And God Rested

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.960 --> 00:00:04.960 If you would please remain standing and let's hear God's Word now from Genesis, 2 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:24.980 Chapter Two, verses one through three. Genesis two, verses one through three. 3 00:00:25.660 --> 00:00:30.980 This is the word of God. Thus the heavens and the Earth were 4 00:00:31.019 --> 00:00:35.340 finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God 5 00:00:35.500 --> 00:00:40.009 finished his work that he had done and he rested on the seventh day from 6 00:00:40.009 --> 00:00:45.170 all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and 7 00:00:45.409 --> 00:00:49.570 made it wholly because on it God rested from all his work that he had 8 00:00:49.649 --> 00:00:55.320 done in creation. May God bless this to us. You may be seated 9 00:01:06.790 --> 00:01:10.989 well. As we hear in Genesis two, verses one through three, these 10 00:01:11.230 --> 00:01:15.269 acts of God, his finishing the work of creation and then resting, of 11 00:01:15.469 --> 00:01:21.819 blessing and making the day wholly hum we are reminded, of course, of 12 00:01:21.980 --> 00:01:26.659 our own need to rest. We all know that we need to rest. 13 00:01:26.780 --> 00:01:33.329 We know how important it is, we know how necessary rest is. Today, 14 00:01:33.609 --> 00:01:36.969 of course, is mother's Day, and is there anyone who knows the 15 00:01:37.090 --> 00:01:42.370 importance of rest more and desires it more than a mom? Our mothers, 16 00:01:42.409 --> 00:01:47.049 of course, are the ones that teach us from early on how important it 17 00:01:47.159 --> 00:01:52.159 is to get to bed how much we need a good night sleep and how 18 00:01:52.239 --> 00:01:57.200 will feel so much better in the morning. But of course, even as 19 00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:00.359 she says these things, we learn as adults, we know that she is 20 00:02:00.469 --> 00:02:05.989 longing for them herself. She knows how much you need to go to bed 21 00:02:06.069 --> 00:02:08.870 because she knows how much she needs to go to bed. She knows how 22 00:02:09.110 --> 00:02:14.310 tired she is and how desperately she wants to be free of your care for 23 00:02:14.509 --> 00:02:19.780 just a little while so that she can recoup. That is to say, 24 00:02:19.860 --> 00:02:23.340 then, when it comes to rest, we're all in this together, children 25 00:02:23.580 --> 00:02:30.370 and parents, young ones, adults, all of us. We all share 26 00:02:30.490 --> 00:02:36.810 this common need and this desire for rest. But it's not just sleep that 27 00:02:36.930 --> 00:02:42.009 we need. The rest that we need goes deeper than that. We want 28 00:02:42.129 --> 00:02:45.719 rest for our bodies, of course, but but also for our souls. 29 00:02:46.919 --> 00:02:51.120 It's why, even though our MOM's may be very tired at the end of 30 00:02:51.159 --> 00:02:55.039 the day, she might stay up an extra hour just to unwind before she 31 00:02:55.199 --> 00:03:00.430 sleeps. That's why one of the number one selling APPs in the iphone store 32 00:03:00.909 --> 00:03:06.150 was an APP that helps you get the most out of your sleep, not 33 00:03:06.349 --> 00:03:07.949 just to help you get to sleep, but to get the most out of 34 00:03:08.030 --> 00:03:15.379 it, to be most restful, most rejuvenating, most refreshing. So it's 35 00:03:15.460 --> 00:03:19.580 not that we just want rest. We want something more than that, and 36 00:03:19.699 --> 00:03:27.409 rightfully so. We want refreshment, we want meaning as well. We want 37 00:03:27.449 --> 00:03:30.569 our work to be finished in a way that we can sort of breathe freely 38 00:03:30.729 --> 00:03:36.650 and and be satisfied with, to say that that was a good job, 39 00:03:37.370 --> 00:03:43.879 I did a good thing, it's completed and I can rest. We want 40 00:03:43.879 --> 00:03:47.240 our moments of rest not to be mere sleep, but to be meaningful and 41 00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:53.639 refreshing, whether it's a week end break or a midyear vacation or just a 42 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:58.789 good night's sleep. We want our work not just to end, but to 43 00:03:58.830 --> 00:04:02.389 end in a satisfying way. We want our work not just to stop, 44 00:04:03.509 --> 00:04:08.669 but we want to rest in peace, as we say at the end of 45 00:04:08.830 --> 00:04:15.699 life. Genesis two, one through three explains why this need is so deeply 46 00:04:15.860 --> 00:04:21.259 in us. It explains this need for meaningful, refreshing rest. It helps 47 00:04:21.300 --> 00:04:27.970 us understand why we are the way we are. As you will see, 48 