Let us turn to God's Word in
that portion of Scripture that we read Hebrews 3 and 4 and you
may have observed how from verse 7 of chapter 3 right the way
through to verse 11 in chapter 4 the Apostle is very much taken
up with the theme of God's rest For example, in verse 11 of chapter
3, and then again in verses 3 and 5 of chapter 4, he speaks of
my rest, and then also in chapter 3 at verse 18, we have mention
of his rest, and again in the opening verse of the fourth chapter,
we have mention of His rest. Five times in the portion we
were reading we have mention of God's rest and we might ask
the question what is meant by such an expression? It's obviously
a significant statement because Paul repeats it these five times
in the compass of just a few verses. What is God's rest. Well, surely we're to recognize
how the Lord God very much rests in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that work that Christ has finished, that great work of redemption,
on two occasions in the course of the ministry of Christ The
Father spoke those words from heaven at his baptizing and then
again in the Mount of Transfiguration, this is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. How God acquiesces in all that
the Lord Jesus Christ is accomplishing by the obedience of that work
that he has came from heaven to perform. And so when Christ
finished all that work, by his obedience to the death of the
cross, how the Father indicates his good pleasure by raising
Christ to life again. is made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. Paul says there in the opening
part of Romans, made of the seed of David according to the flesh,
but declared to be the Son of God by the Spirit of holiness
according to the resurrection from the dead. God rests in that
work of Christ. There, when Christ comes ultimately
to make the great sacrifice, we see God's justice and God's
holiness satisfied. We see all the attributes of
God, as it were, coming together and harmonizing. And didn't we
just sing of those things in that hymn of Isaac Watts? He speaks of God's works, the
wonder of God's works in creation. But then he goes on to speak
of the greater work of God in Christ. When we view thy strange
design to save rebellious worlds, where vengeance and compassion
join in their divinest forms, here the whole deity is known,
nor dares a creature guess which of the glorious brightest shine,
the justice or the grace, the mysteries of the cross of the
Lord Jesus, where we see God, as it were, resting in His love. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. And so the prophet Zephaniah,
there in chapter 3 and verse 17 of that little book, he tells
us how God will rest in His love. And we have In the past, about
a year ago, we did consider in a more general sense the theme
that is running then through this portion of scripture. But
I want us to turn and look more carefully, more closely at what
is being said because we see how the fullness of this rest
that God has in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ
is illustrated. And it's illustrated here in
some four ways. There is mention of God's rest
from the work of creation. in chapter 4 and verse 3, We which have believed who enter
into his rest, as he said, As I was 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, and God did rest the seventh
day from all his works." So there's mention there of God's rest after
the great work of creation. But then, principally, these
things are illustrated in this passage by the many times in
which the Apostle refers to the children of Israel. And they're
coming out of the bondage which was Egypt, and then the wilderness
wanderings, but ultimately they're brought into the land of Canaan,
and it was a land of rest. Again, we see, for example, here
in verse 8 of chapter 4. He's referring to Joshua, but
this is the New Testament, written, of course, in Greek, and so we
have the Greek form. of that name, the Hebrew name
Joshua, in the Greek becomes Jesus. If Jesus had given them
rest, if Joshua had given them rest, back in the Old Testament,
then would he not afterward have spoken of another day? But also, if we go back into
chapter 3, he's clearly speaking of those events with regards
to the children of Israel, how they couldn't enter. There was
that generation that were unbelieving. When the spies came back, they
didn't believe the message of Joshua and Caleb, but the other
10 spies spoke of giants and walled cities, and they were
afraid and they wouldn't go forward. It's referred to as that day
of provocation in the wilderness. And so what do we read there
at the end of that third chapter? With whom was he grieved forty
years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell
in the wilderness? And to whom swear he that they
should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
The land that they were going to enter, the Promised Land,
that he had promised to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. That was
very much the land of rest. But the whole generation fell
in the wilderness because of unbelief and never entered in.
