And so a third message, and I
gave an introduction message, then I dealt with God's creation. And tonight I want to deal with
God resting. God resting. God resting. First four verses of Genesis
2. 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. These are the generations
of the heavens and of the earth when they were created in the
day that the Lord God made heaven and earth. God resting. Why in the world
would God need to rest? He finished His work. The heavens
were finished. But it was only after God had
finished the work, the heavens and the earth, did He rest. And
you know that He made the sun. He made two lights for the day.
Let me just say this as an aside. He made the light for the day
and the light for the night. And Christ is the Son of Righteousness. He's the Son that's in the heavens.
He's a beautiful, glorious picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the brightness of God's glory. And then the moon that gives
light at night. The only light that the moon
has is the light it gets from the sun. It reflects the light
of the sun. And even you can see it in the
daytime. And you know, whenever you see it in the daytime, it's
very, very pale. But at night, if you see the
moon, it gets its light from the sun. And that's where we
get our light from. He has all the light. He is the light. And we just
reflect His light. We don't have no light. We're
just a reflection of it. And then it says here, God, after
He had finished the heavens and the earth, did He rest? If I
can say it this way, God found no rest until He ended all of
His work. And that's the way our Lord Jesus
Christ was. He says, my meat is to do the
work of Him that finished me. That sent me and finished that
work. That's my meat to do that. And He says, the work which the
Father had given me to finish, those are the works that I do.
And these are just to shatter. And I'll get into that, but I
want to show you that Christ is the key to these blessed Scriptures. Now I want you to turn over with
me to Colossians chapter 2 and verse 16. When we're going to
deal with this thing about rest, God resting, we've got to understand
that everything in the Old Testament is a shatter. It's a shatter. And a shatter has no substance
to it. A shatter has no substance. A
shatter... But there is someone who cast
a shatter. In Christ, in the Old Testament,
all things were a shatter until Christ Himself came on the scene.
But look what it says here in Colossians 2.16, talking about
respect of things. Let no man therefore judge you
in what you eat or in what you drink. or in the respect of any
holy day. You know they have Easter as
a holy day. Christmas is a holy day. They have Lent. I heard
somebody talking, they have Ash Wednesday. And I heard a preacher
say one time, this is what we're going to do for Holy Week. They
have something planned for every day of the week for Holy Week.
I never knew one week to be more holy than another week. But after
he planned that, So people have these holy days. And he said,
don't let nobody judge you about that. Or the new moon, and listen
to this, or the Sabbath days, which are a shadow. Eating and
drinking, holy days, new moon, Sabbath days, they're just a
shadow of things to come. But the body is Christ. So the
Lord Jesus Christ is the golden key to unlock the Word. Now, go back over here in Genesis
2. And then it says that on the
seventh day, verse 2, God ended His work which He had made, and
He rested on the seventh day from all the work which He had
made. And they call this rest, they call it the Sabbath, the
rest of God. It's a ceasing of work. God ceased
to work. And you know why He ceased to
work? Because He had perfect satisfaction in His work. Perfect
satisfaction and a complete fulfillment and finishing of the work. The
heavens and earth were finished and all the host of them. Everything
on the earth, everything above the earth, everything under the
earth were finished. What else was there to do? And
so God has found perfect satisfaction in His work. And He said, I'll
rest. And I'll tell you what, He done this work all by Himself. There was no angels there to
help Him. Him and His Son and the Holy Spirit, Him and His
Son did this work because God in Christ created the world.
He alone is the worker. And His alone is the rest. And let me show you something
here. God ordained this rest, or this Sabbath day, as the seventh
day was fixed and settled by God to be a time of rest and joy
for Himself and all creation. Now God fixed this day. God settled
this day. And it was going to be a time
of rest and joy to Himself and all of His creation. That's why
He done it. He ordained it for Himself, for
His own rest and for all of His creation. And now look what happens. There's a day of rest in verse