00:04:29.089 --> 00:04:33.050 God worked and rested in the way he did, not because he was tired, 49 00:04:34.129 --> 00:04:39.759 not because he ran out of energy, but to set a pattern for 50 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:46.600 us. God worked and rested in this refreshing and meaningful way to set a 51 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:50.920 pattern of life for us, a pattern for us to follow, a law 52 00:04:51.079 --> 00:04:57.949 to obey and a reward to enjoy. You work as I have commanded, 53 00:04:58.069 --> 00:05:02.509 to be fruitful, multiply rule as I have commanded, and you will enjoy 54 00:05:02.750 --> 00:05:11.420 this satisfying rest. Work as I did and rest as I did. But 55 00:05:11.500 --> 00:05:15.459 we have to be careful as we consider this, this pattern God gives us 56 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:20.889 to follow, because it's not an optional pattern. These instructions for life are 57 00:05:20.930 --> 00:05:26.370 not like the instructions for a new set of legos. They're not optional. 58 00:05:27.050 --> 00:05:30.170 You won't be considered a master builder if you decide to take another path or 59 00:05:30.529 --> 00:05:34.839 figure out a way on your own. You will be a failure. If 60 00:05:34.920 --> 00:05:40.199 you do not do as God has required, your work will not be blessed, 61 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:45.560 but will be cursed instead. Of course, you know this already. 62 00:05:46.120 --> 00:05:50.269 The reason you feel the need for rest so deeply, the reason refreshing rest 63 00:05:50.310 --> 00:05:55.910 is not optional as because God did not just establish a pattern that you might 64 00:05:55.949 --> 00:06:00.589 follow, but that you must follow. That is why we need it. 65 00:06:00.750 --> 00:06:04.620 It is ingrained in us, it is a part of us. It's established 66 00:06:04.699 --> 00:06:11.660 this way because of the particular relationship God put us in the particular way in 67 00:06:11.699 --> 00:06:15.980 which he institutes these things. So let's look at Genesis two, one through 68 00:06:15.980 --> 00:06:21.329 three and see both what it is God did and what it is he made 69 00:06:21.329 --> 00:06:28.970 us to do. So first let's consider very carefully what it is God did. 70 00:06:30.490 --> 00:06:33.279 The first thing we have to say is that God created the world and 71 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:40.600 finished it. It finished it. We start here because this is so clearly 72 00:06:40.759 --> 00:06:46.639 and so obviously a major point of these three verses. You get this in 73 00:06:46.040 --> 00:06:51.910 in all kinds of ways. Notice the repetition of this phrase. Were finished. 74 00:06:53.149 --> 00:06:56.910 The these verses begin this way. Thus, the heavens and the Earth 75 00:06:57.149 --> 00:07:01.220 were finished, and all the host of them here were reminded that the world 76 00:07:01.420 --> 00:07:08.860 came into existence and was completed by God. This is remarkable on several accounts. 77 00:07:09.500 --> 00:07:13.500 We could spend all day reflecting on just this one thing, but consider 78 00:07:13.660 --> 00:07:17.050 just a narrow, narrow thing. Consider what this means in relation to our 79 00:07:17.089 --> 00:07:24.089 own work. What can you point to in your life and say with complete 80 00:07:24.329 --> 00:07:30.439 satisfaction it is finished. What can you point to in your life and say 81 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:34.759 this thing right here, this one, maybe not this, but this one, 82 00:07:34.920 --> 00:07:39.720 this is over and I've done it well and I've done it perfectly and 83 00:07:39.800 --> 00:07:44.949 I can rest satisfied. Of course the answer is nothing. Sure you have 84 00:07:45.189 --> 00:07:49.149 completed tasks in your lives. You might have closed a sale, you might 85 00:07:49.230 --> 00:07:54.990 about to be about to get a degree or fold a basket of laundry or 86 00:07:55.310 --> 00:08:00.579 any kind of a number of things we might do, but the customer always 87 00:08:00.620 --> 00:08:05.779 wants more. Some aspects of your learning will prove to be inadequate. Even 88 00:08:05.819 --> 00:08:09.220 things you thought you had mastered. The laundry will just keep coming and coming 89 00:08:09.339 --> 00:08:13.649 and coming. There's nothing that we can ever really point to and say this 90 00:08:13.689 --> 00:08:18.850 is completed, this is finished, and I've done it perfectly and I've done 91 00:08:18.850 --> 00:08:22.850 it well, I've mastered it in a way that God speaks of his own 92 00:08:22.889 --> 00:08:30.720 work here in creation, and so this is God finishing his work. He 93 00:08:30.839 --> 00:08:35.519 doesn't just finish it, but he finishes it perfectly. And what he finishes 94 00:08:35.639 --> 00:08:39.919 as well is nothing less than the creation of the heavens and the earth. 