Let's turn back to Genesis chapter
2. Genesis chapter 2, let's read
the first three verses. This is our text. 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. And God blessed the seventh day
and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all
his work which God created and made. The seventh day. God ended His work. It stops
right there. Rest. Rest. Verse 2 says, He rested on the
seventh day. Why? Because He was tired? He needed a break? No, He rested because He was
finished. Hebrews 1 says this, I love this. When Christ had by Himself purged
our sins, He sat down. Why? Finished. Finished. Verse 1 says, Thus the heavens
and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. He
rested because it was Perfect. Perfect. Complete. My dad used to paint
paintings. He's really good at it. And I used to watch him, and
they say you're your own worst critic, but I was his worst critic. I was harder on him than he was
on himself. And he'd start out, you know,
and it'd just be a blob of colors, and it didn't look like anything.
And then he kept working on it, and it started to look like something.
And then he kept working on it, and it got really good. And then
he kept working on it, and finally, at some point, he said, that's
it. Finished. It's complete. Chapter 1 verse 31 says, And
God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very
good. In God's eyes it wasn't just
good, it was very good. Very good. It couldn't be improved
upon. Now, this new heaven and this
new earth are going to be just like the first heaven and the
first earth. And it's very good. It cannot
be improved upon. His works are perfect. That's what the number seven
represents. Perfection. Perfect. Verse three says, And
God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. That means set
it apart for holy use. And we still do the same thing.
Here we are. This is our seventh day. Well, no, this is the first day.
Well, this is the day that has been set apart for holy use. The seventh day. Verse three
says, because that in it he had rested from all his work, which
God created and made. The seventh day is a day that
the Lord called the Sabbath. All right, now turn over to Exodus
chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. Verse nine says, six days shalt
thou labor and do all thy work. 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. 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. God's commandment is every
man and woman must rest on the seventh day. That's his commandment. Everything that God has said
in this word has been said on purpose. Everything. And it is a perfect purpose. I can do something on purpose
and it might not be a perfect purpose, but everything that
he has written here is a perfect purpose. Our Lord has been very
particular with the number seven. And that's what struck me about
the seventh day. We have three verses in our text. And the Lord said on the seventh
day he rested. And the number seven struck me.
We can see the gospel in the number seven. All right, so we're
going to see our Lord's purpose in this number. We're going to
turn to a few places and see His purpose. Turn with me over
to Genesis 7. Genesis chapter 7. God commanded Noah to build an
ark. And then God sent His wrath on
this world through a flood. And Genesis 7 verse 21 says,
And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl
and of cattle and of beasts and of every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth, and every man, all in whose nostrils
was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died
and every living substance was destroyed which was upon the
face of the ground both man and cattle and the creeping things
and the fowl of the heaven and they were destroyed from the
earth and noah only remained alive and they that were with
him in the ark and the waters prevailed upon the earth 150
days And God remembered Noah and every
living thing and all the cattle that was with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over
the earth and the waters assuaged. The fountains also of the deep
and the windows of heaven were stopped and the rain from heaven
was restrained. And the waters returned from
off the earth continually, and after the end of the hundred
and fifty days, the waters were abated, and the ark rested in
the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains
of Ararat." Seventh month. That ark that
was saving a man And his family and the animals God purposed
rested on the seventh month. Who is the Ark? Christ. Christ. All who were in that
Ark were saved. That arc is Jesus Christ. All
who were in that arc rested. When that arc rested, they rested. All right, now turn over to Leviticus
25. This is an amazing law that God
made. Leviticus 25 verse 1, And the
Lord spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai, saying, Speak unto the
children of Israel, and say unto them, When you come into the
land which I give you, then shall the land keep a Sabbath unto
the Lord. The land is going to keep a Sabbath.
Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt
prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof. But in
the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the land, a Sabbath
for the Lord. Thou shalt neither sow thy field
nor prune thy vineyard. That which groweth of its own
accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap. Neither gather the
grapes of thy vine undressed, for it is a year of rest unto
the land. And the Sabbath of the land shall
be meat for you, for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy
maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth
with thee. For thy cattle, for the beast
that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat."
No work. No work is going to be done on
the Sabbath. None. Do not add your works to the
Sabbath. Verse 8, And thou shalt number
seven Sabbaths of years unto thee. Seven times seven years. And the space of the seven sabbaths
of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Seven times seven
is forty nine. Seven years is a sabbath, seven
sabbaths. Verse nine says, Then shalt thou
cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of
the seventh month. In the day of atonement shall
you make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And you shall
hallow the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout all
the land unto all the inhabitants thereof. It shall be a jubilee
unto you, and you shall return every man unto his possession,
and you shall return every man unto his family." Seven years,
seven times, Then on the seventh month, everybody goes free. Every man or woman who became
a slave because he could not pay his debt, he said, if you
incur a debt and you cannot pay it, you're going to be a slave
to that man. And he's going to take everything
you do have to pay that debt. And if it's not finished, you're
going to work for that man. Seven years, seven times. And then on the seventh month,
every man or woman who became a slave because he couldn't pay
his debt gets everything he lost back. Is restored everything. And he is set free. Is that not our gospel? Isn't that our gospel? You know what all we gained when
God made us? We were very good. Very good. And do you know what
all we lost when Adam fell? We lost it all. We became slaves
to sin. But because of our Sabbath, there's going to be a year of
Jubilee. And we're going to get back everything
we lost. And we're going to be set free.
