November 24, 2025 • 28 mins
What if the peace you keep chasing is already offered to you—today? We complete Hebrews chapter 3 and discover why the promise of rest is not a distant dream but a present invitation. By lifting up Jesus as fully God and fully human, we anchor rest where it belongs: in a Savior who finished the work and frees us from living like it’s all on our shoulders.
We revisit Israel’s wilderness story—spies, fear, and forty years of wandering—to show how unbelief looks reasonable while quietly draining our joy. The issue wasn’t a lack of evidence; it was a heart that made the giants bigger than God’s word. Hebrews names this honestly: unbelief is disobedience. Not to condemn, but to explain why many churchgoers still feel tired, anxious, and stuck in works. When we treat outcomes, reputation, and self-justification as our job, rest evaporates. When we trust Christ’s finished work, assurance returns and obedience becomes light.
Scripture offers concrete wisdom for finances, marriage, parenting, work, and church life. Uniting that word with faith changes rhythms: generosity over grasping, reconciliation over resentment, limits over hustle, worship over worry. We share personal moments of wandering and renewal, highlighting how community, Scripture, and small groups helped us move from striving to steady. The simple prayer—“I believe; help my unbelief”—becomes a daily posture that opens the door to peace.
The promise remains open. Will you enter it? If this conversation helps you breathe a little easier, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs rest, and leave a review so others can find it too. Your story might be the spark that helps someone else step into God’s rest today.
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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:17):
The book of Hebrews lifts up Jesus to his rightful
place.
He is higher than all people.
He is higher than the heavens.
And it spends quite a bit oftime in chapter one telling us
that Jesus is God Almighty.
Says it 13 or 14 times in asmany verses that Jesus is God.
(00:38):
It also talks about how Jesus isfully human.
And we're going to see some ofthat today on Reasoning Through
the Bible.
We're also going to see wherethe book of Hebrews talks about
rest.
And the question we have todayfor all of our listeners are do
you need rest?
Do you feel rested?
(00:58):
Because in Christ we can rest.
And that's what he's going totalk about because the ancient
Israelites, they had anopportunity to rest, but they
did not take advantage of thatopportunity because of unbelief.
And it made them hard.
They did not get God's rest.
So we're going to read inHebrews chapter 3, if you have
(01:19):
your Bible open to Hebrews 3.15.
And Steve, can you start thereand read to verse 19 at the end
of the chapter?
SPEAKER_00 (01:28):
While it is said, today if you hear his voice, do
not harden your hearts as whenthey provoked me.
For who provoked him when theyhad heard?
Indeed, did not all those whocame out of Egypt led by Moses?
And with whom was he angry forforty years?
Was it not with those whosinned, whose bodies fell in the
(01:49):
wilderness?
And to whom did he swear thatthey would not enter his rest,
but to those who weredisobedient?
So we see that they were notable to enter because of
unbelief.
SPEAKER_01 (02:03):
This is another one of the steel cables that anchors
our church to the ground with astern warning.
He says, if you're hearing God'svoice, then don't harden your
hearts as when they provoked me.
Now the they there, the audienceof the book of Hebrews would
know exactly what he's talkingabout.
The ancient Israelitesdisbelieved.
(02:24):
They hardened their hearts andthey were not able to go into
the promised land.
So the warning for the church,and through this, really this
whole section and into the nextchapter, the warning for the
people inside the church is tobe careful that you're actually
believing God and that you canrest.
You can have rest today in JesusChrist.
(02:46):
And don't be like the ancientIsraelites who heard the
message, had the opportunity toenter God's rest, but did not.
So in these verses, the authorexplains the blame that was put
on the ancient Israelites fourtimes.
He's asking a question, and thenhe's answering it.
Who, having heard God, provokedhim with a hard heart?
(03:11):
The answer is it was all thosewho came out of Egypt.
Now in verse 17, he says God wasangry with those who died in the
wilderness for 40 years.
In verse 18, God swore to thedisobedient that they would not
enter his rest.
So these verses equate unbeliefwith disobedience.
(03:35):
So Steve, is it true thatunbelief is disobedience?
And how serious of a sin isthis?
The reason I ask is because I'mthinking of people today that
say, Well, I'm not antagonistictowards Christianity, I just
don't believe.
Well, does the scriptures equatethat with disobeying God?
SPEAKER_00 (03:55):
I think that it is, Glenn, because what is
disobedience?
Disobedience leads to sin.
Sin is missing the mark.
Who sets the mark?
God sets that mark.
So whenever we don't believe inGod and Jesus Christ, then we
have sinned.
We have disobeyed him in thatregard.
You know, there's this idea thatGod doesn't want the best for
(04:19):
us, and that whenever you becomea believer in him, that he's
going to limit you as to whatyou can't do, and he's going to
put a blanket over the manythings that you want to do.
And that's really not the case.
Whenever you actually come to abelief and trust in Jesus
Christ, it opens up so much morefor your life.
(04:39):
And as we get into these verseshere, he's going to talk about
rest.
And we'll talk about that in alittle bit as well.
To be able to enter into therest of belief of a Christian
life.
So, yes, I think that disobeyingdoes lead to sin.
And it is a sinful thing ofdisobeying God by not believing
(05:02):
him, not believing and trustingin what he has set aside for our
lives.
SPEAKER_01 (05:07):
And of course, the story that's being alluded here
was the story of when Godbrought Israel out of Egypt and
was leading them in thewilderness and was ready to take
them into the promised land.
But because of unbelief, theysaid, Oh, there's giants in the
land.
It's too strong for us.
(05:28):
And because of that unbelief,they had to wander the
wilderness for 40 years untilthat generation that disbelieved
died out, and a new generationwas able to go into the promised
land.
That's the story that he'salluding to here and applying it
to the modern day church.
