Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/kingdomlife/sermons/77530/the-rest-we-all-need/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] I will remember it and recite it. But please turn your Bible to Genesis chapter 2. Verses 1 through 11.

[0:33] If you're using a church Bible, Genesis 2, 1 through 3 is on page 2. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the hosts of them.

[0:51] And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done. And he rested on the seventh day from all his works that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.

[1:06] Because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. And then if you would turn over to Hebrews chapter 4.

[1:20] We'll read verses 1 to 11, and that's on page 1002. If you have a church Bible. Hebrews chapter 4.

[1:31] Beginning in verse 1. Ending at verse 11. Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, Let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.

[1:51] For good news came to us just as to them. For the message they heard did not benefit them. Because they were not united by faith with those who listened.

[2:07] For we who have believed entered that rest. As he has said, As I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter my rest.

[2:22] Although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way.

[2:33] And God rested on the seventh day from all his works. And again in this passage, he said, They shall not enter my rest.

[2:45] Since therefore, it remains for some to enter it. And those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience.

[2:57] Again he appoints a certain day, today. Saying, Through David, So long afterward, In the words already quoted, Today if you hear his voice, Do not harden your hearts.

[3:17] For Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

[3:30] For whoever has entered God's rest Has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest So that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

[3:52] Let's pray together. Father, we bow our hearts this morning And we ask that you would speak to us now Through the preaching of your word.

[4:04] Lord, we pray that above my voice, The Spirit's voice will speak to every heart Gathered or watching or listening online.

[4:16] And oh, Father, Would you speak to us In true and in lasting ways. I ask once again, Lord, That you would Take my weaknesses And make them strong in you.

[4:34] I pray that you would Grant me Illumination And grant that to all of us, Lord, As we open your word this morning.

[4:45] Would you grant me Unction? Would you Cause your spirit to come in fresh measure today? And Lord, May the proclamation of your word Be for the glory of your name And for the good of All those Who here are today.

[5:02] We pray and ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. Some time ago, I heard a joke about a man who Thought he was a dog.

[5:17] And he had a friend who was very concerned about him. And so his friend Took him to the psychologist And he went to the psychologist's office Sat on the couch And the psychologist said to him, Now tell me, How long has it been Since you thought You were a dog?

[5:35] And the man looked at him and said, Ever since I was a puppy. Thank you for laughing, Lyndon.

[5:48] I wasn't sure that I would go. I wasn't sure that people would get it. Because I know some of us are slow. But, um... But you probably wonder, Why do I start in this way this morning?

[6:06] I start this way this morning because I think there are a lot of people Like that man Who thought he was a dog. And what it is Is that we have Presuppositions.

[6:23] We have Convictions and beliefs That we Believe are true But they are wrong And we Build arguments And other beliefs On top of them And so The arguments and beliefs Are also wrong Because they are on the wrong foundation.

[6:42] And so for that man He felt Okay, I I felt like a puppy So I am now a dog. And We many times Can bring those same kinds of Presuppositions To the word of God.

[6:56] And one of the worst things For us to do Is to get that presupposition Early on in the word of God Because it throws us off track For the rest. And We have come This morning To an area Where There are a lot of Presuppositions.

[7:12] This Topic of the seventh day In scripture There are people Who hold strong But I would argue Wrong views About The seventh day.

[7:26] And it is obvious That Largely in this group Would be Seventh-day Adventists. And This is not to say That Seventh-day Adventists Are not Genuine Christians.

[7:39] That's not the case at all. But I do believe That What they teach About the seventh day And it's Continuing It's continual Binding on God's people Is not the Biblical Position.

[7:54] And My prayer this morning Is that As we Work through These two Particular passages That we are going To be able To see that. As I was preparing This is one of the reasons I love Expository preaching.

[8:11] This is one of the reasons I love the way That we attempt In a faithful way To bring God's word Because we open God's word And we try to help People to see In the text What we are saying As opposed to Reading a text Closing it And then Talking about Any number of other things.

[8:31] And so My hope is that We are going to see That this morning. So there are Quite a number of texts That we are going to Be looking at this morning. The first point Is going to be longer Than the second point.

[8:44] But what I want us To see from These two passages This morning Is this. The historical day Of rest Ultimately points To the spiritual day Of rest And the one Who brought it.