And on that Sabbath, we're going to rest. Why? Because God said so. That's the only reason. Now go
with me to Joshua chapter 6. Joshua 6 verse 1 says, Jericho
was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel. None
went out, none came in. And the Lord said unto Joshua,
See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof,
and the mighty men of valor. And ye shall compass the city,
all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt
thou do six days." This city of Jericho, this walled city that they couldn't go in. It
shut up. The Lord said, I want you to
go around that city one time for six days. Verse 4, And seven
priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of ram's horns. And the seventh day ye shall
compass the city seven times, and the priest shall blow with
the trumpets. And it shall come to pass that
when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you
hear the sound of the trumpet, All the people shall shout with
a great shout, and the wall of the city shall fall down flat,
and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.
And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said unto them,
Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven
trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord." Verse 10,
And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, You shall not
shout nor make any noise with your voice. Neither shall any
word proceed out of your mouth until the day I bid you shout.
Then shall you shout. So the ark of the Lord compassed
the city going about it once. And they came into the camp and
lodged in the camp. You're not going to say anything.
Not until I say it's OK. Go around it once. Come home.
They did that six times. Verse 16, And it came to pass
at the seventh time, when the priest blew with the trumpets,
Joshua said unto the people, Shout, for the Lord hath given
you the city, and the city shall be accursed, even it and all
that are therein to the Lord. Only Rahab the harlot shall live,
she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid
the messengers that we sent. Everybody's gonna die except
for Rahab and whoever's in her house And the reason is because
she hid the messengers that we sent. Verse 20, So the people
shouted when the priest blew with the trumpets, and it came
to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpet. And
the people shouted with a great shout that the wall fell down
flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight
before him, and they took the city. And they utterly destroyed
all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old,
and ox and sheep and ass with the edge of the sword. But Joshua
had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go
into the harlot's house and bring out thence the woman and all
that she hath as you swear unto her. And the young men that were
spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her
mother and her brethren and all that she had. And they brought
out all her kindred and left them without the camp of Israel."
Is that not us? Harlots. We've sold ourselves
to this world and to sin. But God sent two messengers. The Old Testament and the New
Testament. Christ and Him crucified. His blood and His righteousness.
And by God's grace, they've been hid. God's goodness to us is
He's hid them in our hearts. And the Lord says in verse 17,
The city shall be accursed, even it and all that are therein to
the Lord. Only Rahab the harlot shall live. She and all that are with her
in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. She's going to be spared. She's
going to live. She's going to inherit the land,
too. When she hears the seven priests
blow seven trumpets, seven times on the seventh day, she's going
to know her inheritance has come. Her deliverance has come. That's
when she's going to be able to rest, rest. It's over. It's over. Now, watch this, turn over to
Jude. Right before revelation, Jude. As I was studying this, it is
just amazing to me how perfect the Lord wrote these scriptures,
how they all fit together. Every single thing about them
is so perfect. Watch this. This is simple. This
is so small. In the book of Genesis, there
was a man named Enoch. You know, Enoch, right? You know,
his story, Enoch. Can I look at Jude verse 14? And Enoch also. The seventh from
Adam. Prophesied of these saying, behold,
the Lord cometh with 10,000 of his saints, the seventh from
Adam. Adam, Seth, Enos, Canaan, Mahalio,
Jared, and then Enoch. What happened to Enoch? He walked with God and then he
was not. God just took him right on into
glory. Wow. For seven's sake. For Christ's sake, don't turn,
just listen to Hebrews 11 verse 5. By faith Enoch was translated
that he should not see death and was not found because God
had translated him. For before his translation he
had this testimony that he pleased God. How? By faith. By resting in and trusting in
and looking to Christ. That was all God required to
be well pleased with him. Rest. I love that. Number 7, he's just going to
come on up. Just rest. Now go over to Revelation 8. Verse 1 says, And when he had
opened the seventh seal, seal number seven, there was silence in heaven about
the space of half an hour. What happened right then? Christ
died. When all of heaven watched him
on that cross and he said, it's finished. And he said, Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit. And having said thus, he gave
up the ghost. Everybody was dumbfounded. For the first time since cherubims
were made, or seraphims, whichever ones continually cry, holy, holy,
holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, 30 minutes. Verse 2, And I saw the seven
angels which stood before God, and to them were given seven
trumpets. You know the word, it all says
the same thing, doesn't it? Start to finish. And another
angel came and stood at the altar having a golden censer. And there
was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with
the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which was before
the throne and the smoke of the incense, which came with the
prayers of the saints ascended up before God out of the angel's
hand. And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire
of the altar and cast it into the earth. And there were voices
and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake. That really
happened when Christ died. The earth shook. And the seven
angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
The first first angel sounded and there followed hail and fire
mingled with blood and they were cast upon the earth. And the
third part of the trees was burnt up and all green grass was burnt
up. And the second angel sounded
as it were a great mountain burning with fire. What's that? Can you think of
a great mountain that burned with fire? Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai, that great mountain
that burned with the fire of God. What happened on that mountain?
