"Preeminent: Restless, Redeemed and Reformed"

8/8/2019 "Preeminent: Restless, Redeemed and Reformed"

1/6

1

Preeminent: Restless, Redeemed and Reformed

(Hebrews 4:11-16)

A Devil of a Monk

Called a devil in a Monks habit Martin Luther posted his famed 95 Theses to the door of the

Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. His public display of disapproval for indulgences, vast

ecclesiastical wealth and elevation of church tradition over the authority of the Bible sparked the

Protestant Reformation. The date was October 31, 1517 and is honored throughout the world by

believers who hold to the sufficiency of Scripturesola scripturaas Reformation Day.

Some time later Luther was ordered to be tried in front of the Emperor. He was challenged to

recant his writings to which he replied:

Since then your serene majesty and your lordships seek a simple answer, I will give it in this

manner, neither horned nor toothed: Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scripture or by

clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they

have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my

conscience is captive to the word of God. I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe

nor right to go against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me! Amen.

Why do we at Parker Road Bible Church cherish the authority of Scripture? It is because many

of us can testify to the experience that nothing but submission to the Bible has penetrated deep enough

into our heart and soul to deal with the sins which so enslave us.

We have to go through Gods judgment on the deepest, most personal level for us to enjoy the

pleasure of His rest. Hebrews 4:11-16 helps us see the reason we have to go through the judgment of

Gods penetrating Word, the method the Bible uses to remake and reform us, and the outcome of the

work of His Wordreason, method and outcome.

ReasonNothing else works (4:11)

Because a template of restlessness is our default. The ever present danger of falling away from

God by following the same template of disobedience ought to move us to diligence. Our object lesson

has been ancient Israel. She followed the Lord out of hundreds of years of bondage in Egypt. As a slave


2/6

2

class of people, Israel had been brainwashed to believe her worth was determined by her culture.

Whoever assigns you your value, is, in essence your god.

After the forty year snafu, Joshua prepared his people to enter the land where God had

promised to give them rest if they would but trust Him alone. The new leader posts this standard before

his people, The LORD your God gives you rest and will give you this landand the Lord gives your

brothers rest (Joshua 1:13, 15).

Because we tend to run back to our restlessness too quickly. Years later it is the hardened and

veteran commander Joshua who repeats Now the Lord your God has given rest to your brothersso,love the LORD your God and walk in all His ways and keep His commandments and hold fast to Him and

serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul (Joshua 22:4, 6).

Joshua not only establishes God as the means of their rest, but warns them to remain diligent in

their newfound freedom to love God with all their heart and soul. He knew how quickly we might fall

into the trap of letting someone or something else assign value to our life.

Because no work is more intimate than the reforming of our life template. The capacity to rest

from your works is of the deepest, most intimate of pleasures. Therefore, you must go through the

judgment of God in your deepest, most intimate person. The Word of God is meant to do just that.

MethodReforming by the Bible (4:12a)

TheBible is the Word of God andexactly what we need it to be. For the Word of God is living

and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of the soul and

spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Do you

see how personal the Bible means to be? Do you feel the passion?

Our enemy is apathy. Our friend is diligence. The warnings of Hebrews hope to stir us to the

significance of Christ and His Word in our life. The straight-forward, in your face manner of God aims to

chase away spiritual apathy. Someone once said, Where apathy is the master, all men are slaves.


3/6

3

I am not a frequent flier. Ive been on an airplane just a handful of times and didnt make my

first flight until I was in my upper twenties. I was fascinated by the calm of my fellow passengers as the

stewardess stood in front of us to explain emergency procedures. I tried to listen but the mumbling of

those near me drowned her already almost inaudible words out. Looking around I did spy an elderly

woman who held her laminated sheet in front of herself. She seemed to take in everything the

stewardess instructed. I decided then that if the plane went down, Id follow her! Do we listen to Gods

Word the same way?

What if the stewardess announced for all to hear, 40% of the planes which have taken off

today, have crashed? Would that change the level of interest? A recent study by Pew Religious

Institute reveals that almost half of todays professing believers will either stop believing the Bibles

teachings or will gradually drift away within the next decade. As I look at you today, I am mindful that

half of you may not be walking with the Lord ten years from now.

