Lest We Fall Short
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Lest We Fall Short
Hebrews 4:1-3
August 19, 2007
Series 3 Sermon 10
Therefore,
while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of
you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For
good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not
benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. 3 For
we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath,
They shall not enter my rest,’ ”
although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Introduction
The biblical landscape is littered with the stories of those who had the Word of God that failed to enter the promised rest provided for in Christ. If you go back to the Old Testament it all begins with Adam and Eve who began in the rest and failed to hold on to it because of sin. After they are expelled from the Garden of Eden their son Cain murders their son Abel and he is banished to walk the earth receiving no rest. Not long after there are only eight people who survive the flood waters in the ark and the rest of humanity is washed away. It would seem that those who stepped off the ark would have done more to try and ensure that their offspring knew and feared the living God.
But sin runs deep in the human soul. Sin that will pull us toward death and away from Christ. Sin that will deceive us into thinking we can play with fire and not get burned. We become confident in ourselves and in our ability to “handle it.” And before we know it we have been sucked down the whirlpool of depravity and are pulled so far away from our Lord that we can not get back.
The children of
How many people were carried off into exile and bondage as a result of neglecting the Word of God? How many people missed the rest that God promised because they relaxed and refused to obey the Word?
There is this ongoing problem with people that disproves the
theory of evolution pretty soundly.
People do not get better over time and generations. They devolve rather
than evolve. Do societies get better or
worse? Look at
What about organizations? Look at the mainline Protestant churches. Methodists, a once strong denomination seeking holiness and righteousness before God now are all but apostate. Many within the Presbyterian denominations no longer believe the Bible and are more concerned with feelings and a better life than with the Gospel and holiness. The Baptists have done no better and the list could go on and on. We live in a day where the voice of the Christian church is men like Joel Osteen, Bill Hybels, and Rick Warren instead of men like George Whitfield, Charles Spurgeon, and Charles Wesley who preached the holiness of God and the depravity of man and Christ alone for salvation. Instead of preaching about how you can have purpose and your best life now or so called felt needs they preached repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They warned sinners and exhorted saints. They preached the message of the Lord Jesus Christ. It seems men like that are hard to find today and if you find one he will not be very popular. Instead we have church growth gurus and men who would not understand the Gospel of God if it was right in front of them. Why? How can this be? How in the world can we get to this point? What happened if man is supposed to be improving and yet the modern man for the most part, and even church goers can not understand the way in which many are heading? Why can’t they see the truth?
Because sin has so clouded their eyes that most will believe a lie to their destruction. The chances are few for salvation. The door is closing fast on many. Many people will pass from this life today thinking they had years to come to set everything right. They are comfortable in their lifestyle. They are comfortable with their sin and they will slip off into eternity today without Christ and without hope. And many are these who were in a pew or chair in a church this very morning.
Why? Because human nature allows us to get comfortable. It allows us to be self assured that one, we are okay with God and two, that we have plenty of time to get everything right. But the truth is life is slipping through our fingers like oil and no matter how hard we try we can not gain one second of it back.
This is what Hebrews 4 is all about. It is written by the writer with a sense of divine urgency. The writer is telling these readers and hearers that time is short. The window of opportunity is small. They must act now and not wait. The context of chapter four is all about entering God’s rest which is eternal salvation in Christ. Some within this early Christian community had already proved the illegitimacy of their previous confession of Christ by walking away from the faith back to Old Testament Judaism. Some that the writer was writing to now were considering the same thing.
The journey had grown too difficult. They were losing too much. This could not possibly be what salvation on earth is like. They had forgotten that a lost person is an enemy of God and when they confessed their allegiance to God they became an enemy of the lost world. And thus by claiming Jesus of Nazareth as the long awaited Messiah-Savior these people were being persecuted and ridiculed by those who had been their friends and family while they were still practicing Judaism. Now these friends and family had turned on these Christians because of their new found faith in Messiah. Life was hard for these new believers in Christ and the journey did not seem to be getting easier. As a matter of fact, it would have been easier in the shortrun to go back to Judaism and forsake Christ.