95 00:08:41.789 --> 00:08:46.149 God did not in a degree or fold some laundry or clean some dishes or 96 00:08:46.230 --> 00:08:52.429 close a sale. He created the heavens and the earth and all the host 97 00:08:52.549 --> 00:08:56.980 that is in them and he finished that work. He finished it completely. 98 00:08:58.620 --> 00:09:03.220 This is the first action of God and we see that underlined in the following 99 00:09:03.340 --> 00:09:07.940 verses and verses two and three. On the seventh day, God finished his 100 00:09:07.100 --> 00:09:11.889 work that he had done. And again in the second half of verse two, 101 00:09:11.929 --> 00:09:16.529 and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had 102 00:09:16.649 --> 00:09:20.610 done. And then verse three. So God blessed the seventh day and made 103 00:09:20.610 --> 00:09:26.480 it holy because on it God rested from all his work that he had done. 104 00:09:30.039 --> 00:09:33.120 And as you read that and you hear that repetition, as you hear 105 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:37.990 that hit again and again and again, there's this sense of completion that comes 106 00:09:39.029 --> 00:09:46.629 even more done, done, done, done. So the point couldn't be 107 00:09:46.710 --> 00:09:50.509 more clear. God finished his work of creation. He didn't sort of do 108 00:09:50.629 --> 00:09:52.980 it, he didn't almost do it, he didn't try his best, he 109 00:09:54.059 --> 00:09:58.860 didn't create a prototype or a Beta addition to be improved upon after some testing. 110 00:09:58.580 --> 00:10:03.659 God made the heavens and the earth. He did it well, he 111 00:10:03.740 --> 00:10:09.529 did it perfectly and he finished it. So, versus one through three, 112 00:10:09.690 --> 00:10:15.090 you tell us that God finishes this work of creation, but we also hear 113 00:10:15.809 --> 00:10:20.409 what happens after he finished it. We're told that after God finished the work 114 00:10:20.490 --> 00:10:26.960 of creation, he rested. And this is so important because here we see 115 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:33.000 that there's a big difference between stopping your work and resting from it or even 116 00:10:33.039 --> 00:10:37.990 in it. The word used here, for rest, has the sense of 117 00:10:39.669 --> 00:10:46.230 breathing easy or freely, being satisfied, being refreshed, being at ease and 118 00:10:46.309 --> 00:10:50.500 light of what has been accomplished. So, as I mentioned earlier, God 119 00:10:50.539 --> 00:10:54.740 does not rest because he's tired. He rests as an expression of his self 120 00:10:54.940 --> 00:11:01.539 satisfaction of what he has done. There's no evaluation period here, no probation 121 00:11:01.820 --> 00:11:07.250 period, no product testing. God doesn't try to learn from his mistakes now 122 00:11:07.289 --> 00:11:11.169 that he's finished his work and see what he can do better next time. 123 00:11:11.250 --> 00:11:18.570 He simply rests. He finishes his work and he rests. He rests in 124 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:24.559 the perfection of his Almighty power. He rests in the perfection of his perfect 125 00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:31.240 accomplishment of his perfect will, which is to say that God rests not just 126 00:11:31.480 --> 00:11:41.789 in his work, but he rests self sufficiently in himself. The last thing 127 00:11:41.950 --> 00:11:46.990 God does is bless and consecrate the day. You see that in verse three. 128 00:11:46.980 --> 00:11:52.419 We say that God bless the seventh day and made it holy because on 129 00:11:52.539 --> 00:11:56.460 it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. Because 130 00:11:56.539 --> 00:12:00.940 of God finished his work and he rested. On that day, he blesses 131 00:12:01.019 --> 00:12:05.210 it and makes it holy. What does it mean to bless? What does 132 00:12:05.250 --> 00:12:09.450 it mean to make holy? To bless it something is to bestow good on 133 00:12:09.570 --> 00:12:16.039 it. It is an action from a superior to an inferior. In the 134 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:22.480 Bible it is this divine action most often, in which God bestows good, 135 00:12:22.360 --> 00:12:28.600 causes good to flow out from himself onto the things that he's made. The 136 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:37.269 first time we see this is in creation, in the creation of the animals 137 00:12:37.309 --> 00:12:41.549 and things that populate the waters and the skies and Exodus one hundred and twenty. 