And as I say, that is the principal illustration that we have throughout
this whole passage. And then also there is reference
to that final rest Heaven itself is that place of
rest, verse 9 of chapter 4, there remaineth therefore a rest to
the people of God, heavenly rest. But all of these various rest,
be it God's resting after creation, be it the land of Canaan, or
be it heaven itself, all of this is an illustration of that rest
that is only found in the Gospel and found in the Lord Jesus Christ,
just as God rests in all that the Lord Jesus has done, all
that he has accomplished. God is well pleased with that.
And as I say, the prophet Zephaniah says, God will rest in his love,
and that's where the believer is also to find rest. But wanting now to look at the
various aspects of this rest this morning, I want, with the
Lord's help, to try to say something in particular with regards to
God's creation rest. And we have it here, as I said,
in verses 3 and 4 of the fourth chapter. So turning for our text
to what we have here at the end of verse 3, and then in the following
fourth verse. The end of verse 3, 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.
And God did rest a seventh day from all his works." God's creation
rests. And first of all to say something
with regards to the works of God. We read how the works were
finished. The works were finished from
the foundation of the world. God is the creator But God has
accomplished his great work of creation. Now, of course, men
deny that. They don't believe in a creator
God. They believe in a theory that
they call evolution, and that evolution is continuous. It's
forever moving forward, they would say. They imagine that
all things are evolving into a more and more advanced form
of life, where The Bible speaks quite clearly that God finished
the work. The works were finished from
the creation of the world. We know how God did complete
that work in a period of six days, because that's what we
read there in Genesis chapter 1. God is God, and God, as he'd
chosen, could have created everything in one moment of time. But in His wisdom, He works by
day and by night. It's quite clear there that 24-hour
days are being spoken of, because it tells us how the evening and
the morning were the first day, the evening and the morning were
the second day. They are literal days that are
being spoken of. And so God completed that work
in the period of six days and other scriptures bear testimony
to that Psalm 102 and verse 25 we read of old as thou lay the
foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of thy hands God did it and then on the seventh
day The work being completed, God rested. Here at verse 4 in chapter 4. He spoke in a certain place of
the seventh day on this wise, and God did rest the seventh
day from all his works. And God, resting on that seventh
day, sanctifies that particular day. We're familiar with these scriptures,
I trust. We have the account there at
the beginning of the second chapter in the book of the Revelation
of that seventh day when God is resting because the work is
clearly finished. Thus the heavens and the earth
were finished, and all the host of them, and on the seventh day
God ended. his work which he had made, and
he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had
made." The work is finished, it's ended, and God rested. The language is quite clear,
quite emphatic. There's a finality about the
completion of that work. And Who is the One who is the
Creator? Well, it's God. And who is God? God is Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. All the persons of the Godhead. And so the Lord Jesus Christ,
as we see Him as He comes in the fullness of the time, God
manifests in the flesh. God the Son was there at the
beginning. And so, not surprisingly, we
find how the Lord Jesus, in the course of his ministry, will
refer to his works, and his works in relation to the works of God
the Father. For example, there in John 5,
17, he says, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. As the
Father works in creation, so too the Son. and so to God the
Holy Ghost. Now, when the Lord Jesus utters
those words in John chapter 5, My Father worketh hitherto and
I work, He is speaking in the context of a miracle. He had just performed a miracle.