TheBible is living; think organic. The Bible is the living Word. Several times the author of

Hebrews calls the Lord, the Living God. He reverses our life template by freeing us from dead works

(restlessness) to serve the living God (rest) (Hebrews 9:14). The Bible is organic. It is alive. That is to

say, it is more like a vine which bears fruit, than it is a club or cold factory.

TheBible is active ; always working. We get our word energy from the term used here. The

Bible is its own power source. It is never stagnant. Gods Word never shuts down. It is always working

within you.

TheBible is sharp; surgical. When you think of a sword, you dont think of surgery. Thats more

a scalpel. But, a two-edged sword was used by skilled warrior to administer a surgical strikeprecise

and penetrating. Paul calls the Bible, the sword of the Lord, the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17).


4/6

4

The Lords intent is always to use His Word to penetrate our heart. He doesnt try to beat us

with a dull sword. He is not content to bruise us unnecessarily. Rather, He hopes to expose us to

ourselves.

TheBible invades our deepest person. The Bible divides soul and spirit, of both joints and

marrow and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Why should God be so invasive?

Not only is our problem always deeply spiritual and internal, it is almost always hidden from ourselves.

God doesnt open us up so He can discover what were like at our persons core. The trouble is that we

dont know ourselves. We dont see our own sinfulness.

OutcomeJudgment which redeems and reforms (4:12b-16)

At the point of our peak restlessnessnaked and neck-twistedwe are reformed by the

redemption of rest (v.12b). If you do not know the discomfort and the extreme restlessness of such

utter vulnerability and exposure to God, then you have never experienced repentance. Both of these

images are terribly uneasy. Naked and neck-twisted awaiting the knifeId squirm, wouldnt you?

But what if at that moment, you were to trust the Lord? Gods ambition for you is to know the

rest of having placed everything on the altar even and especially the deepest part of youyour

ambitions, your hopes, your dreams, your motivations, your standard of self-worthand to trust Him.

It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31). Naked and

neck-twisted before God is the peak of our restlessness. Yet, it is at that instant that His greatest

reforming of us happens. For, it is then that He replaces our utter restlessness with His ultimate rest.

Redeemed by Christs substitution of us, we find rest in that same Person as our High Priestour go

between.

He reforms us as the sovereign and sympathetic High Priest (v.13-15). Because Jesus is our

Priest, We have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way

(Hebrews 10:20).


5/6

5

Let us hold fast our confession of faith declares the very heart of everything were hoping

forendurance. Instead of falling away, how can we hang on and grip this reality of our redemption? It

is by considering or fixing our gaze on Jesus as preeminent High Priest. He is our mediatorthe perfect

God-Man.

He is God. Jesus called Himself the Son of God and the Jewish leaders took up stones to

execute Him because they saw it as a claim to deity. He made Himself to be equal with God. But, He

proves His claim by the resurrection and His capacity to pass through the Heavens. He has been

coroneted King of kings in Heaven and resides at the Fathers right hand.

His humanity is emphasized in verse 15. He can sympathize with our weaknesses because He

was tempted like we were. But, He passed the test.

The wonderful outcome of the naked and laid bare process is I long to draw near to Christ as

both my God and my Priest.

Where we once found judgment as naked, neck-twisted sinners we discovermercy and grace in

times of need (v.16). The ancient priests were sinners. The sacrifices they officiated were temporary.

Each year they entered the holiest place in the temple to offer atonement for each familys sins.

The grandest of outcomes is that the same altar where we were stretched out in utter

vulnerability before God but delivered because Jesus bled out in our stead now becomes the place of

our greatest peace. Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. If we draw near to

God, He will draw near to us. It is there we will find mercy and grace to help in the time of need.

Defense by Defenselessness

A.W. Tozer understood the value of utter vulnerability before God, Whoever defends himself

will have himself for his defense, and he will have no other; but let him come defenseless before the

Lord and he will have for his defender no less than God Himself.


6/6

6

This is not merely a salvation passage. It is that. But it also through the same humilityutter,

vulnerable humilitywith which we may boldly approach the throne of grace. Are you trying to defend

yourself? If your self-worth is determined by anything else but God then you have an idol. What is

making you feel like you have to defend yourself? Could it be that the Lord is stripping you bare and

twisting your neck so that you can discover that He alone is your rest?

Documents

"Preeminent: Restless, Redeemed and Reformed"