138 00:12:41.629 --> 00:12:46.379 God says, let the waters swim with swarms of living creatures and let 139 00:12:46.500 --> 00:12:50.820 birds fly above the earth across the expanse of Heaven. So God created the 140 00:12:50.899 --> 00:12:56.220 great sea creatures and having living creature that moves with which the waters swarm according 141 00:12:56.259 --> 00:13:00.970 to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind, and God 142 00:13:01.049 --> 00:13:05.730 saw that it was good and God blessed them, saying be fruitful and multiply 143 00:13:07.169 --> 00:13:11.169 and fill the waters in the seas and let birds multiply on the earth. 144 00:13:11.570 --> 00:13:16.480 It is a command that has something of a of a promise to it as 145 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:20.399 well. This thing, this intention that God has for them. He wants 146 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:26.759 these animals to be fruitful and to multiply and to fill the next time we 147 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:31.549 see this bestole of good is, of course, on man. In the 148 00:13:31.629 --> 00:13:35.909 sixth day, God creates man, male and female, and he calls them, 149 00:13:37.509 --> 00:13:41.350 blessing them, and calls them to do similarly, to be fruitful and 150 00:13:41.429 --> 00:13:46.419 multiply, and we read this in Verse Twenty Eight of Chapter One. And 151 00:13:46.580 --> 00:13:50.259 God bless them and said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth 152 00:13:50.299 --> 00:13:54.460 and subdue it. But here we see also that they're not just equal in 153 00:13:54.539 --> 00:13:56.690 the animals in this but they rule over the animals. Part of this, 154 00:13:58.610 --> 00:14:03.889 this command includes this have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds 155 00:14:03.929 --> 00:14:07.970 of the heavens and over every living creature, over every living thing that moves 156 00:14:09.610 --> 00:14:13.039 on the earth. And so in this blessing, in this bestole of good, 157 00:14:13.159 --> 00:14:20.919 we see God's this desire, this command, this will of God for 158 00:14:20.519 --> 00:14:26.509 mankind. If we continue to trace this word. We won't do that now, 159 00:14:26.070 --> 00:14:30.149 but if you continue to trace this word throughout genesis, you'll see it 160 00:14:30.269 --> 00:14:35.750 connected in very specific ways. I'm to God's promises to his people after the 161 00:14:35.830 --> 00:14:43.379 fall of man. I'm God blesses Shem, the Noah, then Ham and 162 00:14:43.580 --> 00:14:48.220 then Abraham. And when God gets to Abraham, if you're too if you 163 00:14:48.259 --> 00:14:50.620 were to do a search of this word, you'll see that all of a 164 00:14:50.700 --> 00:14:54.730 sudden this word starts happening a lot. Bless bless, bless, bless, 165 00:14:54.769 --> 00:15:00.090 bless, blessed, blessed all throughout Genesis, Chapter Twelve, throughout the story 166 00:15:00.169 --> 00:15:03.330 of Abraham and Abraham's sons, when God makes this promise to them, this 167 00:15:03.529 --> 00:15:09.720 covenant of Grace, he begins to, I'm cause this blessing to really out 168 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:16.080 out pour in a special way. He Bestows Approval, He Bestows Peace, 169 00:15:16.200 --> 00:15:22.549 He bestows temporal blessings, eternal blessings and promises. Well, this word blessing 170 00:15:22.669 --> 00:15:28.269 that is poured out on these creatures is here poured out on a day, 171 00:15:28.190 --> 00:15:33.110 the seventh day. God blesses the seventh day. He Pours Out Good, 172 00:15:33.309 --> 00:15:41.500 bestows good on this day, and he also makes it holy. To make 173 00:15:41.659 --> 00:15:46.820 it holy, to make something holy is to consecrate it unto God. It's 174 00:15:46.899 --> 00:15:50.769 to set it apart, and so here we see God setting apart the day 175 00:15:50.250 --> 00:15:58.409 for himself. There are some contraries to holy. One is unh holy. 176 00:15:58.929 --> 00:16:03.009 Obviously but also common. I'm things that are not are common, are not 177 00:16:03.250 --> 00:16:07.559 holy. But God here takes a day. The other days were good, 178 00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:11.000 one, two, three, four, five, six, but on the 179 00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:17.159 seventh day he makes it holy, special, he sets it apart, unto 180 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:23.950 himself, for his special honor, for his special use. Holiness will come, 181 00:16:25.110 --> 00:16:27.710 this word will come to be filled with meaning as you continue to read 182 00:16:27.830 --> 00:16:33.179 throughout the Bible