Remember, John 5 speaks of that lame man at the pool of Bethsaida,
and how the Lord makes the lame man to walk he cannot get to
the waters when the spirit moves in the waters no one's there
to help him and the Lord speaks to him and simply says he's to
take up his bed and walk and he takes his bed up and he who
was lying then walks but it's a Sabbath day and how this so
offended the Jews and that's what the Lord is He's doing there
in that 17th verses, and the following verses, he's answering
the criticism of these Jews. My father workers, hitherto and
I work. And though they were offended,
the Jews sought them more to kill him, we're told. Because
he had not only broken the Sabbath day, as they understood it, their
perversion of the Sabbath day, he'd not only broken the Sabbath
day, but said that God was his father. making himself equal
with God, speaking of himself as one who is able to do the
very works of God. And of course, that miracle that
he performed is a wondrous manifestation of his power. Doesn't Christ
reveal something of his power by those miraculous works? As we're told, when he changes
the water into wine. In the second chapter of John,
he manifested forth his glory, it says. And His disciples believed
on Him, when they saw Him able to make the water wine. And when
these Jews see Him giving feet to the lame man, they recognize
that He is one who is equal with God. And so, as I said, we know
that Christ is there in all the works of God. He's there in creation. We have those words in the psalm,
Psalm 33, verse 6, "...by the word of the Lord were the heavens
made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth."
Surely that verse does refer to the Son. He is the word of
God. It refers also to the Holy Spirit. He is the breath of God's mouth.
The word breath there, on other occasions in the Old Testament
is translated as the wind of God or the spirit of God. As
I said, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. God in all the fullness
of His glorious mysterious being. Three persons in one God and
He is the creator of all things. And we know from the New Testament
and what John says here in the opening verses of his Gospel
in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and
the Word was God the same was in the beginning with God all
things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that
was made so he is there working the works of God in creation
but that work is a finished work. God is no longer working the
works of creation. But that does not mean that God
does not work. God works now in providence. There's not only the doctrine
of creation, there's the doctrine of providence. God governs the
world. There were those in the previous
generation who were called deists and they didn't recognize any
doctrine of providence. They thought the world was, as
it were, set in motion and simply left to run its course. But the
Scriptures make it quite clear that God is that One who is over
all things, governing all things, continually accomplishing all
His goodwill and pleasure. And now the psalmist speaks of
this in the 121st psalm for example. Look at the language that we
have there. Sometimes it's referred to as
the traveller's psalm because it does speak of God's overruling
in all men's movements as it were. For the psalmist says, My help
cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will not
suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber
nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper, the Lord
is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul, the Lord shall preserve
thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and even
for evermore. This is the God of Providence.
The steps of a righteous man are they not all ordered of the
Lord? And again, remember the 107th psalm. If you read through
that long psalm, 43 verses in total, it speaks much of God's
providences in the various circumstances and situations of life, those
who travel by land, those who travel by sea. And when we come
to the concluding verse, what do we read? Who so is wise? And
we'll observe these things. Even they shall understand the wisdom of the Lord, the mercy
of the Lord. And the Puritan John Flavel,
of course, wrote that remarkable book on the mystery of God's
providence. There's a mystery in God's providence, and we live
to prove it. But our comfort is that God is
that One who works. He doesn't work in creation.
That's a finished work, but He works in providence. And of course,
God also He's working in grace. Oh, there's the grace of God,
accomplishing the salvation of sinners. Psalm 74, 12, God is my King of all, says the
Psalmist, working salvation in the midst of the world. Oh, how wondrous are the works
of God. displayed throughout the world abroad. Immensely great,
immensely small, yet one strange work exceeds them all. The greatest of all the works
of God is that of salvation." And all these other rests that
I've spoken of, or made reference to, are illustrative, really,
of that greatest of God's works. salvation, that work that God
rests in Himself, what Christ has done. And now the believer
must rest in that. And now we need to plead with
God that He will yet work in grace. And the psalmist does
it many times. It is time for Thee, Lord, to
work, for Thou made void Thy covenant. Oh, the great covenant
of grace, men would make it void. It's time for God to work, for
God to appear. Have respect unto the covenant.
