Hebrews, Part 2 of 6

[00:00:00] I was somewhat impressed that Brother Ebersole used the word rest because that's a major concept in the portion of Hebrews that we want to look at tonight. Let me just say at the beginning, maybe it will become more clear as we go along, there are three kinds of rest which are described here. we have the rest of Canaan which was a national rest for the people of Israel [00:00:31] they had been a slave people in Egypt for a long time many generations and then traveled 40 years in the desert and most of them died but their children entered this rest this national rest then when we believers come to Jesus we enter into a state of spiritual rest in Christ we are [00:01:02] blessed in a rich way as God pours his mercy and grace and peace upon us according to our need and finally we look forward to our heavenly Sabbath rest and there the writer of Hebrews in the Greek uses a different word for rest it could be translated Sabbathism we look forward to our Sabbathism it's translated in the NIV Sabbath rest so we have three kinds of rest [00:01:38] that are quite described and I hope that we'll be able to see it clearly as we go along. Starting at 3.7, the book of Hebrews talks about the doctrine of Scripture. So, let me say just a word about that. He starts out by saying, So, as the Holy Spirit says, Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, and so on. What is found in scripture can properly be called the voice or the words of the Holy Spirit. [00:02:17] It can be called the word of God and sometimes it is identified with the voice of God. So God says what we find in his holy word but here he happens to say so as the Holy Spirit says and then he quotes from Psalm 95 now in the Greek Old Testament the Septuagint the Old Testament was written in Hebrew to begin with but there was a translation made somewhere between 285 and 135 BC the older books will tell you that this Greek translation was made between 250 and 150 now [00:03:05] in recent years scholars have pushed that back 35 years and made it 185 and they've pushed it the other way 35 years and they don't say 150 anymore well only 15 years they say 135 so 285 to 135 BC is the time when this Greek Old Testament was made by many different people I would like to know why they did that. Why it was translated. [00:04:03] It was translated for the sake, just like, suppose, years ago, our people here, Mennonites I'm talking about, were German speaking, and so they used German Bibles. But the day came when we needed to get our basic classics, the Bible and other books, into English for the sake of the young people. and so for the sake of the Greek-speaking Jews there was a Greek Old Testament made in Alexandria, Egypt [00:04:34] several centuries before the time of our Lord. Any other questions? Now the surprising thing is that the apostle, whoever this person was that wrote Hebrews possibly Apollos, we don't know He quotes the Greek Old Testament, whether it is a good translation of the original Hebrew or whether it's not. Are you understanding me? [00:05:06] He follows the Greek Old Testament. And in Psalm 95, the Hebrew doesn't say who wrote Psalm 95. But the Greek Old Testament says David did. and so we read here that David is the author of this particular psalm I can't see it for looking anyhow we'll come we'll come on to it as we go along [00:05:36] so psalm 95 in the Hebrew is anonymous but in the Greek it's attributed to David the superscriptions to the psalms are believed to be not original but very ancient they were so ancient that when the greek old testament was made they didn't know how to translate some of the terms that were evidently musical terms and the writers did not know what [00:06:09] If you want to see some humorous guesses as to what the meaning of the superscriptions are, look in Moffat's translation. He'll say, a psalm for a female choir, something like that. Nobody else knows that it means that. But Moffat either guessed or had an intuitive sense as to what the meaning was. Now let's look at this Doctrine of Scripture. [00:06:42] Our Doctrine of Scripture rests upon at least a half a dozen lines of thought from the Bible. One is the use of the word gegraptai. It's a Greek word, and it's translated in English in a standard way. It is written, gegraptai. but the german is much closer to the greek as it often is and the german says can you understand that it stands written in other words it's looking at the text as is [00:07:24] and saying this text goes back to the divine intention which god had in mind in giving it so he says in 3 7 so as the holy spirit says and then he quotes from psalm 95 7 today if you hear his voice and i found it necessary to explain that last time and i'll do so more yet before we get through the book the greek has two different words for for if one is [00:07:59] The word is roughly equivalent to our English word since. So if I'm a short person, then it doesn't matter too much whether I stand or sit. That word if, you see, means since. If ye then be risen with Christ means, in the Greek, since you are risen with Christ. It's not any question whether we are risen. the other word for if is genuine uncertainty for example is it raining [00:08:35] tonight in Philadelphia well I don't happen to know I don't know what the weather is so I have to say if it is raining and in Greek that's a on it's a different word than a which implies reality and that's the word the true if which is used here if you hear his voice what one hears with the external The original ear is no guarantee of what one hears with the heart. Are you understanding what I'm trying to say? [00:09:09] Today, if you should hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion. He's writing to Jews, and so it was the Jewish nation that rebelled against God in the desert. during the time of testing in the desert that same greek word can mean temptation or it can mean testing and the NIV thinks that the word testing explains the meaning of the original somewhat [00:09:44] better than any other word where your fathers tested and tried me and for 40 years saw what I I did. That is why I was angry with that generation and said, their hearts are always going astray and they