[9:00] I believe This is the faithful Point When we consider These two passages Genesis 2 1-3 And Hebrews 4 1-11 That the historical Day of rest Ultimately points To the spiritual Day of rest And the one Who brought it.

[9:25] And so this morning I want us to consider These two days The historical day Of rest And the spiritual Day of rest. So we begin first In Genesis Chapter 2 Verses 1-3 We're told In Genesis 2-2 That on the Seventh day God finished The work He had done In creation And He rested And then In verse 3 We're told That God Blessed the Seventh day And He made it Holy And we're given The reason That He did so Because on It On the Seventh day God rested From His work That He had done In all Creation Now when it Talks about The seventh day And God Blessed it And making it Holy To make Something holy Is to set It apart And so when The Bible Talks about Us Being holy

[10:25] We are a Set apart People For God God sets us Apart As distinct From the rest And so what God did With the Seventh day Was He set It apart From the Other six The other Six were Work days And this was Not a day Of work This was a Day of Rest Now The question Arises Was God Tired?

[10:53] Was God Tired? We see Him Speaking in Genesis Chapter 1 And the Question is Was God Tired? We know That God Wasn't Tired Because the Bible Tells us That He Doesn't Grow Weary He Doesn't Grow Weak And Faint Isaiah 40 Verse 28 Tells us That the Lord The Everlasting God Does not Faint Or grow Weary Meaning He doesn't Grow Tired So if God Wasn't Tired Why did He Create The Seventh Day As a Day Of Rest I Really Connected To This Question Is Why Did God Create the World In six Days Anyway He Certainly Was Powerful Enough To Just Say a Word And All of It Would Come Together God Could Have Thought It And It Could Have Come Together!

[11:49] But Yet What We See God Doing Is We See Him Spreading Out His Creation Over Six Days And Then Concluding It With A Seventh Day A Day That He Set Apart A Day That He Blessed From The Rest Of The Days Now I Think It's Important To Note That At This Point Of The Biblical Revelation It Doesn't Say Anything Else To Us There's No Command Associated With The Seventh Day At This Particular Point There's No Reference To Adam And Eve About The Seventh Day At This Particular Point All We Are Able To See At This Point!

[12:33] In The Biblical! Revelation Is That God Established The Seventh Day Separate And Apart From The Other Six Days As A Day Of Rest We See This Pattern Of Six Days He Worked And Then The Seventh Day He Ceased From Working Not Because He Was Tired But Remember That God Is Not Kind Of Absent Mindedly Doing Things He Is Unfolding His Revelation So He's Doing Things In A Particular Way Because He Knows Where He Is Going With It Now Another Thing Is Very Instructive To Note Is That There Are No Other Mentions Of The Seventh Day In The Book Of Genesis Genesis Is The Only Reference And Mention Of The Seventh Day In The Book Of Genesis And All We're Told Is That God Separated It From The Other Six Days On Which He Worked

[13:33] The Seventh Day Is Not Mentioned Until We Get Is Not Mentioned Again Until We Get To The Book Of Exodus And Although This Is Easy To Miss The The Time Between Creation And The Children Of Israel Leaving Egypt Is About Twenty Five Hundred Years So In This Period Of Time That We Have Between Creation And Exodus Where The Seventh Day Is Mentioned For The First Time There's A Lapse Of Twenty Hundred Years!

[14:10] And We Don't Have Any Biblical Revelation About The Seventh Day In That Period Of Time Anything That We Say About It Is Mere Speculation And That's Never Helpful So We Come To The First Mention Of The Seventh Day After This First Mention In Genesis And It's In Exodus Chapter Twelve Verses Fifteen To Sixteen And These Are To To!

[14:39] To! To! To! Them Rather Quickly Because They're Quite A Number And I Thought To Do This Pastorally I Thought To Do This Because Just Over The Years I've Just Seen So So Many People Who Just Don't Understand This Whole Issue Of The Seventh Day And They Become Very Gullible For Zealous Seventh Day Keepers To Just Sweep Them Off Their Feet And So This Is My Hope This Morning That For Any Of You Who May Not Be Sure About These Things You Can Get Some Moorings To Help You This Morning So First Mention Exodus Chapter 12 Verses 15 To 16 Here's What It Says!

