We’ve Not Yet Entered Our Rest (Hebrews Sermon 16)

So what would you think of a traveler who had to drive from California to New York to be with his extended family in a wonderful and joyful family reunion, but somewhere in Colorado, came across a rest stop with the most spectacular vista that he’d ever seen in his life, and this traveler, liked the rest stop so much, he decided to move in there? And they had a very nice washroom vending machines with all of his favorite snacks, and soft drinks and, a lot of friendly people that came and spent 10 minutes or so, and then went on their way. He slept in his car, he greeted those new friends and just kind of settled in there. What would you think if this former traveler’s family called him on the cellphone the day he was to have arrived and asked “Where are you?” and he told them, “I found the most beautiful place to live, and I’ve decided to settle here.” “What? We’re all waiting for you, where are you?” And this former traveler answered “I’m living now at a spectacular rest stop in Colorado, in the Glenwood Canyon, actually, in Interstate 70.” “A rest stop?” They answer. “Are you crazy? We were expecting you sometime this afternoon.” “I know, I know,” he answers, “but you really should see the view here. It’s so restful.”

Do you think there would be anything that that strange seller could do to persuade his family that he hadn’t lost his mind? Settling down at a rest stop, even one as beautiful as Glenwood Canyon Interstate 70 in Colorado. Or consider a different case. What about a man who, during World War II escaped from a Nazi prisoner of war camp in Central Germany with three fellow POWs, and they’re making their way across Germany, they travel all night, they’re exhausted beyond all reckoning, they’re traveling through the mountains of Bavaria, they’re seeking across eventually into Switzerland, they’re hiding, frantic during the day, hiding in caves, under bushes, terrified as they hear the sounds of German soldiers down the valley, searching for them. After three days of this kind of travel, this arduous journey, they find a small abandoned ski chalet, and they break in, they’re thrilled to find some canned vegetables there and they break them open and eat them cold, first food they’ve had in three days. Then they take turns, through that night, keeping watch, while each of the others get a few hours of fitful sleep.

But when the time comes to push on, one of them says, “I don’t think I’m going anywhere, I’m going to stay right here. I like it here, I’m going to stay.” And his buddies are dumbfounded, and they say, “Stay? Are you kidding? The German patrols could be here in minutes. You’re not going to last a day here, they’ll catch you for sure.” “No, no, no, I’ll be okay. Besides, I like it here, and I’m tired of the journey.”

Friends, God in his wisdom, has set each one of us on a journey home to an incredibly joyful family reunion. The journey is a long and challenging one. Final resting place in the family reunion with brothers and sisters from every tribe and language and people and nation, is going to be incredibly, infinitely joyful. Along the way, God in his wisdom gives us certain providential rest stops. He restores our soul, he makes us lie down in green pastures, leads us beside quiet waters, he restores our soul, so that we can follow him in passive righteousness for his name’s sake, through the valley of the shadow of death, but renews us. Like rest stops on an interstate, he does not intend for any of the travelers to settle down there in their hearts and minds, but rather that they should think of themselves, as aliens and strangers who are simply passing through. And again, dear friends, God in his love has rescued us from Satan’s dark kingdom and is in the process of transferring us or bring us over into the kingdom of his beloved Son.

In one sense, he’s already done that. If you’ve come to faith in Christ, you’re justified, you have already crossed over from death to life, but we still pray Your kingdom come. In a very real sense, we still have miles to travel across occupied territory, enemy territory, we’re in danger here, miles and miles to go, and our journey is far from over. And like that ski chalet, he gives us way stations of rest along the way, so that we can continue to make our journey across this occupied territory until at last, we come to a safe haven, safe resting place. We are therefore to consider ourselves just passing through aliens and strangers in this dangerous world. But sadly, I think, too many Christians, too many of us settle down here in some sense, in our minds. We think of the earthly blessings that we enjoy here, and that refresh us, are meant to last forever. They include the blessings of beloved family members, of Christian friends, godly pastors and disciplers and prayer partners and others that help us along the way, the blessings of good health, the blessings of possessions, of homes, of vehicles, of clothing, of hobbies, of food and drink, of a certain style of living that we’re accustomed to. None of these things is meant to last forever. They’re just way stations of rest along the way.

But how sad it is when it happens that one of those or some of those blessings, get taken from a Christian and they lament as though somehow God doesn’t love them anymore. I fear that many Christians yearn for a rest here and now that God is not willing to give us. Hebrews 4:9 speaks of a rest that is yet to come, friends. “There remains then a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” God lavishes restful blessings on us to renew us for our journey, and we are tempted to settle in and live there and stop journeying. Remember in this church, we talk again and again about those two infinite journeys, the internal journey of sanctification, of growing in grace and the knowledge of Christ, becoming more and more like Jesus, it’s an arduous difficult journey. God gives you way stations along the way, but we’re still to be journey, or that external journey of evangelism and missions of world-wide kingdom building, it’s an arduous journey. God gives us way stations of rest along the way, but we have to travel those miles as a church. Now, as I told you last week, I didn’t fully understand this passage like I needed to, I was preaching more the earthly way stations, than I was the final heavenly rest. And I think the earthly way stations are needed. The Sabbath itself was such, a cyclical kind of resting time to rest and to be renewed.

But I hadn’t really understood how much of this passage is really pointing ahead, until that is, I read this book by Richard Baxter. Now, don’t get me wrong, friends, I didn’t read the whole thing, I just wanted to show it to you, look at that. And you can’t see from here, but that’s really fine print, small print. With single space, maybe even half space. I don’t even think it’s single space. 672 pages of meditation on one verse. Hebrews 4:9, “There remains then a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” Now, this Pastor, Richard Baxter, may be the greatest pastor in terms of the whole pastoral ministry of the Puritan movement, a great and godly man, was dying in 1650, dying of an illness, and thought he was going to die, he actually didn’t die of that illness, but thought he was and so he had recoursed to Heavenly meditations and he started to write them down and it became this book. And the central message that I got out of it, (I haven’t read the whole thing, but I hope to at some point), but this Saint’s everlasting rest, the central message is, “We have not yet entered God’s rest.” That’s the message.

I. We Have Not Yet Entered God’s Rest

The burden of this passage in the book is “We’re not there yet, we haven’t entered the rest yet.” Look at verses 9-11, that Hong just read for us, but look again: “There remains then a Sabbath rest for the people of God,” verse 10, “For anyone who enters God’s rest, also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.” Let us therefore, I’m going to change it a little bit, “let us therefore labor (preacher’s interpretation) to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.”

The sabbath rest still remains for the people of God. KJV in verse 11, gives us “Let us labor therefore.” That’s the clencher for me. The exhortation here is we need to work. What that means is we haven’t entered the rest, we’re still laboring, we haven’t yet laid down our labors, as God has finished his. There is a race to be run and we must run it. We’re going to get later in Hebrews 12:1, “Let us therefore run, throw off everything hinders in the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance, the race marked out for us.”

I guess one of my desires in this sermon is to mark out the course of what that race looks like for you, very clearly today. What is that race, that arduous race you have to run, what’s it look like? So I have three goals, number one, to make clear the labors of the Christian life that will burden us from now until death, that will be no part of our heavenly experience. But they are definitely part of our earthly experience.

