WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.200 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:13.379 And on the seventh day, God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh 00:00:13.379 --> 00:00:15.920 day from all his work that he had done. 00:00:17.719 --> 00:00:26.039 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it, God rested from all his 00:00:26.039 --> 00:00:28.679 work that he had done in creation. 00:00:29.820 --> 00:00:30.140 Amen. 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:39.380 Is this text really necessary? 00:00:43.240 --> 00:00:46.660 Structurally, verse one, really it belongs to day six. 00:00:47.260 --> 00:00:50.800 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 00:00:50.900 --> 00:00:52.120 That is everything God had made. 00:00:52.180 --> 00:00:53.859 It was done, the heavens and the earth. 00:00:54.800 --> 00:01:02.500 It's tying a nice bow atop the gift of creation that we read about all through chapter one. 00:01:02.500 --> 00:01:07.780 It's telling us that God has finished his work of forming and filling. 00:01:07.959 --> 00:01:08.780 That's why it's there. 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:18.640 From a literary perspective, we could move, remove verses two and three, and really not 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:19.799 think much about it. 00:01:20.980 --> 00:01:26.700 The story would move actually rather naturally from God creating and blessing his image bearers, 00:01:26.700 --> 00:01:29.760 which we looked at last week at the end of chapter one. 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:35.340 It would move from there to telling the story that unfolds with Adam and Eve, which begins 00:01:35.340 --> 00:01:36.700 in verse four. 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:40.299 Now, I'm just speaking from a literature perspective here. 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:47.020 If we were to take out verses two and three, we'd have the nice tie-off of verse one to day 00:01:47.020 --> 00:01:49.760 six, and then we'd have verse four. 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:55.600 Now, here's the generations of the heavens and the earth, and begins to tell us a little 00:01:55.600 --> 00:02:00.160 bit more about these first creatures, human creatures that God made. 00:02:02.320 --> 00:02:08.740 So, does that mean that we wouldn't lose anything if we were to remove these two verses? 00:02:09.719 --> 00:02:12.780 If we were to just maybe skip over them in our study? 00:02:12.840 --> 00:02:16.159 Would anything be lost is what I want you to consider. 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:22.060 Now, of course, those of us who are wholly committed to the inerrancy and authority of 00:02:22.060 --> 00:02:26.560 the Bible, and I hope that's every single one of us in the room today, which I see as 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:28.319 only members of our church at this point. 00:02:28.659 --> 00:02:33.419 So, if you don't believe that, you lied when you became a member of our church. 00:02:37.139 --> 00:02:38.960 Of course, we would say no. 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:41.199 We would never say something like that. 00:02:41.240 --> 00:02:42.680 We would reject that idea. 00:02:42.680 --> 00:02:51.280 Still, I wonder how many of us, or how many Christians we know, live their lives as if 00:02:51.280 --> 00:03:02.219 these two verses are basically unnecessary and carry no real significance to our lives. 00:03:02.219 --> 00:03:13.919 Now, I want to argue this morning that the seventh day of creation is loaded with far more significance 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:15.219 than you might imagine. 00:03:16.979 --> 00:03:21.620 It's written so as to stand out, actually, in the creation narrative. 00:03:22.199 --> 00:03:25.079 Everything about it is distinct from the other six days. 00:03:25.500 --> 00:03:27.099 Let me just give you a few examples of that. 00:03:27.099 --> 00:03:31.379 One is that it doesn't follow the same formula that the other six days follow. 00:03:32.439 --> 00:03:36.319 There was a particular pattern that we got used to in chapter one, wasn't there? 00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:40.099 And God said, and what God said happened. 00:03:40.219 --> 00:03:45.039 It gives us a report of it, and then there's an evaluation of it, a pronouncement that it's 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:46.819 good, and so on and so forth. 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:48.740 The formula is laid out for us. 00:03:49.079 --> 00:03:54.840 We get to this seventh day, and it's not that Moses has just forgotten the formula. 00:03:54.840 --> 00:03:57.780 No, he's doing something different here. 00:03:57.900 --> 00:03:59.599 This stands out as distinct. 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:03.500 There's no formula to follow, at least not the same formula. 00:04:04.620 --> 00:04:07.659 You may have noticed that there's no end to this day. 00:04:09.259 --> 00:04:11.819 Every other day, all the six, at the very end, what do we see? 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:14.719 There was evening, and there was morning the first day. 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:17.139 There was evening, and there was morning the third day. 00:04:17.220 --> 00:04:19.280 There was evening, and there was morning the sixth day. 00:04:19.340 --> 00:04:21.780 We get to day seven, and there's no evening and no morning. 00:04:21.779 --> 00:04:28.099 Some have suggested that the day continues even now. 00:04:28.559 --> 00:04:31.659 It's an indefinite period of time that's open to us. 00:04:31.719 --> 00:04:35.859 That's a break from what else we've seen in these six days. 00:04:37.399 --> 00:04:39.439 Notice there's no corresponding day. 00:04:40.439 --> 00:04:43.699 Do you remember that part of the pattern that we saw in chapter one? 00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:47.219 Day one is corresponding to day four. 00:04:47.379 --> 00:04:49.519 Day two, corresponding to day five. 00:04:49.619 --> 00:04:51.539 Day three, corresponding to day six. 00:04:51.540 --> 00:04:52.300 We get to day seven. 00:04:52.400 --> 00:04:54.280 There's no corresponding day. 00:04:54.400 --> 00:04:55.960 It stands on its own. 00:04:56.040 --> 00:04:59.180 It's distinct from the others. 00:05:00.700 --> 00:05:04.760 We see here it's the only day in the whole narrative. 00:05:04.939 --> 00:05:07.180 It's the only day that is blessed. 00:05:07.340 --> 00:05:11.160 There's a blessing not only on the things done on the day. 00:05:11.320 --> 00:05:13.259 There's a blessing on the day itself. 00:05:13.420 --> 00:05:15.860 That stands out in the text, doesn't it? 00:05:15.860 --> 00:05:19.020 There's a symmetry here as well. 00:05:19.080 --> 00:05:23.439 We've talked about that already at some other points in our study of Genesis 1. 