have not known my ways. So I declared on oath in my anger, God says, they shall never enter my rest. The Greek has an unusual figure here, which I'm not trying to display any amount of learning because I don't have any. [00:10:23] But grammarians have labeled the figures of speech that occur in our literature. and this particular figure is called Aposio Pesis, A-P-O-S-I-O-P-E-S-I-S and the Greek actually says, if they shall enter into my arrest, then it's too awful to finish. And so it's left unfinished. Do you understand? It breaks off in the middle of the sentence. [00:10:54] The if clause is called in Greek the protesis, and the conclusion is called the apodesis, and the apodesis is missing. If they shall enter my rest really means they shall never enter my rest. Is that clear? It's a very strong way of saying, and never indeed will they enter into Canaan. Then he says, well, we're looking at our Doctrine of Scripture. [00:11:27] One is Gegraptive. Would you say that leaves him out of the heavenly rest or not? I wouldn't say it's excluded, but I think what he has in mind primarily is the national rest of Canaan. Now, the national rest of Canaan was for the Israelites what heaven is for us Christians. and then there's another kind of rest yet do you know the hymn which says in the rifted rock I'm resting it means I've come to shalom I've come to peace I've come to tranquility because everything [00:12:02] is right between me and my God that's a tremendous satisfaction that we believers can have the first The second proof of our high doctrine of scripture is Gegraptai. It stands written. The second proof is Scripture says. This occurs again and again in the New Testament. Scripture says. In other words, we can, well, I think of a Pennsylvania German poem about this. and the writer says, [00:12:35] Sel steht in der Bibel. Sel ist ewig sicher. That stands in the Bible. That's eternally secure. And that's exactly right. Scripture says. Thirdly, without identifying the pronoun, the New Testament often says, He says. And that He, of course, is God. And what we have here is a variety of that. He says is an appeal to what God says. [00:13:08] Fourthly, we have it in front of us, verse 7, the Holy Spirit says. So we have a high doctrine of scripture because it's not merely the writer, the human writer, which this is attributed to, but he looks beyond the human writer to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and says the Holy Spirit says the fifth line of evidence is in John 10 35 our Lord himself said scripture cannot be can anybody [00:13:47] finish it broken scripture cannot be broken in other words it stands eternally secure and what is in the Bible can be relied upon scripture cannot be broken Christ is using the argument there I suppose almost with a smile on his face it's a little bit like in German in in high German if you well suppose a man does [00:14:18] something as a courtesy like puts a suitcase up on a rack for a woman on a Anabaptist, Anabaptist, Anabaptist, [00:14:55] and Jesus has been accused of being a blasphemy because he said I'm the son of God well Jesus said that's a strange argument because scripture calls these people to whom the word of God came in the old testament it calls those people they uh the what we would call vips it calls them I can't think of the word something like sons of God and if he called them sons of God to whom the [00:15:29] scripture came how can you accuse me of blasphemy because I said I'm the son of God do you understand he used an argument which has a trace of humor in it in other words they they had a lingo that we don't use then in second Timothy 3 15 and 16 it says that all scripture is literally God breathed and profitable and then he mentions a number of things for which it's profitable for the for correction instruction and righteousness for doctrinal truth and so on and so on script all scripture is God breathed [00:16:15] and profitable, 2 Timothy 3, 15 and 16. We could add two other arguments which in a sense are not biblical, but experiential. And that is, Scripture does change lives. I hope that a number of illustrations tonight will bring that out. Scripture does change lives. If people once begin to listen to the Word of God, Then they will be changed and an amazing transformation will take place in their life. [00:16:53] My father used to tell about two men who were traveling in colonial America and they had to put up for the night in a private home and they were scared that they would be robbed during the night. While they were sleeping, the man of the house would come in and search through their pockets and take their wallets. So they agreed that one fellow would sleep the first half of the night and the other guy would sit up and watch [00:17:23] and then they'd reverse it. The fellow who sat up the first half would go to bed and the other guy would sit up. Before the first man fell asleep, the other guy was undressing to get in bed too. And he said, what's up? Oh, he said, they're having family worship. So he felt if they were having family worship, they could relax. They could trust that these people were not criminal. [00:17:55] Well, that's not a joke. That's true. The word of God does change lives. And people who begin to pay attention to what the scripture says live accordingly. And it's a tremendous comfort to us to believe. The most important thing, experientially, is this. Scripture speaks to us with the voice of God. Scripture speaks to us with the voice of God. [00:18:30] And this can be most meaningful. A person can be in great distress, financially or health-wise or whatever, and then he or she turns to the scripture and finds in the bible exactly what they need for their comfort for their strength for moving ahead it's a tremendous thing now what is the notice how the writer here uses psalm 95 this brings us to this question [00:19:06] What is the relation of the Christian to the Old Testament? Let me mention to you some of the points of difference between the Old and the New Testament. In the Old Testament, there's a lot of killing. It's amazing. Private killing and warfare and so on. the Old Testament has many examples of swearing of oaths and our Lord told us we shouldn't