Secondly, to warn and exhort FBC members, and visitors and guests, to run that laborious race for the rest of your lives. I want you to drop with happy exhaustion at the finish line. I don’t want you to spare anything in your running of this race.

And then thirdly, I want to strengthen you, throughout the message, with sweet meditations of our heavenly rest. What I’m going to do is take you through each of the labors and tell you how it’s part of our earthly life but not part of our heavenly. And then I’m going to put in a brief kind of word for the way that Baxter did some heavenly meditation.

II. How Must We Labor From Now Till Death?

So, how then must we labor? What are the labors that will characterize our earthly life, but will be no part of our heavenly life?

Well, first, we must labor to continue to believe in Jesus Christ. This is the work of God, said Jesus, that you believe in the one he has sent. This is very much the point of the whole book of Hebrews. Look back at the beginning of this chapter. Hebrews 4:1-2: “Therefore, since the promise of entering this rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it, for we also have had the Gospel preach to us”, just as they did. But the message they heard did them no good because those who heard did not combine it with faith.”

And then again, in Hebrews 10:3939, it says “We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed but of those who believe, and are saved.” So the labor in front of us is to keep believing the Gospel, to keep believing in Jesus Christ. What is the gospel? That God, the Holy One, sent his son, he was incarnate. Son of God, Son of man who lived a sinless life. He did miraculous signs and wonders to prove his deity. But above all, he came to lay down his life on the cross for sinners like you and me, and if you will just put your trust in Jesus, all of your sins will be forgiven, that is the Gospel, that message will do you good if you combine it with faith. And I’m pleading with you, I’ve already prayed for you if you’re lost here today, but I’m pleading with you, believe in Jesus. The one who was died, who died, who was crucified, but who’s raised also in the third day. We must labor, now, I know that faith is a gift of God, that God implants in the soul, but yet Jesus did say “This is the work of God that you believe in the one he has sent.” And so there is a co-operative work of faith going on.

We work out our salvation with fear and trembling, because God is working in us and faith is the center-piece of that. But not only do we work on our own souls, we’ve got brothers and sisters around us, who are in danger too, and so we need to labor that they continue to believe as well, we need to know and be known, we need to pray for them and care for them. And so look again at verse 1 of this same passage, “Therefore since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear,” I think is a better translation, “That none of you be found to have fallen short of it.” You see that? We should be caring and in some sense, fearing that no one around us drops off here. And again, in verse 11, “Let us therefore labor to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.” I don’t want anyone here to fall away, so I have a labor to do in your lives. I’m seeking to do it right now, frankly, but then throughout the week, through prayers, through exhortations, through word of counsel, anything I can do to labor on each other’s faith that we keep believing in Jesus. Now, I believe that if you truly genuinely believe in Jesus now, you will till the day you die. But you still need to labor.

However, in Heaven, all such labor will end. You will not need faith then, dear friends. You will see him with your own eyes, you will see him with your own eyes, and your heart will rejoice, and delight, and the day of faith and of hope will end. And you won’t need to labor anymore in faith and in hope, but you will have the reward of your faith and the object of your hope at last, the consummation will be upon you.

Secondly, you need to labor in self-denial, in taking up your cross, daily. Again, Luke 9:23, Jesus says to us all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Now, here we come face-to-face with the flesh, with that indwelling sin nature, and how we must say no to the flesh, and say no to the fleshly drives and desires. The bent of your flesh is selfishness. To pander to yourself and comfort yourself, and make yourself at ease when you should be pressing on, and you have to deny yourself and take up your cross. It’s a labor. And to fight self every day is exhausting, isn’t it? But in Heaven, dear friends, our nature will be transformed. We will love everything that Jesus loves and hate what he hates, we will be conformed to him in every way, and there will be no denying of self anymore, but we will give full reign to self because self is going to give full rein to Jesus.

And we will be in that consummated era, and we will embrace the savior at last, our daily battle with the flesh will be done forever. How sweet will that be?

Thirdly, we have to labor to be holy, and to fight sin. In Hebrews 12:14, it says, “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord.” If you take out the middle words, they’re important. And if I change it a little bit, change it to Labor, make every effort. I’m going to use word labor right now. Labor to be holy, without holiness, you’re not going to see Jesus. So there is a holiness that comes through labor and if that isn’t in your life, you’re not going to Heaven. And so you must labor to be holy. Sanctification, then, is a bitter step, better fight every step of the way. It’s a wrestling match with a serpent, and John Owen said it this way, he said, “When sin leaves us alone, then we may leave sin alone.” Well, he’s meaning in this world, it’s not going to leave us alone, but you know, actually, it’s not absolutely true. Someday, sin will leave us alone, amen, and we won’t have to do anything with sin anymore, there’ll be no more sin in Heaven. But that time has not yet come, temptation assaults you every day by day and by night. It seizes you with a brazen face and kisses you and promises you pleasures and feeds you death in the end. Every day, you have to fight temptation. You have to slay the temptations. You must labor to do it.

And if you have sinned, if you’ve yielded to temptation, you have to labor on your heart even more. You have to labor in confession. In 1 John 1:9, it says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” You must lay your soul open before Jesus. Confess your sins honestly to him. So also, you must mourn for your sin, and that takes a certain laboring on the heart. It is a bitter and a painful work, but it is necessary. And none of us mourns for our own sin as deeply as we ought to. We think of it as a light, a minimal thing, we don’t really deal with it much. “Oh Jesus I’m sorry of what I did, I did it again. Please forgive me, amen.”. But James, chapter 4, says “Grieve, mourn and wail, change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.” That’s labor. Labor is written all over that. Labor on your hearts to grieve, because the Holy Spirit was grieved when you sin. It’s hard work.

Oh, but how delightful it will be to lay aside all morning for sin. Doesn’t it say, in Revelation, they’ll be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain. We will not be morning over our sin in heaven, not at all. And you won’t be striving and laboring to be holy, you will be holy as he is holy. You will be light as he is light, you’ll be pure as he is pure, and temptation that’s slithering coiling serpent will be dead at your feet forever. No need to labor on your heart to love God more, you will love him. You’ll love him, with a perfect love. And you won’t need to Labor on your heart to love brothers and sisters and Christ, you love them as well, in all bitterness and ranker and unforgiveness will be gone and you’ll be in sweet fellowship with the body of Christ. You won’t need to confess sin anymore, you’ve already been thoroughly searched on Judgment Day, and the time for that is over, you won’t need to give Jesus any more accounts for what you did in the body, whether good or bad, the time for that will be done and he’ll wipe every tear from your eyes, there’ll be no more morning because the time for rejoicing will have come.

Fourthly, we need to labor against bitter enemies we are not making this journey to heaven unopposed, we have bitter enemies. It says in 1 Timothy 6:12, “Fight the good fight of faith, take hold of the eternal life to what you were called.” The Christian life, therefore is a life of warfare, spiritual warfare, first and foremost, against Satan and his dark kingdom. Satan, he’s a powerful angel with an intellect and an experience in spiritual matters. That Towers is far over you as a title wave does over a sea side Village. He’s been at this for centuries, you’ve been at it for years, and he has arranged this wicked demonic kingdom around you with, I believe in some mysterious way, demons assigned to study. You would know your weaknesses, and feed you temptations that will be effective.

