Good morning, everyone. It's a beautiful day. Spring is here. Yesterday was like summer; we were sweating up in the UP. 

We're going to continue our study in Hebrews 4 this morning. We're in the midst of a long warning passage in our text. Last week, the author gave us an example, an illustration with a strong warning, and the example is Israel in the wilderness, having come out of Egypt and experienced all those mighty works which God did. The parting of the Red Sea and delivering bread to them every morning—manna—and water through the rock. All these things showed them who He was and what He would do for them, providing for them, caring for them. And yet they rejected Him. They disobeyed Him. 

The essence of the message, the warning, is that men can experience a tremendous amount of revelation about God and the salvation He provides, but they can still persist in unbelief. The Holy Spirit continues building on this example, warning, and exhortation in the text before us this morning. In chapter 4, He begins with the word "therefore," pointing us back to the words and teaching before and calling on us not to follow the example of Israel in the wilderness who persisted in continual disobedience, unwilling to believe, but rather to enter God's rest in Christ through faith. 

In our culture and world today, we see an ever-increasing de-emphasizing, really a degrading, of doctrine—of truth, teaching in the church—and an ever-increasing pressure to be inclusive, to be tolerant and welcoming to all in an ecumenical way. Those who promote these things define this as love, but there can be no love apart from truth. 

We are to speak the truth in love, but my brothers and sisters, we must speak, teach, uphold, stand, and contend for the truth because doctrine is simply the truth teaching about who Jesus is and what He has done. The subtle deception of Satan has ensnared much of the evangelical church into believing that inclusivity and tolerance are the defining parameters of love. 

Now we see that much of the church has adopted the view of the world concerning eternal things, spirituality, Jesus, and even the gospel. This is most succinctly defined, I believe, in the worldly wisdom that says that heaven, eternal life, salvation is inclusive, is tolerant—that God has an opt-out plan rather than an opt-in plan. Most of the world and much of the church now have this idea that everyone is in—that all roads lead to Rome; that a man is saved unless he somehow opts out, does some grave thing to disqualify himself. But the vast majority of humanity will spend their eternity in heaven.

We see this manifest in the lack of clear teaching and preaching of the exclusivity of Jesus Christ and His all-sufficient death on the cross, His burial, and resurrection from the dead, and the need of every man to forsake all that he has trusted—his own righteousness and works and religion—and turn to Jesus in faith alone. 

Where the gospel is not clearly preached, where men are not called on to believe, to place their faith in Jesus alone, to repent—that is, to turn to Jesus—there's confusion and deception. And my friends, men are dying and perishing because of a lack of doctrine, of clear truth preaching and teaching. Paul said the gospel is an offense; it's a stumbling block at the point of the gospel truth and the need of man to be saved, of the truth of his sin and depravity and need for a Savior from the wrath of God to come, and the glorious truth that Jesus is that Savior, and that I can only experience that salvation that He provides through faith alone in Him alone. 

At this point, we must be clear. We must offend. We must not be tolerant. We must plead with men, implore men, warn men that they must believe to enter God's rest. They must beware; they must take heed that they do not come short of God's salvation in Jesus Christ. This is the call of our text today; this is the message of the author of Hebrews in this third and fourth chapter, and this is the truth that we're going to explore together in these words this morning.

If you look at chapter 4 with me, please, at verse 1, he writes, "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, 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." 

And again in this place, "They shall not enter my rest." Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, again, He designates a certain day saying in David, "Today, after such a long time as it has been said, today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." 

For if Joshua had given them rest, then he would not have afterwards 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.

I've given you three points on your outline for the text this morning: first, a promise remains; second, don't come short; and third, be diligent to enter His rest. Throughout our text in chapter 4, as well as last week in chapter 3, we see warning words: "beware," "let us fear," "let us therefore be diligent." The essence of what we are studying is a warning. It's a warning not to be taken captive by hollow and deceptive philosophies according to the wisdom of the world and the traditions of men, and it's an exhortation to go on to faith in Christ, to trust in Him alone.

It's important for us to understand this warning because this danger is present in our world today as well. It's my conviction and my calling to preach and teach the truth, the Word of God. It is our practice, our standard operating procedure here on Sunday morning in this pulpit as well as on Thursday nights to teach the Word of God verse by verse, book by book, for the express purpose of equipping the believers of Living Hope Church to do the work of ministry in the natural course of their lives and also to grow up to be edified that we might become discerning and no longer tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.