[15:28] Seven Days You Shall Eat Unleavened Bread And On The First Day You Shall Remove Leaven Out Of Your Houses For If Anyone Eats What Is Leavened From The First Day Until The Seventh Day That Person Shall Be It's Barely A Time Marker It Is Not Making The Day Special Because Notice On All The Days They Were To Observe This Feast On All The Days They Were Doing The Same Thing He Was Just Saying From

[16:28] The First Day To The Seventh Day But They Did The Identical Thing On All The Days So The Seventh Day Was Not Being Treated Any! Differently From The Days This Was The Feast Of Unleavened Bread The Next Mention Of The Seventh Day Is In Exodus 13 Verse 6 And Again It's In Connection With The Feast Of Unleavened Bread So I Won't Read That And Then The Third Reference Is In Exodus 16 And This Is The Account Of The Children Of Israel Being Given Manna The Lord Blessed Them With Manna Which Is Their Food In The Wilderness And It's A Pretty Lengthy Account I'm Not Sure Do I Have This To Be Projected I'm Going To Read It I'm Not Sure If I Actually Prepared It To Be Projected But Listen To What It Says!

[17:36] ! And This is They were to go and gather the manna, but only gathered what they needed for the day.

[18:14] And there were some who got more, and overnight it rotted. But he's saying that on the sixth day, when they gathered enough for the sixth and the seventh day, what they kept overnight did not rot.

[18:29] Verse 25. Moses said, Eat it today, for today is the Sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find it in the field.

[18:41] Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, there will be none. On the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?

[18:57] See, the Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore, on the sixth day, he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place.

[19:09] Let no one go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day. So this is the first occasion in Scripture where the seventh day is called the Sabbath day, and it's declared as a solemn day of rest, a holy day unto the Lord.

[19:31] Now, was this the first time that they did this? Was this the first time that they were treating the Sabbath in this particular way, the seventh day?

[19:42] We don't know. Again, to say anything more, we'd be arguing from speculation, which is not ever a good thing to do. The next reference is in Exodus chapter 20, verses 8 to 11.

[19:58] And this is, before you look, anybody remembers the reference for this and what it's connected to? You can shout it out. Ten Commandments.

[20:09] That's what we memorized, the Ten Commandments out of Exodus 20. And so this is the fourth commandment in the Ten Commandments, which Moses gave to the children of Israel when they were at Mount Sinai in the wilderness in Exodus 20.

[20:28] And in this reference, we have both the seventh day and the Sabbath day. So this is what it says. I think this one is projected for you. Exodus 20, verses 8 to 11.

[21:06] The next day the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

[21:19] The clear idea here is that God is communicating to the nation of Israel. That's very important to remember. There were people in Egypt.

[21:30] They left them there. There were people in Canaan. They were going there. But in the wilderness, God gathers them to himself. And he gives them the law. And he tells them that they are to keep the Sabbath holy or distinct from the other six days.

[21:47] And they're to do so by ceasing from working. And this was a requirement for everyone, including the animals who were part of their labor force.

[22:01] The animals were to not work as well. Now notice that there's no command about worship here. There's no instruction about what they were to do in terms of worship, apart from the fact that they were told that they were not to work.

[22:19] In other words, they were not to try to get ahead. So you couldn't say, well, I'm going to rest and let the animals work. Well, I'm going to rest and let my employees work, my servants. No, the Lord says everybody is to work.

[22:33] Now, remember that what Genesis is, you know, we talked about how in the book of Genesis, the first 11 chapters are pretty much to the whole world, gives us world history.

[22:49] And then when we get to chapter 12 up to Genesis 50, it narrows down to Abraham and his natural offspring. Exodus is a part of that as well.

[23:02] Written to them, Moses is writing them as God's special people and giving them particular instructions. Again, we must bear this in mind as we consider this topic of the seventh day.

[23:17] The next reference is in Exodus 31. And this is the queen of the references that I want you to hear. If you forget all the other ones, don't forget this one.

[23:29] This is the most important one. And so here's what it says. Exodus 31, beginning in verse 12. And the Lord said to Moses, You are to speak to the people of Israel and say to them, Above all, you are to keep my Sabbaths.

[23:47] For this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, And that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.

[23:59] And again, sanctify is to set apart, to be holy, to be set apart. Verse 14. You should keep the Sabbath because it is holy for you.

