Jesus Is Better - Part 2

Last week we started a new series out of the book of Hebrews talking about Jesus is better and spent quite a bit of that evening last Wednesday night a week ago talking about how important it is to establish a right relationship with God that understanding that there is a revelation of the mighty God in Christ that our Lord and Savior left the splendor of heaven robed himself in flesh and came to walk on this earth among us. He He didn't leave us in our mess alone. What a savior. What a God we we have in our life. And tonight, we're going to be going on to part two and I'm talking about the danger of returning. To me, I think it's important as as we move forward in our walk with God, as we move forward in life, that we fight the temptation to look back.

I think it's natural that's there to kind of observe, see where you are, and look back. But there's something about the past that has a way of just calling us backwards. We got to be careful. make sure that we don't allow it to to grip us in in in a way that causes us to stumble. Even when we know that God has something greater ahead for us, there can be a temptation to return to what's comfortable and what's familiar and what's predictable. And sometimes the greatest obstacle to moving forward in our walk with God isn't what lies ahead of us. It's what we're unwilling to leave behind. I'm going to say that again. I think it's worth worth repeating what I just said. Sometimes the greatest obstacle to moving forward in our walk with God isn't what lies ahead of us.

It's what we're unwilling to leave behind to move forward. Consider what happened when God delivered Lot and his family from Sodom. Genesis 19. Familiar passage of scripture. I think we're all there. I'm going to read just a couple of verses. When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry and saying, "Arise and take your wife, your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city." And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand and his wife's hand in the hands of his two daughters. The Lord being merciful to him, they brought him out and set him outside the city. So it came to pass when they had brought them outside that he said, "Escape for your life.

Do not look behind nor stay anywhere in the plane. escape to the mountains lest you be destroyed. Man, I think it's pretty powerful. Not only that God sends a message that, hey, I'm about to destroy the city. I think it's a good idea for you and your family to leave, but in their hesitation to move, literally grabs a hold of them and takes them out of the destruction that's headed their way and places them outside the city with the instructions of get to the mountain and don't look back. Yet we see in Genesis 19:26, but his wife looked back from behind him and she became a pillar of salt. Powerful moment there. In fact, it's so powerful that Jesus actually draws our attention back to this very moment in Luke 17 and32 when he simply says, "Remember Lot's wife."

There's something about our past that has a way of drawing us in and causing us sometimes to be distracted just long enough that we can't accomplish what God's trying to do through us. That pull of the past that is there. To me, it's a very powerful warning. You can physically leave something behind while your heart remains attached to it. And that brings us to the central challenge of where we're headed tonight in chapters 3 and four of Hebrews. God has provided something greater through Jesus Christ. But these believers needed to be reminded that you got to be faithful rather than retreat from what they had received. So the writer of Hebrews is going we're going to see here it picks up in chapter 3 verse number one.

He's establishing another important truth for you and I to realize when it comes to who Jesus Christ is. He says this. Therefore holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling. Consider everybody say consider. Consider the apostle and the high priest of our confession Christ Jesus. That word consider, the writer is calling us to fix our attention on Jesus because he's going to tell us a little bit more about why it's so important that we have a right relationship with him and we have a right perspective of who he is. In lesson one again, I established that he he was greater than the prophets and greater than the angels. But now the writer here of Hebrews is beginning to draw a comparison that Jesus is greater than Moses.

To understand the significance of this statement, we need to remember how important Moses was to the Jewish people. He was the man that God chose to deliver them out of their captivity in Egypt. And so many chapters we have in the book of Genesis that talk about this captivity and what God was doing because he heard their cry. That's what the word of God says. He he heard them crying out in their enslavement for a a a a savior to come and and to deliver them out of their problems. And and God chose Moses. So to understand this, Moses was the man that God used to deliver them out. He stood before Pharaoh. He led the people through the Red Sea. He was the one that God spoke to and gave his law and his commands to.

And he faithfully led God's people through the wilderness. But as great as Moses was, he was still a servant in God's house. Let's pick up in verse number three of chapter 3. For this one has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses. Look at that language. In so much as he who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but he who built all things is God. Now, he's not criticizing Moses like Moses did something wrong. That's not the point. But he's trying to to get you to see that we're not we're not comparing and contrasting the two. That one is definitely greater than the other. Jesus Christ is better. Moses was a part of what God was building, but it was Jesus who had the authority.

It was Jesus who was actually in charge and controlled the house. In fact, verse number five, he says, "And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which would be spoken of afterward." Verse number six, "But as Christ as our son over his own house, whose house we are, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope, firm to the end." Moses was a servant, but Jesus was over the house. Moses was faithful in carrying out the assignment that God gave him. But his ministry, and this is the beautiful part about reading through scriptures, is what Moses was doing was pointing to something that was greater. There was something better that was coming.

So, as we're reading through this, you almost have to allow yourself to feel the excitement and the anticipation that the writer is building in because we're pointing to something that was better than what Moses was doing. In fact, its entirety was pointing towards Jesus Christ. John 1:17, for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. As I said before, I'm so thankful that we live in the dispensation of grace that we're in today. And people want to talk about how that sometimes apostolic Pentecostals want to get legalistic and and when we have grace, guys, grace is a higher law than the law ever was. Yeah. To understand grace and to understand the truth that is there is to look at Calvary and say that this is the example.