Ultimately, most importantly, that each one of us would know Jesus more and more—who He is, what He has done, the purpose and promises that He has for us—and that we might bring Him glory and have sweet fellowship with Him, bearing fruit as we walk through this world. This is the simplicity of our ministry here, and it encompasses our philosophy. 

But in the course of this endeavor, we are also called to warn the brethren concerning false doctrine and false teachers. This is pervasive in the Scriptures—Jude, Peter, Paul—all the writers of the New Testament mix in warning with their truth teaching and exhortation. We see this pattern so clearly in the book of Hebrews. He consistently teaches doctrine about Jesus—who He is, what He's done—and then he gives a warning not to neglect that. 

Certainly, Jesus was an example to us in this with some amazingly bold warnings to false teachers publicly in passages like John 8 and Matthew 23. We're called in Romans 16:17 to note those, to call them out by name to warn the brethren. 

I read an article this week that really struck a chord with me and made my heart heavy for the evangelical church, and it relates to the warning to false teachers, to those who attempt to deceive, and the very message of Hebrews 3 and 4—that we should not come short of salvation, that we should not get tangled up in false teaching or false ways, being drawn in much like these Hebrews were being drawn back to Judaism. 

I just want to share a paragraph from that article just to give you an idea of what I'm driving at here. The author writes, "I recently spent time with a friend who attends a Bible teaching church in the Los Angeles area, and he was sharing with me some troubling news. His church was losing young people in droves to Hillsong, Los Angeles, and other more attractional, music-driven venues. They couldn't stop it. Their youth and young adults had found something that tapped into their emotions, that made them feel good and seemed to be full of love, ignorant of the deadly doctrines that Hillsong teaches and supports. Indifference had swept over many of the young people in the church, and they were simply buying into the cool vibe of the music and the ecumenical vision. 

I could sense the strain in his voice as he explained that this was his fear all along. Plenty of churches have spent wasted time voicing their displeasure over the methods and style of Hillsong, but few have effectively pinpointed them as outright false teachers. Perhaps out of fear of taking on the most famous business in the evangelical world, the body of Christ at large has stayed relatively divided on what to do about these popular teachers. Many pastors struggle to find a balance. Should they bring up these issues publicly and risk exposing the sheep to things they may have never even heard of? How soon is it too soon to start sounding the alarm about a certain movement? Do first-time visitors really want to come back to a church that just harps on false teachers all the time? Is the best way to deal with a counterfeit to study and know the real thing? How many well-prepared sermons would be derailed if we had spent time heretic hunting on Sunday morning?"

"Heretic hunting" on Sunday morning. These are good questions, and sometimes they're hard to answer. Some of you are aware that Hillsong and Jesus Culture are forces in the contemporary Christian music culture. With songs like "What a Wonderful Name," which won Hillsong a Grammy last year, but I doubt that many of us really know who they are associated with, who they are promoting as teachers and welcoming to their conferences and churches.

I like the line from the article that says plenty of churches have spent wasted time voicing their displeasure over the methods and style, but few have effectively pinpointed them as outright false teachers. You see, the issue isn't really the style. What we see again and again is that what goes along with the worldly methods—the emotional draw—is a de-emphasizing of sound biblical preaching and teaching, and very often false teaching.

I got onto this because I came across an article that Hillsong Phoenix is hosting the Alpha Conference this year. I don't want to get too far afield here, and this is why we don't spend our Sundays talking about current events or false teachers. But let me read you what Hillsong is saying about this conference: "At the Alpha Conference, we gather together to ask thought-provoking questions, encounter God in ways that re-anchor us to His power, and discover paths forward in reaching the world with the good news of Jesus together with churches of all denominations. Listen now: Let's reshape the future church to see the kingdom of God here on earth as it is in heaven."

This is fraught with so many theological problems, I don't even have time to go into it. But can you discern the issue here? I wonder how many evangelical churches can. 

But here's the kicker: at this year's Alpha Conference, the keynote speaker is a Catholic priest who is culminating the event by celebrating a mass at Hillsong Phoenix. The other conferences Hillsong and Jesus Culture are hosting this year include well-known Word-Faith teachers like Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Todd White. One more line from the article I quoted before: "These conferences are designed to mix the old school with the new school as a sort of heretical handoff. It's as though Satan is casting a net into the population of 80 million Millennials and trying to drag out as many as he can by using the old guard." 

