Hebrews: Longing for the Promised Land
Pastor Fletcher preaches from Hebrews 4:1-14, read for us in Hindi. Discussion points: Rest is part of being human because we are made in the image of God, our hearts naturally long for the promised land rest with God, Jesus has already done what we couldn’t so we can rest in him.
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Scripture reader: Hi, good morning, everyone. My name is Melissa. Our scripture reading today is taken from Hebrews chapter 4, verse 1 to 14. I will be reading from the Hindi version, and you can follow along in the English version. When I finish reading, I will say this is the word of the Lord, and please respond by saying, thanks be to God.
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. 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. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.
For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
This is the word of the Lord.
Preacher: Thanks. Thank you for that, Mel. it, it was great to see her at the very end, have to turn her English brain back on. Like, this is the word of the Lord. my name is Fletcher. It's a joy to be with you this morning. I'm the lead pastor of the church. I really need to worship with you all this morning. So thank you for singing. I'm encouraged to hear your voices. When I was 13, All I wanted in the world was my driver's license. And once I got my driver's license, all I wanted in the world was to go to college.
And once I went to college, all I wanted in the world was to leave Mississippi. And once I left Mississippi, all I wanted in the world was to get married. And once I got married, all I wanted in the world was to have kids. And once I had kids, all I wanted in the world was to sleep in on a Saturday. And once I was able to sleep in on the, well, what?. somehow I'm, I'm making full circle back to things I was able to do when I was 13. It's what my longings are going for.
Every person has an built-in desire for the promised land. What is your promised land? All of us have this thing in us that longs to be somewhere that we are not. We, we have a longing to achieve. We have all kinds of if only statements. If only I could get to this place, if only I could see this happen. Earlier this week, I was hanging out with my daughter one evening and, she asked, Dad, how are you doing? And I said, oh. I'm tired, but you know, the weekend's coming. And she giggled and she said, it's Tuesday.
We have a longing for the promised land. You can see this, even in someone like Taylor Swift. OK, don't judge me. My wife is a huge Swifty. I've seen the first two episodes of the documentary that was just released the other day. Taylor Swift,. Could, could she get any higher than where she's at? I mean, the, the woman is on top of the world. She has reached the pinnacle of not just her career, but of the music industry career. She's the first person to earn over a billion dollars just touring around. And in fact, not only the first person to earn over a billion dollars, she's earned over $2 billion doing it. She has been just astronomical, she's done everything there is to do. This Eras tour over 10 million people saw it live. Just crazy, just the most successful tour that's ever happened. She's a, a, a self-made billionaire, beloved by white women all over the world. And what, what more could anyone want?
I was really struck on her most recent album. Yes, I have listened to it, by, with one of the songs that she wrote about her fiance, Travis, not that one. It's called Wish List, and on it she says, I just want you. Half a couple of kids got the whole block looking like you. We tell the world to leave us alone, and they do, wow. Got me dreaming about a driveway with a basketball hoop, boss up, settle down, got a wish list. I just want you. It turns out that when you reach the top of the mountain. The next mountaintop to summit is the middle class dream. And I have news for Taylor. That her heart will not stop longing once she's settled down, and she has that basketball goal. And she's living the middle-class dream, she'll just want something else because in our hearts is deeply woven, a desire for a land of ultimate rest that we might call the promised land. There's a longing for the promised land in your heart.
What is your heart longing for this morning? What are you answering if only? And I'll tell you, this morning, for me, I walked in here. a little grumpier than normal. I don't know why. That's, I'm always baseline grumpy, OK? but a little grumpier than normal this morning. And I think that one of the problems was I was feeling and am feeling these desires for the promised land, and I don't even know what my if only is. Do you ever feel that way? Where it's like something's wrong. If only I could feel better, I don't know what it is I want. We have built within us this deep longing for rest. I believe this is a sacred desire. But one that will never find true satisfaction until we see that Jesus can give us the ultimate promise rest that we long for. Or as Augustine said, in confessions, that you have made us for yourself, oh Lord. And our hearts are restless until they find rest in you.
