Christ Our Sabbath Rest

Genesis chapter 2 verse 1, thus, thus it's so, thus it was done. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished on all the host of them. Remember back in Chapter 1, the last verse, verse 31, God saw that everything He made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. On the seventh day, that Saturday, the Lord rested. On the seventh day, God ended His work, verse 2, which He made, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made, and God blessed. the seventh day, and God sanctified that seventh day. He set it apart under the law that was known as the Sabbath day. because that in it he had rested from all his work which God had made, God had created.

Thus, verse four, these are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God, first time that word L-O-R-D is used in scripture. And we know that in the Hebrew, it's Jehovah. And the word G-O-D, as I pointed out before, is Elohim. Jehovah Elohim made the earth and the heavens. The earth and the heavens.

Now I'm using for a title to the message this morning, basically two thoughts I want to get across to you this morning. And as my pastor used to say, we're going to go to school today. Going to go to school today. So this is going to be a classroom. So I want you to use your textbook. You have a textbook with you? The Bible. That's our textbook. And we're going to go to school today using the scripture.

So I'm using for title to the message this morning, Christ is our Sabbath rest. Christ is our sanctification. Christ is all of our Sabbath rest. We don't set aside a day and say, this is a day of rest. That was under the law. But Christ is our Sabbath rest. And Christ is our sanctification.

In Mark 2, verse 28, we read that He is Lord of the Sabbath. He's Lord of the Sabbath. And He's Lord over all things. The Lord Jesus Christ alone is our Sabbath rest. He's the Lord of our Sabbath, or he's the Lord of our salvation, and he is the Lord alone in our sanctification. And really, when you get right down to it, resting in Christ, we have salvation, and Christ is our sanctification. Christ is our total, all of our salvation.

Now, the purpose of our great God and Savior in creation and in all things is to bring honor and glory to His great name. That's what it's all about. Everything in regards to God's decree and His purpose is all about His glory. We study in Revelation 4, verse 11, thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor, for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and they were created. All thanks for his pleasure and for his glory and honor and power. The same holds true concerning all our salvation and all of our redemption. All that God has purposed and completed and accomplished to bring glory and honor to his great name It's all about His preeminence. It's all about His glory, isn't it?

I'm gonna have to drink some water. About to lose my voice. So everything God does in creation is about what? His glory. Everything in regards to salvation is what? It's about His glory, isn't it? He must have all the preeminence. In Romans 11, 36, and I quote this verse quite often, of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. all things it's about His glory, about His glory. God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name, that at that name every knee should bow, every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That's Philippians 2, seven through nine. And Revelation 5 we read, He redeemed us to God by His blood, And then he is made as kings and priests unto our God, worthy as the lamb that was slain to receive all honor, glory, blessing, and power both now and forever. It's all about his glory. It's all about his glory, his glory.

Now, I went back and looked at some, the old confessions, the one I have left, the old Philadelphia Confession, which is the London Confession remade, but in those old confessions of the old religious people back years ago, 100, 200, 300 years ago, the chief end of man is the glory of God. The chief end of man, the reason God created him, was for the glory of God. And it's so to the glory of his grace in salvation or to the glory of his justice in condemnation. In salvation, God's going to glorify his mercy and his love and grace. In condemnation, God's going to glorify his justice.

But it's all about his glory, is it not? I quote this verse quite often, Jeremiah 9, 23. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understands and he knows me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, Righteousness in the earth. In these things, God said, I delight. He delights in what He has accomplished. I thought of this verse. This verse came to my mind in the middle of the night when I woke up.

It's found in 1 Corinthians 10, 31, where it says, whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Whatever you do, Do it all to the glory of God. And then you're familiar with this verse in Galatians chapter 6 verse 14 where Paul said, God forbid I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. See, the point I'm trying to make is His glory. Everything is about His glory.