They have 80 churches worldwide now, only in the big cities with hundreds of thousands of people attending every week. Hillsong and Jesus Culture have a lot of popular songs; they have some very skilled musicians, and they know very well how to market to the youth of our day—and they're not so young as well. These are the songs that worship teams are singing in churches all across our land. These are the people that so many young Christians are following and looking up to. 

And so much of the music is beautiful; the message is even very good in some of them. But through this music and marketing, they are bringing tens of thousands to their conferences to hear lies and deception. There are false teachers, and they're using this draw to take young people and old alike captive by hollow and deceptive philosophies after the wisdom of this world and traditions of men, and not according to Christ. 

And then we say, "I don't understand why my son or daughter is into all this strange doctrine. I don't understand why they abandoned their faith or left the church." We have to judge a man, a woman, a church by doctrine—by what they teach about Jesus, not how they make us feel. 

You might be thinking, "That's all very interesting, but what's that have to do with Hebrews?" Well, I say all of this, one, so that you will be aware and as a warning as to what Satan is up to and what his current-day wiles are, and second, to give an illustration that the deception of the enemy is still at work in our world, ever-increasing in intensity and aided along by all kinds of technology and innovation in all kinds of areas, and the truth that this is really no different than what was going on in the Hebrew community all the way back in the first century AD. 

Remember, we are in the midst of a warning passage—an extended two-chapter warning passage. I don't necessarily enjoy preaching warnings. I don't enjoy teaching about false teachers, but the Bible does it so often. And it's vital. There were many in this Hebrew community who had left Judaism, who were part of the fellowship, knew the gospel and the claims of Christ and even professed to believe them, but had not gone on to perfection through faith in Jesus. Christ had not been saved, and so it is in our churches today. 

Satan was using the same methods of persuasion, deception, manipulation that we see today. He was applying pressure to these Jews through social and religious and cultural means. The temple was still standing; the priests were offering sacrifices. The age-old traditions given to Israel by God at Sinai were still in effect. And in the Jewish culture, this religion encompassed their entire lives—their culture, their society, even their government. 

Pressure was being applied to the true church, and many were leaving and going back to Judaism, and many more were in danger of doing so. Their worship, the rituals, were so experiential, so emotional, so rich in history and meaning—as well as pomp and circumstance—and they were a comfort and familiarity to these people. 

Satan's core methods have not changed. Today, it is tolerance—meaning that all faiths and all philosophies are equally valid, that we must not be judgmental, that we should just love everyone and all get along. And we see false teachers using marketing and music, emotion and manipulation to draw unsuspecting people into this kind of teaching. 

Doctrine does matter. And God expects us to study and agonize and use our minds to know what is true and what is false and to be discerning so that we are not taken captive and rendered useless. You know, it would have been much easier for these Jews to just go with the flow, just go along with their families, their communities, and go back to Judaism. 

But the religion of that day, Judaism, as it existed in that time and today, was a full rejection of the truths of the gospel and the new covenant brought through the blood of Jesus the Christ. And we see the author of this epistle write some of the deepest, richest doctrinal truths teaching about Jesus and the new covenant in his effort to counteract all that was drawing them away. 

Consider, he says, "Look intently, take heed." Take heed. These are all thinking, studying, logical words, calling on them to look at the amazing truth of who Jesus is and what He has done. I've told you before, I'm amazed. The word "muse" means to think. We are to muse; we are to meditate; we are to roll over like a cow chewing her cud the truth, as we study it and agonize over it. But what does the world want? Ah, musement—not to think. 

My friends, you are to think; you are to study; you are to pray; you are to roll these things over in your mind. There was an amazing amount of pressure and even persecution for those who would leave the temple worship and the culture of Judaism. 

These people were under immense pressure to go back, to forsake Christ, to turn from Him—in effect, to come short of salvation in Jesus—returning to the old covenant rather than going on to the new. And thus, verse one of our text, after that introduction, Hebrews 4:1, "Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it." 

Here we have great news for these Jews and for us. I told the pastor before the message, I don't like preaching on these warning passages. He said, "Yeah, but there's always good news." 