You got to give all. That's what grace is. The law revealed to God's holiness and establish his covenant requirements for Israel. But the law could not accomplish what the complete work of redemption that Jesus purchased for us at Calvary. Anybody thankful for Calvary? Are you glad for that finished work? Yeah. You better be because now we have a new life because of what he did. Moses could lead Israel out of Egypt's bondage. But Jesus Christ can deliver humanity from the bondage of sin. He broke us free. He paid the redemption price for us. This distinction is especially important because the writer Hebrews is not suggesting that God's work through Moses was unimportant. But again, he was pointing towards something greater to come. It wasn't just about getting out of Egypt.

But there was coming a day. There was a coming a day when there would one who would take on our penalty of sin upon himself. This distinction is like I said is very important. He was demonstrating the old covenant was pointing towards the greater work of Jesus Christ. So from our apostolic perspective we recognize that this is a greater work includes the new covenant experience of salvation through Jesus Christ because John 3:36 says therefore the son makes you free. You shall be free indeed. Free indeed. There is a freedom that Jesus Christ that the law itself could never provide. That's why it's important that you and I, we need to hold fast to what we've been given. And what I feel like is important, one of the reasons I love the book of Hebrews and being in the New Testament and what it's talking about is because it's taking all the things that happened in the old and it's tying it in and connecting it into what Jesus Christ did in the New forget.

Because isn't it amazing how how easy it is for us to forget what was purchased and afforded to us. Or maybe I should say this maybe maybe it's not that we forget that we just become a little bit absent-minded and disengaged at times. And I say that because I dare say there's not a one of us that was new in our walk with God that we were not zealous and had zeal and passion for what he did. Anybody remember when the night he filled you with his spirit? Do you remember that? Some of y'all are dead. Y'all remember when you got the Holy Ghost? was the best thing that has ever happened to you in your life. Do you remember that? Raise your hand again.

You remember? Yeah. Did anybody have to tell you to be happy? No. That joy just comes spilling out of you, didn't it? It did. I love seeing when people get filled with the spirit and what it does for them. The smile that's on their face and it just it just changed and man, they're really, as I said before, they're ready to go tackle a bus for Jesus, whatever. They want to do whatever they can. But somewhere along the way, sometimes that feeling seems to wayne a little bit. Why? What's different? Is it because we've gotten used to it? Because it's familiar now to us. It's not that we don't love it and it's not that we don't appreciate it, but what's happened? I feel like that's what's going on here in this book.

That's why he's writing the way he's writing is to remind the New Testament church, hey, don't forget what has been given to you. So I say in 2026 the center point, don't forget what has been given to you. You should be celebrating every day. God, thank you today. I got up on my own. I'm breathing the air you've given me to breathe today. You're letting me walk. You're letting me talk. You're letting me feel. Letting me God, thank you for your goodness. Thank you for your mercy that's new today to celebrate the life that he's given us. We got to hold fast what we received. Hebrews 3:6. Whose house are we? Whose house are we? If we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of hope firm unto the end.

I love that word hold fast. It's not enough to begin the journey, but you got to remain faithful. There's a lot of people I have in my lifetime ran several races. Uh I've never ran anything more than a half marathon. And to be honest with you, the reason that is is every time I get to the halfway point and I they wave the checkered flag, I think to myself, I don't want to do what I just did again. Just just me. That's This is just me being honest. But I've noticed in the few races that I have ran in my life that everybody looks good at the starting line. I mean, everybody's got their new running shoes on, you know, they got their new little fit on, they got their bib on, got their headband, and they're just kind of bouncing around, you know, like going to do this.

We're going to do this. Yeah. We go out and for the first half mile, everybody looks amazing. And then in a mile, some things start to change. Two miles, some things start to change. six miles. There's a lot of things changing. A lot of things changing. Not everybody looks the same throughout. So, so we got to be be careful that when we're running, we're making sure that we're able to withstand and hold fast and not burn ourselves out. Again, I think the writers bring us back brings us to attention that got to hold fast and remain faithful through the journey. Don't just start out of the gates good because to be honest with you, how you start doesn't really matter nearly as much as how you finish.

Amen. I mean, you know, I could just say amen right now. We could go home because that was pretty good lesson right there. It's not how you start. It's how you finish that matters. It's what the writer saying. It's not enough to experience the deliverance from Egypt. Now, I'm I'm going to kind of mess with you a little bit tonight. So, stick with me. Everybody still awake? It's only 7:19. I got everybody still with me in 19 minutes in. All right. We got to remain faithful throughout the journey because it's not enough just to experience deliverance from Egypt if we never allow him to fully take us into what he promised us. Okay, I'm going to come back to this. Okay, I'm gonna come back.

