Genesis chapter 2. We remember,
as we're going through these days, we're going to look at
day 7 this evening. Remember on day 1, God said,
let there be light. And there was light. This happened. But it pictures that light shed
abroad in the believer's heart. Those that are born again. Those
that are saved. It was decreed here. On day 1, it was announced. It was ordered. It was ruled.
It's what decreed means. It was decreed here, but it came
to pass in our hearts through the preaching of the gospel.
Day two, God said, let there be affirmament. He called it
Heaven. Capital H, Heaven. That's our
covering. What gives us atonement, our
robe of righteousness. It was decreed here. And it comes to our understanding.
when the Holy Ghost reveals Christ in us. He convicts us of sin,
convicts us of His righteousness, and convinces us that that judgment
has been settled. Day 3, God gathered us waters,
those underneath that covering, that robe of righteousness. He
gathered us And He made the dry ground appear, Christ our solid
rock. And the grass and the herbs and
the trees, they all began to grow. Fruit began to come from
them. That was decreed, that the Lord
ordained. And it comes to pass, and small
assemblies scattered throughout this whole world. Small gatherings
just like here. those that are gathered together
to witness Christ exalted, to watch that dry ground come up,
that safety come up, that surety come up, and to bear witness
of the fruit that He produces, to be partakers of Him. Day four,
God hung the sun, the moon, and the stars across the S-U-N and
the S-O-N. Christ the Son, He's the warmth,
He's the light, He's the source of all things living on this
earth. The stars, they never stop. They
just twinkle away declaring His glory. Consistently, He sustains
them. And the moon, only reflecting
the light of the sun, but it's a beacon to the dark side of
this world that's turned from Christ. to who we declare to
them. It was decreed here, but it's
coming to pass as we speak in our experience, isn't it? The
experience of men and women that God sheds Christ the light in. We see, we experience, we truly
understand that when this world comes between us and Him, it's
dimmer, isn't it? Day five, the fishes, the fowls,
and the whale. First named animal. As the prophet
Jonah spent three days and three nights in that whale's belly,
Christ came to spend three days and three nights in the belly
of the grave, the belly of this earth. That is how we pass from a fish
to a fowl. From drinking the waters of God's
wrath and not knowing any different, to soaring and crossed our heaven,
crossed our firmament. It was decreed here, but it came
to pass on Golgotha's hill and in that rich man's tomb. Death,
the grave, were conquered the third day when our Lord arose.
It's finished. Day six, God created man in His
image, a perfect picture of the new creation, that new birth. God said and there was. It pleased
Him to do so. We're born of His incorruptible
seed, springing up in His Word in us, His command. And that
picture of Eve, Adam's bride, being made from Adam, taken from
his side, his wounded side, not the head, not the foot, under
the arm, next to the heart, with him, one with him, that was decreed
here. That happened when the Lord created
Adam and Eve. But that's how the new birth
takes place in His children. And God saw it, and He said,
it was very good. Every day, everything He made,
He said, that was good. And at the end of that sixth day, He
said, that's very good. Very good. Now, day seven. Seven, that's the number of perfection
in it. Here in Genesis 2, verse 1. Thus, the heavens and the earth
were finished, and all the hosts 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. He didn't rest because
He was tired. He rested because the work He
purposed to do was complete. It was finished, and it was very
good. It says in verse 3, And God blessed
the seventh day and sanctified it. This is the first mention.
He set it apart. He made it and declared it clean. He is holy because that in it
He had rested from all His work which God created and made. The Lord physically made everything
that is created. He made a sinless heaven and
a sinless earth and He put a sinless man on it to tend His garden.
But there was a fall, weren't there? Adam became plum dead. So he was still breathing and
he was dead. He's dead spiritually. The Lord
came to him in that garden. He had hid himself from him.
And he said, why did you hide, Adam? He said, because I was
naked and I was afraid. And he said, who told you you
were naked? Who told you that? God put enmity. He put hostility. Hatred between
the woman and the serpent. And turn over to Genesis 3 verse
17, God cursed the ground. This earth that He made, He cursed
it. Genesis 3 verse 17, And unto Adam He said, Because thou hast
hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree
of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed
is the ground. Cursed is the earth for thy sake,
and sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
Thorns and thistles shalt it bring forth to thee, and thou
shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground. For out of it
wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt
return." Spiritually, Adam died. when he disobeyed God, when he
ate that fruit, and it was given to him to physically die. The Lord set an appointed time
for him and to return to that earth. But until that day came
to pass, until his appointed hour come to pass, he was going
to work. Man's going to work. The sweat
of your brow. You're going to sweat for bread.