00:05:23.560 --> 00:05:26.639 There's a symmetry even to these two verses. 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:30.620 The first three lines in the Hebrew text are parallel to one another. 00:05:30.860 --> 00:05:33.060 Each has seven words. 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:37.240 Each has seventh day right in the middle of the line. 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:45.199 There's something of effort and beauty that Moses is doing so as to cause us to stop and think. 00:05:45.379 --> 00:05:49.279 There's something significant about this day. 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:53.379 There's something significant about what we're to understand about it. 00:05:53.979 --> 00:06:12.199 But above all of those things, the significance of the seventh day rests on the fact that God himself blessed and hallowed it as a pattern to be followed by his image bearers. 00:06:12.199 --> 00:06:16.920 It is God's holy day. 00:06:18.420 --> 00:06:30.019 And it would be both a tremendous loss and a serious sin to disregard it or to remove it or to ignore it. 00:06:30.019 --> 00:06:49.479 So what I want to do is I want to show you how the seventh day of creation, how in it God sets forth a pattern of life for us that is spiritually fruitful and blessed and good and embedded with gospel significance. 00:06:49.480 --> 00:07:06.439 That it's not merely a ritual that we follow week in and week out, but it's something that God has established for us in order that he might bless us and tell us more about himself and more about his gospel. 00:07:06.780 --> 00:07:07.439 That's the goal. 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:13.439 First thing I want you to see is I want you to see God's principle established. 00:07:14.060 --> 00:07:16.860 God's principle established. 00:07:16.860 --> 00:07:23.080 Now we get to these two verses and we have to acknowledge first and foremost what the text is about. 00:07:23.560 --> 00:07:26.720 The text is fundamentally about God. 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:29.680 There's no explicit command here. 00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:33.580 There's no mention of man directly in the text. 00:07:33.720 --> 00:07:43.860 What Moses is doing is describing for us how God himself treated and ordained this seventh day of creation. 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:45.879 We have to acknowledge that first. 00:07:45.879 --> 00:07:47.740 This is about God. 00:07:47.740 --> 00:07:57.300 What we find out about ourselves, what we do ourselves flows out of the fact of what God is doing, what God has done and who God is here in this text. 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:10.800 So that as his image bearers, we then see in this text an enduring principle for how we are to pattern our own lives in imitation of our creator. 00:08:11.219 --> 00:08:12.199 Are you with me that far? 00:08:12.199 --> 00:08:15.779 The text is telling us about God. 00:08:15.779 --> 00:08:25.459 And since we've just learned that we are image bearers, we then come to the text and say, okay, this is what God has done and he's done some significant things on it. 00:08:25.939 --> 00:08:34.839 Therefore, as his image bearers, we are going to follow this pattern that he has set as a principle for us here in the text. 00:08:35.019 --> 00:08:35.539 You with me? 00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:39.100 Remember, Genesis is a book of foundations, isn't it? 00:08:39.100 --> 00:08:49.759 This is another example of how it is laying the groundwork for more explicit commands and promises that are going to come later in the scriptures. 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:50.639 It's important. 00:08:50.779 --> 00:08:51.899 We can't just take it out. 00:08:52.019 --> 00:08:53.000 It's important for us. 00:08:53.000 --> 00:09:02.659 Now, the pattern that we see, the principle that we see here, it can be seen ironically in three actions, three action verbs of the text. 00:09:02.820 --> 00:09:09.840 The first thing we see God doing, we see God ceasing, God resting, God resting. 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:11.940 Look at verse 2. 00:09:11.940 --> 00:09:24.820 Rest. 00:09:25.820 --> 00:09:32.200 Now, the idea here is not that God had to take a break after an exhausting week of creative activity. 00:09:33.020 --> 00:09:35.340 Some of you had an exhausting week this week. 00:09:35.340 --> 00:09:44.879 If you're not sure what an exhausting week looks like, you should talk to Chris Baez after the service today, and he'll tell you all about what an exhausting week and weekend looks like. 00:09:46.519 --> 00:09:51.639 Rest from fatigue is exactly what Chris needs right now and what many of you probably need. 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:53.540 That's not the idea here. 00:09:54.660 --> 00:09:57.100 This is not rest from fatigue. 00:09:57.340 --> 00:09:58.019 The Bible's clear. 00:09:58.120 --> 00:10:00.340 God has inexhaustible energy. 00:10:01.480 --> 00:10:03.519 Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 28. 00:10:03.800 --> 00:10:04.660 Have you not known? 00:10:04.659 --> 00:10:06.139 Have you not heard? 00:10:06.519 --> 00:10:10.819 The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. 00:10:11.059 --> 00:10:13.899 He does not faint or grow weary. 00:10:14.899 --> 00:10:17.379 Do you hear Isaiah's logic there? 00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:23.639 That God didn't grow weary or faint even in creating all that exists. 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:31.600 He certainly is not going to grow weary or faint in anything else, particularly in his redemption of his people or in the keeping of his covenant. 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:33.740 God doesn't, he doesn't get tired. 00:10:33.740 --> 00:10:36.600 That's not what this rest is about. 00:10:37.560 --> 00:10:41.180 That God rested here, it means that he ceased. 00:10:41.259 --> 00:10:43.080 It's a cessation of something. 00:10:43.139 --> 00:10:44.340 That's literally what the word means. 00:10:44.560 --> 00:10:47.820 He ceased from his creative activity. 00:10:48.779 --> 00:10:50.759 The rest is not about fatigue. 00:10:50.759 --> 00:10:53.600 It's about completion. 00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:57.919 His work is finished. 00:10:57.919 --> 00:11:00.240 And it's perfect. 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:11.360 Kent Hughes adds that God's rest was one of deep pleasure and satisfaction at the fruit of his labor. 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:14.740 And so he stops. 