But can’t there be a compromise? Couldn’t these 1st Century Christians just simply go back to Judaism in practice and word but in their hearts still have a commitment to Christ? Couldn’t they be secret Christians? In Luke 9:61-62 the Lord Jesus Christ answers this question. One wanted to follow Him but not yet. Listen to this brief conversation.
61 Another
also said, "I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye
to those at home." 62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, after putting his hand to the plow
and looking back, is fit for the
So in the
Nobody ever said being a Christian would be easy. As a matter of fact the Bible tells us that following Christ will cost you your life. And that is why we have Letters in the New Testament like Hebrews and we have chapters in those letters like chapter 4.
Hebrews 4 contains four commands that the next few sermons will be centered around. The first command is in verse 1 which we will explore this morning. Look at the text with me.
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let
us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.
Here we are commanded to fear.
The second command is in verse 11. Look at it with me.
Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
We are to strive to enter that rest.
The third command is in verse 14. Look at the text.
4 Since then we have a great high
priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us
hold fast our confession.
The fourth command is in verse 16.
16 Let us then with confidence
draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace
to help in time of need.
This morning we will explore the first command to fear.
PNP
From our text this morning, Hebrews 4:1-3, I want you to see
two reasons we are to fear.
1. We are to fear lest any of us should fall short of entering God’s rest.
2. We are to fear lest any of us should be vain hearers.
Purpose
My purpose in preaching this passage of Scripture this morning is for us all to rediscover a healthy fear in thinking through our standing before God. I want this morning to tear down any false hope you might have in anything you have done and leave you with the only thing that can truly save eternally and that is the Christ of the Gospel. No works can save you, no church can save you, only Christ Jesus can save you and I want to leave you this morning clinging desperately to Him.
By the way, that is the meaning of the New Testament word believe. It is not just understanding something and thinking it to be true. It is understanding a truth and clinging to it desperately.
So many have a false hope. Most people believe they are in a right standing before God. Most people would readily acknowledge the belief that one day they will be ushered into Heaven because of something they have done or something they have not done. I am amazed at the number of “good” people that I have proclaimed the Gospel to only to find out they really did not need a Savior because God would look at all they did good and accept them. I can’t tell you how many church people that have sat under Gospel proclamations only to neglect what was said because they were self deceived into thinking they were okay. Yet their lives were no different than their unbelieving neighbors six days of the week.
How does this happen? Let me show you and also how to prevent it this morning.
RPNP
So look with me at these two reasons we are to fear.
1. We are to
fear lest any of us should fall short of entering God’s rest.
Notice verse 1 of the text.
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us
fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.
Did you notice the first word in verse 1? It is the word, therefore. This word should automatically call your
attention back to what has been previously written in chapter three. If you will briefly recall with me what the
writer told us in chapter three we will do well at understanding this
passage. What was chapter three
about? It was about falling into
unbelief. The children of
The next phrase in my translation is what we need to take time to look at and understand. But one of the things that I have noticed is not two translations translate this the same. My translation, the English Standard Version, translates it like this.
while the promise of entering his rest still stands
If you have a NASB your translation says, while a promise remains of entering His rest.
If you have an NIV your translation says, since
the promise of entering his rest still stands…
The NKJV translates this, since a promise remains of
entering His rest.
The KJV translates this phrase, a promise being left us of entering into his rest.
I think the ESV captures the intended meaning of the author the best. It could be translated, “While a promise of entering His rest remains open…” The point is that right now is the time to start entering that rest. Not tomorrow, not at some future point, but right now. In verse 7 the writer makes it clear by showing that God has appointed a day for beginning to enter that rest and that day is today. Look at verse 7.
again he appoints a certain day, “Today,”
So if today is the day to begin entering God’s rest and right now the promise remains for us, then by mere insinuation we have to understand that one day the opportunity to enter God’s rest will be closed.
So many people believe that they have all the time in the world to get right with God. They think they can come to Christ in their own time on their own terms. You hear people talk about making a deal with God as if we are in any position to make a deal with Him. I have heard with my own ears people tell me that they and God have an understanding. The only understanding that I can have with God gleaned from Scripture is that I am a sinner and in no position to have an understanding or make a deal with God. The deal is the one God has given and that is that I must repent and trust in Christ alone for salvation. If that is not your deal then you made a deal with someone else other than the God of Scripture. Today is the day that is appointed by God to enter His rest. There is no tomorrow. At least not promised for any of us. Many will find on the day of their judgment that the day of entering God’s rest has passed and it is too late for them.