Now, the people of ancientIsrael, they saw evidence, did
(05:50):
they not?
Did the ancient Israelites haveplenty of evidence that God was
faithful?
SPEAKER_00 (05:56):
They had a couple of years' worth of evidence.
The backdrop to this story hereof Kadesh Barnia is in Numbers
chapter 13 and 14.
So the people had come out ofEgypt.
They had gotten up to this areajust south of where the promised
land was.
Moses sent out spies.
(06:16):
When they came back, 10 spiessaid, No, we can't take the
land.
Two spies said we could, Joshuaand Caleb.
And this set the stage for thisstory where God was angry with
them.
And in that story, he talks toMoses and says, This is the
tenth time that these peoplehave provoked me.
(06:37):
They have doubted me.
What were some of those times?
Well, one of them was the goldencalf right at Mount Sinai a
couple of months after they hadcome out.
Other times when they grumbledabout water, they grumbled about
food, those type of things.
And every time God gave themprovision.
So, yes, they have been givenplenty of display of God's
(06:59):
power.
There was a fire, a pillar atnight that gave them like a
night light whenever theycamped, or if they were on the
move, it was a light that wentbefore them.
And then that was a pillar ofsmoke during the day that gave
them shade from the desert sunas they were making their way to
the promised land.
So there most definitely waslots of display of his power as
(07:23):
to what God had done.
They had all the opportunity tobelieve that God was going to
protect them going into theland, and they just didn't
believe he was going to do thatand carry that forth.
SPEAKER_01 (07:38):
Oh, they had plenty of evidence.
They saw manna in the wildernessevery day.
They saw water from a rock.
They saw, as you said, Steve,the pillar of fire and the
cloud.
They saw all these miracles.
They had plenty of evidence.
So their unbelief, disbelief inGod's ability to take them into
the promised land was notbecause of lack of evidence.
(08:00):
It was because they thought thecircumstances were greater than
what God can handle.
And that was unbelief.
God had promised back in Genesisto make a great nation from
Abraham and to give hisdescendants the land.
So here, though, theydisbelieved, and the generation
that disbelieved could not goin.
(08:22):
So the message that Hebrews isdrawing here is that there is a
price for disobedience.
We can't just disbelieve andthen expect God to bless us.
Going into the promised land isa figure of entering into God's
rest.
That's the theme of where we arenow in at the end of chapter
(08:42):
three and end of chapter four,entering into God's rest or not
entering into God's rest becauseof unbelief.
So, Steve, is it possible forthere to be a Christian today?
And I mean that in the fullsense of the word, a true
Christian, and not be at peacebecause of disobedience.
SPEAKER_00 (09:03):
I absolutely know that that's a fact.
As I've alluded to before,that's part of my testimony as a
period of time whenever I wasn'twalking as close to God as I
should have been, and I wasn'tat peace.
And I believe that there are somany Christians out there today,
Glenn, that are not walking inpeace.
(09:25):
They are not in this rest thatis talked about here.
They have salvation, yet theystill think that there's
something that they have to do.
There's still something thatthey have to earn.
There's still something outthere that's hanging over them.
And so when they have that, thenthey think that I can't have
(09:47):
rest or they don't have rest.
The Holy Spirit is not givingthem rest.
Definitely so.
I think that there is that casewhere people who are disobeying
and not following God in theirChristian life, that they're not
living a peaceful and restfullife.
They're missing out on thisrestful life of faith that is
available to them.
SPEAKER_01 (10:08):
And that's really the message here in Hebrews.
He talks to brethren.
He is speaking to people in thechurch that profess Christ.
And he's saying to my fellowbrothers and sisters, he's
saying, Trust God.
Don't be like your ancestorsthat saw all these miracles and
yet they did not believe andthey did not get rest.
(10:29):
And so that's the point he'strying to make is that we too
could fall into the same trapof, yes, we believe in Christ,
but we don't believe enough tohave confidence that he will
settle our issues today, wherewe can rest.
And instead, we look for ways towhere we have to still earn our
righteousness, which is alwaysunrest.
(10:49):
And he carries this into thenext chapter.
At the beginning of chapterfour, the first word is
therefore.
So it connects the previousstatements he made with this
following one.
So whenever you see the wordtherefore, you always look what
it is therefore.
It's drawing a conclusion basedoff of what we just said.
So because of the wandering inthe wilderness story, Hebrews
(11:12):
4:1 says this therefore, let usfear if while a promise remains
of entering his rest, any one ofyou may seem to have come short
of it.
For indeed we have had good newspreached to us, just as they
also, but the word they hearddid not profit them, because it
(11:33):
was not united by faith in thosewho heard.
So the warning in chapter fouris to be careful that we don't
fall into the same trap as theIsraelites.
So, Steve, if we look at versesone and two, what's the basic
message there in those twoverses?
What's his basic argument thathe's giving us?
SPEAKER_00 (11:52):
Let's do a little bit of a recap as to what these
believers were facing.
These are Hebrew believers whohave decided to follow Jesus
Christ.
He is the Messiah, and they haveplaced their trust and belief in
him.
They're under persecution fromthe other believers in Judaism
(12:15):
who are out trying to pull themback and saying that what you
have done is wrong, what youhave gone off and believed this
person that is not right.
He's claimed himself to be God,and you're off in a wrong
direction.
So they're persecuting them.
We know this from the story ofSaul.
Saul was one of those who weregetting information from the
(12:37):
Sanhedrin and permission to goout and arrest some of the
Hebrew believers and bring themback into Jerusalem.
So we know that this persecutionwas there.
So here the writer is of Hebrewsis imploring to them you have
this belief, don't fall to thepressure to go back to Judaism
(13:01):
because you're on the rightpath.
You're on the right track.