And so it says in Ephesians 6, “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” that is labor, so put on that full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground and after you’ve done everything to stand, that is exhausting labor isn’t it? To fight the devil, to put on the spiritual armor, to get up again and go fight when he’s studying you and coming at you, with those flaming arrows with those accusations, with those alluring temptations.

We’re tempted to give up grow weary and give up, and then we’ll see who he really is. He is a ravening lion, a devouring lion seeking to devour your soul. That’s when you see him when you give up, he’ll come after you. He has no mercy. So you must fight him. The good news is, the Bible tells us, Resist the devil and he’ll flee from you, God’s sovereign power will make him do so, but you still have to fight. And then there’s the world his brilliant dark wicked system that he’s created around us with all of its kind of built in temptations and allurements, and it’s pandering to our idolatrous nature the way it allures us, with power and pride and possessions, the way it just sings a siren song to us to entice us to ruin on the rocks of materialism and idolatry. How like in the parable The Seed and the Soils, it sends up a thorns, which choked the seed, making it un-fruitful. Worries of this life from the deceitful-ness of wealth and just the desires for other things. That’s the world that’s what it’s all about, and friends, it’s exhausting labor to fight the worldliness the encroaching worldliness that comes into your heart. It’s already there. Do your friends, brothers and sisters, it’s already there, and you need to weave the garden of your heart, you need to get out there with a whole… Or in there, I think really… And weed your heart from the worldliness. It’s already crept in.

It’s hard work. And part of that world system are human beings, people who hate us, who hate what we stand for, who the more faithful you are in challenging Satan’s world system the more aggressive and louder, they’re going to be in yelling at you, cursing you, insulting you. It’s part of what we face here. And we have to labor to not hate them, but to pray for them and love them and turn the other cheek and pray for those who despite fully use us and bless those who curse us and yearn that God would convert them. These are bitter enemies of our soul, and we faced them, every day, but someday we’re going to step into God’s Sabbath rest, we’re going to step into God’s Sabbath rest, how sweet it will be in Heaven when all of our enemies will be gone when Satan and his demons will be thrown into the lake of fire, that’s what it was made for us, for the devil and his angels, along with all of his rebellious human fellow servants.

Everyone who causes sin and all those who do evil, will be weeded out of his kingdom and thrown into the fiery furnace. And you will breathe a sweet clear air of peace and everywhere you look will be angels and redeemed people who are your friends and none of your enemies. There are no enemies left, you will be a peace at last free from all opposition.

Fifth, we need to labor on heart attitudes that we need now, but we will not need in heaven. There’s certain heart attitudes that are necessary for this journey that we have, for example, longing and waiting patiently, longing and waiting patiently is a hard attitude for here but not for there. Hebrews 11 praises those who were yearning and longing for a city yet, to come, they died without receiving the things promised, they saw them and welcomed them from a distance, they confessed that they were aliens and strangers in this world that is an admirable state of heart now, and we need to labor to develop that long and yearning for an invisible kingdom wanting it yearning for it and waiting patiently. It’s kind of, it’s a development of almost a certain kind of home sickness, like in that song Beulah Land where there’s this home sickness that comes on us, and we’re just not there yet and how we wish we were. I long to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far says the Apostle Paul.

Romans 8:23, testifies to this. “Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” Do you know what that groaning is like? If you’ve done any of it this week? Groaning, inwardly. It’s a hard attitude that you need now but you don’t need it in heaven. And how about this? Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? You’re yearning to be pure, if you want your brothers and sisters to be done with their sins too “Are you hungry and thirsty for righteousness? So, you groaning inwardly, for that world of righteousness, that’s promised to us hungering and thirsting is a reasonable heart attitude now, but you won’t need it in heaven. There’s no hunger in heaven.

There’s no thirsting in heaven, we will be satisfied. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be richly, deeply, fully fed, and satisfied. And what about watchfulness that’s a heart attitude. Do you need watchfulness? Do you need to watch over your own heart do you have to guard your heart for out of it flow the well-springs of life, do you have to, if any man thinks he stands, take heed lest default, you have to do some of that. Taking heed now. Do you have to develop a watchful attitude over your own wandering, changeful drifting heart, you have to be vigilant over your own heart and that of your brothers and sisters. Friends we can never be perfectly at ease in this world at any front. Can you ever reach a certain place in a certain toilsome fight against a specific sin? Say, “At last I know that sin at least is dead. I will never lust in that way again or I will never gossip that God has dealt with me.” I heard a good sermon on it, I had a prayer partner who prayed for a whole week for me, I saw some victories in that area tempted to gossip, I didn’t do it. I’m done at last, and forever with gossip. Was that true?

Friend you better take heed, you better be watchful, you better take heed if you think you stand lest you fall. You’ve got to be watchful. But you know what, you’re not going to need watchfulness in heaven. You know, the odd thing about the new Jerusalem it’s got these high powerful walls that no one could get in, but there’s no enemies anymore, they’re all deal with, they’re all gone. We don’t need any watchmen on the walls and you don’t need any watchmen on the walls of your heart, in heaven, you will be free at last, no more watchfulness. And no more mourning, over other people sins either. We talked about morning of our own sins, we mourn over this world that we live in. Rivers of tears flow from my eyes and Psalm 119 verse 136. Because your law is defiled, every day. In the book of Ezekiel, these shining ones, these angelic messengers were given a task to go through the City of Jerusalem and mark each Saint there who mourned and lamented over the sins of the city.

Those are the ones who weren’t slaughtered so therefore the Christians are the ones who live in this world, and like righteous lot are tormented in our righteous souls by the lawless deeds we see in here. There is a mourning over the sinfulness of this world, but we won’t need that in heaven. Neither will you have to mourn over the lost in Romans 9:2. Paul says, “I speak the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit, I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish, for I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers…” Those of the nation of Israel that haven’t come to Christ yet, he’s mourning over the lost, grieving over them. Any of you do that? Mourning over lost family members, relatives, neighbors. There’s a grief.

You’re like “Well, I don’t know that I grieve that much over.” Well you ought to. And so therefore, you should Labor on your heart to be like Paul or like Jesus who wept over Jerusalem, and weep over the lost, then you’ll witness to them, and we’re supposed to mourn with each other, right. You may be going, you may be having the best week you’ve had but you’ll bump into a brother, or a sister, here who isn’t. And out of compassion, you’re going to mourn with them and show some love for them, but you won’t need any of that in heaven. You’ll be done with all mourning and you won’t need perseverance in heaven or, an old word for perseverance is long suffering, right? We’re supposed to run with perseverance, the race marked out. You don’t need any there’s no enduring of heaven. I know you may think I can’t be there floating around, singing Amazing Grace a million times in a row, I think on the 900th thousand time. I’m ready, I’m done, I’m set. We need a new him Lord. But friends, that’s a satanic lie, there’s no boredom in heaven and there’s nothing to suffer in heaven. There’s no long suffering need in heaven, there’s no short suffering need in heaven, there’s no suffering in heaven.

