This Sunday, Pastor Chris delivered a powerful message on finding true rest in the Lord. While the world encourages rest through self-care and more sleep, the Lord offers a deeper, soul-satisfying rest that endures. Even in the midst of life’s challenges, we can experience peace in our hearts when we are at peace with God and hold firmly to His promises and guidance for rest.

  1. The Promise of Rest Still Stands

Hebrews 4:1 (ESV)

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.

Definitions of Rest:

  1. To make to cease.
  2. To be free from whatever worries or disturbs you.
  3. To lie down, to be settled, or to be fixed.
  4. To remain confident, to put your trust in something.
  5. To lean on.

“In the most restless age of history, Christ can give you rest.” Billy Graham

Matthew 7:22–23 (ESV)

22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

God’s Rest in Scripture

  • The seventh day of Creation and the weekly Sabbath commemorating it (Genesis 2:2; Hebrews 4:4–9).
  • The promised land of Canaan (Deuteronomy 12:8–12; Psalm 95).
  • Peace with God now because of our relationship with Christ through faith (Matthew 12:28; Hebrews 4:1, 3, 8–11).
  • Our future eternal life with Christ (Hebrews 4:8–11).

Hebrews 4:1 (ESV)

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.

“You have created us for Yourself, and our heart cannot be stilled until it finds rest in You.” Augustine

Hebrews 4:2 (ESV)

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.

  • Believers Enter Rest

Hebrews 4:3-5 (ESV)

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. 4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” 5 And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.”

The Sabbath Day ~ Cease from what is necessary. Embrace what gives life.

Five Features of Rest for Believers (John Owen, puritan theologian in 1600’s) 

  • Peace with God
  • Freedom from a servile, bondage-like spirit
  • Deliverance from the burden of Mosaic observance
  • Freedom of worship according to the gospel
  • The rest that God Himself enjoys
  • Disobedience Blocks Rest

Hebrews 4:6-7 (ESV)

6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

Hebrews 4:8–11 (ESV)

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

The Promise of Entering into Rest Now Means…

  • Ceasing from the spiritual strivings that reflect uncertainty about one’s final destiny.
  • Enjoyment of being established in the presence of God.
  • Sharing in the everlasting joy that God entered when he rested on the seventh day.

“Without rest, we miss the rest of God: the rest he invites us to enter more fully so that we might know him more deeply. ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ Some knowing is never pursued, only received. And for that, you need to be still.” Mark Buchanan

“This rest that Jesus gives will endure the ravages of time and will abide through all eternity.” Billy Graham

Discussion Questions:

  1. Hebrews 4:1 reminds us that the promise of entering God’s rest still stands. What do you think this promise means for us today?
  2. Hebrews 4:2 says that the message of rest was of no benefit to those who didn’t unite it with faith. Why is faith so crucial to entering God’s rest? What role does trust play in your relationship with God?
  3. The Sabbath is described as a day of rest for God’s people (Hebrews 4:4-5). What does the Sabbath represent in your life today? How can we embrace a Sabbath-like rest in our modern, busy lives?
  4. What are some practical ways you can embrace God’s rest in your daily life? How can you actively “cease from spiritual striving” and “enjoy being established in the presence of God”?

Application Questions:

  1. how do you feel called to enter or re-enter God’s rest more fully? What steps can you take to trust God and experience His peace in the midst of life’s challenges?