You're going to sorrow in the tilling of the ground, in the
gardening, of vegetables and fruit and the watering of it.
It's going to be hard. You're going to sweat. Things
will get in your way. Troubles and trials will come
in the gathering of food and bread. Then the first living
thing physically died. It's a crosstab preeminence.
The first living thing on this earth died. There in verse 21,
Genesis 3, 21. Unto Adam also and to his wife
did the Lord God make coats of skin and clothed them. The only protection you have,
the only hope for comfort from rest is that coat. That was the only
possession Adam had. Do you know that? What God gave
him. That covering, that lamb slain, not this cursed earth,
what God provided. That was the only way he had
rest. When Cain and Abel, they brought their sacrifices. Cain brought
fruit of the cursed ground, didn't he? It had come out of this earth
that the Lord cursed. Only the death of the lamb was
acceptable. Only the death of the lamb was
respected by God. Now this seventh day, This completion
of heaven and earth and all things in it that were very good. It
was the decree of something to come to pass. Just like all those
other days we looked at, right? We see this, the Lord physically
did this, but this was something that was going to come to pass.
This is rest. God rested. It's going to come
to pass. The new heaven and the new earth
is where we'll have our rest eternally. And that will never
pass away. That will never pass away. That's
where righteousness will dwell. Peter told us that. He said,
nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for the new
heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. This
new heaven and this new earth, it's different than this first
earth was. There will be no evil. There will be no death. There
will be no sin and not even the possibility of it. What a thought! What a thought! Turn over to
Isaiah 65, we'll read about it. Isaiah 65. Verse 17. Isaiah 65, 17. The Lord told
Isaiah, He said, For behold, I create new heavens and new
earth, and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into
mind. But be ye glad and rejoice forever
in that which I created. For behold, I created Jerusalem
a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall be no
more heard in her, nor the voice of crying." There shall be no
more fence and infants of days, or an old man that hath not filled
his days. For the child shall die and a
hundred years older, but the sinner being a hundred years
old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses and
inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit
of them. They shall not build and another
inhabit. They shall not plant and another eat. For as the days
of the tree are the days of my people, and mine elect, shall
long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in
vain, nor bring forth for trouble, no sweating, no thorns, no cursed
ground. For they are the seed of the
blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall
come to pass that before they call, I'll answer. And while
they are yet speaking, I will hear them, will be in his presence.
be in His presence. Verse 25, And the wolf and the
lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like
the bullock, and the dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall
not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord."
Eternal happiness, eternal bliss without even the potential for
it to come undone. He said it shall not. How is
this going to come to pass? The Lord said it's going to happen.
We know anything He says, anything He decrees, anything He wills,
it comes to pass. Period. He does not want. So how is this going to play
out? Who's going to make this happen? Because the Father's
rested. His labor's completed. He purposed all things in His
determinate counsel and His foreknowledge. He decreed it. He declared it.
Ordained it. Who will make and preserve forever
that new Jerusalem that descends from heaven like a bride adorned
for her husband? We read about it in Revelation.
I'll tell you plainly. And it's not in any way, shape,
or form put in the hands of you or I. It ain't put in the hands
of man. Ain't you thankful for that?
Ain't you thankful? It was the work given to Christ
the God-man for this purpose of the Father. For the new heaven
and earth to be established. The Word came down from heaven. It was made flesh. Not to do
His own will, but to do the will of Him that sent Him. Christ
was born of a woman. He walked this earth 30 years
in perfection. In perfection. The only thing
we hear about those first 30 years is when He was 12 in the
temple. He was teaching them doctors. His mom came and said,
where have you been? He said, don't you know I'm supposed
to be about my father's business? walking perfect, holy. Then he entered his public ministry,
doing only what God can do. He healed the sick. He raised
the dead. He controlled his creation. The waves, the trees, everything
didn't. He controlled every bit of it.
Only God could do that. He controlled the storms. He forgave sin. He said, woman,
your sins are forgiven you. Go home. Only God can do that. He was tempted by Satan and he
defeated him. He was mocked. He was scorned.
