element in assurance of salvation. Fear is one of the things that helps us be confident of our faith. If we have no fear, then we should have serious doubts about our salvation.
c. Years ago we took our family to the Grand Canyon. And we scattered for several hours, walking around the edge of that enormous cavern. We had no little ones, so our assurance that our kids would not fall over the cliff was that they had a healthy fear of doing so, a fear which kept them from getting recklessly close to the edge. If we had a toddler with us who didn’t know enough to have that fear, we would have been very afraid to let him wander. Do you see how fear is an important part of assurance? Having a fear of abandoning Christ is a part of having a healthy confidence that by His grace I won’t.
d. The lion that chased Shasta and the others turned out to be Aslan, who represents Christ in the Chronicles of Narnia. And although they felt themselves unfortunate to be chased by a lion, they found out later that he did it for their good, and for the success of their mission to warn Anvard.
e. The same thing can be said about the many warnings in the book of Hebrews about the consequences of falling away from Christ. The fear they (ought to) stir in us is part of God’s way of keeping us focused on Christ, or getting us focused on Christ.
IV. Application
A. “These things happened for us and were written for our instruction.” (1Cor.10:11)
1. This is the nature and beauty of Scripture.
2. What happened to the Israelites in the wilderness happened for the sake of the readers of the epistles to the Corinthians and the Hebrews — and for us!
3. The Hebrews wavering in their faith also happened for us.
4. The Bible is for us. The Bible relates to us! This is you and me in these stories!
5. You haven’t really read the Bible until you’ve seen yourself in it.
B. The Israelites are us. It’s easy to condemn them, but we’re just like them, aren’t we? They had seen God overpower the mighty nation of Egypt. But now they could believe He could do the same for Canaan.
1. They had been saved by a very big God. They had followed Him through a number of struggles, but in spite of all the big ways God had displayed His bigness to them, when they got to Kadesh-Barnea they concluded that the forces opposing them were bigger than God.
2. In their imaginations, they had lost sight of the big God who had brought down Pharaoh and humbled Egypt. All they could think about was the scary prospect of facing the Canaanites.
3. The Hebrews were on the verge of doing the same thing the Israelites in the wilderness had done.
4. The author of Hebrews is saying, “Now the same thing is happening to you. You’re facing the scary people who oppose God. You’re facing the ridicule, the unpopularity that comes with commitment to Jesus Christ.”
5. And through His word God is saying the same thing to us! WE are identified with the people of God, and WE believe in God on some level, and as we go along, WE face various oppositions, and in each case, WE have to make a judgment whether this opposing force is bigger than God.
6. For some of us, this opposing force comes in the form of a seeming consensus of intelligent people around us who don’t believe in God or don’t take Him seriously. For others, it’s the ridicule they receive for being a Christian. For yet others, it’s struggles, hardships or disappointments which seem to them bigger than God.
7. And God is saying, Don’t repeat the same mistake! Don’t spend years sacrificing lots of time and effort to go to church and learn the Bible and get to know My people, and then waste all that time & effort by not trusting Me to take care of you, turning your back on Me when things get tough. Don’t go through all the toil and pain and then miss out on the Rest!
8. Don’t spend your life in futility wandering around the wilderness. Come to Me, and I will give you rest. There is no other resting place. There is no other home.
C. So come to Me today! The issue is not what you did yesterday. The issue is not what you might do tomorrow. The issue is what you’re doing Today!
1. What’s happening RIGHT NOW between you and Jesus?
2. The question is not, Did you at some point listen to Him or respond to Him? The question is, Are you listening to Him today? “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
3. The big danger facing us every day is the temptation to harden our hearts toward the Lord and toward His voice.
4. For every man there is an open offer on the table to come into Christ’s rest. But this offer has a limited duration. Only God knows when the offer will end. Don't act like it will always be there. There will come a day when it will be too late. The Bible paints a chilling picture of this great day of disappointment (e.g. Matt.25:1-13). Come to Him “while the promise of entering his rest still stands.”