Published: October 19, 2025 | Speaker: Chuck Hartman | Series: Hebrews - Part 1 | Scripture: Hebrews 4:9
Transcript
View Full Transcript →
0:03
wife on a passage that I think is is ties in well with our Thursday evening study and with our Deuteronomy study and that is the Sabbath rest. Entering in to the Sabbath rest. We'll be looking uh as
0:15
our key text uh verses I'm going to read from let's see verses 7 down through 11 in Hebrews chapter 4. He again fixes a
0:28
certain day, today, saying through David after so long a time, just as has been said before, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. For if
0:40
Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken of another day after that. There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who
0:53
has entered his rest has himself also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest lest anyone fall through
1:06
following the same example of disobedience. Let us pray. Father, we ask that you would unfold your word to us this morning and teach us, nourish us, feed us, strengthen our
1:19
souls and our minds. Help us to be diligent to enter that rest that you have both brought us into and and set before us. Help us to
1:30
understand what this means so that we might walk in truth and the light that only truth can give. We ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.
1:51
Generally in u evangelical circles, especially reformed evangelical circles, the mention of the Sabbath leads to debate uh leads to that perennial question as
2:02
to whether or not Christians are to observe the Sabbath. Of course, there's always the mention that it is the fourth commandment of the 10 and therefore it
2:13
it continues to stand. If we accept that we are to observe the Sabbath, then there is a lengthy debate on what that means, what you can and cannot do on the
2:23
Sabbath. Are you allowed, for example, to go into the office on Sunday because the project demands it? We might also ask the question, are you allowed to
2:34
murder your coworker because the project demands it? demands it? And also reason that if you did do in your coworker, you wouldn't have to work on Sunday.
2:45
on Sunday. That shows the danger of pitting one commandment against another or setting limitations to the different commandments and kind of reminds me of what Jesus said concerning the Pharisees, calling them of course
2:59
hypocrites and chastising them for laying aside their personal wealth and declaring it to be corban dedicated to God, allowing them the use of that but for but freeing
3:11
them from providing for any others. And Jesus mentions their parents that because you have made your wealth corban, you can continue to enjoy it, but you have nothing to give your
3:22
parents. You violate one law, honor your father and mother by another, and that is the dedication of a gift to God. Well, this sort of hypocrisy follows
3:33
almost inevitably with legalism. And we become essentially lawyers of the law and not students of it. And I think a lot of that has happened with regard to
3:43
the Sabbath. And that is we we uh set limits and and we set loopholes for God's law?
3:54
God's law? But we could also ask the question, is Sunday even the Sabbath? I'm sure you've heard, and you may even say this yourself with reference to the first day of the week that is the
4:05
Christian Sabbath. Now, please understand that there is no biblical backing for that phrase. And although it is evident from the scriptures, the New Testament, that the
4:16
early church did meet to worship on the first day of the week, it is also distinctly called the Lord's day and never the Sabbath. And in fact,
4:26
throughout both Old and New Testament, the Sabbath is as the Sabbath always has been, the sixth day, the last day, I should say, of the week, not the first, the seventh, excuse me. And so we we
4:38
confuse and conf and conflate two different things, the Lord's day and the Sabbath by calling it the Christian Sabbath. And when we do that, we
4:51
actually divert our understanding of what the Sabbath even means. Now, that would be okay if the Sabbath were strictly something for the old covenant,
5:02
for the Jewish people. And yet the writer to the Hebrews here puts it back in front of us as believers saying in chapter earlier in chapter 4 that that
5:13
we who have believed have entered into that rest. And then the passage verse 9 that we just read that there yet remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
5:26
And and so we're not able to do away with this Sabbath. And so I would maintain and submit that by simply transmuting it into the first day of the week, we miss the meaning of both days.
