 Good morning and welcome. Thank you for being here. Let's pray and move forward with our class this morning I'll just begin with the word of prayer Heavenly Father, we thank you Lord for the truth of your word Thank you that your word is eternal In God that even as we take time in your word that Lord our minds are being renewed and father we can establish ourselves O God In the the word of God and Lord live that kind of life father that you want us to Lord today, we pray that you will speak to us through the passages in the book of Hebrews and lighten us O God And equip us O God for victorious Christian living in Jesus name we pray Amen Let's get back to Hebrews chapter 4 where we were at yesterday We saw the concept of rest being introduced we understood that as Firstly salvation which brings us peace with God That's the rest that God wants us or everyone to enter first of all and in the context of the new covenant This rest also signifies that we are no longer bound by by The laws that we don't have the burden of the observance of the mosaic laws But now we are free under grace Empowered by the spirit We have become a new creation in Christ Jesus and we can live victorious lives in Christ Jesus So these are some of the things that we saw and we kept Hearing from the writer that one must not be discouraged that one must respond to God when he is Calling us and that our hearts must be sensitive to respond to him today and we kept seeing that phrase Which says enter my rest enter my rest we looked at God resting on the seventh day and It also showed us that it's not because he was tired, but just that he completed what he needed to do What God what intended to do he completed it and after which he rested So we looked at all of those aspects now we will come to Chapter 4 and verse 8 and I want to request one of us to please read from verse 8 to verse 10 And then we'll proceed Hebrews 4 verses 8 to 10 Yeah, who would like to read this passage for if Joshua had given them rest Then he would not after what have spoken of another day There remains there for a rest for the people of God For he who has entered his rest has himself also feast from his work Works as God did from his Okay, thank you John as we said earlier the rest that we are referring to here is not the promised land That's where there's a mention of Joshua earlier The example that the writer picked was the children of Israel Moving towards the promised land and the promised land being the rest that they did not enter the rest of God because of their unbelief But now he says if The rest was only supposed to be the promised land then He would not have Joshua would not have spoken of another day But we now understand that there is a rest another rest that is available to us and we already talked about it We talked about salvation in Christ Jesus But we will go on to see that there is something called as Entering his rest. So That makes us think, you know, if rest is automatic in our minds rest is all about not doing anything we'll just sit down and you know not make any effort and Slip into rest slip into rest is more like it rather than you know enter his rest It sounds like work that we need to do in order to rest So what exactly is the writer talking about? He's first of all encouraging these persecuted discouraged believers with the thought of salvation that Jesus has done it all You can enjoy peace with God now because you know that there is something that has been accomplished for us So that thought he already mentioned but again when he's saying There is a rest waiting for us and we must enter his rest It is available for us You know the kind of rest that Jesus finished his work or rather God finished his work of creation and he rested There exists a rest. Now. What is this rest? Obviously, it's not the promised land as he's already clarified. So let's look And we will understand What this rest is all about in verse 11 very interesting He says let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest Let anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience as I was saying, you know rest is supposed to just come upon us That that's when it's rest, right? You shouldn't be working hard But look at the language that the writer is using here. He's saying Let us be diligent to enter and It starts off with let us therefore. So whenever we look at therefore We have to go back to what the writer has said earlier. He talked about Unbelief he talked about, you know, if it is today if you hear his voice today, then you know You need to respond to him and all of that so What he means here is just believing because he talked so much about unbelief and how Unbelief keeps us out of the promises of God. His simple point here is Believing is the work that we do to Enter into the promises of God. Yes, the work of salvation. It's already done. Jesus has completed everything But what is the work on our part? It's not The good works, you know, which will earn us salvation. No but instead it's a heart of Faith it's believing believing and you know, we are talking about faith In our series here at church as well Because it's so important in the life of a believer having faith in God and when we carry faith in God that is the That is what will bring us into the kind of rest That we are so desiring, right when we look at ourselves today in the world that we live in there's so much going on and we Desire rest physically we desire rest, you know emotionally mentally and we seek after it, which is a good thing God is encouraging us and he's saying that he's also the author of rest Primarily how the rest