The law was given. Verse 8 says, The second angel
sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was
cast into the sea. If God has given us faith as
the grain of a mustard seed, That great mountain of the law,
God is going to cast it into the sea. Faith to look past my works and
to Christ's works. And in glory, God said, there
is no more sea. He was cast into the sea and
now there's no more sea. But look at verse eight, second
angel sounded. And as it were, a great mountain
burning with fire was cast into the sea in the third part of
the sea became blood. That whole mountain, every bit
of it was covered in blood. Do we see what this means? Everything
that God has required, Christ has covered in his blood. Everything. Now, I have gone long enough. In my mind, it's time for me
to stop. And I will in just a little bit. But for this message, there
are two or three important scriptures we need to see. Okay? Turn with
me to Jeremiah 51. Jeremiah 51, look at verse 25. Behold, I am against thee, O
destroying mountain. Sayeth the Lord, which destroyest
all the earth. And I will stretch out mine hand
upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make
thee a burnt mountain. And they shall not take of thee
a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations, but thou shalt
be desolate forever, saith the Lord." Our chief cornerstone
is not going to come from the law. We will not stand on one law. We're going to stand on Christ
our Sabbath. We're going to rest on Him. Turn
to Matthew 12. Verse 1, Matthew 12, verse 1.
At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn
and his disciples were and hungered and began to pluck the ears of
corn and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it,
they said unto him, behold, thy disciples do that which is not
lawful. To do upon the Sabbath day, we've
been standing on this law ever since we were born. You can't
do that on the Sabbath day. This is one of our chief cornerstones.
Verse 3, But he said unto them, Have you not read what David
did when he was in hunger, and they that were with him, how
he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shew bread
which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which
were with him, but only for the priest? Or have you not read
in the law how that on the Sabbath days the priest and the temple
profane the Sabbath and are blameless? What he's saying is there's nothing
wrong with what David did. There's nothing wrong with what
they're doing. Verse 6, But I say unto you that in this place is
one greater than the temple. What he's saying is you're missing
it. You're so focused on your laws.
And your obedience to your laws. And your righteousness. And your
reward. You have missed Christ. The whole reason, the whole object,
the whole point of the Sabbath. Our Lord said in this place,
standing right in front of you is one greater than the temple.
And you're missing him. Verse seven says, but if you
had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. You would not have condemned
the guilt less. They said, did you see what they
did? We got a law on that. And he said, if you had known
what this mean is, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. You would not have condemned
the guiltless for the son of man is Lord, even of the Sabbath
day. He's saying, I am the Sabbath. You're not supposed to work on
the Sabbath. You're not supposed to add any
of your own works to the Sabbath. That's right. I am the Sabbath. And you will
not mix your works with my grace. Look over at Matthew chapter
11 verse 28. Our Lord said, Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Rest, rest, rest. Do you know what awaits for those
who come to Christ? Rest. You know what this gospel
is all about? Rest. Rest. Wherein do we differ? Rest. No other message is a message
of rest. Not one. Rest. Rest. Now, here's my favorite
scripture of the morning. This is my favorite scripture
of the morning. I put a note in my notes. If I cut out every other scripture
for us to turn to, turn to this one. Cause as I start to lose
my time, I start cutting out things. Turn to this one, go
to Hebrews four. Man, I love this verse. This
is for me. I am preaching to me right here. Hebrews 4 verse 10 says, For he that is
entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works
as God did from His. God stopped, so will I. That's it, isn't it? Once a sinner
gets a hold of that, it's time to sit down. It is time to sit
down. God said it's finished. It's
finished. Christ is our Sabbath. Christ
is our rest. Christ is our seventh day. Now, here we close. Go back to
our text, Genesis 1, Genesis 2. Verse 1 says, Thus the heavens
and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And
on Christ God ended His work which He had made. And He rested
on Christ from all His work which He had made. And God blessed
Christ and sanctified Christ. Because that in Christ he had
rested from all his work, which God created and made. That's
the gospel. Christ is rest. The person has Christ, they have
rest, rest, rest. I'm worried, Christ, rest. I'm scared, Christ, rest. I'm tired, Christ rest. Rest. Let's obey his commandment,
let's come to Christ and don't move a muscle. Come to Christ,
all of us who are heavy laden. He'll give us rest, rest, rest. All right. May the Lord bless
his word.