tell it use any oath we should just tell the truth the Old Testament has polygamy various Saints of God had more than one wife and the New Testament indicates that one is enough the Old Testament has capital punishment for I would I didn't make any count of [00:20:00] I would think about two dozen items to be punished by capital punishment, by killing the individual involved. For example, if a family had a son who was completely incorrigible, the parents were to bring the boy to the judges and they were to say this boy is a drunkard and he won't listen to us and he doesn't honor us and so on. and then the parents were to throw the first stone. Do you remember this? And then the other [00:20:32] people were to join in and stone the person to death. Well, there are a couple dozen of those cases in the Old Testament. The Old Testament had a lower place for women than the New Testament does. For example, in the Old Testament, when a woman, a female, made a vow, if she was married, In the Old Testament, her husband had to affirm the vow. If she was single, her father had to affirm the vow. So she was not capable of doing this in her own right. There was nothing like that in the New Testament. The Old Testament had all kinds of food regulations. Clean foods and unclean foods and so on. We don't have anything like that today. [00:21:21] the Old Testament had clothing regulations every Jew had to have a blue fringe on his garment and he was to look down and see this blue fringe and remember that he belonged to God and there's there's nothing like that of a blue fringe required of Christians today the Old Testament had an easy divorce system all Sally had to do was burn the toast once too often and then her husband would say Sally you're no longer my wife and he would write it out and sign [00:21:56] it Ikey and she could go and be somebody else's wife and if if the second husband divorced her she could never go back to the first husband or if the second husband died she could not go back to the first husband remember that the old testament had circumcision for all boys as signs of the covenant the old testament had animal sacrifices that was a major thing in the old testament the old testament had a holy sabbath on which there were all kinds of regulations you [00:22:31] couldn't even kindle a fire on the sabbath well we'd we'd be in a bad way in a cold climate if we were under the old testament on that point well those are at least 11 illustrations of some of the Old Testament items which are mostly just passed over in the New Testament the the Apostles and our Lord used the Old Testament like pilings do you know what a [00:23:04] piling is you drive an I-beam down into the muck or whatever and as long as the thing will move their government inspectors there and they keep they They insist it has to be driven more. And finally, it's absolutely solid. For example, there are 700,000 pilings under the Amsterdam train station so that those heavy trains can drive in over that mucky soil and everything is solid. [00:23:37] Well these pilings exist everywhere that a bridge is built over a swamp or what have you So that a 35 ton truck can roll over the bridge without any vibration Because it's built on solid pilings Now the New Testament, Christ and the Apostles The New Testament is built on about 2,500 pilings It took me most of my life to find that out. [00:24:08] I went through Westcott and Hort's Greek New Testament and counted how many times a different kind of type was used for quotations from the Old Testament. And I thought it was about a thousand. Now there's a new Greek New Testament out. One of the scholars was Metzger from Princeton that did it. It's called the United Bible Society Text. and they list the actual quotations and allusions from the Old Testament in the New and it's about 2,500. [00:24:44] So the New Testament selects, please get this, the New Testament selects about 2,500 quotations and allusions that make good pilings for New Testament doctrine. and what does it do with all these Old Testament things which would not make good pilings? The answer is it usually passes them over. Only one time do I know of that we have an exception. [00:25:16] In Matthew 19 the apostles came to our Lord and they said there's a big debate in Judaism today about divorce and remarriage. Where do you stand? Do you favor the stricter view or the milder view? Well, he said, what do you read in the Old Testament? Well, he said, they didn't say where it was, but I'm telling you, it was Deuteronomy 24. They said in Deuteronomy 24, it says to give her a writing of divorcement and put her away. [00:25:53] Jesus said, well, Moses wrote that for your hardness of heart. Do you remember? for your hardness of heart but from the beginning it was not so then Jesus went back to Genesis 2 and said there are two laws that govern a marriage cleave, leave and cleave you leave your family and you cleave to your companion in other words Jesus held to the permanence of marriage and he said there's only one thing that will justify a divorce [00:26:25] and that is if I may interpret a little bit impenitent adultery impenitent adultery so the new testament passes over the temporary the concessive and emphasizes the permanent elements from the Old Testament. This is set forth by a Roman Catholic writer named Werner Bulst, B-U-L-S-T. [00:26:57] He wrote a book in German called Offenbarung, an English revelation, and he says, listen carefully, he says the Old Testament was true for that time under those circumstances, but the full and final and definitive revelation of God comes only in Jesus Christ that's excellent I couldn't none of us could improve on that so he says in 3 8 if you hear God's voice don't harden your heart like Israel did in the desert when it provoked God in this time of testing Israel had 40 years of powerful [00:27:47] lessons on how God cares for his people and it ran off like water off a duck's back right doesn't seem right does it if they needed something to eat God provided manna every day until they got into the promised land if they needed meat they got hungry for meat God provided [00:28:17] God brought water out of the rock to supply their thirst their clothes did not