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[0:00] Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 2, 1-3, the sermon text for today. If you need a Bible, you're welcome to take one off the back table and keep it as our gift to you.

[0:18] Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.

[0:31] So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. This is the word of the Lord.

[0:47] Heavenly Father, I come before you again and just ask that you would breathe your life-giving power to us this morning through this word.

[1:01] God, there is a Sabbath rest that remains for us to enter into by faith in Christ Jesus. And Lord, I pray that through the preaching of your word, you would help us by faith enter into that rest this morning.

[1:16] In Christ's name we pray. Amen. You know, it seems like so often in life we tend towards extremes, doesn't it? Balance is so hard to find.

[1:29] And I think, you know, this manifests itself in a lot of different ways, but I just want to highlight a couple. Some of us in this room tend towards unhealthy levels of work.

[1:40] Maybe some of you can relate. I think this is more what I tend towards. Go, go, go, perform, perform, perform. It's really difficult for those like this to set tasks aside.

[1:51] On the other hand, others in this room maybe tend towards more apathy or laziness. Setting aside tasks is really not a problem. The problem is setting aside the remote or the phone or the book or the video games.

[2:06] And so in the first instance is an idol of work, of performance, right? And then in the second instance, an idol of comfort or ease. And either way, the idol leads our hearts astray and into unhealthy extremes.

[2:23] How about not in the area of work, but perhaps in relationships? Some of us tend towards people-pleasing, towards living to gain the approval of others, to find our identity in our image or our reputation.

[2:37] And then on the other hand, others tend more towards maybe an indifference to others. You know, holding people at arm's length, not caring what other people think, even to the point of offense.

[2:49] And so again, in the first instance, there is an idol of people. And in the second, an idol of self. And worship of either idol leads our hearts down a destructive path.

[3:02] Now, what's the commonality? What's the common factor in all four of the extremes I just mentioned? The common factor is that we've replaced worship of God with worship of something else, right?

[3:17] Our hearts, in any of the four cases, are chasing after joy, satisfaction, fulfillment, inner rest from all of the wrong places.

[3:29] But there's one place, there's one person alone in whom we can actually find these things. Joy, satisfaction, fulfillment, rest.

[3:40] These things that our hearts so desperately long for. If you haven't already, please turn to Genesis 2 in your Bibles. For those who don't know me, my name is Mike. I'm one of the pastors here at Shoreline.

[3:53] And as has been said, we're walking through the book of Genesis this year. And today we come to the end of the creation week. And we see God's seventh day rest.

[4:07] God's seventh day rest. And what we're going to see today is the astounding truth that God invites us into His rest by worshiping and enjoying Him.

[4:21] God invites us into His rest by worshiping and enjoying Him. Now, if you're like me in reading these three short verses, you know, you immediately think about the Sabbath.

[4:36] You immediately think about your own rest. Maybe that was you, that was me in first reading these verses. And yet, strikingly, we are not actually found in these verses explicitly, are we?

[4:51] There's one subject in these verses, and I don't know if you caught it. The text says that God finished His work that He had done, and He rested from all His work that He had done.

[5:05] So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all His work that He had done. So that is ten times in three verses that it says God or a pronoun referring to God.

[5:23] So does this mean that we shouldn't see ourselves in this passage this morning? Now, I would say no, because in fact, I have no doubt that Moses, He intends in writing these verses for Israel to immediately make the connection to their Sabbath rest, which was so significant a part in their national and corporate life.

[5:45] But what it does mean, though, is that we need to begin with God. We need to first see what Moses is saying about God. And friends, it always begins with God, right?

[5:58] God is the author, the creator of all things. And so the first thing that we see here about God is that God finishes His creation work, right?

[6:10] Thus the heavens and earth were finished, and all the host of them. And then it says again that, over and over again, the work that He had done, the work that He had done. So two times it says finished, three times it says His work that He had done.