And he's going to expand on thison these other verses that we'll
go through here in chapter four.
And a parallel, I think, beforeus in our time, Glenn, is for us
the pull of the world that we'vemade this decision to follow
Jesus Christ, and yet we havethis pull of the world that
(13:22):
wants to keep taking us back,get immersed into the worldly
ways.
And we've been told over in 1John 2, 16, that the way of the
world is completely contrary andopposed to the way of God.
So, yes, I think that this is awarning to them of not getting
pulled back into Judaism.
(13:44):
And we can take that samewarning, live the restful life
of our faith life, and don't getpulled back into the worldly
life.
SPEAKER_01 (13:52):
That's exactly what I think he's saying is don't get
pulled back into, in theirspecific cases, Judaism.
It's real easy to fall into aworks-based life.
If you're concerned about beingright with God, then it's easy
to fall into Judaism where youcan do things.
That's what he's saying is atrap here.
(14:13):
You should believe God, justlike your ancestors had the
opportunity to trust God, butthey didn't.
The ancient Israelites had theopportunity to go into the
promised land, but because ofunbelief, the opportunity was
taken away.
They lost the window ofopportunity.
And the writer here of Hebrewsis saying the opportunity is
(14:35):
still in front of you, and it'sstill in front of me.
Let's not be self-deceived andthink we're okay when we're not
and think we believe when wedon't.
What he's saying here is that weshould have faith, we should
trust God.
Let us fear, and verse one istelling Christians that they
need to examine themselves.
(14:56):
There's a question here of whatthis rest really means.
And the main thrust of thischapter is that the Christians,
brethren, he calls them, arehaving the opportunity to rest
today, that you can rest inChrist today, in the sense of we
don't have to work for ourrighteousness.
(15:16):
We can rest in our salvation.
Now, there's some discussion onsome Bible teachers of whether
it also is talking about whetherwe can question whether or not
we're saved.
We know for a fact, though, thatother places in the New
Testament, such as Matthew 7,verses 21 to 23, people went up
to Jesus and he saidspecifically that there will be
(15:38):
people who have done good deedsin Jesus' name, but are not
truly Christian.
We know that.
We also know from many of theother epistles that there were
false Christs, there were falsebelievers in the church, wolves
in sheep's clothing.
Now that's true, all that'sthere, but that's not really the
main thrust of what he's talkingabout here in Hebrews.
(15:59):
What he's saying is this windowof opportunity for rest.
That's really what he's talkingabout.
When he says here, Steve, whilea promise remains of entering
his rest, what is thatopportunity for people that are
listening?
I mean, most of our audience hasalready had some degree of faith
in Christ or they wouldn't belistening.
(16:20):
What does that mean to theperson inside the church today
that there's uh still a windowof opportunity for rest?
SPEAKER_00 (16:26):
I think one way to put it, Glenn, is how I term it
as living the Christian life.
There are many people who aremissing out on just being able
to live free in Christ.
And I know that that might be alittle offensive to some people
when we use that terminology.
But I mean by that is we havesecurity in our salvation.
(16:48):
And where's nothing else that weneed to do in order to secure
that salvation?
We now are in that period oftime where we should be
spiritually growing in Christand becoming more Christ-like.
And if we're not doing that,what does it look like?
It looks like not taking theopportunity to share our faith
with other people around maybeour work environment or around
(17:12):
our community or around ourneighborhood.
It means going and not showingwho we are and how happy we are
in Christ.
It means that we're not reallyletting other people know that
we are Christians and we're kindof on the edge of worldly things
with these other people becausewe're a little bit of ashamed of
(17:32):
letting them know that we are aChristian.
Well, all of these things reallywork on us and the happiness
that we might have of what's puthere as far as living in the
rest of God.
And I think that that's whathe's talking about to the
Hebrews of his time, whichresonates with us in our time.
(17:54):
He says, while a promise remainsof entering his rest, we have
that promise that once we'resaved, we have another part of
living in rest, becoming morespiritually mature in Jesus
Christ, studying his word, goingto a local church that preaches
(18:15):
his word on a weekly basis,getting involved in a small
group, getting together withfellow Christians and having
fellowship with them.
That's the promise of the restthat he's talking about there
with them, for staying strongwith the group of brethren that
they're with that have chosenJesus Christ.
And in our day, it's the samepromise to us in a different way
(18:38):
in our world of staying togetherand learning more about Jesus
Christ, getting together infellowship, I think, with fellow
Christians in order to get usthrough that period of living
daily in a restful way, apeaceful way in our
Christianity.
SPEAKER_01 (18:56):
It's telling us here in Hebrews 4:1, let us fear
while this promise remains, thatany one of you may seem to have
come short of it.
So he's giving this warning topeople inside the church to
watch out, be careful, be afraidthat you may have come short of
this rest in God.
(19:16):
Now, I want to say, first ofall, and be quite clear about
this, that yes, it's telling usto have some fear and examine
ourselves, but we should notremain in doubt about our
salvation.
The New Testament makes it quiteclear that we can be sure about
our salvation.
We can have confidence thatwe're saved.
(19:37):
John 10, 28 says, quote, I givethem eternal life and they shall
never perish, unquote.
That is Christ speaking.
And when he says never perish,he means never perish.
We can have complete, totalconfidence that he gives us
eternal life and that we willnever perish.
(19:58):
Also, 1 John 5, 13, quote, thesethings I have written to you who
believe in the name of the Sonof God, so that you may know
that you have eternal life,unquote.
So he's telling us there thatall those who believe can know
and have confidence that we havepresent tense eternal life.
(20:19):
And if I can lose it tomorrow,then it wasn't eternal.
So we can have confidence thatif we have faith in Christ, that
we have eternal life.
How much faith?