and throughout the first five books and in particular, we see 183 00:16:33.220 --> 00:16:40.340 it illustrated in all kinds of ways. Holiness illustrated in Old Testament worship and 184 00:16:40.500 --> 00:16:45.980 the beauty and transcendence of the temple, in God's purity and election, in 185 00:16:47.210 --> 00:16:52.129 worship and holiness and perfection. God himself is called holy and Isaiah, six, 186 00:16:52.289 --> 00:16:56.409 three, holy, Holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. This 187 00:16:56.690 --> 00:17:03.480 holiness is then given to this day, not at set apart from God, 188 00:17:03.599 --> 00:17:11.039 but but unto God. And so we see God making the seventh day because 189 00:17:11.160 --> 00:17:15.150 of the way that he finishes his work and he rests. He makes it 190 00:17:15.349 --> 00:17:22.029 special by blessing it, by making it holy. And one other wail tack 191 00:17:22.150 --> 00:17:27.630 on, if I might, by make it the seventh. There's no particular 192 00:17:27.789 --> 00:17:33.220 reason it had to be the seventh the fact that it's the seventh really stands 193 00:17:33.299 --> 00:17:38.900 out. Among all the world's of various religions, most often holy days, 194 00:17:40.140 --> 00:17:45.849 consecrated days, days that are set aside onto to God or to false gods, 195 00:17:45.329 --> 00:17:52.970 are days that correspond with other things, like calendars in particular months, 196 00:17:53.250 --> 00:17:57.490 years, cycles of the sun, comments, all kinds of things. There 197 00:17:57.529 --> 00:18:03.640 doesn't seem to be any particular reason that it's set on the seventh, except 198 00:18:03.720 --> 00:18:10.160 that God rested on that day and made it holy. And in this we 199 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:15.390 see the great sovereignty of God. We see him setting, by his own 200 00:18:15.589 --> 00:18:19.150 perfect and holy will, a number that will come to symbolize a number of 201 00:18:19.349 --> 00:18:25.190 perfection and scripture, of wholeness and completion. And so in all kinds of 202 00:18:25.349 --> 00:18:30.900 ways, God is signifying that this day is special because of the work that 203 00:18:30.980 --> 00:18:34.980 he had done and the rest that he had entered into. So this is 204 00:18:36.019 --> 00:18:40.099 the work that God did. He finished his work of creation, he wrested 205 00:18:40.220 --> 00:18:45.089 from it, he blessed this day and he made it holy. Now how 206 00:18:45.089 --> 00:18:49.970 does this relate to man? There's nothing here that explicitly tells us this is 207 00:18:51.049 --> 00:18:53.450 for man, but there are several things that we might consider, both from 208 00:18:53.529 --> 00:19:00.160 genesis and from other passages in scripture. First, remember that this didn't just 209 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:06.559 happen in the abstract. This is happening in time and in space on the 210 00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:11.390 seventh day. And you remember who was created right before the seventh day? 211 00:19:11.150 --> 00:19:15.349 It was man. We might say in a certain sense, that what the 212 00:19:15.470 --> 00:19:19.750 things that God is doing and saying here on the seventh day are coming within 213 00:19:19.910 --> 00:19:25.059 earshot of the one that he has made, this one that he has called 214 00:19:25.180 --> 00:19:27.660 to bear his image and to work after is is the one whom he is 215 00:19:27.740 --> 00:19:33.420 seeing his Lord, his commander, his sovereign, his maker, working and 216 00:19:33.859 --> 00:19:40.089 then resting. This pattern is made explicit in other places in scripture, liken 217 00:19:40.170 --> 00:19:45.970 at in the Ten Commandments and Exodus Chapter Twenty. We read in Exodus Twenty, 218 00:19:45.009 --> 00:19:49.890 verse eight, remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy. Six 219 00:19:49.930 --> 00:19:55.519 days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is 220 00:19:55.599 --> 00:19:59.920 a Sabbath to Jehovah, your God. On it you shall not do any 221 00:19:59.960 --> 00:20:03.839 work, you or your son or your daughter, your male servant or your 222 00:20:03.880 --> 00:20:07.869 female servant, or your live stock or the soul journer who is within your 223 00:20:07.950 --> 00:20:14.069 gates. For here's the reason why. For in six days Jehovah Made Heaven 224 00:20:14.109 --> 00:20:17.430 and Earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on 225 00:20:17.470 --> 00:20:21.579 the seventh day. Therefore, the whole of a blessed the Sabbath Day and 226 00:20:21.779 --> 00:20:26.859 made it holy. And so God explicitly tells us what, how was happening 227 00:20:26.900 --> 00:20:30.299 in the beginning