seated. My friends in lieu of several conversations this past week and several phone calls. Please let me make it abundantly clear this morning. I believe in the eternal security of the believer. I believe that God eternally preserves those who are truly His. I have always believed that. Never once have I stopped believing that. You could put me in a catatonic state this morning and I would not deny this truth. What's more, the reason why I possess such immovable convictions regarding the doctrine of eternal security is not simply because it feels right to me. Not merely because I've been taught it since I was a little boy or that because it provides me some psychological comfort, though it does this to be sure. None of these are legitimate reasons for believing anything spiritually speaking. I believe in eternal security from first to last because the word of God in dozens of places teaches this truth explicitly and in dozens of other places teaches this truth implicitly. I believe that all those whom God predestines, He calls, those whom He calls, He justifies, those whom He justifies, He glorifies, and there's no seepage in between. Stated more simply, I believe that no true child of God will ever be lost, that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This has been and continues to be my deep and abiding conviction. What's more, nothing that I've said from the book of Hebrews is in any way contradictory to the doctrine of eternal security. What we must understand, brothers and sisters, is that the purpose of the book of Hebrews is not to teach the doctrine of eternal security. Now, because it doesn't take up the issue of eternal security, it doesn't mean that it's contradictory to the doctrine of eternal security. It just doesn't seem to deal with that issue. The book of Hebrews does not seem to establish a doctrine of eternal security, for example, for a group of genuine believers who are really struggling, wondering whether or not God will keep them to the end. No, that's not the purpose of this book. This book is to provide a strong exhortation as it were a stirring warning to professing Christians who were in danger of turning their backs on Jesus Christ. And to people in that kind of setting, in that kind of life situation, then it's much, much more pastorally prudent to take up that doctrine, which is the companion to the doctrine of eternal security. Namely, the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. The writer of Hebrews is nowhere suggesting that true authentic Christians can fall away from the faith. What he is saying is that true Christians will always endure to the end that it's a proof of the experience of true saving grace. He said it as clearly as it could possibly be said in verse 14 of chapter 3, we have come to share in Christ. This is how we can know we have been made partakers of Christ, or to use Pauline terminology. This is how we can know we are in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. Not that it keeps us saved, it proves that we have been saved. Now undoubtedly you've noticed that in chapter 3 on two occasions the writer refers to his readers as brothers. You'll notice in verse 1, he says, therefore, holy brothers. And then in verse 12, see to it, brothers. So it appears that at least as much as he can humanly discern that he's writing to people who have professed faith in Christ. You say, well, art, if that's the case, then why does this guy talk so strongly about falling away from the faith? In fact, his stronger warnings, beloved, are still yet to come. I'll tell you why. It's because he understands as does any clear-headed pastor that no one but God knows who are truly his with infallible accuracy. I don't know that. You see, beloved, there can be among the gathered, among the gathered people of God, those who've made an external profession of faith in Christ, those who've been baptized, those who've been united to a church in fellowship, and those who have even been involved in the ministry of a church but who in the final analysis are still without the life of God in their souls. In other words, they've not been born again by the Holy Spirit.
I mentioned just two names from the Bible. One perhaps a little obscure the other more notorious. The first is a man by the name of Demas. He recognized that name. He was a traveling companion of the Apostle Paul. And he must have been a man that Paul regarded with some measure of esteem because he mentions Demas at the end of his letter to the book of Colossians, and he does so in the same breath with which he mentions Dr. Luke, no insignificant Christian I might add. The author of the third gospel, the author of the book of Acts, Colossians 4.14 says, our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas sends greeting. Now, beloved, I want to take something. Paul was a great guy. Would you need to understand that were the work of ministry was concerned? He had very little patience with those who were erratic. On one occasion, a man by the name of John Mark was traveling with Paul in Barnabas. As was often the case, things got a little dicey out there for the apostolic band, and as a result, John Mark ran home to Mama with his tail between his legs. Now sometime later, when Paul and Barnabas are getting ready to go out on another missionary journey, Barnabas mentions that he'd like to take a long John Mark. Paul's response, Barnabas, there was no way into the sun. We're taking that turncoat with us. There was no way under the sun that we're bringing John Mark with us. He's not up to the task. He can't live up to the challenge. Barnabas on the other hand felt different. Barnabas was very much an encourager. And eventually things got so heated between Paul and Barnabas that they went off in their separate directions. Barnabas taking John Mark, Paul taking silence. Now my point, beloved now, is not to ponder the rightness or wrongness of Paul's perspective. It is to say, simply this, Paul didn't travel with people whom he felt were anything less than fully committed to the task. Demos must have been that kind of man. And yet in the very last letter that Paul ever wrote while he's sitting in a Roman prison awaiting his eminent death, he pleads with his beloved disciple Timothy. Do your best to come to me quickly. Come and come as soon as you can. And why is this a matter of such urgency for Demos because he loved this world as deserted.