Is faith as a mustard seed.
As long as you're going back tohim, then you have the saving
faith.
With that, though, I think weneed to take this question in
(20:42):
Hebrews 4:1 seriously.
Let us fear that we may havecome short of this rest.
So, Steve, is it wise for aChristian, true Christian, to
examine themselves periodicallyto ensure that they're putting
their faith in Christ so that wecan have this rest today?
SPEAKER_00 (21:02):
I absolutely think that is true.
And what would be coming shortlook like?
I think it's the opposite ofwhat I just mentioned before.
It would mean not studying God'sword.
It would mean not gettinginvolved with a local
Bible-believing church and notgetting involved with a small
group of other Christians,fellowshipping with them and
(21:24):
getting to know God's word alittle bit better, taking other
activities during the week thatsurround Jesus Christ and
knowing him better versussurrounding ourselves with just
worldly activities during theweek.
I think that's is a descriptionof what falling short would look
like.
So we have this juxtaposedposition of a promise that
(21:47):
remains for us by followingthrough with getting to know
Jesus Christ better through hisword, or falling short by not
following through and getting toknow Jesus Christ better through
his word.
I think that's one of the thingsthat the author is talking about
to those Hebrews of their day.
(22:07):
And I think again, resonateswith us in our day.
SPEAKER_01 (22:10):
I think what's clearer through this whole
passage is that what he's sayingis don't miss this promise of
rest.
Don't go through life in a stateof unrest and unbelief, not
having confidence that God canhelp you today, that he has a
purpose for what he's taking youthrough today.
Now, if we look at verse two,two questions.
(22:33):
Did the ancient Israelites hearthe good news?
That's the first question.
And then the last half of theverse of verse two, why did the
word of God not profit them?
SPEAKER_00 (22:45):
So, what was the good news that was preached to
the Hebrews there of their time?
That was that Jesus Christ hadcome, he was the Messiah, that
his death, burial, andresurrection was one where they
paid his sin debt, and that theycould have salvation and eternal
life in belief in Jesus Christ.
Well, what was the good newsthat was preached to the people
(23:09):
at Kadesh Barnia?
Same thing is that afterhundreds of years of slavery,
God shows up with the prophet ofMoses to take them out of that
land and take them into thepromised land.
Where did they fall short?
It didn't profit them becausethey didn't believe fully that
God was going to finish the taskand take them into the promised
(23:31):
land and drive out theunbelieving people before them.
Therefore, they were not unitedwith the faith of those who had
heard and believed.
Caleb and Joshua believed thatGod was going to be able to take
them and drive out the people.
The others didn't, and theysided with the 10 spies who
didn't believe that.
(23:52):
So the warning for us in ourday, I think, Glenn, is let's
not fall short of what God haspromised for us in our life
today, is what we've just beentalking about.
And let's follow through andbelieve that God is going to
take us through any type ofcircumstances that we might have
in our life.
And through that, we will beable to seal the promise that He
(24:15):
has made to us and be able tolive a restful life in Christ.
SPEAKER_01 (24:20):
These ancient Israelites heard the word of
God, the good word of God.
It was a promise of good things,but it did not profit them
because it was not united byfaith in those who heard.
So the word of God was good.
The promise of God was good.
The people didn't believe it.
(24:40):
They didn't have enough trust init to act on it.
They didn't have enough trust inGod to actually go into the
promised land.
So the idea here in Hebrews 4,2, is that people can hear the
good word of God with greatpromises that he gives, but we
must unite it with trust, trustin that word, so that we would
(25:02):
then get benefit from it.
Without faith and trust, theword of God does not benefit the
person.
So let's get to some practicalexamples.
The word of God tells us thingsabout how to handle our
finances.
It tells us things about how tohandle our marriages, our
children, how to deal with ouremployers and our employees.
(25:22):
It tells us how to deal with ourrelationships with those around
us and how to run our churches.
He's saying you've heard theword of God.
You've still got thisopportunity, this promise in
front of you that if you justtrust him and trust his word and
handle your daily life the waythat he says to do it, it will
(25:45):
turn out well.
You will get the promise.
If you have unbelief in how tohandle all those things I just
listed, then you will not haverest.
My friend, do you need rest?
If you do, then listen to theword of God.
Because what did Jesus say?
He said, Come to me, all who areweary and heavy laden, and I
(26:06):
will give you rest.
Steve, do you have rest inChrist?
SPEAKER_00 (26:10):
I absolutely, Glenn, can say that I have rest in
Christ at this time of my life.
And part of that has come fromstudying God's word deeper.
When we went through Galatiansand we've gone through
Colossians, it has become veryclear to me that we have
salvation by faith.
And then Colossians is veryclear that we have all these
(26:31):
attributes and characteristicsof once being saved, and that
now I can go off and live theChristian life as what we've
been talking about.
So, yes, I have that assuranceand rest and peace in my life at
this time that God is going tocarry me through any situation
that I might find myself in.
(26:53):
I don't have to doubt mysalvation and that becoming more
Christ-like is better for me.
I don't have that fear naggingme of the Holy Spirit saying,
Steve, what you're doing isn'tright.
Because what have I done?
I've done just what I've talkedabout.
I'm in a Bible-believing church.
I'm in a small group that isvery active in fellowshipping
(27:14):
with each other, and we love oneach other through the hard
times and the good times that wehave.
So, yes, my life of rest inChrist is much better at this
time of my life than it has beenat certain times of my life in
the past.
But for now, yes, that life ofrest is very pleasing to me.
SPEAKER_01 (27:34):
Oftentimes I find myself to be like the man in the
gospels that came up to Christand Christ asks him, Do you
believe?
And he says, Yes, I believe.
Help my unbelief.
So that's where I think many ofus are is that yes, I believe,
but there's times where I findmyself, why didn't I follow
God's word a little closer?