5:40
We miss the biblical meaning of that day of rest at the end of the week of creation, which is the Sabbath. And we miss the meaning of resurrection day, the first day of the week in which the
5:50
tomb was empty. And so by putting the two together, we lose understanding of both concepts. and are the worst for it. And in fact,
6:02
the only thing I've ever observed with regard to the debate concerning whether or not we should observe a Christian's Sabbath is pride,
6:13
especially of those who who do and who are all more all the willing to tell you what you may and may not do on that day. They sound a bit like Pharisees,
6:28
but that is not the topic. Not I'm not intending to debate the current application of Sabbath observance except I want to say um that most of the treatments that I have read of the issue are very
6:40
unsatisfactory but rather on that score I do think we need to be reminded of the words of Isaiah 58 Isaiah 58 verses 13 and 14. Now, Isaiah 58 is in
6:50
the midst, it's toward the end of the book of Isaiah, and it's the in the midst of of the grand esqueologgical vision that God gave Isaiah that would culminate in the new heavens and the new
7:03
earth. And in spite of all of the the debate and the ranker over the issue of the Sabbath that has permeated the church, especially since the reformation,
7:13
there's very little of this attitude that we read in Isaiah 58. So as you consider the Lord's day, as you consider that that physical rest that God himself
7:26
manifested in the week of creation, as you consider the fourth commandment, please consider these words. The Lord says, "If because of the Sabbath, you
7:36
turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor it,
7:47
desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure," and I love this one, from speaking your own word. Then you will take delight in the Lord.
8:00
If you call the Sabbath a delight, then you will take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. For the
8:12
mouth of the Lord has spoken it. It seems to me that observing the Sabbath is as much or more attitude as it is action.
8:23
It is not intended as an object of debate, but rather of delight. And and so we have kind of bookends here in this passage. We have Genesis where
8:36
we we read in chapter 2 of the Lord resting on that seventh day establishing that principle of of rest that even God when he contin when he concluded his
8:46
work as the writer of Hebrews reminds us rested and then set before us is a Sabbath rest that we yet anticipate.
9:02
What does that mean? Again, the writer of Hebrews keeps the issue of the Sabbath in front of us, but I would say he's not speaking of the weekly day of rest. I think it's fairly evident that he's speaking of something
9:13
that lasts much longer and is much deeper, something that is permanent, something that is eternal, because it reminds us that even Joshua did not deliver Israel into that rest.
9:27
So even in Israel there was the sense of yeah this isn't it. This is the promised land. This is the land promised to our forefathers. This is not the rest that God sets before us.
9:40
Joshua did not lead the children of Israel into their rest.
9:56
He tells us back in chapter 4:3, he says,"For we who have believed enter that rest, just as he said and as I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest." We who believe represents that
10:08
second generation or is represented by that second generation in the wilderness that entered into the land. We who believe have entered into that rest. And yet just a few verses later, he says,
10:20
"There yet remains a rest for the people of God." And and that's what I want to talk about this morning is what does what does that mean? How is it that we have entered into the Sabbath rest and
10:31
and yet how is it that we are yet to enter in? enter in? And and I think that what he has to say here is is very complex and it ties in
10:42
the example by way of warning of that generation in the wilderness that came out of Egypt. And that is a very significant generation as we will be
10:53
looking at those who have been attending the plumline class this Thursday. We'll be looking at that generation. The generation that perished in the wilderness. God said my heart was not
11:04
pleased with them. And the writer of Hebrews reminds us here. He says, um, where is that?
11:16
Excuse me, I've lost that place. But he he mentions he mentions I'm going to read that section in chapter 3. He mentions that because of unbelief, the word that was given to them, which he actually calls the gospel, the good news that was preached
11:28
to them, was not united with faith. and therefore that generation perished in the wilderness.
11:38
Well, when he speaks of the Sabbath here, what is it that he's talking about? You might say, okay, he's talking about the commandment, but in fact, he does not allude to the ten commandments at all.
