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Rest
The Practice of Rest
Sunday November 27, 2022 - Pastor Margareth Valui
Hebrews 4:1-11

THE MESSAGE

God Invites Us To Practice True Rest. In this message, I will show you that believing in the Gospel is the only way to experience God's rest and that you can enter it by faith. At the end of the sermon, I will share with you daily applications to enter God's rest.

THE SCRIPTURE TEXT

Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest...

For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: And God rested on the seventh day from all His works... For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us, therefore, be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. - Hebrews 4:1-3a, 4, 8-11

Learn from Jesus to enter God's rest.

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me... -Matthew 11:29a

WHO CANNOT ENTER GOD'S REST?

Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. -Hebrews 4:1

Unbelief will make us come short of entering God's rest (...not being mixed with faith -v. 2c)

  1. His Rest: What is His rest?
  2. Peace with God
  3. Contentment with God
  4. Being present with God
  5. Enjoying rest that God enjoys
  6. Come Short
  7. Behind the winner
  8. Think of the Israelites; they came short to enter the promised land
  9. Mix your work with faith to enter God's rest (the word which they heard did not profit them -v 2b)

Three Reasons Why We Can't Rest

  1. Distrust: We overwork because we do not trust others to get the work done.
  2. Dissatisfaction: We overwork because we are not satisfied with the work done by others.
  3. Fear (We are enslaved by other forces): "I overwork because..."
  4. I'm afraid other people will get ahead.
  5. I'll lose my job if I don't keep working.
  6. My coworkers will judge me.
  7. I won't get promoted.
  8. My company will go under if I don't work.
  9. People will think I'm lazy.
  10. Then I won't feel anxious.
  11. I feel guilty that I'm not working hard enough.

I love what I do and enjoy the work.

  1. There's nothing wrong with loving what you do to provide for a family or to keep a job. God intends work for all these purposes.
  2. The problem arises when we trust in self-sufficiency rather than relying on God. (We delight in ourselves and pursue our own desire to be in control rather than trust the real God.)
  3. Working obsessively makes us more restless and unhappy.

Consequences: Unbelief makes you...

  1. Skeptical: Doubting the nature of God and His miracles
  2. Cynical: Believing that people are motivated by self-interest to celebrate God's goodness
  3. Critical: Being judgmental robs you of the joy of miracles in your life

WHO CAN ENTER GOD'S REST?

For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest,' " although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works..." -Hebrews 11:3-4

You can enter God's rest by faith

  1. Who have Believed:
  2. Believe in Jesus.
  3. Jesus came from a place of perfect rest to a world of unrest to give us God's rest
  1. Seventh day in this way:
  2. God's rest is patterned after the Sabbath rest
  3. Refusing to rest on the Sabbath stands in the way of God's plan to restore the world

There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. -Hebrews 4:9

  1. For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. -Hebrews 4:8
  2. Today, if you will hear His voice: The appeal in Psalm 95:7-8 shows us that there is a rest remaining for God's people to enter.
  3. If Joshua completely fulfilled the promise of rest, God's appeal through David saying "Today" makes no sense.

What Is Hindering you from experiencing deep rest?

Three Things To Examine To Experience True Rest

  1. Examine the state of your mind.
  2. Examine your existing desires.
  3. Examine your habits that may hinder you from experiencing a deep rest.

What happens when we believe in Jesus and cease striving to be God?

  1. Learn a whole new kind of contentment.
  2. Delight in the presence of God in our present circumstances.
  3. Give up our silly rebellion against God's purposes.
  4. Discover that He provides the security for which we are searching. -Marva Dawn, "Keeping the Sabbath Wholly"

Daily Application To Enter God's Rest

  1. Learn From Jesus
  2. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me -Matthew 11:29a
  3. Cease From Work On The Day of Sabbath Rest
  4. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. -Hebrews 4:10
  5. Be Diligent
  6. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. -Hebrews 4:11