00:11:16.680 --> 00:11:22.820 God rested from his creative work because he was totally satisfied in it. 00:11:22.820 --> 00:11:33.980 And then what he does for us in the narrative is he marks this cessation of creative activity as a seventh day. 00:11:35.340 --> 00:11:36.060 Why? 00:11:36.059 --> 00:11:42.479 So that he might set a pattern for us to follow. 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:52.120 And as we'll see in a few moments, the rest, the principle here means that our weekly rest is really less about recovery, 00:11:52.120 --> 00:11:54.860 even though that is a blessing that Chris may enjoy today. 00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:57.000 It's less about recovery. 00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:03.659 It's more about the intentional cessation of work for a greater purpose. 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:07.039 And God is beginning to show us what that is. 00:12:07.259 --> 00:12:07.919 It's a principle. 00:12:08.200 --> 00:12:09.620 God is resting. 00:12:10.600 --> 00:12:13.840 Second, God is blessing. 00:12:14.620 --> 00:12:15.620 God is blessing. 00:12:16.440 --> 00:12:16.960 Verse 3. 00:12:19.320 --> 00:12:22.799 So God blessed the seventh day. 00:12:23.620 --> 00:12:25.159 God blessed the seventh day. 00:12:25.159 --> 00:12:27.899 Now this should stick out to us. 00:12:28.779 --> 00:12:35.659 Up to this point, God's blessing in the whole creation narrative has been reserved for his living creatures. 00:12:37.559 --> 00:12:42.279 Here, he blesses the day itself. 00:12:43.719 --> 00:12:45.659 Now what is the nature of that blessing? 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:49.779 Now throughout the creation narrative, if we keep it within that context, 00:12:49.779 --> 00:12:54.439 we're trying to let the scripture speak for itself in the way that it was given to us. 00:12:54.440 --> 00:13:03.700 Every time we see blessing, it's in reference to the ability and responsibility to be fruitful and multiply. 00:13:05.040 --> 00:13:07.000 Well, a day can't multiply. 00:13:07.300 --> 00:13:09.640 A day can't procreate, can it? 00:13:09.660 --> 00:13:11.680 What are we meant to understand there? 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:21.639 I think God's blessing of the seventh day then, it seems to be his unique favor in making it a day that is fruitful for us. 00:13:23.479 --> 00:13:27.819 Spiritually fruitful in the lives of his image bearers. 00:13:27.820 --> 00:13:36.140 It is productive in a way that is utterly distinct from all the other days that he gives us for our work. 00:13:38.280 --> 00:13:41.980 It's productive, but it's productive according to his favor. 00:13:43.100 --> 00:13:48.940 And this blessing is linked to the final action that we see God taking, setting forth this principle. 00:13:48.940 --> 00:13:55.920 We see God is resting, and then we see God is blessing, and finally we see God is hallowing. 00:13:56.520 --> 00:13:57.400 He's hallowing. 00:13:57.740 --> 00:13:58.240 Verse 3. 00:13:58.880 --> 00:14:04.420 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. 00:14:05.420 --> 00:14:06.140 He hallowed it. 00:14:07.940 --> 00:14:13.780 Now that God made the seventh day holy means more than just setting it apart from the others. 00:14:13.779 --> 00:14:17.019 We understand a wooden definition of holiness is that. 00:14:17.100 --> 00:14:18.959 It means to set apart, right? 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:22.159 And of course, God is doing that. 00:14:22.220 --> 00:14:26.319 He's setting this day apart from the others, but it means more than that. 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:33.079 It means that God is consecrating this day to be a day that is devoted to himself. 00:14:34.319 --> 00:14:36.679 It's sacred in that sense. 00:14:37.939 --> 00:14:41.620 It's a sacred day devoted wholly to God's purposes. 00:14:41.620 --> 00:14:50.720 It's a day of worship, a day of celebration of the God who created all things so wondrously through the power of his word. 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:59.539 And not only did he create them, but he created them in perfection and in completion and in beauty for his glory and for our good. 00:14:59.899 --> 00:15:01.799 This day, God is setting apart. 00:15:01.799 --> 00:15:10.779 He's hallowing it as a sacred day for us to look to him now and worship him as creator. 00:15:12.620 --> 00:15:25.079 And that God made the day holy shows that we, as his image bearers, are more than the functions described on day six. 00:15:25.080 --> 00:15:33.500 Our lives are about more than sex. 00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:36.860 They're about more than work. 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:40.800 They're about more than consumption. 00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:50.779 We are fundamentally worshipers designed by God to commune with him. 00:15:51.099 --> 00:15:59.659 And God blesses and sets apart the seventh day as a day for us to cease from our other labors, from our other functions, 00:15:59.659 --> 00:16:05.799 in order that we might specially worship and enjoy him. 00:16:05.799 --> 00:16:07.579 Him, it's hallowed. 00:16:07.839 --> 00:16:11.199 It is a day that is holy to the Lord. 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:13.279 Now that's the principle. 00:16:14.199 --> 00:16:16.179 We're looking at what God did. 00:16:16.539 --> 00:16:18.199 Not thinking yet about what we do. 00:16:18.279 --> 00:16:19.559 We're looking at what God did. 00:16:20.120 --> 00:16:21.519 God ceased. 00:16:21.699 --> 00:16:22.439 He rested. 00:16:23.219 --> 00:16:24.679 God blessed. 00:16:25.219 --> 00:16:26.699 God hallowed. 00:16:27.259 --> 00:16:30.620 But how exactly does this principle then apply? 00:16:31.479 --> 00:16:32.539 Well, that's the second thing. 00:16:32.839 --> 00:16:34.500 We've seen the principle established. 00:16:34.500 --> 00:16:37.039 Now we're going to see God's pattern applied. 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:38.740 We see it applied. 00:16:40.440 --> 00:16:49.120 Now, if God blessed the seventh day and God hallowed the seventh day, who exactly is to receive the blessing of it? 00:16:50.940 --> 00:16:56.419 Who is supposed to treat it as a day that is holy unto the Lord? 00:16:56.779 --> 00:16:58.720 In Genesis 1 and 2. 00:17:00.120 --> 00:17:00.399 Who? 00:17:01.779 --> 00:17:03.080 His image bearers. 00:17:03.080 --> 00:17:05.160 Isn't that the clear answer? 00:17:06.840 --> 00:17:11.579 On the seventh day, God established a principled pattern for us. 00:17:12.299 --> 00:17:13.180 You and me. 00:17:13.840 --> 00:17:14.480 His people. 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:26.259 And like the God we image, we are to set apart one out of every seven days to cease from our labors, 00:17:26.700 --> 00:17:33.360 to worship our creator, to commune with our God and his people, 00:17:33.640 --> 00:17:40.220 and to enjoy the blessings of the rest that he has provided for us. 00:17:40.220 --> 00:17:41.299 That's the pattern. 