You won’t need any perseverance or endurance in heaven. You won’t need any humility to accept correction, but you need it now, you need it now? If you’re in a good church some brother or sisters at some point perhaps even very soon, perhaps even your spouse will come to you saying, “You know something. This is an area you need to work on.” And so it says in the Psalms, “Let a righteous man strike me… it is oil my head, I will not refuse it.” I want to be corrected, I want people to help me with my battle against sin, so I need to be ready with humility, right? Somebody comes, I need to be humble, I won’t need that kind of humility in heaven. There are different kinds of humility in heaven but not that one. I won’t need the humility that’s ready to accept correction, and I won’t need any fear and trembling. Now I work out my salvation of fear and trembling, but then we’ll be done.

These are many heart attitudes that you have to labor on in yourself now, but you won’t need any of them in heaven.

Sixth labor in spiritual disciplines, and graces. God has ordained various means by which he’s going to get Grace into your soul, they’re called means of graces. Two of the greatest are coming up in Hebrews four. The Word of God, which is living and active, that’s the scripture. You have to labor in scripture to get its messages. And then after that we’re encouraged to come to the throne of grace. That’s prayer, right? You have to labor in prayer, these are means of graces they’re not easy, and so you have to read the Bible every day and feed on it every day. A number of brothers and sisters here have resolved before God to read through the Bible in a year. How’s it going? Since the last Sunday in January. Renew, refresh, reset, whatever you need to do. Pick up the Bible and read it. But it’s labor isn’t it? Some of you have resolved to memorize the book of Philippians.

It’s hard work to memorize scripture but it’s well worth it. Pastors and teachers of the Word of God labor after exegesis, we have to struggle with Greek or Hebrew with rules of exegesis with interpretations. We have to stand up in front of churches and say, “I got it wrong. We’ll do this again next week.” You have to do that from time to time, because the word of God is not always easy to understand. We have to labor in it.

And do any of you ever labor in prayer? You know, there’s a certain wrestling in prayer isn’t there, Paul says in Colossians 4:12 that he is always wrestling in prayer for them that they may be mature and established in Christ. There’s a wrestling in prayer waiting on unanswered prayer George Muller, praying every day for 50 years for a loved one to come to faith in Christ. The parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge. You remember that one? What’s the lesson? God isn’t going to give it to you right away. So you need to labor in unanswered prayer, but those labors will be done when we reach heaven. We have very soon the Lord’s Supper. It’s a means of grace labor in it, we labor it to understand its symbolism, we labor to have our hearts ready and right before we receive it, all of these labors will end when we come to heaven.

Seventh you have to labor under discipline for sin, When you sin and when God thinks it’s necessary, he will chastise you, he will chastise you. In Hebrews, 12 it says, “The Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. Endure hardship as discipline, God is treating you as sons.” You may feel even very soon the rod of fatherly chastisement across your back. He may be bringing some illness or some financial reversal, or some other kind of chastisement into your life, and at that point, you need to labor under it. As some have said, to kiss the rod and don’t get angry at God and don’t murmur against him.

And don’t make light of it, either, but learn the lessons of fatherly chastisement and labor on your own heart to trust God even more and to resolve to fight sin even more deeply and more powerfully. But you have to labor under discipline for sin.

Eighth, you have to labor in good works in ministry to other Christians, God has a whole lifetime of good works for you to do. I don’t know about you, but I think in order to do works, you have to labor don’t you think? [chuckle] There is just some works that we have to do. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works. And that involve spiritual gift ministry. Brothers and sisters in Christ. Use your spiritual gifts, your gift is teaching, you need to labor it to be a good teacher. For your gift is encouragement you need to labor in it and be focused in it. If your gift is prayer, you need the labor in that prayer, if you’re gift is administration, there’s labors to be done. If you’re in the ministry of counseling. We’ve got some brothers and sisters do a great job of counseling. You have to labor to be a better counselor going to conferences, name conference reading books and then as you’re sitting down with someone whose marriage is falling apart or struggling, you have to labor with them, give them a good scriptures pray with them. There’s a labor involved in serving our brothers and sisters.

Ninth, there’s a labor in the mission in the world, you know that many elect people, many elect people haven’t come to faith in Jesus yet. And many of those elect people that haven’t come to faith in Jesus yet are in very hard to reach places, like the Muslim world. And there is a labor that has to be done for those lost people. “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost,” and we are his ambassadors, as though God Himself were making his appeal through us, the missionaries in those places, they know that their labors aren’t done, They haven’t ended their heavenly rest, they’ve had to bury a member of their church this week where they have to lament and prayer over some other person is incarcerated they know what it’s going to take to reach that Muslim village for Christ. It’s hard work, others are learning a language for the first time, and they’re laboring to bring the lost to faith in Christ. This isn’t time to settle in at a rest stop no matter how beautiful the vista or the scenery, it’s not the time for the ski chalet and eating cold vegetables. We’re not in Heaven yet. And there’s still some work to be done. There are lost people here in this triangle region there’s lost people, to the ends of the earth.

Wouldn’t it be sweet for you to know, have God were to send an angel and say I have 12 people for you to lead to Christ, over the next year? One a month, I want you to do that. Wouldn’t you rejoice in that? So Lord, will I be successful? I’m telling you, you will be your only job is to go share the Gospel with him but we have labors to do. In Heaven, we don’t need to do those labors. For the church the redeemed, will be set and all of the elect will have come to faith in Christ, and they’ll be there with your rejoicing.

And finally, dear friends, we have to labor in painful trials. “Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds. Why? “Because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance, must finish its work. you need to get work done. And so, I do too. And the work in sanctification happens during trials. That’s a hard time. And so you have to labor in trials.

And that’s how you know you’re not in Heaven yet, there, there’s no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain, but here there certainly is, there is death here and there is mourning here and there’s crying and there is pain here. And so the parents have a terminally ill child have to labor on their own hearts, to keep trusting in God and loving God and not murmuring against God or questioning God, even when their hearts are breaking, and they want to know why God’s not answering prayer for healing, they have to labor in their hearts to keep trusting in Jesus through that time and not question what he’s doing, even if he doesn’t in the end, give the Healing. Friends of an incarcerated house church pastor and East Asian nations have to labor under that trial as their prayers go unanswered, and then as their friend is not released but actually executed. They have to labor in the middle of that trial, and count it pure joy and see God’s hand in it.

Single person waiting for God to answer their prayers for a spouse, a godly husband, a godly wife. Still waiting. Still waiting, they have to labor in that trial to keep trusting Jesus to not give up to believe in him. So also a childless couple every month praying that same prayer and still the prayer hasn’t been answered. Oh but in Heaven, you’re going to step across that threshold, you’re going to cross that river and you’re going to step into your Sabbath rest, and you’re going to lay aside all trials. Their time will be over all of the grief, and sadness, will fall off you like an old garment, and you will be free of all of these things and you will have finished your race.

III. The Delights of Heaven: Resting from Our Work as God Did

These are the delights of heaven, we will rest from our labors as God did from his. Look at verse 10, anyone who enters God’s rest, also rests from his own work just as God did from his.