[6:25] And in this, I think first, Moses is underscoring some of the principles that we learned in chapter one. How God, the sole creator, right?

[6:35] The God who pre-existed all things with no help from anybody else, brought into existence ex nihilo, remember that phrase, that Latin phrase, out of nothing, all that exists.

[6:49] We're reminded here, just in these words, God finishing that work Himself of His unmatched power. His ability that far exceeds anyone else's ability.

[7:01] And I just want to read again a verse I read a few weeks ago where Jeremiah says, Ah, Lord God, it is You who made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm.

[7:13] Nothing is too hard for You. Jeremiah 32, 17. And at the same time, Moses is giving us a new principle that God finishes what He starts.

[7:27] And I would add the word always. I think the testimony of Scripture would add that word to the sentence I just said. The principle is that God always finishes what He starts.

[7:38] Now just a brief clarification here. That is not to say that God created the world and then sort of just abandoned it, right? I mean, you can't read any further in Genesis without realizing how intimately involved God is in His creation.

[7:53] He continues to uphold and to sustain all things. He does not actually slumber or sleep. Okay, this is not a rest of sleep. So that's just a clarification. But what we see here, God had completed, He had finished His work of creation, right?

[8:09] There remained no more creating work to be done. It was finished. God always finishes what He starts. And I hope when I say it was finished, you're thinking about something else that happened a few thousand years later because as Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hung on the cross in the place of sinful humanity, He triumphantly declared what?

[8:34] It is finished. It is finished. And then He yielded up His Spirit. No one would take His life from Him. He gave it up after finishing the work that He had been sent to do.

[8:47] See, before the foundation of the world, God had ordained Father, Son, Spirit that He would enact redemption for humanity that had lost this relationship with God in the fall.

[8:58] And so Jesus Christ, when the fullness of time had come, Paul says in Galatians, He came, He accomplished the work the Father had given Him to do. He finished it.

[9:09] No more work of redemption remains. God always finishes what He starts. And saints, brothers and sisters in this room, what a blessed assurance that is for us this morning.

[9:22] This fact that God always finishes what He starts. It's this assurance that gives Paul the ability to tell the Philippians, and He who began a good work in you will carry it on to the day of completion.

[9:35] He will bring it to completion. If we look inward, our confidence quickly erodes away, doesn't it?

[9:46] But when we look at our triune God, when we consider His commitment to finishing what He starts, and how He has done that in creation, and He has done that in the cross work of Christ, then our confidence is strengthened.

[10:04] God always finishes what He starts. Now, if you're here this morning and have not yet placed your hope and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, hear the invitation to you this morning.

[10:16] The God of creation and the God of the cross, He is inviting you into a salvation that He will surely bring to completion.

[10:29] This is the only hope that remains for us and anchor for our souls. This is the only hope that gives us a solid rock on which to stand. All other ground is sinking sand.

[10:41] And friends, this truth that God always finishes what He starts, it is an invitation, but it's not only that, because it's also a warning. The invitation is going to expire when this life comes to an end, when Christ returns, and then God will finish His work of removing all that is evil, all that is wrong with this world.

[11:02] He will fully and finally remove it. And that includes all of those who have not trusted in Christ to cleanse them from their sin. And so today, today, receive the invitation while it still stands.

[11:16] God finishes His work of creation. And then what does He do next? He rests. God rests on the seventh day.

[11:28] Two times, Moses asserts this. God finished the work that He had done and He rested on the seventh day. Verse 2 and then in verse 3, God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it God rested from all His work that He had done.

[11:45] Now, it totally makes sense that God would rest. I mean, He's fatigued. Like, He just got done after six days creating everything in the universe.

[11:55] He's exhausted, right? You guys are paying attention. I mean, do you get, when you read through Genesis 1, do you get the sense that God is straining and toiling to create?

[12:11] No, right? I mean, now again, I've mentioned a few times the ancient Near Eastern creation myths that existed often involved God's fighting, battling it out.

