The Letter to the Hebrews Message Fifteen
II. Exaltation of Christ 1:4 – 10:18

The Word of God lifts up the Lord Jesus Christ, praising Him because He is worthy of all praise.

We have seen and I pray that we have learned that Jesus is –

A. Superior to the prophets. 1:1-3 and that He is –
B. Superior to the Angels. 1:4-2:18 And is –
C. Superior in the Administration of mankind. 3:1-4:13 As we noted last week –

Moses was the administrator of the Law, but Jesus is the Administrator of Moses.
Moses was the messenger, God was the Author.
Moses presented the Law. God was the power of the Law.
Moses was subject to the Law. Jesus submitted to the Law.
Moses failed and was judged. Jesus fulfilled and was exalted!

Jesus is superior to all.

In other words, we need to understand again this morning that He is the Owner, Architect, Builder, and Director of His House, Whose house we are!
Everything is created by Him and for Him.
Everyone is created by Him and subject to Him.
Everything answers to Him!

Paul is saying do not turn back to the servant (schoolmaster – works of the Law, religious activities) but stay with the Son! Rejoice and Worship Jesus.

We noted that He is –

1. Superior in His position. Hebrews 3:1-4
2. Superior in His possession. Hebrews 3:5,6
3. Superior in His prosecution of His will. Hebrews 3:7-4:2

Today we find that He is –

4. Superior in His provision. Hebrews 4:3-4:13 He is a rest for His people

a. The Declaration – Believers enter into rest. Hebrews 4:3a
Contrast “any of you seem to come short of it.”

Read Hebrews 4:1-3. The rest that is in God is by faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Paul anticipated the reply from the Hebrews who were still in unbelief were holding on to the works of the Law, trying to mix work and faith. He proceeded to answer them –
b. The Debate –

1). The Protest Hebrews 4:3b-6

These unbelieving Hebrews claimed to possess the rest of God consisting in the Sabbath Rest and the Promised Land Rest. He reminded them that they were like their fathers before them who neither accepted the Sabbath Rest nor the Promised Land Rest. They had rejected the will of God through their unbelief! They did not have faith in the Word of God! They were trusting in the Law and in the Land, neither of which is of any help without faith!

2). The Proof from the Word of God of their unbelief. Hebrews 4:7-9

God revealed through David that the people, even though in the land and David being their king, had still not obtained the promise of God.

The unbelieving simply did not trust God when they were to go into the Promised Land. In the ages to follow, many in the land did not believe God and were still trusting in themselves and their own ways. Paul declared that if the people had trusted God as Jesus (Joshua) led them into the land, they would not have been living in unbelief, as they were. We know that they turned from God and He sent Judges to them for correction and instruction. Even in the time of King David, hundreds of years later, the Lord revealed that the people were still living in unbelief and had not obtained His promise.

Psalm 95:6-9 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work…

Paul reminded his readers that among them were those that were rejecting God, rebelling against His will for them. They were like those in the time of the prophet Jeremiah that demanded that God submit to their will. The Word of God was preached to them and they responded –

Jeremiah 6:16-17 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.

They knew what God was commanding and they simply refused to obey. They would continue to believe and to live according to their own understanding. The Hebrews Paul was writing to people who understood what the Lord expected, they just were going to keep trusting in themselves and their own works. Their fathers had been warned by God that they would be judged by His Word –

Jeremiah 23:29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

And now they are reminded that God is Truth and will do what He says. They are a danger to the church just as their fathers were a danger to Jerusalem –

Jeremiah 23:17 They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.

Paul warned them that just as sure as judgment came on Israel in the wilderness, in the time of David, and in the time of Jeremiah, judgement will come upon them if they do not repent and turn to God in faith! He encouraged them with –

3). The Promise from God. 4:9-11

Rest has been provided for the people of God through His work –

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Romans 5:8-9 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

And we should “labour therefore to enter into that rest…”

God is not telling us here that we should work for that rest, but that we should focus our hearts and minds on it – (look unto it diligently, earnestly, longingly).

Colossians 3:1-2 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

Remember that Jeremiah warned the people in his day that they would be judged by God based on His searching them out by His Word –

Jeremiah 23:29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

Paul also warned the readers of this letter of the same truth. God knows us and will judge us accordingly. Paul wrote of –

4). The Probing knife of the Great Physician. 4:12,13 The Word of God!

The Word of God is not like a huge chopping blade that shreds us into pieces. It is like the surgeon’s scalpel that carefully cuts and divides allowing the Light to shine and reveal everything that is our being! He carefully searches, discovers, reveals, and prescribes correction for us through His Word. He knows what we intend to do even at this very moment!

Psalm 139:1-4 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.

The Lord Jesus Christ is superior in His Provision. He has provided a rest, a place with Him for those that trust in Him by grace through faith!

He knows what you are thinking right now. Will you pray and ask Him to help you know what you should do?

Have you trusted Him by faith?
Are you trusting in religion and what you can do?