I remember reading a book by Jonathan Edwards. This is Jonathan Edwards that lived back in the 1700s. a faithful gospel preacher, and was fired from his church for insisting that salvation was all of grace. He later became president of Princeton University. Princeton University was a theological seminary, believe it or not. What is it now? It's a place where liberals who deny God. But back in the day, Edwards wrote a book called The History of Redemption. And one of the things I remember he said in that book, the grand design of redemption is the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the grand design of all that God does. Now last week we learned that God created all things by the word of his power and God said, it was good and it was so. It says in verse 31 of chapter one, and God saw everything that he made and behold, it was very good.

And the morning, and the evening were the sixth day all things were finished. And then it says, thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them. On the seventh day God entered his work which he had made and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made, which he had created. When God completed and finished his work of creation. Now this is a vast, vast creation. He rested, not because he was weary, not because he was tired, but rather because all things were completed and concluded and accomplished, all things were finished to the glory of God.

We read last week from Psalm 33, by the word of the Lord was the heavens and the earth made and the host of all them by the breath of his mouth. God breathed into Adam the breath of life. He spake and it was done. He commanded, it stood fast. That's Psalm 33 as well. Psalm 33 verse 9. So, He spake and it was done. He commanded, it stood fast. He breathed everything into existence.

Now sometime if you're interested in doing some research and facts, Sometime investigate how expansive the Milky Way galaxy is. And we're talking about billions and billions of light years. The speed of light. What is a light year? How far is that? It's something like five trillion miles or five billion miles.

I mean, we're talking. And think about this. God's not in the universe. The universe is in him. Isn't that amazing? The expanse of God's creation. The immense amount. And you know, think about all the billions and billions and billions of stars. He knows them all by name. Says that. All by name. Now, the same is true when God created all things. He said it's very good. And what did He do? He sat down. He sat down because the work was done. It was over.

The same is true In our Lord Jesus Christ, when he had by himself accomplished and completed our salvation, the Lord said in his last words upon Calvary's tree, upon the cross, he said, all things are finished, right? Accomplished, done, stand still and see the salvation is of the Lord. It's done. He said it is finished.

We read in Hebrews chapter one, when he by himself purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the throne of the majesty on high. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ, when He did all that He did to secure and accomplish our salvation, He ascended to glory and He seated on the throne of God, resting. Why? The work is done. The work is done. He sat down. on the right hand of the throne of God. Now, he said it was finished. So my question is, what was accomplished? What did he finish? What was accomplished? Well, several things. First one I want us to consider, the law of God was fully honored in every precept of that law. There's more than just the Big Ten. We look at the Big Ten.

But there were 700 or 800 precepts under that mosaic law that God gave that the Lord Jesus Christ honored and exalted in word, deed, thought, attitude, and motive. He exalted the law of God, it says. The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake, he will magnify the law of God and make it honorable. Now why is that good news to us? Well, I'll show you in just a minute. And then we studied in Matthew chapter five, verse 17, our Lord said, I didn't come to destroy the law or the prophets. I came to honor the law of God.

And he did that. He redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. And then we know this, what was fulfilled? All scripture was fulfilled. Remember our Lord said to those self-righteous Pharisees, He said, you search the scriptures, and they did. But our Lord said, they are they which testify of me.

He says, you will not come to me that you might have life. He said, I know you. He did. He said, you don't have the love of God in you. And then the resurrected Lord said this. We've looked at this many times. In Luke 24, he said, all things must be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the psalm concerning me. And then he opened their understanding that they might understand the scriptures.

Oh, that God would do that for us right now. Open our understanding to see our salvation completed in Christ. In Him goes all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and in Christ we stand, we stand complete, complete in Him. Nothing, nothing like it. So what was accomplished? Every precept of that law was honored, honored and magnified. Secondly, the Lord Jesus Christ, by his obedience unto death, brought in for us, for his people, everlasting righteousness. Now, let's go to school.

Turn to Galatians chapter two, and this will bless you if you'll follow with me. Our righteousness and our salvation is based upon his faithfulness, not ours. Galatians chapter two, his faithfulness, not ours. Now I'll give you the page number if you've got the Cambridge that I'm reading, page 265. Galatians 2, verse 16. Now follow with me here. This is very, very, I think very, very crucial.