of creation, a kind of cycle that Israel is called to 228 00:20:30.380 --> 00:20:34.099 repeat over and over and over again in their lives. Work, then wet 229 00:20:34.180 --> 00:20:37.650 rest, work then rest, work than rest. This is the pattern that 230 00:20:37.769 --> 00:20:42.329 God is set. Because he did things this way, you shall follow after 231 00:20:42.450 --> 00:20:48.529 this. There's one more thing I want to point your attention to, back 232 00:20:48.650 --> 00:20:52.720 in Genesis two one through three, and that goes back to this blessing and 233 00:20:52.839 --> 00:20:59.240 making holy. Remember that God blessed the day. He bestows good on it. 234 00:20:59.640 --> 00:21:04.910 But we might ask in what sense? On the day or on the 235 00:21:06.029 --> 00:21:10.910 other or on the day for those who would follow after him? God bless 236 00:21:11.069 --> 00:21:15.509 the Sabbath Day for our good. He pours out good in particular for us. 237 00:21:17.430 --> 00:21:21.900 The fact that God is blessing the day in genesis two three is immediately 238 00:21:22.099 --> 00:21:26.420 reminding us and telling us of our connection with it. As Jesus puts it, 239 00:21:27.220 --> 00:21:33.529 the Sabbath was made for man. The Sabbath was made for man. 240 00:21:34.009 --> 00:21:38.009 The same is true for God, making it holy. It shows us that 241 00:21:38.130 --> 00:21:42.369 our rest is to be found not in our own working, ultimately, even 242 00:21:42.410 --> 00:21:48.400 though we may follow after God in this pattern, but we rest in his 243 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:55.640 rest. We enjoy our rest as we find it in God. So as 244 00:21:55.680 --> 00:21:57.880 we think of all of these things, as we think of this work that 245 00:21:59.039 --> 00:22:03.349 God did and the way that he did this work and the context of this 246 00:22:03.509 --> 00:22:07.589 relationship with Adam and eve and all of those of us who come after them, 247 00:22:07.589 --> 00:22:12.990 we again we begin to get a very serious and robust explanation for why 248 00:22:14.230 --> 00:22:18.259 you feel the way you feel, why you need the rest you need, 249 00:22:18.099 --> 00:22:23.940 because you were made for this, because God specifically established our relationship with you 250 00:22:25.700 --> 00:22:30.250 in this way, a relationship that you can't opt into or opt out of. 251 00:22:30.730 --> 00:22:37.450 You simply belong to it by virtue of your being made and called to 252 00:22:37.569 --> 00:22:44.009 follow after him. It explains why things are the way they are and why 253 00:22:44.130 --> 00:22:52.200 you feel the way you feel, but what it doesn't explain is why it 254 00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:59.309 doesn't work. It doesn't explain why, despite all your longing and your yearning 255 00:22:59.470 --> 00:23:06.710 for peace, you never find the rest and you never will it never it 256 00:23:06.789 --> 00:23:10.869 doesn't explain to us why, despite your longing, in your yearning for peace 257 00:23:10.990 --> 00:23:15.140 and rest, you also hunger after the very opposite of those things. Why, 258 00:23:15.140 --> 00:23:18.299 when you want peace, you go to war and why, when you 259 00:23:18.339 --> 00:23:23.099 want rest, you work harder? And why, even in the most the 260 00:23:23.259 --> 00:23:27.930 times when you have the greatest opportunities to rest, even as we typically define 261 00:23:29.049 --> 00:23:33.690 them, long periods of vacation or things like that, you find yourself compulsively 262 00:23:33.769 --> 00:23:41.289 checking your email and trying to get something done and being productive even in it. 263 00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:47.359 And some really interesting articles lately by David Zol he makes this great insight 264 00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:53.200 that lately we've been coopting our rest, even for work. We can't even 265 00:23:53.240 --> 00:23:59.470 rest any more for rest's sake, but we optimize it, we calculate it, 266 00:23:59.750 --> 00:24:03.029 we do the best we can to make our rest good for work, 267 00:24:04.190 --> 00:24:07.869 as if it's only purpose is just to allow us to work. All the 268 00:24:07.990 --> 00:24:12.579 more. Why do should you rest because you'll be more productive later in the 269 00:24:12.660 --> 00:24:18.099 week? You see, in this sense, are continual striving over and over 270 00:24:18.259 --> 00:24:29.289 and over, even in our resting. There's so many ways in which God 271 00:24:29.690 --> 00:24:33.490 calls us to this rest, and then we pervert and go after other things 272 00:24:34.849 --> 00:24:40.440 we pursued in our own way. We fail to even understand what it is 273 