[12:22] There's chaos. There's war. There's violence. And the creation of the world by the one true God, we said a few weeks ago, is very low-key by contrast, right?

[12:33] God creates all things simply by speaking. Okay, but, okay, so if God's not tired, then why does God rest?

[12:46] I rest when I'm tired or exhausted and need a break. Well, what does the text actually tell us? It doesn't explicitly say this, but I think it's pretty much implied.

[12:57] God rested, first of all, because simply He's done. Okay? No more work remains in creation. He rests from His creation work because the creation work is finished. Now, that's hard for us to imagine because our work is never finished, right?

[13:12] Right? You leave Friday afternoon only because you've chosen to not finish some of the work that you had to do and you know it'll still be there Monday morning. God finished the work.

[13:23] There's no more work to do and so He rests. And secondly, because God made creation to be enjoyed. I think this is implied in chapter 1.

[13:34] This is implied in chapter 2. We're going to see as we keep moving through chapter 2. Now God is going to enjoy what He made and most of all the people that He made in His image, in His likeness to be in relationship with Himself and one another.

[13:50] You know, it's kind of like I used to love a long time ago building Legos like back in 2025 and I do still like building Legos but as a kid I would love building Legos and I would finish them and they'd be done and then that's when you get to start playing like you're making plain noises or all this.

[14:12] You're like entering into the thing that you just made to actually enjoy it, right? And so in a far greater more profound degree God finishes what He makes and now He's entering in to enjoy it and in this though God is establishing a rhythm and a pattern that He's expecting His image bearers to follow, right?

[14:34] His image bearers that we just looked at last week rhythms of working and resting they reflect our Creator God who made us in His image. I think that's a significant principle here.

[14:46] You know, it's from the word for rest that we get the Hebrew word for Sabbath, Shabbat. And so all the more as again Moses' audience in the wilderness the first generation of Israelites they would have immediately made that connection rest, Sabbath Sabbath.

[15:04] And so they would see these verses as the basis for their own Sabbath practice. And that's made explicit. Turn with me actually to Exodus chapter 20.

[15:16] I want us to see this. I want you to see it for yourself in the Bible. So turn to Exodus 20. Exodus is the next book in the Bible. After that miraculous Red Sea crossing that we were looking at earlier, God brings them into the wilderness and He gives them His law.

[15:34] And here in Exodus 20 is when God gives Moses the Ten Commandments. Right? And look at the Fourth Commandment verses 8 through 11. Fourth Commandment.

[15:46] Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.

[15:57] On it you shall not do any work you or your son or your daughter your male servant or your female servant or your livestock or the sojourner who is within your gates. Why? For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day.

[16:14] Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. So see how God bases Israel's Sabbath observance in His own Sabbath rest from the work of creation.

[16:27] Like God in the creation week Israel is to work for six days and then on the seventh day they're to rest from their work. So God sets the rhythm and then Israel is to follow in that rhythm.

[16:43] And yet there is a difference between God's Sabbath and Israel's. I sort of already hinted at this earlier but go back just a few pages to Exodus chapter 16.

[16:54] Exodus 16. Now this is when Israel is grumbling in the desert. They don't have food to eat. They say why did you bring us out to the wilderness to die?

[17:06] And so God gives them manna from heaven. Right? God provides the manna from heaven. And God tells them don't gather on the seventh day.

[17:18] Okay? Gather for six days. On the sixth day gather twice as much. On the seventh day don't gather anything. Okay? He's establishing the Sabbath rest principle already before he gives the commandment.

[17:31] But still some people go out on the seventh day to collect manna which there isn't any because he told them there wouldn't be any. And God says look at verse 28.

[17:41] Chapter 16 verse 28. How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See, the Lord has given you the Sabbath therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days.

[17:52] Remain each of you in his place let no one go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day. Now what's the difference between God's Sabbath and Israel's Sabbath rest?

