Hebrews 4:1-11

[0:00] Hebrews chapter 4. So this morning I would say that I'm especially thankful this morning that this is the work of the Spirit.

[0:12] ! It feels like this week everything that could have gone crazy did go crazy just in preparation and just in different circumstances in life.

[0:23] But I'm thankful that we're preaching God's Word. It's His authority here. It's His Word that is inerrant and it is profitable for us this morning.

[0:33] So I'm thankful for that. And yeah, so in Hebrews 4 is where we'll be. So just a reminder of where we have been at is that last week we took that break for Mother's Day, preached that sermon.

[0:49] But before that we're in the end of chapter 3 of Hebrews where Nathan preached a sermon all about assurance. We talked about the realities of pressing on in our faith and by God's grace persevering to the end.

[1:02] We talked about a really scary reality of beginning really well and then coming to a really poor end. We talked about the reality of sin's deception and how quickly it can eat away at us if we're not rooted in good soil.

[1:18] We talked about how the passage is so clear about the church exhorting one another, especially in verses 12 and 13 of chapter 3 about constantly pressing each other on towards holiness, towards Christ-likeness, and leading each other away from sin.

[1:35] So as we persevere, we prove that that faith that God Himself is preserving in us is that good soil.

[1:47] And we talked about how such a sad example was given here about the children of Israel not reaching that appointed rest. But we also saw why. It didn't leave us guessing as to why they didn't get to that rest.

[2:01] It was very, very, very clear. And it was because of their unbelief. Unbelief is why they didn't reach that rest. And so with all of that context, that's kind of where we're at today.

[2:11] So we've just talked a lot about persevering to the end, the dangers of falling away. And so we have our passage today continuing along those kind of lines. So let's go ahead and read it, and we will jump in from there.

[2:25] So Hebrews chapter 4, we'll go ahead and read the first 11 verses. It says, Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us fear, lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.

[2:40] 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. 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.

[2:57] For He has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way, and God rested on the seventh day from all His works. And again in this passage He said, Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, Again, He appoints a certain day, today, saying through David so long afterwards, and the words already quoted, Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.

[3:21] For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from His works, as God did from His.

[3:34] Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. So before we go any further, let's pray. God, I acknowledge that anything said here this morning or heard here this morning is of no value apart from Your grace, Lord.

[3:53] And so we ask for Your grace this morning. I ask that You would guide my tongue. You would give me the proper words to speak that Your church needs for its building up, Lord.

[4:04] And You would truly bring Your word to fruition in our lives, Lord. And guard my tongue against saying anything falsely, Lord. And just let Your word be truthfully proclaimed this morning.

[4:17] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So, for y'all that really like organization and planning, I'd like to go ahead and give a little bit of the structure for what we're going to look at. And there are four aspects I really want to look at about God's rest.

[4:31] So these are the four aspects. So four aspects of God's rest. First one is the available rest. The available rest. Secondly, the nature of that rest.

[4:44] The nature of that rest. Thirdly, the rest now and the rest later. And finally and fourthly, the striving necessary to enter that rest.

[4:57] The striving necessary to enter that rest. So we'll begin with the available rest. Verse one makes the comment that the promise of entering God's rest still stands.

[5:09] It then gives us a warning that we should be very careful lest we fail to reach it. In other words, we should be very diligent to make sure that we enter this rest. In verse two, notice that it describes two different types of people who hear the good news.

[5:22] Those who hear it and it benefits them. And those who hear it and it doesn't benefit them. And it also, again, like it did in chapter three, shows the difference between if you benefit or if you don't.

[5:33] And that difference was one thing. It was that they were united with faith, right? It says they were united by faith with those who listen. So that is the difference on whether this actually benefited or didn't benefit, right?

[5:45] It was those who were united by faith. Now, thinking back to chapter three and thinking about the context of this passage, let's try to remember who the them is that is being referred to because that will help us a lot.

[5:57] This is post-Exodus Israel, right? The Israel who were freed from the Egyptians, crossed the Red Sea on dry ground, followed God's direction by a cloud and fire, right? Given manna to eat.

[6:08] And then they were given a couple of faithful messengers, like Caleb and Joshua, who said, like, we've made it to the promised land, right? We are here. We can conquer these people. The Lord is on our side, so we can do this.

