Hebrews 4:11

17 August 2025

Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest,

so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

The key focus of chapter four in this opening section is on the subject of rest. Last week, we were dealing with verses 9 to 10, which in many ways act as the climactic declaration of all that we've been working towards up until now. If we remember verse 10 specifically, when we were reading it initially, many of us might have been thinking—when it says, “For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works, as God did from His”—that it is speaking about us resting from work as God rested from His in the context of creation. But as we spent time unpacking that verse in more detail last week, we actually considered that verse 10 is speaking of Christ resting from His completed work. This is an argument which is contrasting, but also building up towards the rest that we have in Jesus Christ.

Initially, we were looking at the contrast with God creating the world in six days and resting on the seventh. We also considered that God had given the promise of rest in Canaan, and there was a generation that fell in the wilderness and did not enter it. Then, under the leadership of Joshua, there was a generation that did enter it. But even though they experienced a physical rest, there was still not that spiritual rest which is what this chapter is ultimately dealing with. So, as we come to verse 10—when it says, “For whoever has entered God's rest”—this word “whoever” is almost interpreted as though it is speaking about us. But actually, it is speaking of “He has entered God's rest, has also rested from His works,” namely, Jesus has entered God's rest and has rested from the work that He has done on Calvary. Namely, He has died on the cross, He has risen victorious over the grave, and now He is seated—He sits down on the throne. He is victorious, “as God did from His.” So we have that in view: the completed work of Christ, the glory of the Gospel.

Then comes verse 11, where we arrive at another exhortation given to us: “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.” Here we have this exhortation, this application, on the basis of what we have been reading so far in the argument built in Hebrews chapter four—that we are to enter that rest by striving to do so. Now, if we can just turn briefly to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 11. Just as we begin, we'll read from verses 28 to 30:

“Come to Me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)

When we read this passage, it helps us to understand what the rest we are striving to enter is—the rest that we've already been considering so far in Hebrews chapter four. This is an invitation that the Lord Jesus gives: “Come to Me, all who labour and are heavy laden.” And here's the promise—Jesus declaring, He will give you, He will give me, He will give us rest. It's important that we start here and realise what this means when we think about a verse like Hebrews 4:11. Because Hebrews 4:11 is saying, “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest.” And we might be wondering, well, how are we striving—or more accurately, making haste—to enter something which is, after all, rest? But being laboured and heavy laden—that's the way we feel. That's the way we are. We're burdened, and we're invited to come to Jesus, and there's rest. Ultimately, as Christians, rest is what we now have in Him.

If we consider what we have and what we are trying—and maybe striving—to do: If it were not for the Lord Jesus Christ, then what are you? You are a people who are laboured. You are a people who are heavy laden—maybe thinking, wondering this very hour, as many do: How do I get to heaven? Is there life after death? If there's a God, how do I get right with this God? There could be the weight of expectation, the weight of the works that you are expected to do—the things religiously that you may feel are required in order to become a religious person. Even as we look to the law in the time of the Old Covenant and consider what that means for Israel and what that would mean for us: If what is required is perfect obedience to it, Jesus is not saying, “Come to me all those who have managed to live perfectly according to the law.” Such a requirement is one that none of us can meet. This is why Jesus is saying: Anyone who is laboured and heavy laden—come to Jesus, come to Him, and He will give us rest.

And yet we're still dealing with a verse—Hebrews 4:11—which is exhorting us to strive to enter that rest. Now, what does that mean? Let’s pay attention further on in Matthew 11:29, because verse 29 goes on to say: “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” That word—rest—again. But the beginning of this verse is also something that may seem quite striking and somewhat unusual, because it says, “Take My yoke upon you.” We might initially be thinking, well, isn’t a yoke a bad thing? For example, if you are under the yoke of the law, then you would consider—well, this is going to be a bad thing, because that will condemn me and sentence me to hell. Often, the picture of a yoke does have negative connotations. When we think of a yoke of slavery, it means that there are expectations placed upon us. It's heavy, it's weighty, it's burdensome.

Jesus uses the same word here—yoke. Only the application, when it is about the Lord Jesus Christ, is the exact opposite to any other usage and application of such a word. Because if we are dealing with the yoke—let's say, of the law, the yoke of works that you are to do, the yoke of burdens that you need to meet—that is ultimately a yoke of slavery in your sinful condition, which leads to hell. But the yoke that the Lord Jesus speaks about is a yoke of slavery to righteousness. We see that picture in Romans chapter 6. To be enslaved to a perfect Master, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, is a beautiful and rich thing. Notice what Jesus, after saying “Take My yoke upon you,” instructs us—the Christian—to do. He says we are to learn from Him. He is the One who is gentle and lowly in heart, and He will give us this rest. We will find this rest in Him. This is the point. This is the transformation because of the Gospel. Because in coming to Jesus in saving faith, we know that it is not by our law-keeping or our good works.