[18:06] Israel's is an act of trust. Israel has to trust that God is going to continue to provide for all their needs. See, God's creation work we said it was finished.

[18:18] Israel's work is never done but they image God on the one hand by working and they image God by ruling and exercising dominion. This is the creation mandate over what he's entrusted to them but ultimately God is the ruler.

[18:35] We can image God in that but he is the ruler. God is the provider. God is the life giver. God is the sustainer of all things and so their choice to rest on the seventh day it's a choice to recognize that God is all of those things.

[18:52] It's a choice to trust in him. We can set our work aside and enter into his Sabbath rest from our labor. Okay, but if we're going to understand what the Sabbath means for Christians today we have to go to the New Testament we have to consider how the gospel influenced the Sabbath and we don't have time to do a full Sabbath survey today but a key chapter in the New Testament on this is Romans chapter 14.

[19:20] You don't have to turn there but Romans 14 in this chapter Paul is demonstrating to the Roman church which would be a mixture of Jews and Gentiles or non-Jews he's showing them how the Jewish special days especially the Sabbath they're no longer binding on Christians in the same way.

[19:40] There's freedom from the requirements of the law because Christ perfectly fulfilled the law. Paul says one person esteems one day as better than another while another esteems all days alike here's the key each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

[19:59] Okay, it should arise from faith. Our practices ought to arise out of faith. but just because it's no longer binding does not mean that it's no longer wise and healthy and good.

[20:15] Okay, in his book Lead Paul Tripp observes how the time constraints that we live within including this weekly pattern of working and resting he says we're part of God's perfect plan for people and for a world that see this had not yet been damaged and complicated by sin.

[20:37] So God's setting out a pattern for humanity before sin is even in the world. Tripp says if in a perfect world these were seen as a necessity for sin-free people how much more significant are they for us as we now grapple with the exhausting complications discouragements brokenness and temptations of the surrounding world and with our own divided heart and its conflicting motives.

[21:00] saints the goodness of the Sabbath is not removed even though the binding nature of its regulations are. In his earthly ministry Jesus taught and he demonstrated how man was not made for the Sabbath the Pharisees had enacted a whole bunch of strict regulations that were placing burdens on the people but Jesus said no, no, no the Sabbath was made for man the Sabbath is a good thing to lift burdens off of people's shoulders the day for healing and for rest and so yes we do have Christian freedom I believe in the exercise of a weekly Sabbath but I also believe that scripture shows us from start to finish how the regular observance of a Sabbath rest is wise and healthy and good and so I want to encourage all of us in this room towards the regular observance of a weekly

[22:02] Sabbath not in a prescriptive strict way with freedom but so here are five ways for us to Sabbath well okay five ways here's the first principle we should Sabbath trustingly like Israel for us to set aside our work is an act of trust in the Lord isn't it it's a statement that even though I'm choosing to rest I know that God doesn't God Psalm 121 God never slumbers or sleeps right God is continuing his job of upholding the entire universe by the word of his power right God alone remains the ruler the provider the life giver the sustainer for me to set aside my labor is trusting in the Lord it's an act of trust let's Sabbath trustingly here's another thing I think we ought to Sabbath consistently this pattern of weekly it's again it's established right here by God in the beginning and I think we ought to follow this creation rhythm it's for our good it's for our flourishing as I say that in light of Romans 14 in light of the gospel there is

[23:12] Christian freedom and so I don't think we ought to be nitpicking one another's Sabbath practices we can help one another we can talk about it with one another but there is Christian freedom in how we go about observing Sabbath rest but we should not do it haphazardly I think we ought to Sabbath intentionally I think this is something that we ought to prayerfully consider that we ought to strategize with our spouses and with our community group members about how am I going to spend the Sabbath how am I going to lead my family to do this what practices will actually be restful and I think this is sort of an anecdotal thing but I think if you have a job where you're doing mental work all day long perhaps a Sabbath rest would be exercising getting out and being physical and if the reverse is true if you work with your hands all day long as a carpenter or machinist maybe for you it's best for you to just rest physically so the rest can take different forms but I think it's just we should be intentional about it and think about this and we should