Beloved, the doctrine of eternal security affirms that authentic Christians will never be lost.
It does not affirm that counterfeit Christians will be saved. Perhaps the most notorious example of all is that man who lived and ministered with that original apostolic band, Judas Iscariot. You remember, beloved, that his skills at spiritual hypocrisy were so utterly refined that the only one he couldn't deceive was the omniscient son of God. What am I saying? That very often the only thing that can distinguish an authentic believer from a counterfeit one is the onslaught of opposition. By the grace of God, true Christians endure. On the other hand, counterfeit believers, those who despite their professions who are strangers to grace will eventually apostatize. They will turn their backs on Jesus Christ. Now, as a theologian, you must understand, beloved, the writer of Hebrews understands this. He knows that, theologically, but he's also a man who's not been given the privilege of knowing who the elect are. He loves these people. They have perhaps made public profession of faith in his presence. Maybe he has baptized many if not all of them. And so he makes his appeal to them as he's hearing that they're thinking about turning their backs on Christ. Don't fall away. Don't fall away. Don't come up short. Don't turn your back on Jesus Christ. Now, to do so would be the errone eternal condemnation. We have to realize, beloved, that eternal security does not mean God will save apostates. So what eternal security is ever meant? Paul says in 2 Timothy 2, here is a trustworthy saying, if we die with him, we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will disown us. Now, you and I understand that if these professing Christians fall away fully and finally, it's because they were never saved to begin with. But that in no way, beloved, undercuts the responsibility of the true Christian to persevere even in the face of opposition. Listen to our dear beloved Spurgeon. We detest the doctrine that a man who was once believed in Jesus will be saved even if he altogether forsook the path of obedience. We deny that such a turning aside is possible to the true believer. No, beloved, a man if he be indeed a believer in Christ will not live after the will of the flesh. When he does fall into sin, it will be his grief and misery and he will never rest until he is cleansed from his guilt. But I will say this of the believer that if he could live as he would like to live, he would live a perfect way. Isn't that true? Isn't that true of you this morning? It's true of me. If I could live the way I wanted to live, I'd live perfectly. The reason why I feel that way this morning is because first John says, God has put his seed in my heart and changed my nature so that the children of God and the children of the devil, first John says, are obvious. It's amazing, you know. The Bible really says that there's no such thing as a lady, Claire, all Christian. Only the Lord knows for sure. The Bible says it's obvious.
Now here is a pastor. Writing to those people he loves, some of whom are giving serious consideration to turning away from Jesus Christ. His concern, if you recall, from last Lord's day, is to warn them. And he does this beloved by citing an actual historical experience. He reminds them of their own forebears in the wilderness. You remember, they started out so wonderfully. We saw that last week in great detail. I mean, God's hand had mightily delivered them out of Egypt. They had seen one miracle after another, one display of supernatural power after another. They all started out wonderfully and yet ironically only two over the age of 20 made it into the Promised Land. The rest perished. They had heard all there was to hear of God. They had seen all there was to see of God. Nevertheless, they persisted in their refusal to believe God in his word and as a result, they were debarred from the land of promise. Now, several of you asked me even this past week, well, were those people saved ultimately? And if we're going to let the Bible speak for itself, what we have to say is this. The Bible doesn't say. But there are certain things to keep in mind. Number one, being born a Jew had no saving benefit. People weren't saved by being born into the covenant community. A child wasn't born, wasn't saved when he was circumcised on the 8th day. It just meant that he became part of that nation. Israel was a national entity, a body politic, not a community of faith made up of exclusively born again believers. Israel was not a church.