The dark places of the earth are full of the habitation of
cruelty. The cry of the psalmist again
and again, pleading with God that he would work. God has worked
in creation, but that is a work that is finished. And that's
what we're really dealing with, how God has rested. rested from
that great work of creation, as we have it here in the text. Verse 4, He spake in a certain
place of the seventh day on this wise God did rest, the seventh
day from all his works. Well, let us, in the second place,
mark the fact that God has now rested. We have said that God
works. God's works are various. There
are a variety of works. He still works in providence
and grace, and He has made man in His own image, created man
after His own likeness. Man is made to work, really. Oftentimes, when we read through
the book of Proverbs, we see how the wise man warns against
the great dangers of slothfulness and idleness. Slothfulness casteth
into a deep sleep, he says. An idle soul shall suffer hunger. The man, as God's image-bearer
then, is not to be an idle creature. There's a work to be done. And
even when the believer has been brought to rest in Christ for
salvation. How does he manifest the reality
of that faith? By his works, by his good works. And that's how James, you see,
really is speaking of justification being evidenced by the works
that the believer does. He's not saying, he's not contradicting
Paul and saying that our works have any place in our justification. Justification is by faith alone,
in Christ alone. It's a resting in the work of
Christ. And that salvation that Christ has accomplished by his
obedience. His obedience in life, his obedience
in death, and even the death of the cross. How he has finished
the work and the believer rests in that. There's the justification,
but how does the believer then conduct himself? Well, he shows
something of his faith, the reality of his faith, by his life of
obedience to all the holy precepts of the gospel. He desires to
live to the honor and to the glory of God. Now, We've said
how God rests, and what is God's rest? Well, He rests in that He delights
in His works, and we really see that when it comes to creation. After the six days of creation,
when we come to the end of Genesis chapter 1, verse 31, We're told God saw everything
that he had made and behold it was very good. And the evening
and the morning were the sixth day. And then of course we come
into chapter 2 and whilst these divisions into chapters and verses
we're so familiar with are very useful to us in finding our way
around the Bible but to recognize there's a connection really between
the end of chapter 1 and the beginning of chapter 2 God sees
everything that he had made and declares it not just to be good
but to be very good and on the seventh day when God
ended his work which he had made he rested and his rest was as
it were a satisfaction, a delighting in the work that he had done.
Dr. Gill, in his commentary, says
how God rests, and the rest suggests the utmost delight, the complacency,
and satisfaction with all that work. And this is how the believer
is to rest in the work of Christ, with the utmost delight, complacency,
satisfaction. Christ is all his salvation,
and Christ is all his desire. God's work then and God's rest
is what we see there in the whole of creation. But let us draw
to a conclusion this morning by seeking to make some application
of these things to ourselves. We're thinking of God and His
work of creation, and how after creation God rests. And it has
an application to us, because we read of it, don't we, in the
fourth commandment. There, in Exodus 20, we have
the Lord of Gods that He gave to the children of Israel when
He brought them out of the bondage that was Egypt and entered into
covenant with them. And the fourth commandment runs
through some four verses. There in Exodus 20 verses 8,
9, 10 and 11. And what does God say? Remember
the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And it goes on then of course
to speak about how God had worked through six days, and God rested
on the seventh day. And it's not the only time that
that's spoken of. It's mentioned several times.
