Book of Hebrews - Ch. 4, Vs. 1-16 (03/07/2021)

Park Meadows Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

Okay, then we'll begin. This morning, we're going to go through Hebrews 4.

00:11

And what I did is I read the first four verses, and then

00:17

I'm going to stop, ask a quick prayer, and begin breaking it down.

00:22

So let's read it. And I'm going to try to put pauses in places that makes it easier to understand because this was hard for me to understand.

00:33

Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into His rest.

00:41

Any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them.

00:50

But the word preached did not benefit, did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

00:59

For we which have belief do enter into rest. As He said,

01:05

As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest.

01:10

Although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. That's the first four, actually first three verses.

01:19

And that's awkward to read, and it's awkward to recite. And if Paul did, in fact, read, write

01:28

Hebrews, I'm inclined to agree with Peter. That our beloved brother Paul hath written unto you in all of his epistles, speaking in them of things which are some things hard to understand.

01:46

And this is one of those things that if Paul wrote it, it's hard to understand.

01:53

So let's pray. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing us all back together, that we can study your holy word and meet and greet one another.

02:04

Thank you for giving us the technology to reach across the borders and the boundaries and the fences, and even interact with people that cannot be here this morning.

02:16

Thank you for providing us with the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scripture. The Holy Scripture that we can read under the guidance of the

02:25

Holy Spirit and glean out the truth that you want us to know. Thank you most of all for your son, which you gave, sent into the world to give us a pathway to salvation.

02:41

Guide us and keep us, go through the services today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So here we go.

02:51

Let us therefore fear, lest the promise being left of us entering into his wrist, any of you should seem to come short of.

03:03

That almost begins with the word therefore. And the idea is carried over without pause from chapter 3 of Hebrews.

03:14

And here's what it said. I'm going to start chapter 3 verse 17 and read it, and then we'll just carry right on.

03:24

But with whom was he grieved 40 years? This is God talking about the people who wandered in the wilderness.

03:31

Was it not with them that sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness?

03:47

And to whom swore he that they should not enter into his wrist, but to them that believed?

03:55

So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

04:05

Did I say believe? Yes, believe not. And to whom swore he that they should not enter into his wrist, but to them that believed not.

04:18

So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. That unbelief kept the generation that escaped

04:31

Egypt from entering the promised land, from entering Canaan. But the promise to the elect remains of entering his wrist.

04:44

And we can enter his wrist by faith. Not faith that we possess by our own merit.

04:54

Rather, it's faith given to us by Jesus Christ. However, the non -elect, without that God -given faith, will not be able to believe.

05:11

And their unbelief will make them fall short of the rest that God has given to us or has in store for us.

05:22

So there are two different groups. There's the us and the them. And we'll get to that in verse 2.

05:31

This one's a little more easy to understand. For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them.

05:42

But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

05:53

Okay. So there's two groups of people. They hear the gospel. Them and us.

06:01

Who are the us? The us were spoken of in verse 1 of chapter 3,

06:07

I believe, when it said, Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. That's the us.

06:15

Sometimes we call that group of people the elect. When the gospel is preached to the elect or to us, we believe.

06:28

We believe because, first, we were selected before the foundation of time for salvation.

06:38

Secondly, we were given the faith of Jesus Christ. Not our faith,

06:44

Jesus' faith. Our faith would not be sufficient. Our faith would waver.

06:50

But Jesus' faith will not. So we were given the faith of Jesus Christ.

06:57

The third thing is we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. As a result, we have the ability to hear, to understand, and to believe, and therefore to obey.

07:16

Now for the them. Hebrews 3 .19 spoke of them.

07:24

They could not enter because of unbelief. That's the them he's talking about.

07:30

They are the non -elect. And as uncomfortable as this is to some of us, they also were selected before the foundation of time.

07:45

But there is a difference. The elect were chosen for salvation, whereas the non -elect were chosen for condemnation.

07:58

That seems harsh. That seems harsh because we're in no position to judge.

08:05

We talked about this last night. Who is in position to judge?

08:11

Who can judge? Jesus can judge and no one else. You know why no one else can judge?

08:19

No one else can have all the evidence. Jesus doesn't have to ask for you to present a case.

