The title of the message, The
Day God Rested. The Day God Rested. We now come
to the end of creation. God created the heavens and the
earth and everything that was in them. Everything that we have
right now, we have from creation 6,000 years ago. And everything
God made, he declared to be good. And then it says, God rested.
This is what we're going to talk about. I read you these three
verses. Six days, God created. God worked in creation. Every
day, something was created. And on that day, whatever God
commanded, whatever God called forth, that's what happened.
And after six days, As it says here in verse 1, the earth, the
heavens and the earth were finished. Complete. Complete. God has not created anything
else since creation. Not on this earth. We're not
talking about the new creation right now, but we're talking
about on this earth, this old creation, nothing else has been
created since. There have been some animals,
some things that God has created that has become extinct. And
God has not created them again. They're gone. It's over with.
What we have right now is what we have from the beginning of
creation. God's creation was perfect. Or
else he could not rest. It says he rested. If it were
not perfect, God could not rest at all. God cannot rest within
perfection. The scripture says it must be
perfect to be accepted. He can accept nothing less than
perfection. And when God completed creation,
he said, it's very good. It's very good. And when God
says it's good, he means it's perfect. That's what he means. He means it is perfect. God's
purpose was accomplished in creation. Listen to Isaiah 45, 18. For thus saith the Lord that
created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made
it. He hath established it. He created it not in vain. Listen. He formed it to be inhabited. And he says, I am the Lord and
there is none else. Did he accomplish that? Absolutely. This world is full. This earth
is full. Even to this day it's full. The
oceans are full. They're full. He created it not
in vain. He created it to be inhabited.
Also, God cannot rest in a work that's not complete. It's not complete. When God begins
a work, I assure you, He always, always finishes the work. Listen
to Philippians chapter 1 verse 6. Paul says this, Being confident
of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. And what he's
saying here, God will not He does not, will not stop on any
work He begins. In creation, He created until
it was all finished. And even in the new creation,
He will not give up on that. It's not that, you know, I know
some people, I know I've talked to a young man that I've talked
to at work and I was training. He was talking to me about he'd
gotten saved. That's the way he put it. He said, I got saved.
And I wasn't being rude. Not trying to be rude. I was
trying to be honest. I said, no, you didn't. And I've been honest with him
because I told him the gospel in which he was claiming was
not the gospel. Here's what he was claiming.
Today you can be saved. Tomorrow you can be lost. I said,
that's not so. I said, that's not the gospel.
That's not the truth. I said, when God begins a work,
I have his word on it right here. When he begins a work, he performs
it all the way to the end. He says, until the day of Jesus
Christ, he does not give up on his work at all. Now, in verse
two, I mean, chapter two, verse three, it says, and God blessed
the seventh day and he sanctified it. because that in it he had
rested from all his work which God created and made. God blessed
the seventh day. None of the other days of the
week, those six days, none of those other days had this special
blessing put upon it at all. This day of rest, see, this is
a day of rest. Those six days were days of work
God created. This day is a day of rest. This day of rest represents someone. This day of rest represents the
Lord Jesus Christ who is our Sabbath, who is our rest. We don't keep, and I'm getting
ahead of myself here, but we don't keep a day, by faith we
believe on the Sabbath, the Lord Jesus Christ, our rest. He is. Now it says God sanctified it.
That means God set it apart from all the other days. And God has
a purpose in this. This is going to be a type. This
is going to be a picture. And this day is a day of rest.
It is the day God rested from all his work, it says, from which
he had made. It's not that he was tired. And
it's not that he has not done anything since. Christ said,
my father worketh hitherto and I work. Right now, God works in providence
every day. Every day, God is working providentially
to bring everything to pass. This happens every day. But on
this day of creation, he says, it's finished. It's finished. Now, we don't meet this day of
rest again in Genesis. It's mentioned here, but we don't
meet it again in Genesis. But we do meet it again in Exodus.
Now, I'm gonna read some of these verses because it'd take too
long to turn to all these. But in Exodus 16, 26, it says,
six days you shall gather the manna. That's what he's talking
about. You shall gather it, the manna. But on the seventh day,
which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none. There shall be
no gathering. There should be no work. One time a man went
out and picked up some sticks, I believe it was, and the congregation
said, what are we to do? You know what God said to do?
God said, kill him. Kill him. Because this day, this
Sabbath, represents my son, it represents his rest, the rest
his people have in him, and in Christ, we don't work. We do
not work for acceptance. We do not work for righteousness.
