Be diligent with the word to know it love it believe it trust it in it, be satisfied by it unless you become an unbeliever

and don't enter the rest of God. For, the Word of God is living and active and sharp and penetrates to the bottom of your life and reveals what's worth trusting and not trusting.

So why must we be diligent with the word of God?

John Piper opens Hebrew 4, 12 and 13

to show us how the scriptures help us fight

in unbelieving heart.

This sermon was originally preached at Bethlehem Baptist Church on September 8th, 1996.

Now before I read these two verses, I want to read verse 11 and make sure that we understand

the connection between verses 11, which we ended on last week, and verse 12.

Verse 11 says, let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest. Now the rest he's talking about is the

restful salvation of God being forgiven, being welcomed into God's fellowship and ultimately into heaven when we die.

So be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience.

Now whose example is it talking about?

Who's he talking about?

Remember, he's talking about the example of the Israelites in the wilderness

who didn't enter the rest of God.

They fell in the wilderness instead of entering the promised land,

which was symbolic of the ultimate rest,

and would have been a wonderful temporal rest. Chapter 3, verse 19. So we see that they were not able to

enter because of unbelief. Unbelief is what kept them out of the rest. Unbelief is the essence of the disobedience in verse 11. Unbelief in what?

And the answer is given in verse 2 of chapter 4, we have had good news preach to us,

just as they also, namely the Israelites, had good news preach to them just as they also.

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