wear out in that 40 year period and the diseases of Egypt did not affect them do you remember that none of these diseases there's a book along that line so Israel was divinely preserved in so many ways and yet Israel was cold we don't want to be like that We want to be sensitive to how good God is and how God does meet our needs. [00:28:58] Now, does the New Testament ever refer to Christians who have gotten so cold that they are in danger of losing their salvation? And the answer is yes. in 1st Timothy 1 20 we read about a man named Hymenaeus and Alexander who made shipwreck of the faith that's terrible they made shipwreck of the faith in 2nd Timothy 2 17 we read about Hymenaeus [00:29:34] and Philetus who are upsetting the faith of some people they were upsetting the faith so it is possible for us to do the same thing as the Israelites did in these 40 years their hearts were not warmed by the goodness of God in the way he met their needs but they allowed coldness to enter in there are two things that we believers need to watch out for [00:30:05] the one is so often referred to in the New Testament and that is grudges don't allow grudges to build up in your hearts we could all do that every husband could do that every wife could do that every child could do that every parent could do that we're all human and we are annoyed by the attitudes that some people take [00:30:35] and then in a more general way the New Testament warns us against the flesh and the flesh means human nature at its worst it doesn't mean meat so that the man that weighs 300 has more flesh than the man that weighs 100 no it's not not the physical body that we're talking about it's human nature so don't allow the flesh to lead you astray [00:31:07] So God says they shall never, literally, if they shall enter my rest, meaning they will never enter my rest, that is Canaan. Now, verse 312, it says we Christians must also look out for an evil heart of. The Greek word could either be translated as unbelief or disobedience, the same Greek word. And really, there's no conflict there. They're really the same. If you really believe God, you'll obey his word. You'll have an awe, you'll have a fear of displeasing him. So unbelief and disobedience are the same thing. [00:31:54] There used to be a speaker on the radio named Monsignor Fulton J. Sheen. Did you ever hear him? He was a very effective speaker. Now, we don't use this word in our circles, but in the Catholic Church, the higher officers are called prelates. Have you heard that word? P-R-E-L-A-T-E-S. and a person who's in prison for having committed a major crime is a felon. [00:32:28] Now Fulton Sheen said one time that many of the Catholic prelates could have become felons if it hadn't been for the grace of God. And then he turned it right around and said there are many felons in prison who could have become prelates in the church. that's a tremendous insight here we are tonight as a group of Christians in this building and yet if we had followed the flesh the very worst of human nature we [00:33:06] could have gone to prison ourselves why didn't we that's the goodness of God the goodness of God in leading us to repentance and leading us to obedience now in 313 he uses a word which could be translated encourage or exhort or even beseech encourage one another the King James says [00:33:39] exhort one another daily this is verse 13 and the interlinear by Dr. Marshall says exhort but beseech is also a possible translation encourage or exhort or beseech one another as long as it I suppose that's to make it emphatic that the capital is used there. [00:34:34] I'd like to use a couple of illustrations here from the life of my dear friend A.C. Goode. Did any of you know him? Stirling, Illinois. He was born 1881 and died in 1978. Notice that's almost 100 years. He got very old. And when he was, I'm just guessing, late 60s or so, his wife died. and he was a widower for a while before he remarried lived at Sterling Illinois and he [00:35:10] dreamed one night while he was a widower he dreamed one night that he saw a certain person that he knew and this person looked very bad as if he was going to die shortly and brother good told me he said i made my own breakfast and i made my own supper but i went to town to get one square meal a day and he was coming out of the restaurant where he'd eaten [00:35:41] this meal the next day and he ran into the brother-in-law the man he had dreamed about i forgot to tell you he dreamed the same dream three times he he dreamed it and he was Waking up and fell asleep and dreamed it again and wakened up and fell asleep and dreamed it again So brother good said to this brother-in-law Where does your brother-in-law live and he told him so brother good went right away to this home [00:36:13] The man came to the door and had a pipe in his mouth And when he saw the preacher he quick pulled the pipe out and he said come on in so brother good went in and the two men sat down together in the living room and brother good said i want to tell you why i came he said i had a dream last night it was repeated three times and i dreamed that you were getting near the end and he said i was concerned are you ready to meet the lord [00:36:47] Well, the man was moved, as you could expect. And Brother Good said, maybe you'd like to come to the Lord right now. No, the man said, not today. So, a few days later, Brother Good went back and talked to him again, and this time his wife was with him. And Brother Good turned to her and said, maybe you'd like to come. She said, if he will, I will. which I think is fairly common where a spouse and two spouses are close to one another [00:37:24] but neither of them came that day and I forget whether it was the third or fourth time the man was on his deathbed he did die and when brother good brought up the matter of salvation again the man said no I'm not interested and he died like that but there was a special call from God to this man not to put it off but to come into the kingdom do you remember what Sheen said [00:37:55] prelates could become felons and felons could become prelates it depends on us what we do about the whole matter of salvation the other story is also from Brother Good and it's a much