(27:54):
Why didn't I believe him evenmore in handling all of my daily
activities?
That's the great message for ustoday.
And the great message of Hebrews4 is that we still have this
promise before us.
The opportunity is still there.
My friend, will you not trusthim today with all of your life
and all of your dailyactivities?
And we should indeed examineourselves periodically to see am
(28:18):
I trusting God fully or am Iholding on to my own unbelief?
We're gonna find out more aboutthat as we go through Hebrews
chapter four next time.
Oh, this is such a wonderful,wonderful book that tells us
some great things about how tolive in Christ.
SPEAKER_00 (28:36):
Thank you so much for watching and listening.
May God bless you.
The book of Hebrews lifts up Jesus to his rightful
place.
He is higher than all people.
He is higher than the heavens.
And it spends quite a bit oftime in chapter one telling us
that Jesus is God Almighty.
Says it 13 or 14 times in asmany verses that Jesus is God.
(00:38):
It also talks about how Jesus isfully human.
And we're going to see some ofthat today on Reasoning Through
the Bible.
We're also going to see wherethe book of Hebrews talks about
rest.
And the question we have todayfor all of our listeners are do
you need rest?
Do you feel rested?
(00:58):
Because in Christ we can rest.
And that's what he's going totalk about because the ancient
Israelites, they had anopportunity to rest, but they
did not take advantage of thatopportunity because of unbelief.
And it made them hard.
They did not get God's rest.
So we're going to read inHebrews chapter 3, if you have
(01:19):
your Bible open to Hebrews 3.15.
And Steve, can you start thereand read to verse 19 at the end
of the chapter?
SPEAKER_00 (01:28):
While it is said, today if you hear his voice, do
not harden your hearts as whenthey provoked me.
For who provoked him when theyhad heard?
Indeed, did not all those whocame out of Egypt led by Moses?
And with whom was he angry forforty years?
Was it not with those whosinned, whose bodies fell in the
(01:49):
wilderness?
And to whom did he swear thatthey would not enter his rest,
but to those who weredisobedient?
So we see that they were notable to enter because of
unbelief.
SPEAKER_01 (02:03):
This is another one of the steel cables that anchors
our church to the ground with astern warning.
He says, if you're hearing God'svoice, then don't harden your
hearts as when they provoked me.
Now the they there, the audienceof the book of Hebrews would
know exactly what he's talkingabout.
The ancient Israelitesdisbelieved.
(02:24):
They hardened their hearts andthey were not able to go into
the promised land.
So the warning for the church,and through this, really this
whole section and into the nextchapter, the warning for the
people inside the church is tobe careful that you're actually
believing God and that you canrest.
You can have rest today in JesusChrist.
(02:46):
And don't be like the ancientIsraelites who heard the
message, had the opportunity toenter God's rest, but did not.
So in these verses, the authorexplains the blame that was put
on the ancient Israelites fourtimes.
He's asking a question, and thenhe's answering it.
Who, having heard God, provokedhim with a hard heart?
(03:11):
The answer is it was all thosewho came out of Egypt.
Now in verse 17, he says God wasangry with those who died in the
wilderness for 40 years.
In verse 18, God swore to thedisobedient that they would not
enter his rest.
So these verses equate unbeliefwith disobedience.
(03:35):
So Steve, is it true thatunbelief is disobedience?
And how serious of a sin isthis?
The reason I ask is because I'mthinking of people today that
say, Well, I'm not antagonistictowards Christianity, I just
don't believe.
Well, does the scriptures equatethat with disobeying God?
SPEAKER_00 (03:55):
I think that it is, Glenn, because what is
disobedience?
Disobedience leads to sin.
Sin is missing the mark.
Who sets the mark?
God sets that mark.
So whenever we don't believe inGod and Jesus Christ, then we
have sinned.
We have disobeyed him in thatregard.
You know, there's this idea thatGod doesn't want the best for
(04:19):
us, and that whenever you becomea believer in him, that he's
going to limit you as to whatyou can't do, and he's going to
put a blanket over the manythings that you want to do.
And that's really not the case.
Whenever you actually come to abelief and trust in Jesus
Christ, it opens up so much morefor your life.
(04:39):
And as we get into these verseshere, he's going to talk about
rest.
And we'll talk about that in alittle bit as well.
To be able to enter into therest of belief of a Christian
life.
So, yes, I think that disobeyingdoes lead to sin.
And it is a sinful thing ofdisobeying God by not believing
(05:02):
him, not believing and trustingin what he has set aside for our
lives.
SPEAKER_01 (05:07):
And of course, the story that's being alluded here
was the story of when Godbrought Israel out of Egypt and
was leading them in thewilderness and was ready to take
them into the promised land.
But because of unbelief, theysaid, Oh, there's giants in the
land.
It's too strong for us.
(05:28):
And because of that unbelief,they had to wander the
wilderness for 40 years untilthat generation that disbelieved
died out, and a new generationwas able to go into the promised
land.
That's the story that he'salluding to here and applying it
to the modern day church.
Now, the people of ancientIsrael, they saw evidence, did
(05:50):
they not?
Did the ancient Israelites haveplenty of evidence that God was
faithful?
SPEAKER_00 (05:56):
They had a couple of years' worth of evidence.
The backdrop to this story hereof Kadesh Barnia is in Numbers
chapter 13 and 14.
So the people had come out ofEgypt.
They had gotten up to this areajust south of where the promised
land was.
Moses sent out spies.
(06:16):
When they came back, 10 spiessaid, No, we can't take the
land.
Two spies said we could, Joshuaand Caleb.
And this set the stage for thisstory where God was angry with
them.
And in that story, he talks toMoses and says, This is the
tenth time that these peoplehave provoked me.
