THE SWORD HELPS US ENTER

December 6, 2009 pm
MF Blume
Hebrews 4:1-3 KJV  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.  (2)  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.  (3)  For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

Hebrews 4:11-12 KJV  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.  (12)  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

THE SWORD HELPS YOU ENTER

Notice the emphasis on the REST.

A rest is when there is no work.
  • You can sit down.
  • Standing means work is never done.
Hebrews 10:11-14 KJV  And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:  (12)  But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;  (13)  From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.  (14)  For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

And the GREATEST rest we ever read about is how JESUS FINISHED THE WORK required to COMPLETE or PERFECT US, and SAT DOWN.

He had so much confidence the work was done, that He sat down expecting enemies to be made his footstool.
  • So the work is related to dealing with our enemies.
  • And the work is done.
  • Jesus KNOWS the work he accomplished dealt with his enemies to such an extent that efveryone of them will be made his footstool, and he need not lift another finger to see that fulfilled.

Whatever need you have from God, the work to provide it for you IS FINISHED.
  • That does not mean you have to sit there and never pray and never hear preaching in church and never read the bible.
  • It means anything you required God to do for you has been done.  
  • Now just proceed to take what God provided and USE IT.

So when you think of entering THE REST, think of taking hold of ANY PROMISE God provided for you for any need you might ever have.
  • And think of it as going in to REST ON THAT PROMISE, having the faith that HE WILL PROVIDE!

So this all makes sense, now.
  • How can you ENTER A REST IN HIS PROMISES by having UNBELIEF?
  • If you have Unbelief, YOU CANNOT REST in his promises.
  • RESTING takes great faith.

And the WORD is the SWORD THAT IS THERE at the entrance to your land of promises, to cut away that unbelief so YOU CAN REST.


Think of THE GARDEN where ALL WORK WAS DONE for Adam.
  • And keep in mind the GARDEN had a SWORD at the entrance, like Hebrews 4 says a SWORD is there for us to ENTER THE REST.
  • The sword is there to HELP US ENTER, not block us out.
  • IT KEEPS OUT UNBELIEF, not us!
Genesis 3:17-19 KJV  And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;  (18)  Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;  (19)  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Getting back into the Garden would be rest.
  • God planted the trees and God supplied all Adam needed to llive.
  • But outside the Garden man had to plant.
Genesis 2:8-9 KJV  And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.  (9)  And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.


Canaan was also consider a REST like the Garden.
Deuteronomy 6:10-11 KJV  (10)  And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,  (11)  And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;

So ENTERING the REST requires a WORK TO BE DONE - but not to provide us with what we need.
  • It is to remove the element that keeps us out of the REST.
  • It is the work of mixing our FAITH with the WORD that works like a SWORD.
  • So the SWORD at the Garden entrance stands for something we require in order to get back in!
  • It is not soemthing to keep us out!
  • It is something we require to get back in or else we cannot get back in!
Hebrews 4: (12) For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Notice that the SWORD cuts EVEN TO -- the ultimate ability it has -- to divide spirit and soul, and disscern our thoughts!

This is VITAL!

Unbelief kept Israel out of Canaan.
  • Labour to GET THIS SWORD and let it cut.
Hebrews 4:3 KJV  For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

WE WHO BELIEVE enter in.
  • Labour with the sword of the word is encouraged by telling us this sword is sharper than any other two edged sword since it CAN DIVIDE AND DISCERN OUR VERY Thoughts.
  • And I need that kind of sword to cut because it will seek out and destroy every thought inside me that is UNBELIEF.

Unbelief kept Israel out of Canaan.
  • Unbelief will keep us out of the REST.
  • And if we want to go back inot the rest like the Garden, we need something that can successfully root out every bit of unbelief there is.

Verse 3 mentioned the works finished from the foundation of the world.

THIS TAKES US BACK TO GENESIS just as we have been led by the Spirit to do.
Revelation 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

Revelation 19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

The WORD is like a SWORD FROM HIS MOUTH.