[24:20] Sabbath joyfully okay we looked at this last week God made us for joy and flourishing he's for our good he's not trying to be some you know tyrant of a ruler he loves us and he proved that at the cross and so when we Sabbath we ought to do this joyfully this is an opportunity to be refreshed from our endless labors that are going to keep going on and so we should receive this gift of a Sabbath rest with thanksgiving and with joy you know when I was a senior in college and difficult classes in engineering and we had our senior design project and that felt just like this overwhelming thing that we could never get done my professor this is a Christian school my professor Dr. Dewhurst he sat us down at the beginning and he explained why we should take Sundays off of work which in my mind was crazy because all college long Sunday and all probably high school long

[25:20] Sunday was a pretty important day for getting my work done for class next day and he showed us from scripture why it would be better for us to work harder during the other six days to be able to rest on that Sabbath Sunday and so I listened to him and from then on chose to rest on Sunday and it was probably one of the best decisions I made in college it does require us to work harder the other six days that's a reality but it allows us to rest from our labor on the Sabbath day now up to this point I've been focusing mostly on the physical rest aspect of the Sabbath maybe you've caught that but this is actually so far this is a really incomplete picture of the purpose for Sabbath because it's not just to rest from physical work look back in your Bibles at Genesis 2 1-3 there's four verbs here really it's God finished

[26:23] God rested and what are the other two verbs that we see here God blessed the seventh day and he made it holy God blesses and makes holy the seventh day this is significant what does it mean for God to bless the seventh day and make it holy well last week we talked about how God's blessing is the bestowing of his favor his goodness his benevolence and this is a key thing that we're going to see throughout Genesis and for God to make holy it's for God to set apart for his service and for his glory now this word holy becomes a really prominent word in the rest of the Pentateuch this is the only time it's used in Genesis Moses is waiting to reveal this in the book of Exodus when the people and things are consecrated and sanctified made holy for God for his service God is here setting apart the seventh day as this unique this special day to serve his purposes which are what his purposes as we saw in Genesis 1 are to pour out blessing to pour out favor and goodness for the joy and the flourishing of his creation especially mankind his image bearers and for his glory now I also think we're supposed to see this blessing this making holy in connection with God's resting think about this

[27:56] God comes to rest other words for rest are dwell abide God God comes to rest to dwell to abide on the earth in this seventh day the place where God comes to rest the place where God comes to dwell where his presence is is a place of holiness and a place of blessing Andrew Murray writes in his book Holy in Christ the presence of God revealing itself entering in taking possession is what constitutes true holiness the creation blessing of goodness and fruitfulness and dominion is to be crowned by the Sabbath blessing of rest in God and holiness and fellowship with him now one more thing to observe from the text something is not mentioned here on the seventh day that was mentioned in every single other day at the end of each prior creation day

[28:59] Moses says and there was evening and there was morning the first day the second day all the way through day six and noticeably here that phrase is absent it doesn't say there was evening there was morning it's as if the seventh day doesn't end you see here God is making the earth his divine sanctuary he's making the earth a temple of his blessed and holy presence to come to dwell and this is not for the sake of the day it's not like God can bless the day as distinct from the people that he made no no it's for the sake of mankind again mankind are the ones that were created in his image in his likeness this is for the sake of mankind to fellowship with him and to enjoy his presence here's the principle God made the earth his divine sanctuary for mankind to ever worship him and enjoy his presence this principle this helps us to more fully understand the purpose of the