(06:37):
They have doubted me.
What were some of those times?
Well, one of them was the goldencalf right at Mount Sinai a
couple of months after they hadcome out.
Other times when they grumbledabout water, they grumbled about
food, those type of things.
And every time God gave themprovision.
So, yes, they have been givenplenty of display of God's
(06:59):
power.
There was a fire, a pillar atnight that gave them like a
night light whenever theycamped, or if they were on the
move, it was a light that wentbefore them.
And then that was a pillar ofsmoke during the day that gave
them shade from the desert sunas they were making their way to
the promised land.
So there most definitely waslots of display of his power as
(07:23):
to what God had done.
They had all the opportunity tobelieve that God was going to
protect them going into theland, and they just didn't
believe he was going to do thatand carry that forth.
SPEAKER_01 (07:38):
Oh, they had plenty of evidence.
They saw manna in the wildernessevery day.
They saw water from a rock.
They saw, as you said, Steve,the pillar of fire and the
cloud.
They saw all these miracles.
They had plenty of evidence.
So their unbelief, disbelief inGod's ability to take them into
the promised land was notbecause of lack of evidence.
(08:00):
It was because they thought thecircumstances were greater than
what God can handle.
And that was unbelief.
God had promised back in Genesisto make a great nation from
Abraham and to give hisdescendants the land.
So here, though, theydisbelieved, and the generation
that disbelieved could not goin.
(08:22):
So the message that Hebrews isdrawing here is that there is a
price for disobedience.
We can't just disbelieve andthen expect God to bless us.
Going into the promised land isa figure of entering into God's
rest.
That's the theme of where we arenow in at the end of chapter
(08:42):
three and end of chapter four,entering into God's rest or not
entering into God's rest becauseof unbelief.
So, Steve, is it possible forthere to be a Christian today?
And I mean that in the fullsense of the word, a true
Christian, and not be at peacebecause of disobedience.
SPEAKER_00 (09:03):
I absolutely know that that's a fact.
As I've alluded to before,that's part of my testimony as a
period of time whenever I wasn'twalking as close to God as I
should have been, and I wasn'tat peace.
And I believe that there are somany Christians out there today,
Glenn, that are not walking inpeace.
(09:25):
They are not in this rest thatis talked about here.
They have salvation, yet theystill think that there's
something that they have to do.
There's still something thatthey have to earn.
There's still something outthere that's hanging over them.
And so when they have that, thenthey think that I can't have
(09:47):
rest or they don't have rest.
The Holy Spirit is not givingthem rest.
Definitely so.
I think that there is that casewhere people who are disobeying
and not following God in theirChristian life, that they're not
living a peaceful and restfullife.
They're missing out on thisrestful life of faith that is
available to them.
SPEAKER_01 (10:08):
And that's really the message here in Hebrews.
He talks to brethren.
He is speaking to people in thechurch that profess Christ.
And he's saying to my fellowbrothers and sisters, he's
saying, Trust God.
Don't be like your ancestorsthat saw all these miracles and
yet they did not believe andthey did not get rest.
(10:29):
And so that's the point he'strying to make is that we too
could fall into the same trapof, yes, we believe in Christ,
but we don't believe enough tohave confidence that he will
settle our issues today, wherewe can rest.
And instead, we look for ways towhere we have to still earn our
righteousness, which is alwaysunrest.
(10:49):
And he carries this into thenext chapter.
At the beginning of chapterfour, the first word is
therefore.
So it connects the previousstatements he made with this
following one.
So whenever you see the wordtherefore, you always look what
it is therefore.
It's drawing a conclusion basedoff of what we just said.
So because of the wandering inthe wilderness story, Hebrews
(11:12):
4:1 says this therefore, let usfear if while a promise remains
of entering his rest, any one ofyou may seem to have come short
of it.
For indeed we have had good newspreached to us, just as they
also, but the word they hearddid not profit them, because it
(11:33):
was not united by faith in thosewho heard.
So the warning in chapter fouris to be careful that we don't
fall into the same trap as theIsraelites.
So, Steve, if we look at versesone and two, what's the basic
message there in those twoverses?
What's his basic argument thathe's giving us?
SPEAKER_00 (11:52):
Let's do a little bit of a recap as to what these
believers were facing.
These are Hebrew believers whohave decided to follow Jesus
Christ.
He is the Messiah, and they haveplaced their trust and belief in
him.
They're under persecution fromthe other believers in Judaism
(12:15):
who are out trying to pull themback and saying that what you
have done is wrong, what youhave gone off and believed this
person that is not right.
He's claimed himself to be God,and you're off in a wrong
direction.
So they're persecuting them.
We know this from the story ofSaul.
Saul was one of those who weregetting information from the
(12:37):
Sanhedrin and permission to goout and arrest some of the
Hebrew believers and bring themback into Jerusalem.
So we know that this persecutionwas there.
So here the writer is of Hebrewsis imploring to them you have
this belief, don't fall to thepressure to go back to Judaism
(13:01):
because you're on the rightpath.
You're on the right track.
And he's going to expand on thison these other verses that we'll
go through here in chapter four.
And a parallel, I think, beforeus in our time, Glenn, is for us
the pull of the world that we'vemade this decision to follow
Jesus Christ, and yet we havethis pull of the world that
(13:22):
wants to keep taking us back,get immersed into the worldly
ways.
And we've been told over in 1John 2, 16, that the way of the
world is completely contrary andopposed to the way of God.
So, yes, I think that this is awarning to them of not getting
pulled back into Judaism.
(13:44):
And we can take that samewarning, live the restful life
of our faith life, and don't getpulled back into the worldly
life.
SPEAKER_01 (13:52):
That's exactly what I think he's saying is don't get
pulled back into, in theirspecific cases, Judaism.