11:48
He does not allude to the law at Sinai. Rather, he alludes very briefly to creation. He mentions in chapter 10 that God rested after his work. Well, of course,
11:59
that's Genesis chapter 2. So, he's not talking about the fourth commandment when he's speaking of the Sabbath. He's talking about something that God himself did. Now, even that is significant
12:12
because we know that almighty God did not need to rest, that the work of creation did not wear him out. And so, that when he rested, he was symbolizing
12:23
the completion of something he had been working. Now that work is done, the work of creation. Jesus enigmatically says,
12:33
you know, my father is working until now and I am working because even though the work of creation is done, the work of redemption goes on.
12:44
And yet there's a parallel between the two that when the work of creation was completed, God rested. When the work of redemption was completed by Jesus on Golgatha, he sat
12:58
down at the right hand of the father on high. He rested. And in verse 10 that I read earlier, I'm going to read it again. For the one who has entered his rest has
13:11
himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. Now, I want you to look at your Bibles in that verse if you have your Bibles with you.
13:22
In mine, the first his for the one who has rested from his rest is capitalized.
13:32
And yet this person is clearly in the verse set apart from God who rested when he had completed his work of
13:44
creation. I think the first his is Jesus Christ. The one who rested is Jesus Christ. He said on the cross, "It is finished. My work is done."
13:55
He went into the grave. He rose from the grave three days later and he ascended to the father and he is in his rest. His work is done. And so there's the there's
14:07
the principle of Sabbath in scripture. It's a principle and I hope you can see that does not transmute into the Lord's day. The Lord's day is all about new
14:18
life, of resurrection. The Lord's day is related to the Sabbath in the sense that it's Jesus's completion of his Sabbath work and entering into his Sabbath rest was
14:30
because of the resurrection. So it seems to me that if we if we look at the completion of work and the entering of rest, both God in creation, Jesus in
14:42
redemption, then what we're talking about is the consummation We're talking, we're going back to 1 Corinthians 15, for example, where where Christ must reign until all
14:52
enemies have been put under his feet. The last one to be defeated is death itself. And at that point, all those who have believed will enter into this eternal
15:03
rest that is set before us here in this passage. But context is very, very vital in this matter, as it is in in most biblical interpretation. And I want to
15:15
point that out because there's a passage in here that is again one of those refrigerator magnet verses, chapter 12 or verse 12.
15:26
And I got into a lot of trouble a while ago by saying that I I don't recommend verse memorization. verse memorization. I recommend passage memorization if you can do it. Memorize whole books if you
15:37
can. But when you memorize individual verses and you pluck them around your house as decorations, do you have the context with them?
15:48
It seems rather odd where the writer has put has set verse 12 and we're going to look at that in a moment. But there are two points of
16:00
context that I want to bring out. First is a negative one and that is the negative example of Israel in the wilderness and that begins all the way back in chapter 3. Uh we might uh look
16:11
at just verses 12. I'm going to read the passage because this sets the stage. This is what the the writer has been talking about and and Paul also does this in 1
16:22
Corinthians 10 and Romans 15 where not the whole nation of Israel throughout its history but one particular
16:32
generation, the one that that witnessed the 10 plagues, the crossing of the of the Red Sea, that witnessed the mana in the wilderness and the rock water from the rock that saw the flaming and thundering
16:44
mountain of Si and I and yet every one but two died in the wilderness. That generation is
16:55
incredibly significant in redemptive history. The writer of Hebrews says, "Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil unbelieving heart in
17:05
falling away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called today, lest one of you be hardened by the
17:16
deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end. While it is said today, if you
17:26
hard if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts when they provoked as when they provoked me. For who provoked him? when they had heard indeed did not
17:38
all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses and with whom was he angry for 40 years was it not with those who sinned whose bodies fell in the wilderness and
17:50
to whom did he swear that they should not enter his rest but to those who were disobedient and so we see that they were not able to enter the rest because of
18:05
unbelief very sobering words. And he really doesn't give us any place for complacency or self-confidence. He doesn't give us any place to to lay
18:16
any stress on our denomination or the fact that we were raised in a Christian home or allegedly live in a Christian nation. He's speaking to believers and he says, "Take care.