[30:08] Sabbath it is not only for us to physically rest from our work but it is especially for us to enter into that spiritual rest of God in which we experience his holiness his blessing in which we worship him who alone is worthy of worship in which we enjoy his presence which is the very definition of good David says in Psalm 16 I have no good apart from you in Psalm 73 Asaph says but for me it is good to be near God guys this is amazing this is beautiful this this is the reason that we were made it is to serve the Lord to worship the Lord to honor the Lord to love the Lord to enjoy the Lord and to do so in the community of the other image bearers that he has made and so as we consider our own practice of the Sabbath let's be sure that it includes not only physical rest but also and especially spiritual rest the spiritual rest of worshiping

[31:15] God and enjoying his presence and of doing so in the company of the saints as you think about what it means to Sabbath intentionally do so with a view towards this spiritual dimension of rest see maybe some of you are thinking beforehand see finally I have justification to kick my feet up and watch football all weekend long now it's not wrong to do that right it's not wrong to kick up and watch football or whatever your thing is but if that's your end goal for the Sabbath like if that's it Sabbath equals kicking my feet up drinking a beer watching football you are greatly missing the deeper purpose of the Sabbath which is connection with your maker and your savior and connection with him in relationship with one another with your family and your church family so how do we do this well this gathering this is a primary way that we practice the

[32:22] Sabbath right and while the you know the Sabbath regulations of the law are no longer binding on Christians the weekly corporate gathering certainly is and let us consider Hebrews 10 24 and 25 let us consider how to stir one another up to love and good works not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near and also I want to just ask you to consider incorporating other means of letting the Sabbath be a special day for pursuing the Lord in worship and in fellowship and doing that with your family and church family like perhaps devoting extra time to prayer and the word in the morning or at any point like perhaps having people over for lunch or for dinner spending time in fellowship in community like maybe redeeming tonight's football game by spending it with others and with having spiritual conversation or maybe like getting out in nature and bringing people with you and enjoying

[33:29] God's creation remember those idols we talked about at the start of this sermon the idol of work or ease of people or self if our hearts reject those idols and say no no no I'm going to worship I'm going to enthrone on my heart the one true God my aim is to worship and enjoy the Lord that is going to free us up to be able to Sabbath well to Sabbath for the right reasons which in the end again it's for our joy it's for our flourishing and it's for God's glory but remember the Sabbath day doesn't end right that's what we see here in Genesis 2 God made the earth his temple so that mankind can unendingly worship him and enjoy his presence but that all comes to a crashing halt in just one chapter the seventh day

[34:29] Sabbath rest in the garden is lost in the fall we see Adam and Eve are going to get kicked out of the garden they're going to be barred from going back into the garden because of their sin and what follows after that throughout the entire Old Testament narrative if I could simplify things here is mankind trying to regain the Sabbath rest that was lost in the garden and doing so in all the wrong ways in ways that actually lead not to rest but to destruction and to death as Saint Augustine famously said in the fourth century he said you have made us for yourself oh Lord and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee but God didn't leave us to our futile attempts for rest did he see out of the same overflowing!

[35:22] love and goodness that led God to create in the first place God chose Abraham and through Abraham he made a nation that he eventually redeemed out of the land of Egypt and he did so to make them a holy people a holy nation for his possession and glory and we find at the end of Exodus chapter 40 Israel builds a tabernacle in the wilderness and what happens God's glory comes down his glory comes down it fills the tabernacle God is saying to Israel look you can finally enter back into my rest you can receive joy and life from my presence and worship me but you know how this story goes most of you Israel keeps breaking fellowship with God they keep chasing after idols and yet God continues to make a way eventually under King Solomon the temple in Jerusalem is built and we find in 1 Kings chapter 8 the same thing we saw in Exodus 40 that the glory of

[36:23] God comes down and it fills the temple the Sabbath rest is regained right God's glory is there the people can enjoy his presence they can worship him and do that with one another but the!

[36:37] cycle continues there's idolatry and then God disciplines the people and eventually it leads to exile right but God brings them back into the land and the temple is rebuilt but it's never what it once was right the garden state Sabbath rest remains elusive they can't get there again and then one day out of God's overflowing!