happier one There was a man in the community who had two characteristics. One was he professed to be an atheist and he had such bad arthritis. So Brother Goode went to see him from time to time and the man was suffering a great deal. [00:38:33] And Brother Goode noticed whenever he would get on anything close to salvation, the man would push him off. He would not let him go on with his conversation because this was getting uncomfortably close. And finally, one day, the man's wife said to Brother Goode, Brother Goode, didn't you used to have arthritis yourself? Yes, he said, I did. But he said, I didn't bear the pain alone. [00:39:04] In other words, I had some divine help. And the guy didn't say anything. normally he would have pushed it off and said I don't want to hear anything more about that but this time he didn't say anything and finally brother good was about ready to go and instead of asking the man he said let's have a word of prayer dear father he started right off the guy couldn't object what do you think happened when brother good finished the prayer [00:39:35] the former atheist said I think I'm saved praise the Lord that's the kind of a God we have a God who can change unbelief to belief a God who can take a person in a state of rebellion and bring him into a state of yieldedness and peace and joy so you and I want to be holy [00:40:05] obedient loving disciples of Jesus Christ I don't have to tell you we are living in a dangerous age I picked up a newspaper one time when I was in the Pittsburgh area and I was so impressed with something I read in the newspaper some researchers social science researchers came into Pittsburgh and and applied for membership in several service clubs and the service clubs were [00:40:37] pretty pretty reticent about taking these strangers in they wanted to know who they were where they came from what their motivation was and so on and they held them off then these same people applied to several different churches for membership and they were taken in readily and they were bothered by this why should a service club be more strict than a Christian congregation I'll let you answer that what I wrote down was it costs so little to join most churches I read one time that Americans [00:41:26] I hope that's not true, but it could be. Americans spend, listen to this, ten times as much for alcohol and tobacco as they give to the church. Ten times for alcohol and tobacco, what they give to the church. Let me come a little closer home. [00:41:59] Dare I ask this? Suppose there's a conflict between Bible study and a ball game. Which one do we go to? Does the basketball take precedence over Bible study or vice versa? I guess it's time for a little humor. We had a visitor from Canada one time who had a very Dutch accent. And I said, we have, who's your hysteria here? I don't suppose you have that in Ontario. [00:42:33] No, he said we don't, but he said we have hoggy. And I could not think what game would involve pigs that we have hoggy. And it finally dawned on me, he was talking about hockey. Now he says in 3.14, he implies that we will be in Christ if, and he uses the if of uncertainty, [00:43:09] if we hold our confidence firmly till the end. That's an excellent statement. We will be in Christ if we hold our confidence firmly till the end. Is this where David comes in? I can't see it yet. Okay. 316, he says, those who rebelled, who hardened their hearts, were those that Moses had led out of Egypt. [00:43:48] These people, in other words, had seen the ten plagues. They had seen the Egyptians drowned in the same water from which they were delivered when they crossed what is called in English the Red Sea. The area which was crossed was a part of the whole area which is called the Red Sea. But the German Bible, the Swiss Bible, uses the word Rohrmehr, which means Sea of Reeds. [00:44:27] And the Luther Bible uses the word Schilfmehr, which means Sea of Reeds. The Sea of Reeds is a part of the bigger complex called the Red Sea. Is this clear to everyone? The Red Sea itself is so big that ocean liners can go on it. Whereas where the Israelites crossed, the water was not so deep, and the Lord caused the water to go back by a strong east wind all that night. [00:44:57] Do you remember that? That's the Shilf Mer, the Sea of Reeds. The NIV uses the word Red Sea, and then it has a footnote, Hebrew, Yom Suf. that is sea of reeds which is what the German Christians have believed for the last 400 years but many Americans have trouble seeing that. Well anyhow in 3 7 to 19 he tells us that Israel was [00:45:30] cursed by her disobedience by her unbelief. Now what would you think of standing for a few minutes Glance or walking around a little bit so we don't get too tired. Someone had suggested this the last time and I forgot it. So stand up if you feel like it or walk around, do whatever makes you feel at ease. beginning of chapter 4 it starts out in the NIV it says let us be careful [00:46:05] therefore since the promise of entering his rest still stands let us be careful the greek actually says let us fear and i looked up in 11 7 in the NIV where noah moved with fear an ark to the saving of his house. Do you remember that? And there the NIV says, holy fear. That's a good interpretation of what the original means. So we are to be moved by a holy fear. We are to fear displeasing God. We are to fear taking any attitude which is not in line with his will. [00:46:53] so the point is let us fear or let us be careful lest anyone fail to enter his eternal rest now it just says rest but it means heaven Israel missed Canaan now he's saying we Christians must be careful that we don't miss the glory world Israel missed Canaan because of a lack of faith or a lack of obedience it could be translated either way 4.2 and 4.3 says by faith we enter into God's rest at once now that's a third kind of rest national rest was Israel entering Canaan eternal rest [00:47:49] is Christians entering the glory world where some of us already have loved ones who have gone on before and now he talks about a third kind of rest which is our present spiritual rest in Christ this afternoon a group of three professors at the The Associated Seminaries examined a certain senior to see