It is all because of the perfect, completed work of Jesus Christ. That is what the yoke is—that we now live our lives in obedience to Him. We live lives of faith in Him. We live lives in service to Him. We look to Him. We follow Him. We are His disciples. That’s why Jesus says, “Take up my cross and follow me.” That is what we’re called to do. And this means rest. It means that we have rest for our souls when we have the yoke of Christ upon us, because we are no longer burdened by what we must do. We are now set free. Our position, our posture, our direction is governed by Christ. Our life now belongs to Him. He is now the Lord of our lives, and we are living in submission to Him.

This is very important to understand, because when we address and unpack Hebrews 4:11—“Let us therefore strive or make haste”—there is an urgency to this. There is an urgency in the way we are called to live as Christians. Some people look at the language of rest and come out with something like, “Christianity is not a religion; it’s a relationship with Jesus.” Well, actually, that is incorrect. Christianity is a relationship with Jesus—and this is how we understand what true religion is. True religion is a life of obedience to Jesus Christ because we are already saved and already knowing the delight of resting in Christ. Your souls are no longer burdened by the weight of sin which leads to hell. You are set free. You are now set free to live religiously for Jesus Christ—not to earn your salvation, not because this verse is saying, “Look, you’ve got to earn this rest.” No, it is because of Christ completing this perfect work and sitting down, and Him resting. On that basis, and that basis alone, we have this exhortation: we are to make haste to enter that rest.

The verse says, “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.” This is referring back to a completion of the sentence we find in Hebrews 4:6: “Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience.” Then it goes on, and we come down to verse 11: “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest.” So it’s a direct contrast once more with the rest that Israel failed to enter. Think back to chapter three—Israel had the opportunity to cross over into the promised land, and they refused. They were disobedient, and they were cast aside. They fell in the wilderness. So we have that in view. And the author to the Hebrews is saying: You today, Church, let us strive to enter that rest, that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

This urgency in the language is one we’ve seen repeatedly in the exhortations given in the book of Hebrews. For example, Hebrews 2:1 exhorts us to pay closer attention. In Hebrews 2:3, we are not to neglect our salvation. In Hebrews 3:1, we are to consider Jesus. Again, in Hebrews 3:8, 3:15, and 4:7, we are not to harden our hearts. The Christian life is trusting God and His promises. But the fear we are exhorted to have is a fear of God—the One who has killed and has the authority to cast into hell. Our fear is therefore of faithlessness. As we stand before God, we come from faith—faith in God, in Jesus Christ.

So, as we deal with this exhortation—“Let us therefore strive to enter that rest”—we’re going to consider three main ways in which we are to do this. There are three challenges with this exhortation:

It is a difficult path.
The flesh is weak.
The opposition is real.

We come then to the first challenge: it is a difficult path. If you turn to Matthew 19:21, this is the account of the rich young man. In this account, we have a rich young man who approaches the Lord Jesus, and he is very confident and sure about his religious credentials. Anyone looking from the outside would look at this man and think, “If anyone’s a candidate for heaven, if anyone is the definition of what a religious person—what we may today consider to be a Christian—looks like, this rich young man would be the prime candidate.” But let us see what Jesus says to him in verses 21 and 22:

“Jesus said to him, ‘If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”

So the first point regarding striving to enter that rest is that it is a difficult path. Why is it difficult? As we look at the example of the rich young man, we see that he has identified that he’s kept the commandments since he was a boy. Isn’t that enough? Isn’t that enough before the Lord Jesus? Certainly not. Because again, we must be reminded: when we have an exhortation to enter that rest, this is not something we need to earn. This is a call for obedience. This is a call for faithfulness. That is why it is a difficult path. The rich man was not being called to do something in order to earn. He was being called to demonstrate where his heart was. It was a challenge of where his faith was. That is what makes entering this rest a difficult path—it challenges the desires of our hearts. It exposes where we are truly driven and motivated in our lives.