[24:13] Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul should be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest.

[24:28] Holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it, the Sabbath day, whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, shall be put to death.

[24:39] Therefore, the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath. Observing the Sabbath through their generations is a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.

[25:03] Now, I really don't think that these verses need much explanation. Other than to say, notice very carefully how he's saying, speak to the children of Israel, tell them they're supposed to keep my Sabbath, and it's a sign between me and them.

[25:23] Not me and the whole world. He says the Sabbath was to set them apart. If the Sabbath is given to every single nation and all the peoples of the world, then no one is set apart because we're all together.

[25:39] And so he says, this is a sign for me, between me and you. He says it two times, in verse 13 and then in verse 17. It is a sign between me and you.

[25:52] It is bad and unfaithful reading of Scripture to fit Gentiles into this passage. It's not an honest reading of Scripture.

[26:05] Because the Lord gave this to Israel. When Israel broke the Sabbath and they were caught, they were stoned.

[26:17] People around them continued to work. Non-Jews continued to work. They did whatever they did. Nobody was stoning them. No one was stopping them. But this whole idea that God was working with them, he was saying to them, listen, you stop working on, you stop working after the sixth day and I'm going to take care of you.

[26:40] Let the nations around you toil and let them work, but I'm going to take care of you. And the manna was an example of that. How on that particular day, it didn't rot and he used it to care for them.

[26:58] Now, pretty much, this is the revelation of the Sabbath in the Old Testament. There really isn't much more to say about it, except there is one other passage that I think is important to take in because it adds revelation to why Israel was supposed to keep the Sabbath.

[27:23] And that is in Deuteronomy 5, verses 12 to 15. I want you to try to follow this to see what the Lord adds for the nation of Israel.

[27:39] And just to give you a reminder that what Deuteronomy is, is Deuteronomy is a repetition of the law. The nation of Israel, they had come out of Egypt and they walked around for 40 years and it was a long period of time, but as they were getting ready to enter the promised land, what Moses did was he repeated the law for them.

[28:03] And Genesis, sorry, in Deuteronomy chapter 5 is the Ten Commandments being given again. And notice what Moses says concerning the fourth commandment and how he says it that's different from what we read in Exodus chapter 20.

[28:20] He says this, Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.

[28:35] On it you shall do, you shall not do any work, you nor your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.

[29:03] Notice verse 15 in particular. You shall remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm.

[29:20] Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath. This reason in verse 15 is different from the reason that we read in Exodus 20 and in verse 11 in particular.

[29:41] I want us to see that. Exodus 20, here's what it says. This is the reason for the Sabbath. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.

[29:54] Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. So the reason he told them in Exodus 20 to observe the Sabbath day is because of creation.

[30:08] He said, I created the world in six days and then I rested and therefore you are to cease your labors on the seventh day.

[30:20] They were to, in other words, be reflecting upon God's work in creation. But again, the reason Deuteronomy 5, 15 is different.

[30:33] You should remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.

[30:43] Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. So the reason here is God's work in redemption. First his work in creation, but now he is bringing them another reason for the Sabbath and what they must remember, what they must keep in mind, that God redeemed them out of their toilsome slavery.

[31:10] And so this was a day of reflection on creation, a day of reflection on redemption. And essentially, what that is, is it is the revelation of what we have about the Sabbath.

[31:26] And I pray that you see that it is exclusively Jewish. Exclusively. Jewish and for those who entered into their territory because it also is binding upon the sojourners.

[31:39] It was binding upon the visitors they had within the land. But it's not binding on those outside the land. And this really is the foundational flaw, error, that those who insist on keeping the Sabbath today are really committing.

[32:02] Now, eventually, the Sabbath day became more than a day of rest. And we see this, for example, in Isaiah 58, verses 13 and 14, where Isaiah is rebuking the nation of Israel because they were not observing the Sabbath as a day of worship.

[32:22] They were pursuing their own pleasures and their own interests. And he said, you know, stop taking the Lord's Sabbath in a light way, pursuing your own interests.

[32:36] Now, when you think about the point in Deuteronomy, when the Lord said to them, you know, you were slaves in Egypt and I brought you out.

[32:50] He's essentially saying to them, when you were in Egypt, they worked you all the time. They worked you to the bone. I rescued you from that. You no longer have to work that way.