[6:18] This is going to be a piece of cake to take this land, right? God is on our side. But the people were afraid. They said the men were giants. Like, we can't do it. We can't conquer them. And so these were the folks that could not enter the promised land, that rest, right?

[6:32] Entering that promised land because they were not united in faith with those who did listen. So in this passage here in verses 1 and 2, it's comparing us to being in the same situation.

[6:43] We have good news of rest, just like they had good news of rest in their promised land. And we have that option today as well. But there's also similarities there and differences.

[6:56] The big similarity is we obtain it in the same way, by faith. It's as simple as that. We may enter that rest simply if we have faith, and we'll get more into what that faith looks like and what that rest looks like a little bit later.

[7:10] But we have that same option. It's not as if we're inheriting a promised land in the exact same way, but we are inheriting a beautiful inheritance in the Lord that is that rest. So we'll get more into what that looks like later.

[7:22] But for now, in verse 1, it makes it really clear that that rest is available. Okay, so that rest is available. So with that rest being available, let's talk a little bit about the nature of that rest.

[7:33] That's point 2, the nature of this rest. For Israel, it was the promised land, what it was talked about here. And it is similar for us. But let's look at verses 3 through 5 and look at kind of what it is explaining to us.

[7:46] Before studying this passage a little bit, I honestly was very confused about the way in which those quotations are used. And it really benefited me to study it this week and try to understand that.

[7:58] And what I want us to notice is the word my in both of those quotations. Both in verse 3, as it says, I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest.

[8:09] Then down in verse 5, they shall not enter my rest. That word my is pretty subtle, but I think it's very, very, very important to noticing what is actually being talked about.

[8:20] That's God speaking there. He says that there is a way by faith to enter His, right, His rest. Not just any rest. His rest. The same rest that God Himself enjoys.

[8:31] This is not like a rest that we enjoy here. Like a nap after a long day of work. Or a good afternoon reading in a hammock.

[8:41] Or a nice hike after being in an office. Or a hike where you get like poison ivy, like I do. Or anything like that. Right? It's God's rest Himself. And it's such a greater rest because it's God's rest.

[8:57] Let's reread that again down in verse 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.

[9:10] So what is it saying with, although His works were finished from the foundation of the world? Let's think about what that looks like a little bit. Well, in six days, God created the world, right? And then on the seventh day, He rested.

[9:22] Let's turn over to that Genesis passage and look at it a little bit. So turn with me to Genesis 1. We're going to look at the very end of Genesis 1 and the beginning of 2. So let's pick up in verse 31 of chapter 1.

[9:47] Then we'll jump down some into chapter 2 as well. So verse 31 of Genesis 1 says, Now, we see the seventh day here that God is resting on.

[10:21] And back in Hebrews in verse 3, notes that His works were finished from the foundation of the world. So God rested on the seventh day after He created everything. And today, in some way, He's resting from those same creative purposes that He did then.

[10:35] He's not creating the world in the same way as He did then. And it says in our passage that what it's saying is that some will enter the same type of rest by faith and others will not because of disbelief and disobedience.

[10:48] Note that God had done so many great things before He chose to rest. If you look just above in the Genesis passage, we can read and hear about all the majesty of the things He made. And something I've always loved about that passage is how it talks about God seeing each thing, and He says it was good.

[11:02] And then if He'd keep going down after He'd created humans and everything coming together in His whole creation, He said it was very good. So the Lord had done all these magnificent things before He chose to rest.

[11:13] But what does that look like for us? So let's think about Sabbath for us as Christians and what it looks like for us now. And because of that, like in verse 6, right, in Hebrews, if you'll jump back over there, that it remains for some of us to enter it.

[11:27] So, turn with me to Matthew 11. Sorry, I'm going to have you flip a few places this morning. This is a super often quoted passage on this, but I think it will really give us a good understanding of this idea of Sabbath now.

[11:45] I'm going to blame Seth if my voice goes away. I was camping with him and breathed in a lot of campfire. So, in Matthew 11, towards the end of it, we're going to look at verse 28 and then go all the way down into verse 8 of chapter 12.

[12:02] So join me there in verse 28 of Matthew 11. It says, At that time, Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath.

