1. Follow the Leader.
a) The word, "Therefore" Looks back to the warning of chapter 3.
b) The Legitimacy of fear prevents them Losing the benefit of the promise.
i. We Christians, who are saved by grace without works, must be careful not to have a Lackadaisical attitude.
2. When the "gospel" Lacks power to help.
a) What gospel did they Listen to?
3. God's creation rest foreshadows a Later rest that we should seek to enter into.
a) The basic Lesson of entering into rest.
b) The coming rest is Linked to a past rest established by God Himself.
1. Because we are all part of the Body, everyone has a function and a Role to play.
2. The Director Relegates who plays the parts and what tasks each must do.
3. God will often Reveal His power through some of the weakest vessels.
1. Rest is regarded as personal salvation that results in Eternal life in Heaven.
2. Rest is a present Experience when the believer stops trying to live the Christian life in his own Energy and learns to trust God to work through him.
3. Rest is Entering the Millennial Kingdom.
4. Rest is not only entering the Kingdom but possessing the inheritance and reward due to Enduring believers who have finished the work God has for them.
a. Hebrews 4:1 shows that entering into rest has not yet been Effected.
b. The Epistle began by stressing that Christ is the heir of all things, a promise which finds its fulfilment at the Second Coming, when all His enemies have been subjected to Him.
c. This Era of the Kingdom makes it possible for man to have dominion over the created realm, satisfying God's original intention in the garden of Eden.
d. This view agrees with the analogy suggested in chapter 3 and Psalm 95, in which God's children rather than unbelievers, failed to gain their Expected inheritance in the promised land on account of their sin of unbelief. e. The matter of rewards for faithfulness is an ongoing Element in the epistle.
f. Hebrews stresses Messiah's kingdom, and the concept of "rest" is Even linked to other passages about the kingdom.
1. First comes the Gift, then comes the Sift.
2. Better a family Rift, than to Drift from putting Christ first.
3. Disciples must be prepared to Shift from self-serving and Lift the cross.
4. Deciding to become a disciple should not be too Swift.
5. True disciples have testimonies that are not to be Sniffed at.
1. An Example for us to avoid.
a) The first part of Psalm 95 is an Encouragement to worship God.
b) Each believer must guard also against an Erring heart.
c) Every Era gets a warning.
2. If we don't heed the warning, we will fail to Enter into rest.
a) God's rest is Executing what God wants us to do.
b) What can we Expect, if we won't trust God to Enable us to defeat our Enemies?
c) How shall we Escape if those under Moses didn't Evade the consequences of unbelief?
d) Not all believers will Experience the rewards of reigning and resting.
e) Those who rebelled from believing God were Excluded from possessing their intended inheritance, yet God did not make an End of them in the wilderness.
3. How do we avoid having an Evil heart of unbelief?
a) Keep an Eye out for the possibility of it happening in our own lives.
b) Exhort one another daily.
1. The Pharisees didn't Sense their own lostness.
a. To be lost means being put out of your proper Setting.
b. To be lost mean to be out of Service.
c. To be lost mean to be outside of Safety.
2. To not find what was lost was considered a Scandal.
3. A fourfold Source of joy.
a. There is a joy that comes to those who get Saved.
b. There is a joy of the Soulwinner.
c. There is the joy of those with whom we Share the news of someone's salvation.
d. There is the joy of the Savior.
1. A word that Merges what follows with what went before.
2. They were holy and were brethren because Jesus had Made them so.
a) They were Members in a common endeavour.
b) A calling to participate in the Messianic kingdom as a ruler under Christ.
3. Mark the Lord Jesus.
a) As the Apostle, Jesus is the One sent by God, who best Manifests what the Father is like.
b) Our High Priest Mediates between God and Man and Moves to our aid in a Moment.
c) Our profession is what some of the original readers were tempted to Move away from.
d) By considering the Model of Jesus' faithfulness, they could avoid that and live a faithful life themselves resulting in reward.
4. The author Measures the work of Moses and the work of Jesus.
a) Most Jews regard Moses as the greatest person who ever lived.
i) He Managed over 2 million Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years.
ii) He Meted out the Law and commandments of God.
iii) The LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a Man speaks to his friend.
iv) Moses was faithful to follow the Map of God's design for the place of worship.
5. The Many Meetings of "House" in Scripture.
6. Jesus is counted worthy of More glory than Moses.
7. The readers Must be prepared to Meet the condition of holding fast... until the end.
a) A believer's standing does not Make this sure.
b) Maybe Most Christians will Miss out on this reward.
c) Holding fast is the believer's Mission in "drawing near."
1. Some believe that the Baptism with the Spirit is to be sought after we Believe the gospel.
2. What is the Biblical use of the term?
3. What the word Baptism means.
4. Are we baptised "with" or "By" the Spirit of God?
5. We are baptised into one Body.
6. Spirit baptism has happened Before now, rather than being a potential Blessing in the future.
1. The Problem of the Possibility that salvation is not necessarily Permanent.
2. The Problem of the Perseverance of the saints.
3. What does it mean to be a Partaker of Christ?
1. The Friction of modern tongues.
2. Some Fallacies that contradict what the Bible teaches about Tongues.
a. "Tongues is not meant for a Few".
b. "Paul Fancied that every Christian should get the gift of tongues."
c. "Tongues is gift of Foremost importance."
d. "Tongues keeps Satan from Fathoming our prayers."
3. The Family of Tongues.
a. Tongues can be tested because they are related Foreign Languages.
b. Paul's appeal to speaking in the tongues of angels was hypothetical, just as Paul's statement about Paul's body being consumed by Fire.
4. The Function of Tongues.
a. To Fortify the message of the early church.
b. To Feed the church.
c. To Forecast Judgment to the Jew that they were about to Forfeit their land.