[33:01] You work six days and then you rest and you remind yourself, you know what, there was a time they worked us all the time. We had no rest. We had no refreshment and this good and gracious God delivered us from that and he has given us rest and he has given us refreshment.

[33:20] And so then we come to the New Testament and there's much to be said in the New Testament about the Sabbath, but I want us to think of it like this, which I believe all of you can track with.

[33:34] Have you ever noticed that of all the commandments, of the Ten Commandments, there's only one that there is any debate around. There's no debate around whether you could have idols or not.

[33:48] There's no debate on whether you could steal or not, commit adultery or not, lie or not. There's no debate around those. I mean, the reason there's no debate around them is in the New Testament, all of those commandments are reaffirmed.

[34:02] You will find every single one of the commandments in the New Testament reaffirmed as binding on God's people except the fourth.

[34:17] Except the fourth. The fourth commandment is explicitly given as the commandment that God's people have liberty concerning.

[34:34] And to see this, I want us to look at Romans 14 verses 1 through 6. This is what it says. As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.

[34:50] One person believes he may eat anything while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains.

[35:05] And let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another?

[35:16] It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld. For the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike.

[35:39] Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind the one who observes the day observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats eats in honor of the Lord since he gives thanks to God while the one who abstains abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.

[36:01] so what's the point of these verses? The point is simply this, that observing a day special above all the other days is really a matter of liberty and preference, even for the Jews.

[36:23] It's not even binding on the Jews. and you may remember this, some of you who are remembering, remember the Lord said to Israel in Exodus 30 when he says, you to keep this throughout all your generations.

[36:40] There's a sign between me and you throughout all your generations. That obviously only lasts until Jesus Christ comes and he fulfills every single aspect of the law.

[36:58] It doesn't mean that even after Jesus Christ comes, that you must continue to obey the Sabbath day as an obligation of this sign between me and you.

[37:13] And so the point here in Romans 14, 1 through 6 is that this distinguishing of a day above another is really a matter of Christian liberty, it is a matter of preference, and no one should look down on the person who observes a day or who doesn't observe a day.

[37:34] Paul addresses and obviously he talks about more than just a day, he talks about food as well, which is yet another issue.

[37:45] Now, here's the point. The point is that there's no benefit, there's no salvific benefit from keeping the Sabbath day.

[38:00] You want to keep it? Fine, keep it. But even there, be aware of what Paul says to the Galatians. He's saying to them, don't you put your hope and your trust in the Sabbath day.

[38:16] Because if your hope and trust is in the Sabbath day, then it cannot be in Christ. You can't have it both in the Sabbath and in Christ. Now, are there benefits to practical benefits to having this rhythm of working six days and resting one day?

[38:36] Absolutely. I think we'd all agree with that. There's a rhythm of rest throughout the week as well because sunrise, sunset, in between there's rest and then there's this full day rest.

[38:49] And so there's certainly practical benefit there and wisdom will encourage us to rest. But again, the point is there is no salvation or spiritual benefit to observing the fourth commandment.

[39:10] And if it is binding on anyone today, it is only binding on those to whom it was given in the first place. It isn't binding on other people.

[39:22] I pray that you see that. I pray you're persuaded that I'm not just up here giving you my ideas, but that is the plain teaching of Scripture.

[39:35] Well, that's the historical day of rest. God sanctified it and commanded Israel to observe it, to commemorate his work in creation and in redemption.

[39:48] God knew what he was doing. He wasn't creating a day for himself. He was creating that day as part of the big revelation that was unfolding in Scripture.

[40:04] And so I think what we have to see is that this historical day of rest points to a far more important day that applies to all of God's people, believing Jews and unbelieving Jews, sorry, believing Jews and believing Gentiles, both Jew and Gentiles who believe, there's this day that the historical day of rest is pointing to for believers, Jew and Gentiles.

[40:37] And this is my final point, my second and final point. the spiritual day of rest. Now in a nutshell, the spiritual day of rest calls us to cease from self-effort.

[40:51] It calls us to cease from our self-effort and to rest in Christ and his finished work for salvation. That's the spiritual day of rest, and that is what the writer to the Hebrews connects in Hebrews chapter 4.