In the meantime though, we have all these labors to do and others besides I’m just giving you a sampling, but there are labors that we have to do. But can I tell you a word of encouragement? The same God who called you to do these labors will sustain you and strengthen you through the spirit, in your inner being, to run this race with endurance. He will give you what you need to finish this race.

IV. Heavenly Meditation

And one of the ways he does that is through sweet heavenly meditations. We’ve been doing some of that here, but I want to close my message now by giving you a little sampling of this book, okay. Richard Baxter at the end of 672 pages, gives an amazing chapter in which he gives a sampling of his style or type of heavenly meditation, for those. And this is little quote, for those who are unskilled in it, Amen I’ll sign up, I’ll go with that class, all right?

And I read it and I was just swept away by it. Now this is a man who used to spend hours and hours in heavily meditations and when he would come out of that room, friends that knew him said It was like Moses coming off the mountain, his face was shining it was like, he was in another world. Well, when I began reading these meditations when I began reading, I realized I’m not good at this, I’ve never done this. And then just my engineering side kicked in and I started timing one of these pages, I literally did, I got my stop watch out and I timed it, I read it in a natural kind of flow and it took me four minutes and 11 seconds, and then I counted the pages and there were 30 of them. That’s two and one half-hours of heavenly meditation.

I said to Christi yesterday, “Wouldn’t it be something if I just spent a Sunday afternoon, just reading this out loud?” She said, “Oh you ought to do it.” I haven’t done it yet, I’ve done little portions of it. I’ve copied it for 50 of you, and it’ll be in the north tower. Ryan will tell you more at the end, but get it and read it. In the King James kind of style of English, but you can understand it and I want to close with a section of it that literally brought me to tears, and with that we’ll go into the Lord Supper.

And in it, by the way, he talks to his own soul as though he were Jesus then he turns around and talked back to Jesus not talking back but answering back in prayer. Sometimes he preaches to himself, sometimes he receives breaching but he’s the one doing all of it, he’s doing scripture than he’s stepping aside and meditating. It’s just an amazing journey. And I would recommend that all 50 get taken take them all, I mean how can I face Tom tomorrow when he did all the work, and there’s still like 16 of them left. So don’t let there be 16 left, 50 of you grab them. And it’s public domain, so it’s on the internet too.

Listen to a portion of it as you prepare for the Lord’s Supper:

“Though your eyes have never seen your Lord, yet you have heard his voice, received his benefits, and lived in his heart. He taught you to know yourself and him; he opened to you that first window, through which you saw into heaven. Have you forgotten since your heart was careless, and he awakened it; hard, and he softened it; stubborn, and he made it yield; at peace, and he troubled it; whole, and he broke it; and broken, till he healed it again? Have you forgotten the times when he found you in tears; when he heard your secret sighs and groans, and left all to come and comfort you; when he took you, as it were, in his arms, and asked you, ‘Poor soul, what troubles you? Do you weep, when I have wept so much? Cheer up! Your wounds are saving, and not deadly; I’m the one who wounded you, I who mean you no harm; though I drained off some of your blood, I will not drain off your life.’ I remember his voice. How gently did he take me up in his arms! How carefully did he dress my wounds! I think I hear him still saying to me, ‘Poor sinner, though you have dealt unkindly with me, and cast me off, yet I will never do that to you. Though you have trivialized me and all my mercies, yet they and myself are all yours. What would you have that I can give you? And what do you lack, that I cannot give you? If anything I possess will give you pleasure, you shall have it. Would you have forgiveness? I freely forgive you all your debts. Would you have grace and peace? You shall have both. Would you have myself? Behold I am yours, your Friend, your Lord, your Brother, Husband and Head. Wouldst you have the Father? I will bring you to him, and you shall have him, in and by me.’ These were his sweet words to me!

After all, when I was doubtful of his love, I still remember his overcoming arguments: ‘Have I done so much, sinner, to prove my love, and yet do you doubt? Have I offered you myself and love so long, and yet do you question my willingness to be yours? At what dearer rate should I tell you that I love you? Wilt you not believe my bitter passion on the cross proceeded from love? Have I made myself in the Gospel a lion to yours enemies and a lamb to you, and do you now overlook my lamb-like nature? Had I been willing to let you perish, why would I have done and suffered so much for you? Why would I need to follow you with such patience and urgency? Why do you tell me of your wants; have I not enough for me and you? or of your unworthiness; for if you were yourself worthy, what would you do with my worthiness? Did I ever invite or save the worthy and righteous? or is there any such person upon earth? Have you nothing? are you lost and miserable, helpless and forlorn? Do you believe I am an all-sufficient Savior, and would you have me? Here, I am yours: take me; if you are willing, I am; and neither sin nor Satan shall break the bond.’

These, O these, were the blessed words which his Spirit from his Gospel spoke unto me, till he made me cast myself at his feet, and cry out, ‘My Savior, and my Lord, you have broken, you have revived my heart!”

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

What would you think of a traveler who had to drive from California to New York to be with his extended family in a family reunion; but who, somewhere in Colorado came across a rest stop with the most spectacular vista he’d ever seen. And this traveler liked the rest stop so much, he decided to move in there. It had a very nice washroom, vending machines with all his favorite snacks and soft drinks, and of course, a spectacular view.

He slept in his car, greeted all the friendly people who stopped by for a ten-minute visit, and was very happy there. What would you think if this former traveler’s family called him on the cell phone the day he was supposed to arrive and asked, “Where are you?” And he told them, “I have found the most beautiful place to live and I decided to stay here.” “What?! We’re all here waiting for you… where are you?” And this former traveler answered, “I’m living at a spectacular rest stop in Glenwood Canyon on Interstate 70.” “A REST STOP!!! Are you crazy? We were all expecting you this afternoon…” “I know, I know,” he answers, “but you really should see the view here… it’s so restful!”

Do you think that there would be anything that strange settler could do to persuade his family that he wasn’t anything less than crazy for settling down at a rest stop, even one as beautiful as the one in Glenwood Canyon in I70??

Or what about a man who, during WWII escaped from a Nazi prison of war camp in central Germany, with three fellow POWs; they travel all night, exhausted beyond all reckoning, traveling through the mountains of Bavaria seeking to cross the border into Switzerland; hiding during the day in caves or under bushes; terrified as they hear the shouts of German soldiers down the valley searching for them; after three days without food, they find a small abandoned ski chalet and break in; they are thrilled to find some comfortable bunks and some canned vegetables; they open the cans, and eat; the first food they have had in days; they take turns keeping watch in case one of the German patrols should happen upon their hiding place, and they all get a few hours of fitful sleep; but then when the time comes to push on, one of them says, “I like it here, I think I’ll stay.” His buddies look at him dumbfounded… “Stay??!! The German patrols could check this place any hour now… they’ll catch you for sure!” “No… I’ll be okay… I like it here; besides, I’m tired of the journey.”

