The Gathering Surf City

As we move forward,

we continue in the topic of the object
of our faith being Jesus.

And we continue to talk about Jesus.

And perfect song for us to begin
this particular message,

because Jesus is the one who paid the
price for our admission into God's

rest. See?

I mean,

if there's an admission charge,

if there's something that it costs
for us to enjoy the rest of God,

then Jesus is the one
who paid that price.

Y'all know what admission
looks like,

right? I mean,

think about it.

We had a family just now,

just this week,

got back from Disney World.

I remember a couple weeks ago,

he said,

yeah. He said,

I hadn't been paying on it for like,

months now,

so we could go to Disney World,

take the grandkid.

And I was like,

yeah, see?

Because it costs something,

right? There's a price to be paid.

Well, as we read this passage,

I want you to hear it in the context
of what God has offered and how God

turned around and paid the price
for what he offered.

All right,

here we go.

It's in Hebrews,

chapter four,

verses one to eleven,

says, therefore,

since the promise to enter
his rest remains,

let us beware that none of you be
found to have fallen short.

For we also have received
the good news,

just as they did.

But the message they heard
did not benefit them,

since they were not united with
those who heard it in faith.

For we who have believed,

enter the rest,

in keeping with what he has said.

So I swore in my anger,

they will not enter my rest,

even though his works have been finished
since the foundation of the

world.

For somewhere he has spoken about
the 7th day in this way,

and on the 7th day,

God rested from all his works.

Again, in that passage,

he says,

they will never enter my rest.

Therefore, since it remains
for some to enter it,

and those who formally received the
good news did not enter because of

disobedience, he again specifies
a certain day today.

How about that?

So that whole day conversation
about rest and Sabbath,

God says it's today.

It's a big deal,

y'all. He specified this,

speaking through David after
such a long time today,

if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts.

For if Joshua had given them rest,

God would not have spoken
later about another day.

Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains
for God's people,

for the person who has entered his rest
has rested from his own works,

just as God did from his.

Let us then make every effort to enter
that rest so that no one will fall

into the same pattern
of disobedience.

Let's pray.

God, we thank you.

And we praise you again
that as we gather,

God, your word promises that
you meet with us here.

God, we gather in your name.

We gather to celebrate you,

to exalt you,

to worship you.

God, we want our lives and our time
together to bring you glory.

And so,

God, I'm so grateful for
every person here.

We've had new folks all morning long
that come to be a part of worship.

So we want to make it worship God.

We want to set aside the distractions
of this world so that we may

concentrate, prioritize,

focus on Jesus.

So help us to do that.

We pray it in Jesus name.

Amen. So the point of today's message
is simply rest revealed.

God has revealed a rest,

right?

So I remember back in
October or October,

early November,

when I preached on this passage,

I brought a chair up here.

Y'all remember?

And I put a chair up here,

and I just kind of went,

sat down in the chair and I said,

all right,

does that look like rest?

And then I may truly do rest,

right? But that wasn't really rest.

Sitting in the chair
is not really rest.

So what is it that God is describing
as rest to us?

And in this passage?

Because the writer of Hebrews is giving
us the layout of how God has

already accomplished the rest.

So we got to fold back a little bit and
take a look at some things here

that I want us to understand.

God promised a rest.

Therefore, since the promise
to enter his rest remains.

Now, this is the writer of Hebrews
probably writing somewhere in the

ballpark between 55 AD and 70 AD.

And so he's writing about a
rest that is still there.

There is a promise of rest.

Now, if the writer of Hebrews is
writing to more than likely a

predominantly hebrew audience,

jewish people who have trusted
Jesus as savior,

messiah, lord,

and he's writing about
a rest that remains,

these hebrew people are going,

well, wait a minute.

We celebrate rest every Sabbath
day on that Saturday.

It's important that 7th day.

We can't walk more than 25 steps.

We can't relight our lamps
if they go out.

We can't do any work of any kind,

right? So they've got this rigid practice
of the law that gives them this

sort of definition of rest.

And even so,

the day for the jewish people
began at 06:00 at night.

So this whole idea of rest to them is
almost sort of conflicted in this

rigid legal system.

And now there was a reason for it.

God purposed it and planned it,

but it was to understand something
bigger than a day.

Now, I remember when we preached
through romans.

Last year,

I did a whole day on the whole thing
of some people regard a day,

some people regard a different day.

You see?

And so when God speaks about
entering arrest,

is he talking about a day?

I grew up under the.

Let's see.

I have to be careful
what I say here.

I worked in a textile mill
when I was young.

You worked for five days,

8 hours a day,

and you had a weekend,

right.

And so I took the other shift.

I took the 212 hours weekends on.

212 hours days on the weekend
and got paid for 40.

I thought that was a deal,

right? 24 hours to get paid for 40.