Moreover, you must never forget that the experience of salvation then occurred in exactly the way it occurs now by grace through faith. Abraham believed in God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Romans 4, Galatians 3. So the question we would need to ask ourselves is this, did those wilderness wanderers possess saving faith? The Bible doesn't say. What the Bible does tell us is this. Genuine faith will always evidence itself in obedience, faithfulness, and perseverance. Does the record of holy scripture testify to those qualities among that group of wilderness wanderers, obedience, faithfulness, and perseverance? What is clear is that God forbade the mentoring into the land of promise. And you see what our writer wants his readers to understand 1500 years after that failure. Is that in God's history of redemption, that land, that strip of geography was to be an anticipation of foreshadowing, a type of an infinitely more glorious anti-type. That is the full and final and ultimate experience of salvation or what the author here refers to as rest. Now for the people of Israel you understand that's exactly what the land was. It was a place of rest. They would rest from their slavery, they would rest from their wanderings, ultimately and most importantly, they would find rest from all of their enemies. But beloved, you have to understand that in God's greater design, that land was a way of prefiguring the ultimate rest of eternal salvation in all of its consummated fullness. The foretaste of which Christians this side of heaven have already come to experience. Now with that in mind, beloved, please allow me to establish four principles concerning this promised rest. Here is principle number one, ultimate rest necessitates belief in the gospel. Ultimate rest necessitates belief in the gospel. Look at verse one, therefore as a consequence of the historical precedence that I've just set forth before you, the failure of your forebears to enter into rest because of unbelief. Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. Now friends, two important observations can be made from this verse. First, the failure of the people of Israel to enter into God's promised land because of unbelief did not in any way nullify God's promise to bring his people into rest. God always keeps his promises. So much so, in fact, that the promise of entering into his rest is something that God is still extending to people today. That's what he says since the promise of entering his rest still stands. Now with that point, you see, he's not talking about you and me entering into the land of Canaan. His point is not to say that the moment you and I trust Christ, we are given automatic citizenship in the land of Israel. We all ought to move to Palestine. That's not the idea at all. We've got to get that strip of land out of our minds. It's irrelevant anymore. He's talking here beloved about something infinitely greater, the ultimate rest of heaven itself, salvation in all of its realized fullness. That promise still stands even to this very moment. If you are not a Christian here this morning, you need to know that God's promise of ultimate salvation rest has been extended to you. Now we're going to define what that is for a minute, but you need to know that promise still stands. There's a second observation. Falling short of ultimate rest ought to be the great concern of every professing Christian. Falling short of ultimate rest ought to be the great concern of every professing Christian. Somehow there are people today who have come to believe that what the doctrine of eternal security means, no Christian ever again looks at himself with any kind of scrutiny. That it's always and in every way sinful to doubt your salvation. That any kind of questions like that in any way shape are formed have no place in the life of a believer. I find it very interesting that the writer of Hebrews and Paul himself and second Corinthians commends us to do the very opposite. Examine yourself, he says, in second Corinthians, to see if you are in the faith. In fact, beloved, the way it appears in the original is even much stronger than it appears here in the NIV. The NIV says, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. But the word here really isn't careful. The word in the original is the word phobia. Oh, we get our word phobia. It's the word to fear. It literally reads this way, let us be fearful. Let us be frightened. Lest any of you be found to have fallen short of it. You say, well, art, now here you go again. How can such a thing be said of believers assuming that all of his readers are truly born again? Listen, listen to this quote beloved. Such warnings against apostasy are misunderstood when they are thought to teach that true believers may fall away and be lost. For just as accidents are avoided by obeying the road signs which are put up for our safety, so we are preserved from the dangers of our pilgrimage by paying heed to those warnings which are annexed to the promise of salvation. That really gets it the idea. Let me see if I can illustrate it for you. Acts chapter 27. Paul is sailing to Rome and a furious hurricane kicks up and begins to toss that ship to and fro. It goes on for days and finally the men on the ship give up all hope they panic and they ready themselves to die but Paul speaks up and he says God has given his word that no one on this ship will be lost. The ship will be destroyed but every man on it will be saved. Now, beloved, at that point God has spoken. Those men could stake their lives on that promise the sovereign God had given his word. It was unqualified. It was final. The ship will be lost. Every life will be preserved and yet several days later when the hurricane continued to rage on some of the men attempted to escape from that ship in a lifeboat and Paul had no hesitation to go up to the Roman soldiers and say no one will be saved at all if they try and get away from this ship. And so the Roman soldier cuts off cuts the ropes that little boat is snatched away in the raging of the waves. The point is this those ordained to salvation could only obtain it by using the appointed means to that end.