comes into our lives is through being saved being born again and of course this Journey as a believer with faith. Okay, these are the things that we need to remember and when we journey this way with faith We will find that rest in God, you know his rest or God's kind of rest we will be able to find it and Though we are talking about a spiritual kind of rest I don't want to minimize the importance of physical rest. It's so important for us You know as as people and I I've been saying that we are seeking after that kind of rest it's important to ensure that we find rest in our day-to-day lives and you know, maybe certain Periods or seasons of our life where we may need more rest But as God's people, it's really good to have Rest as a part of our lifestyle because that would Rejuvenate us revive us refresh us so that we can come back with a greater focus and more Authority and power to do the work of God so Yes Right now, you know the the author is talking about rest and working towards that rest, but that work Simply means believing when we believe we will be able to experience that God kind of rest. I can Think of times when I've heard ministers of God say things like maybe they're physically exhausted but In the spirit Okay, and in their lives, they sense so much of fulfillment That's that's rest right physically. Yes, maybe when they get the time they can rest it out, but overall By believing God by walking in in the ways of God There is a kind of rest that we can experience Which is like the God kind of rest can that's a privilege that we all have and especially for these believers, right? That the author is referring to He knows that they've probably come to a place of exhaustion not so much of the physical kind but Spiritually Emotionally, right? They are at a place where they are tired and they want to give up and he wants them To experience the God kind of rest or the God kind of peace the God kind of refreshing Which can only happen by faith and they give up their faith or if they give up believing in God They will never be able to experience that God kind of faith that he is talking about and that's what this was 11 here means Therefore be diligent to enter that rest God's kind of rest is available We can enter it for that. We need to believe and don't be like the children of Israel the latter part of that scripture says Yes, anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience, so when they have disobeyed When they disobeyed they could not enter the promised land So those are you know some thoughts regarding the rest from Hebrew chapter 4 I'll pause right now and Let's see if there is Something, you know, we want to talk about before we go ahead with the next set of scriptures Anything about rest God's kind of rest Yeah, I thought that's coming to my mind is it's not it's not directly connected to this passage But we know how Isaiah sorry 28 talks about Tongues right that God brings refreshing Through tongues and so when we pray in the spirit that is also something that can release the rest of God to our spirit man a Refreshing can come when we pray in tongues So I just wanted to throw that thought in here since we are speaking about rest Okay, nobody wants to talk about a holiday and a vacation Fine, we'll just go forward then and we look at oh, yeah. Yes So it says So when we read the book of Romans, we understand that salvation is by faith and not by works Okay, so this is referring to salvation by faith So when one believes When we have faith in Christ Jesus, we are not being qualified because of our works So that that's the meaning one scripture would be Romans 3 22 Which says even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe for there is no difference. So the righteousness of God through faith In Jesus Christ So that's how we walk into salvation But yeah, thank you Okay, let's move on we'll go ahead with the next set of scriptures here Let's read Hebrews 4 verses 12 and 13 Could somebody please pick it up and read please Hebrews chapter 4 verses 12 and 13 for the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joint and Marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and Intense of the heart and there is no creature hidden from his sight But all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give Thank you Rosalind so much is said in these two scriptures We know verse 12 Because it's very familiar and used a lot By you know believers everywhere for the word of God is living and powerful and Sharper than any two-edged sword. That's talking about the nature of the word of God It's living meaning it's not Dormant the word of God is alive It is powerful meaning it can impact our lives it can Bring change it can bring transformation And that's the inherent quality that the word carries Sharper than any two-edged sword again It reveals to us that when we know the word well it can Help the ability of discernment to be so Strong in us that we can figure out right like Sword cuts through a sword can separate so we can understand, you know, what is of the flesh? What is of the spirit? So for that though we need the word in our lives and Then you know, we will be able to discern so those are some thoughts that are coming out and Then as we continue here, it says piercing even to the division of soul and spirit The discernment that I talked about and of joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart So the word of God goes works in us And it weighs out Every thought it weighs out Every pattern that we carry and if there's something of God then you know, we Are filled with peace, but if there's