Notice what Jesus penetrates in verse 21: “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” The man has been presented with the Gospel—the Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of sinners, who is Himself eternal life (1 John 5:20). And he, like so many, just walks away. He walks away downcast, upset. Why? Because to such a one, to such a heart, this path is too difficult. It is too difficult. This helps us to remember why, again and again in this part of Hebrews, the author writes the words “Today.” “Today”—even in verse 11, we have the language of “Let us make haste,” “Let us strive.” The spiritual danger is very clear, and our hearts can so often be conflicted by desires that are contrary to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ultimately, that is the problem. This man desires something more than Jesus Christ. That is why it is crucial to understand what this rest truly looks like. For those who find rest in Christ, this means that your life rests in Jesus Christ. It doesn’t rest in riches or anything else. Notice the ultimate end of God’s work in redemption: it is not that through Christ you have salvation, which means rest. Rather, by salvation in Christ, you have Christ—which means rest. Christ is the end goal. Christ is the end purpose. Do you see this? This is how we understand what this rest truly means for the Christian.

This notable difference shows that salvation—which means eternal life—does not become like some magic genie who gives us a free pass into heaven and forgiveness for whatever sins we commit, allowing us to live as we please. No, it means that we are resting in Christ. Our delight, our peace, our hope, our satisfaction—this very night—is ultimately and absolutely found in Jesus Christ. The reason this is a difficult path is because the world is vying for our affections, and the devil is dangling the desires of the flesh before our eyes. There are titillating temptations that can pull us away. Like the rich young man, he has Christ before his eyes. And what does he do in response to the call? He goes away downcast. “My money, my riches.” What is going to happen to these riches when we stand before our Lord on the Day of Judgement? All the things that you collect, all the things that you amass—what becomes of them as we stand before God?

Where do we understand our true rest is found tonight, Christian? It is found in Christ and in Christ alone. That is what this exhortation is driving at—that we are to strive to enter that rest which is in Christ. His yoke, following His ways—our desires, our passions, our obedience are to Him, because our allegiance is to Him. Our love is for Him. Our desire is for Him. Our life is in Him. This is why, brothers and sisters, when it comes to the spiritual nature of rest, it is now—but it is also not yet.

It is now—in that salvation you have in Christ is rest in Christ. But it is also not yet, because there is coming that day of ultimate fulfilment when we will stand before our Lord in glory. Yet the rich man is having none of it. He goes away downcast. There are some contemporary Christians—even Christian leaders—who would take Jesus aside and say, “Well, we could have been a bit more wise and winsome with that rich young man. You put him off. Now he’s not going to enter church.” Brothers and sisters, these challenges are real, and they are needed. Challenges to the heart are necessary to understand where your ultimate satisfaction is found. Because if there is anything vying for your attention, for your affections, then it must be crushed as we come to Christ. This is the first way by which we strive to enter that rest which is in Him.

The second point regarding how we are to strive to enter that rest is in relation to our flesh—namely, the flesh is weak. So we turn again to Matthew 26, to the account of Gethsemane. As Jesus toils in preparation to bear the wrath of His Father at Calvary, what are the disciples—those He has brought up—doing at that time? They are sleeping. In Matthew 26:41, the Lord Jesus says to them, “Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Notice this command of the Lord Jesus: we are to watch and we are to pray.

First, the watching. What are we watching? Think of the disciples in Gethsemane—they are sleeping. This is the time when they need to be most spiritually alert in any day in history. It is the day when the entire demonic realm is out to strike and snuff out the purpose of salvation through what Christ is to do. And what are Jesus’ closest followers doing? They are doing anything but watching. They are tired, exhausted, and spiritually disengaged. Often, this is us, isn’t it? With our fleshly weakness, do we have any idea of the level of spiritual warfare we are facing—in our spiritual climate, in our land, in the battles we face in our own lives, our families, our church family, our contexts and settings? And what are we doing? We are spiritually sound asleep. Yes, we may be awake and visible, doing certain things, but spiritually we are asleep to it all.