Beloved, if you are a wise and a mature Christian this morning, you know how wicked your own heart can be, don't you? You know that there is no sin you would not stoop to commit where it not for the preserving grace of God. And so what do you do?
In the face of your eternal security, do you say, well, I'm going to live as I please, I'm going to sin when I want because after all I'm eternally secure. No, you do the very opposite. You guard your heart with all vigilance. You make no provision for the flesh with regard to its loss because you're mindful of the possibility of your own apostasy. You know that you can fall away if it isn't for the grace of God keeping you and the evidence of that being that you persevere. Beloved, the God who has ordained the end has ordained the means to the end, persevering, obeying, enduring. First John chapter 5 verse 4 says this, for everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. This is how we know that someone's really been born again. They're not in love with the world, they overcome it. In fact, the book of Revelation uses this as a term for believers. Did you know this? Six, seven, eight times in the book of Revelation, believers are called overcomers. Listen to the words of Jesus himself, to him who overcomes. I will give the right to eat from the tree of life. Who gets eternal life? Overcomers. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death. Who escapes eternal judgment? Overcomers. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden mana. To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations. He who overcomes will be dressed in white. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne. Who gets to experience all the benefits of eternal life? Overcomers. It's not a different group than believers. This is what believers do. They overcome. In fact, in chapter one, after that great scene of the new Jerusalem, the new heaven and the new earth, God says this, he who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. Overcomers. It's all for overcomers. In fact, in the very next verse, it's very interesting because he talks about the lake of fire and those who will be condemned to the lake of fire for all of eternity. It's interesting to see who makes up that list, particularly who heads the list. Number one, the cowardly, those who did not overcome, those who recanted in the face of opposition. They didn't lose something they never had. The fact that they recanted in the face of opposition proved that they never had it at the begin way. You understand that the writer here is afraid that these people who had heard the gospel and professed faith in Jesus Christ were now giving serious possibility to turning away from him. But to do that, you see, would be to fall short of the promise. It would be to come short of rest, and it would prove to be sure that though they had heard the gospel and had perhaps even experienced certain benefits that come from the gospel, they had never really truly believed the gospel just like their forebears in the wilderness. Look at it. It's not enough to hear it, beloved. For we also have had the gospel preached to us just as they did. Those wilderness wonders heard the good news. Now, they didn't hear the good news the way you and I hear the good news. In the sense of the completed work of Christ, his death burial and resurrection, but they heard good news. They heard good news from Joshua and Caleb. We saw that last Lord's day. Remember, all gathered together, Joshua and Caleb show up, that land. Oh, it's beautiful just like God said it would be. And it's ours for the taking. It's ours. Let's go for it now because God is in our side. He will keep his word. They heard that good news, but it didn't do him any good. Because as he said, the message they heard was of no value to them because those who heard did not combine it with faith. Now, we who have believed enter that rest. If it's the ultimate salvation rest of God that is being sought, then make no mistake about it, beloved. It is not enough to hear the good news. You understand that a great number of people on the final day will be those who have heard the gospel and yet be ushered into eternal separation from God. The prerequisite for admission in the heaven is not hearing the gospel. The prerequisite for admission to the heaven is belief in Jesus Christ as Redeemer and Lord. The promise of ultimate rest is the reward that God gives to believers. What did Paul say to the Philippian jailer who said, what must I do to be saved? Very simple, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 10, verse 9, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. John 336, whoever believes in the sun has eternal life. It's just that simple. This is how people experience eternal life. They believe in the gospel. They believe in Jesus Christ. That's what that sign right there, solar, fide means, that we are declared just before the living God on the basis of faith alone. Have you believed the gospel? Heaven is for those who have set their hope on the finished work of Jesus Christ alone. Boys and girls, listen to me for a minute. It's not enough for you to hear the message of the gospel and it's not even enough for you to know all of the facts about the gospel. To have all of that without believing the gospel is to still come short of the promise. The gospel is to be believed. It's to be accepted. It's to be embraced. That's the way God has appointed for people to enter into heaven. On the other hand, if people refuse to believe in Jesus Christ, they will find themselves one day barred from entering that place permanently. Now this is the first principle. Ultimate rest necessitates belief in the gospel. Principle number two in this global love of this is glorious. Ultimate