This is what Hebrews 4 is teaching us. Hebrews is a very complicated book of the Bible. The whole thing is, is just, very complicated. And basically what you're doing is what the author of Hebrews is doing is taking the Old Testament truths and trying to make them applicable to New Testament realities. And so the author of Hebrews assumes a lot about his hearers or her hearers with the author's anonymous, we don't know who wrote it. There's a lot of assumptions. There's an assumption that you understand a great deal about the Old Testament, more than what most of us probably do. And there's also an assumption that you understand a great deal about Jesus. And so there's this when we're going through Hebrews, I have to do a lot of explaining, more than what I'm used to and more than what I prefer to do, because there's just so much assumption.
And in this passage in particular, OK, we have 13 verses that we're going to look at this morning, and with these 13 verses, we see 5 different historical references to things that have happened at different points in history. The authors jumping around from historical point to historical point, like a child in the morning of Christmas jumping from toy to toy, doesn't doesn't stay with one for very long and it's hopping around, not even doing it in chronological order. And so today I'm going to try to break this down for you. I'm going to, I did you a favor. I put it in chronological order. OK, but that means we're gonna be hopping around the text a little bit. But I made slides to help us to walk through that.
So we have 5 historical references in Hebrews 4 that teach us about this longing in our heart for the promised land of rest. That we all long for. So the first one is creation. Now I know that I made these slides for Air Force pilots. OK? If your eyes aren't quite good enough for these, I apologize. I've already been told that I need to make the font larger. So next, next week I will. The offer of Hebrews goes into this idea of creation, of rest being a part of creation. And in verses 43B through 4, it says, although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the 7th day in this way, and God rested on the 7th day from all of his works. He's citing Genesis chapter 2 verse 2, when it says, and on the 7th day God finished his work that he had done, and rested on the 7th day from all his work that he had done. God Himself rested.
Just let that truth sink in for a moment. That the omnipotent, omnipresent, powerful, strong God. Himself took a day to rest. Surely he wasn't tired, that's kind of against the idea of being omnipotent. That you don't grow weary, you don't grow tired, but yet he chose to rest, not out of exhaustion, but out of joy. After God created the world with his words, he chose to enjoy the fruit of his creation. Rest is not simply something that we do because our bodies are weak. It's actually something that we do because we're made in the image of God. God himself rested, though he does not grow weak. You do grow weak, you need to rest. You need to be reminded that you are not God. But even if you did have omnipotent strength, you would still need to rest, being an image bearer of God.
The rhythm of rest is designed in each of us. There's this book called The Secrets Our Body Clocks Reveal that share all kinds of different things that happen on seven day rhythms. That you were created to fulfill a seven day rhythm. Our, our blood pressure cycle focuses on a 7 day pattern. Our coping hormone cycles, our immune responses, production of blood and urine chemicals, and even our heartbeats all function on a 7 day cycle. You know, civilizations have toyed with the idea of changing the 7 day workweek. Have you ever thought about it? Why do we have a 7 day work week? Many civilizations have tried to change it. During the French Revolution back in like 1793, they changed the seven-day workweek to a 10-day workweek. They were going very metric at the time. And it went terribly. It went terribly for them. They were hoping that it would increase productivity, but it was so bad that they only kept it for 12 years because it was ruining their society. The French saw stark increases in injuries, exhaustion, illness, and work. Animals even collapsed and died at alarming rates.
You were made to rest on a regular rhythm. Woven inside of each of us is a 7 day cycle, a weekly reminder to Sabbath. And when we stop working, we're reminded that we're not God. That our work will not, will never end. The Sabbath implicitly instructs all humanity that there is more to life than work. We were made to enjoy rest with God. That's what this first historical stop on our road trip is teaching us, that you were made to enjoy rest with God. Now the 2nd stop on our historical road trip that we have here is with Joshua. Author of Hebrews goes to Joshua. And as I was speaking earlier that there's a vision for the promised land on all of us, and nowhere is that vision for the promised land seen more clearly than in the story of Joshua.