It's not just about receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost once, you guys. Okay, it's not just that he gets you out of Egypt. There's a lot of people I've seen in my lifetime that have been happy by being delivered out of Egypt, but somewhere along the way through the journey to the promised land, they get discouraged and walk back to the very thing they prayed themselves out of. It breaks my heart. This isn't new in 2026. This was going on. It's what Hebrews is talking about here in this book. Jesus said in Luke 9:62, "No one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God." Following Jesus requires a forwardlooking faith. Stop looking back. Stop mourning what he has taken from you.

It requires a forwardlooking faith. We cannot allow yesterday's attachments to become more important than tomorrow's promises. I'm gonna say that again. And you cannot allow yesterday's attachments to become more important than tomorrow's promises. The God who brought you out never intended for you to spend your life looking for a way back. He brought you out for a reason. Unbelief can keep you, ladies and gentlemen, it can keep you from the promise God has for you. Hebrews 3:7, "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,"Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers tested me, tried me, and saw my works 40 years." Now, he all of a sudden takes us back to one of the most tragic moments in Israel's history.

In fact, he's quoting Psalms 95:es 7-11 here. He's talking about the rebellion of the children of Israel in the wilderness. Now, this was the generation who had experienced the 10 plagues and had watched God's divine hand of deliverance take them through the Red Sea on dry ground and then drown Pharaoh's army and the waters behind them. They watched it with their own eyes. They ate mana that God provided from heaven. They see water come from a rock. They drank that water. They witnessed God's presence to the pl the pillar of cloud and the fire. They had experienced the power of God, but they struggled to trust the promises of God. Now, you and I can look at this and we can say to ourselves, what is wrong with them?

If they had seen that many powerful things in their life, how how is it possible that they were looking back? But let me ask you, how many powerful things have you seen in your life? How many times has God shown up for you in miraculous and powerful ways that are undeniable? It was God and God alone that did it. Yet you find yourself at times being tempted to look back. So be very careful about how you look down your long nose at what they did and consider yourself to be superior to them. Because I dare say there's not a one of us in this room that at one point in our life has not thought about what happened in the past. It is possible, ladies and gentlemen, to witness a miracle and still struggle with unbelief.

And you say that's not me, but you just wait. You just hadn't got rocked enough. Because isn't it interesting? Those of us over 50 now, I'm in that club. and 50 plus 8 n 10 months. How we look back and can say you know what there was a lot of things that I thought I would never do but then I went through this and I found myself wondering God will you be with me this time? Amen. It's possible to witness a miracle. It's possible to experience God's provision and still question his faithfulness. It is. It is. The children of Israel had plenty of evidence that God was with them. But when they encountered new challenges, they continually question whether or not he would bring them through, which is mind-boggling when you read until you put it in the context of your life.

Numbers 14 verse number two. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron. And the whole congregation said to them, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt." Listen to this. or if we had died in the wilderness, why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return Egypt? So they said to one another, "Let us select a leader and return to Egypt." And it's at this moment as you're reading the scriptures, if you're honest, you're going, "What is wrong with you? How is it you have forgotten the whip on your back and the hard labor and the extreme conditions you were living under that all of a sudden this unfortunate frustration in the wilderness has caused you to desire the enslavement again.

The same God who brought them out of Egypt was fully capable of bringing them in Canaa. They allowed the size of their opposition to become greater in their minds than the faithfulness of their God. They looked at the problem and they couldn't figure out a way how they could do it themselves when God never asked them to do it by themselves. But yet they convince themselves, "If I don't, it won't." We must be very careful not to measure God's ability by the perceived difficulty of our circumstances. I'm going to say that again. We must be careful not to measure God's ability by the perceived difficulty of our circumstances. Just because you can't see a way out doesn't mean that God's up there worried. Just because it seems to be bigger than you can handle doesn't mean it's bigger than God can handle.

But isn't it amazing how we forget that and we convince oursel of an of of an alternate reality that's just not true? Sometimes the greatest test of our faith comes after we've already experienced God's power. You heard me say that sometimes the greatest test is after we've already experienced God's power. Yesterday's miracle should strengthen our confidence in God's faithfulness today. That's why the prophet said in the middle of all the chaos as he was looking out across there weeping, Jeremiah says this, I recall to my mind. Therefore, I have hope. Go read the context of when he's writing the story. It's all burning down around him. And he's saying, you know what? I got to recall some things back to my mind because the reality I'm looking at right now, it looks like I have no hope.

But I'm going to recall back the time that God stepped into my calamity and stepped into my frustration and stepped in my and I'm going to I'm going to refresh my memory again so that I can have hope for today because my God is more than able and refuse to allow the circumstances that are beyond our control to cause us to walk backwards on God. Unbelief begins, ladies and gentlemen, when we when we harden our hearts. That's what the writer says in verse number 12 of chapter 3. Beware, brethren, lest there be any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God. The warning here isn't addressing the strangers to the faith. He says, "Take heed, brethren, you who should know better in this."

He's warning the believers about the danger of allowing unbelief to develop in their hearts. And notice that unbelief is connected to the departing from the living God. Did you see that connection there in the scripture? Take heed. Be careful. Don't let that happen because it causes you to depart from God. This is more than an occasional question or a moment of uncertainty. The writer's describing a heart that is increasingly refusing to trust God and obey. In fact, it goes a little bit deeper because the next verse says this, verse 13, "But exhort one another daily what it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." Interesting expression there. Sin rarely presents itself as something that will destroy our relationship with God.