00:24:40.799 --> 00:24:45.119 is. We pursue after other ends and perhaps worst of all, we pursue 274 00:24:45.160 --> 00:24:49.079 them in our own means. God causes us to follow after him, to 275 00:24:49.240 --> 00:24:55.109 rest in him, to find our joy and our satisfaction and our peace and 276 00:24:55.190 --> 00:24:59.549 our refreshment in him and in the things that he has done and our being 277 00:24:59.950 --> 00:25:04.390 and are following after him. But what did Adam and Eve do? What 278 00:25:04.549 --> 00:25:10.940 do we do? Did they find their self their satisfaction in God and in 279 00:25:11.019 --> 00:25:14.980 himself? Know, they sought it in their own power and in their own 280 00:25:14.980 --> 00:25:19.940 ways. They wanted to rest not in God but in themselves and in their 281 00:25:21.099 --> 00:25:27.049 work. And because of this it is great sin, it is great disobedience. 282 00:25:29.369 --> 00:25:32.410 And what ends up happening, of course, and it's a yet another 283 00:25:32.529 --> 00:25:37.079 explanation for why we can't rest the way we want to, why a good 284 00:25:37.079 --> 00:25:41.599 nap is always sort of elusive and always hoping for the next thing. It's 285 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:51.869 because of punishment, and it's not only a just punishment for failing to obey 286 00:25:51.950 --> 00:25:55.150 God and work as he has called us to work and then rest as he 287 00:25:55.190 --> 00:26:00.670 has called us to rest. It's also a necessary punishment. How can man 288 00:26:00.869 --> 00:26:04.900 rest in the holiness of God when he's not resting in God and his blessing, 289 00:26:06.579 --> 00:26:08.940 but striving after his own way and wanting to find his own path and 290 00:26:10.059 --> 00:26:15.299 doing his own things. When man wants to sin instead of obey and then 291 00:26:15.420 --> 00:26:18.569 find true peace and rest in that, apart from God, it is of 292 00:26:18.690 --> 00:26:25.170 course a necessary punishment that rest would be taken away from him. True rest 293 00:26:25.250 --> 00:26:29.609 is rest in God, and man wants rest in himself, and so man 294 00:26:29.730 --> 00:26:37.200 will not receive rest, but will receive curse instead. All this to say 295 00:26:37.480 --> 00:26:41.599 you can strive all you want, but nothing's going to come of it. 296 00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:47.910 In the fall, your internal wiring has all been twisted up and corrupted, 297 00:26:48.029 --> 00:26:52.789 that the closer you come to understanding what true peace and what true rest is, 298 00:26:52.589 --> 00:26:57.710 the more you will separate it like a magnet hitting its polar opposite, 299 00:26:59.150 --> 00:27:03.259 moving you, repelling you away. You will continue your striving, you will 300 00:27:03.339 --> 00:27:07.940 continue your cursed work and you're even in your resting, you will find that 301 00:27:08.019 --> 00:27:14.140 you are continually lacking and wanting. This is man stayed in the fall. 302 00:27:14.579 --> 00:27:18.769 This is what sin and disobedience brings. It explains both why we want rest 303 00:27:18.849 --> 00:27:23.769 so bad but why we don't have it. It's a part of the curse 304 00:27:25.930 --> 00:27:30.559 and it's a part of our messed up insides, are bentedness away from the 305 00:27:30.680 --> 00:27:37.559 things of God. But God, in His grace and in His mercy, 306 00:27:38.720 --> 00:27:47.029 provides a solution to this problem. God gives us the rest that you cannot 307 00:27:47.109 --> 00:27:53.109 obtain. He fulfills the work that he has called you to do. He 308 00:27:53.269 --> 00:27:59.220 blesses you in the midst of your curse. How does he do this? 309 00:28:00.819 --> 00:28:03.500 He does it by, in the fullness of time, sending the Lord, 310 00:28:03.539 --> 00:28:07.740 Jesus Christ, who is called in the Gospel the Lord of the Sabbath, 311 00:28:08.500 --> 00:28:15.170 the Lord of peace, of rest. And he is the Lord of the 312 00:28:15.250 --> 00:28:19.170 Sabbath not only because he is the one who created all things and rested, 313 00:28:19.890 --> 00:28:25.690 the one who instituted the sabbath and calls it his own, but he's also 314 00:28:25.730 --> 00:28:30.160 the Lord of the Sabbath and the way that he brings us cursed, wretched, 315 00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:36.279 sinful people that can't recognize rest and, when they do, flee from 316 00:28:36.359 --> 00:28:40.839 it, and he takes us in our curse and in all of our sinful 317 00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:51.589 working and he gives to US peace. God comes in Jesus Christ and he 318 00:28:51.670 --> 00:28:56.220 fulfills the law that we were unable to fulfill. He obeys God