And in the story of Joshua, the promised land is an analogy for God's ultimate rest. So let me just retell the story. It's found in Numbers chapter 13 and 14, but I'll explain it in case you were newer to the Bible this morning. The people of Israel have exited the through the exodus. They've exited Egypt, and they've gone into the wilderness of Sinai. They've been wandering around for quite a little while. They get to the precipice of the promised land, of the land of Israel, that God had promised them, and they send out spies, 12 different spies representing the 12 tribes, and they go and they look at the land of Israel, and they come back and 10 of the spies come back and say. Those people are big, they're warriors. We've got no hope. We should just go back to Egypt. Like this is not what we should do.
And then two of the spies, on the other hand, represented by Caleb, he comes and he says, Guys, the Lord has promised we can enter the promised land. We can do this with the Lord's help, we can go into the promised land. But yet they did not believe Caleb. And they ended up wandering for longer. This is what the story is talking about. In in verse 2, it says, 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. OK, that's what that's that passage is talking about the story in Numbers, about Joshua. It says, for good news came to us just as it did to them. So good news came to us through Jesus Christ. Good news came to the Israelites through Caleb. Good news, you can do this. God will see it through. There's this news that God's going to see it through. But the message they heard did not benefit them because they were not united by faith with those who listen. They did not have faith that God could do it. Many years later, God did bring them into rest, but it wasn't the ultimate rest that was longing on their hearts.
Verse 8 of Hebrews chapter 4, for if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So many years later. Joshua did take the people into the promised land, but yet it wasn't sufficient to give them the rest that they looked for, that they were looking for. Now the original hearers of this in Hebrews, this is super cool. You guys just, just check this out. The original hearers, when they're reading this. The way they get to award Joshua, but in Greek, the the name Joshua and the name Jesus are the same. Like there is no difference in Greek at all between the two. And so when they're interpret when they're translating this into English, we know they're talking about Joshua, so we can say Joshua. But in in Greek, the original hearers, they're just picking up this wordplay. There's an Old Testament Jesus that did not deliver, but there's a New Testament Jesus who does give that rest that we're longing for. It is quite amazing. In fact, in Hebrew, the names are super similar. They're just very, very minutely different between the two, and they mean the same thing. They mean Yahweh saves.
And so here we have New Testament Jesus giving us the promised land rest that Old Testament Jesus could never give us. It's it's really cool to see it all coming together like this. And just as Caleb preached many years ago, I'm here to tell you this. That you can go into the promised land. That you actually can find the thing that can satisfy your hearts. That that longing for the promised land. It is not something that will stay away from you forever, but that Jesus offers real rest.
But friends, just as it was in the days of Caleb and Joshua. It's going to require faith. It's going to require faith that you can't do it yourself. That you need God to come through. It's going to take self denial. It's going to require giving up on some of your dreams and embracing God's dreams. It's going to require faith. That's not just a mental acceptance, but a real trust. Let me ask you this question this morning. What was the last thing that you genuinely trusted God to do in your life? When was the last time you had to exercise faith? That you needed God to come through, and you trusted him to come through. Can you really say you're living by faith if you cannot think of anything? What do you need? By faith.
By faith, my wife and I moved to Boston many years ago, asking God to provide, having almost no money to our names. Not knowing where we would end up, not knowing what he would do, but having a vision and a dream that one day he would see a church started here. By faith, we decided to stay here through 7 rounds of friends moving away. By faith, God is calling some of you to do things that are more difficult than you what you want to do. God, by faith might be calling some of you into ministries that you don't feel equipped for. By faith, God could be calling some of you to fight sin that you have been falling victim to for years and years. By faith, some of us are going to be stepping into generosity that defies worldly wisdom, and by faith, some of us are choosing to forgive and pursue reconciliation with those who've hurt us. Not things that make sense, but by faith, God can see it through. We live by faith, not by sight.
You cannot enter God's rest without faith. That's what I'm telling you. You cannot have the rest of the promised land that your heart so longs without faith.
The next stop on our historical tour this morning is David. we'll keep this one very brief because the the Hebrews keeps it very brief. In verse 7, he references Psalm 95 again. This is count them, 3rd reference to Psalm 95 in the past two chapters. Last chapter we saw him reference Psalm 95 twice, is that that passage that says today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. And so David is writing about the time of Joshua and saying. Joshua did not give you ultimate rest. And so today you still need to receive the ultimate rest. You need to hear the word of the Lord. There's a greater rest to be achieved. And so David is writing this psalm to illustrate that. OK, next stop, brief stop with David.