Have you noticed that sin sin sin's really good about offering excuses. It's really really good about minimizing the consequences and and and convincing us that that the the compromising is really harmless and that that God's silence is consent that you're still okay. And over time, what once troubled our conscience can be can can be something that we're just acceptable to live with. We can sear the conscious. Don't wait until tomorrow to respond to conviction. Don't postpone obedience. Don't become comfortable with what God's calling you to change. Because the writer in he emphasizes the urgency of today. If you feel it, act on it today. Don't put it away. Don't don't set it aside because if you do so, it's going to be harder for you to walk away.

James 1:22, "Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving." The goal of hearing God's word is not simply gaining more knowledge. It's allowing his word to produce obedience and transform our lives. Because here's what happens is if we allow it to come in, I'm going to unpack it a little bit deeper for us. If we allow the unbelief to come in, it can keep us from what God has promised us. We can keep oursel from what God has promised us by unbelief. Look at verse 16 of chapter 3. For who having heard rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt led by Moses? Verse 17. Now, with whom he was angry for 40 years, was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?

And to whom did he swear that he would not enter enter his rest, but those who did not obey? See, so we see that they could not enter because of unbelief. The writer brings this sobering conclusion to the audience, which is you and I, that an entire generation experienced deliverance from Egypt. They seen the miraculous happen. They seen God's power and his capability to handle the situations. But yet, they failed to enter the land of promise. Why? Because somewhere between the deliverance and the promise, unbelief came into their life. Somewhere between being delivered and entering into the promise, unbelief came in. Somewhere between the altar, having God change your life and deliver you from your past, and getting to heaven, unbelief can enter in your life and keep you from the promise.

Do you understand what the writer's talking about? It's important, guys. I'm I'm really really teaching and preaching to the church right now. Those of us who have had an altar experience, he's brought us out of Egypt. But be careful between here and the promised land that we don't get discouraged to the point that we allow unbelief to enter our life because that unbelief will keep us out of the promise. You guys okay? The problem wasn't that God failed to keep his promise. The problem was the people refused to trust him enough to be obedient. Remember the report of the 12 spies? All right. The 10 come in and said, "Look, it's what he said, but yet there's giants there." Nowhere in the job description for them to spy out did it say, "Size up the enemy."

Nowhere was that a part of their job duty was to go to report back how big the people are. It was to go check the land and see if it is truly fruitful and it is inhabitable and a good place for you to live. And they came back and reported, "You know what? All those things are true, but there's some big dudes. Two of them came back and said, "It is just like he said. Period. We are well able to take care of it." Two of them remembered Egypt. Two of them remembered what God done. Two of them had enough faith to say, "If he's brought us through all of that, this ain't nothing. If he was able to take care of Pharaoh and his army, if he was able to part the Red Sea, if he was able to to take us out of all that situation, I have no reason to doubt he will not march us into this promise and I have a big house and I got a mountain that belongs to me.

That's what Caleb was saying. Caleb's looking at him and say, "You're a bunch of morons. What is wrong with you?" Yeah. Yet the 10 allowed themselves to be so focused on what they couldn't comprehend that unbelief settled in their spirit. 10 focused on the obstacles. Numbers 13 and30. And Caleb still the people before Moses and said, "Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it." The difference wasn't what they saw. The difference is what they believed about God. That is life ladies and gentlemen. That is the difference between between people who are successful living for God and people who are unsuccessful is is not seeing the difficulties of life. We all have difficulties. We all have situations where God enters up and and gives us a new chapter we get into that sometimes we don't like the chapter.

But I can I can be focused on the obstacles or I can be focused on the God. I'm telling you when you focus on him and you say you know this is tough but I'm keeping my eye on you. This is difficult, but I'm keeping my eye on you. You can get through it and you can make it to the promise. Genuine faith produces a willingness to follow God. James 2:17. Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone. Faith responds to the word through repentance, obedience, and a continued walk with God. Faith that never produces obedience is not the kind of faith Hebrews is calling us to possess. And here's the reality, guys. All right? We're not islands. None of us, I say this often times, none of us live in a vacuum.

I need you and you need me. We need to do this together. We need to be uh an encourager and remain faithful to to each other because he says in verse 13, "But exhort one another daily. Daily." When's the last time you called a brother or a sister and just said, "Hey, I had you on my mind. I just want you to know I love you. I'm praying for you. God's got you. When's the last time? When's the last time someone just randomly came to your mind? Somebody you wasn't thinking about. This just happened to me. And this isn't a pastor thing, okay? This this is just this is just Kevin Allen talking to you. There's a guy that came to my mind just a couple of days ago.

It just out of nowhere. I have not thought about this guy. I have not talked to this guy I don't know a long time. just came to my mind and I just pulled up my phone and I sent him a text message and said, "Hey, hope you're doing well. Hope your family's good. For whatever reason, you just came to my mind today. I just want you to know I'm praying for you right now. I love you. If I can do anything for you, I'm here. Send." The next morning, he sent this long text to me. He says, "You have no idea how much I needed to know somebody was thinking about me. I was going through this situation and I felt all by myself and your text message let me know that God knew where I was at.

