"preeminent: restless, redeemed and reformed"
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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
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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.
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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).
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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).
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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.
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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?
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