Next stop is today. On the historical tour here today, verse 3, for we who have believed, enter that rest, as he has said. OK, don't mess with the author is saying here. This is really important, he says, for we who have believed, have entered that rest. If you have faith, trust in God. It's not only that the rest is available to you, it's that you have entered it. You have now experienced it, you have now taken it on. The whole point of the passage is this, that real rest is available, but it doesn't come through personal striving, it doesn't come through obeying the law, it comes through a person. The author of Hebrews is assuming that you know this verse in Matthew, when Jesus says, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Jesus doesn't say come to a set of doctrine. Jesus doesn't say come to church. Jesus doesn't say go have a vacation and get the rest you're looking for. He says, come to me. And experience rest in your souls. What type of rest is he talking about? Well, I think the foremost, most important type of rest is salvation from our sins. That this is the gospel, that God sent Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, fully God. And he assumed. The life of a human That God walked on earth, 100% God, 100% man, in the incarnation, that he was born, both with a godly nature and a humanly nature, divine mystery, that he lived a completely sinless life. And that he died the death that we all deserve to die, that he bore on himself the sin of the entire world, that whosoever should believe in Him will have forgiveness for their sins. That's anyone here today can have forgiveness for their sins. And then on the 3rd day, Jesus rose from the dead, victorious over death itself. And so just as God said, It is finished, as he completed the work and he rested. Jesus hung on the cross and said, It is finished.
Your work of proving yourself before God, of trying to make yourself righteous before God. Your obedience will never be enough, but Jesus is. And it is finished. His work is done. As we come to God for forgiveness of sin, we enter God's rest. We are at peace with God. We're no longer have to prove ourselves. We no longer have to search for truth. We can rest with him. And when you realize that you are completely loved and accepted by God, it changes the way that you approach your life. Because you no longer have to prove your existence. You no longer have to prove that you're good enough, that you've done enough, but you can just rest in being loved and accepted as a dear child of God.
I want you to meditate on that for just a moment. Just take a second and, and, and hear this. If you were in Christ this morning. I am not Defined by my work. I'm not defined by my productivity. I am not defined. By my success. I'm not even defined by my morality or their lack of. I'm not defined by my mistakes or my successes. I'm defined by Christ. I find my identity in him. That God doesn't love me because of what I've accomplished, but because of what he's accomplished. The final stop On our tour of historical artifacts here is the future. Now, you know, history forward, the future, though we have rest of God today, we're still waiting upon a final future rest.
Verse 3 says though you have received it, you've, you've entered God's rest at the same time. Verse 11 says this, Let us therefore strive to enter that rest. So which is it? You have entered it, or shall we strive to enter it? It's this complicated theological concept that theologians call the already but not yet, or the inaugurated kingdom. Meaning that Jesus has come and inaugurated the kingdom of God in a real kind of way. That you can enter his rest, but at the same time, it's an incomplete way and we long to enter it fully at the new heavens and the new earth.
Revelation 21 talks about the new heavens and the new earth when death will be no more, nor shall there be crying or sin, but God will dwell with man and we will have full rest from our strivings. And so it's a paradox that we can have the rest today, but we will enjoy it in full. Every good restful moment today is a picture of the full rest that you will enjoy with Christ and the kingdom to come. God has called us to rest.
Friends, the reason why you don't rest. And, and look I know. This is a room full of overachievers. The reason why you don't rest, and a few underachievers. I feel you. I feel you. I know who you are. We all do. The reason why. The West Coast transplants. Just kidding, just kidding. I'm gonna go, sorry, West Coast, we love you.. I'm gonna, I'm gonna get back serious, OK? The reason why you don't rest isn't because you have too much to do. It's because you don't believe that God is sufficient. It's because you don't really believe. That you will be enough if you don't get all your things done. It's because you don't trust God. You don't trust that he can work apart from you. That he doesn't actually need you. He calls you to things, he calls you to live by faith, he calls you to to fulfill his ministry, to do important things. But the reason why you you don't rest isn't just because you have too much to do. It's because you don't trust him.