It's real easy to fall into aworks-based life.
If you're concerned about beingright with God, then it's easy
to fall into Judaism where youcan do things.
That's what he's saying is atrap here.
(14:13):
You should believe God, justlike your ancestors had the
opportunity to trust God, butthey didn't.
The ancient Israelites had theopportunity to go into the
promised land, but because ofunbelief, the opportunity was
taken away.
They lost the window ofopportunity.
And the writer here of Hebrewsis saying the opportunity is
(14:35):
still in front of you, and it'sstill in front of me.
Let's not be self-deceived andthink we're okay when we're not
and think we believe when wedon't.
What he's saying here is that weshould have faith, we should
trust God.
Let us fear, and verse one istelling Christians that they
need to examine themselves.
(14:56):
There's a question here of whatthis rest really means.
And the main thrust of thischapter is that the Christians,
brethren, he calls them, arehaving the opportunity to rest
today, that you can rest inChrist today, in the sense of we
don't have to work for ourrighteousness.
(15:16):
We can rest in our salvation.
Now, there's some discussion onsome Bible teachers of whether
it also is talking about whetherwe can question whether or not
we're saved.
We know for a fact, though, thatother places in the New
Testament, such as Matthew 7,verses 21 to 23, people went up
to Jesus and he saidspecifically that there will be
(15:38):
people who have done good deedsin Jesus' name, but are not
truly Christian.
We know that.
We also know from many of theother epistles that there were
false Christs, there were falsebelievers in the church, wolves
in sheep's clothing.
Now that's true, all that'sthere, but that's not really the
main thrust of what he's talkingabout here in Hebrews.
(15:59):
What he's saying is this windowof opportunity for rest.
That's really what he's talkingabout.
When he says here, Steve, whilea promise remains of entering
his rest, what is thatopportunity for people that are
listening?
I mean, most of our audience hasalready had some degree of faith
in Christ or they wouldn't belistening.
(16:20):
What does that mean to theperson inside the church today
that there's uh still a windowof opportunity for rest?
SPEAKER_00 (16:26):
I think one way to put it, Glenn, is how I term it
as living the Christian life.
There are many people who aremissing out on just being able
to live free in Christ.
And I know that that might be alittle offensive to some people
when we use that terminology.
But I mean by that is we havesecurity in our salvation.
(16:48):
And where's nothing else that weneed to do in order to secure
that salvation?
We now are in that period oftime where we should be
spiritually growing in Christand becoming more Christ-like.
And if we're not doing that,what does it look like?
It looks like not taking theopportunity to share our faith
with other people around maybeour work environment or around
(17:12):
our community or around ourneighborhood.
It means going and not showingwho we are and how happy we are
in Christ.
It means that we're not reallyletting other people know that
we are Christians and we're kindof on the edge of worldly things
with these other people becausewe're a little bit of ashamed of
(17:32):
letting them know that we are aChristian.
Well, all of these things reallywork on us and the happiness
that we might have of what's puthere as far as living in the
rest of God.
And I think that that's whathe's talking about to the
Hebrews of his time, whichresonates with us in our time.
(17:54):
He says, while a promise remainsof entering his rest, we have
that promise that once we'resaved, we have another part of
living in rest, becoming morespiritually mature in Jesus
Christ, studying his word, goingto a local church that preaches
(18:15):
his word on a weekly basis,getting involved in a small
group, getting together withfellow Christians and having
fellowship with them.
That's the promise of the restthat he's talking about there
with them, for staying strongwith the group of brethren that
they're with that have chosenJesus Christ.
And in our day, it's the samepromise to us in a different way
(18:38):
in our world of staying togetherand learning more about Jesus
Christ, getting together infellowship, I think, with fellow
Christians in order to get usthrough that period of living
daily in a restful way, apeaceful way in our
Christianity.
SPEAKER_01 (18:56):
It's telling us here in Hebrews 4:1, let us fear
while this promise remains, thatany one of you may seem to have
come short of it.
So he's giving this warning topeople inside the church to
watch out, be careful, be afraidthat you may have come short of
this rest in God.
(19:16):
Now, I want to say, first ofall, and be quite clear about
this, that yes, it's telling usto have some fear and examine
ourselves, but we should notremain in doubt about our
salvation.
The New Testament makes it quiteclear that we can be sure about
our salvation.
We can have confidence thatwe're saved.
(19:37):
John 10, 28 says, quote, I givethem eternal life and they shall
never perish, unquote.
That is Christ speaking.
And when he says never perish,he means never perish.
We can have complete, totalconfidence that he gives us
eternal life and that we willnever perish.
(19:58):
Also, 1 John 5, 13, quote, thesethings I have written to you who
believe in the name of the Sonof God, so that you may know
that you have eternal life,unquote.
So he's telling us there thatall those who believe can know
and have confidence that we havepresent tense eternal life.
(20:19):
And if I can lose it tomorrow,then it wasn't eternal.
So we can have confidence thatif we have faith in Christ, that
we have eternal life.
How much faith?
Is faith as a mustard seed.
As long as you're going back tohim, then you have the saving
faith.
With that, though, I think weneed to take this question in
(20:42):
Hebrews 4:1 seriously.
Let us fear that we may havecome short of this rest.
So, Steve, is it wise for aChristian, true Christian, to
examine themselves periodicallyto ensure that they're putting
their faith in Christ so that wecan have this rest today?
SPEAKER_00 (21:02):
I absolutely think that is true.
And what would be coming shortlook like?
I think it's the opposite ofwhat I just mentioned before.
It would mean not studying God'sword.
It would mean not gettinginvolved with a local
Bible-believing church and notgetting involved with a small
group of other Christians,fellowshipping with them and
(21:24):
getting to know God's word alittle bit better, taking other
activities during the week thatsurround Jesus Christ and
knowing him better versussurrounding ourselves with just
worldly activities during theweek.