And this was so important to God. He said, kill him. Kill him. It says in Exodus 16,
29. See, for that the Lord has given
you the Sabbath. Therefore, he gives you on the
sixth day the bread of two days. They were not to go out gathering.
Abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place
on the seventh day. So the people, it says, rested
on the seventh day. And then in verse 10 of chapter
20, it 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 gate. Nobody
is to work. Not on this day of rest. This
day of rest, which represents Jesus Christ. Work has ceased. Work is over. Don't you dare
go out and work, is what he's saying. For in six days, it says
in verse 11 of chapter 20, for in six days, the Lord made heaven
and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh
day. The Sabbath day, and rested the
seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and
listen, and hallowed it. Hallowed it. Keep it holy. separated from those other days,
because this is a different day. It's a different day. You know,
when our Lord rose, he rose on the first day of the week. Now
listen, the Sabbath did not transfer from Saturday to Sunday. There
was no transfer of the Sabbath. When Christ When Christ arose,
he put an end to that legal Sabbath. I like the way it says there,
I didn't write it down, but it says, it says, at the end of the Sabbath,
when the Lord arose, that was the end of it. That's the end
of that legal rest, that day that God had set up as a type
and a picture, he said, it's over. It's over. Every day is
what? The Lord's day. Every day is
the Lord's day. Now we come together on the first
day of the week as the early church did. You know, we have
to have a time to come together. And we come together this day,
but this day, this day of rest, this day of not working has nothing
to do with days of this week. It has everything to do with
Jesus Christ, everything to do with him. Now what's the message? What's the message? The Sabbath,
this day of rest, as I've already given to you, was given as a
picture, a type, of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament
there were ceremonies, there was Sabbath keeping, there was
circumcision, there was the Passover, and these were all kept, and
they were to be kept. Because they all represented
someone. And they were to be kept. But
they were only to be kept until Christ came. And once He came,
and He fulfilled all these types and pictures and the ceremonies
they went through, once He came and He fulfilled them, they're
done away with. They're over. We're not going
to resurrect them. They're done. They're over with. Now that the Lord Jesus Christ
has come, these things are, the scripture says, done away with.
Over a blue-toped Hebrew. Jesus Christ is the real of the
types. The scripture says the Son of
God has come and given us an understanding. He's given us
an understanding of who God is, who He is, who we are, He's given
us an understanding of redemption. He's given us an understanding
of the pictures and the types of the Old Testament. I had a
young man at that time, I was too, we went to school together.
And he was talking to me, this is after I'd heard the gospel.
And he was talking to me about his version, I want to say, his
version of the gospel. And he was talking to me about
the Old Testament believers were saved by those Lambs. The Passover lamb and the blood
of those animals. No. Well, you better find you
another preacher. They were saved just as we are
saved. Through the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Through faith in Christ. They were saved that
way. Now, we do not To get back to
the subject, we do not keep a legal Sabbath no more. We don't do
it. There was a gentleman who lived close to us when I
was growing up. He was the farm down the road. And when it came to Sunday, he
absolutely wouldn't do a thing. He believed that you should not
do anything on Sunday. It was a Sabbath. Now Christ is our Sabbath. Christ
is our Sabbath. And here's the sad part. Here's
the sad part. I know him, and I know some that
are so dogmatic about this thing of keeping Sunday as a Sabbath,
And yet the gospel they believe is totally another gospel. It's
not the Lord Jesus Christ at all. Paul said, don't come preaching
another Jesus. They believe and he believed
on another Jesus. And yet was so dogmatic about
keeping that Sabbath, which represented Christ. That's sad. I think it's sad
to be, well, we were that way one time. I want to say it's
sad to be that blind, but we were blind ourselves at one time.