in the 319 00:28:56.259 --> 00:29:02.099 way that he called, that God originally called man to obey. He does 320 00:29:02.140 --> 00:29:07.220 it perfectly, he does it completely and more than that, he also endures 321 00:29:07.380 --> 00:29:14.890 the Anti Sabbath, the Anti Resting, he endures the curse on the Cross 322 00:29:15.450 --> 00:29:18.250 and the death and the wrath and all of those things that can were poured 323 00:29:18.329 --> 00:29:25.200 out on him for us. And do you remember what he says? It 324 00:29:25.400 --> 00:29:33.200 is finished, it is finished, and it does finished. Jesus Christ finished 325 00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:37.799 the work, not just that God did in creation, that he did in 326 00:29:37.960 --> 00:29:42.069 creation, but now he is finishing the work of redemption, of salvation, 327 00:29:42.549 --> 00:29:51.150 of bringing cursed, unrestful, ungrateful people into peace, into blessing and into 328 00:29:51.190 --> 00:29:57.900 holiness. When God created the world, he established this eternal law and rule 329 00:29:59.019 --> 00:30:03.779 for man, but because of the fall, man was going to eternally break 330 00:30:03.980 --> 00:30:08.650 that rule and fail to obtain that blessing, earning for him curse and still 331 00:30:08.849 --> 00:30:12.970 in curse for himself. Instead. This would be, of course, in 332 00:30:14.130 --> 00:30:21.720 temporal expressions of this, lost naps, lost sleep, bad vacations, frustrations 333 00:30:21.839 --> 00:30:26.039 and all of all kinds, but even worse in the eternal expressions of this. 334 00:30:27.240 --> 00:30:30.720 We're in that five or of Hell. Man would rest not a moment 335 00:30:32.839 --> 00:30:37.109 but would endure a curse forever and ever. But when Jesus came, he 336 00:30:37.309 --> 00:30:45.269 interrupted all of this to give His grace to those whom he desired to save. 337 00:30:45.549 --> 00:30:49.299 He fulfilled his law in our place and offers to US rest. Because 338 00:30:49.339 --> 00:30:55.460 of His grace. The Sabbath, which is a so clearly a law in 339 00:30:55.579 --> 00:30:59.980 Genesis two, one through three and condemns it if we seek it on our 340 00:31:00.019 --> 00:31:03.329 own, becomes a great blessing to us and I promise to us, when 341 00:31:03.329 --> 00:31:10.490 we have it in Jesus Christ and in his righteousness. All of your life 342 00:31:10.529 --> 00:31:14.890 you will struggle to find the rest that you want and you need. All 343 00:31:15.009 --> 00:31:18.200 of your life you will be tempted, according to the flesh, to find 344 00:31:18.400 --> 00:31:23.720 rest in your own ways, in another way, but in Christ, God 345 00:31:25.039 --> 00:31:30.039 freely gives to you something that is separate from yourself, separate from your own 346 00:31:30.079 --> 00:31:33.430 ways and your own glories, a glory that is of him and a rest 347 00:31:33.589 --> 00:31:38.710 that is eternal and real. In Christ, God has promised a rest from 348 00:31:38.710 --> 00:31:45.069 your labors, the good ones and the bad ones, so that you might 349 00:31:45.190 --> 00:31:53.299 rest eternally in him for all the future and body and soul and so on. 350 00:31:53.380 --> 00:32:00.299 Conclusion, we all know we need to rest temporarily and eternally. Our 351 00:32:00.420 --> 00:32:05.650 problem is that we don't know how and that we don't know how. Not 352 00:32:05.890 --> 00:32:07.410 Not only that we don't know how, but we also don't want to know 353 00:32:07.569 --> 00:32:14.250 how. We'd rather work. We'd rather work for our reward. We'd rather 354 00:32:14.410 --> 00:32:19.960 rest in ourselves and our own productivity than resting in God. If we do 355 00:32:20.200 --> 00:32:23.079 rest, we want it to be in our sinful pleasures or in our obedience 356 00:32:23.160 --> 00:32:27.759 to the law. But this, my friends, is a dead end. 357 00:32:29.279 --> 00:32:36.670 It will result in temporal burnout and in eternal hell. But Jesus gives us 358 00:32:36.990 --> 00:32:42.150 something different. He gives us a real solution to a problem that we really 359 00:32:42.190 --> 00:32:47.339 face. He gives us true and eternal let rest. He gives us himself, 360 00:32:49.339 --> 00:32:52.900 the Lord of rest, the giver of life. He is that cup 361 00:32:53.019 --> 00:32:59.890 of cold water that quenches the flame and our thirst. He is that word 362 00:33:00.089 --> 00:33:04.690 that comes and calms the storm and, as he says it himself in Matthew 363 00:33:05.329 --> 00:33:09.450 and twenty eight, come to me, all who labor and our heavy Laden 364 00:33:10.250 --> 00:33:17.119 and I will give you rest. May God grant this grace to us that 365 00:33:17.279 --> 00:33:22.240 we might rest in him and know him forever. Let us pray