00:17:41.299 --> 00:17:41.339 That's the pattern. 00:17:43.339 --> 00:17:49.400 Observing the Sabbath principle that is established here is one way that we image God. 00:17:49.400 --> 00:17:54.820 Making it in some sense part of what it means to be human. 00:17:55.820 --> 00:18:01.540 This pattern of work and rest that God gives us here. 00:18:01.539 --> 00:18:10.480 And through the scriptures, we see the principle is applied in different ways, but the principle itself endures. 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:20.140 We understand it to be part of God's moral law revealed explicitly in the fourth commandment. 00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:22.180 Andy read it just a few moments ago for us. 00:18:22.620 --> 00:18:24.440 Exodus chapter 28 to 11. 00:18:24.819 --> 00:18:27.880 Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. 00:18:29.120 --> 00:18:31.759 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 00:18:31.900 --> 00:18:35.279 On the seventh day, it's a Sabbath to the Lord your God. 00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:38.079 On it you shall not do any work. 00:18:39.220 --> 00:18:48.720 You or your son or your daughter or your servants or your livestock or the sojourner who is with you in your gates. 00:18:49.339 --> 00:18:50.160 Why, Moses? 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:51.839 Why? 00:18:53.799 --> 00:19:00.220 For in six days, the Lord made the heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, 00:19:00.279 --> 00:19:01.899 and he rested on the seventh day. 00:19:01.900 --> 00:19:06.700 Therefore, God says, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:08.700 Now, that's really important for us. 00:19:09.440 --> 00:19:12.900 Here we see the summary of God's moral law being given. 00:19:13.540 --> 00:19:15.400 Jesus says the two greatest commandments. 00:19:15.640 --> 00:19:17.259 Love the Lord your God with all your heart. 00:19:17.620 --> 00:19:19.740 Love your neighbor as yourself. 00:19:19.820 --> 00:19:23.460 We get to the Ten Commandments, and we see that law summarized there. 00:19:24.180 --> 00:19:28.560 The first four showing us how we love the Lord our God with all our hearts. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:33.899 The second six showing us how we love man and love our neighbors as ourself. 00:19:33.960 --> 00:19:38.579 When we get to this fourth commandment, and people can be so quick as to just dismiss it to essentially say, 00:19:38.839 --> 00:19:41.119 well, really, God only gave us nine commandments. 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:43.980 I don't think we should think of it like that. 00:19:45.399 --> 00:19:47.059 This is part of God's law. 00:19:47.059 --> 00:20:00.339 Notice that it's grounded and rooted in Genesis 2, 2 and 3, meaning that the principle as it is applied in Exodus 20, 8 through 11, 00:20:00.980 --> 00:20:03.279 is grounded in God himself. 00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:07.639 It sets a pattern for God's image bearers to follow. 00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:11.259 And what does this pattern look like throughout the scriptures? 00:20:12.580 --> 00:20:14.259 We don't have time to work all of this out. 00:20:14.320 --> 00:20:17.680 I trust that you're reasonable people, and you can do this in your study. 00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:22.540 But at least for our sake this morning, at least to acknowledge that under the old covenant, 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:29.020 Israel set apart Saturday to apply this principle. 00:20:29.100 --> 00:20:31.480 It's very clear in Exodus 20 and in other places. 00:20:31.480 --> 00:20:38.200 It was a day for them to cease from their labors and to worship their creator and redeemer. 00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:45.039 From Christ's resurrection moving forward, we find Christians gathering together not on the last day of the week, 00:20:45.099 --> 00:20:51.420 but now gathering together on the first day of the week in commemoration of Christ's resurrection. 00:20:51.819 --> 00:20:53.400 They call it the Lord's Day. 00:20:53.400 --> 00:21:01.900 And under the new covenant then, Sunday then becomes the day that God's people observe the seventh day principle. 00:21:01.900 --> 00:21:07.120 The principle endures in the unfolding storyline of the Bible. 00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:10.420 It's applied in unique ways and in distinct ways. 00:21:10.620 --> 00:21:12.519 The principle itself endures. 00:21:13.340 --> 00:21:15.960 Now, how exactly are we to follow that pattern then? 00:21:16.040 --> 00:21:17.600 What does this actually look like for us? 00:21:19.380 --> 00:21:22.759 We need to think about it in terms of the threefold principle. 00:21:23.400 --> 00:21:28.120 God rested, God blessed, and God hallowed. 00:21:28.120 --> 00:21:34.320 Which means that first, we follow the pattern by ceasing from our labors. 00:21:35.320 --> 00:21:37.080 We cease from our labors. 00:21:39.720 --> 00:21:44.120 Again, remembering that God's rest wasn't a recovery from fatigue. 00:21:44.980 --> 00:21:48.980 It was a cessation from creative activity. 00:21:48.980 --> 00:21:59.799 To follow the pattern that God gives us in this principle means first, a general cessation from normal work. 00:22:00.579 --> 00:22:05.000 And patterns of labor and productivity. 00:22:06.660 --> 00:22:09.220 It's not a rest of idleness. 00:22:09.220 --> 00:22:17.940 But it is an intentional ceasing from labor that is reserved for the other days. 00:22:20.140 --> 00:22:22.360 Now, immediately we begin to think at this point, right? 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:22.860 Okay. 00:22:24.200 --> 00:22:27.299 Well, I work a job that sometimes requires me to work on Sunday. 00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:28.680 What am I supposed to do with that? 00:22:29.480 --> 00:22:31.720 Jesus is really kind with us here, isn't he? 00:22:31.720 --> 00:22:39.779 You get to Matthew chapter 12, and we see all of these instances throughout the Gospels where Jesus is interacting with the Pharisees about this. 00:22:40.299 --> 00:22:48.220 And we can discern from Matthew 12 that Jesus allows for various kinds of work to actually take place. 00:22:49.240 --> 00:22:50.860 We see works of necessity there. 00:22:51.660 --> 00:22:58.319 Notice in one of the ways that the Pharisees were trying to trap him is they were trying to see if he would heal someone on the Sabbath day. 00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:04.919 And interestingly enough, as you read through the Gospels, how often do we see Jesus healing specifically on the Sabbath day? 00:23:04.980 --> 00:23:06.720 It's as if he was trying to make a point. 