[41:12] But before we interact with Hebrews 4, I want you to look back again if you need to go back there to Genesis chapter 2, 1 through 3. Remember that Adam was created on the sixth day.

[41:26] And then Eve was created, was formed, the sixth day out of Adam's, one of Adam's ribs. And so, although we're not explicitly told, we can assume that Adam and Eve didn't work on the seventh day.

[41:47] They rested on the seventh day. Or we can simply say they had no activity on the seventh day. And so there's this sense that they are reflecting upon God's work in creation and not their own.

[42:06] They had done no work. They had no work to reflect upon. And I think this is a picture of the spiritual day of rest that we are called to enter into.

[42:21] It's Christ's work that brings us to the spiritual day of rest. It's also helpful to look at how Moses refers to the seventh day.

[42:32] It's very different from the way he refers to the other days. All the other days is this formula. There was evening and morning the first day, evening and morning the fourth day, evening and morning the sixth day.

[42:44] When you get to the seventh day, there's no formula. There's no evening and morning the seventh day. And there's almost this picture, this idea of the seventh day being this enduring day.

[43:01] The seventh day that is this day of rest is this day that lasts and there's no more work after it. Now again, we're trying to see how the writer to the Hebrews is connecting this seventh day that he refers to in chapter 4 of Hebrews and how he refers to an eternal day of rest rest that belongs to the people of God.

[43:34] So if you turn to Hebrews chapter 4 now, I want us to try to summarize it in three points to grasp the point that the writer is making.

[43:49] in verses 1 through 5, he essentially is saying, and maybe I should read it, therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear, lest any of us should seem to have failed to reach it.

[44:23] For good news came to us just as to them, and the message they heard did not benefit them because they were not united by faith with those who listened.

[44:37] For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, as I swore my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.

[44:52] For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way, and God rested on the seventh day from all his works, and again, in this passage, he said, they shall not enter my rest.

[45:13] And so, what the writer is saying is that God promised Israel a rest, separate and apart from the seventh day. He promised them a rest that was separate and apart from the seventh day.

[45:30] And many of them did not enter that rest because of unbelief. And this, I trust you see, because it connects to the second part, which is in verses six to seven.

[45:50] He says to them, since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again, he appoints a certain day, today, saying through David, so long afterward, in the words already quoted, today, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

[46:19] Now, when we think about it, the day that was being, or the rest that was being offered to them, when it comes down to Joshua, we'll see how he says Joshua promised them rest, was the rest in the promised land.

[46:38] Now, that was already passed. rest. And what the writer is saying is he's saying there had to be something more if David, long after that, is still talking about a day of rest.

[46:49] I mean, for the most part, most of them are coming to the promised land, but he's saying there's still something else. There is a day of rest that yet remains to be entered into by the people of God.

[47:03] And so, David was saying, to the disobedient then, that God is saying, today if you hear my voice, today if you hear my voice, do not harden your hearts.

[47:22] And God swore to them that you will not enter into my rest. So he's just making the point that because David is talking about this long after the children of Israel would have come into the rest of the promised land, he's saying that there's some other rest that he's referring to.

[47:39] And hopefully this now will be clearer in verse 11. Sorry, in verse 8, starting in verse 8. If Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.

[47:54] So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. Whoever has entered God's rest has also entered from his works, sorry, has also rested from his works as God did from his.

[48:16] So the point here is that there is a rest that remains for the people of God, and the idea is that the same way that God ceased his works and there was that period of rest, is the same way that we need to cease our work and we need to rest and that rest is in Christ.

[48:39] Christ. When you think of Adam and Eve, every, and even us, there is no work that we do that is not rooted and grounded in the work of God's grand creation.

[48:58] I mean, that's, we work out of God's work. Adam and Eve worked out of God's work. They were not doing anything that was separate and apart and in and of themselves away from God's work.

[49:10] And the same is true for the believer. We cannot do any true good work that is unique and set apart from the work of Christ. We work out of Christ's work.

[49:25] And we enter into Christ's rest. We're not working to try to achieve something other than we work to enter into his rest.

[49:37] And that's the point that we see in verse 11. He says, let us therefore strive to enter that rest so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

[49:50] It's almost a play on words. We have to strive to enter that rest. And what is that rest?