REVELATION means UNVEILING.
  • And it takes a SWORD to remove the VEIL over your heart.
  • So in the first vision in REVELATION is the thing that God put above all His name symbolized BY A SWORD from His mouth -- HIS WORD.
John 6:29 KJV  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

We all know good works do not save us.
  • That means all your good efforts you do in hopes God will see enough of them to let you into heaven are useless.
  • He is NOT LOOKING FOR GOOD DEEDS.

But what Jesus said could confuse some people.

This LABOUR to BELIEVE is not the same as salvation by Works.
  • Salvation by works refers strictly to proviuding yourself salvation without anyone's help.
  • As though you did not need the cross to save you, but either your own works without the cross or the cross PLUS your works.
  • No.  
  • BELIEVE to save us means YOU HAVE FAITH IN WHAT GOD SAID WAS DONE BY HIMSELF TO SAVE YOU.

It is also interesting that Cherubims were around the sword in Genesis 3 just as cherubims were on the Ark of the covenant AROUND WHERE GOD SPOKE to Israel on the mercyseat.
  • And in order for the word to cause Faith -- faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word -- there needs to be cutting.
  • But there is a reminder of the entrance to the Garden when you see the ark where the voice of God spoke from between the cherubims.
Exodus 25:22 KJV  And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

Numbers 7:89 KJV  And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with him, then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy seat that was upon the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubims: and he spake unto him.

2 Samuel 6:2 KJV  And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the LORD of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims.

All these instances say GOD dwelled between the Cherubims.

And the septuagint version of Genesis 3:25 is as follows:

COMPARE

Genesis 3:25 And he cast out Adam and caused him to dwell over against the garden of Delight, and stationed the cherubs and the fiery sword that turns about to keep the way of the tree of life.

Genesis 3:24 KJV  So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.



The meaning is that GOD CAUSED HIMSELF to dwell (TABERNACLE) AGAINST the Garden.  

Paul said some more words that connect us with the sword.
2 Corinthians 3:13-16 And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: (14) But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. (15) But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. (16) Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.

The veil is OVER OUR HEARTS.
  • And when we turn our hearts to the LORD - THE SWORD - THE WORD - CUTS THE VEIL OFF.
  • Rips it open.
  • OUR MINDS ARE BLINDED.
  • You cannot see if EYES blinded, and you cannot understand if MIND is blinded.
  • VEILED.
2 Corinthians 4:4 KJV  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

The veil is the UNBELIEF that covers our hearts.
  • The veil is the HINDERING FACTOR.
Deuteronomy 10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

Deuteronomy 30:6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
Jeremiah 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Romans 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

And something beautiful happens when you you let that SWORD cut away the VEIL FROM YOUR HEART.

My heart must be fully freed from the veil.
  • I want to believe God for everything He can do.
2 Corinthians 3:16-17 KJV  (16)  Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.  (17)  Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

After Paul spoke in 2 Cor 3 ABOUT removing the veil when we turn our hearts to Jesus, look what else he says:
2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The image of God is caked over with unbelief and fleshliness.
  • Let the sword cut away all the unbelief and leave the image of God so we can enter in.

Walk right on into the sword.
  • It will start cutting away the unbelief.
  • Leaves the IMAGE!


This is why the SPIRIT gives liberty,
  • We are liberated from the veil.
  • From unbelief.
Romans 6:11 KJV  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Jesus is a door.
  • He is the door as well the sword.
  • Put the two together.
  • Sword at the entrance.
  • Reckoning is Telling us to BELIEVE WE ARE INVOLVED in something powerful.
  • It is considering YOURSELF in the equation.

Reckoning means we go through the door, Jesus, and let the sword of His word CUT away unbelief and realize ourselves to be dead and alive to God!
Joshua 5:13 KJV  And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?

At the entrance to Canaan was  a SWORD.