00:23:07.740 --> 00:23:15.220 And he looks at the Pharisees and he says, which one of you, if you had a sheep that fell into a ditch today, wouldn't go and get the sheep out of the ditch? 00:23:15.980 --> 00:23:18.859 And, of course, the answer is all of them would do that. 00:23:19.019 --> 00:23:20.819 And Jesus is saying, and that would be okay. 00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:23.319 There are certain urgent works of necessity. 00:23:23.319 --> 00:23:32.460 If you got up this morning and a pipe burst in your house, I would expect you to stay and keep your house from flooding rather than coming to the 10 a.m. worship service. 00:23:33.099 --> 00:23:34.599 It's a work of necessity, right? 00:23:34.740 --> 00:23:36.019 Sometimes things like that come up. 00:23:36.200 --> 00:23:38.919 Jesus is very kind to us to actually highlight that for us, isn't he? 00:23:40.059 --> 00:23:43.519 He talks about works of ministry or works of piety. 00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:50.019 He points to the priests who are serving in the temple Sabbath by Sabbath. 00:23:50.139 --> 00:23:54.519 And he says, in a technical sense, they're desecrating the day, but not really. 00:23:55.740 --> 00:24:05.180 Meaning that there is a kind of works of piety, works of ministry that are perfectly good and allowable on this day. 00:24:05.339 --> 00:24:06.339 Then he gives us a third one. 00:24:06.420 --> 00:24:07.559 It's works of mercy. 00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:11.639 That's in the good things that Jesus was doing for others on that day. 00:24:11.640 --> 00:24:17.580 Some of you, and there are others in our church who are not here this morning because they work such jobs. 00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:21.200 They are jobs that are fundamentally works of mercy. 00:24:21.640 --> 00:24:27.480 That to be there to care for people today, or at least those people are going to be lost in some way or hindered. 00:24:28.340 --> 00:24:31.000 Of course, Jesus is making allowances for that. 00:24:31.080 --> 00:24:32.680 But the principle persists. 00:24:32.680 --> 00:24:43.140 The general principle is, insofar as our labor doesn't fit those three categories, we're to cease from those labors on his day. 00:24:43.960 --> 00:24:45.340 There's a second thing. 00:24:46.299 --> 00:24:51.900 Following God's pattern also means receiving the blessing of the day. 00:24:53.039 --> 00:24:54.720 Receiving the blessing of the day. 00:24:54.720 --> 00:24:59.980 The rest is blessed for our good. 00:25:00.980 --> 00:25:06.960 And he made it fruitful, not merely for our bodies, but for our souls. 00:25:08.339 --> 00:25:11.660 It's a blessed day, and that is a gift to us. 00:25:11.660 --> 00:25:17.420 We tend to think of the Sabbath principle as a restriction. 00:25:19.800 --> 00:25:27.880 We really only have one lens sometimes that we look through, and we just think of all the things that we're not supposed to do that perhaps we would rather be doing. 00:25:28.680 --> 00:25:31.540 God's not giving us this day from that perspective. 00:25:31.640 --> 00:25:32.860 That's not how we're to think about it. 00:25:32.860 --> 00:25:39.100 Our resistance to it is really an indication of our idolatry. 00:25:41.660 --> 00:25:44.460 Our rebellion against what God has said. 00:25:46.519 --> 00:25:48.460 We make idols of work. 00:25:48.580 --> 00:25:50.300 Andy prayed about this just a few moments ago. 00:25:50.779 --> 00:25:52.140 We make idols of work. 00:25:53.380 --> 00:25:56.220 Sometimes we make idols just of general productivity. 00:25:57.600 --> 00:26:05.480 We just can't handle a day that we don't squeeze as much productive work out of it as possible, whether it's with our normal job or some other thing. 00:26:05.480 --> 00:26:14.259 We make idols sometimes out of leisure, which is another kind of problem with the way people may approach the day. 00:26:16.940 --> 00:26:22.519 God's blessing seems to us sometimes not to be a gift but a hindrance to what we really want to do. 00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:25.059 I think we need to hear this. 00:26:25.900 --> 00:26:27.259 It's not the proper perspective. 00:26:27.259 --> 00:26:37.539 That God blessed the day means that his intention is that we understand this to be a gift from his hand. 00:26:38.619 --> 00:26:40.319 And what a gift it is. 00:26:41.980 --> 00:26:46.700 On this day, he has made us free from our labors. 00:26:47.700 --> 00:26:49.279 Free from our studies. 00:26:49.279 --> 00:27:02.899 Free from those things that we would dedicate all the other days for productivity to so that we might enjoy the gift of his rest and that we might delight in it. 00:27:03.940 --> 00:27:08.319 The Sabbath principle is not something to dread or begrudge. 00:27:08.440 --> 00:27:11.059 It is something to delight in. 00:27:11.059 --> 00:27:17.500 And to delight in the gift of the day is to delight in God himself. 00:27:17.500 --> 00:27:21.339 I want you to hear what Isaiah says about this. 00:27:21.380 --> 00:27:26.400 And I fully recognize that this is set underneath the old covenant paradigm. 00:27:26.599 --> 00:27:28.480 But the truth remains the same. 00:27:28.619 --> 00:27:30.640 Isaiah 58, 13 and 14. 00:27:31.259 --> 00:27:37.539 If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, 00:27:38.299 --> 00:27:43.380 and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable, 00:27:43.380 --> 00:27:50.720 if you honor it, not going your own ways or seeking your own pleasure or talking idly, 00:27:51.420 --> 00:27:55.940 then you shall take delight in the Lord. 00:27:57.220 --> 00:27:58.720 Do you see the connection? 00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:04.660 As we come to delight in the gift of God's holy day, 00:28:04.860 --> 00:28:07.540 it increases because of what we're doing. 00:28:07.539 --> 00:28:10.759 It increases our delight in the Lord himself. 00:28:11.159 --> 00:28:15.980 And as our delight in the Lord himself grows, guess what else is going to grow with it? 00:28:16.279 --> 00:28:19.159 Our delight in the gift of this day. 00:28:19.779 --> 00:28:20.920 They're linked. 00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:21.759 Why? 00:28:22.159 --> 00:28:26.599 Because it's rooted in the person of God himself all the way back in Genesis 2. 00:28:26.799 --> 00:28:28.440 This is how we image him. 00:28:28.659 --> 00:28:31.339 This is how we delight in him in part. 00:28:31.779 --> 00:28:33.599 It's a gift for us. 00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:36.240 But then there's a third thing. 00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:41.959 Applying God's pattern means not just ceasing from labor, 00:28:42.519 --> 00:28:49.819 but dedicating the day to communion with God, to worship. 00:28:50.579 --> 00:28:52.839 It's a sacred day. 00:28:53.519 --> 00:28:59.879 It is a day that is holy to the Lord, devoted to his purposes. 