something that is not of God then we are able to discern that hey this Thought that I'm Subscribing to is not of God and I have to deal with it. So this part here this portion here is talking about God it's talking about the power of his word in our lives and then in verse 13 he says There is no creature hidden from his sight But all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. So It's just revealing to us that God is judge overall and that we cannot escape You know, he's knowing that he is able to see all things clearly even the matters of our heart So all of this just forms a section Together with what we've been saying so far We talked about unbelief and then we talked about the importance of believing through belief Believing we can diligently enter into the rest of God and God is looking for a believing heart So he's speaking in that context where he says, you know, the word of God, it's powerful It's a discerner and God himself is somebody who can discern our hearts now As a side note, we can talk so much about that first portion of Hebrews chapter 12 about the word of God Okay, and you know, all of you would agree with me when we say that no God's word It's living and powerful. We said powerful for what powerful to transform us If you go back to passages like Romans chapter 12, right? And verse 2 it says be Transformed by the renewing of your mind. How do we renew our mind? We take in the word of God. So it's powerful to transform us The word of God is Powerful it can reveal God to us. We know scriptures that Tell us that, you know, Jesus told The people who came up to him. He said that you search the scriptures But these scriptures are testifying of me in John 5 39. He made that statement So the word of God what is its quality? It points us to God it directs us to Christ So that is also something for us to understand about the nature of the word of God So when we are taking time in God's word one, we are being transformed. Secondly, it's pointing us to God, you know more and more Understanding about who God is What his character is like what he does what he wants of us. So it's revealing God to us and of course about the nature of the word of God. We also know that it can birth faith in our hearts that familiar Scripture we say faith comes by hearing hearing by the word of God Romans 10 17. So the word of God has this capability of Forming faith in our hearts and faith can rise up the more we devote ourselves to the word The word of God is also a weapon, right because in Efficient 617 we read about the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God So the word of God can help us fight the devil We can use the sword of the spirit to fight our enemy and gain victory So these are all the properties of the word of God There's so much that one can gain from the work of the word and we need this because the author is Reminding the people about Believing in God and how can they believe unless they take time in the word or for them at that time Whatever a doctrine's the Apostles were teaching them They needed to put their faith in that word and today for us We have the canon of Scripture and as believers one of the primary Responsibilities for us to enter the rest we are saying enter the rest enter the rest by believing But how do we believe if you don't know the word of God? so the word is so very central to even you know rest and Living a victorious life and it has all these properties and I can just go on and on I've listed out, you know a couple of things about the word of God. Maybe I'll just see a line about some of these other Aspects of the word of God before we move on to the next passage here So we know that the word also cleans us Jesus said I have already spoken the word you're clean Because of the word that I have already spoken to you So the more time we are sitting under the word Hearing the word believing the word. It's cleaning us up right, it's helping us get rid of Worldly standards as far as things are concerned the word of God Causes us to prosper in John 15 Jesus said that if you abide in me my word abides in you And we go on to read that passage you will bear much fruit So in order for us to bear fruit, what do we need? We need the word dwelling in our hearts the word of God will help us establish and root out because it carries power and authority in itself So I we could just go on and on and on so powerful the word of God as that passage says living and powerful Shaper than any two-edged sword discerning right Dividing between born and marrow discerning our very hearts So we can rely on the word of God and that will help us filter out Things in our hearts which are not of God and we can then put our faith in the things which are of God and remain in faith Okay Even if you are going through a season of discouragement now we come to the next section here versus 14 through 16 which again point us to our Lord Jesus Christ I'll read it for us It says seeing then that we have a high priest who has passed through the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our confession For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses But wasn't all points tempted as we are yet without sin Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and Find grace to help in time of need so Here he's pointing to Jesus once again. He did that earlier as well When he talked about the Lord Jesus our high priest He is able to aid us in our weaknesses because he himself Has put on humanity and he has gone through challenges in the human form Again, he says that Particularly in this scenario when the people are going through discouragement he says Yes, we need to have faith. That's how we enter into the promises of God the rest of God And depend on the word of God But also remember that we have a he says great high priest Among all the high priests that existed Jesus our great high priest. Why is he our great high priest? We've already said that he's God himself Right deity who put on humanity. It's a great high priest He represented us so well and what else did he do? High priest who has passed through the heavens. No other high priest did that for us It's only Jesus Who ascended up back into heaven after completing his mandate here on earth? Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our confession. So till now the Hebrews or the other people they were so proud of their today Background and you know all the traditions the temple practices and we are going to move towards that now slowly You'll see there'll be concepts coming up of the high priest of Melchizedek of Temple sacrifices and you know the shedding of blood so with all this What the author is trying to tell these These Hebrew believers is that Jesus is the fulfillment what you have right now as Christians or as believers in the Lord Jesus is so much greater Than the traditions that you are aware of and so now he's telling them. Yeah, you're proud of all the high priest Who have represented us in the temple? But Jesus is the greatest of them all great high priests now Tell me was there any high priest who went up to heaven on our behalf? Isn't it the Lord Jesus Christ? So now that you have the Lord Jesus Christ as your great high priest. Why do you give up? Why do you give up? one of the ways of giving up is by declaring our defeat and Satan knows that when we speak failure when we speak Doubt unbelief he can easily, you know get in and cause havoc But the author is reminding the believers when we are down and out One of the things that we should never do is to give up on our declaration to give up on our confession Don't do that because what you have as a believer right now is the greatest ever Isn't it the Lord Jesus the fulfillment of all the so-called? Practices in fact we use this term the shadow All these practices were but a shadow of what was to be fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ So he's encouraging them when he's saying you have the best high priest ever Don't give up and one of the ways not to give up is to hold on or hold fast our Confession what you have believed keeps speaking that okay keep declaring that Verse 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses But was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin. So In this particular context where the people want to give up Okay, he's reminding them even Jesus was tempted in all forms Do we think that he would have been tempted to give up on his mandate? Of course, no, we do see in scripture when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, right? He prays to the father. He says Lord Take this cup away from me, but not my will yours be done. There was a temptation to give up so because he went through a temptation That was kind of leading him towards quitting He can now relate To us believers when we are going through temptation Where we want to give up right where we want to let go so he's encouraging the believers look We have the best high priest. He's gone into heaven He's representing us and because he's been through everything that we are going through he can sympathize with our weaknesses Okay, he won't shut us down in sympathize with our weaknesses, but here's the other victorious thing about this high priest That though he was tempted he was without sin Right, so it's amazing that Jesus overcame temptation and so With his help we can also overcome temptation another thought that we can gain from here is Tempted yet without sin So temptation in itself is not sin Okay, we are understanding that so the first time if if a ungodly thought comes to us That is not sin. It's when we entertain that thought and go along with it in agreement And you know, we we are thinking it through the second time that it becomes a sin But when temptation itself happens for the first time That's not sin and we as believers, you know There are periods when we feel so guilty that how could I even think that I I'll give up You know my ministry or how could I even think? that God is not for me the thought or that temptation when it came That is not sin, but when we agree with it and you know, we go ahead with it That's when we commit sin. So there's a distinction between being tempted and Sinning in the case of Jesus was he tempted? In fact, it says in all points Tempted yes. He was tempted. He must have been tempted in many aspects but Without sin meaning he did not commit sin and that's the challenge for us today. We do live in a world Where Satan is playing his games his tactics Will he tempt us believers? Of course, he will he will not spare any anyone and that's you know part of His tactics, but that doesn't mean that we need to sin We can be tempted, but we don't really have to sin and we can learn from Jesus's example So now that he has stated that we have such a wonderful high priest He's compassionate. He'll understand us earlier. He said that he aids us in our weaknesses This time around he's saying because we have such a wonderful high priest. What can we do? He says just reach out to Jesus. So in verse 16, he says let us therefore where for Because we have such a wonderful high priest Come boldly to the throne of grace That we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in a time of