Jesus, in saying “watch,” gives this proclamation: “The spirit indeed is willing.” Yes, we have a willingness, but our flesh is weak. To watch—to keep watch over our souls—means, spiritually speaking, that at times we are beating our flesh, subduing our desires, that we may run the race for the prize stated in 1 Corinthians 9:24. This is why the diet of candyfloss that so many Christians seem to enjoy—with superficial smiles and everything being nice and lovely—is so often nothing more than a great sham. The life of holiness, the life of a Christian who is set apart, is visible in the life where Christ is seen in our habits, in our character, in the way that we live. People can see and know more of the beauty of who Christ is in the way we live. And we know that this is not of our flesh, because our flesh is weak. We are praying that these fleshly, weak desires and ways would be put to death, and that Christ would reign over our mortal bodies—that we would be shaped and conformed more to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As we thought about last Sunday morning, this is what it means to keep watch. And in this, we are striving to enter that rest. This is why the Lord Jesus says we are to watch and pray. We are to pray. Any time there is teaching, exhortation, or discussion surrounding the subject of prayer, it should feel like a great burden—though we are coming to the Lord Jesus and finding rest. But equally, we know that the subject of prayer is often a rebuke, a challenge, even a warning. We know, as Christians, that we are to be a praying people. We know that we will never, ever, ever on a single day in our lives say, “I prayed too much.” This is what we are being commanded to do. In the face of our weak flesh, the struggles all around us, and the ways by which the enemy seeks to devour—we are to pray.

It is why Jesus instructs us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” We are praying that the Lord would keep us, shape us, and strengthen us. This is a spiritual fight. To get down on our knees and come before the Lord is absolutely fundamental in that spiritual battle and in that striving to enter that rest. You go to bed tonight, you wake up tomorrow morning, and you know there are many things to be done, many challenges you are facing, many temptations you are seeking to overcome. So we come to a verse like this: “Watch and pray,” as we strive, as we make haste to enter that rest—to know in our souls, “I am at rest in Jesus Christ.”

This is why it is such a blessing and so important to have time with our church family—to have our fellow brothers and sisters with whom we are cultivating closer and deeper Christian fellowship and union. They can be an encouragement and support in the fact that our flesh is weak. We need each other, because the Lord has ordained it so—that we have a church family through which we can be built up and grow in our faith as we strive to enter that rest.

One other point regarding striving to enter that rest is this: the opposition is real. Turn with me to Luke 21. The opposition is real. Luke 21:16 says, “You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for My name’s sake.” Now think about what Israel did under Moses’ leadership. They looked across the River Jordan to the promised land and saw that it sparked trouble. There were big, bad enemies lying between them and the promises of God. This is the fleshly thinking of Israel. The opposition is real. So what did Israel do? And what do many do today in the name of Christianity? They say, “Best to sit down and settle. That would be our rest.” And this is where that ends.

Now, is that the Christian life the Lord Jesus speaks of in passages like Luke 21? All too often, we have people full of good intentions who seek to stand upon what they claim to believe. But when the reality is spelled out, they turn back and find spiritual excuses to justify their actions. “Oh yes, we need to be wise here. There are giants in Canaan. God wouldn’t want us to risk our lives like that. Now isn’t the time to fight. Let’s keep praying about it.” Brothers and sisters, this is the opposition.

This is why the Apostle Paul exhorts us in 1 Corinthians 15:58: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.” The Church of Jesus Christ must stand upon conviction—not emotion—and not be tossed about by every wind and wave of doctrine. This is precisely what the enemy seeks to secure. This is the opposition—the way by which he so easily devours the Church of Jesus Christ in a land like ours. Compromise on the truth, find a spiritual justification for it, and move in a direction where, instead of resting in Christ, you are resting in the world. You are resting even in the arms of the evil one.

That is how Israel fell. That was their disobedience. They grumbled, they grew angry, and they turned aggressively against Moses. But ultimately, their aggression, their anger, their disdain was against God. So yes, it is a difficult path. Yes, our flesh is weak. And yes, the opposition is real. But, brothers and sisters, the call of our faith to enter that rest is not passive—it is active. Ecclesiastes 5:12 says, “Sweet is the sleep of a labourer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.” In our salvation in Christ, we do have rest now. But we are also called, in Hebrews 4:11, to strive—to press forward.

This is the yoke of Christ that we take upon ourselves. It is easy. Christ’s burden is light. And the reason is because Christ is victorious. In this, we know and experience that spiritual resting, because Christ is the One who is triumphant. Even where we are faithless, we know that He is faithful (2 Timothy 2:13). There is coming a day—a glorious day—when we will enter that final rest and be with our Lord in glory forever. Until that day, we are exhorted to strive to enter the rest that we have by salvation in Christ and in Christ alone. It is a call to faith, trusting in Him, even though the path may be difficult, even though the desires of the flesh may be real and daunting, even though we know our flesh is weak, and even though we know the opposition is real.

Christ has overcome the grave. He is victorious. And He is that rest. He is that perfect joy and satisfaction. By repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, we have—we enter—we strive to enter that rest in Him and in Him alone.