00:28:59.880 --> 00:29:08.740 I mentioned sometimes we have the idol of leisure or an idol of recreation, 00:29:09.240 --> 00:29:14.560 both things that can be rightly and appropriately enjoyed as a gift of God's blessing on his day. 00:29:16.940 --> 00:29:25.140 Sometimes we make it out as if this day is fundamentally about my physical rest. 00:29:25.140 --> 00:29:27.500 And it's not. 00:29:29.340 --> 00:29:30.580 That's a benefit. 00:29:31.660 --> 00:29:33.160 It's not the aim. 00:29:34.300 --> 00:29:41.500 It is a day that is devoted to the Lord, not fundamentally to leisure. 00:29:42.420 --> 00:29:47.020 We don't set it apart just to do whatever we want to do. 00:29:47.019 --> 00:29:53.119 We set it apart as a day dedicated, as our confession of faith says, 00:29:53.839 --> 00:29:58.700 to the exercises of worship, both public and private. 00:29:59.460 --> 00:30:00.519 What does that mean? 00:30:00.579 --> 00:30:01.440 What does that look like? 00:30:02.579 --> 00:30:04.879 It looks like doing what you're doing right now. 00:30:06.559 --> 00:30:12.200 Gathering together with God's people in corporate worship and in Christian fellowship. 00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:20.019 It means communing with God in devotion personally and in discipleship with our families 00:30:20.019 --> 00:30:25.360 and with other Christians focused on glorifying him. 00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:30.120 So we see the principle is established for us in God himself. 00:30:31.160 --> 00:30:33.420 And then we see how it's applied that way. 00:30:33.620 --> 00:30:35.460 We can look at a lot of scriptures about that. 00:30:35.580 --> 00:30:39.480 But just thinking about Genesis 2, 2 and 3, how is it applied? 00:30:39.759 --> 00:30:41.400 Well, we cease as God ceased. 00:30:41.400 --> 00:30:44.640 We receive the blessing that God intends it to be. 00:30:44.920 --> 00:30:46.820 And we make it holy. 00:30:47.019 --> 00:30:49.080 We devote it to the purposes of the Lord. 00:30:49.820 --> 00:30:53.040 Perhaps a couple of just practical notes would be helpful at this point. 00:30:53.820 --> 00:30:54.480 Are you with me still? 00:30:59.300 --> 00:31:06.340 Your mind may already be racing to decide what you should or should not do today. 00:31:06.339 --> 00:31:12.919 Maybe you're even envisioning a piece of paper with a list on it right now. 00:31:13.059 --> 00:31:18.399 Just thinking, okay, can't do this, can't do this, can't do this, can't do this. 00:31:21.359 --> 00:31:27.259 Maybe your mind is actually racing to find a way to justify the things you had already had planned to do the rest of the day. 00:31:27.259 --> 00:31:34.240 Can I just try to help you as your pastor here for a moment? 00:31:34.799 --> 00:31:36.640 I want to shepherd you for a moment on this. 00:31:39.680 --> 00:31:41.859 You may be thinking, is it okay for me to watch football today? 00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:46.700 Or is that the kind of idleness that actually takes away from a devotion to the Lord? 00:31:46.700 --> 00:31:55.559 Is it okay if I check my emails or respond to a few to get a head start on the week? 00:31:58.779 --> 00:32:00.519 Is it okay if I catch up on some laundry? 00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:02.900 What about going for a run? 00:32:05.279 --> 00:32:09.640 Should I cook a meal at home or is that too much work? 00:32:10.500 --> 00:32:15.460 Or should I go out to a restaurant where other people are being forced to work? 00:32:16.700 --> 00:32:18.120 Maybe you just shouldn't eat today. 00:32:21.779 --> 00:32:24.059 These are the questions that we're concerned about, aren't they? 00:32:25.299 --> 00:32:27.059 And they're important questions. 00:32:28.180 --> 00:32:29.880 I'm not inclined to answer them. 00:32:31.340 --> 00:32:34.299 Because I don't think that's the right approach. 00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:39.819 Making a list of all the things you can or cannot do on Sunday 00:32:39.819 --> 00:32:43.759 puts you firmly on the path of Phariseeism 00:32:43.759 --> 00:32:49.720 that Jesus so routinely confronted and condemned in the Gospels. 00:32:50.279 --> 00:32:51.759 That was their problem. 00:32:53.640 --> 00:32:59.319 It's not that they wanted to honor the Sabbath day and the Sabbath principle. 00:32:59.319 --> 00:33:05.399 It's that they wanted to honor their own regulations that they had assigned to that day. 00:33:05.679 --> 00:33:06.720 That's a problem. 00:33:06.899 --> 00:33:10.419 If that's what you're trying to do, you're going to immediately go wrong 00:33:10.419 --> 00:33:13.579 and you're going to put yourself on a path of anxiety, number one, 00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:17.980 that doesn't trust so much in the finished work of Christ, 00:33:18.039 --> 00:33:20.960 but trust in whether or not you're doing all the right things on the right day. 00:33:20.960 --> 00:33:24.279 And you need to refrain from that. 00:33:25.740 --> 00:33:28.900 It might also put you on the path of looking at everybody else 00:33:28.900 --> 00:33:31.100 that doesn't do it exactly like you do it 00:33:31.100 --> 00:33:35.100 and thinking less of them as if they're lesser Christians 00:33:35.100 --> 00:33:38.480 and more of yourself as if you're a greater one or better one. 00:33:38.640 --> 00:33:41.140 Is that not the Phariseeism that Jesus was confronting? 00:33:41.140 --> 00:33:46.320 If our approach is just to immediately make a list 00:33:46.320 --> 00:33:47.780 of all the things we should do and shouldn't do, 00:33:47.900 --> 00:33:49.560 that's where we're going to end up. 00:33:50.720 --> 00:33:52.820 I think there's a better approach for us. 00:33:53.540 --> 00:33:56.400 And we need to remember that Christians have thought differently about this 00:33:56.400 --> 00:33:58.080 through the centuries, 00:33:58.680 --> 00:34:01.620 about how to apply the principle. 00:34:02.100 --> 00:34:05.420 We need to give space for conscience, 00:34:05.540 --> 00:34:09.059 for the Lord to inform and shape individual conscience in this. 00:34:09.059 --> 00:34:10.880 But here's what I would encourage you to do. 00:34:11.139 --> 00:34:13.900 Instead of making a list, 00:34:14.039 --> 00:34:16.219 I want to encourage you to ask this question. 00:34:18.119 --> 00:34:19.859 Does what I'm considering doing 00:34:19.859 --> 00:34:23.659 fulfill the purpose of the day? 00:34:25.460 --> 00:34:28.139 And does it honor the God to whom the day 00:34:28.139 --> 00:34:30.199 is supposed to be devoted to? 00:34:31.839 --> 00:34:33.699 Now you could look at each of those questions 00:34:33.699 --> 00:34:35.000 that I could just gave you. 00:34:35.019 --> 00:34:36.679 And if you look at it through that lens, 00:34:36.980 --> 00:34:39.759 the answer could be yes and it could be no. 00:34:39.760 --> 00:34:42.900 Because some of this is going to be a matter of your own heart. 