Friends, God in His wisdom has set each one of us on a journey home to an incredibly joyful family reunion. The journey is a long and challenging one, but the final resting place and family reunion with believers from all over the world will be infinitely joyful; along the way, God in His wisdom gives us just enough refreshment and renewal to keep us going—like rest stops on an Interstate; but He does not mean for any of us to SETTLE DOWN here in our hearts and minds… but to think of ourselves as ALIENS AND STRANGERS who are just passing through.

And again, dear friends, God in His love has rescued us from Satan’s dark kingdom and is bringing us into the Kingdom of His beloved Son… in one sense He has already rescued us, but in another very real sense, our perilous journey across miles and miles of enemy territory is far from over; He gives us waystations of rest and renewal in order to allow us to keep going until we are in safety, but He does not intend that we settle in to anything in this world…

We are to consider ourselves as JUST PASSING THROUGH, ALIENS and STRANGERS in Satan’s dark world.

BUT sadly, too many of us settle in here in our minds, thinking the earthly blessings we enjoy here and which refresh us are meant to last forever: they include the blessings of beloved family members, Christian friends, godly pastors and disciplers; also the blessings of possessions—homes, vehicles, clothing, hobbies, food, drink, etc. None of these things is meant to last forever… but when some of them get taken—particularly loved ones—we are tempted to rail out against God and question His love for us.

I fear that many American Christians yearn for a rest that God does not will for them to have… Hebrews 4:9 speaks of a rest that is YET TO COME:

Hebrews 4:9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God

God lavishes restful blessings on us to renew us for our journey… and we are tempted to settle in and live for those blessings and not for the two infinite journeys set before us: 1) internal journey of sanctification (growth in Christ); 2) external journey of evangelism and discipleship; these journeys are arduous and painful, so we’d rather settle into one of God’s sweet rest stops and live comfortably.

Richard Baxter: In 1650, one of the greatest pastors of the English Puritan movement, Richard Baxter, published an extended treatise on one verse of the Bible: Hebrews 4:9. He had suffered from a severe illness, and wrote this book on heavenly meditation as an act of praise to God for healing him. The general bent of the book was the need for Christians to understand that we have not yet entered our final heavenly rest, and that we should labor to do so… The volume is 672 pages long!!! I have sought merely to capture one aspect of his thought.

I.   We Have Not Yet Entered God’s Rest

A.  Last Week: In One Sense, Already Entered God’s Rest through Christ

B.  Burden of this Passage… and of the Book: We Have Not Yet Entered God’s Rest

Hebrews 4:9-11 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.

1.  Note: the Sabbath-rest STILL REMAINS for the people of God

2.  The essence of this rest is resting from our own work just as God did from His

3.  Verse 11 is the ABSOLUTE CLINCHER for my point: “Let us LABOR…: the KJV says “to enter that rest”… there is a LABOR still ahead of us, and we must do that labor

4.  There is a race to be run, and we MUST RUN IT right to the end

Hebrews 12:1 … let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

C.  Goals of this Sermon

1.  To make clear the labors of the Christian life that await us

2.  To warn and exhort members of FBC to run our laborious race for the rest of our lives… to drop with joyful exhaustion at the finish line

3.  To strengthen FBC members with sweet meditations of our heavenly rest

II.   How Must We Labor From Now Till Death?

A.  Labor in the Basic Calling of the Christian Life: Faith in Christ

1.  The central “work” of God is clear

John 6:28-29 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” 29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

a.  This is very much the whole point of the Book of Hebrews

Hebrews 4:1-2 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.

Hebrews 10:39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

b.  We must continue to believe in Christ for the rest of our lives, or we will fall short of entering God’s heavenly rest

c.  This ongoing work of faith God’s work in our hearts…

d.  But it is also presented as our own work as well, for we must guard our faith and continue to believe…

2.  AND we must LABOR in the same for other brothers and sisters in Christ, as we’ve already seen

Hebrews 4:1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.

Hebrews 4:11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.

a.  It is a LABOR to keep watch over one another in brotherly love

b.  It is a LABOR to wrestle in prayer for a drifting brother in Christ

c.  It is a LABOR to visit the sick and encourage them in their faith, lest they be discouraged

d.  We are called on to a life of LABOR over our own hearts and over those of our brothers and sisters in Christ in this central issue of the Christian life: ONGOING FAITH IN CHRIST for the salvation of our souls

In heaven, all such labors will end!! We will be done with faith, having exchanged it for the reality in Christ; our brothers and sisters, the elect, will have made it through as well… no longer a need to strive for your own faith or for theirs… the CONSUMMATION will be upon us

B.  Labor in Self-Denial and Taking Up Our Cross

Luke 9:23 Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

1.  The overwhelming BENT of your natural self—your FLESH—is away from Christ and toward selfish indulgence

2.  To fight self every single day is EXHAUSTING

In heaven, our nature will be radically transformed and we will instantly be transformed to love everything God loves with a perfect love… the daily battle with our flesh will be OVER FOREVER

C.  Labor to be Holy and Against Sin

Hebrews 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

1.  Sanctification is a bitter fight every step of the way

2.  We must LABOR every single day to fight sin and put it to death

3.  We must LABOR every single day to love God with all our hearts, to delight in Him alone and to feed our hearts on His pleasures

4.  Temptation is a violent assault on your soul… it attacks you in the night, it assaults you in the day; it allures you and entices you and seizes you with a brazen face and says “Come with me and I will give you delight!!” Temptation is a wicked magnetic attraction to forsake Jesus for some idol or other… we must LABOR—open spiritual warfare—to battle sin like this

5.  And if we have sinned, we must LABOR to cleanse our souls: Confession and repentance for sin is a LABOR of souls that we must do now daily, but which we will never do again once we enter God’s rest

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

6.  So also is MOURNING for sin… a LABOR of the heart that is bitter and painful, but necessary to keep us from adding sin to sin, to keep us from becoming ensnared in wicked habit patterns that will prove impossible to break

James 4:9-10 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

BUT HOW DELIGHTFUL will heaven be, where these labors against sin will be done forever; no more laboring to be holy—you WILL BE holy, as perfectly holy as Jesus Himself; no more guarding against temptation, that coiling slithering serpent; all temptations will be weeded out of Christ’s world and we will walk in complete bliss and happiness, free from all temptations; no need to put sin to death anymore—it will be DEAD, dead forever!! No need to labor on your heart to love God more than you do—your love for God will be perfected in every way, for you will see God as He really is, and your redeemed heart will pour forth abundant praise; no more need for confession of sin, for all that will be past; you will have endured Judgment Day and all questioning of your life will be over with; no more mourning for sin, for God will have wiped every tear from our eyes and there will be no more mourning or crying or pain; all time for regret and for learning our lessons from past failures will forever be gone!!

D.  Labor Against Bitter Spiritual Enemies

1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called

1.  The Christian life is one of warfare… and our enemies are supernaturally powerful to destroy our souls

2.  Satan

a.  A powerful archangel, with an intellect that towers as far above yours as a mighty tidal wave towers over a cringing toddler… he has arranged his wicked kingdom with demonic powers that surround us at every moment with deceptions and lies and assaults and accusations and alluring masquerades… Luther said it best of Satan, “Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing”… and yet, the Lord commands us to LABOR against Satan

Ephesians 6:11-13 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Dear friends, this is the EXHAUSTING labor we must fight… we MUST labor every day to fight this wicked foe by standing against the temptations and accusations and doubts and lies with which he assaults us daily; and we are not permitted to grow weary and give up, for then he will devour us like the roaring lion he is.