[37:02] love and goodness the eternal word Jesus Christ the Son of God He came down and he put on flesh and he dwelt he tabernacled that's what John 1 14 says he dwelt among us and we have seen his glory but he came not to remain forever did he came to accomplish the work that the father gave him to do and he finished it so that by his once for all sacrifice for our sins we might actually regain the Sabbath rest that we had lost in his own presence he made us his temples every saint is a temple of the Holy Spirit God's presence dwelling with us in us the church of Jesus Christ a temple of the Holy Spirit Sabbath rest is regained by faith in Christ but then one day all evil is going to be vanquished everything will be made new and we will fully and finally enter into that

[38:05] Sabbath rest that was lost in see these three verses they actually set the trajectory for all of human history this is what God intended which was lost in the fall which God is in the process of restoring there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God Hebrews 4 9 and we enter into that rest even now not holy but but truly we enter into that rest by faith friends what I'm trying to say is that God invites us into an eternal Sabbath rest through the gospel God invites us into an eternal Sabbath rest through the gospel you see Tyler was talking earlier about how we strive and we strive and we strive to find rest in this life we strive for a good reputation knowing that

[39:06] I'm well thought of by others we strive for that kind of rest we strive for the rest of success knowing that my performance measures up it achieves the standard we strive for the rest of safety and comfort distance from the chaos of the world we strive for the rest of self justification proving that I'm good enough to earn God's favor and we weary ourselves with these endless strivings that never actually deliver they never actually satisfy they never bring our hearts and our souls the rest that they need and meanwhile Jesus Christ stands and he's holding out the offer come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest he says 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 weary sinners stop trying to justify yourself stop trying to prove your innocence your moral standing your righteous performance you don't have it you don't have it in and of yourself you will never measure up but the glory of the gospel is that

[40:20] Christ stands here offering you his merit his all sufficient merit he gives you his righteousness and you receive it by faith in his name so lay down your guilt lay down your shame at the foot of the cross and there find full and free forgiveness and you find the embrace of a father who loves you and who invites you back into his sabbath rest to those in the midst of trial and suffering God does not ask you to pretend like it's easy okay God knows that it is hard and he wants to meet you in the pain he wants to be for you an eagle spreading his wings and saying come find shelter under my wings you can rest sufferers you can rest right here in the presence of the

[41:27] Lord and you can do that in your suffering because Jesus Christ gave up his heavenly rest and suffered on your behalf and what's more he promises that this light and momentary affliction is preparing for you and me an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison we will enter into that eternal sabbath rest for everyone here I want to ask how would you fill in this sentence once blank finally happens then I'll have rest once this thing happens then I'll have peace once the submarine delivers then I'll be able to rest you know that's not true once my marriage is where I want it then then I can have peace once I finish this class or this difficult assignment or once I have this much money in my bank account or once I've done these home improvement projects then

[42:29] I can finally rest then I can finally have peace what is it for you notice how Jesus doesn't place any of these once this then this kind of conditions in his offer brothers and sisters there is a Sabbath today in Jesus by faith in Jesus you can enter into it right here right now no matter your circumstances and no it's not a total return to the garden state but it is a true return and the total return is a future hope that we have as an anchor for our soul there is a true soul rest that we have right now come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest and this is also a rest of joy David says in Psalm 16 again for in your presence there's fullness of joy friends God invites us into his rest by worshiping and enjoying him praise be to

[43:34]  God through Christ he has made a way for us to regain that seventh day Sabbath rest let's pray Heavenly Father God you are a God of such endless glory that we can scarcely comprehend you have made a good world you have made us as the crowning glory of that creation to know you to love you to serve you to have flourishing and joy and what re-wrecked in the garden you are in the process of restoring a rest for our souls God help us enter into that rest by faith today in Jesus name I pray Amen