EXPLAINING GOD’S REST
Hebrews 4: 4-10

Introduction:     What a blessing it is to be at peace and at rest! We live in such a stressful world and the peace offered by this world is a pitiful imitation of the real and lasting rest available in Christ Jesus! (Illus: Two artist painting pictures of a peaceful scene). These verses explain why God’s rest can only be experienced by faith. Experiencing God’s best is always based on a finished work. That is why it is called rest. Our part is not to "do," but to rest in faith upon that which has been "done." Only then can we enter and experience the abundant life God has promised.

I.          CREATION REST (VV.4-5)

A.     God rested on the seventh day to picture the rest He had prepared for us.

God rested because the work of creation was finished. God rested because He was satisfied with all that He had done.

B.     As His finished work allowed Him to rest, so it allows us to rest in what He has done.

II.         CANAAN REST (VV.6-8)
(note: Joshua in the Old Testament becomes Jesus in the New Testament.)

A.     The conquest of Canaan was based on a finished work. See Joshua 1:3

Notice the tenses of the verbs: Every place that the sole of your foot SHALL [future] tread upon, that HAVE [past] I given you. From God’s point of view, the conquest of Canaan was already an accomplished fact. All that remained was for Joshua to start walking and claiming it by faith.

B.     Canaan is not a picture of heaven, but of the abundant, abiding life of faith that God calls "rest".

The rest of heaven is final and complete – no more sorrow, pain, difficulty or death. Canaan was a place where battles were fought, enemies were overcome, and even defeats were suffered. Canaan rest was never final. Each new generation had to appropriate its blessings by faith – as evidenced by the fact that 400 years later David was still encouraging God’s people not to harden their hearts and forfeit the rest they should enjoy. See verse 7

III.       CHRISTIAN REST (VV.9-10)

A.     The rest spoken of is not salvation because it is a rest reserved for the people of God.

B.     The rest is not heaven; else these Believers would not be warned of coming short of it and encouraged to labor to enter into it.

C.     It is a rest entered into when the Believer ceases from his own works and rests in the finished work of the cross.

You become a Christian when you cease from your own works – you stop trying to save yourself and rest in the finished work of Calvary . God designed that you should live your Christian life in the same way. It is the "not I, but Christ" principle of Galatians 2:20. I cease from my own efforts to please God and accomplish great things for Him, instead resting in His righteousness and trusting Him to accomplish great things through me. I rely upon the work of Christ alone to meet my every spiritual need.

D.     This rest is not inactivity, but freedom from the struggle of a self-sufficient life.

There are still battles to be fought, enemies to be confronted, and victories to be won. But there is the realization that it is not what I can do, but what God has done for me that will win the day. We enter our rest when we cease trying to fight a battle we can never win and rest in the victory Christ has already won. "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh [relying upon our own means and methods]: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds…."

Conclusion:       That is the rest that remains to the people of God – a rest from the cares of this life, a rest from a struggle to succeed, a rest in the all sufficient grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to meet every need. In view of this it is imperative that that we make sure of our salvation, lest we be found mere professors. We must take to heart the example of the Israelites who, although saved and separated from Egypt never entered into Canaan and thus missed God’s rest. God expects us to avail ourselves to all He has for us in Christ.