3.  The world

a.  This is the brilliant and wicked system of enticements Satan has set up to trap our souls and do us spiritual violence

1 John 2:16 … the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life

b.  These are the dangerous thorns and weeds that might surround the seed of God in your heart and crowd it out, making it unfruitful

Mark 4:18-19 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.

c.  It is exhausting LABOR to fight against worldliness, but it is to this that God has called us

d.  To cease this labor is to become WORLDLY ourselves, to see the fire of God’s work in our hearts extinguished by idols

e.  Along with this is the opposition of people who HATE God and the things of God, who set up the temptations that pull you to lust; and who also mock and ridicule Christians or become enraged and persecute them, depending on what country they live in; in communist countries, they imprison and murder Christians; in Muslim countries, they attack them and murder them; in post-Christian European countries, they make laws against them and oppose them and mock them

These three bitter enemies of our souls—the devil, the world, and the flesh—oppose us EVERY SINGLE DAY…HEAVEN: How sweet will it be in heaven when all of them will be gone! Satan will be thrown in the lake of fire, along with every one of his rebellious demons and rebellious human servants; everyone who causes sin and all those who do evil will be weeded out of Christ’s Kingdom, and will be thrown in the Lake of Fire. Your own nature, as I have already mentioned, will be transformed forever, and your own wandering heart will trouble you no more. You will breathe the sweet, clear air of the New Heaven and New Earth, completely free from all enemies; you will have entered God’s rest, and you will find perfect peace; your enemies will lie dead on the ground and you will trample them down to dwell in a perfect world free from all opposition.

E.  Labor on Heart Attitudes We Need NOW… but WON’T NEED in Heaven

1.  Faith and hope

a.  Faith is for invisible things; hope is for future things, and we must LABOR to develop our faith and hope now… but in heaven we will see Christ face to face and will need our faith and hope NO LONGER

2.  LONGING and Waiting patiently for the promises of God

a.  Hebrews 11 praises those who looked forward to the promises of God and waited patiently for them, NOT RECEIVING any of them yet; in fact, these heroes of the faith died without receiving any of the promises

b.  Such is an admirable state of the heart now, and we should LABOR to develop it within us, because in this world we need it

c.  The delights of entering God’s rest are immeasurable and only partially described in Scripture; we have a sense of the immense beauty that is waiting for us in heaven… but we must WAIT PATIENTLY for God to fulfill them; and this longing amounts to a kind of HOMESICKNESS that makes our time here on earth so LABORIOUS

Romans 8:23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

d.  BUT in heaven, we will no longer be waiting patiently for the things promised, but will have all of them

3.  Hungering and thirsting for righteousness

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

a.  Now we groan inwardly, waiting for our perfection… yearning to be like Jesus in perfect righteousness and holiness

b.  We also hunger and thirst to live with the brothers and sisters in Christ in perfect righteousness as well

c.  This HUNGERING and THIRSTING is a reasonable burden for us now, and we must LABOR under it…

d.  BUT IN HEAVEN… there will be no hungering and thirsting for righteousness any longer; rather we will be living in a place that Peter calls “the home of righteousness.”

4.  Watchfulness over the wanderings and drifting of your heart

ESV 1 Corinthians 10:12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

We can never be perfectly at ease in this world; we can never say of a single sin pattern, “I know that sin will never trouble me again! I have so studied and prayed and received godly instruction and have so vigorously rejected gossip that I know confidently that I will never gossip again!” Oh, really??? There is not a single sin that has ever trouble you in the past that you can say confidently that it will never trouble you again. NO!!!! You must be constantly watchful against it the rest of your life.

5.  Mourning over sin

a.  We have already mentioned grieving over sin—especially our own sin… it is absolutely appropriate for a sinning Christian to shed copious tears over their own SHAMEFULNESS in sin; to lament it bitterly, though that Christian knows he/she is complexly forgiven

b.  So also we can shed tears for the sins of others—of wandering brothers and sisters in Christ; of the general wickedness of the world

Psalm 119:136 Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for your law is not obeyed.

Ezekiel 9:4 and said to him, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.”

c.  So we also must grieve over the lost

Romans 9:2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

d.  So we also grieve with other Christians who are going through grief

Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

The Christian life is one of spiritual grieving… a mental state that is COMPLETELY APPROPRIATE and healthy here on earth, and in which we LABOR… but it will have no place in heaven

6.  Perseverance

a.  We need perseverance now, because the journey marked out before us is LONG and arduous

Hebrews 12:1 let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

b.  An old-time word for this is “long-suffering”… waiting patiently in distress

c.  BUT we will NOT need this mental attribute in heaven… all hard times will be finished and there will be nothing to SUFFER at all, whether long or short

7.  Humility to accept correction

Psalm 141:5 Let a righteous man strike me– it is a kindness; let him rebuke me– it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it.

8.  Fear and trembling

Philippians 2:12 continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling

F.  Labor in Spiritual Disciplines and Graces

1.  God has ordained that we be fed by means of Scripture and prayer

2.  Scripture intake is LABOR

a.  You MUST read the Bible day after day, feeding on the nourishment of the word… if you don’t, your faith will wither and die

b.  So many of our people here are committed to reading through the Bible in a year; others are also memorizing Philippians or other books of the Bible… this is HARD LABOR

c.  So also pastors and teachers of the word must LABOR in the word, doing exegesis, and Greek or Hebrew grammar work or word studies; we read commentaries, work on sermons or Bible lessons; write good Christian books; all of this is LABOR in the word

d.  In heaven, we will not need the BIBLE!!!! The days of reading line after line, precept upon precept, a word here, a word there will be over… we will SEE GOD FACE TO FACE, and truth incarnate—Jesus Christ—will be standing right in front of us… no longer a need for the books

Hebrews 8:11 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

3.  Prayer is LABOR

a.  Jesus spoke of the persistent widow, and her example of badgering the unrighteous judge day after day; so we have to wait and wait and wait for God to answer prayers… George Mueller prayed EVERY DAY for over FIFTY YEARS for a lost relative

b.  prayer is LABOR… sometimes likened to WRESTLING (as Epaphras did for the Colossians in Colossians 4:12)

c.  In heaven, the laborious aspect of prayer will be over forever

4.  Other means of grace are merely temporary

a.  The Lord’s Supper is temporary and a substitute for seeing Christ’s face and sitting with Him at table

b.  in heaven, we put symbolic things aside for the reality itself

G.  Labor Under Discipline for Sin

1.  Now, when we sin, we are disciplined PAINFULLY by the Lord

Hebrews 12:6-7 the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?

2.  The rod of God’s fatherly chastisement you will feel across your back when you need it, when you willfully sin and refuse to repent, He will take you out to the divine woodshed

3.  This is a PAIN and a LABOR which we must undergo now while we are still in danger… God does it so that we may share in His holiness

4.  In heaven, there will be longer any death, mourning, crying, or pain… not even the pain of God’s loving chastisements… we will be done with that pain forever, but now we must bear it patiently and learn from it

H.  Labor in Ministry to Other Christians

1.  God has created each of us for a lifetime of good works… and in these we are called on to LABOR DILIGENTLY

2.  Paul spoke often of his incredibly hard work on behalf of other Christians

Colossians 1:28 – 2:1 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. 29 To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me .