The author of Hebrews, he ends with a short meditation on the word of God. It is probably the most powerful meditation on the word of God anywhere in the scripture. For the life of me, I cannot actually 100% figure out why it's right here. I cannot figure out why the author of Hebrews decided this exact moment to talk about the word of God being living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and the intentions of the heart, and no creatures hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. That's intense. It's beautiful.
I can't figure out why it's right here, but. I have a theory, OK? This is like personal theory from me, is that I think that you need the word of God in your life. To experience the true rest that God has to offer. I just want you to imagine for a moment that you are working on a huge project at work, that you've been given so much work on a Friday, on a, on a Monday that you know, you've cleared your whole weekend. You're going to have to be pulling 7 to 7 on Saturday and Sunday. No one's gonna see you. You're gonna be working 24 hours over the weekend because you have this huge project, and then Friday rolls around. And your boss Pokes his or her head into the room and says, hey. I handled it. Project's complete. You're good. Go home. Enjoy.
You would never be able to do that without the voice of someone with authority, coming and speaking into your life and saying, hey, I've taken it on. You're good. And this is what God's word does for us. When we go to his word, he helps us to see not just his grace, but our sin, our failures, and he reminds us, hey, you're good. You can rest. I've taken it on. God, you need God's word in your life. Just simple as that. That's living and active, it will pierce into your soul and give you insights that you never thought you would have, apart from it. It can change you. And as you meditate on God's word, he will speak to you, and that voice will poke his head into your room. And will remind you of the grace that you do not deserve. That you don't have to keep on working. That he will grant you rest.
There was an article in The Atlantic several years ago. Derek Thompson wrote, and he says that these days we are all workists. Who have made a secular religion out of the pursuit of status and professional fulfillment. Is that you? Is it time to come back to Jesus and to receive rest? I just wanna give us a moment to pray. I'll let Jared come in and play behind me as I. So lead us in a little meditation here at the end. And I'm gonna invite you to bow your head. And to pray with me.
Lord, we bring you our restless hearts. Would you meet us here? Help us release the if onlys we've been chasing. Speak over us again. It is finished. Give us faith Would you contend with God for faith today? Faith to enter his promised rest. Would you just cry out, Give me faith, God. Help me to trust. Would you free, God, would you free a few people this morning? Would you free us from proving ourselves? Root us in the love of Christ.
Lift the weight of our sin and shame through Jesus. Teach us to trust your gentle and lowly heart. As we come to you this morning. I pray that you would give us rest for our souls. Let us enter your rest, God, today. If we hear his voice, we will not harden our hearts, God. We will hear your voice, we will allow it to pierce. And though it might hurt God, we know that you are the great surgeon. Who binds wounds, who heals hearts? Would you move today? Would you give us the rest? That we all long for, help us to long for you above all things during this Advent season. God, we pray that you come again, that you make the world new. That you fix all the broken. You fill us with Christ, fill us with love, and help us to love others. Be agents of your peace, agents of your kindness, agents of your rest. Fill us God. Fill this place. With an assured rest in you. Amen.
As we end today, we have a moment to receive a sacred meal. That it's one of the ways that we are reminded that God, that the work is over, that it is finished, that on the night that he was betrayed, Jesus initiated a sacred meal. And he took a loaf, and he tore it, and he said, this is my body broken for you. And he took a cup and he said, this is my blood shed for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And so as we participate in the sacred meal, we're being reminded that Jesus is enough, that he's done it all for us. And so we come together in faith, saying I'm not good enough, that I needed Jesus to die. I look to him, I love him. Let me invite you to stand. I'll pray one more time.
Father, as we prepare our hearts to receive this meal, would you help us to receive it? And to know that this is what your grace is like, we receive it. It's not something that we have to achieve, but that you're serving it to us. And God help us to experience you in a real kind of way as we even come to this communion table this morning. Father, we pray that You would fill us with the reality of who Christ is. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.