[12:25] His disciples were hungry and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. He said to them, Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the presence, which is not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who are with him, but only for the priests?

[12:47] Or have you not read in the law on the Sabbath, the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would have not condemned the guiltless, for the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.

[13:04] There's a lot here in this passage, but quite a bit of it is really relevant to our topic here in Hebrews. Note first, in the end of chapter 11, that so often quoted passage of Jesus calling us to come to him, saying his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

[13:19] He encourages us who labor and are heavy laden to come to him and find that true rest in him. And then just after these beautiful words about rest, Matthew records the story here about Jesus' disciples taking some food to eat while they're walking through a field on the Sabbath.

[13:35] And when the Pharisees saw this, they were not having it at all. It seems that they had finally, no matter how many times they had tried before, had caught Jesus. They're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, they're grabbing the food. It's not okay.

[13:46] You're breaking the law again. And how does Jesus respond? Well, firstly, he reminds of a couple of instances where the laws have been broken, but for necessary reasons.

[13:58] The laws need to be broken for some reason. And when he responds, he doesn't lessen the law, but instead reminds of its true purpose. And then check it out in verses 6 through 8 here.

[14:10] It says, Jesus says that something greater than the Sabbath is here.

[14:26] And what does he say next? That if they had known the meaning of I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. I feel like this is a common theme in the passages we read in the Lord's Supper and in the scripturing before the songs.

[14:42] Jesus is again pointing to the heart. Right? He's taking them back to the heart of the law, the heart of the issue. And it says that he's saying that he is the Lord of the Sabbath. So putting all that together, Jesus offering us rest, being Lord of the Sabbath, and caring about our hearts when thinking about the law.

[15:01] And then going back to Hebrews and seeing verse 3, where it says, We who have believed have entered that rest. And verse 6, it reminding us that those who did not enter that rest, failing to enter because of disobedience.

[15:16] And then down in verses 9 and 10, reminding us about the reality of this rest remaining available to us. So what is that rest? I think it, from those passages, is becoming clearer and clearer and clearer that what Jesus said in Matthew 11, that this beautiful rest that is available to us, that is being talked about here in Hebrews, is salvation found through putting faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

[15:42] That's what this rest is referring to here, our salvation and its outflows in the Lord. So why was the word rest chosen? Think for a moment with me about the perspective of unbelievers, people who have not found our Lord.

[16:02] Many seem careless. Many seem to not think about the future, the time after this life. But if they're honest, many seem to think about it. And I'd like to talk a little bit about some of my own experience recently.

[16:16] For those of y'all that don't know, I teach high school math. And I've had some really good opportunities to talk to students about faith this year. The later it gets in the year, it tends to open up a lot more.

[16:30] I think naturally all of us, as we tend to know someone better and better and better, we tend to be much more open with them. And at this point, I've gotten to know them for a long time. We only have one week of school left, and that means that I've been with them for 175 days, for like at least an hour a day.

[16:48] And that's a lot of time. That's a lot of time. So I've gotten to know some of them really, really well. And some of them have gotten to know me really, really well. And they know that I'm a follower of Christ, and they know that I take that seriously.

[17:00] They know that I'm super involved in church here, and a few know that I'm preaching today and will probably ask me all about it tomorrow. But it's taken all year to get to that point. People don't just immediately open up as a general rule.

[17:15] But anyway, back to the point on that. I have some students who really think a lot about their spiritual life and their life after this life, but in a totally different way than we do.

[17:29] I haven't got a super straight answer about what they would like for me to call them, but the most straightforward answer that I can get is I've been amazed at the amount of, let's see, members of the Church of Latter-day Saints that I have in my classes.

[17:44] And I've been able to talk to quite a few of them. And many parts of their belief system is really tricky because they use the same words that we do, but for totally different meanings.

[17:57] And after, like, many, many conversations, I think I've gained an understanding that they believe some things come from grace, but in reality, most of their thinking about salvation, and this is all coming from the, like, perspective of high school kids, right, is works-based.

[18:14] And it's terrifying. So much is based on what they believe they can do and how they're going to earn these different levels of, like, heaven and these different things.

[18:26] And all works-based. It's sad and it's scary. And they are so diligent in trying to do what they have been told is the correct thing to do.