And here's the good news, my friends: a promise remains. The words literally say, "a promise is left behind and remaining." And then he follows with this warning: "Don't come short of it." Now, this is an interesting phrase. When we first read it in the English, it seems to have the connotation of warning in the sense that you better not come short; you better believe now. I think this is true; I think this is here. 

But there's an amazing nuance here that's so encouraging. What it literally says is, don't have the attitude that it's too late, that somehow you missed it. Isn't that amazing for these Jewish readers? The author is saying to these Jews, "Listen, don't get the idea when you look back through your history, when you consider how Israel was disobedient in the wilderness, when you consider how they were stiff-necked and unwilling all the way through the Old Testament with so many examples. And especially when you consider in your very recent history just some 30 years before this was written that Israel, the Jewish people, rejected and killed the promised Messiah. Don’t get the idea that it’s too late, that you missed your opportunity and that God has permanently forsaken His people Israel and His promises to you. Don’t think that you missed it so sinned, so fallen that you cannot get back up, you can no longer enter His rest." 

Because a promise remains—a promise of rest through faith in Jesus Christ. 

Well, speaking of false teaching, there's a doctrine today prevalent in a large section of Christianity called "replacement theology." This doctrine teaches that the church has replaced Israel, that because Israel rejected and crucified their Messiah, God has cast them away. They stumbled to a point that there's no getting up. God is finished with Israel, and the promises to her made through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will not be fulfilled, but it is the church who has inherited all the blessings of Israel minus the curses. 

But verse one of chapter four shatters this errant teaching. It says to the Jews, to Israel, that the promise of rest in Messiah still remains, and it's open to them even though they had rejected their Messiah. Weiss says the phrase "come short of it" is a translation of the verb which means "should think that he has fallen short or come too late." It wasn't too late. The promise remained for them and for any man who had turned in faith to Jesus. 

And there are two distinct passages I just want to touch on which really drive a stake in the heart of replacement theology and confirm that God will keep His promises to Israel and that a promise of rest remains. 

Turn over to Acts 3 with me, please. This is right at the beginning of the church; Peter is teaching, talking to the Jews in Acts 3 at verse 13. It says, "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers glorified His servant Jesus," now look at this, "whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go. But you denied the Holy One and the just and asked for a murderer to be granted to you and killed the Prince of Life whom God raised from the dead of which we are witnesses." 

Look at verse 18. "But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets that the Christ would suffer, He has fulfilled. Repent, therefore, and be converted that your sins may be blotted out so that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." In verse 25, He says, "You are the sons of the prophets and sons of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.' To you first, God, having raised up His servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you in turning away every one of you from your iniquities." 

After Peter highlights the fact that Israel killed her Messiah, he doesn't say, "You're all done, it's over, forget it." He reiterates the promise that they are still sons of the covenant made with Abraham and he calls on them to repent and to believe Jesus, to enter His rest. 

The other passage I want you to look at is Romans 11. Turn to Romans 11 with me, please. And Paul asks the question directly here in 11:1. "I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not. For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham and of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew." Look at verse 11. "I say then, speaking of Israel, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not. But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles." 

Now if their fall is riches for the world and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness? Skip down to verse 23. It says, "And they also, again speaking of Israel, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of an olive tree which is wild by nature and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?" 

I love verse 25. "For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion—that blindness in part, it's not total, it's partial; blindness in part has happened to Israel until, it's not permanent, it's temporary, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved. As it is written, 'The Deliverer will come out of Zion and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is My covenant with them when I take away their sins.'" 

My brothers and sisters in Christ, it's not too late for Israel. It was not too late in the time of the book of Hebrews, and it's not too late now. If they would believe, if they would turn to Jesus in faith, they would be saved, and we see that this will happen in the tribulation time and the second coming of Christ, and all Israel will be saved at that time, fulfilling the promise and bringing the kingdom. 

All the denominations in the world today are not going to work together to bring the kingdom on earth. Forget that; Jesus is coming, and He's going to institute His kingdom. 

And there's an important application for people today as well. Some may think that they have done some horrible thing, that they have committed an unpardonable sin or just are too bad to be saved. But the age of grace has not passed yet. There still remains a promise of rest in Jesus Christ, and any who will believe may enter in. 

