Alright, let's look at Exodus
34 verse 21. Exodus 34 verse 21. Six days
thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest. in earring time and in harvest
thou shalt rest." Rest. That's a pleasant thing,
isn't it? When you need rest, rest is a
wonderful thing. Rest. There are eight Sabbaths in the
book of Leviticus, and every one has to do with seven, the
seventh. Seven is a number of perfection. It's a number of completion,
of completion. Meaning that one would be able
to rest completely. One would be able to rest perfectly. And rest means no exertion. It means rest from all labor. It meant a clearing in the Jubilee
Sabbath. It meant a clearing of all debt. All dead. Rest. Rest. When you read the law,
and God says, thou shalt rest, do you start thinking of doing
something? Isn't it amazing how sinners are able to make work
out of resting? Resting. Last night, when you
rested, did you do anything? You rested. You were at rest. Every one of the Sabbaths, like
all the law, is given to show us something of Christ Jesus
the Lord. And the Sabbaths were given to
show us Christ our rest, the believer's rest. Let me show
you that in Colossians 2 and verse 16. Colossians 2. You remember how in Hebrews 10,
you remember how the Lord said the law was a shadow, not the
very image of the things. Look in Colossians 2 verse 16. Let no man therefore judge you
in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new
moon, or of the Sabbath days. which are a shadow of things
to come, but the body, the image, the one whom they represented
is Christ, is Christ. There's not a person in history,
not one person in the history of this world that ever kept
the law of God except Christ. except Christ. And no one has
ever kept the law of God except through faith in Christ. The only way. So, I want you
to see now, Christ Jesus, the believers rest. Our Sabbath rests. First of all,
concerning this seventh day, concerning this Sabbath, the
Lord points us back to creation. Look back a few pages to Exodus
20 and verse 11. Exodus 20 and verse 11. Let's begin verse 9. Six days shalt thou labor and
do all thy work." Do all thy work. All of it. And then he says, but the seventh
day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not
do any work. Thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter,
thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger
that is within thy gates. You know who this is good news
for? It's good news for the son, and for the daughter, and the
manservant, and the maidservant, and the ox, and the ass, and
the stranger. It's good news for all those
who are servants. because they get to rest. Rest. Now watch this. This is why the Lord said do
this. For in six days the Lord made
heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested
the seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day
and hallowed it." He set it apart completely. Alright, now let
me ask you a question. Why did God rest on the seventh
day? Was He tired? Did he rest because he was obligated
to rest? He rested because there was nothing
else to be done. The work was finished. All his work was finished. And he rested. He rested. Now, he said this in Genesis
2-1. Look back there with me. Genesis
2-1. Thus the heavens and the earth
were finished. They were finished. And all the
host of them. And on the seventh day, God ended
His work. He ended it. When you think of
the Sabbath, When you think of this seventh day, always remember
this, the work is done. The work is done. The work is
done. Wherefore then serveth the law?