You have no idea what you could do by just simply encouraging one another. I'm not saying you have to go out and just make out a list, but I don't know if that's a bad idea either. Just you look at the scriptures, the He writers saying encourage each other daily. Exhort one another daily. How much better would we be if we were all consciously making an effort to encourage each other? Because life has a way of knocking us all down. We get so caught up, not purposely necessarily, we get so caught up in our little world and our little schedule and our little crew and our little camp and our little be careful because sometimes we isolate oursel off. It's important part of the writer's instructions that we should not overlook.

He simply is telling all believers to guard their hearts and he tells us to encourage one another. Why does he do this? Because spiritual isolation can make us more vulnerable to discouragement, compromise, and unbelief. The most connected generation that has ever lived is the most lonely, depressed generation that has ever lived. That's us today. Never have we been more connected in our life. Never has the world been smaller than it is right now because of what we have. Yet, statistically, we're off the charts with loneliness, isolation, and depression. There will be seasons when your faith is strong and in those seasons you can encourage somebody else because there's going to come a time when you're when you're not so strong and you need to be encouraged too.

Galatians 6 and2 bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. This this Christian life was never intended to be lived in isolation. We need the word. We need prayer. We need the Holy Ghost. And we need encouragement and accountability of the body of Christ. You got to have those things guys. You have to have those things. Sometimes the voice of God can use strength can you uses the strength in your face is the voice of another believer coming in reminding you of God's promises reminding you hey when I when when you find somebody down you say let me tell you what God did for me last year I had a I had a tough spot and God did AB and C in my life you never know what that does for somebody of rest is still available to us 4:1 therefore since a promise remains of entering his rest let 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. So here we see a reminder that the an entire generation of Israelites failed to enter the promised land because of unbelief. But then he makes this ordin this extraordinary declaration. The promise of God's rest is still available. Thanks be to God. I'm glad they didn't mess it up for us and I'm glad I don't mess it up for you and you don't mess it up for me. Israel had received a promise but hearing that promise was not enough. He says they didn't mix it with faith. You grab a hold of the promises but you need to mix it with some faith.

That he is able to fulfill the promise that he gave. They heard God's word. They witnessed his power. They knew what he had promised. Yet they failed to respond with with believing obedience. A promise from God must be received by faith before it can be before it can produce its intended purpose in our lives. Romans 10:17. So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. There's a connection. Hearing the word is where faith begins, but hearing alone is not the same as believing and obeying what the word tells us to do. You got to put it to work. We can sit under the power of preaching. We can hear tremendous Bible uh teaching and we can know the promises of God yet never experience what those promises were intended to produce if we refuse to respond with faith.

The word must move us from something to we hear to something that we believe and obey. I know this isn't popular preaching and teaching this whole obedience thing, but I promise you guys, you're not going to make it to heaven without being obedient. It is not. God's rest is greater than a physical destination. Hebrews 4:3, for we who have believed do enter the rest. As he has said, so I swore in my wrath that they should not enter my rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. To understand what he's saying here in this passage, we must recognize that the Bible speaks of rest from several connected ways. First, first the rest of creation. Genesis 2 and two. And on the seventh day, God ended his work in which he had made.

And he rested on the seventh day from all the works all the works which he had made. Now, did he rest because he was exhausted? No. No, he didn't. Good answer, Caleb. God wasn't like, "Boy, I'm just tired. This creation business is tough." No, he's rest signified the completion of his creative work. He rested. Second, the rest promised to Israel. God promised Israel a land where they could experience rest from their enemies. Joshua eventually led the next generation in Canaan. Hebrews 4:8. I'm going to show you something that's interesting. I don't know how many of you picked up on this. I'm going to read you the King James. Pay attention. King James. Hebrews 4:8. For if Jesus had given them rest, then he would not afterward have spoken of another day.

Hebrews 4:8, New King James. For if Joshua had given them rest, well, was it Joshua or was it Jesus? Well, it was Joshua in this instance. the the Hebrew word or the Greek word here uh from Joshua's name is referring to in Jesus' name is referring to Joshua led them out of Israel Canaan. The writer's point is that Joshua's leadership did not exhaust everything God intended by the promise of rest. Hebrews 4:9 there remains therefore a rest for the people of God. The rest is still there. Okay, this is the heart of the message. God's ultimate promise was never limited to a geographical location. I'm glad I don't want to go over there. I like Murphy'sboro, Tennessee, but I'm glad in Murphy'sboro, Tennessee, I can experience his rest.

The promised land was significant, but again, it was pointing towards something greater and a reality of resting in God's completed work and ultimately sharing his eternal promise. Jesus extends this invitation in Matthew 11:28 when Jesus said, redletter words, "Come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The rest that God offers is greater than relief from difficult circumstances. Sometimes we think that's all it's for. And to think that you are selling yourself very short. It is the rest found in a right relationship with him. To simply be a relief from your difficulties is to treat him like Santa Claus. You misunderstand the relationship. The rest comes in the confidence and the comfort of the relationship. Think about it.