whether he was ready to graduate and what his readiness for ministry was. [00:48:25] And I'm happy to say that unanimously, all three examiners gave the person good grades in terms of his readiness for ministry and in terms of graduation. Nevertheless, there was a little bit of an uneasy feeling that this particular candidate was too serious, took himself a little too seriously, and didn't take his brothers and sisters perhaps quite as seriously as he ought to. [00:49:01] Maybe he didn't smile quite enough, are you understanding? And so we tried to share this with him, and he accepted it. He said he hopes that he can improve along those lines. We Christians, this is the thing I'm trying to get across, we Christians are to be happy people. There's something wrong if we're not happy people. My father used to tell about a book of Robinson Crusoe [00:49:33] that he read and had illustrations in, and one picture showed him not feeling well it said Caruso sick reading his bible that's not the way we're to be long-faced and reading the bible when we're sick no we're to be happy people we're to be filled with the joy of sins forgiven [00:50:05] We are to be filled with the joy of reconciliation with the Father. We are to be filled with happiness realizing that the same God who began a good work in us will also perform it until the day of Christ. We have so much to be thankful for. So that we shouldn't observe Thanksgiving once a year, we should observe Thanksgiving every day. By faith we enter into God's spiritual rest now. [00:50:36] The Hebrew word for that was shalom. Shalom is a state, S-H-A-L-O-M, is a state of well-being because of the goodness of God. I don't know whether Hyman Appelman is still living. Do any of you know? The Jewish Evangelist, I have a book upstairs on the great leaders of the Christian church [00:51:07] and Hyman Appelman is not listed and I wanted to look in the library at the seminary and forgot it today so I'll still continue to work on that and see if I can learn some more. Let me tell you a A little bit about how he came to this shalom, to this spiritual rest. Hyman Appelman was a Jew and didn't know too much about his own faith, as a matter of fact. And he began not to feel well. [00:51:39] And he went to a doctor. The doctor examined him and he said, I can't find anything seriously wrong with you. He said, I do think it would do you good if you'd take a vacation. Why don't you close your law office and make a trip through the West and enjoy life? He got as far as Kansas City and a group of men were sitting in the lobby of the hotel chewing the rag and they got on the subject of religion and they began to run down the Christian faith [00:52:11] and Hyman Appelman put in his two cents worth and there was one man there who didn't talk and he was a Christian so when Hyman Appelman got up and went to his room the Christian followed him the Christian knocked and Hyman Appelman left him in and the Christian said are you a lawyer he said yes I am he said I thought so he said I thought you talked like one and then the Christian used what is called the shock treatment the Christian said I just [00:52:49] I just wanted to tell you, you're a hypocrite. And Hyman Appelman said, what do you mean? Well, he said, you ran down Christianity and you don't know what Christianity is. And Hyman Appelman had to admit to himself, there's some truth to this. I don't know too much about it. And then the Christian said, promise me one thing, that you'll read the Bible. Well, this was getting pretty embarrassing, and Hyman Appelman would do almost anything to get rid of the guy. [00:53:25] So he said, yes, I'll read it. Then the man said something that bothered Appelman worse yet. He said, thank you, and he said, I'll be praying for you. So he left, and Hyman Appelman strolled over to the dresser, and there was a Gideon Bible. And he opened it up and looked at the table of contents and his whole Old Testament was there. This surprised him. He didn't know that the Christian scriptures included the Jewish Old Testament. [00:53:59] But all the books were there. And then he looked at the list of New Testament books which he didn't know at all. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Then he remembered, one time in Chicago, he was going down the street and there was some preacher standing on a box, preaching to anybody that would listen and the man said, if you ever want to get religion, quick, turn to John So this guy, this Hyman Appleman turned to John to see what it did say [00:54:32] and he didn't make sense It said in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God The same was in the beginning with God. And he closed it in disgust. He just couldn't understand such language. And then he went on to Kansas. This was Kansas City. Then he went on to Denver. And by this time he was really feeling punk. And he went into the, what do you call it, hotel. [00:55:03] And there was a man sitting at the desk and the man didn't even look up. the man said no we have no no money to loan this was during the depression and he said listen i'm sick i need help and this man turned out to be a believer and he said i'm sorry for the way i talked to you he said what's your trouble so he described his situation and the man said i don't believe you need a doctor i think you need a minister he said my presbyterian pastor [00:55:35] The Presbyterian minister lives right across the street. Would you object if I would call him and send you over to him? No, Appelman thought, it's worth a try. So this happened, and that was about 3 p.m., and the Presbyterian minister explained the plan of salvation from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., tried to lead this man to Christ. and finally the Presbyterian minister said would it be all right if we'd have prayer [00:56:08] and Appelman said yes it would and they got down and the minister reached over with his arm and put it around the guy's shoulder and he began to intercede for this poor lost Jew and as he prayed the tears began to course down the Presbyterian preacher's face and the perspiration stood out and he couldn't understand how a man who had never seen him before could care that much. [00:56:42] Are