2. And on the seventh day He rested.
He rested. You know when a person rests
when they get their work done. And He rested not because He
was tired. God wasn't tired. God wasn't
weary. David said, God neither sleeps
nor God neither slumbers. God, you know, they can talk
about a false god and he's off on a journey, but our God neither
slumbers nor sleep. He sits on a throne and bars
no leave to be. But because of why he rested
was because every good thing had been done that could be done. Look down here at verse 31 of
chapter 1. Chapter 1, verse 31 of chapter
1, everything that had been done, had been done, and look what
He said, and God saw everything that He had made, and He made
a lot of things. He made trees, He made fish,
He made whales, He made sharks, He made cattle, He made hogs,
He made dogs, He made ants, He made everything that's on this
earth, He made it in seven days. He made the stars in seven day. Sun, moon, and every day he done
a specific work. And only got to the sixth day
and he come up on the seventh day and he said, I'm done. So
I'm gonna rest and look what he said and God saw everything
that inmate and behold It was very good That's why we say bless
the Lord oh my soul. Oh everything God does is good
It's the goodness of God that leads a man to repentance and
not only was it a day of rest but it was a day of blessing
and look what he said in verse 3 and And God blessed the seventh
day. God blessed it. And what does
that mean? That means that the special favor
of God was in this day and was on this day. God delighted in
this day. God's truth and God's satisfaction
was in this day of rest. He blessed this day, so this
is a blessed day. God blessed this day and this
day is going to be blessed forever. until we'll see something else.
And not only was it a blessed day, but God sanctified it. He said, and God blessed the
seventh day and sanctified it. Sanctified it. Because in that
He had rested from all His works we had made, created and made.
It was a separated day. He sanctified it. And this, you
know, I've told you, you know as well as I do, that when sanctified
means He set it apart. He set the seventh day apart.
This is my day. This is my possession. This is
my inheritance. Why did He bless this day? Why
did He sanctify this day? Because it manifests the results
of His wisdom. Oh, what wisdom to create a world.
What wisdom it took to make things just the way they are. What wisdom
it took for God to make a world that we live in and that is of
such order to it, every seed is in itself. Everything was
man. He made man. He made everything
that was made and without him was not anything that was made.
And all the wisdom of God that went in to creating this world. Who would ever thought that you'd
need a son? God did. Whoever thought you'd
need a moon? God did. Whoever thought you'd
need consolation of stars? God did. Whoever decided that the home
life would be the foundation of society, husbands and wives
and children would be the foundation of society. God did. God did. And oh, it manifested
His power. You know how much power it took
for God to create this world? He just said. That's all it took. He just said. He just said. You know, the only time he put
forth his hand when he created Adam, he got him a handful of
mud. He rested with his hand and got
mud. The rest of the time, he just spanked. He just spanked
it. A tree. I want an oak tree over
there. I want an apple tree. I want
a pear tree. I want an ash tree. I want a locust tree. I want
a poplar tree. I want a walnut tree. I want
cherry trees and I want all of them to have a seed in themselves
so that they can reproduce themselves. And you know all that God did,
He said, and there He spoke and there they were. And you know
how many there are now? Oh my goodness. And then a woe
that manifest His goodness. How good was God. to create a
world that we could enjoy and a world that we could live in.
A world that He gave us dominion over the animals. What if God
let the animals run plum wild? We and you, we couldn't go out
of our house. But He gave us dominion over
them. They're afraid of us. Animals are afraid of us. And
God made us in the goodness of God. You know, I'll tell you
something about this creation. If we enjoy this creation as
much as we do without the curse, with the curse on it, and the
curse is on it, and this is a beautiful creation. I'll tell you, we've
seen some of the most beautiful country that you could ever imagine.
I mean, just ever imagine mountains, and trees, and rivers, and falls,
and rock formations, and things that just boggles the mind. You
just stand in awe of it. And if we do that when it's the
curses on it, imagine what it's going to be like without the
curse. But it's the goodness of God. It's the goodness of
God. And then the authority. Oh, the
manifest His authority. He didn't ask nobody. He said,
do you want me to create you a world for you to live in? What
kind of world would you like to live in? How hot do you want
it to be? How cold do you want it to be?
How much rain do you want? He had the authority. And then
it manifests His glorious purpose that God did this for Himself. And I'll tell you something else
about this. There was a day of grace for man. Back over here
in verse 27 of chapter 1. He says, So God created man in
his own image, and the image of God created him, male and
female, created he them. And you know the first day, the
first day that dawned, He made him on the sixth day, on the
sixth day, the seventh day God rested. So Adam, the first day
of his existence, he woke up and was created and the first
day of his existence he was a day of rest. It's a day of grace, a day of
rest. He didn't have anything to do but get up and enjoy God. God made man on the sixth day
and the first day that dawned upon Adam was the rest of God. And he could rest in God and
God rested. And then immediately, immediately
Created on the sixth day, immediately entered into the enjoyment of
His rest with His Creator. God finished the work. Man enters
into the rest with God in enjoyment of all that God had made. And
beloved, it's God's grace that brings a man into such blessed
possession as the rest of God. But now let me tell you something.