Whoo. That was good
stuff right there.

I had a whole week for my weekend,

Monday through Friday,

right? Guess what?

I was in school.

See? So the rest that God is talking
about is not a rest of stopping

work. Now,

most definitions,

even the greek words that we find
right here in this passage,

refer to the stopping or the cessation
of activity or work.

So when we get all bound
up in a calendar,

we've missed the point
of what God's doing,

because this is what he
says right here says,

for we also have received
the good news,

just as they did.

But the message they heard
did not benefit them,

since they were not united
with those who heard it.

In faith,

for we who have believed
enter the rest.

So in Christ,

in our faith,

we have already entered the rest.

What is he talking about?

Not talking about time off.

Not talking about.

My watch tells me when to go to bed,

y'all. And then in the morning,

when I get up,

I can mash the button.

It'll tell me how much sleep I had.

It'll tell me how much
of it was deep sleep,

how much of it was light sleep,

and how many times I woke up
in the midst of the night.

Do you know what?

Every morning,

I get up,

I really look at that thing,

and I go,

no wonder I'm so tired.

You see what I mean?

So we're not talking about rest
like a physical rest.

What God is sharing with us right here
is that he has established from

creation a rest,

a rest that he has provided for us,

and then subsequently,

he's paid the price of admission.

For now,

I'm going to back up a minute,

because there is a place here where
when it talks about Jesus and what

Jesus has done,

remember when it said that he is
the one who passed through?

Now, translations say the heavens says
he's the one that passed through

the heavens,

and the translation would
better be made there,

that he passed through the skies to enter
back into the presence of God,

because heaven is God's presence.

Heavens is this physical separation of
waters from what is above and what

is beneath.

Okay, so Jesus passed through the heavens
back to and sat down at the

right hand of God,

right hand of glory on the throne.

So where is God's rest?

Is it on Sunday,

Saturday, thank you.

Or from 09:00 at night to
04:00 in the morning,

which is what my watch tells me,

right? Is that my rest.

See, the point of this is that the rest
God's talking about is to be in

his presence.

See, that is the promised rest.

The promised rest we get to return to
rest is to return to the presence

of God.

And God is the one by
his own person.

God the Son has paid the price of admission
for us to enter the presence

of God,

to enter God's rest.

And yet we create the same
kind of legal system,

the same kind of Do's and don'ts.

To think that we can somehow work,

earn or achieve a rest that God has already
accomplished and made for us.

He says to him,

I swore in my anger they
will not enter my rest.

Even though his works had been finished
since the foundation,

God's rest was established
at creation.

For six days he labored 7th.

He entered his own rest.

He rested.

See, I like the way that kind of
lays that out for somewhere.

He has spoken about the
7th day in this way.

And on the 7th day,

God rested from all his works.

Again, in that passage he said,

they will not enter my rest.

Therefore, since it remains
for some to enter it.

And those who formerly received the
good news did not because of

disobedience, he again specifies
a certain day.

Today. He specified this,

speaking through David after
such a long time today,

if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts.

God's promised rest is his presence and
our relationship with him through

the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

God, I heard Kyle preach
earlier this morning.

How many of you parents,

how many of you like watching
your kids sleep?

Yeah, I know.

I see some of your smiles.

I was the same way.

He's most beautiful
when he's sleeping.

But there was an enjoyment in watching
him just give himself over to

sleep, to just rest.

And you know,

when a kid goes down,

man, they go down,

they'll fight it so much because
they don't want to go down,

right? So the rest that God's offering
us is a rest that is without

worry, it's without anxiety,

it's without this need
to accomplish.

What do we do today?

I mean,

think about physical rest.

What do we do we got to have
the right mattress,

the right sheets and the right blankets
and the right fan overhead.

And I got a friend who can't sleep unless
he's got this noisy going on in

the work in the room.

I'm like,

man, you see?

So we work to rest,

right? Well,

we've adopted the same kind of attitude
or idea with the rest of God,

that somehow we've got to
work to enjoy God's rest.

And that's not what he said
to us right here,

because, see,

throughout history,

and he gives us a great historical
background right here,

he said on the 7th day he rested.

But guess what?

The 7th day didn't become
rest for God's people,

right? And then the promised land was
supposed to be rest to enter God's

rest. But rest is not about the land.

For if Joshua had given them rest,

God would not have spoken
later about another day.

And listen to this.

Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains
for God's people,

for the person who has entered his rest
has rested from his own works,

just as God did from his.

You can't work to get God's rest.

I can't work to get God's rest.

See, Jesus already paid the price of
admission to enter God's rest.

And God's rest is the very
presence of God.

You see,

it's interesting that when I was listening
some of the studying I did

this week about Jesus passing through
the heavens or passing through the

skies, that sometimes the
sky's called a veil,

right?