It's mentioned later in Leviticus 23. And then at the third verse,
we have these words, six days shall work be done. But the seventh
day is the Sabbath of rest and holy convocation. ye shall do
no work therein. It is the Sabbath of the Lord
in all your dwellings." How they were to observe that day so diligently
there in the Old Testament. And so when we come to the New
Testament, what do we see? Well, we see the Lord Jesus on
occasions doing things on the Sabbath day
that the Jews would find fault with. When the Lord comes to
consider that commandment, there's not a real legality in the way
in which the Lord observes it. For example, we've already referred
to that fifth chapter of John and Christ healing the lame man
on the Sabbath day. And let us just turn briefly
to read what is actually said there in chapter 5 of John and
verse Verse 8, Christ says to the man,
this is the Sabbath day, remember? And this poor man, he can never
get to those waters when they're troubled because someone always
steps down before him. And Jesus says to him, verse
8, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man
was made whole and took up his bed and walked. And on the same
day was the Sabbath. The Jews, therefore, said unto
him that was cured it is the Sabbath day it is not lawful
for thee to carry thy bed he answered them he that made me
whole the same said unto me take up thy bed and walk and then
they asked who this man was but he didn't know and Jesus
had conveyed himself away there were a multitude there But when
the Lord finds him in the temple he says, Behold thou art made
whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. And then we see the Jews appear
and then they begin to question the Lord. But he has a very different
attitude to the observance of the of the day, the Sabbath day,
to that of those scribes and those Pharisees, those legalists. He sees that it is right and
proper to do good deeds on the Sabbath day. And also we have
to remember what he says on another occasion. He reminds them that
he is in fact that one who is the Lord. He's the Lord of the
Sabbath day. because He is that One who instituted
the day, there at the end of creation. God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Look at the language that we
have in another Gospel, in Mark, and there in the second chapter
of Mark, verse 23, you'll remember the
incident, We're told how it came to pass that the Lord went through
the cornfields on the Sabbath day and his disciples began,
as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. And the Pharisees said
unto him, Behold, why do they on the Sabbath day that which
is not lawful? As if they are harvesting the
crop, they were simply satisfying their desire for food. But they're so legal, these men,
if you do anything, you see. Well, you know, even today, the
rabbis would say it's quite wrong to switch on an electric light
bulb because you're kindling a fire on the Sabbath day. It's
the same principle that we have here. They're really accusing
these disciples of gathering in the harvest. Quite ridiculous. How does the Lord respond? 25
Have ye never read what David did when he had need and was
unhungered, he and they that were with him? 26 And he went
into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest,
and he did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat, but
for the priest, and gave also to them that were with him. 27
And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, not man for
the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is Lord
also of the Sabbath." He is Lord of the Sabbath. Now what does
this mean to us? We're not living in the days
of the Old Testament. We're living in this day of grace. Christ has come. He's the Lord
of the Sabbath. Does this mean that there's no
Sabbath to be kept? No, it does not. There is an
enduring day. There is the enduring of the
Sabbath. And interestingly, if you look at what we have here
in the 9th verse, there remaineth therefore a rest to the people
of God. And the margin indicates, if
you have a margin it might well indicate this fact, that what
is literally written there is there remaineth therefore a keeping
of a Sabbath to the people of God." There remaineth a keeping
of the Sabbath to the people of God. What is this Sabbath
that we're thinking of? The word Sabbath simply means
rest. It's the day of rest. And it
was not instituted there when God gave the Ten Commandments
at Mount Sinai. We see quite clearly it is a
creation ordinance. That's just what God says. When
he rests on that particular day, the opening verses of Genesis
chapter 2 and the third verse in particular,
God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, set it apart,
because in it he had rested from all his works which God created
and made. So, the day there in the creation
is actually set apart. It's a day to be observed. It's
a blessed day. and there are what we would term
creation ordinances. We have the Sabbath, the principle
of the Sabbath established there at the beginning of that second
chapter. If we go to the end of that chapter we have the institution
of marriage. Marriage is a creation ordinance. And marriage is to be between
one man and one woman Now you think about these things. This
is what God, the Great Creator, in His wisdom, has appointed. And we live in a day when these
things are completely disregarded. That's the society we're living
in. The Lord's Day is not recognized really now. It's continually
desecrated. Men do what is right in their
own eyes. Marriage is completely and utterly undermined. What
a day it is we're living in, and what is taking place is a
very undermining, of course, of society. Because we disregard
what God in his wisdom instituted from the very creation. And ultimately,
not only individuals, but nations reap what they sow. The whole
destruction, really, of what we have known for centuries,
really. Our comfort, our only comfort,
is that God himself is sovereign. Now, with regards to this matter
of the Sabbath clearly it's a creation ordinance because it was a day
that was being observed by the Jews previous to the giving of
the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are there
in chapter 20 of Exodus But previous to that, in chapter 16, we read
of God providing the manna. Now you can read that chapter,
Exodus 16, from verse 11 following, and how God provides them with
their daily food. The manna that appears like the
whore frost. And what are they to do? They
are to They have to go out every morning and they have to gather
the manna. It's bread from heaven. But God tells them they're only
to take sufficient for the day, and if they try to hoard it up
overnight, it breeds worms. It's useless. God provides the
manna day by day, and we have to pray, aren't we? Give us this
day. our daily bread. The Lord provides for us day
by day. Well, we have an abundance of
good things. But that's God's promise. He'll give us our bread
day by day, and we're to acknowledge that. But there in that, the
end of that 16th chapter, it tells them that on the 6th day,
they're to gather twice as much. And this time, what they store
up for the For the seventh day, for the Sabbath day, will not
breed worms, will not become rotten. It will be preserved,
it will be a provision, because there will be no provision on
that seventh day. God will provide twice as much
on the 6th day so that they don't have to go out and gather on
the 7th day, but there were some who went out and there was nothing
to gather. That was the folly, that was
the unbelief, that was the sin of those people. But the point
I make is that there in Exodus 16 it is quite clear that they
were already observing the day, and it goes back to creation.