But is this true? Will there be a day when it is too late to enter God’s rest? Will there be a day that it is too late to be saved? Is it possible that God will close the door on the opportunity for salvation to those who have waited and presumed that God would always accept them? That is what the writer of Hebrews is telling us.
Remember the background material for these exhortations in
chapter 3 and 4? Over and over the
writer quotes Psalm 95. The background
biblical passage for that Psalm is Numbers 13:26 through the end of chapter
14. The children of
"We went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does
flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 "Nevertheless,
the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw
the descendants of Anak there. 29 "Amalek is living in
the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are
living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the
side of the
What they were saying is, “God is not powerful enough to overthrow these people.” Just like the people reading the Letter to the Hebrews the journey now was looking like a difficult one. But Caleb speaks up in verse 30.
Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, "We should by
all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome
it."
The truth had been spoken.
Caleb understood the promises of God and that God had promised the
children of
31 But
the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against
the people, for they are too strong for us." 32 So
they gave out to the sons of
So the people of
Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the
people wept that night. 2 All the sons of
Moses is rejected but most of all God is rejected. If you read Numbers 14 God was going to kill all of the Israelites and raise up a nation from Moses. But Moses plead with God and God decided not to destroy the people. But the punishment would be just as severe. Listen to Numbers 14:26-33.
26 The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 27 "How
long shall I bear with this
evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of
the sons of Israel, which they are making against Me. 28 "Say
to them, 'As I live,' says the LORD,
'just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you; 29 your
corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to
your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled
against Me. 30 'Surely you shall not come
into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh
and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 'Your children, however,
whom you said would become a prey—I will bring them in, and they will know the
land which you have rejected. 32 'But as for you, your
corpses will fall in this wilderness. 33 'Your
sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they will suffer
for your unfaithfulness , until
your corpses lie in the wilderness.
Folks, at this point the opportunity was over for the Israelites. There was no way they were going to enter the land. God had closed the door and the day of grace was over. How do I know that? Listen to Numbers 14:39-45.
39 When
Moses spoke these words to all the sons of
They repented and even acted on that repentance but God had already closed the door.
And folks, this is the lesson that the writer of Hebrews is giving to these First Century believers. They are to walk by faith through the wilderness journey called the Christian life looking forward to entering the rest of God. They are not to fall back or walk away because of their circumstances or difficulty.
We have the same admonition.
We are to do the same. As we
journey through this Christian life and sanctification we encounter many
difficulties. They take the form of
besetting sin, discouragement, persecution, trials, and great difficulty. These things are promised. The promise of Scripture is that we enter the
So let’s get to the command in the text. Look again at verse 1.
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let
us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.
The command is for us all to fear. The writer included himself in this command. Why are we to fear? Look at the last part of the verse.
let us fear lest any of you
should seem to have failed to reach it.
The word seem in the text is not to take away from the possibility of this happening but to soften the way in which it is said. It is a loving yet stern warning. We do this. We will say, “It seems to me that such and such is true.” This avoids a harsh tone that makes a person defensive right off the bat.
But why do we need to fear? I know this cuts against the grain of much modern evangelical theology when it comes to salvation. We are told we are secure because we were sincere in our hearts. We are told that we should never doubt our salvation because that is a sin. We are told that if we do doubt that this is a ploy of Satan to make us ineffective in the faith and in our witness. So do we really need to be fearful? Do we really need to proceed through this Christian life with great caution and care lest we fall short of entering God’s rest? Are there other Scripture that teaches us to approach our standing with God with fear and not to presume upon God? Yes there is.
Philippians 2:12-13 says: So then, my beloved, just as you
have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my
absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at
work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
Here is why we are to fear. We all stand the chance of falling short and failing to reach God’s rest. We are all frail and even the best of men are men at best. So the command is that we fear lest we fail to reach God’s promised rest in Christ.