Galatians 3.19 says it was added because of transgressions. It was given to show us our sins. And it was given until the seed
should come to whom the promise was made. You see, before the
law, before God rested in that seventh day during creation,
before He began the work of creation, God the Father first trusted
Christ. And when He trusted Christ, He
rested. Because the work was finished
from before the foundation of the world. He trusted His Son. And his son agreed, according
to God's promise, to come forth and to redeem a people from the
curse of the law. The curse of the law God would
give. Hadn't even given it yet. The curse of the law he would
give. and the curse under which his people would come. He would
come and redeem them from that law because they were servants
to the law. They were in bondage to the law. They were manservants and maidservants. They were ox and they were asses
that were just dumb and stubborn and just bound under the law. But they were his sons. and his
daughters because he chose them and gave them to his son. And
he promised his son when he had completed this work that his
son would enter into rest. When the work was finished, he
would enter into rest. Rest. Alright? So, the first
thing is God gave the work of redemption to his son in the
covenant of grace To finish. To make an end of all the work. That's what He gave this work
into the hands of His Son for. To finish it. To make an end
of all His work. Daniel 9. Daniel chapter 9. Look at verse 24. Daniel 9.24. Seventy... There's the number
seven again. Seventy weeks are determined
upon Thy people and upon Thy holy city to finish the transgression. Are you there with me? Daniel
9.24. to finish the transgression,
and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity,
and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and
prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy. Now this was given to the
Messiah, this was given to the Prince, this was given to the
Son to do. That's who he's talking about
here. And he's given him this work to finish it and he says
in 70 weeks are determined to finish, to finish, to make an
end, to make reconciliation. Now look at John 17, 14. John
17, I'm sorry, John 17, 4. The Lord came forth and He said,
John 17, 4, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do." Now, on Calvary's tree,
he said, it is finished. He finished the transgression. That is, he brought the transgression
of all God's people to a final end. before God. He made an end of sins. He finished the work of completely
putting away sins forever from His people. He made an end of
making reconciliation for iniquity. He finished that work. He accomplished
that work, reconciling every child God gave unto Him. unto God. All their debts are
paid. If you look into their checkbook,
their account says reconciled. Reconciled. Everything's accounted
for. Every number matches up. It's,
they're reconciled. He made, he brought in everlasting
righteousness. everlasting righteousness. Righteousness
everlasting, eternal, complete, total righteousness. And he said,
I have finished the work. Now, Hebrews chapter 1. Just as God did when He rested
in Christ, when He trusted Him, with all this work, just as God
did on the seventh day in creation when He rested because all the
work was finished. Christ Jesus, when He finished
all His work, this is what He did. Hebrews 1 verse 3. Look at the second part there.
When He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on high. Look over at Hebrews 10 verse
11. Hebrews 10 verse 11. Every priest standeth daily ministering
and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take
away sin. They're working, working, standing,
working. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down. on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them
which are sanctified." He entered into rest. Why? Why did he rest? He didn't rest
in the beginning. He said, I must be about my father's
business. His mom and dad came and they
tried to say, come now, you need to come with us. And he said,
I got to be about my father's business. He had work to do.
And he worked. And he got the work done. And
it's all finished. And so when it was all finished,
he sat down. I'm always telling my children,
They want to come in and they want to start playing. Let's
come in and let's play. And I'll always tell them, let's
get our work done first. And when we get our work done,
and it's done, then we can rest. It's finished, then we can rest.
Well, Christ got the work done and He rested. He rested. Now,
turn to Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4. When God was
writing this law, giving it to Moses, He was writing it on tablets
of stone. But when God writes this law
on the heart that He's made new, on the inward man, when He writes
this law in our inward parts, you know what we do? This is
what we do. Hebrews 4 verse 3, We which have
believed to enter into rest. As he said, As I have sworn in
my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although the works
were finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in
a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, God did rest
the seventh day from all his works. Look down at verse 9.
There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he
that is entered into his rest, He also hath ceased from his
own works as God did from his." He rests. The believers rest. Our Sabbath. It's not a new day
of rest. It is Christ Jesus in whom we
rest. It is A rest of complete and
total righteousness. A rest in which the work is all
done. It's a rest that is a life. It's life. A life of rest. You know, at the end of a hard
day's work, a hard day's work, You're just so tired and you're
just so completely just, yeah, muscles are aching and your body's
aching and you're just, you're mentally worn out and you're
just exhausted. There's nothing better than to
come in and get in a room where the temperature's just like you
like it, and get in the bed on some good clean sheets, and to
just stretch out on that bed and just, ugh, and wrap yourself
up in the covers and just rest. Isn't that wonderful? Just rest. Oh, brethren, listen to me. Anybody
who's trying to yet do in order to gain some kind of favor or
some kind of acceptance or to finish the work finish it. It's to say, and the
work's not finished. Anybody that's doing anything
concerning themselves and their relationship with God, to try
to finish any aspect of the work, they can't ever just stretch
out in Christ and rest. The Lord said through Isaiah,
because the bed is shorter than a man can stretch himself on
it, and the covering is narrower than he can wrap himself in it.