08:27

Jesus knows everything. He knows everything about you. He knows even what you're thinking.

08:34

So he doesn't have to wait for an explanation.

08:43

We can't do that. We can't know and even when we think we know everything we need to know to form an opinion when we judge someone, you know the conclusion will always come to?

08:56

They're always all guilty of enough to be punished to death.

09:02

That would be our conclusion. Our conclusion is everybody is worthy of death.

09:09

Everyone is worthy of condemnation. So the fact that there's some that are select, elect, and chosen for salvation is a gift of God.

09:19

It's not anything that we did. In any case, Jude in his little book refers to one group of these people that were chosen for condemnation.

09:33

In verse 4, For there are certain men, corrupt and unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation.

09:45

Ungodly men, turning the grace of our Lord into lasciviousness and denying the only one

09:52

Lord and our Lord Jesus Christ. So as uncomfortable as that is to some of us, not only were the elect chosen before time began, so were the non -elect.

10:09

As a result, when the non -elect hear the gospel, they do not believe.

10:20

They do not believe because they were selected before the foundation of time for condemnation, not for salvation.

10:31

They are not given the faith of Jesus Christ. They are not indwelt by the

10:38

Holy Spirit. All of the things that the elect are, the non -elect are not.

10:45

They do not have the ability to hear, nor the ability to understand, nor the ability to believe.

10:54

Why don't they believe? Because they're not able to believe. And as a result, they will not obey.

11:05

I'm going to read that verse again from the beginning and just listen to that again.

11:12

For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them. But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

11:25

So why didn't they believe it? They did not have Jesus' faith.

11:31

Verse 3. For we which have believed do enter into rest.

11:41

For we which have believed do enter into rest.

11:47

As he said, as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

11:58

Now the rest spoken here, spoken of here, is a spiritual rest that God gives.

12:06

It is not something that's incomplete or unfinished. It is a rest that's based upon the finished work of Jesus Christ.

12:17

It is a rest that God laid out in eternity past. And it's similar to the rest that God took or that Jesus took after he finished creation.

12:28

But there's one difference. The rest that Jesus took when he finished creation was not a rest that we can reside in with him.

12:44

But this rest, this spiritual rest, is a rest that we can share with him.

12:51

And that's important. Verse 4. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, and God did rest the seventh day from all his works, and in this place again, if they shall enter into my rest.

13:13

Now what that is is an explanation of the rest mentioned in verse 3.

13:20

Those who exercise faith in the message of God will enter into spiritual rest.

13:27

Since it's the faith of Jesus they're exercising, they will believe. And if they believe, then they will enter into his rest.

13:40

If they believe, they will not be of unbelief. So they'll enter into his rest.

13:48

Verse 6. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of disbelief.

14:02

I'm going to read that again. I did a bad job. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief.

14:16

Verse 7. And he limited a certain day saying in David, Today, after so long a time,

14:24

As it is said, today, if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

14:33

Okay. The opportunity to enter God's rest remains open.

14:41

It's not too late. God had offered the rest to his people in Moses' time.

14:50

The rest that he offered them was what kind of rest? Earthly rest. What was the rest? They would get to the land of promise.

14:57

They would get into the land of Canaan. God continued to offer it in David's time.

15:07

Now, in David's time, they'd been in the land for over 400 years. So he's still offering them to come into rest.

15:19

So it's got to be a little different kind of rest than just entering into the promised land.

15:26

And he's still patiently inviting his people to enter into his rest.

15:35

Romans 10 verse 13 says this. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the

15:40

Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?

15:47

And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?

15:53

And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent?

16:00

As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things.

16:10

But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah saith,

16:18

Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

16:27

But I say, have they not all heard? Yes, verily their sound went out to all the earth and the words unto the end of the world.

16:40

But I say, did not Israel know? First Moses said,

16:46

I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people. And by a foolish nation

16:53

I will anger you. But Isaiah is very bold and saith,

16:59

I was found of them that sought me not. I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.

17:08

But to Israel he saith, all day long have I stretched my hands forth to a disobedient and gang saying people.

17:21

So what has he been offering to the Israelites from the time of Abraham?