And when the commandment is given there, in Exodus 20 verse 8,
how are they told to observe the day? They are to remember
it. Remember the Sabbath day. They were already aware of it.
And they are not to forget it. They are to continually remember
that God had granted to them that day. And there is a blessing. There is clearly a blessing associated
with the right observance of the day, because there in Isaiah
58, we have a lovely passage, the end of that 58th chapter
of Isaiah, if thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from
doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight,
the holy of the Lord, honourable, and shalt honour him, not doing
thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine
own words, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord. And I will
cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed
thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father, for the mouth of
the Lord hath spoken it." It's a blessing. It's a blessing that
God has pronounced upon those who will rightly observe the
day. It is the day which the Lord hath made, says the psalmist,
and we will rejoice and be glad in it. But you might say, but
all of this has to do with the seventh day. And today is not
the seventh day of the week. I know, if you buy a secular
diary of course, you'll have Monday as the first day of the
week in that diary. But it's not correct. Really,
Sunday is the first day of the week. So Saturday is the seventh
day of the week. And we don't keep Saturday as
our special day, we keep this day. Well, we have to remember
that Christ himself is the Lord of the Sabbath. And as Lord,
has not Christ the right, the authority, to change the day?
And it is evident from what we see in the New Testament how
that His disciples, after His resurrection, did begin to observe
that day, the day on which Christ rose again from the dead. He rose on the first day of the
week, and what does He do? On the evening of that day, we
read of him making an appearance to all the disciples except Thomas. All the apostles, I should say,
except Thomas. Thomas was not present. The Lord
had appeared previously to Mary Magdalene, it appeared to Peter,
it appeared to the two on the road to Emmaus and so forth.