Why is there such a sharp warning here? Why did the Holy Spirit of God superintend this passage of Scripture for us to have today? But is this even possible? Could you or I be one that started out well and ended up not entering God’s rest?
The Puritan pastor John Owen rightly identifies the reason for us and that there are those within the church who will not enter God’s rest.
First we must understand that these are “Gospel threatenings.” These are warnings to us and for us. This passage like other passages that fit into this category serve a dual purpose.
The first purpose is to warn unsound or temporary believers. These false converts need desperately to understand that to presume upon God and to have vain self centered assurance is not a guarantee of salvation. The Bible is replete with Gospel threatenings to those shallow false converts. Matthew 24:13 says, “But he that endures to the end, he shall be saved.” The warning is for those who begin in the faith and yet do not continue.
A word of warning this morning; within most if not all congregations there are people who are self deceived. They are trusting in something they have done for salvation whether it be good works or even a decision they have made. They could be trusting in their baptism. But what is true about these who are self deceived is that they are not trusting in Christ. So they are to be warned.
The second purpose is to warn true believers. But why do true believers need to hear this? Aren’t they secure in Christ? Is it possible for them to lose their salvation? Real salvation will not be lost but will be evident as in the life and deeds of Caleb. But we still need the warning.
First we need this warning so we can truly fear when it comes to the possibility of falling into unbelief.
Remember Moses was a believer. We see that in the New Testament he appeared with Elijah and the Lord Jesus on the mountain. Obviously he is one of the ones in Heaven today. But remember he lost his opportunity to enter the Promised Land because of unbelief. I want you to look at verse one again.
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let
us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.
So as believers, what are we to fear? Well obviously we are to fear the Lord. What is the situation that the writer of Hebrews is addressing particularly? The hearers were contemplating a defection from Christianity back to Old Testament Judaism. The persecution and trials were causing them to fear men instead of God. Listen to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in Luke 12:4-5.
"I say to you, My friends, do not be
afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. 5 "But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who,
after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell ; yes, I tell you, fear
Him!
We are to fear the Lord. But we are also to fear some things about ourselves. Remember chapter three? We are to fear lest any of us have an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. We are to fear lest any of us become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. So the first purpose of these Gospel threatenings for the believer is to drive us away from the sin of unbelief and drive us to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith. The true believer will heed these warnings. The true believer would never have such self confidence that they would claim to be unable to fall. The true believer will understand that they are weak and without Christ they would stumble headlong into sin. The true believer understands that we are prone to wander as the hymn says, prone to leave the God we love.
These Gospel warnings serve to confirm the true believer in the faith. When we see these warnings they do not drive us away from Christ to some self absorbed self deceived assurance. Rather for the true believer these warnings will cause us to run to Christ and cling to Him for salvation.
Illustration
When I was 15 years old I went through the Red Cross Lifeguard training. We were told when rescuing a drowning person that we were to be very careful in our approach. As a matter of fact we had to learn a move that would free us from the grasp of a panicking drowning person who would grab anything and anyone in order to avoid drowning. They told us that lifeguards would drown because the drowning victim would pull them under and hold on in panic until both were dead.
As believers, we are to grab on and hold on to Christ just like that drowning victim would do to a lifeguard if given the opportunity. We hold onto the only one that can save us.
And He has proven that He is the only Savior by His death on the cross and His resurrection. This morning, the admonition and command is the same for true believer and deceived false believer, run to and cling to Christ alone for salvation. Forsake all of your own self perceived righteousness and cling to the one who is able to save to the uttermost.
Does this describe you this morning? Are you clinging desperately to Christ who is the only One who can save? Are you aware that whether you are 15 or 55 your life is slipping away from you and that one day soon you will stand before God in judgment? Are you putting off entering God’s rest because you think you have more time? Then you have more reason to fear than those of us who are believing.
Are you presuming on God and think that you have worked out a deal with Him? If you have not repented of sin and turned to Christ in faith then God has no deal with you. You will perish.
All of us must either for the first time or if you have been doing so for decades cling to Christ as your only hope. Are you this morning clinging to Christ? If not, will you? You must turn from sin and turn to Christ lest any of you fail to enter God’s rest.
Let’s Pray.
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