17:27

Two things. First thing, an earthly rest where they were in their own country protected by God.

17:37

They never quite accepted that. And even when Joshua led them into the promised land, they didn't quite get it.

17:49

You got a question? I'm sorry. And what else has he been offering all this time?

18:00

All of this time he's also been offering a spiritual rest. Now, when

18:08

Joshua led them into the promised land, he no longer had the promised land to offer and lead them into because they were already there.

18:18

But he's still offering at the time of David a rest. That must be a different kind of rest.

18:26

That must be a better rest. That must be a spiritual rest. And that's kind of what this particular passage is about.

18:33

The different kind of rest. The rest, the earthly rest, and the heavenly rest.

18:42

So he goes on to say, this is back to Hebrews verse 6, seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not because of unbelief.

18:59

I'm going to read that again in a different version. Here's what it says in the

19:06

American Standard Version. Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news fail to enter because of disobedience.

19:17

So there are some that fail to enter in because of disobedience.

19:26

Verse 2, verse 7. And he limited, again he limited a certain day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time, as it is said,

19:36

Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. So he's appointed another day.

19:44

And he told David, this is 400 years later, long afterwards, in words already quoted,

19:50

If you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. God's true rest did not come through Joshua nor through Moses.

20:05

It didn't come when Moses led them out of Egypt and up to the boundary of the promised land.

20:15

It didn't happen when Jesus, when Moses looked across at the land of promise and said,

20:24

Maybe we ought to check out God and see if he's able. I said last week, there was only one instance that I knew of that in all of the faithfulness that Moses showed, only one time he was unfaithful, and that's when he struck the rock when he was told to speak to it.

20:45

But there's at least one other time. When he got up to the border of the promised land, God led them right through.

20:52

Within two weeks of going across the Red Sea, they were at the boundary of the promised land.

21:04

And Moses looks across and said, Maybe we'd better check it out.

21:10

Maybe our God is not big enough. He's just separated the oceans. He's fed us with manna from heaven for these two or three weeks.

21:20

He's provided water for us for these two or three weeks. And we talked about the immensity of that, the fact that you'd have to have a carload of trains constantly carrying water just to supply one day's water.

21:36

It would be a miracle if we could today put enough water in the hands of six million people in the

21:44

Sinai Desert with all the ways we've got to move water and all other animals as well.

21:53

That would be a miracle. And he's done that miracle every day that they've been since they left

21:59

Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, and are going through the desert. Now they're on the border, and Moses says,

22:05

Maybe God's not big enough. So he sends spies. He sends 12 spies when if he's going to send spies, two would have been enough.

22:17

He came back with 10 bad reports and two good reports. And because they didn't go in like he told them to go, it was too late for them.

22:31

And they wandered around in the wilderness. Every one of them died except three.

22:38

Moses, who went up on the mountain and looked over into the promised land as a favor from God so he could see the promised land, but he never set foot in it.

22:47

And two others, Joshua, who led them across, and Caleb, which we discovered late last week.

22:56

Well, we knew that anyhow, was with them. So there were three. Moses looked in and saw it,

23:05

Caleb, and Joshua. God's true rest did not come through Moses nor through Joshua, but through Jesus Christ, who is greater than either one of them.

23:20

Joshua led the nation of Israel into the land of their promised rest. However, that was an earthly rest, and it was a mere shadow of what was involved in the heavenly rest.

23:35

The very fact that, according to Psalms 95, God was still offering

23:40

His rest in the time of David long after Israel had been in the land meant that the rest being offered must have been spiritual rather than physical or earthly and was far superior to that which

23:55

Joshua obtained. Israel's earthly rest was filled with attacks of the enemies and a daily cycle of work, but not the heavenly rest.

24:07

Heavenly rest is characterized by the fullness of the heavenly promise given in Ephesians 1, starting at verse 3, and with the absence of any physical labor to obtain it.

24:25

This is what he says in Ephesians 1, 3. Blessed be God, the

24:30

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

24:41

Accordingly, as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of the children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein

25:05

He hath made us accepted in the brethren. Why are we accepted as His brothers?

25:13

Because He made us accepted. In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.

25:23

And what does grace mean? Unmerited favor. Favor from God, something that God gave us that we cannot and did not earn.