I think that's is a descriptionof what falling short would look
like.
So we have this juxtaposedposition of a promise that
(21:47):
remains for us by followingthrough with getting to know
Jesus Christ better through hisword, or falling short by not
following through and getting toknow Jesus Christ better through
his word.
I think that's one of the thingsthat the author is talking about
to those Hebrews of their day.
(22:07):
And I think again, resonateswith us in our day.
SPEAKER_01 (22:10):
I think what's clearer through this whole
passage is that what he's sayingis don't miss this promise of
rest.
Don't go through life in a stateof unrest and unbelief, not
having confidence that God canhelp you today, that he has a
purpose for what he's taking youthrough today.
Now, if we look at verse two,two questions.
(22:33):
Did the ancient Israelites hearthe good news?
That's the first question.
And then the last half of theverse of verse two, why did the
word of God not profit them?
SPEAKER_00 (22:45):
So, what was the good news that was preached to
the Hebrews there of their time?
That was that Jesus Christ hadcome, he was the Messiah, that
his death, burial, andresurrection was one where they
paid his sin debt, and that theycould have salvation and eternal
life in belief in Jesus Christ.
Well, what was the good newsthat was preached to the people
(23:09):
at Kadesh Barnia?
Same thing is that afterhundreds of years of slavery,
God shows up with the prophet ofMoses to take them out of that
land and take them into thepromised land.
Where did they fall short?
It didn't profit them becausethey didn't believe fully that
God was going to finish the taskand take them into the promised
(23:31):
land and drive out theunbelieving people before them.
Therefore, they were not unitedwith the faith of those who had
heard and believed.
Caleb and Joshua believed thatGod was going to be able to take
them and drive out the people.
The others didn't, and theysided with the 10 spies who
didn't believe that.
(23:52):
So the warning for us in ourday, I think, Glenn, is let's
not fall short of what God haspromised for us in our life
today, is what we've just beentalking about.
And let's follow through andbelieve that God is going to
take us through any type ofcircumstances that we might have
in our life.
And through that, we will beable to seal the promise that He
(24:15):
has made to us and be able tolive a restful life in Christ.
SPEAKER_01 (24:20):
These ancient Israelites heard the word of
God, the good word of God.
It was a promise of good things,but it did not profit them
because it was not united byfaith in those who heard.
So the word of God was good.
The promise of God was good.
The people didn't believe it.
(24:40):
They didn't have enough trust init to act on it.
They didn't have enough trust inGod to actually go into the
promised land.
So the idea here in Hebrews 4,2, is that people can hear the
good word of God with greatpromises that he gives, but we
must unite it with trust, trustin that word, so that we would
(25:02):
then get benefit from it.
Without faith and trust, theword of God does not benefit the
person.
So let's get to some practicalexamples.
The word of God tells us thingsabout how to handle our
finances.
It tells us things about how tohandle our marriages, our
children, how to deal with ouremployers and our employees.
(25:22):
It tells us how to deal with ourrelationships with those around
us and how to run our churches.
He's saying you've heard theword of God.
You've still got thisopportunity, this promise in
front of you that if you justtrust him and trust his word and
handle your daily life the waythat he says to do it, it will
(25:45):
turn out well.
You will get the promise.
If you have unbelief in how tohandle all those things I just
listed, then you will not haverest.
My friend, do you need rest?
If you do, then listen to theword of God.
Because what did Jesus say?
He said, Come to me, all who areweary and heavy laden, and I
(26:06):
will give you rest.
Steve, do you have rest inChrist?
SPEAKER_00 (26:10):
I absolutely, Glenn, can say that I have rest in
Christ at this time of my life.
And part of that has come fromstudying God's word deeper.
When we went through Galatiansand we've gone through
Colossians, it has become veryclear to me that we have
salvation by faith.
And then Colossians is veryclear that we have all these
(26:31):
attributes and characteristicsof once being saved, and that
now I can go off and live theChristian life as what we've
been talking about.
So, yes, I have that assuranceand rest and peace in my life at
this time that God is going tocarry me through any situation
that I might find myself in.
(26:53):
I don't have to doubt mysalvation and that becoming more
Christ-like is better for me.
I don't have that fear naggingme of the Holy Spirit saying,
Steve, what you're doing isn'tright.
Because what have I done?
I've done just what I've talkedabout.
I'm in a Bible-believing church.
I'm in a small group that isvery active in fellowshipping
(27:14):
with each other, and we love oneach other through the hard
times and the good times that wehave.
So, yes, my life of rest inChrist is much better at this
time of my life than it has beenat certain times of my life in
the past.
But for now, yes, that life ofrest is very pleasing to me.
SPEAKER_01 (27:34):
Oftentimes I find myself to be like the man in the
gospels that came up to Christand Christ asks him, Do you
believe?
And he says, Yes, I believe.
Help my unbelief.
So that's where I think many ofus are is that yes, I believe,
but there's times where I findmyself, why didn't I follow
God's word a little closer?
(27:54):
Why didn't I believe him evenmore in handling all of my daily
activities?
That's the great message for ustoday.
And the great message of Hebrews4 is that we still have this
promise before us.
The opportunity is still there.
My friend, will you not trusthim today with all of your life
and all of your dailyactivities?
And we should indeed examineourselves periodically to see am
(28:18):
I trusting God fully or am Iholding on to my own unbelief?
We're gonna find out more aboutthat as we go through Hebrews
chapter four next time.
Oh, this is such a wonderful,wonderful book that tells us
some great things about how tolive in Christ.
SPEAKER_00 (28:36):
Thank you so much for watching and listening.
May God bless you.
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