But then, come the evening of that first day of the week, there
in John 20. Verse 19, Then the same day at
evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were
shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews,
came Jesus, and stood in the midst, and said unto them, Pleased
be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed
unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. It's a remarkable thing what
the Lord does. He appears to them the evening
of that day and He pronounces, Shalom! Peace! And in doing that He shows them
His hands and His side. Has He not procured peace? Is He not the propitiation? for
the sins of his people. They are at peace with God now,
because he has made that great sin-atoning sacrifice. But Thomas,
Thomas was absent. But what do we read? Well, 8
days later. That's the following first day
of the week. Verse 26 of that chapter, after 8 days again his
disciples were with him, and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus,
the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace
be unto you. Again this blessed greeting,
Shalom, Peace. And here was Thomas, he was so
doubting previously. Oh, he must see the wounds, he
must put his finger into the wounds in Christ's hands and
thrust his hand into the side where the spear that brought
forth blood and water. And the Lord appears and addresses
him, Thomas, reach hither thy finger, behold my hands, reach
hither thy hand, thrust it hither my side, be not faithless, but
believe him. And what does Thomas do? Oh,
we're told, we're not told whether he did that, but he answers,
my Lord and my God. He is God, he is Lord of the
Sabbath, he can change the day. And then when we come into the
Acts of the Apostles, time and again we see them gathering on the first day of
the week for their worship. Acts 20 verse 7 for example,
upon the first day of the week when the disciples came together
to break bread. They were observing a different
day under the gospel. And when we come to the last
book of Scripture, in the book of the Revelation, we have John
on the Isle of Patmos. And what does he say? I was in
the Spirit, on the Lord's Day. What is the Lord's Day? It's
that Lordly Day, it's that day that Christ has instituted. And
you know, there's a sense that even in the Old Testament there's
an anticipation of that change of the day as it were, because
when the commandments are repeated in Deuteronomy, now on the borders
of the on the promised land after 40 years of wilderness wanderings
they're about to enter now into that land the whole generation
that generation who could not enter in because of unbeliefs
have passed away and there's a recounting of the commandments
but there's a slight difference when it comes to that fourth
commandment in that something's added now
it's not just that they're to remember God's great work of
creation and His cessation of that work, His resting from that
work on the seventh day. We also read this, verse 15 of
Deuteronomy 5. Remember that thou wast a servant
in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee
out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm. Therefore
the Lord commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day. In their keeping
of the Sabbath day, they're not only to remember creation, they're
to remember that great deliverance. They're to remember all that
that entailed, and remember the tenth plague, and the destruction
of the firstborn, and the sacrifice of the paschal lamb, and the
destroying angel passing over the doors and the houses of all
the Hebrews, Now to remember that, well of course all of that
really is a type of that greatest of all God's works. And what
is the greatest of all the works of God? It's that redemption
that Christ has accomplished. And so when we gather together
on the Lord's day we do remember God's work, we remember His work
of creation, but we know there's a more glorious thing to be remembered.
or what Christ did when he finished that work of redemption and of
salvation. And so we're to keep this day. There is an enduring day to be
kept. There remaineth therefore a keeping
of a Sabbath. And this day is the Christian
Sabbath day. It's the Lord's day. But also,
before we conclude this morning, let me just say this. There is an entering into gospel
rest that we're to be aware of. And it's brought out really in
that hymn that we sang, our opening hymn 358. I suggest you might
like to read through those verses and to meditate upon what's being
said there. Because the right and proper
way to keep the day is to be those who are resting. in the
Lord Jesus Christ. What does he say here at verse
3? We which have believed do enter into rest. We rest in Christ. That's what faith is. It's a
cessation from all works. We sometimes sing another hymn,
don't we? 3, 5, 2. Cease from your own
works, bad and goods, and wash your garments in my blood. We
don't look to any works. We want to cease from our sinful
works. We want to cease from any idea
of salvation by works. It's not by our good works. We
have to simply rest in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the wonder of that that Christ
has done. And does he not invite sinners
to come and to rest in him? Come unto me all ye that labour
and are heavy laden And I will give you rest, he says. Take
my yoke upon you, learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. And ye shall find rest unto your
souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. These are
the gracious words of the Gospel. And we don't only have them in
the New Testament, we have them in the Old Testament. What is
Psalm 23? He maketh me to lie down, In green pastures he leadeth
me beside the quiet waters. What are the green pastures?
What are the still quiet waters? It's a resting in Christ and
all that Christ is. It's thinking upon Him, His person,
His work. And to know what it is to rest
in Him and so we delight to keep that day that He has sanctified
for us by His resurrection from the dead. We remember today as
we come together that He is risen and that He is risen indeed and
we glory in Him and we see in Him all the fullness of salvation. Oh the Lord grant that we might
know then what it is to rightly keep the Sabbath day which God
has wholly made. Well let us conclude our worship
this morning as we sing the hymn 637 and the tune is Dublin 129
Jesus thou art our only rest from sin and guilt and fears
we love to lean upon thy breast and on thee cast our cares 637
tune 129