[18:40] So diligent. I've talked to so many who, like, tell me they go to seminary, is what they call it, seminary, every morning at 5.30, and then they come to school all day, and then they do other things after, and all this stuff, it's crazy.

[18:55] So, so dedicated. Now, they are working so hard. I don't think any of us would deny that, but they are working so hard in a super-false, super-twisted way.

[19:07] Super-false, super-twisted way. Let's think a little bit about the context here in our passage. Let's think about what the Pharisees were doing that Jesus was talking to in Matthew.

[19:19] Weren't they doing similarly? They were twisting the law of God to make it about outward appearances and trying to keep something that, in reality, we all are aware of that we cannot keep perfectly.

[19:31] They were working hard. They were trying to keep their misinterpretation of the law to a T. But they knew they couldn't keep it. They knew the reality that they and all of us know that, in our flesh, we aren't that great.

[19:44] In fact, we're awful. Naturally, we don't seek the good of others above our own. We're selfish. We are prideful. We could just go on and on about the reality of the nature of our souls apart from Christ.

[19:58] But I believe the point's being proven. Apart from trusting in the work of Christ, we're forced to try to do something we simply cannot do to seek to earn our own salvation.

[20:11] And that may take many, many, many forms. Whether it be an LDS member trying to amass all these works to get the best reward they can, or a Pharisee trying to perfectly keep the law, or one of the believers in Hebrews tempted to go back to the old system, or someone of the weird view that somehow still persists so often that if you do enough good, it somehow outweighs your bad, then you're good.

[20:34] Or the, me and God, we're good, we've got a deal worked out. Or the person who simply tries and tries and tries and tries to ignore or suppress their thoughts about a life after this one.

[20:46] So many of those systems, all of those are in some way works-based. All of them. There's a hope that if they do just well enough that they're going to be all right, they'll have the eternal blessing. They're relying on their own works.

[20:58] And because of the reality of all of our struggles with sin, and they know it too, they know they can't earn blessing. They're relying on their own works and it's not going to get them anywhere.

[21:12] And so, getting back to this rest word, this rest that's being offered is a perfect word to use because we are ceasing from trying to earn our own salvation.

[21:22] Because we have seen the work of Christ, right? We can stop trying to earn God's favor and simply accept in real faith, through acting out faith, that our Lord died for our sins, took our sins upon Him, that in Him we can have His righteousness.

[21:38] He canceled our sin debt and gave us His righteousness. We can trust in that and not try to earn our way to something that we could never earn. So it's a rest in stopping trying to earn favor and just accepting that we are found in Christ.

[21:54] We are washed in the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb. Our sins are forgiven because our Lord Jesus bore the wrath of God that our sins deserved. Now that's such great rest.

[22:05] That's the perfect word. That's rest found in Jesus. We no longer seek to earn favor but rest in God's salvation. But, I've been here at Christ's Family for about six years now.

[22:19] And I can look around and say that there are a lot of people I know really well. Some people I know but not super well and there's some that I don't know to my shame. And if I narrow this room down to just the people I knew really well or honestly if I narrow down the room to just my own soul, I think I can say with confidence that we, even as God's people resting in this salvation, don't always feel that our yoke is easy and our burden is light as we seek to follow Jesus well.

[22:53] It's hard. Right? We often don't feel that way. This life is a tough one and that brings us to our third aspect of God's rest. The rest now and the rest later.

[23:06] The rest now and the rest later. So it's true that we experience like a beautiful foretaste of God's rest now and simply ceasing from our trying to earn favor and just accepting the Lord.

[23:21] Having rested from our works because we have no ability to earn it and have come to terms with Jesus giving us our great salvation. But this life still isn't easy but we can rest in the Lord.

[23:33] Remember that the same Jesus who said that his yoke is easy and his burden is light also said in Mark 8.34 if anyone would come after me let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me.

[23:46] I think that's puzzling immediately like when we think about the passages in contrast to one another. Denying ourselves taking up our cross right? These don't always feel restful.

[23:58] In fact much of it shouldn't feel restful. But the Christian life is one of striving as well. Right? It's one of denying ourselves putting our flesh our old desires our sin to death it's one of suffering but it's also one of rest.

[24:13] It's a rest of trusting in God through those hard circumstances. It's a rest that's often confusing to non-Christians a rest that will make people wonder like why are they okay through these hard circumstances?