He was ridiculed. They plotted against him and
there was no sin in him. He walked as a man and as a holy
God. on this earth. He was crucified. And when He was reviled, He reviled
not again. Like that lamb before it shears
its dung. He didn't say a word. The only
one who could correct anybody, the only one who had the right
to just go in and tear everything up and start over, never opened
His mouth. Fully honoring His Father. Fully
performing and trusting the purpose and the will of the Father. And
when it was complete, when the work of the Father that gave
Him to do was accomplished, when He was all done, He was all alone. The disciples left Him. There
were no angels like in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was alone.
His Father forsook Him because the sins of His people were on
Him. Alone. And He cried, It is finished.
And just as the Father said on His earthly creation, it's finished. He was complete. He was done.
He rested. That work's done. That work's completed. What was
finished? When He cried, it was finished.
We always talk about that. What was finished? Turn over
Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1, beginning
of verse 1. Hebrews 1.1, God, who at sundry
times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his
Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he
made the worlds. who being the brightness of His
glory and the expressed image of His person and upholding all
things by the word of His power." Did you just take a breath? God,
Jesus Christ, the Lord gave you the power to take that breath. That's who we're talking about.
This is declaring Christ as God. That's who we're speaking of.
It says there at the end of verse 3, "...when He had by Himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high. I'm so thankful God the Holy Spirit moved that Hebrew
writer to say, by himself. By himself. You know what that
means? Man had no part in the purging
of sins. None. Isn't that wonderful? Anytime I install a new ICE machine
or new HVAC system, we have one big rooftop unit. It's very expensive. It's 208 volts, three phase.
Got a couple miles worth of wire in it. We get that thing all
set up, hook the power up to it. All right, we're good to
go. And I was about to throw that switch and turn it on. I
go, ooh, do you want to throw that switch? We got insurance,
don't we? Was it because I was bad at my job? No, I was great
at my job. Did a wonderful job. I'm a man. My hands touched it. My memory
was responsible for remembering what order those things had to
go in. I didn't... Nervous, right? And
that's just air conditioning. What about eternal salvation?
The purging of sins as far as the East is from the West. You
want a hand in that? Do I? I don't. By Himself, He purged
our sins. If all I had to do, all I had
to do was repent, People tell that, don't they? It's a lie.
But you have to repent. In that sense, there's five meanings
of repentance in the scriptures. In that sense, it's turning from
my mind to the mind of Christ. Impossible. If I had to do that
all along, or if I had to have a little bit of help, impossible. Salvation is the work of the
Lord. Thanks be to God, He by Himself purged our sins and that
it is eternally finished. How do we know? He sat down.
Just as His Father did in His physical creation. It was done.
He ceased from His work. Everything is finished. It was
very good. He sat down. He rested. Christ sat down. He
rested. Christ finished the work the
Father gave Him to do and He sat down. Turn over to Hebrews
chapter 10. You ever been on a job and took
a break when you probably shouldn't have took a break? You got tired,
you sit down, and the work ain't done? That's called a time thief. That's what we do, don't we?
We sit down all the time and the work ain't done. I sit down a lot.
Ought not, huh? Man's work's never done. The
work's on us. Look here at Hebrews 10 verse
11. And every priest standeth daily, ministering and offering
oftentimes the same sacrifice. They stand because the work's
not done. That's why they were standing. Which can never take
away sins, but this man, Christ the God-man, after he had offered
one sacrifice himself for sins forever, sat down at the right
hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. for by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified." God's law was upheld. Full reconciliation
was made. We're reconciled to God. Those
in Christ, we weren't made morally innocent like Adam was. We're
made holy. His seed's incorruptible. That
means it can't be, it ain't corrupted and it can't be corrupted. made
righteous, like Brother Bob read this morning, in the body of
His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and
unreprovable in His sight. The proof that the Father was
satisfied, the proof that we are fully justified to be conformed
forever to the image of His Son is the empty tomb we have. He's
risen. When we see Him, We see His accomplished
work, His sitting at the right hand of the Father, majesty on
high. What does a child of God do? Rest. Rest. That's it. Be glad, be content,
have joy, have thankfulness, believe, love, and every bit
of that is done in rest. Every bit of it. If we don't
rest, then we're not believing. If we're not at rest, how can
you not rest? Are you satisfied with Christ
and what He accomplished? That calms you down for a quick
moment. Gives you rest. If we are working,
if we're doing something, then we're not resting. We're not
believing. We're not looking to the Lord,
are we? A man can understand this. Did you know that? A man
can fully get his hands around that Christ is risen. But they
will deny it at all costs unless God the Holy Ghost moves on them. Unless He abounds towards them.