But we see again the urgency of the warning and exhortation and the need to be diligent to enter in. Look at verse 2 of our text again. "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, 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." And again in this place, "They shall not enter my rest." Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience or unbelief, again He designates a certain day, saying in David, "Today, after such a long time as it has been said, today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." 

For if Joshua had given them rest, then he would not have afterwards 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. 

The author is clear again that the issue is faith. Those could not enter in because the hearing of the gospel was not mixed with faith. What vivid language we see here; it's not merely a matter of hearing the word, my friends. It's not a matter of hearing the gospel, knowing the gospel, going to church. These things don't make you a Christian. 

I remember a friend of mine; I was witnessing to a guy I met in Canada. I called him up and was talking to him about fishing, and he was talking about something at his church. I said, "Are you a Christian?" He said, "Well, my wife's really active at the church." Okay. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian, my friends. Being in a church doesn't make you a Christian any more than being in a barn makes you a cow. Believing Jesus makes you a Christian. 

Hearing the gospel is not enough; we must take it for ourselves and believe it. The issue is faith. When you heard the word of truth, the message about Jesus, did you believe? Did you take it for yourself and mingle it with faith? Has there come a point in your life where you realized your sin and your need, and you came to know that Jesus is the only Savior from the wrath of God to come, and have you turned to Him in simple faith to receive His gift of salvation through faith? This is the question for every man. 

The issue is faith, and we see the great promise that those of us who have believed—if you believe Jesus, take this for yourself—those of us who have believed have entered the rest. Rest in Jesus. We have rest from fear and death and eternal hell. We have rest from doubt and discouragement in this life as we look to Jesus and abide in Him. God has given to us His rest. 

And we see this illustration in God's work of creation. The essence of rest is that we cease from works. We cease from our works for salvation. We cease from our works to please God because if we believe, then the Bible says that we have become accepted in the Beloved. We have peace with God. We have entered His rest. Jesus is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes. 

The author says in verse 4 that God is an example of rest and that He, on the seventh day, ceased from His work of creation. It's just an illustration, an example of how rest is a ceasing from work. Just as God rested on the seventh day, ceasing from His work of creation, so we, as we enter God's rest through faith in Jesus, cease from our works in an attempt to please God. 

It does not mean that we no longer do good works or that we shouldn't live a holy life; that begins with salvation. But our ceasing is from an attempt to earn favor with God through works—that never-ending, grueling, insecure process of religion. Rather, we now rest in Christ. Jesus is our Sabbath rest. 

Another picture of rest in Christ is found in Joshua, leading the Israelites into Canaan. Canaan was a picture of the rest found in Christ, and Joshua was a type of Christ; he led the people into rest. But we see this is not the rest that God is talking about here. Canaan is not the ultimate, final rest. And Israel did not even remain there. 

Rather, after Joshua, the promise of rest still remains, he says. And that rest is in Christ, and we enter through faith. But we must be diligent; we must sense the urgency, we must understand once again that today is the day of salvation. He says in verse 11, "Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest." 

The word translated diligent literally means to use speed, to make effort. We must sense the urgency, focus on the gospel, give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard. This is the exhortation for the Jews and for all men today, my friends. Because a promise of rest still remains, the offer of salvation is still in effect, the day of grace is now, but it will not last forever. 

No man knows if he has tomorrow. No man knows when Jesus will come. Today is the day of salvation. And we are ambassadors of Christ. We have been given the ministry of reconciliation, given the word of reconciliation, the gospel to preach to every man that he might believe and be saved. This is the urgency of our time; this is the urgency of our calling, and this is the urgency of the gospel call to all the world, to every man, to come to Jesus, to turn to Him, that he might enter His rest. 

It's our job, my friends, to make sure that men hear the truth, that they understand the truth clearly, that they understand who Jesus is and what He's done for them, that they might enter that rest. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful for the encouragement, the good news even in the warning that You offer a promise of rest in Jesus, that salvation remains, Your grace remains. And we thank You that we can know eternal life, we can know Jesus, we can know You through faith in Him. Thank You for that gift. Thank You for Your grace, Your faithfulness to us every day. Thank You for the word which You've given us to know what is true and what is false, that we might be effective as ministers of Jesus in this world. 

It's in His name we pray. Amen.