[24:27] Why do they have this abiding trust in God? So think about Philippians 4 in fact please go ahead and turn there with me Philippians 4 Let's look briefly at verses 4 through 7 here.

[24:53] Super common passage again it says rejoice in the Lord always again I will say rejoice let your reasonableness be known to everyone the Lord is at hand so do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

[25:16] Remember what Paul was going through when he wrote this and what he had gone through before he wrote this and what he would. He was writing this letter while in prison for the faith and if you want a big long list of what he had suffered he spelled it out really well in 2 Corinthians 11 but he describes this peace that we can have no matter what we're going through later in chapter 4 Paul discusses learning how to abound in every circumstance this is that same rest right that same peace that we can have in the Lord through trusting in his work we're not promised a completely perfect life all the time but we are promised a rest in him through tough circumstances.

[25:59] Remember that 1 Peter right that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted but remember also the great salvation we have in the Lord.

[26:11] So let's talk about that great salvation a bit more. This here in Hebrews particularly like in verses 9 and 10 and back in Hebrews 4 sorry I'm making you flip everywhere oops in verses 9 and 10 it says so then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

[26:37] Now yes there's that rest we're experiencing now despite our circumstances but these seem to imply our future rest as well. There's a future Sabbath rest remaining for us that all of our works from this earth will be done and we will be with our Savior forever.

[26:53] I remember at some point during college I was listening to a sermon by I think it was John MacArthur about 1 Corinthians 15 and the later part of it of longing for eternity and that death has lost its sting right it was just rejoicing in the Lord who has given us victory over death and he made a statement about the song in the sweet by and by that we have to go through the nasty now and now to get to the sweet by and by right and the reality of that is that that is true we have such great things to look forward to think about 2 Corinthians 4 verses 17 and 18 where it says for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen for the things that are seen are transient but the things that are unseen are eternal we have such a great rest to look forward to we have such great rest to look forward to we must remember like that during our time here even as we're experiencing God's rest it may be really really tough as we fight against our own sin as we talked about this morning as the world pushes back against our sharing of the gospel as we often just get really caught up in legitimately hard circumstances it can be so difficult but we should remember that a rest remains here and a perfect rest remains in eternity it's described here in 1 Corinthians as an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison and right after that note what it says that the rest we're looking forward to is eternal these things we see here are so temporary it's described as momentary momentary think about how little time we have here in this life compared to eternity that should remind us to use our time we'll not be so bogged down in these circumstances but long for that eternal weight of glory to set our minds on things that are eternal to set our minds on our eternal rest in Jesus our sweet

[29:00] Sabbath rest does remain to get a little bit even more excited about that rest turn to Revelation 21 Revelation 21 look at the first four verses here it says then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more I saw the holy city new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for a husband I heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold the dwelling place of God is with man he will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away

[30:05] I believe if we just had the reality of knowing that the dwelling place of our God is with us I think that would be enough for us to get excited about that eternal rest but look elsewhere in this passage too all things being made new with a new heaven and a new earth the holy city coming down wiping away every tear from our eye death being gone forever no mourning no crying no pain how beautiful of a Sabbath rest do we really do have to look forward to so we have a great Sabbath rest in confidence in Jesus now and putting our trust in his salvation and a beautiful inheritance and glory eternally so beginning to tie that together a bit thinking about our sermon from two weeks ago from chapter three we talked a lot about that persevering to the end and being so careful to be sure we truly believe and do make it to that point we talked about encouraging each other because of the deceitfulness of sin how easy it can ensnare us so remembering that let's look a bit more at some more aspects of today's passage so back in Hebrews notice something in the middle of our passage there are all kinds of topics about the rest we have in God but in verse one and in verse eleven we see something a bit different