need So come boldly. What does coming boldly mean? Coming really means, you know coming freely With a sense of assurance that if I reach out to Jesus then There will be an intervention Coming boldly means setting aside anxiety setting aside, you know, our fears setting aside our doubts and Coming to Jesus trusting him believing that He will provide for us to come out of that particular situation So come boldly come with a sense of assurance that Jesus will help and it says throne of grace Okay, so that means there is an abundance of grace that our Lord Jesus carries Which he can release into our lives. He has that Capacity or ability to release the kind of grace that we need for that particular situation. So grace For our situation Mercy for our situation And you know, we can rise above that time of need that we are going through So it's an encouragement for Time when we are really struggling to come to our Lord Jesus The great high priest and receive office grace and mercy So let me just pause here to just give us some time to think through and if there's anything related that you Want to talk about? We can do that We will proceed into chapter five afterwards Okay, so we're all happy with the rest With knowing Jesus as a high priest entering boldly into his presence Let's now move on to chapter five here Let's begin with verse one. We can read up to four verses. I'll explain it and then we can continue further But somebody please read it Hebrews chapter five verses One to four for every high priest taken from among men is a scientific for men in things Retaining to God that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray since he himself is also subject to weakness Because of this he's required as for the people So also for himself to offer sacrifices Sacrifices for sins and no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God just as a rose Okay, thank you. Jeffy now. So let's look at this passage here We once again see that a high priest Is Taken from among men Okay, and is appointed for men in things pertaining to God that again Says the same thing that we said a representative a high priest must be representative of the people Why do we need a high priest to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins? So there is a ministry that a high priest carries. So he goes before God On behalf of the people he brings in gifts. He brings in sacrifices for the sins of the People that's the ministry that he has and of course, he also goes to the people on behalf of God So he's appointed by God. He represents people and he has a ministry Second verse to here. He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray since he himself Is also subject to weaknesses. We've already talked about this aspect of Representing closely which we've seen in Jesus's life as well verse 3 Because of this he is required as for the people so also for himself to offer Sacrifices for sins. So something we have to note here is in the usual high priestly order the high priest themselves needed to offer sacrifices for their own sins But what's the difference between all the other high priests and our great high priest Who has passed through the heavens? He did not have to offer up any sacrifice for his sins because he's already sinless Right, so that's the difference In verse 4 No man takes this on into himself But he who is called by God just as Aaron was So another thought for us to understand when we talk about being a high priest That was not something that People could desire and step into it didn't work like that God himself Established the office of the high priest for this we have to go back to Exodus chapter 28 and there we read how God instructed and Aaron was chosen and called by God to be the high priest and we know that The Levites the tribe of the Levites. They were the ones who were appointed into these priestly roles So it was not by choice that someone could become a high priest But they needed to be appointed by God and we also know that the Lord Jesus himself Was appointed by God it was not that you know He woke up one day and then suddenly he became our high priest. It's definitely appointed by God Let's continue. We'll read from verses 5 to verse 10, please After the order of Who is in the days of the of the service flesh when he had often Upraises and supplications With strong crying and tears under him God was able to save him from death and was hurt in that He feared Though it though you were a son yes, then he's Providence by the things which is so fast and being made perfect cream photo of internal foundation onto holding that Call of God and high priest after the order of Thank you. Thank you so much for reading when we look at this passage here He reiterates the fact that Jesus is part of the Trinity so in verse 5 so also Christ did not glorify himself to become high priest But it was he who said to him and we've noticed this in chapter 1 where Father is speaking to the Sun Again the father here is speaking to the Sun and he says I have begotten you So who is Jesus? He's the son of God In verse 6 There are a couple of things that we can connect to this High Priestly team that we are talking about we've already said that he's a great high priest He passed through the heavens. He represents us very well He's chosen by God But what else does it say here? This high priest is a priest forever When we look at different high priests who came into that position They had a time span or a duration when they needed to do their service And to God and people and then the next one would come and take over but what is the specialty? Or