rest is the experience of God's own rest. Ultimate rest is the experience of God's own rest. Look at verse three. Now we who have believed enter that rest. What kind of rest is he talking about? Just as God has said, so I declared on oath in my anger, they shall never enter my rest. Now, beloved, he quotes from Psalm 95 here, but he does so only to make sure that you hear the last two words. You can draw a line underneath them. That's the point of mentioning this quote. The rest that he talks about in the first line of verse three is now what is referred to as God's own rest. Up in verse one, it's called his rest. Now friends, whatever could be said about this rest that we enter into by faith, we must understand, at the end of the day, it is God's own rest. Say God, God has a kind of rest. When did this all come about? Look at it, and yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere, Genesis 2.2, he has spoken about the seventh day in these words, and on the seventh day, God rested from all his work. And again, in the passage above, he says, they shall never enter my rest. Now beloved, don't let me lose you here. This is an important thing, but it would be easy to get lost, to check out for a minute. A long time before the promised rest in the land of Canaan was ever an issue. God himself entered into rest, a rest in which he fully intends to bring his own people. An ultimate rest of which that land, Canaan, was but a symbol. Now let me explain this to you. If you read the creation account carefully, you will find a repeated refrain at the end of each of the first six days. It goes like this. And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day. And again, there was evening, and there was morning, the second day. And again, there was evening, and there was morning, the third day. After each of the first six days, we read the same phrase, which serves to mark out the boundaries of each day. But we come to the seventh day, and we find no such demarcation. All we read is this. On the seventh day, God rested from all this work. But no boundaries, no parameters, no limits, no morning and evening to close off a period of time. In other words, when God created the cosmos, he entered into an unending epoch of rest. Now this doesn't mean friends that God was tired from all of his created work, and he needed a break for a few thousand years to kind of catch his breath. Nor does it mean that God no longer does anything to kind of took up his proverbial rocking chair and crossed his arms and has decided, I'm not going to do anything anymore. We're not to think of God's rest in terms of inactivity or even idleness. Jesus himself says, John 517, my father is always working. No, we're to understand God's rest like this. At the conclusion of God's magnificent creation, there was no more to add. It was perfect. It was complete. It was harmonious all was well. Everything was exactly the way God wanted it to be. All of the components of the created order functioned perfectly. And there is one phrase in the Bible, 11 that captured God's sense of satisfaction. God saw all that he had made and it was very good. That's what this idea of rest is. Perfect satisfaction. Perfect contentment. Perfect peace as a consequence of knowing that everything is very good. God entered into that rest after he created the cosmos, but beloved his intention from the beginning was to include his people in that rest. That is the destiny of people who believe in his son, Jesus Christ. Perfect satisfaction and contentment which comes from knowing that everything is very good. This is how the Apostle John defines it. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, now the dwelling of God is with men. And he will live with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God. Now listen, beloved, listen to the quality of this rest. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away. In other words, ultimate rest for you and for me has come to fruition. Were you aware of this? Don't get hung up with that strip of land in the Middle East. It long ago served its purpose.
It was to prefigure something infinitely greater. Were you aware that the promise of entering this rest still stands? The author wants you to know this very thing. In fact, that is his third principle. Ultimate rest is a promise. God still extends. Look at verse 6. And I will read it as it appears in the original because the NIV here leaves out two very, very, very important words. Verse 6 begins this way. Since therefore, it still remains that some will enter that rest. Since it is true, that there are those by God's own divine purpose that will enter that rest with God. And those who formerly have the gospel preached to them did not go in. Obviously the wilderness wonders are not included in this because of their disobedience. God again set a certain day calling it today. When a long time later, five centuries later, he spoke through David as was said before. Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. He's trying to tell us beloved the promise of entering into God's rest still stands. It is an offer that God still holds out to people. And how do we notice to be true?
Because centuries after that original Exodus generation had passed off the scene, we still read of God warning his people. Don't harden your heart. Don't harden your heart. Today if you hear God's voice respond today, believe today, the day of salvation is now. If you've heard of Christ, don't refuse to hear God's voice and respond. Now beloved, what is the obvious deduction that we can make from this warning that the offer to enter into God's rest still stands? If God is warning people, don't harden your heart. What's the tacit implication? The invitation is there. Today, today, now is the time.