00:34:45.580 --> 00:34:46.720 Is what you want to do, 00:34:46.780 --> 00:34:48.060 is it about being productive 00:34:48.060 --> 00:34:50.240 so that the day doesn't feel like a waste 00:34:50.240 --> 00:34:52.220 or a loss? 00:34:53.620 --> 00:34:55.900 As if the real blessing that comes from it 00:34:55.900 --> 00:34:58.000 is what you can get out of it 00:34:58.000 --> 00:35:00.280 rather than what God has provided to you 00:35:00.280 --> 00:35:01.240 as a gift in it. 00:35:01.239 --> 00:35:03.639 I think you need to weigh that out in your own heart. 00:35:06.039 --> 00:35:09.799 Is this recreation something that I'm receiving 00:35:09.799 --> 00:35:12.679 with thanksgiving to God 00:35:12.679 --> 00:35:15.339 as a blessing for me to enjoy 00:35:15.339 --> 00:35:17.739 and to receive the benefits on this day? 00:35:17.799 --> 00:35:20.039 I think you need to weigh that out in your heart. 00:35:20.039 --> 00:35:23.559 Big question. 00:35:25.099 --> 00:35:27.659 Does it keep you from prioritizing 00:35:27.659 --> 00:35:32.079 the public and private exercises of worship? 00:35:35.360 --> 00:35:37.659 Am I going to follow this thing 00:35:37.659 --> 00:35:39.579 or do this thing or do that thing 00:35:39.579 --> 00:35:41.320 so as it actually prevents me 00:35:41.320 --> 00:35:43.500 from gathering with the church? 00:35:43.500 --> 00:35:46.619 So that actually is going to prevent me 00:35:46.619 --> 00:35:49.780 or keep me from engaging throughout the day 00:35:49.780 --> 00:35:52.679 in thoughtful worship privately 00:35:52.679 --> 00:35:54.780 and discipleship with my family 00:35:54.780 --> 00:35:57.159 and with other Christians. 00:35:57.699 --> 00:35:59.360 We got to weigh that out. 00:36:01.739 --> 00:36:05.119 The issue is not usually going to be the thing itself. 00:36:05.119 --> 00:36:08.380 It's whether or not it follows God's pattern 00:36:08.380 --> 00:36:11.019 for ceasing from normal labors, 00:36:12.099 --> 00:36:16.179 receiving the blessing of his rest as a delight 00:36:16.179 --> 00:36:20.179 and prioritizing the day as a time for worship. 00:36:21.039 --> 00:36:22.339 That's the pattern applied. 00:36:23.099 --> 00:36:24.500 There's one more thing for us to see here 00:36:24.500 --> 00:36:25.179 before we finish. 00:36:26.079 --> 00:36:29.739 I want you to see God's promise embedded in this. 00:36:30.679 --> 00:36:32.159 God's promise embedded. 00:36:32.159 --> 00:36:36.219 Now who's the first audience of Genesis chapter two? 00:36:37.899 --> 00:36:38.420 Israel. 00:36:39.779 --> 00:36:42.519 Ancient Israel wandering in the desert of Sinai, 00:36:43.379 --> 00:36:45.500 what have they just come out of? 00:36:46.440 --> 00:36:50.079 400 years of bondage 00:36:50.079 --> 00:36:52.399 and what was the nature of that bondage in Egypt? 00:36:53.159 --> 00:36:55.239 Hard labor. 00:36:56.359 --> 00:37:01.039 They got worse and worse and worse and worse 00:37:01.039 --> 00:37:02.699 and then what happens? 00:37:03.980 --> 00:37:05.380 God gave them rest, didn't he? 00:37:06.800 --> 00:37:10.860 He delivered them from the bondage of that labor. 00:37:12.139 --> 00:37:16.400 He brought them through the Red Sea on dry ground. 00:37:16.539 --> 00:37:19.320 He delivers them into this wilderness place 00:37:19.320 --> 00:37:22.679 of wandering where they are then looking forward 00:37:22.679 --> 00:37:25.420 and anticipating an even greater rest 00:37:25.420 --> 00:37:28.980 that is going to come to them in the land of Canaan. 00:37:28.980 --> 00:37:33.900 When Moses gets to the second giving of the law 00:37:33.900 --> 00:37:35.280 in Deuteronomy chapter five 00:37:35.280 --> 00:37:38.059 and he's rehearsing the Ten Commandments all over again, 00:37:38.179 --> 00:37:40.480 there's a shift in the way that he writes 00:37:40.480 --> 00:37:43.059 about the Sabbath day in Deuteronomy five. 00:37:43.219 --> 00:37:47.099 In Exodus 20, it's rooted in worshiping God as creator. 00:37:47.519 --> 00:37:49.039 In Deuteronomy five, he says, 00:37:49.119 --> 00:37:49.820 you're gonna do this 00:37:49.820 --> 00:37:51.079 and you're gonna set apart this day 00:37:51.079 --> 00:37:52.760 as a memorial of the fact 00:37:52.760 --> 00:37:56.179 that God brought you out of slavery and labor in Egypt. 00:37:56.179 --> 00:38:01.460 The day for them was a day of worship for God in creation, 00:38:01.960 --> 00:38:05.659 a day of worship for God in their redemption. 00:38:06.259 --> 00:38:09.219 And as they worshiped their creator and their redeemer, 00:38:09.619 --> 00:38:13.179 they anticipated the day that he would bring them in 00:38:13.179 --> 00:38:14.639 to this land of promise. 00:38:15.059 --> 00:38:16.779 And so it is for us. 00:38:17.859 --> 00:38:19.179 So it is for us. 00:38:19.179 --> 00:38:23.179 Every Lord's day as we gather together, 00:38:23.460 --> 00:38:26.500 it is a time to worship God as creator 00:38:26.500 --> 00:38:29.719 in reflection of Genesis chapter two. 00:38:30.139 --> 00:38:34.579 It is a time to worship Jesus as redeemer 00:38:34.579 --> 00:38:40.039 who has delivered us from these same works. 00:38:40.039 --> 00:38:46.059 And as we wonder here in this life, 00:38:46.900 --> 00:38:48.779 we observe this principle, 00:38:49.000 --> 00:38:50.440 Lord's day by Lord's day, 00:38:50.659 --> 00:38:56.820 in anticipation of God's promise of rest in eternity. 00:38:58.539 --> 00:39:00.759 Thus our purpose on the Lord's day 00:39:00.759 --> 00:39:03.880 is to memorialize what God has done 00:39:03.880 --> 00:39:07.639 and to anticipate what he is going to do. 00:39:07.639 --> 00:39:10.460 For loved ones, if you're a Christian, 00:39:11.119 --> 00:39:14.859 there remains a Sabbath still yet for you, 00:39:15.299 --> 00:39:19.659 an eternal rest that awaits us in the new heavens 00:39:19.659 --> 00:39:22.179 and the new earth at Christ's return. 00:39:22.359 --> 00:39:24.599 When we gather Sunday by Sunday, 00:39:24.799 --> 00:39:26.859 we're looking back to what Christ has done 00:39:26.859 --> 00:39:29.839 and we're looking ahead to where it's all gonna terminate. 00:39:29.980 --> 00:39:31.819 It's gonna terminate in the new heavens 00:39:31.819 --> 00:39:34.339 and the new earth, an ultimate rest. 00:39:34.340 --> 00:39:37.200 And today is to be a taste of it. 00:39:37.500 --> 00:39:40.760 It's to be a taste of it that creates in you 00:39:40.760 --> 00:39:44.900 a longing not to just be done with the job that you hate, 00:39:45.240 --> 00:39:47.860 but a longing for that eternal rest 00:39:47.860 --> 00:39:51.180 and the eternal delight in the creator and redeemer 00:39:51.180 --> 00:39:53.000 that we worship on this day. 00:39:55.480 --> 00:39:56.660 But there's more. 00:39:56.659 --> 00:40:02.980 Remember, God did not cease from work because he was tired. 00:40:03.219 --> 00:40:05.899 He ceased from his work because he was finished. 00:40:06.779 --> 00:40:10.659 His finished work established rest, 00:40:11.659 --> 00:40:15.819 blessing, and communion with him for his creatures. 