Hebrews 4:8-16

Grace, sweet grace! I give grace to others because I have been given such amazing grace.

I know that I am not worthy of such redemption but I know the One who is. Jesus came to this earth that through Him we could be saved  and enter into His rest.

No greater love exists than the gift of salvation from a loving Father’s  grace to a dying world.

Hebrews 4:8-16

“Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts.”

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. 12 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 of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something and has lost something.  H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Bridges...
To the God of grace and mercy.
To stories of hope.
To the healing balm of laughter.
To our inner child.
To wonder and the gift of awe and beauty and simplicity and gentle pleasures.
To safety and sanctuary and rest and renewal.
To clarity and openness and forgiveness and willingness to change, learn.
To the healing cleansing power of “I’m sorry”. Sabbath Moments.

3 Basic Things:

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 (NKJV): 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Jason Grubb “Life Church Vineyard”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDbFBf8h__E&t=34s

God’s call to courage is not a call to naïveté or ignorance. We aren’t to be oblivious to the overwhelming challenges that life brings. We are to counterbalance them with long looks at God’s accomplishments. The scripture says, “We must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it” (Hebrews 2:1 NASB). Today do whatever it takes to keep your gaze on Jesus. Max Lucado.

Believers should pray persistently because Jesus empathizes with human weakness. He continues to make intercession for those who draw near to God. In the Jerusalem temple, only the high priest could enter the most holy place—and only once per year on the Day of Atonement. By offering Himself once for all, Jesus made a way for believers to draw near to God. Christ is the merciful high priest who mediates on our behalf. Because of His work, God grants mercy to believers when they sin. God strengthens His people when they undergo temptation or endure any type of hardship. Faithlife Bible.

By merely entering the Promised Land, the Israelites had not entered God’s rest, for David (years after Joshua had led the Israelites into the land) had warned his generation to not harden their hearts, so that they could enter God’s rest. Jews commonly taught that the Sabbath foreshadowed the world to come, and they spoke of “a day which shall be all Sabbath.”

Including himself as well as his readers, the author exhorts believers to be diligent, a phrase meaning “make every effort.” The rest is not automatic. Determined diligence is required. The danger is that believers today, like the Israelites of the past, will not stand, but fall in disobedience.

The word of God is the measuring stick Christ will use at the judgment. God’s message is alive and active, penetrating the innermost parts of a person. It distinguishes what is natural and what is spiritual, as well as the thoughts (reflections) and intents (insights) of a person. The word of God exposes the natural and spiritual motivations of a believer’s heart.

Our High Priest has passed through the heavens to the very presence of God, where He sits at God’s right hand.

In all points tempted means Jesus experienced every degree of temptation. Because of Christ’s priestly work, believers can approach God’s presence. The writer of Hebrews is expressing the openness of God’s call in Christ, “Come”. Boldly is the same word that is rendered confidence and means “plainness of speech,” “fearlessness,” or “courage.” Believers should courageously approach God in prayer because His is a throne of grace, and our High Priest sits at His right hand interceding for us. NKJ Bible.

There have been in all ages many unprofitable hearers; and unbelief is at the root of all unfruitfulness under the word. Faith in the hearer is the life of the word.

God has always declared man’s rest to be in him, and his love to be the only real happiness of the soul; and faith in his promises, through his Son, to be the only way of entering that rest. Matthew Henry Commentary.

Joshua 22:4 And now the LORD your God has given rest to your brethren, as He promised them; now therefore, return and go to your tents and to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side of the Jordan.