25:35

Wherewith He has abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which

25:45

He hath purposed in Himself. And when did He purpose that in Himself? Before time began.

25:51

That in the dispensation of the fullness of time He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him.

26:04

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance. What is that inheritance? Our rest.

26:12

Being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.

26:20

That we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ.

26:26

And how could we trust in Christ? Because He gave us His faith that allowed us to do that.

26:36

Verse 8, back in Hebrews. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would

26:43

He not afterwards have spoken of another day? That's unfortunate because the word

26:49

Jesus is the same as the word Joshua. What that really says is this.

26:58

Had Joshua led them into a true rest, then God would not have had to spoken of another rest.

27:07

Joshua, when he led them into the promised land, did not lead them into true rest. He only led them into the earthly rest, into the rest of being in the promised land.

27:24

Verse 9, there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. So there is another rest available.

27:33

This rest is like a Sabbath rest. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works as God did cease from His.

27:48

Whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from His works. No more works to be done.

27:55

All the works that could be done has been done when you enter unto His spiritual rest.

28:00

Now, when do you enter into spiritual rest? You enter into spiritual rest when you die, or when you're glorified, or when you are accepted into the fellowship of believers.

28:17

When do you enter into God's rest? In one sense, we don't really get to see the fulfillment of all of it until we are glorified and in heaven.

28:32

But we are in it right now. If you are one of the elect, and you have been notified that you belong to Him, and you have entered into the fellowship of believers, then you are entered into His rest, and therefore you ought to rest.

28:53

You ought not be concerned about the many things that can go on to sometimes bewitch us.

29:04

Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

29:13

Verse 12, For the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two -edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

29:32

Now here's what John MacArthur had to say about that. While the word of God is comforting and nourishing to those who believe, it is a tool of judgment and execution for those who have not committed themselves to Jesus Christ.

29:53

Some of the Hebrews were merely going through the motion of belonging to Christ.

30:01

Intellectually, they were at least partially persuaded. Remember, I think it was Festus that was listening to Paul's defense, and he said, almost persuaded.

30:13

And then there's that old gospel hymn, almost persuaded, but lost.

30:23

Almost persuaded is not persuaded. Some of the Hebrews were merely going through the motions of belonging to Christ.

30:31

Intellectually, they were at least partially persuaded, but inside, they were not committed to Him.

30:38

God's word would expose their shallow beliefs and even their false intentions.

30:56

Verse 13, Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

31:13

Now the rest of this chapter deals with the accountability that comes to those that have heard the word of God.

31:27

Scripture records the examples of those in the wilderness with Moses. Those who crossed the

31:35

Red Sea with Moses were fed in the desert for 40 years with manna from heaven, were given water every day for 40 years, and didn't enter into the

31:57

Promised Land. It gives examples of those who entered Cana with Joshua, and those who received the same opportunity in David's day to enter into not the earthly rest, but the spiritual rest.

32:17

It is the word that must be believed and obeyed, and it is the word that will judge the disobedient.

32:25

Now there's two aspects to that word. One is the living word, Jesus Christ. Ultimately, it is

32:31

Jesus Christ that will do all the judging. The other thing that will help us to judge is the

32:39

Bible, the written word, if in fact it is illuminated with the

32:49

Holy Spirit so that we can understand it. And that will judge the disobedient.

32:59

Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 10, starting at chapter 1, and this is a little bit easier for me to understand as well.

33:07

Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all of our fathers were under the cloud and passed through the

33:16

Red Sea. So he's talking about everybody that came out of Egypt passed through the

33:22

Red Sea on dry land. And they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

33:31

And they did eat the same spiritual food, meat. And they did all drink the same spiritual drink.

33:39

For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.

33:46

But with many of them, God was not well pleased. We know that because they were overthrown in the wilderness.

33:56

They did not get through to the promised land. So we know God was not totally pleased with them.

34:02

But with many of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.

34:18

Neither be you idolaters, as were some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

34:31

What were they concerned about? What were the people wandering around in the wilderness?

34:36

What were all of this mixed multitude, what were they concerned about? They were concerned about today's food, today's drink, today's pleasures.

34:50

Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day 23 ,000.