00:40:15.820 --> 00:40:19.300 And in the same way, 00:40:20.880 --> 00:40:23.600 Christ's finished work on the cross 00:40:23.600 --> 00:40:27.700 restores that blessing of spiritual rest 00:40:27.700 --> 00:40:30.660 and communion for his people. 00:40:33.460 --> 00:40:37.120 Jesus himself is our rest, 00:40:37.580 --> 00:40:42.360 and in him alone do we find rest for our souls. 00:40:42.360 --> 00:40:47.480 We can cease from all the insufficient attempts 00:40:47.480 --> 00:40:49.260 of earning our salvation 00:40:49.260 --> 00:40:52.880 by resting in what he has done for us. 00:40:53.039 --> 00:40:58.980 And he invites us to enter into this rest by faith. 00:40:59.700 --> 00:41:03.480 It's no coincidence that right before Matthew records 00:41:03.480 --> 00:41:06.820 Jesus' teaching about the Sabbath in Matthew 12, 00:41:07.019 --> 00:41:09.240 that at the end of Matthew 11, 00:41:09.680 --> 00:41:10.720 Jesus says this, 00:41:10.719 --> 00:41:16.019 Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, 00:41:16.299 --> 00:41:17.799 and I will give you rest. 00:41:18.839 --> 00:41:22.259 Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, 00:41:22.339 --> 00:41:24.799 for I am gentle and lowly in heart, 00:41:24.919 --> 00:41:29.879 and you will find rest for your soul. 00:41:31.219 --> 00:41:32.899 He is our rest. 00:41:34.559 --> 00:41:37.839 Now let's piece it together in the shape of the gospel. 00:41:37.840 --> 00:41:37.940 For example, 00:41:38.640 --> 00:41:44.720 our violation of the Sabbath principle 00:41:44.720 --> 00:41:50.720 is enough for us to stand before God guilty and condemned. 00:41:55.539 --> 00:41:58.519 James says if you violate the law in one point, 00:41:58.680 --> 00:42:01.059 you are considered a violator of the whole law. 00:42:01.059 --> 00:42:07.840 For us to desecrate God's holy day is enough for us to go to hell. 00:42:11.880 --> 00:42:13.279 But the good news 00:42:13.279 --> 00:42:17.539 is that Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled 00:42:17.539 --> 00:42:20.400 the moral demands of the Sabbath 00:42:20.400 --> 00:42:24.400 on behalf of all who will trust in him. 00:42:24.400 --> 00:42:28.700 He can give rest to our souls 00:42:28.700 --> 00:42:31.860 because he fulfilled the law in every day, 00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:34.059 that every way that we have broken it, 00:42:34.119 --> 00:42:36.059 and in every way that we will break it. 00:42:36.059 --> 00:42:39.059 And then he suffered God's wrath 00:42:39.059 --> 00:42:42.539 in the place of sinners like us. 00:42:42.539 --> 00:42:45.920 And by trusting in him, 00:42:46.279 --> 00:42:50.139 you will receive true rest for your soul, 00:42:50.579 --> 00:42:52.420 forgiveness of your sins, 00:42:52.500 --> 00:42:54.980 and peace with God for all eternity 00:42:54.980 --> 00:42:58.380 because Jesus himself is our Sabbath. 00:42:59.719 --> 00:43:01.500 He is our rest. 00:43:02.460 --> 00:43:07.380 He provides it through his finished work on the cross. 00:43:07.380 --> 00:43:15.220 That he satisfied the demands regarding this principle 00:43:15.220 --> 00:43:17.240 does not mean 00:43:17.240 --> 00:43:20.940 that he abolished the principle itself 00:43:20.940 --> 00:43:25.119 any more than his satisfaction 00:43:25.119 --> 00:43:27.599 of the legal demands to not murder 00:43:27.599 --> 00:43:31.579 abolishes the law that we should not take life. 00:43:33.200 --> 00:43:34.960 The principle endures. 00:43:37.380 --> 00:43:39.940 But what I want to help you understand 00:43:39.940 --> 00:43:41.539 through the gospel 00:43:41.539 --> 00:43:45.340 is that you don't have to live in anxiety 00:43:45.340 --> 00:43:47.260 from Lord's Day to Lord's Day 00:43:47.260 --> 00:43:50.400 wondering if that thing you put in the crockpot today 00:43:50.400 --> 00:43:52.300 is a violation that's going to anger God. 00:43:53.039 --> 00:43:53.940 You know why? 00:43:55.460 --> 00:43:57.619 Because Jesus took care of that for you. 00:43:59.039 --> 00:44:00.640 It doesn't mean you shouldn't care. 00:44:01.660 --> 00:44:02.559 It means you're free. 00:44:02.559 --> 00:44:08.320 Your righteousness is rooted in his, 00:44:09.059 --> 00:44:13.320 not in your ability to fulfill this law 00:44:13.320 --> 00:44:15.079 and the requirements of it. 00:44:16.219 --> 00:44:17.420 And what a joy that is. 00:44:17.659 --> 00:44:18.860 You know what that makes me want to do? 00:44:20.079 --> 00:44:22.179 It makes me want to delight in this day. 00:44:23.500 --> 00:44:25.820 It makes me want to gather with God's people 00:44:25.820 --> 00:44:28.000 to celebrate the fact 00:44:28.000 --> 00:44:31.240 that my righteousness rests in his. 00:44:33.059 --> 00:44:34.480 It makes me want to worship. 00:44:36.160 --> 00:44:39.720 It makes me want to live in light of his promise. 00:44:40.940 --> 00:44:42.840 It makes me want to rest in him 00:44:42.840 --> 00:44:45.800 and then to live like him 00:44:45.800 --> 00:44:48.780 and let this promise 00:44:48.780 --> 00:44:52.700 and this principle shape my life 00:44:52.700 --> 00:44:53.740 into his image. 00:44:56.240 --> 00:44:57.560 So what would be lost 00:44:57.560 --> 00:45:00.720 if we removed or ignored Genesis 2, 2 and 3? 00:45:01.960 --> 00:45:02.940 So much. 00:45:04.019 --> 00:45:05.500 So much would be lost. 00:45:07.220 --> 00:45:10.560 It lays the foundation for later commandments, of course. 00:45:11.240 --> 00:45:12.680 We would lose the fact 00:45:12.680 --> 00:45:14.980 that those instructions are rooted in God himself 00:45:14.980 --> 00:45:16.620 if we didn't have these two verses. 00:45:16.619 --> 00:45:19.039 That would be a problem. 00:45:21.219 --> 00:45:24.079 We might also miss the promise of eternal rest 00:45:24.079 --> 00:45:25.599 that's embedded here. 00:45:26.880 --> 00:45:28.739 A rest that is secured for us 00:45:28.739 --> 00:45:30.299 by the work of Christ 00:45:30.299 --> 00:45:32.319 and that awaits us still yet 00:45:32.319 --> 00:45:33.619 in the new heavens and new earth. 00:45:35.079 --> 00:45:36.839 We might miss the significance 00:45:36.839 --> 00:45:39.839 of the Lord's day being a day of celebration 00:45:39.839 --> 00:45:41.219 and anticipation 00:45:41.219 --> 00:45:43.519 rather than a mere ritual 00:45:43.519 --> 00:45:45.139 or demand of the law. 00:45:46.619 --> 00:45:48.500 The text is a call. 00:45:49.339 --> 00:45:52.400 It's a call for us to embrace God's pattern 00:45:52.400 --> 00:45:54.799 for his glory and for our good. 00:45:56.359 --> 00:45:58.579 And we should long to observe it 00:45:58.579 --> 00:46:00.259 Sunday by Sunday, 00:46:00.839 --> 00:46:02.119 Lord's day by Lord's day, 00:46:03.519 --> 00:46:04.779 ceasing from our labors, 00:46:05.359 --> 00:46:06.960 that normal pattern of work, 00:46:08.400 --> 00:46:10.319 delighting in his blessings 00:46:10.320 --> 00:46:12.920 and communing with him 00:46:12.920 --> 00:46:14.500 as creator 00:46:14.500 --> 00:46:16.100 and as redeemer. 00:46:16.760 --> 00:46:17.559 Let's pray together. 00:46:17.559 --> 00:46:17.559