He's desiring to walk with you and commune with you every day. If your relationship is simply built off of him, if it's only good as long as everything goes your way, that is not a relationship. That is a a slave master relationship. Doesn't work right. Or maybe better said it is is is the reason you praise him is because if you don't, you have good reason. As long as I praise you, good things keep coming my way. But if I turn my back on you, he's like the mafia. God's not like the mafia. But so many people have a relationship with God that way. But that's not what the writer is talking about. The rest comes from the confidence of the relationship I have with him.

In the good days, I have confidence and I have rest. In the bad days, I know where I can go. That I'm not by myself. That I can go to him when I'm when I'm when I'm heavy and under a burden. He says, "Come to me and I will give you rest." There are days when he holds us because we can't stand. It doesn't always relieve me from the pressure of my life, but at least I know I'm being comforted by someone who cares about me. That's the rest he's talking about. But we we we think everything has to work out. You know, as long as my as long as my list of of demands are being met, then I got a good relationship. That's not a relationship.

You be honest with yourself. That's not a relationship. It's not what you desire. It's why the Holy Ghost is so important. The rest that God provides is this beautiful connection. It's meaningful. Isaiah 28 verse number 11. For with stammering lips and another tongue he will speak to his people to whom he has said, "This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest." And this is the refreshing yet they would not hear. Now follow me. This is the connection. All right. 1 Corinthians 14:21. In the law is written with men of other tongues and other lips I will speak unto this people. And yet for all that they would not hear me sayeth the Lord. Acts 2:4. And when they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak other tongues, the spirit gave them utterance.

Isaiah's language was about the rest and refreshing has long been connected with the experience and receiving of the Holy Ghost because there's a meaningful relationship between the promises of God's spirit and the spiritual renewing he brings. It was being foretold again. Hebrews is going back to the Old Testament and saying all these things were pointing towards something better that was to come. So after the New Testament church starts in Acts chapter 2 and when the day of Pentecost was fully come and they were all one place, one accord and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rush of my spirit pours out that day. But what happens is the promise came to pass. Why? Because Calvary had taken place because he said it was finished because he went to the grave and and took back the keys to death and hell.

He marched out triumphantly showing that that death had no power over him. He fulfilled his obligation. And then he said, "Go and rest until you be ended with power on high and I will fill you. That same spirit that got me out of the grave, I'm going to put inside you." It was finally coming to pass. So, so the writer of Hebrews again, who I feel like was Paul, Paul's basically saying to us, "Hey guys, don't miss the boat on this." All right. What the great thing that was to come, it came, but don't get so caught up and get used to the situation that all of a sudden you desire to go back. Don't go back. What you got in you, that is the rest.

That is the promise. That was what was talked about. But it was so easy for them because things were not perfect. They're living under persecution, right? They're they're they're questioning their mind, well, if you came back to establish your your your heavenly kingdom, your heavenly throne, then why am I having to deal with Rome? Why are we having to deal with all this stuff? To which he's trying to say, hey, hey, don't lose sight of the goal. You got the spirit in you. You got the promise. It's it's it's in you. There's still better things to come. He's going to come back for us. Don't lose sight just because you got out of Egypt. Don't don't do what they did. He's he he recalls them back.

Don't don't lose your way like the unfaithful did and allowed unbelief to come in and they missed the promised land because they got weary in the wilderness. Guys, you're going to get discouraged in life. It's just life. It happens to us all. But don't allow it to derail what you have. That's right. That's right. Don't let it take away what you have been given. He has put his spirit in you. What better thing could this world possibly offer you? The answer is nothing. Nothing. Nothing. And if you live a miserable life from now until the roll is caught up yonder, you still get caught up yonder. You make it to the promised land just because it was uncomfortable. Why would you miss out and allow unbelief to keep you out?

That's what he's trying to say is we can have our own little pity parties and in the process miss the promise. Be satisfied with he just got you out of Egypt. Don't be satisfied that you had a one altar experience. Don't be satisfied just because he delivered you from one addiction. Don't be satisfied with a comfortable life here. This isn't home. This isn't the final destination. We're still headed to the promise. So stand firm. Romans 14:17. For the kingdom of God is not me to drink, but his righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Not in worldly pleasures, not in great riches, not in great entertainment, but the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

I remember my my grandmother, my mom's mom, my grandma, one of the sweetest ladies ever. My grandma and granddad didn't have a lot. They they had a home, little one-bedroom house, like I don't know, seven square feet. It was not much, but there was just something in her. My brother's here. He attest to this. Grandma always just had this this joy that was there. I remember as a kid, the elementary school I went to was just up the street from from her house. So I would my mom and dad would drive me from our house and drop me off at her house and I would ride my bike from her house to school and then back. And it was the best because grandma fixed me whatever I wanted when I got home from school.

