Peter Barnes | Hebrews 4:9-10
SERMON NOTES
THERE REMAINS A SABBATH REST
Hebrews 4:9-10
The author links the Sabbath rest in Genesis 2 to the rest in the Promised Land in the days of Joshua and to rest in Christ.
1. The Old Testament points to a greater rest.
– Heb.4:3-8; Josh.21:43-45; Psalm 95.
2. To rest in Christ is to enter God’s rest.
– 4:9. Robert Murray M’Cheyne: ‘There cannot be a better test of whether you are saved or lost than whether you delight in the Sabbath.’ Calvin is more exact: ‘a spiritual rest; to which God daily invites us.’
– Matt.11:28-30; John 6:29.
Joseph Swain:
Sweet as home to pilgrims weary,/ Light to newly-opened eyes,/ Flowing springs in deserts dreary,/ Is the rest the cross supplies.
John Newton:
Bowed down beneath a load of sin,/ By Satan sorely pressed;/ By war without and fears within,/ I come to Thee for rest.
3. Strive to enter the rest from works!
– 4:10-11a. We are to rest from dead works – 6:1; 9:14.
George Herbert says:
Seven whole days, not one in seven,
I will praise Thee.
But note Heb.10:25.
Augustine: ‘O Lord God, grant us peace, for all that we have is Your gift. Grant us the peace of repose, the peace of the Sabbath, the peace which has no evening. For this worldly order in all its beauty will pass away.’