34:59

Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.

35:07

Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.

35:14

And now all these things happened to them for examples. And they're written for our admonishment, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

35:27

Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.

35:35

There hath no temptation taken you, but is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able.

35:45

But will with a temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

35:54

Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men, judge ye what

36:03

I say. Now we're closing in on the end.

36:09

Verse 14. Seeing then we have a great high priest that is passed into heaven,

36:16

Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our profession.

36:22

Profession, maybe confession would be a better word there, or proclamation would be a better word.

36:28

When I think of a profession, I tend to think of my job. My profession is that of a school teacher.

36:35

Your profession is that of an airplane mechanic. We all have our occupation.

36:42

That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about hold fast to our confession.

36:49

It's wonderful to know that we have a high priest and how unique and glorious that high priest is.

36:59

It's even greater to know that he has passed through the heavens. He's no longer on the earth.

37:05

He is now in the heavens. He has ascended into heaven and now ministers there for our sake.

37:12

So he's in heaven at the right hand side of God, the Father, serving as our high priest.

37:25

Both of these truths should encourage us to hold fast to our confession. For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the fillings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin.

37:48

Now what's even more wonderful to recognize than the awesomeness of God and the fact that Jesus is in heaven at the right hand side of God intervening on our behalf.

37:59

It's even more wonderful to recognize that God, that Jesus is not only fully

38:04

God. He is also fully man. And because he's fully man, he can sympathize with us.

38:12

The word sympathize means to suffer along with. If Jesus were only

38:20

God, he could not suffer with us. He could not sympathize with us.

38:27

We'd have a high priest that couldn't understand us. He had to come into the world as a man and a full man with all of the temptations that every man has.

38:40

He had all the temptations that we had and more. Temptations we can only imagine.

38:47

Or maybe I can say we can't even imagine. It's even more wonderful to recognize that Jesus is not only fully

38:56

God, he is also fully man. And as a result, he can sympathize with us in our failures.

39:05

Now, why can he sympathize with us in our failures? Even though he never failed when tested, as we often do, he did experience the testing.

39:16

He experienced testing far beyond what we can do, what we have experienced.

39:25

There's a time when we fail in our testing. There was never a time when

39:32

Jesus did. Verse 16, let us come boldly to the throne of God that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.

39:46

Now, because we have a high priest that is both omnipotent, all -powerful, and compassionate, we can come boldly to his throne.

40:00

Now, that's the one side. You know what the other side is? Satan is the other side.

40:08

Satan is always sitting there discouraging us from seeking access to our high priest, to Jesus.

40:21

Discouraging us from this access is his central strategy. Sometimes, the devil wants us to consider

40:32

Jesus as unapproachable. He is too far above us. He's too much better than us.

40:38

He is not like us in any way. We cannot approach him. So they offer alternatives.

40:50

How many groups of people believe that we don't go to Jesus? We don't go to God the

40:56

Father. We don't go to Jesus. Let's see. Let's go to Mary, Jesus' mother, and let her intervene for us.

41:06

Maybe another saint. Maybe I'll go to Brother David and say, Brother David, can you intervene for me with God?

41:18

I don't need to do that. I have direct approach to Jesus Christ.

41:23

In fact, I have direct approach to God the

41:28

Father through Jesus Christ. He leads us directly to the throne of God.

41:34

We don't need to worry about whether or not we have access to the

41:40

Father or to Jesus Christ. Even though Satan will sometimes tell us, you couldn't possibly, hey, maybe you ought to clean up your act first, fella.

41:50

Don't ask anything from God now. Get your life perfectly right and then ask God. That's Satan's strategy.

41:59

He knows you can't do it. Sometimes he wants us to think as Jesus being powerless to help us.

42:11

Jesus has created the universe and turned it over to the physical laws and stepped back and said, things will be what they will be.

42:21

They'll be what you make of them. Is that the way it is? Jesus sustains everything.

42:33

Sometimes the devil wants us to think that Jesus is unable to help us, and he's not the one that sits on the throne in heaven.

42:48

Now, bowing does not mean proudly or arrogantly or with presumption. Bowing means we can come anytime we want to.

42:57

We can come into God's presence through Jesus Christ anytime we want to. We can come without reservation.