May you say, you know art and maybe these original Hebrew Christians were saying the same thing. I know something of Old Testament history. The second generation of wilderness wanderers under the leadership of Joshua, they made it into the land of promise. In fact, in the last two verses of Joshua chapter 21 were told that every single thing that God ever promised to Israel had been fulfilled. So how is it that God five centuries later can still be offering this promise of rest?
Because the land that was taken by Joshua and the people was only ever intended to be a shadow, not the substance. This is what he says in verse 8, for if Joshua had given them rest, yes, he led them into the land. But if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. And so here is the obvious conclusion. There remains then a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work just as God did from his. Now friends, let me try to pull this all together for you in a nice package. Jesus Christ extends an invitation to people who are weary of attempting to work their way to heaven by saying this. Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. And when by the grace of God a person comes to faith in Jesus Christ, he or she rests from every attempt at working his or her way to heaven. Now listen, in that salvation sense, we stop working.
But in another very real sense, the work is just begun hasn't it? This side of heaven God has worked for us to do. Is this foreign to you? Are you in the saddle? Serving him? Serving his people, advancing his costs and let me tell you that work can be tiresome, it can be taxing, it can be difficult, it can be costly, it can demand incredible sacrifices, it can at times arouse hostility and antagonism. Some even as I speak this very morning are giving up their lives for the sake of the gospel. His point is there still remains ultimate rest for us. We've come to taste the first fruits of it here and now. The rest of the soul that is found in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, but dear friends, for us the best is still yet to come. Full Sabbath rest. God's kind of rest, when all of the toilsome work and labor and pain and ministry and sacrifice will be brought to an end. Revelation 14 13 says, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they will rest from their labor. Now beloved, this is an offer that God still extends. It still remains. There are some that God still intends to save. The great and final day has not yet come. Ultimate rest necessitates belief in the gospel. Ultimate rest is the experience of God's own rest. Ultimate rest is a promise that God still extends principle number four. Ultimate rest merits our most rigorous consideration. Look at verse 11, let us and I take it that the rider here is including himself. Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
But let it do you know what a jibbit is? It's an old word. Something that we don't use in our culture, a jibbit. A jibbit was a structure, a kind of gallows on which the body of a criminal already executed is hung on in a town square to serve as a warning. And that's what the rider does is he draws his argument to a close. He hangs the exodus generation up in public view as a warning of what can happen to people who come up short of authentic faith. Let us make every effort to enter that rest. He's not telling us that we can earn our salvation by our efforts. He's saying that we have to do everything possible to ensure that we've not deluded ourselves, but that we have indeed entered into God's wrath but rest by faith in Jesus Christ. That there is a place beloved for close microscopic scrutiny, testing the quality of what we call to be our faith to see if it is indeed the real thing, more than just an acknowledgement, more than just mental ascent, but an absolute throwing ourselves upon the mercy of God in Jesus Christ on the basis of His work at the cross. Is that what you possess this morning? Because if you don't, you're still shy of the mark. You've not entered into rest. There was only one way to enter into the very rest of God himself. And that beloved is through faith in Jesus Christ. There is no other way. Now friends, there's something interesting to take note of, and with this all close, we can't appreciate this because we're reading English. But beloved to the original readers of this letter who read Greek, if we had a Greek New Testament, you would discover that the name Joshua in verse 8, and the name Jesus in the original language is spelled exactly the same way. Now we know verse 8 is referring to Joshua because of the historical context that is being referred to here, but you understand what it must have been like for those first readers to either hear or read these words. What would have been driven home to them very powerfully was this.
There was in our past a Joshua who led us into the land, but didn't lead us into rest.
There is a second Joshua who didn't lead us into the land, but leads us into rest. Therefore make every effort to enter into this rest. There is no other way in. The greater Joshua. The second Joshua, who at the end of the day is not concerned about a piece of geography, concerned to bring his own people into his own kind of rest, contentment, and satisfaction. Knowing that everything isn't very good. Have you entered this rest? It's not enough to hear about it. It's not enough to know the facts. You have to enter in by faith in Christ. Don't come up short. Make every effort. Let's pray together, shall we?