2:1 I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally.

3.  All of us have spiritual gifts with which we serve each other

a.  If your gift is teaching the word, you should LABOR in it to serve your brothers and sisters

b.  If your gift is administration, you should LABOR in it to serve your brothers and sisters

c.  If your gift is service, you should LABOR in it to serve your brothers and sisters

d.  If your gift is wise counsel, you will LABOR to counsel a brother or sister concerning their struggles in marriage, or with habitual sin

In HEAVEN, however, the church will be perfect; spiritual gifts and ministries will no longer be needed!!!

I.  Labor in Mission to the World

1.  Many of God’s elect have not yet come to faith in Christ

2.  THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO REST!!!! There is awesome and overpowering labor to do to bring those lost people to Christ

3.  It will take immense suffering and labor to bring the elect in the Muslim world to faith in Christ… it will be the cost of martyrdom in many cases to save the elect from Iran and Indonesia and the Sudan to faith in Christ

4.  These LABORS will be wrenching and sorrowful; the missionaries on the field laboring to establish Christ’s Kingdom there know for a fact that they have not yet entered God’s rest, because they have to labor in such vicious and trying circumstances… weeping for dead brothers and sisters, fearing their own arrest and torture, laboring in preaching and persuading; wrestling in prayer

5.  Now, I want to labor for you who are hearing me, that I can BEG YOU, and PLEAD with you to COME TO CHRIST… I want to beg you to do it while there is time

J.  Labor in Painful Trials

1.  God has ordained painful trials for all of us in this world

James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

There is your labor in trials… a labor to keep believing

2.  This is how we know that we are not in heaven yet! We must LABOR under those trials

a.  The parents of a terminally ill child have to LABOR on their own hearts to keep trusting in God and loving God and not murmuring against God or questioning God even when their hearts are BREAKING and they want to cry out against their trial with every fiber of their being saying “WHY O GOD???!!! Will you not heal my son?? Will you not come to our rescue here, O God… we are drowning in a sea of temptation to question your wisdom!! HELP US, O God!!!”

b.  The friends of incarcerated house church pastors in China cry aloud to God who can move His little finger and open the prison gates and release their precious friend from suffering… but still he languishes in prison

c.  The single person keeps waiting for God to answer their prayers for a spouse… a godly husband… a loving wife… but still the prayer goes unanswered

d.  The childless couple keeps hoping month after month for a different result with the EPT; but still they wait, hopeful sometimes, fearful other times… coming again to God with the same request again and again: “O God, give us a child!! A little baby to hold”… they must LABOR on their hearts to keep trusting Jesus and not give into Satan’s dark whispers that God really doesn’t care

BUT in heaven, all these trials will end… each one of them was measured out carefully by God, and every tear they cried He caught in His bottle of remembrance… but now every tear has been forever wiped away and nothing will be left but joy

They will have entered into God’s rest, and peace will flood their souls and they will swim forever in an ocean of joy, gazing at the infinite beauty of His majesty, and all their trials will have disappeared like the scaffolding that is removed when the majestic building is completed.

III.   The Delights of Heaven: Resting from Our Work as God Did

Hebrews 4:10 anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.

A.  I have already laid out for you in each of these ten categories how sweet it will be to rest from our works as God did from His; this rest will be perfect and eternal!!!

B.  In the meantime, we have all these labors to do… and God’s Spirit will be mighty in each of us to do them!!! The truly elect WILL run the race with endurance RIGHT TO THE END

C.  And when you do, you will lay aside the burdens God put on you and step into His heavenly rest… and there you will dwell in heavenly peace forever.

IV.   Heavenly Meditation

A.  Richard Baxter’s 2 ½ hour meditation on the heavenly rest

Baxter was so good at heavenly meditation that it seemed like there was nothing in this world that held any attraction for him… like when Moses came down off the mountain of fellowship with God, his face shone with the glory of God. So it was with Baxter.

At the end of The Saints’ Everlasting Rest, Baxter gives an extended example of heavenly meditation FOR THE UNSKILLFUL!!!… it is 30 pages long, and I read part of it aloud… one page took 4:11, so the whole thing, read at a reasonable pace would amount to 2 ½ hours of heavenly meditation.

Listen to a portion of it as you prepare for the Lord’s Supper:

Though your eyes have never seen your Lord, yet you have heard his voice, received his benefits, and lived in his heart. He taught you to know yourself and him; he opened to you that first window, through which you saw into heaven. Have you forgotten since your heart was careless, and he awakened it; hard, and he softened it; stubborn, and he made it yield; at peace, and he troubled it; whole, and he broke it; and broken, till he healed it again? Have you forgotten the times when he found you in tears; when he heard your secret sighs and groans, and left all to come and comfort you; when he took you, as it were, in his arms, and asked you, ‘Poor soul, what troubles you? Do you weep, when I have wept so much? Cheer up! Your wounds are saving, and not deadly; I’m the one who wounded you, I who mean you no harm; though I drained off some of your blood, I will not drain off your life.’ I remember his voice. How gently did he take me up in his arms! How carefully did he dress my wounds! I think I hear him still saying to me, ‘Poor sinner, though you have dealt unkindly with me, and cast me off, yet I will never do that to you. Though you have trivialized me and all my mercies, yet they and myself are all yours. What would you have that I can give you? And what do you lack, that I cannot give you? If anything I possess will give you pleasure, you shall have it. Would you have forgiveness? I freely forgive you all your debts. Would you have grace and peace? You shall have both. Would you have myself? Behold I am yours, your Friend, your Lord, your Brother, Husband and Head. Wouldst you have the Father? I will bring you to him, and you shall have him, in and by me.’ These were his sweet words to me!

“After all, when I was doubtful of his love, I still remember his overcoming arguments: ‘Have I done so much, sinner, to prove my love, and yet do you doubt? Have I offered you myself and love so long, and yet do you question my willingness to be yours? At what dearer rate should I tell you that I love you? Wilt you not believe my bitter passion on the cross proceeded from love? Have I made myself in the Gospel a lion to yours enemies and a lamb to you, and do you now overlook my lamb-like nature? Had I been willing to let you perish, why would I have done and suffered so much for you? Why would I need to follow you with such patience and urgency? Why do you tell me of your wants; have I not enough for me and you? or of your unworthiness; for if you were yourself worthy, what would you do with my worthiness? Did I ever invite or save the worthy and righteous? or is there any such person upon earth? Have you nothing? are you lost and miserable, helpless and forlorn?

Do you believe I am an all-sufficient Savior, and would you have me? Here, I am yours: take me; if you are willing, I am; and neither sin nor Satan shall break the bond.’

These, O these, were the blessed words which his Spirit from his Gospel spoke unto me, till he made me cast myself at his feet, and cry out, ‘My Savior, and my Lord, you have broken, you have revived my heart!!