You ever tried to sleep in a bed too short? Sleep in a cold room where you
didn't have enough covers? And every time you roll over
one side, some part of your body got uncovered? It's misery. It's just misery. Can't do it. That's what it is trying to the
heart and a mind that thinks there's still something I've
got to do. No rest there. It's coldness. It's a bed too short. It's a
bed you can't stretch out on. But the believer who has been
brought to have this law written on our hearts so that we know
what the law really means, we can hear it. We can hear it say
to us, you can't fulfill this. You're a servant. You are a servant
in bondage under the law. But it says to us, now, Christ
says to us, I have finished all my work. And this law tells you
what my work is, to bring about a rest for my people. Now, enter in to my rest. And we stretch out in him, wrapped
up completely in his righteousness, and we just rest. We just rest. All right? This rest that we
have, I want to show you this real quick. It's trusting Christ
is all our sufficiency. Look back at Exodus 34, 21. Exodus 34, 21. Six days thou shalt work, but
on the seventh day thou shalt rest. In earring time and in
harvest thou shalt rest. Now these are the These are the,
this is the beginning. Earring time is when it's time
to do the planting. Harvest is the end. It's when
it's time to reap that which's been sown. These are the busiest
times. You ask any farmer who knows,
who farms, and he'll tell you those are the busiest times,
but there's always plenty of work to do in between the beginning
and the end. There's lots to be done in between
the beginning and the end. But our Lord is telling us here
through His Word that He's saying, in the beginning, from the beginning
to the end, and all points in between, no matter what there
is to be done, you shall rest, be in a total, complete state
of rest from all your works all the time. All the time. Rest in Christ. It's trusting
here that this is based on His work and not our work. Trusting
He's going to provide and not us. Trusting He is the sufficiency
required and not us. Trusting He is our completion. You see this Sabbath had to do,
it's always connected in the Old Testament with six days.
Always. Six days, Sabbath. Six days,
Sabbath. In the New Testament, it's never
mentioned in connection with six days. Ever. It's never mentioned
in connection with work at all. Except in one place. And in Luke
13, 14, the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation because
that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day. And he said unto
the people, there are six days in which a man ought to work.
In them, therefore, come and be healed. But not on the day
that was given to teach us Christ is our healing and our rest and
our completion. Don't do it on that day. Because
we don't understand that day and we think that day is what
makes us whole and complete and righteous before God. That's the only place where 6
is mentioned in connection with us in the New Testament. And
the reason is, our rest in Christ is not conditioned upon our works
at all. Our rest in Christ is an everlasting
covenant of perpetual rest based on Christ's work and His finished
work. And therefore, brethren, we live
in rest. We are in perpetual, everlasting
rest, which He will sustain for us. Earring and harvest was in order
to eat. He said over in the next chapter,
He said, you can't do any work on this day. You can't build
a fire on this day. That meant if I'm resting completely
on this day, I've got to trust God that I won't die. I've got to trust God I can't
eat. I can't cook. I have to trust Him to provide
for me. If we're working for righteousness,
then we're saying that Christ is not sufficient righteousness
to us. We're saying that Christ is not
sufficient bread to us. We're saying Christ is not the
double portion of bread given to us so that we can just rest
and eat and live. You remember the manna? Look over to Exodus 16. Exodus
16, 23. Christ is the double portion
of bread so we can just rest in the Sabbath. It's Exodus 16,
23. He said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath
said. Tomorrow is the rest of the holy
Sabbath unto the Lord. Bake that which you will bake
today, and seethe that you will seethe. And that which remaineth
over, lay up for you to be kept unto the morning. And they laid
it up to the morning, as Moses bade. And it did not stink, neither
was there any worm in it." God sustained everything. Now watch
this. And Moses said, eat that today,
for today is a Sabbath unto the Lord. Today you shall not find
it in the field. Six days you shall gather it,
but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall
be none." In other words, if you go out working to try to
find this bread, you're not going to find it. It's not going to
be there. It won't be there, he knows it
said. But look what they did. It came to pass that there went
out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and
they didn't find any bread. And the Lord said unto Moses,
How long refuse you to keep my commandments and my laws? See,
for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath. He's given you
rest. Why do you want to work? He's
given you rest. Rest. Therefore He giveth you
on the sixth day the bread of two days. What God did, what
Christ did when He worked in the six days, when He worked
Up until the time the work was finished, He gave us bread enough
forever. Forever. And He says, He's given
you on the sixth day the bread of two days. Abide ye every man
in his place and let no man go out of his place on the seventh
day. So the people rested on the seventh
day. They rested. They just rested. That's what he was telling Moses
back in Exodus 34 when he gave him this law. He's saying, and
you go back and read it for yourself, but he's saying, Moses, he put
him in the cleft of the rock, and he showed him his glory,
and he began giving him this law, and he said, Moses, I'm
going to do things that people are going to look at and they're
going to say, this is amazing. And he's telling Moses, he's
saying simply this, Rest in me and trust that I'm going to drive
out all the enemies of your land. I'm going to drive them all out
and I'm going to feed you and I'm going to clothe you because
I'm your God and you don't have to look to any other gods. Look
here at Exodus 34, 24. I will cast out the nations before
thee and enlarge thy borders, neither shall any man desire
thy land. You mean God controls the desire
of other men? Absolutely. I'll control any
man's desire of thy land when thou shalt go up to appear before
the Lord thy God thrice in a year. You picture that now, three times
in a year, all the men left their wives and their children and
all their lands, left them defenseless, absolutely defenseless, and went
up worshiping the Lord. What's the principle here? They
went up trusting the Lord. That's how we're going to worship
Him. If we worship Him, that's how we're going to worship Him.
in faith, trusting the Lord. And never did any of the men
around them, all their enemies around them, all the enemies
round about that had been sitting there just looking across the
fence over there at their property and thinking, boy, if I could
ever just get one opportunity where I catch that man with his
guard down, I'm going to take everything he's got. And when
they left and went up to worship the Lord, that man's attention
was completely turned and he had something over here that
had his mind taken up and something else to do so that he never even
came into his mind, I ought to go over there now and take it. All his desire was removed from
him. Oh, but if we do keep working
for acceptance, this is a sad word, but it's a solemn word.
He said, but to anybody that works in that day, they shall
die. If we, if we're yet under the
law and we're trying to come to God and keep the law, this
is what we're going to have to do. Anytime we see somebody break
the Sabbath, we're going to have to kill them. Or we're going to break the law. You see, Stop working for righteousness. Stop trying to find acceptance
with God and believe on His Son. Believe on His Son. This is what
He said. Look with me now over it. One
last verse. Matthew 11, 28. Are you tired
of working? Are you burdened down? It's amazing to me how You know, when we think of working,
we understand it, and we understand heavy laden, and we understand
burdens as grown folks, because we've had to work, and we know
what it is to have pressure on you, and to have to be heavy
laden, so we can relate to that, really. But you know, God's able
to, when He convicts one of His own in mercy, and causes them
to come under the burden of their sin. He's able to do that in
somebody that may have never even been old enough to even
have a job and know those kinds of pressures, but He's able to
bring them under that same kind of load and that same kind of
pressure so that they know the weight of the law and the weight
of sin and the weight of God's wrath against them. And He says this to any who are
too tired and heavy laden and whose debts are just mounted
up. Matthew 11, 28, come unto me. You see that? Come unto me. Not a day, me. Come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest."
Now what kind of rest have we been talking about? Rest unto
your souls. That's the only kind of rest
there is. Rest unto your souls. I pray the Lord to give it to
us. Amen.