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One Thing  God Tells us to Fear

by David A. DePra

Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into
his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
 
For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but
the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith
in them that heard it.
 
     Have you ever felt as if you don't measure up to God's
standards? And having seen you don't measure up, have you
felt as if you don't qualify for His promises?
     This is a common problem in the Christian experience. Even
though God tells us that everything He has done for us in Christ
is free, and that we ought to simply believe and rest in that Truth,
it somehow escapes us. We still think we have to qualify for
God's free gift. We still think WE have something to offer Him
in return.
     The incredible Truth of the New Testament reveals that the
only way I can become disqualified for the things of God is
by -- doing what? "Doing" isn't even involved! The way I can
become disqualifed is by refusing to BELIEVE.
     Anyone can believe -- as the Bible defines faith. Anyone to
whom God has taken the initiative to reveal the Truth is already
able to believe. Thus, the command to believe is something
which is not difficult at all.
     Actually, if we realized what faith was all about, we'd have
no concern about whether we had "enough" of it or not. Faith
is NOT "trust in my ability to believe." It is a rest and a reliance
upon God -- completely apart from anything about ME.
     These first two verses of Hebrews 4 are talking about the
need to take our eyes off of ourselves, and to get them onto
God. They are telling us to stop trying to figure out whether we
qualify for God's promise, and start believing His promise that
in Christ, we DO.
 
Coming Up Short?
 
     Verse 1, if we don't read it correctly, sounds as if God is telling
us to fear, lest we not measure up to the qualifications required
to enter His rest. It seems like He is saying that we'd better
beware lest we "come short" of qualifying for the promise God
has given of His free gift of grace in Jesus Christ.
     Actually, that is pretty much the way many of us live our
Christian lives. We live under a constant fear that we aren't
measuring up to God's standards. So we do alot of things to try
to measure up. Christianity has been plagued by this legalism
for the last two thousand years. It is precisely what God says we
must NOT do.
     So what does this verse say? It says, "Let us fear, a promise
being left us of entering into His rest, that we distrust the
promise." In other words, we aren't to fear of "coming short" of
qualifying for the promise, but rather, we are to fear that our faith
will come short of believing the promise. Israel did exactly that:
They came short of believing the promise. They refused to enter
the rest.
     This tells us something about the nature of faith, as well as
the nature of unbelief. Faith is not an intellectual, emotional,
or tempermental choice. It is a moral choice. A moral issue.
Faith involves a surrender and yielding myself to the One in
whom I trust. This is first a heart attitude, but will work itself out
through obedience.
     Unbelief, on the other hand, is the opposite of faith. It also
is NOT a matter of intellect, emotions, or temperment. It is not
an inability to believe God. It is a refusal to believe Him due to
a hardness of heart. In short, unbelief come from wanting my
own way. Or better yet, it comes from wanting to posess my
own life.
     There is nothing accidental about unbelief. Neither is faith
an accident. They are choices of the heart and will. And we
make them over many things everyday.
     God is telling us in Hebrews that we are to fear -- lest we
refuse to believe. We are to fear refusing the free gift of God
because if we refuse that, what else could God offer us? There
isn't anything else He has to offer.
     Note the phrase in v. 2, "the word preached did not profit them."
Why? Because the word was "not mixed with faith in them that
heard it." The point is, our faith doesn't qualify us for God's
grace, or win any victories over anything. It is God who has given
us all things by His grace, and it is Jesus Christ who has already
won all victory. These are finished realities and will continue to
be finished realities whether we believe them or not. But despite
the fact that God has given us all things freely in Christ, and
despite the fact that Jesus has already won a finished victory,
none of it will PROFIT US if we don't believe. To us, they might
as well be lies.
     For example, suppose I was locked in a prison cell and was
then told that the door was unlocked. I was furthermore told that
I was free to get up and walk out. Despite the fact that I was
being given my freedom, it would profit me nothing if I didn't
believe it. I would never even walk to the cell door and open it,
let alone walk out of the prison. God has given His gifts in Jesus
Christ whether I believe He has or not. But God is not going to
force anything upon me. I must believe or they will profit me
nothing.
     This applies to salvation first, and then to everything else God
has provided through salvation. Jesus Christ died for all men.
That is an historical fact, and the reality of it could not be
reversed or undone even if no one ever believed it. It would still
be a fact whether it was believed or not. But only if someone
believes it can they be saved. The Word must be "mixed with
faith in them that hear it."
     Don't misunderstand, however. God is not sitting in heaven
waiting for us to generate the faith necessary to apprehend what
He has done. No. It is impossible for us to hear the Truth
without the Truth we hear actually gendering faith: "For faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." (Rom.
10:17) So if we have heard the Truth, we already have the
faith.
     Jesus is the Author and Perfector of our faith. We are not.
And that is great news. It means that the faith we need to enter
the rest is already ours. We need only yield to Him. *

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