18:29
take care lest you turn out like that generation that came out of Egypt under Moses. Now, we might go as some have and say,
18:40
"Well, this this proves that you can lose your salvation." Well, I wish I had the time to to uh debunk that. But it it does not. Earlier
18:51
in chapter six, he has another passage that is quite scary and has frightened many believers. Uh but at the end of that passage he says, "But we anticipate better things for you, things that
19:03
accompany salvation." He is not questioning the steadfastness of the Lord to keep those who are his own. And yet, as we learned in Sunday school today, it's it's it's kind of a a both
19:14
and that it is God who is at work within us to will and to and to do according to his pleasure. But we are yet to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. It is the Holy Spirit that has sealed us
19:26
against that day. And yet we're told to take care lest there be an unbelieving and disobedient heart among you. And so that's the context. The second
19:36
contextual point I want to bring out is what I mentioned earlier and that is verse 12. Verse 12 says, "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as
19:48
far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Why is that verse here?
20:06
Why is that verse in the midst of an exhortation to be diligent to enter into the rest that Christ has secured for us? That that is really what I want to end up with here is why is
20:17
verse 12 not just taken out and put on a magnet and stuck on the fridge. It's set as a gem within a ring
20:28
that it doesn't necessarily seem to go with. The word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword. The only way that that verse makes sense to me in its
20:43
context is if it is actually the key to everything the writer is saying. And I believe that it is.
20:53
So with Israel in the wilderness, let's start and just briefly rehearse what's going on there. This is the immediate setting of Hebrews 4:9.
21:03
As I mentioned earlier, uh by God's providence, we've been spending time talking about that generation in the wilderness, in our Leviticus study, in the Deuteronomy study on Sunday
21:14
mornings, and in the Plumline study. Right now in biblical theology, we are actually with Israel coming up to Mount Si. That's where we are in this Thursday
21:25
evening study. So, as I said, th this is this is a remarkable generation. In 1 Corinthians 10:es
21:35
1-1, Paul speaks of this generation of having all been baptized under the cloud, all having been baptized into Moses. And they all parttook of the same spiritual
21:46
bread, the mana, the same spiritual drink, the water out of the rock, and that rock was Christ. A very enigmatic passage that Paul brings us there. But
21:56
then he says, "And now these things have happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction upon whom the ends of the ages have come."
22:09
You see, that's not just interesting history. And it's not just looking at them and saying, "Oh, they didn't believe. They deserved everything they got." No. Paul
22:19
says, "These things were written as an example and for our instruction." Now, that can only make sense if what happened to them
22:31
could happen to the church. And it can. And the writer of Hebrews is driving that point home. Also Romans 15, Paul says, "For whatever was written in
22:42
earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope." The encouragement
22:53
of the scriptures, that phrase in Romans 15:4 helps us understand why verse 12 is here in chapter 4. We're being told, "Don't be like that
23:06
people. Don't do what they did. Okay. How the word of God. How do we even know that we are becoming like that people?
23:19
We're becoming disobedient. We're becoming hard-hearted becoming hard-hearted the word of God. It it all comes back to the word of God.
23:33
So, we recognize the everpresent danger of apostasy, of falling away. And again, this has been problematic in the church. There are denominations who firmly believe that you can lose your
23:44
salvation, that you can be truly saved and yet lose that salvation and end up perishing in hell. That manifests a misunderstanding of
23:54
what actually happens during salvation. That is based on the belief that salvation is within your power. And therefore, you can both believe and
24:04
unbelieve. that it's all up to you. But the scripture teaches us that salvation is of the Lord. And Jesus teaches Nicodemus that you must be born again.
24:15
You see, salvation represents something that's being done by God. While you were yet dead in your sins and trespasses, he made you alive.