Now we ought to be doing something. You just got to be circumcised.
You have to do this. You have to do that. They'll deny it at all costs. Matthew 28, after those soldiers
found that tomb empty, they ran to the Pharisees. And they said,
hey, he's gone. He came out of that tomb. And
they gave them a large money. It says large money to these
soldiers. And they said, you go tell them
that his disciples came and took him. And they did. They earned
their wage. And it says at the end of Matthew
28, and it's still known to this day. Everybody in town heard
about it. Everybody knew. It was a fact,
wasn't it? Turn over to Hebrews chapter
3. We started in Genesis 2. We'll go back there. We'll spend
a lot of time in Hebrews. Hebrews 3 verse 16. Who are these ours? He said He
purged our sins. Everyone whose sins are purged.
That's who the ours is. Not everyone, only those given
to Christ by the Father before time. That's it. Hebrews 3.16,
For some, when they had heard, did provoke, albeit not all came
out of Egypt by Moses, but with whom he was grieved forty years. Was it not with them that had
sin, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom swear
he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that
believe not?" Didn't the Lord say, you're not coming into my
rest. You're not coming into this typified rest in Canaan.
You're going to die in the wilderness. Moses, you ain't coming. Told
him plainly, didn't he? So we see, verse 19, that they could
not enter in because of unbelief. Who did enter in? Remember that,
don't we? Moses didn't enter in. He's the
picture of the law. The law ain't going to get you
into that rest. Doing ain't going to get you into that rest. Not
working, not resting unbelief, only two adult males entered
the promised land. Joshua, names mean Savior, and Caleb, faithful
dog. The Savior and his faithful dog
went into that rest, went into that promised city. I want to
rest. I want to have rest. I get weary,
tired. I want to rest. I want to be
a faithful dog. Do you? I got two dogs at my
house and they rest a whole bunch. They sleep most of the time,
I'm looking at. They sleep all the time, don't they? They wake
up, they eat, they play, they get pet on for a little bit,
and they go right back to sleep. They got a good life, don't they? we do to the Lord that gives
us rest. But we're not to take this rest for granted. We're
told to examine ourselves, aren't we? To see if we're truly resting
in Christ alone. Are we resting in a thought,
an experience, a doctrine, a something other than a person? Look here
in chapter 4 verse 1. Let us therefore fear lest a
promise being left us of entering into His rest any of you should
seem to come short of it. How could we come short of the
rest of the Lord? not doing, not resting, not believing
in Him. That's how we come short of that
rest, isn't it? You know it takes faith to rest. God must give
believing, saving faith, His gift, the gift of faith, the
faith of Christ, He must give that for you and I to rest. We
have to believe Him to rest. Look here in chapter 4 verse
2. For unto us the gospel preached, Gospels preached unto us as well
unto them. They heard the same gospel, but
the word preached did not profit them. Why not? Not being mixed
with faith in them that heard it. I could preach all day long. I could have the best outlines.
I could have all my ducks in a row. All my points make sense.
It's logical. Oh, it's packaged well. It's
smooth. Great oratory. If the Lord isn't pleased to
send the Holy Spirit and give faith to people, it ain't gonna
profit. It ain't gonna return to him
void. Man's convicted. But it ain't gonna profit. Who's
going to be given that gift of faith to enter into rest? Those
that must enter in. Those that must have the faith.
Look here in verse 6. Seeing therefore it remaineth
that some must enter therein. And they to whom it was first
preached enter not in because of unbelief. Some must believe. God must give belief. Man is
totally without excuse for not entering into the rest of Christ.
We can't blame God for our rebellion. It's your fault. No, it ain't.
Like what Adam did. First thing he did. You gave
her to me. That woman you gave me. Came
from you, Adam, didn't it? Verse 7, Again he limiteth a
certain day, saying to David, Today, after so long a time,
as it is said, Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your
hearts. He says in verse 8, speaking
of them entering the promised land, of Moses and Joshua and
Caleb, it says, for if Jesus, that's Joshua, he's speaking
of Joshua, for if Joshua had given them rest, if this man
had gave rest, well, Kevin, make me feel comfortable. Give me
some rest. If he gave them rest, they wouldn't
have had to have spoken of another day. Well, they'd have hung on
that day, wouldn't they? I was working on that. I read
it as it laid. It's speaking of Joshua. But isn't that a true statement?