the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as our high priest High priest forever So he is There representing us for ever isn't that wonderful that he's never going to retire Okay, a good high priest who understands us and somebody who's never going to retire He's always going to be there for us as our high priest. So that's what it says high priest forever Now we said earlier that Aaron was appointed right Aaron was chosen by God What about Jesus? Yes, Jesus was chosen by God as well as a son of God. He was mandated to do the work that he did But notice he's from the tribe of Judah Okay, but what did God appoint from the lineage of Aaron is where priests came from Then how would Jesus fit into what God had established? But notice there is something known as the order of Melchizedek Okay, it's very unique. There is an order from where Jesus was appointed Not the Aaronic order not the Levitical order, but the order of Melchizedek and we will come to that later on We'll talk a lot about this this person in history By the name Melchizedek quite mysterious actually who this individual was He we read about him in in the book of Genesis When Abraham goes and he gives a tithe to Melchizedek, but Jesus for for now We are understanding Jesus is chosen as a high priest and he's coming from a new order And what is that order the order of Melchizedek? Let's move on verse 7 It again talks about the Lord Jesus in the days of his Flesh what is days of his flesh in his humanity is period on the earth He offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death So this is talking about The the period close to Jesus Going up to the cross when he was really battling You know and and struggling we already mentioned get seminary So it's about that the context is that He did suffer right But what is that that suffering he basically as a human Whatever we are talking about being overwhelmed Maybe being tempted by fear being tempted to give up those are all the the kind of things that he went through But what is the speciality about him or the different difference as compared to any Anyone else we see here that his prayers were heard because of his godly fear Though he was the son yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered remember when we did Hebrews chapter 1 We said that he has a name he was given a name as the son of God by inheritance and We look at that and we think oh so easy. He just got it by inheritance But look at this passenger Hebrews 5 verse 7 it says even though He has the rights and privileges as the son of God yet He learned obedience by the things which he suffered so to compliment the privileges that he had By inheritance Jesus also lived out that life Okay, that righteous life before God through his obedience and It says he learned obedience through his sufferings meaning through whatever he went through He kind of make made it work for his benefit He grew through those Experiences by responding rightly in those Experiences and you know he came up stronger as the son of God not just by Inheritance but also by his righteous life by his righteous choices and having been perfected He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him So we'll just stop it that having been perfected. What does it mean? We've discussed that earlier. Does it mean that Jesus was not already perfect? No, he was already perfect But you see when we go through struggles in our lives, you know There's something that Endurance can build in us and that is called as character It cannot be built any other way No, we cannot short-circuit the process and say, oh, I will not go through anything and you know, I'll just become mature and and Strong automatically that will not happen in any of our lives You look at the life of Jesus even he went through the process and he was obedient Though he was already perfect He continued to walk that path With the father being obedient and being righteous and as he did that He Having been perfected it says so the understanding is That it's not that he was not perfect But he allowed the situations and circumstances as a human being to build him up Which also tells us that today Whatever we are going through The choice is ours it can build us or we can allow that to break us but from Jesus's example He was built up through all the trials tribulations We too can be built up and we can sort of Let everything work for our good and scriptures say that right all things work together for good to those who love the Lord And are called according to his purposes So we'll pick up from verse nine once again, but for right now, let's stop here We will close with the word of prayer and I want to request somebody from the class to please go ahead and pray That's great. The Heavenly Father we come to you under the name of Jesus. We thank you for the state we thank you God for Everything that you have paid for us But when we look at you it's beyond our imaginations Whatever the works that you're doing that you're there that you're planning to do Who are mad that you think about us Jesus, but you love us your first love does you have brought us into this grace? You have brought us into this new life into made us into a new creation But we think about everything and we thank you God for everything help us to walk in that In the ways of the spirit so that God we can live this life with you We can glorify you above all and we can let people know that there's a true God Who loves them be with us and guide us. We thank you for everything in Jesus name. I pray Amen. Thank you. Jaffina. Thank you everyone. God bless you. Have a good week ahead