It was the best. I may may have been a little spoiled maybe just scoch. But I remember as a young man, not even fully processing all the things that was going on, but there was something when you walked in the back door, there was a presence that met you in that house. And and this I know again I told you I'm over 50 now. I remember harvest time playing when I went in the back door. It's harvest time. They'd be singing. And she would be there in her apron in the kitchen. And I'm telling you guys, the presence of God was in that place. And she's just singing. And from some worldly standards, they didn't have nothing. They did have a roof and it was clean and they had one car out back.

They they have no riches. But yet, she had a joy. I'm afraid. I'm afraid. I'm afraid this generation of comparison and this generation of abundance and this generation of of wealth that we live in and and this this being captive in Babylon that that that that we're missing the very message the Hebrews was trying to write that you guys are are missing the kingdom of God is not those things. It's righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. If if if you lost everything material in your life, would you still have the joy of the Holy Ghost? Would you? You know, sometimes, Brother Elkins, I've been he and I have been out of the country together. Sometimes it it's there are times I just want to take everybody on a field trip.

I mean, I just want to load y'all's little complaints up in a bus and take y'all someplace and drop you off and say, "Now, I want you look at this and then I want you to go back to yours and I want you just to shut your mouth." We have every reason to be successful living for God. Every reason to be successful living for God. Yet, we still struggle. That's the message in Hebrews. Rest requires faith and obedience. Hebrews 4:10. For he who has entered the rest and has himself also ceased from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore be diligent. Everybody say diligent to enter the rest lest anyone fail according to the same examples of disobedience. First glance to me, this verse, these verses seem to almost be contradictory because verse 10 talks about ceasing for works.

Verse 11 talks about his labor and enter into rest. But what I feel like's going on is he's emphasizing two complimentary truths. We cannot earn God's salvation through our own efforts, but at the same time, we must respond in order to preserve the faith. I can't earn it, but I got to do something. Now, I can't purchase it, but it does require me to act. Ephesians 2:8, for by grace have you been saved through faith in that, not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. We're not saved because of our works. We're sufficient. Ladies and gentlemen, we we we are saved by grace, but genuine faith produces obedience and a changed life over time.

You should continue to be different. You should be always becoming more like him. That's why I really struggle. Love me after this. I struggle with elder saints who become embittered. You should be the sweetest wine. Now, your wine skin is going to be wrinkled and it's going to be dry, but the best wine comes out of wrinkled wine skins and dry dry skin. It just does. Some of you ought to shout right now. Hallelujah. That's why it's tough for me when I see seasoned saints bitter. Why, Sister Sue? It doesn't make sense. I mean, at this at this point, you're so close. You're so close. Not you necessarily. didn't qualify that. Was it Jesus name? Point this way. You're so close. It frustrates me because I'm like you you're you're there like you you can see it.

Why would you lose out, Sister Kenny? Why now? We've come too far. We've come too far. I've seen too much. God's been too good. He's done too many things for me for me to for me to allow little frustrations that really don't mount to a hill of beans to cause me to miss the promise. No, no, no, no, no, sir. No, ma'am. Not now. I back. No. Too late. Israelites failed to enter because their unbelief resulted in disobedience. Here again, he repeats the example. The opposite of unbelief is not merely knowing more about God. It is trusting him enough to follow him, to follow where he leads. That's where I'll go. I won't question. I will just be obedient. God's word is alive and powerful.

Verse number 12 of chapter 4. For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and the joints of marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. So, he spent the last two chapters warning us about the dangers of unbelief. And then he gets back to the word of God. He reminds us Israel that God's promises, they didn't fail. We They didn't respond. It wasn't the promise fault. They didn't respond. Then he turns the attention to the very thing that reveals the condition of our faith. This is the problem. This is why it's important that you get into this and you live in it and you stay in it.

He's given you the reason why. He says first, it's quick. It'll show you. It'll it it'll it'll it'll dissect what's wrong inside of you. The word is quick means it's living. God's word is not only simple, not simply an ancient collection of historical writings. It is a living truth. is the living word is it continues to speak to me in every generation. Isaiah 55:11, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish which I please. Second, he said it's powerful. It has the ability to accomplish what human reasoning and persuasion cannot do. It convicts, it corrects, it transforms, and it produces faith. Romans 10:17. So faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

The word of God doesn't simply inform us about God. It has the power to transform our relationship with him because it reveals what's hidden inside our hearts. Sometimes we don't even know it's there. But as I read the word, all of a sudden I find myself going, "Oh, that stung just a little bit." Well, wait a minute. Why Why am I Why am I feeling that way? Well, that's called conviction. It's pointing out something you need to work on. He compares it to a sharp two-edged sword. The sword can penetrate beneath the surface and God's word reaches beyond our outward appearance to reveal what's really going on. You know, God told Samuel that the Lord lookth on the man lookth on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

Let's be honest. Let's be honest. There's been times you've walked in the house of God looking a lot better than you really were. Mhm. And then all of a sudden the word of God got preached. It got taught and all of a sudden you found yourself going, "Oh God, oh God." Because it goes past the outward and goes into the inside. We can appear faithful outwardly but struggle with unbelief. Sometimes the word must challenge our way of thinking. It'll encourage us. It will, but sometimes it'll challenge us. Sometimes it'll confront our attitudes. It'll expose areas where we have resisted God. 2 Timothy 3:16. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness. We need encouragement, but we also need correction.