We were in darkness at one time. But it's still sad. It's still
sad. Our rest is in the person of
the Son of God. Now, to finish out this lesson,
turn over to Hebrews chapter 4. In Hebrews chapter 4, I'm going
to read probably the first 11 verses. Now listen to this. Let us therefore fear, lest a
promise be left us of entering into His rest, the rest of our
Lord. Any of you should seem to come
short of it, for unto us was the gospel preached Now catch
this, as well as unto them. He says the gospel was preached
to Israel of old as well as unto us. The gospel, not a different
message, the gospel. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them, but the word did not profit them. It
didn't do them any good. Why? Not being mixed with faith
in them that heard it. They did not believe God. If
a person does not believe God, that person in no way, shape,
or form can enter into God's rest, because the only thing
God has to say to us is Christ. It's concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ. Go to Him. Rest in Him. He's
all my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
You are complete in Him. And so if it's not mixed with
faith, you can't enter into that rest. not be mixed with faith in them
that heard it for we which have believed do 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 and god did rest the seventh day from all
his works And in this place again, if they shall enter into my rest,
seeing, you see, he's speaking here of another day and another
rest. Seeing, therefore, it remains
that some must enter in, must enter therein. Christ said, other
sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring
in. There's a flock here, there's
some sheep here. that is in this verse. You must
enter into His rest. God has purposed it. Christ died
for you. He rose for you. He ascended
on high for you. He intercedes for you. It is
a must that you enter into His rest. Seeing therefore, it remains
that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first
preached, they entered not in. Why? Because of unbelief. Again, he limiteth a certain
day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time, as it is
said, Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Joshua, Jesus, if Joshua
had given them rest, when they went over into the land of Canaan,
when Joshua led them over, if he had given them rest, If He had given them rest, then
would He not afterward have spoken of another day? We wouldn't be
talking about this right now. It's evident that that was not
the rest. The rest is Christ. That's what
they missed. They missed Christ. They missed
Him. There remains, there remaineth
therefore a rest to the people of God. A ceasing from works. Ceasing from your own work. That's
what it is. You're ceasing. For us to rest,
to enter into that rest, we have ceased from doing anything in
any way to please God, to produce a righteousness for acceptance.
We don't do anything for acceptance. Christ did it. Christ is my acceptance. He's our acceptance. The scripture
says in Ephesians 1 that He hath made us accepted. in the Beloved. He made us accepted. He didn't
just make me acceptable. He made me accepted. God received
me. In verse 10 there of Hebrews
4, For he that is entered into his rest, that is, he that is
entered into the rest of Christ, the Lord's rest, he's entered
into that Sabbath, the Lord our Sabbath, he also has ceased from
his own works. as God did from his." Oh, there's a rest, he says,
that remains for the people of God. And here's what we are to do.
Verse 11, let us labor. This doesn't sound right, does
it? It sounds just polar opposite. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into that rest. To strive, that's what, to strive. That doesn't sound like it's
easy believism, does it? This easy decisionism, that doesn't
sound like that at all. The hardest thing, the most difficult
thing to do, if we're a believer, in this life, is to truly sit
down and rest in Jesus Christ. I find myself day by day, week
by week, having the labor to rest. Just rest. It's the Lord. That's what, I
tell you, Eli, when God killed his two sons, he said, it's the
Lord. Let Him do what pleases Him. To be able to rest in God, in
His providence, in His purpose, whatever He's doing with me,
wherever He's put me, whatever's going on, to absolutely rest. in Jesus Christ. Let us labor
and strive, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man
fall after the same example of unbelief. And I tell you what,
when you think of unbelief, that doesn't mean he's an atheist.
The Pharisees were the most religious, moral people of their day. And they claimed to know God.
They said God is our Father. But they were in unbelief and
they perished. I don't want to be religious
yet lost. Lord save me, save us from being
religious but lost. Enable us here at Bethel Baptist
to truly enter into your rest. To rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. The rest he's talking about here
is Christ, his person, his work, who he is, what he did, who he
did it for, where he is now. When our Lord was on the cross,
he cried. What did he cry? It's finished. What did it say back there in
Genesis? Chapter verse 1, when God finished His work. Has God created anything since
on this earth? No. He finished it. Does Christ need to do anything
else? No. He said it's finished. Our redemption
is finished. It's finished. In John 17, verse
4, He said, I have glorified thee on the earth I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do." The work of redemption,
the work of righteousness, the work of salvation is finished. Rest. Rest. Let's labor to rest. Jesus Christ entered into His
rest when He finished His work. He hasn't come back to this earth
to do something else or add to it It's done. It's over. It's finished. And we enter into
His rest when we are born of God, brought to faith in Christ.
Our rest. That's when we enter into that
rest. He's our Sabbath. Jesus Christ is my Sabbath. He's
my rest. Now let's labor to enter into
that rest. Let's continually, continually now, cease from our
own works. I tell you, we're still prone
to do that, aren't we? We're still prone to do that.
I tell you what, man wants everything on this earth free except salvation. He literally wants everything.
Give him a free house. He'll take it. Give him a free
car. Let him win the lottery. But when it comes to salvation,
we want to work for it. We just feel like we can do it,
we can impress God. No, he said you can't. God is
declaring, Jesus Christ is my rest. And don't you dare work. Don't you dare work. And every
believer, I close with this, every believer keeps the Sabbath
by faith in Christ. Every day. Every day. All right.