24:26
That's not me. That's God. So, I think we can establish that those that are truly saved are truly saved. And yet there's constantly this warning against
24:37
apostasy. Take care. Be diligent. Lest. That that little phrase lest. Listen to it. And these aren't even these aren't even uh exhaustive. But chapter 3 verse
24:49
12. Take care, brethren, lest there should be any one of you in any one of you an evil unbelieving heart. Chapter 4 verse one. Therefore, let us fear, lest
25:03
while a promise remains of entering his rest, some of you should seem to have come short of it. Chapter 4 11. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that
25:14
rest, lest anyone fall through dis through following the same example of disobedient. Be diligent. Take care.
25:28
Let us fear. But then encouragingly verse 16, let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace that we may receive
25:39
mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. of need. There's warning, There's warning, but the writer doesn't leave us with just the warning.
25:51
The writer leaves us with a great and encouraging hope, but even confidence. Let us fear, let us be diligent, let us
26:03
watch, let us enter with confidence. And I think the key to that goal of entering God's rest
26:24
is recognizing from God's word what it actually is that we're entering. Much of Christianity has become very self-centered, very therapeutic.
26:37
We focus on our fleshly needs, our worldly needs. worldly needs. And as you drive around town and you look at the various church marquees, you'll see that there's something there
26:47
for you if you're divorced, something there for you if you are an alcoholic. There's something there for you in your com in your current life situation. But there's very little there for you beyond
26:59
that. There's very little looking forward to that hope that is set before us, that hope that is penetrated through the veil. And therefore, it's almost as if the churches today and the preachers
27:10
today are are like Joshua. They're they're leading the people of God into a land that they say, "This is the rest." Well, that's more like Aaron looking to
27:21
the cow and say, "Here's your God. It's not the rest." And and so there's a deception going on within our churches where people are
27:32
being being told that that you can have your best life now that that the struggles that you are going with in this dark and perverse age can be
27:42
overcome and you can live above them. You can live with power and you can have that rest. Now the writer says, "No, there yet remains
27:54
because there cannot be that rest as long as there is still sin. They they just don't go together." That was the problem in the promised land. And those
28:04
who were faithful always recognized, even Solomon said, "God, you don't you don't dwell in a house made by human hands." And he said, "When your people
28:15
sin, parenthesis, for no man doesn't sin." So even Solomon, I say even Solomon, I mean, he was wise, but that didn't seem to help him out in the long
28:25
run. But he recognized that this isn't it. This is kind of like a a picture of what it might be like, but this isn't it. And even today as we
28:38
gather, this isn't it. And if we begin to think that it is, we will find ourselves falling away. We'll fall away in one way or another. As I mentioned
28:50
earlier that this passage here from chapter 3 on through uh ver chapter 4, especially uh verse 11, this is a midrash on Psalm 95. Come, let us
29:01
worship and bow down. Th this is the the idea behind the the biblical idea behind the Sabbath rest is that is entering into the presence of God with all work
29:16
finished. Not just completed but finished for all time. And and we know that our work is yet undone. And
29:27
that the work of God in redemption, as we read in Romans 8, is yet undone. For all creation continues to groan, waiting for its salvation, its redemption.
29:40
Was this vest available to Israel? Yes, it was. And I want to make that point very clear because here again there's a lot of
29:52
misunderstanding as to what the law meant and what the Jewish religion was all about. And many think that their way to salvation was through works by obedience to the law. That is not true
30:03
at all. Their salvation, their redemption from the bondage of Egypt was entirely God's work of grace. The law was indeed a charter of the
30:16
covenant, a way in which they were to live with one another. And it has its parallels in the many one anothers that we have in the New Testament.