[50:00] That rest is trusting in Christ. That rest is believing in Christ. That rest is not laboring in and of ourselves to do anything that we think will earn us salvation.

[50:13] The work is that we labor to fight against every single attitude, every single belief, every single thing that will cause us to think that something we are doing is going to add to our salvation, bring about our salvation, and say, no, labor against that so that you can enter into this rest of Christ.

[50:36] This rest that is an eternal rest in Christ. This rest that is the true rest that God was foreshadowing as he created the way that he created.

[50:54] So think of it this way. God laid on his creation salvation in this six-day week, as it were. And then there is rest.

[51:08] And what he does is he invites Adam and Eve to enter into his creation, to enter into his work, not doing anything. Christ does the same for us. He finishes his work just to make God finish his work.

[51:25] And then he invites us to come in. And in essence, the same way that Adam and Eve's first day was a rest day, we rest in Christ as well. We rest in his finished work.

[51:37] And so the writer of the Hebrews is connecting that historical day of rest to this spiritual day of rest that all of God's people are to enter in.

[51:52] And so we don't work other than to work to enter the rest. We don't work to achieve the rest.

[52:03] We don't work to gain the rest in and of ourselves. We work to enter into Christ's rest. It is fitting, therefore, that Jesus in Matthew 11, 28 through 30 would say these words, come to me.

[52:24] All who labor 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.

[52:37] For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. A lot of times we offer that as an invitation to unbelievers and it is.

[52:49] It is an invitation to unbelievers that if you are languishing and laboring in this world under its fallenness and under its sin and its oppression, come to Jesus.

[53:07] Brothers and sisters, it is also an invitation to us. It is also an invitation to those of us who are laboring to make our own way, laboring with some awareness in our hearts that efforts that we are expending, achieving for us our salvation or some measure of our salvation or adding something to our salvation, Christ invites us to come as well.

[53:35] He says, I will give you rest. I'll give you rest for your soul. Enter into my work. Enter into my finished work. work. And so ultimately, while we have the historical day of rest connected with creation, we must not miss that God so designed it and did it in such a way that it points us to that ultimate rest, that ultimate spiritual rest that only Christ brings.

[54:14] And again, the same way when Adam and Eve showed up, everything was done. Everything was created. And God said to them, all you need to do is rest.

[54:25] Christ says the same thing to us as well. All you need to do is rest. Come and rest and come and dine, come and buy food and wine that money cannot purchase.

[54:43] And the way we do that is we set our trust, we set our hope in him and we rest in him. And for some of us, this is a harder thing to do.

[54:56] For some of us, we struggle with doubt, we struggle with unbelief. And so ours is a moment-by-moment labor to stop striving, trying to achieve in and of ourselves what Christ offers, and we just have to, day by day, seek to enter that rest.

[55:19] Let's pray. Oh, Father, would you open our hearts and our minds to the rest that you have brought through Jesus Christ.

[55:36] A rest that we only need to strive to enter into, but not strive to try to bring about. I pray especially, Lord, for those of us this morning who are in any way finding ourselves not fully trusting in Christ, not fully resting in Christ.

[56:00] Oh, Lord, by the power of your spirit, open our eyes and convict our hearts. We ask that you would do this in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's start with our closing song.

[56:14] I'd like you to please sing along with me as we sing Psalm 62. my soul finds rest.

[56:48] My soul finds rest in God alone, my rock and my salvation, a fortress strong against my foes, and I will not be shaken.

[57:06] Though lips may bless and hearts may curse, and have the carols busy, I'll fix my heart on righteousness, I'll look to Him who hears me, and oh, praise Him, hallelujah, my delight and my reward.

[57:36] Everlasting, never failing, my Redeemer, my God. Find rest.

[57:54] find rest, my soul, in God alone, amidst the world's temptation. When evil seeks to take hold, I'll cling to my salvation.

[58:12] Though riches come and riches go, don't set your heart upon them, the fields of hope from which I sow, are harvested in heaven.

[58:28] Praise, oh, praise Him, hallelujah, my delight and my reward.

[58:40] Everlasting, never failing, my Redeemer, my God. I'll set my gaze, I'll set my gaze on God alone and trust in Him completely.

[59:06]  With every day pour out my soul and He will prove His mercy. Though life is but a fleeting breath, a sigh to breathe to measure, my King has crushed the curse of death and I