For if Jesus had not given them rest, then he would not afterwards
have spoken of another day. God has to give you rest. Christ
has to give you rest. If Christ has given His finished
work, His purging of sin, there's not a certain day of the week
we keep. There's no Sabbath keeping. Every day is rest, isn't it?
We'll wake up in the morning. We think of what we've got to
do today. We have responsibilities in this world and check the mail
and go to work and do whatever. I don't wake up worrying about
my soul. It's done. It's finished, isn't it? That's rest. Believe
God. Rest in Him. God has to give
that. If we're still working, if we're
still refraining, oh, I can't do that. If we're still keeping
a day, whatever it is, we're not resting. Look at verse 9. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. There's a rest, and it remains
for His people. For he that is entered into His
rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from
His. You get that? You have trouble
resting? Are you working? If somebody's
working, they ain't resting. God says so. We rest in Christ,
who is seated at the right hand of the Father. Waiting for His
enemies, we made His footstool. Waiting on the Lord. Waiting
on that saint, that last saint, that last child of God to be
called to Him. Patiently, gladly, calmly, waiting for the fullness
of time to come. Waiting on the Lord, we don't
think so. It's so hard to wait. We can't
wait in a stoplight. Waiting on the Lord is rest. When we
truly wait on Him. Not when we say we're going to
wait on Him. Well, we're just waiting on the Lord. When we wait on
Him, truly, He gives us faith to do that. That is rest. We
rest in it. If you know that all things work
together for our good and His glory and that it is finished,
nothing can overtake us. We know that. We rest. We only
have rest, don't we? I read Romans 8 so passively
sometimes. I speak of a sovereign God and
it just feels like it's without conviction because I turn right
back to worrying. I turn right back to upheaval.
I turn right back to not having rest. The believer, the new man does,
should respond to any news If I went to the doctor and said,
Kevin, you're just head to toe riddled with cancer. It's going
to be painful. I should say good. Good. God sent that. The Lord ordained
that. It's for His glory. It's for
my good. Work's finished. Salvation's accomplished. Forever.
Good. Something horrible happened.
Good. House burnt down. Good. That's what we ought to
do, isn't it? Now back in our text, Genesis
2. Genesis 2 verse 1, Thus the heavens
and the earth were finished, and all the host of them, all
the campaign, all the numbers, the masses, 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 in
it He had rested from all His work which God created and made."
Just as that Hebrew writer told us plainly, the eternal work
of salvation, the securing and the populating of that new heaven
and that new earth is finished. His creation is done. His workmanship
is accomplished. Now, I've ended six sermons in
a row out of Genesis, speaking about the evening and the morning
were that day, haven't they? Here it doesn't say anything
about the 7th day. It doesn't say the evening and the morning was
the 7th day, does it? Why is that? We remember that the evening
and the morning was a certain day. That's where we were in
darkness. Light was going away. We didn't
see these things. We didn't understand these things.
And then the light was turned on. God turned the lights on.
And we saw Him. that happened for us in this
world, all these things that typify our lives on this earth.
There was a night and then there was day. In the new heaven and
the new earth, there's no darkness. There never will be. John wrote
to us in Revelation 22. He said, And there shall be no
night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the
sun, How's there going to be light if we ain't got a big star
hanging up in the sky? For the Lord God giveth them
light, and they shall reign forever and ever. Christ will be our
light for eternity. Christ our rest, the Lord of
our Sabbath. He'll light all day, every day.
Since the new birth, since we were born into knowing Christ
is all, There is never and will never be evening, no darkness
in that new man. Not now, and thank God not for
eternity to come. Ever. There's no evening or morning. Just day, just him, just light. And this world will not be remembered
no more like we read in Isaiah. Not even the thought or remembering
of darkness will be there. Ain't you thankful? gone from
the mind forevermore. All that, it's set in stone. It's decreed. As my daddy used
to say, you can take that to the bank. And it cannot be ruined. Isn't that something? Doesn't that give you peace?
If we see Him, we behold Him, and what He's accomplished, what
He's set down after He's finished, it's done. He sat. Rest. Rest. Peace. It's finished. He's settling.