you getting this story? This is Christian love. And finally, Appelman accepted Christ and he had some ups and downs to begin with, but in the end he became a tremendous man of God and a great evangelist and I'm sorry to tell you that his Jewish father was very hostile and the father said to him when he came back he said you're not welcome in our home from here on [00:57:12] he said if you ever are starving to death you can come crawling on all fours like any other dog and I might throw a crust to you but he said I'm done with you well that's part of the price that he had to pay to be a believer By the grace of God, he was an overcomer and was used of God richly in the building of his kingdom. Now in the book of Genesis, it says how God created everything in six days. [00:57:46] And then on the seventh day, God ceased to create. And that is translated in the King James Version, God rested. I don't think it means rest in the sense that a tired man has to lie down I think it's ceasing to be active God rested, God ceased to create on the seventh day and that's what we have here in 4.4 that God rested after the sixth day [00:58:19] and that's a picture of the rest which God provides for his people. First, the national rest, 4-5, Israel did not enter God's rest, God's Canaan, because of unbelief or disobedience. That's 4-6. Now 4.7 is this David that I've been looking for that God spoke through David [00:58:50] today if you hear his voice and so on from the Greek Old Testament Psalm 95 Now 4.8 says in the King James Version If Jesus had given them rest See that? 4.8 If Jesus had given them rest and he's talking about the children of Israel leaving Egypt and coming into Canaan. Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua. [00:59:22] And so the NIV correctly translates the Greek into English as Joshua, does not take it over literally. Does anybody have any other modern version here to see whether... good any other version does it well even if you see that that's just an example of what a translator Luther was he was fantastically good so if Joshua [01:00:00] had given them rest namely Canaan they did not know what the eternal rest was which comes from a life of faith and obedience and holiness then in 4 9 he says that God's people look forward to a sabbathism I don't know how to translate this the word the Greek word here is sabbatismus sabbatismus and it's translated in the NIV sabbath rest [01:00:40] And that's the meaning of the word. Same thing. Very good. Now he says in 4.10 that those who enter spiritual shalom cease from trying to earn their salvation. They rest. Rest. Wouldn't it be something if some of us here tonight would never have learned this lesson? and we go through life striving and striving and striving to be good enough to be saved. [01:01:18] Let me tell you, it's impossible. My father had a brother that kept store in a small village in Lancaster County called Beartown and there was a man in that community who was not too bright above the ears and they told him one night, there were always some loafers sitting in the store and some of these loafers told this person who wasn't too bright that there's an occasional strong man who can stand in a tub and he's so strong he can lift the tub off the floor [01:01:52] and they got him to try it and he stood in the tub and he lifted and strained and they cheered and said he almost had accomplished it and so on and so on. No, that's not exactly funny because that's exactly what some Christians are trying to do. They try to lift themselves by their own bootstraps. They try to be good enough to be saved. Let me tell you, there is no such thing. [01:02:23] No Christian is good enough to be saved. I guess I dare say this. Harold Bender told it publicly at North Goshen. He said he and Elizabeth and their younger daughter, Nancy, I believe her name is, were living in Switzerland. And this girl was about 14 or so, and she became very sick, and they took her to the hospital, and the surgeons opened her. [01:02:55] And within, I don't know the time anymore, four or five days, they had to open her again. And four or five days later, they had to open her the third time. And Harold finally said to Elizabeth, it's not right that we let Nancy die and not tell her that she's going to die. So the father and the mother, with heavy hearts, went to the hospital in Basel, Switzerland, and they said, Nancy, you're a very sick girl, and mother and I don't know how this is going to come out. [01:03:32] Well, she had a very high IQ. She didn't have to be hit on the head to be told how sick she was. And then she asked a very important question. She said, if I would die, would I be saved? Now, Nancy had accepted Christ. And so her father said, yes, you would be saved. And Nancy was quiet a little while, and then she said, I'm not good enough. Now the temptation that would come to you and me is to argue with her and say, [01:04:06] Why, of course you're good enough. Do you know what Brother Bender said? That's right. He said that's where the gospel comes in. In other words, the gospel offers assurance to people who in themselves are not good enough to be saved. so although you and I are not good enough to be saved we are saved this is tremendous this is called Christian assurance [01:04:38] I like that phrase better than the Germans call it Heilsgewissheit I like the English better Christian assurance Heilsgewissheit means the certainty of salvation well it's certain alright but the point is we do not deserve salvation and yet in Christ we have it for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, the gift of God, that's Ephesians [01:05:15] so those who enter this state of shalom, the state of peace cease from trying to earn their salvation they simply rest Romans 4 5 says that the Christian does not work but trusts in God he's like God who rested who ceased to work on the seventh day 4 11 let us make every effort to enter our [01:05:53] let us make every effort to enter the glory world don't be like disobedient israel israel missed it did not get to canaan their national rest because of their sin he says to it to us see to it that this doesn't happen to you now in 4 12 he talks about the word of god and I never heard