43:05

We don't have to make an appointment, and we don't have to do anything first before we go. We can go right now.

43:11

Who can go? His children. Who can't go? The non -elect. Bowing means we can come freely without fancy words.

43:24

We don't have to be an eloquent speaker. Paul gave his most eloquent message at Mars Hill in Athens, and you don't read anywhere of a church at Athens.

43:43

Oh, you see one church at Corinth and the church at Antioch and the church at Rome. But where he gave his best sermon, the most eloquent sermon, the best sermon he ever did,

43:56

Mars Hill, not a single church. Bowing means we can come with confidence, and boldness means we should come persistently.

44:14

Now, one last thing. The ancient rabbis taught that God had two thrones, one of mercy and one of judgment.

44:25

They said this because they knew that God was both merciful and just, and they couldn't figure it out.

44:32

How could God be merciful and just? He looks out and he sees what? He sees that every man has sinned, and every woman has sinned, and every man and woman deserves what?

44:44

Death. Not only death, but eternal death. That's what we all deserve.

44:51

That's the total depravity of man that Calvin talked about, the total depravity of man.

44:59

If God is just and he looks out and he sees that everybody is unjust, what's he to do?

45:08

He's to destroy them all. But God is merciful. Now, how can he be merciful and just?

45:17

They couldn't figure it out. So they said maybe God has two thrones to display the two aspects of his character.

45:26

On one throne, he shows mercy, and on the other throne, judgment. But because of the finished work of Christ, where Jesus Christ came into the world, died, paid for the sins of us, and put his righteousness on us, then the

45:44

Father can see us as just, just as just as Jesus was and is, and he can be merciful.

45:52

So we see mercy and judgment reconciled unto one throne.

45:59

And what's sitting on that throne? Jesus. And what is that Jesus being able to do?

46:09

Judge and be merciful. Without the one combined, we would have one or the other.

46:18

And if we have to have one or the other, you know what we would have? We would have judgment.

46:27

But because of Jesus Christ and his finished work, we don't have to have one or the other.

46:33

We get mercy, not because we deserve it, not because we earn it, but because Jesus chose us before the beginning of time to receive it.

46:47

And that is the end of chapter 4.

46:53

Any comments or questions? So it can't be just being in the promised land.

47:13

That was hard for me to kind of sort out the two kinds of things. There is an earthly rest and there is a heavenly rest.

47:24

And something else that actually came to me this morning. When was it, when is it that you get that heavenly rest?

47:34

We talked about that a little bit. When do we get that heavenly rest? And when are you in the presence of the

47:43

Lord? Even now, even now we have that heavenly rest.

47:49

So we should, oh, we've got things to do. We still got things we've got to do to show until we are taken out of this world.

47:59

But we should have peace about everything we do. Exactly, exactly.

48:17

And what was really hurtful about that is we talked about this last night too.

48:25

How many people do you think got spiritual rest that went across the

48:32

Red Sea with Moses? I'm guessing three.

48:42

I'm guessing three. At first I said way more than that, but I'm guessing three now. Caleb and Moses.

48:50

And Moses only because the Lord elevated him up to the mountain and let him see over and say, yes, this is part of you.

48:57

You have this rest as well. That is amazing. That's right.

49:10

That's right. Up until a point. Anything else?

49:28

That's right. I wear a pair of shoes about every six months. But they say it's because I shuffle my feet.

49:39

And I kind of I think I agree with them. But I can't pick them up. I can pick them up for a while. But I start shuffling again.

49:48

One of my students said I had gone down and I was coming back and they could hear me coming down the hall.

49:54

They knew it was me because I was shuffling my feet. That's bad when people recognize you by the sound of your shoes.

50:03

Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day and thank you for all our many blessings. Go through the rest of the service with us today and give

50:12

Brother David the message that he needs to give us and let us share the message we need to hear. And we know that sometimes those are two different things.

50:20

That the message David needs to give is not necessarily the message that I need to hear. But you

50:25

Lord are able to let him give his message and me hear my message. And that is a wonderful, wonderful thing.

50:33

Bless us and keep us and go through the services today and the rest of the week. In Jesus name we pray.