In this message, Pastor Matt explains how the promised rest can give us help and hope to face the world today.
1. By faith
2. Through Christ.
Here is the edited transcript of the sermon, transformed into a clean, readable written form with clear section headings for structure and flow. I’ve preserved the original spoken style and content while improving grammar, punctuation, paragraph breaks, and clarity for written reading.
Introduction: The Song “Go Rest High on That Mountain”
“I know your life on Earth was troubled
and only you could know the pain.
You weren’t afraid to face the devil;
you were no stranger to the rain.”
This begins the lyrics of a song that unfortunately did not crack the top 10 on the country charts. It tells a sad story of a hard life full of trouble, but it carries a promise that makes us cry—or at least it makes me cry. (I don’t know if you’re made of harder stuff than I am.)
The chorus goes:
“Go rest high on that mountain, son,
your work on Earth is done.
Go to Heaven shouting love for the Father and the Son.”
Let’s pray.
Lord God, I pray that you would sharpen our hearts, strengthen our faith, bind us in every way in more union with your Son Jesus Christ, that we may look to and experience the rest of God today. Amen.
Sermon Series Overview: Three Weeks on Rest in Hebrews
We’ve been in this text for three weeks.
- Week one: Ben showed us what this rest is—the believer’s everlasting rest in Heaven, eternal life.
- Last week: I gave every warning I could sum up about not entering that rest—because your heart might be hard and unbelieving, and unbelievers will not enter the rest of God.
Today we look at how we can gain the benefit of—and even experience part of—that rest of God, that eternal rest of God, right now, in this life.
The Core Question: How Can a Distant Future Rest Help Us Today?
The big question we want to deal with is this: How do we take something so far in the future, something that seems so distant from our lives today, and actually make it useful?
We have all these future promises, but
“If Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:8–9).
A day remains.
It’s hard to see the significance of something in the future when you’re in the middle of many hard things right now: money problems, relationship problems, stress, anxiety, fear. What use is Heaven tomorrow when today feels like hell? What use are the stories of a promised land when you’re in the middle of the wilderness and the water just ran out? “Hey God, I’m going to die here. Milk and honey isn’t going to help me any.”
Simple Outline: How the Future Sabbath Rest Helps Us Today
This is the simplest outline I’ve ever made in an entire sermon, so I hope it’s easy to follow.
The future Sabbath rest for the people of God helps us today in two main ways:
- By faith — believing in a promise that is sure
- By partaking in Christ — experiencing a real measure of that rest today if we are truly in Christ
1. Our Future Rest Helps Us Today By Faith (Hebrews 4:3–5)
“Although his works were finished from the foundation of the world… ‘God rested on the seventh day from all his works’… ‘They shall not enter my rest.'”
Faith brings future realities into the present so that they change our actions.
Think of a simple example: Many people work jobs where they get paid. Have you ever worried that the next paycheck might not clear? People don’t react well to that uncertainty. They scramble because they aren’t sure their work is secure or worthwhile.
The promise of God’s rest is so good and so incredible that whatever we suffer today is worthwhile. The work is worth the reward because the promise is secure and the reward is infinitely good.
Two key truths from the text that build our faith:
- The rest is already there
God’s rest was finished at creation. The “check will clear” because God rested on the seventh day from the foundation of the world. The money is already in the bank. All that remains is for us to enter it. The author of Hebrews quotes Genesis 2 (“God rested on the seventh day”) and points out that the seventh day in the creation account doesn’t end with “there was evening and there was morning.” God blessed it and made it holy, implying the rest continues. Even in Psalm 95 (centuries later), God still speaks of “my rest.” That rest never stopped—God remains in it and invites believing people to enter it forever. - The rest is exceedingly good—it’s “God’s rest”
God calls it “my rest” again and again. We take small rests after a little work, but God created everything and then entered an infinite, God-sized rest. His rest is infinitely great in quality, purity, length—everlasting. Because it’s God’s rest, it’s worth any hardship. Early Christians faced far harder lives than we do, yet their most popular books were martyr narratives—stories of those who died in faith, entering God’s rest with a crown of glory better than all the riches of Rome. We must see how good this reward really is. Everything secure apart from God in this world will fade, but God’s rest is forever.
Faith inspires bold living. Like contestants on Fear Factor who ate spiders because they trusted the $50,000 prize was worth it—God’s rest is infinitely better, so we can boldly follow Him.
As the psalmist says: “Whom have I in heaven but you? There is nothing on earth I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Long for His rest. Long for Jesus Christ.
2. Our Future Rest Helps Us Today By Partaking in Christ (Present Reality of Rest)
We don’t want to miss that there is a present reality of this rest we can experience.
Hebrews 3:13–14: “Exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”
We are partakers (sharers) of Christ. Not just a few investments—we are united to Him as His body. We share in Him as a person. And right now, where is Christ? At the right hand of God, having entered God’s rest.
Because we share in Christ, we share in His rest. This is why Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The fullness is future, but it breaks into the present because Christ is at rest with the Father now, and we are in Him.
Practical ways to experience this rest right now:
- By knowledge of Christ in His Word
Think of Mark 4: Jesus sleeps in the storm on the Sea of Galilee. He lived His whole life in rest because He knew the Father was in charge. In Christ, we can have that same rest in our storms. - By turning our hearts toward Him
So much of Hebrews warns about hard hearts. But every day we can open our hearts to Christ’s goodness, mercy, and awesomeness—or turn to distractions (a buzzing phone, even complaining about the sun when last night’s sunset was breathtaking). - By undistracted prayer
We live in an age of endless distraction. Challenge: Turn your phone off for a day. When most tired, we scroll mindlessly and feel worse. Instead, set it down, pray, “Lord, I need your rest today,” and look to Him. In sweet communion with Christ, we truly rest—while the world pulls us to endless work, worry, and distraction.
Conclusion: Rest for the Weary
Vince Gill wrote “Go Rest High on That Mountain” almost by himself. He nearly didn’t record it because it was too personal. He began it after his friend Keith Whitley drank himself to death and finished it after his brother died young of a heart attack—two believers who struggled their whole lives.
The song is full of tears and the burdens of life: “I know your life on Earth was troubled… you were no stranger to the rain.”
Rest is not just for “really good Christians” (they don’t exist). Rest is for the most weary Christian—the one barely hanging on, who still believes there is light at the end of the tunnel and a Christ who draws near right now if you turn to Him.
Today—your relationship problems, money problems, stress, anxiety, fear—what use is Heaven when your world feels like hell right now?
Heaven is a rest for you:
- A good rest (God’s own God-sized rest)
- An available rest (already made at creation)
- A future rest we enter by faith
- And a present rest we taste in Christ today
No matter how weary, no matter how broken—because Christ has entered God’s rest, we can rest in Him even now, living in the power of the Spirit with love for the Father and the Son.
Let’s pray.
Oh Lord God, I pray that we would grab hold of that rest today. Help us look to Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of our salvation, and run the race with endurance, looking to Him for rest and for the reward—Your reward. By Your Spirit, allow us to turn our hearts toward You even now, to feel Your rest from afar, and by faith to boldly count everything loss compared to knowing You and entering Your reward. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.