this in college or even in seminary but some years ago I made a direct study of the biblical evidence and came to this conclusion there are four meanings in the Bible to the phrase Word of God it says here the Word of God is quick and powerful and so on the Word of God [01:06:48] God, all through the Old Testament, seems to refer to the living, spoken word of the Lord. For example, when the ten northern tribes pulled away from the two southern tribes and Judah was going to go to war with the ten tribes, a prophet said, No, don't do it. And so they obeyed the word of the Lord. Do you follow me? This is just one example. [01:07:21] All through the Old Testament, the word of God or the word of the Lord means the living spoken word usually given by a prophet. In the New Testament, there are three meanings to the word of God. On the one hand, we have the gospel. The proclamation of the gospel is the sowing of the word. From you sounded out the word of the Lord. That means you were faithful in telling other people about the saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. [01:07:57] The word of God increased. That doesn't mean the Bible got bigger. It means the proclamation of the word of God became ever more numerous, became more prominent. Secondly, in the New Testament, our Lord himself is called the word of God. and this is particularly in the writings of John in the beginning was the word and the word is with God and the word was God the same was in the beginning with God that word is Jesus Christ [01:08:30] and in the book of Revelation it says that he had a garment stained with blood and his name was the word of God do you remember so there are many examples in the writings of John particularly The Word of God can not be broken. [01:09:01] He's talking about the scriptures. Now what does he say about this word here? First he says it's living. It's translated in the English King James Version, it's quick. My mother used to talk about cutting a fingernail down into the quick. Did you ever hear that expression used? It means where it's alive. And a good blacksmith knows how much hoof to cut off from the horse's hoof [01:09:34] so he doesn't get into the quick, into where it's alive. Now the word of God is alive. The word of God converts. The word of God sanctifies. The word of God directs because of this quality of having spiritual life, imparting spiritual life. the second thing is said of this word it's energase it's translated is King James powerful NIV it's working it cuts down unbelief it cuts down unbelief the word of God is powerful is at work in changing people's lives [01:10:24] Let me just say a word to those here who are pastors or Sunday school teachers or parents or what have you. In our own wisdom, our own limited knowledge, we do not change people. The Holy Spirit changes people. and this is something to pray for that God may give us the wisdom we need in order to say the right thing at the right time [01:11:00] because the effectiveness of our words is not due to our wisdom but to the Holy Spirit you'll forgive a personal illustration One time I was holding meetings in a certain congregation and there was a lady in that congregation from a certain denomination and she was married to a man who was a member of the congregation where I was. They represented two different churches. [01:11:33] And they had children who were beginning to grow up and ought to come into the church. and the pastor was so concerned that this woman should make their home a unit, spiritually one and he called her in to talk to me but then he did 95% of the talking and I finally got the feeling he was talking too much and I felt he's not recognizing this person's personality, personhood [01:12:05] are you understanding me? and I finally spoke up I interrupted him and I said to the woman I hope you don't get the impression that we're trying to force you to join the Mennonite Church and the moment I took the pressure off then the Holy Spirit worked and she said well I might as well come but that was not due to I don't know whether I'm speaking to you folks or not, but the answer to children, the answer to church members, the answer to Sunday school members, is not more head knowledge, so we tell people off, [01:12:57] but more prayer or intercession so that God may work the work the word of God is working and finally he says the word of God is sharp it discerns or judges our motives in the spirit this word brings people to Jesus and then he finally closes by saying the the eyes of God see everything even our hearts now have you any questions or any comments I'll try to repeat the questions so that they get on to the tape which is being made for Goshen College have you any questions or any comments further on anything we've looked at tonight [01:13:57] Remember the three forms of rest? National rest was Canaan, where Israel wanted to go, and they missed it because of their disobedience. They did not honor God. The thing that Paul doesn't, or the writer here, doesn't talk much about is our present spiritual rest he just mentions it we enter into rest at once where we are not [01:14:31] struggling to achieve salvation we simply accept this salvation as a gift and finally we have our eternal rest to which we look forward in the glory world have any of you any questions or any further comments that you would like to share Some years ago I was up in Canada, Ontario, and there was a certain woman who had died and her family was very close to her. [01:15:08] And she wanted them to be there when she made the crossover into eternity. And finally, she was ready to cross over, and she spoke her last several words in Pennsylvania German. Do you know what they were? Oh, wie schön! That means, oh, how beautiful! And then she crossed over. I have a daughter, my wife and I have a daughter, who is in charge of the nursing home at Bufton, Ohio. [01:15:41] And she has seen many people die. And she said, I'm convinced that many people see something just before they leave this world. Their eyes are already open to the glory world, and they look across, and some of them can talk and some of them cannot. Have any of you any thoughts? Thank you very much for your good attention. You're excused.