It didn't stay this way. It didn't stay this way. It didn't
stay a day of rest. It didn't stay at a peaceful
place. It didn't stay where Adam continued in the rest of God.
It didn't stay where Adam enjoyed the enjoyment of God and the
rest of God. He didn't rest it for long. Look
what it says here in Genesis 2.15. And the Lord God took the man
and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and keep it.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of
the garden thou mayest freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil thou shalt not eat it, for in the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely, surely die. And we'll get into
this later, but Satan came. They probably wasn't in the garden
just a very few days. Adam didn't enjoy the rest of
God very long. Satan came. and he tempted Eve
and he used that very tree and the commandments of God to pervert
her way of thinking and Adam fell when he partook of that
fruit and he died and the rest was lost in fact it lost so lost
that Adam himself instead of enjoying God fled from God and
hid from God and sin ruined man's enjoyment of God that day that
day. In fact, God would not even let
him stay in the Garden of Eden. God would let him stay in that
perfect paradise. God would let him stay in that
place. And sin come along and ruined
man's rest. And the Sabbath or the rest that
God gave as a gift to man comes back to him in the form of a
law. God said, remember the Sabbath
and keep it holy. And you know, look with me in
Matthew 12. Now, I'll say something about
us Gentiles. I'll tell you something about
us Gentiles. We were never under the ceremonial law. And these
people who want to keep a Sabbath, remember the Sabbath day and
keep it holy. Instead of it being a day of
rest, it's going to be a day of holiness. It's going to be
a day that you can't do anything. That gift of God that came as
a day of rest came back as a curse in the form of law. And look
what our Lord Jesus said. At that time, Jesus went on the
Sabbath day through the corn. And His disciples were hungry
and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat them. But when
the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples
do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day." Sabbath
is supposed to be a day of rest. Now they start talking about
law. It's not lawful to do that. But he said unto them, Have you
not read what David did when he was hungry, and they that
were with him? He entered into the tabernacle, and did eat the
showbread that was on that table there, twelve loaves of them,
which was not lawful for him to eat, but he was hungry. And
neither were they for them which were with him, but it's only
for the priest. But David got them and ate them because he
was hungry, went into the tabernacle. Or have you not read in the law
how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple proclaim
the Sabbath and are blameless? But I say unto you that in this
place is one greater than the temple. And if you had known
what this means about law and keeping law, I'll have mercy
and not sacrifice. You would not have condemned
the guiltless." And that's what he said. These men are guiltless.
These disciples are guiltless. Even this corn on the Sabbath
day. Now watch what he says here. For the Son of Man is Lord of
the Sabbath day. This day is my day. I made this
day. I'm Lord over this day. And if
you worship me, then you're worshiping Christ. You're not worshiping
a day. He's Lord over creation. He's Lord over the Sabbath. He's
Lord over the rest. And He said, It's my day and
I give that day and it's a day that belongs to me. And even
on the Sabbath day, no manna fell on the Sabbath day when
they were in the wilderness. And they had together double.
on the sixth day. It was not of grace then, but
it of works. It was under the curse. But now,
I want you to look with me in Hebrews chapter 4. Oh, man lost
his rest. Man lost his rest. God had a rest and He inherited
His rest. The work was done. And then Adam
destroyed that. Adam destroyed it for all of
us. All of us. That, oh, here's the rest restored.
Here's the rest restored. And, oh, bless the name of Christ
our Lord. You know, in Our Lord Jesus Christ
said, It is finished. That's what He meant. And look
in verse 18 of chapter 3. Let's start reading there. To whom swear He? To whom did
God swear that they should not enter into His rest, but to them
that believe not." If you don't believe, you ain't going to enter
into His rest. So we see that they could not enter in because
of unbelief. Now, and I tell you this, through
our Lord Jesus Christ, another work has been finished. He put
away sin, and destroyed the rest, and He satisfied God, and now
We are rested in Him, look what He says, let us therefore fear,
lest a promise, God leave us the same promise of entering
in this rest, that you should seem to cut short of it. Oh,
be afraid like those who had unbelief, for unto us was the
gospel preached as well as unto them. But the word preached did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard
it. And oh, he said, but for we which have believed, listen
to this now, do enter into rest, as he said, as I've sworn in
my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although the works
were finished from the foundation of the world. The work's already
done. The work's been finished from the foundation of the world.