Sometimes the sky's called a veil.

And we know that when Christ
died on the cross,

that the veil of the temple
was torn apart,

which opened up that secret place,

that holy of holy place,

that place of God's abiding,

that place of God's dwelling.

And the veil was ripped.

And so when Jesus passed
through the skies,

he passed through the veil of the skies
so that it opened up so that we

could abide and dwell in God's rest.

You see,

it's not for us to work
to get there,

folks.

Man, I see so many christians
just spinning their wheels.

It's like they're on a hamster mill,

right? They're running
in a little wheel.

You can't earn it.

You can't get there.

You've got to abide there through
the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

And it becomes a part of our identity
in Christ that not only have we

been promised a rest,

but we need the rest.

We need the presence of God,

you see?

And the rest that God has
promised is there.

It was finished in that 7th day.

You see,

God has done everything required
for us to enter his rest.

Verse ten says,

for the person who has entered his rest
has rested from his own works,

just as God did from his.

And then verse eleven,

let us then make every effort
to enter that rest now.

Sounds like a contradiction,

doesn't it?

Effort to enter rest.

Sounds like we're working
to get there,

doesn't it?

What are our efforts?

What can you do to enter God's rest?

I mean,

what I think the text is
saying is nothing.

You can't enter God's rest.

God's the one who's done the work.

So then it becomes sort of incumbent
upon us to make every effort to

abide in the rest.

Let me ask you a question.

I've been saying this for
a year and a half now.

You ready?

Where do you spend the
most of your time?

Do you spend time in
the word of God?

Do you go into the Bible,

God's word,

and look for the rest of God?

How much time do you be still to know
that God is God and we are not?

See, how much time do you spend loving
the people around you because

you're an ambassador of God's rest?

See, these are all things that become
the product of enjoying the rest.

We've already been given entrance
into God's rest,

and so the product of that rest becomes
the outflow of God's spirit in us.

Let us then make every effort to enter
that rest so that no one will fall

into the same pattern
of disobedience.

Remember, the warning in chapter three
was that God's people couldn't

enter the rest.

And in that context,

it was enter the land because of their
disobedience in rebellion.

See, so when we consider
this rest of God,

you know what prevents most christians
from enjoying the rest of God?

It's sin separates us in
relationship from God.

See, there's a book that I read years
ago that had a profound impact on

my walk with God.

It's called returning to holiness.

And in there,

Gregory Fazelle talks
about the fact.

He says,

the reason people feel that they work
so hard is they don't know how to

repent and confess their sin and seek
the holiness of God in their lives.

It's almost like we feel like
we've done this over here,

so we got to work doubly hard
over here to make it up.

See, God's given us rest.

God rested from all his work.

God's given us rest from the work
of achieving his presence,

of achieving his rest.

Who needs rest.

God knew we'd need rest.

That's why he offered it.

That's why he spoke about it all the
way from creation to enter God's

rest. See,

I grew up in a family where I think sometimes
we were taught things had

to be earned.

Yeah, and truthfully,

they do.

But not this.

I have to earn love from God.

Do you know,

it doesn't matter.

God can't love you less
than he loves you.

Do you know that?

He can't love you less than
he already loves you.

Therefore, he can't love you more
than he already loves you.

See, God's opened his arms to you.

God's opened his rest to us.

We enter it by faith.

We enter it through Jesus.

See, maybe you feel like
you got to work harder.

Maybe you feel like there's
something that's missing.

God has shown us his rest.

We just have to abide there.

The effort we make is to
abide in his presence.

Set aside the distractions.

Set aside the toil.

Set aside the pain.

Find our way in Christ.

If you don't know Jesus,

you need Jesus.

If you want to know God's rest,

you got to know Jesus.

Okay, we're going to sing one
more song in just a minute.

You get to respond.

If you don't know Jesus,

we want to introduce you to him.

If you know him and you know that you
feel like you're working yourself

beyond anything else,

then stop and abide in God,

because he's our rest.

All right,

maybe you want to join
the gathering.

I always mention that third,

because there are a lot
of people who say,

how do we join?

Just come down here and say,

I want to join.

We'll tell you how.

But bigger than all of that stuff is
that you answer God's question this

morning. Whatever it is
he's asked of you.

All righty,

let's pray.

God, thank you for today.

And, God,

thank you that your word
tells us of rest,

speaks of rest,

reveals rest,

provides for our rest.

God, you have paid the admission
for us to enter rest.

And so,

God, my prayer would be
is that we enter rest.

God, we want to be in the
midst of your rest.

God, you've made a way to it.

So, God,

help us to enter.

God. If there's anybody here this morning
doesn't know Jesus doesn't know

the rest that we have in Christ,

God, my prayer would be that
they know it today.

We pray it in his name.

Amen.