We need promises, but we also need conviction. A church that only wants to hear what makes it comfortable will eventually struggle to hear what makes it holy. There are times that you should want to come to church and not feel comfortable. There are times that you say, "God, I want you to make me if there's something in my life that doesn't need to be there. God, help me discover it. Make me uncomfortable. I don't want to live with it." The problem that comes in is, and he went back to Israel, is that God wasn't failing to speak. They were failing to be obedient. See, nothing's hidden from God. Verse 13 of chapter 4. And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him who who must give an account.

All of a sudden, he moves to this power of God's word to the allseeing and knowing God himself. We can hide our struggles, but we can't hide it from him. Nothing's hidden from God. In fact, the psalmist said in Psalms 139:23, "Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxieties, and see if there's any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." I love David's response here. He invited God to examine him. God, look at me. God, I I I may be blind myself, but I know I know you can see. You can see what I can't see. So Lord, examine me. Let me know if there's anything. That should be our response. Not defensiveness and not making excuses and not resistance, but Lord, if there's anything in me that needs to change, God, please help me identify it.

I want to be right before you. It's important part of living a spiritfilled life. But as I said earlier, starting the journey is not the same as finishing it. Verse 14, for we have all become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. He brings us back to that central theme. It's not enough to begin the journey, but we must remain faithful until the end. Matthew 24:13, but he that shall endure to the end shall be saved. Our initial response to God's gospel is essential, but it's only the beginning. As I said before, you receiving the Holy Ghost is the beginning. It's the walking part. All of a sudden now you can be led by his spirit in everything that you do.

God never intended our greatest spiritual experience to be something we can only remember. But he desires to walk with us every day. The older I get, the sweeter that relationship is. Not just me recalling back. Yeah, there there's been obviously milestone moments in in my walk with God, and I remember certain services and certain altar experiences. But guys, it wasn't just these one-off moments. It's an every day with him. And and and the and the longer I live and the and the more years that pass by, the more special that is to just daily say his name in the most random places and to watch him work in my life. Man, this this this past year has been a year where I I feel like I've grown closer to him than I've been probably any point in my life.

and how many times he has shown himself to be so faithfully committed to me in the smallest of ways that make absolutely no sense, but yet I find myself just being overwhelmed with emotion of God, I can't believe you just did that. Not a big thing, right? Not I'm just small little things. means it would it would mean nothing to you, but to me it lets me know that he hears me and he knows my thoughts and he knows the moments that I just need him to be there and in these small subtle ways he just does this and I'm like smile on my face and just say, "You're so good. You're so good. You're so good." Philippians 3:13, "Brethren, I count on myself to be apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth on those things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

Paul understood that following Jesus required a forwardlooking faith. So, as I bring this to a close tonight, I want to bring us back to where we began. We open with the story of Lot's wife. God had provided a way for them to escape Sodom. Destruction was coming. The instructions were clear. I don't feel like they were difficult. It was simple. Don't look back. I mean, after have been physically grabbed and dragged out of the city and placed on the right road and pointed to go to the mountain. Don't look back. Yet, the simple act of disobedience kept her in the process of being saved. She was lost. the process. She got out of Sodom. She got out of Egypt, but never made it to the promise.

Then we talked about the children of Israel. Tonight's question is not simply whether or not God has brought us out. My question for you is, are you willing to keep following him forward? He's done his part. Can we do our part? Hebrews 3:15. While it is said today, if you'll hear the voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. That word one more time is today. God is speaking today. His word is challenging us today. His spirit is drawing us today. We have an opportunity to respond. I wonder how many times we allow the difficulties of our present circumstances to make us question the faithfulness of the God who's already brought you this far. Why would you doubt? Now, I'm speaking to you.

I'm not speaking to the youth, okay? I'm not speaking to the kids. I'm asking you. I'm asking you, saint of God. Why would you stop now after he's brought you this far? Why would you allow any hurt or pain? I'm not trying to dismiss pains and and and frustrations and and and like we can go down that path. I'm just saying I know those things are real, but why would you allow those things to cause you to miss the promise? [cough and clears throat] As you stand, don't let yesterday's failures define your future. Don't let today's difficulties weaken your confidence in God. Last verse, Hebrews 10:39. But we are not of those who draw back predition, but of those who believe in the saving of the soul.

What a declaration. We're not going backwards because we've come too far to turn around now. God's been too good. Why would I ever walk away when I have so much waiting for me? Why would you? Why would Why would we give up now? He's been too good. Jesus, thank you for your promises in your word. Thank you for the reminder that we have there. God, I pray that we would be a church that would encourage each other, that would check on each other, that we would we we would take advantage of the opportunities afforded to us. Because I know God in the room today, right now in this room, there are some that are being discouraged, that are facing difficulties. But at the same time, I know there are some in this room who life is good right now.

God, we we are to be the body. And I pray, Lord, that we would use this opportunity to be an encouragement, to pray for each other, to bear one another's burdens, to do what you ask us to do, to remain obedient until the end. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. I love you guys. God bless.