And oh, there's another day of rest, and we enter into his rest,
And it meant for Adam, and bless the Lord's name, that he did
it for us. And for he spake in a certain place of the seventh
day on this wise, or in this way. Goes back to creation. And God did rest the seventh
day from all of his works, and in this place again, if they
shall enter into my rest. Oh, now listen to it now. Seeing
therefore it remaineth that some must enter they in, and to whom
it was first preached, enter not into this rest, because of
unbelief." That's what Adam did. He brought us all under. Again,
he limits a certain day. He said there's a certain day.
And David, today, after so long a time, as it is said today,
this day, today, today, if you will hear his voice, harden not
your heart, as they did in the wilderness. If Joshua, that Jesus
means Joshua, had given them rest, if Joshua had given them
rest when he took them into the promised land, would then he
not afterwards have spoken of another day? Therefore there
remaineth a rest to the people of God. Now listen to this, for
he that is entered into his rest, into God's rest, he hath also
ceased from his own works as God did from his. That's what
you have to do. Quit your works. And, O Beloved,
another day of rest is proclaimed. Our Lord Jesus said, Take my
yoke upon you, and you'll find rest for your souls. And we entered
into this rest, and it's meant to all of us. Same thing it meant
before the fall. It means a ceasing from works.
There ain't no works to do. They're finished. The day Adam
had a fellowship with God, now we have a continual fellowship
with God. We lost the image of God when
Adam fell. Christ restored that image. We
now have the image of God. And as God found all in His possession
in creation, we find in Him all His possessions. And we rejoice
in God. And they could not enter in.
Why? Because of unbelief. And He said in verse 10, cease
from your works. Cease from your works. Own works. That's the hardest thing for
anybody to ever do is to cease from works. People say, I want
to quit sinning. I'm going to quit my sinning. No, I tell you what, a fellow,
he will try to quit sinning, but he won't give up his righteousness.
And He says, cease from your works of sin, cease from your
works of righteousness, cease from your works of laws. Cease
from all these and you'll be free. And now rest. Cease from
these false concepts of God that a man has. Cease from these concepts
of self that you have. Now rest. Cease from the bondage
that you had to traditions. Now rest. And he says, there remaineth
therefore a rest. And in the margin it says, a
keeping of a Sabbath. There remaineth a rest for the
people of God. And beloved, we rest in Christ
right now. We rest in Him right now. He
finished the work. What is there for us to do? What
is there for us that we could possibly do before God? to get one blessing from God. What is it that we could do that
God would look at us and say, I'm going to bless them for this,
that, and the other? No. We rest in Christ right now.
Oh, we find rest in Him. Rest. He finished the work. But
there remaineth the rest of the people of God. This is also a
future rest. And this rest, beloved, it's
an eternal rest, and it will be a rest from sin,
be a rest from death, and everything that there is, all will cease
to exist. Only righteousness will exist
there. And beloved, the rest that we have now is just like
it was in the garden. It's a rest of grace. It's a
rest of grace. And one of these days we will
rest in glory." And God entered into His rest, entered into His
rest, because the works were finished. Christ, after obtaining
eternal redemption for us, entered into His rest, and we entered
into it with Him. He's sitting at God's right hand.
Why is He sitting? Because He has nothing else to
do. The work's done. It's finished. Huh? And oh, what a rest. What a rest
we have in Christ. What a blessed, blessed rest. Why would God rest? It had nothing
else to do. Why does Christ rest? Nothing
else to do. Why do we rest? Nothing else to do. Nothing else
to do. Nothing else to do. Our Father,
And our Lord Jesus, oh, our Savior, our Savior, our Savior, thank
You for allowing us to have this time here this evening. Thank You for Your Word. Lord,
the words in Your hands to do with it as seemeth good. Lord,
the Word belongs to You. The words do Your words, and
You bless them to the heart and the mind. And, O Holy Spirit,
if you don't take the things of Christ, if you don't take
the things of the Word and apply them, Lord, they won't be applied. If all these people heard tonight
was my voice, Lord, we've had not a good service. But if someone
heard the voice of Christ, heard the truth, and received the truth,
and believed the truth, Then Lord, nothing was in vain. God,
we bless you for your goodness, your wisdom, your grace, your
power. And we bless you that you're
God and that you're our God. And you taught us what it is
to rest in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen. Amen. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, the
cool in His wonderful grace, and the things of earth will
grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Well, I'll see you Wednesday.