Entering God’s Rest

When writing to the Hebrew (Jewish) people, the writer was seeking to convince them to cease trying to obtain forgiveness and cleansing of sins through the works of the old covenant of law.

His goal was to convince them to rest in the new covenant of grace...

...to rest in the full forgiveness of sins obtained for them through the blood of Jesus...

...to rest knowing they had been cleansed from all sins through the blood of Jesus.

Many believers have never been taught to rest in the new covenant of grace...

...to rest in what Jesus did for them when he shed his blood for the full forgiveness of their sins and complete cleansing from their sins.

Rather then resting, these believers have been taught to to:

...seek God's forgiveness daily.

...seek cleansing from sins daily.

They have been taught to:

...maintain fellowship with God daily or

...restore fellowship with him through daily confession of sins.

Because of what they have been taught...

...many believers continually ask for forgiveness rather than rest in the finished work of Christ and the fullness of forgiveness his blood has provided.

The try to stay cleansed from sins through continual confession.

They try to get close and stay close to God through spiritual disciplines.

Failure to follow the disciplines makes them feel distant from God.

They have been taught by their spiritual leaders to put effort into their relationship with God.

Yet the writer of Hebrews tells us the very opposite.

He tells us to:

...rest

...to cease from all attempts to obtain forgiveness for our sins and cleansing from our sins.

He tells us to cease trying to get close to God.

And how do we cease from these works?

How do rest?

According to the writer of Hebrews, we rest by believing in what Jesus did for us to secure our full forgiveness for sins and complete cleansing from sins.

We rest knowing we are close to God because of what Jesus has done for us not by anything we do.

"Now we who have believed enter that rest...for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his." (Hebrews 4:3, 10)"

Check out Brad’s teaching on his YouTube Channel: Entering God's Rest