[31:33] I think that brings us to our last aspect so fourth one the striving necessary to enter that rest the striving necessary to enter that rest so let's note verse one verse one says 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 let's note verse eleven let us therefore strive to enter that rest so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience so this passage starts out warning us to be so careful that we don't fail to reach the rest then it explains that why people fail to reach it is because of unbelief then it explains that the rest we're being offered is God's rest his rest right talks about how our ceasing trying to earn God's favor is similar to God resting on the seventh day and how we have a future perfect sabbath rest and then all the way down verse eleven that we should be striving to enter that rest and be careful again that we don't fall by the same sort of disobedience so this passage is kind of bookended right we have a similar exhortation in verse one as we do down in verse eleven right the exhortations are to be sure that we're entering that rest and notice that that's a common theme from chapter three as well right that's that same kind of idea that was communicated there and remember again this is a letter right it was originally read continuously so we should expect thematically to flow like that so we're continuing to be encouraged to persevere to make it to the end to hold that faith strong keep going keep going right and with all this striving with this putting our flesh to death we're denying ourselves we're taking up our cross right all the striving on our part look again at verses 12 through 14 of chapter 3 where it says take care brothers lest there be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living

[33:38] God but exhort one another every day as long as it is called today that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin for we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end this warning encouraging and exhorting each other this holding firm right to the end it's all really intense stuff that's falling on us right and with all that really intense exhortation right that's falling on us can we still have assurance note that verse 1 and verse 11 are encouraging us to be sure to have that assurance so it's absolutely possible right let's look at 1st John 1st John 3 and that's I promise the last place I'm going to make you turn pretty sure because this passage here in Hebrews right is encouraging us to have that assurance it's what 1st John is all about right 1st John is about testing whether we are in the faith to bring assurance of being in the faith or to even bring conviction of a reality of not being in the faith okay so let's look at 1st John 3 probably the most common passage that is used when talking about this topic

[35:02] I want to just look at verses 4 through 10 says that everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness sin is lawlessness you know that he appeared in order to take away sins and in him there is no sin no one who abides in him keeps on sinning no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him!

[35:27] is righteous as he is righteous whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil for the devil has been sinning from the beginning the reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil no one born of God makes a practice of sinning for God for God seed abides in him and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God by this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God nor is the one who does not love his brother so let's note some stuff about that firstly it's really intense right really really intense says that no one who abides in him keeps on sinning whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil super intense right notice a couple things though about it it says makes a practice and it says keeps on right that's important to note because are we going to have bad days are we still going to struggle against our flesh but should it have a trajectory of moving towards him absolutely otherwise we have some things we need to check we need to ask ourselves some things so

[36:41] I just looked through this passage and tried to pick out some questions that I think might be helpful to ask in thinking about assurance so here's a few of them is my life characterized by habitual continual sin do I love the church do I love the world with the gospel and do I see myself growing in holiness so is my life characterized by habitual continual sin do I love the church do I love the world with the gospel and do I see myself growing in holiness think about those think about this passage we can have assurance so we really need to test ourselves I just want to remind at this point that whether we're in the faith or not in the faith right the

[37:43] Christian life is a life of repenting and believing turning away from our sin right treasuring Christ in our heart is greater than sin and therefore turning away from it turning to God in faith!

[37:56] remember the sinless Savior died so that we can be counted as his righteousness and I hope this morning that we do have such great confidence Nathan said something a couple weeks ago that I was thinking about and I think is very true that there are so many people looking out that I can really see the Lord having done such great things through and you should know that you should have such great confidence because of what your life looks like the trajectory of it remember too that those good works are evidence that the Lord is working know that your true desire for him shows that he's begun to work in you and our Lord has promised that he's going to complete those works right so persevere and the Lord will sustain you so grab there's a quote on there from a

[39:01] Puritan pastor Richard Baxter I want us to look at it together it says sit not down without assurance get alone and bring the heart to the bar of trial force it to answer the interrogatories put to it set to the excuse me this is old stuff sorry force it to answer the interrogatories put to it to set the qualifications of the saints on one side and the qualifications of thyself on the other side and then judge what resemblance there is between them yet be sure thou judge by a true touchstone and mistake not the scripture description of a saint that thou neither acquit nor condemn thyself by mistake to truly test yourself be sure we can have such great assurance and it's sad that we so often go along without it wondering that are we truly in the faith because we can have it because the Lord is the one doing all the work right the Lord is the one sustaining us and helping us to walk in those good works and giving us those good works to walk in as truly think about it continue to study these passages because we can have such great rest through having confidence in the

[40:17] Lord's salvation that we don't have to try to earn any favor because he has given it to us so rest in the Lord in that and let's pray