30:27
And even Paul in Romans 13, as we saw a few weeks ago, quotes the commandments and said that these are the content of the love to which God has called you in Christ. And so we we think that Israel
30:39
had a certain way of salvation and now we have a different way. They had the law. We had grace. No. The just the just shall always walk by faith. They had
30:53
that rest set before them as we read back in chapter chapter 4:2. Listen. For indeed we have had good news preached to us just as they also. Look, look at the
31:08
order. It's kind of backwards, isn't it? Isn't the gospel ours, the good news? No. He says, "No, they had good news preached to them just as we also." The good news
31:20
was the word of God, but the word they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith in those who heard it.
31:32
The word remains the center of the issue here. The word of God preached both to the children in the wilderness as it has been to us. Their faith
31:44
when they had it was in the Christ to come. Our faith is in the Christ who has come. But by kind it is the same.
31:57
It is the same faith. Faith in God who has promised our redemption as his work. Faith in Jesus Christ who has completed that work. And those who believe enter
32:09
that rest. We enter and yet we are exhorted to be diligent to enter. We enter but we're told to enter.
32:20
That is such a common theme especially in the New Testament. How do we understand that? Well, I'm going to present two ways as we finish up here. First, there's that famous now and not yet. We've talked about that many times
32:32
that what we have in Christ is the fullness of salvation. Nothing more needs to be done. We do not need a temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem.
32:44
We do not need animal sacrifices to be reestablished in Jerusalem. There is nothing that needs to be done for the salvation of mankind. It is finished in
32:57
Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Our sanctification has been secured. Our glorification has been established in Jesus Christ. And yet our
33:07
sanctification proceeds and our glorification awaits his appearance. The now and the not yet. That is a a paradigm and a tension in which the
33:18
church and every believer must understand and live. But there's a second way of looking at this and I think it is more to the point of the writer of Hebrews
33:29
and that is that we are to be watching out not only for ourselves but primarily but primarily for one another. As I read back in chapter 3:12, he says,
33:42
"Take care, brethren, lest there be there should be among you anyone who has an evil unbelieving heart.
33:58
We are are our brother's keeper. We are our sister's keeper. We cannot bring salvation to any single human being." The psalmist makes that clear in several places. We cannot save our children. We cannot save our
34:12
spouses. We cannot save our parents. And yet within the body of Christ, we have work. The work of watchmen, the work of of taking care of watching one
34:24
another and and looking for and not in a in a negative way, in a critical way, but in a pastoral manner. Are we seeing
34:35
an evil unbelieving heart? What's happening here? Are we beginning to see that someone is falling away from
34:45
the faith? Later in this book in chapter 12, the writer says, "Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees
34:56
that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb that is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all
35:06
men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God. That no root of bitterness
35:18
springing up causes trouble and be by it many be defiled.
35:29
That's our job. Not just Mark's job. Not just my job. In fact, I would say that that it is no more our job than it is any one of yours
35:39
to watch out for one another, to to listen to one another's speech, to see if it is in fact seasoned with salt or
35:49
really is nothing but worldly gossip and empty words to watch out for one another's souls. What What is What is being fed? and what
36:01
is coming out on what is this person's soul being nourished and what is their heart's desire what is their intent set upon is it the Lord are
36:14
their eyes fixed upon Jesus seated in the heavenlies the heavenlies or is it career or wealth is it is it something that is eternal
36:25
and restful or is it something that is of the world and therefore with this age passing away.
36:37
That is no more my job than it is yours. It is no more Mark's job than it is yours. We in that respect are simply brethren. Our job actually is to equip you to do that. Ephesians 4:12
36:50
to equip the saints for the work of ministry. And I think according to to Paul and to the writer of Hebrews, one of the most important works of ministry that every believer has is the one
37:04
anothers. Not the mission field, but the one anothers. What good is it if your heart is over in some foreign land when those around you are falling into apostasy and unbelief?
37:17
Will you hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You spent thousands helping some missionary in subsaharan Africa while your children perished
37:28
under your own roof. I don't think so. I think we've been sold a bill of goods by the church. That somehow Christian ministry has this started in the
37:39
medieval Roman Catholic Church. Of course, Christian ministry meant a monastery. It meant a convent. No, no. Christian ministry is one another's. one anothers.
