The text this morning is from the Letter to the Hebrews, the fourth chapter:
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. …For 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, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Since then we have a great 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 is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
Our text today picks up where last week’s left off, remember that the Resurrection is the primary hope of the Christian life, the day for which we all strive to reach, and it is a day that we have a taste of, even today as we approach the Lord’s table at His invitation to have a foretaste of the feast to come. Christ keeps us faithful in this by providing His gifts to us, His means of grace. That’s how you know that the rest of the Lord, the day of Resurrection, is open to you, that you come to His Altar to receive those things He has to give you, that you remember your Baptism, that you have received Holy Absolution for the pardon of all of your sins.
His promise of rest to you still stands, for He was the one who was crucified and risen for the forgiveness of all your sins. And as He is the Lord who has done this, and has promised His gifts to you, He has the power and the authority, sitting at the right hand of God, to give you this even today. Today is a taste of the victory that is to come. And every day that follows today is pure mercy, given by Jesus that we may revel in His salvation for us one more day in this sin-filled world, that we may do the good works that have been appointed for us to do, that we attempt to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a world that is hurting and suffering and fallen in their sin so that they may stand with us in the very same confidence we have this day.
But, we should indeed be watchful that we should we should get to that day. There are things that we may do that will lead us away from that promise of the Lord. Like Israel wandering in the wilderness, we may fall into unbelief, and through that fail to enter into the promised rest of the Lord. We may choose to believe something other than the true faith, the true confession, which is unbelief, and that will lead us away from the Resurrection. We may choose to test God and not believe His promises, which is unbelief, thinking that instead that He should prove Himself to us in ways He has not promised.
If we do this, any of these, we lose sight of who we are in comparison to God. We are naked and exposed before Him. All that we do, all that we have done, all that we think and say, is laid bare before Him. We are as Adam and Eve in the Garden, realizing that we are naked in our sin before the Lord and trying to cover ourselves as best we can, finding only fig leaves.
But a fig leaf will not cover our shame and our sin. We need something greater. We need the flesh and blood of something. For Adam and Eve, the animal God killed in the Garden covered over them with its own skin. And it foreshadowed the covering that we poor, miserable sinners need before God: the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. It is only through His death and resurrection that we are covered with the flesh and blood of Jesus, His own righteousness, in fact. For as Jesus lived a perfect life among us, even though He was tempted to sin in every way that we are tempted, His righteousness flowed through His veins, through His muscles, through His very being.
And through the death of Christ, His flesh and blood come to us in the very ways that He promised, through His forgiveness, through His Baptism, through His Supper. And by these, we are covered in the very righteousness of God, covering over our nakedness, hiding the shame of our sin. In Christ, we are not naked and afraid, but we are clothed and comforted through His good work on our behalf.
But, if we reject this work of Christ, if we reject or don’t receive His means, for, indeed, His means are His very works for sinners now, then we are rejecting Him, His gifts, His faith given to us. And for this, we should be on guard, we should fear that we do not give up on the race toward the Resurrection. We should fear for one another, exhorting one another to receive the gifts that Christ offers even in this place. There is no way to know if you will enter into His rest by the feelings of your own heart. You will only know, you can only be sure, if you look to the ways and means that He has instituted for you. And if you turn away from those ways and means, you cannot be self-assured. You cannot convince yourself you will go and be with Christ; only Christ can promise you such things.
Indeed, we should all be watchful for that attitude among us. When we look to ourselves, when we think we have kept the Law, when we think we have attained righteousness, when we think our means, our wealth, our possessions, make us worthy, when we make ourselves the arbiter of what is right and wrong, when we do not submit to God’s Word, then we will certainly reject Christ’s good gifts to sinners like us. When we make ourselves our own gods, when we lean on our own understanding, we stand against God Himself.
But, when we lean on Christ, when we bring to Him our cares, our concerns, our trials, tribulations, our burdens, and we do so in the ways He has asked us to do. We have every confidence that they will be taken care of, that they will be crucified with Him. After all, the Christ is the God-man, being both like God in every respect, and like man in every respect, and so He stands between His Father and Humanity. From His Father, He has taken the full wrath deserved for our sin. And from Humanity, He receives their prayers and supplications. And when we go then to this Christ for all that we need in this body and life, through His righteousness, even the righteousness He grants to us through His body and blood, He is gracious and merciful to give us every good thing that we need.
Indeed, through this Mediator, through the Great High Priest who stands between God and man, we may have great confidence that every good thing shall come to us. In fact, He is the second Joshua, the greater Joshua, leading His people into a greater Promised Land than has ever before been seen. This Joshua, this Jesus, takes His people through their sojourning life and brings it to completion in the time that He chooses for the great benefit of those people. There is no end to the enjoyment of the land in that day. That is the day Joshua had always looked forward to, and it is the day Jesus always knew was coming.
It doesn’t mean that our life here is easy; none of us should think that. Following Christ, looking forward to the Resurrection, receiving His gifts, none of these make our lives easier. In fact, just the opposite. They set us apart, making us holy for God, but we struggle in that, against the world, against the devil, against our own sinful flesh. While we live in this world, we will continue to deal, not only with the sins of the world and of others as they assault us in every way, but with the Word of God cutting our sinful hearts to the quick.
The Word of God, the Law, cuts into your very marrow, destroying your sinful flesh unto the uttermost under its weighty accusations. You have broken the Law of God in every way imaginable, and for this you deserve nothing but damnation. So, you will die. That’s the wages of sin: death. The Law works to destroy sin wherever it sees it, and it does so in your body, and it does so in your soul, crying out that you deserve hell.
Yet, the Word of God is also Gospel, the Christ, come into the flesh for you, lived perfectly for you, died for you, rose for you, ascended to the right hand of the Father for you, so that the Gospel puts down the Law’s accusations, taking them off of you and putting them squarely on Christ. There is no fear of eternity for the Christian in this way. The Christian has every confidence in the world because of this Gospel, because the Gospel, the Word of God, comes to you through means. And those means are the way we are raised into new life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Indeed, the throne of God’s grace is even here in this place, as we approach His table. Here, Christ sits upon the Altar, having made the perfect sacrifice for sinners, for you, for the forgiveness of all of your sin. And you may approach this throne, this Altar, with every confidence. Here is the Lord’s true body, and here is His true blood, broken and shed for you for the forgiveness of all of your sins. You are not naked when you come here, but are clothed in the Baptismal robes of Christ’s righteousness. You are fed with Him, by Him, filling you up with Christ Himself. Here you find grace, all the things you receive from the Lord without deserving them, and you are filled with His mercy, not receiving all the things you do deserve. Here, today, in this place, He loves you, He sympathizes with you. He knows you and your struggles better than you know them yourself, and here, and only here, will you ever find the confidence in the confession of faith that will keep you steadfast, attaining the rest promised to you.
Here, our Lord makes you His own, and you make Him yours, so that you may be found faithful on that final day, the first day of the rest of eternity. Your account, your debt for sin, is wiped away from you. Christ’s account of righteousness is given to you. And this is what we come to God with: Christ, and Christ alone, that in all things, He might have the preeminence. You are the least, the poorest of sinners. But take heart, Jesus came for the lowly to make you heirs with Him into everlasting life. You were last, Christ has made you first in His kingdom, giving to you all that He has. You are His; come to Him even yet today and live now and forever. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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