37:50
one anothers. Be careful the the hands that are weak, the knees that are feeble, the joint that is lame. That's that's flock language. It really is that when when you see a fellow sheep
38:05
stumbling when you see a fellow sheep and the shepherd has called the sheep together and one sheep kind of goes a different direction. That's a danger we we should be looking at. We should be
38:17
getting around that person and trying with love and exhortation. James talks about this that that one who restores a brother covers a multitude of
38:28
sins. That's our job. But Mark and I have a another job and that is equipped to equip you to do your
38:39
job. And there's verse 12. I don't know anyone's heart, nor do you know mine.
38:49
know mine. But Jeremiah, the Lord says that he is the one who searches the heart. The heart is desperately wicked. Who can know it? I the Lord search the heart.
38:59
And then Paul in first Corinthians says that it is the spirit of God that searches the deep things of God. And that is the spirit that has been given to us so that we have the mind of
39:11
Christ. And so what it boils down to is the word of God as a scalpel going into our own minds and our own
39:24
hearts and separating thoughts and intentions and exposing everything. And I love the way the writer of Hebrews puts it
39:34
in verse 13. There is no creature hidden from his sight. But all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
39:46
You see, the deep things are not open and laid bare to each other. All we can see is what comes back out out of the abundance of the heart. The mouth speaks. All we can see is the
39:59
direction of the path in which someone is walking. And we can say, "I don't think that's a good path." And we can come beside them and say, "I don't think that's a good path."
40:15
But the Lord knows the heart and he has chosen as his instrument of investigation his word. So this is why and Lord willing this is why
40:28
it will remain the essential fundamental part of the name of this church is Bible
40:39
is Bible and that what Mark and I and and other men after us will do again Lord willing continue to do is lay before you two things. first of all the word of God
40:50
itself and second and even more importantly how to study that word yourself because that is the word that will
41:01
uncover your hearts and lay it bare before the Lord. That is the power of God to diagnose apostasy before it becomes fatal.
41:12
becomes fatal. And it is by the standard of the word that you will be able to rightly discern the acts and the and the words of others. And you'll be able to recognize
41:23
in your children, in your spouse, in your parents, in your neighbors, in your
41:38
I have often expressed what I find to be the greatest lament in Christianity and in individual Christian churches. And that is the inability for them to pass the faith along to their children.
41:51
And by God's grace, we have been able to see it passed to grandchildren and Lord willing to greatg
42:01
grandandchildren. But most churches within a few generations will have died out and they will have settled into a pattern of of social
42:12
acceptance and unbelief. And the reason is because they will have long since abandoned the word of God. And so verse 12 is is set as a diamond
42:24
in the rough in this example of unbelief. They had the same word preached to them as we have to us only they did not unite that word with
42:37
belief. And so the exhortation for us is to know in whom you have believed. And on the basis of that that faith we may enter boldly into the presence of
42:51
God which is our rest now and our hope of rest forever. Let us pray. Father, we do ask that by your spirit
43:03
you would exhort and encourage each one of us to be in your word to know that that word is sharper than a
43:13
two-edged sword and is able to to lay bear our thoughts and our intentions in your eyes, in your sight to to allow us to know why we come before your
43:26
throne of grace. because we need mercy and grace every day of our lives. And we pray that as a body and for all of your churches that
43:36
your spirit would unite the hearts of believers to the one anothers that we might be diligent that we might fear that we might take care lest any one of
43:48
us should come short of your eternal rest. Father, we ask that you would do these things for your glory and clearly for our good. And we ask it in Jesus
43:59
name. Amen. name. Amen. Well, please rise for the benediction from Romans 15
44:13
where Paul writes, "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope." And then he says, "Now may the God who gives
44:24
perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, that with one accord you may with one voice
44:36
glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.