Galatians 2, verse 16. Knowing that a man, a sinner, is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of, underscore that, the faith of, Jesus Christ Even we have believed in him that we might be justified by the faith of Christ Not by the works of the law for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified So turn to Galatians chapter 3 verse 22 So our salvation is based upon his obedience his faithfulness not ours Galatians 3 verse 22 But the scripture has concluded, all under sin, that the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. So whose faithfulness? It's his faithfulness, his obedience.

Let's turn to a couple more. Turn to one book over, Ephesians, Ephesians chapter three. Now I'm giving you something here that's just so, so vital, and I hope you understand what is being said here. In Ephesians chapter 3, look at verse 11. Ephesians 3 verse 11.

According to the eternal purpose which ye purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access It's God's eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ. Verse 12, in whom we have boldness, that's that same word liberty. We have boldness, we have access, we have confidence by the faith of, of who? The faith of him. The faith of him, you see that again?

Now turn to one other book, Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three, verse seven. Philippians 3 verse 7, But what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless, I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them but dung, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law.

That's what Saul of Tarsus had. But that which is through the faith of Christ. You see that? the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. So our salvation is based upon his faithfulness. You got that? His faithfulness. So what was accomplished when the Lord said it's finished, every precept of that law honored by his faithful obedience unto death, he brought in for us everlasting righteousness. And you know what he does? He freely imputes that unto his people.

Thirdly, sin was fully atoned for. That is the Lord Jesus Christ honored the penalty of that law. The penalty of that law says the guilty must die. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ was made guilty for our sin. That's why he died. He had to die because our sin was laid upon him. The Lord Jesus Christ fully atoned for our sin and brought in everlasting salvation for us.

He appeared once in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. So what did he do? Turn to Hebrews chapter 9. If you have a bookmark there in Hebrews 4, just turn a couple pages over to Hebrews chapter 9. So he made full atonement, full payment for our sins. His atonement, shedding his blood, wasn't a down payment. It was a full price for our sin. Now, and what did he do?

Hebrews 9 verse 11, But Christ, being come a high priest, did good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, knitted by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Now Hebrews 9 verse 24, For Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands, talking about the tabernacle, which are figures of the true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer himself often as a high priest, enter into the holy place every year with the blood of others, for then he must have often suffered since the foundation of the world, but now, Verse 26, once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Who appeared?

God appeared and put away our sin by the sacrifice of Himself, the God-Man Mediator. The Lord Jesus Christ, when He ascended up on high to the right hand of God, He sat down. His work was done. His work of salvation was completed. The work the Father gave Him to do, He said, all that the Father had given Me to do, I finished the work. I finished the work You gave Me to do. Find John 17. John 17. Turn there. John 17. And this is the way He prayed in His priestly prayer for us. In John 17 verse 1. These words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come.

Glorify thy son. See, it's all about his glory, the hour. appointed of God, decreed of God, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, they should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I've glorified Thee on the earth, I've finished the work You gave me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The Lord Jesus Christ is our rest. He is our Sabbath rest. Christ Himself is our Sabbath rest. We read in Hebrews 4. There remaineth, therefore, a rest, a keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own work as God did from his. Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. So strive to enter into Christ.

He is our Sabbath rest. observe a day and say, well, this is the Sabbath day. That Sabbath day under the law was Saturday. And we're not under the law, but under grace. But some people want to make Sunday a Christian Sabbath. And we don't observe that day either because Christ himself is our Sabbath rest. Now, I can show you that. Turn to Matthew 11. Matthew 11. Christ is our Sabbath rest. a keeping of a Sabbath. We rest in the Lord Jesus Christ who finished salvation for us. That's why the Lord said in verse 25 of Matthew 11, you with me?

At that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven, Lord of earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes, even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Verse 27, all things are delivered unto me and my father, and no man knoweth the son, but the father neither knoweth any man. The father saved the son, and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him. There's sovereign mercy, isn't it?

Now look at verse 28. Come unto me, all ye that labor heavy laden, I will give you, what? Rest. resting in him. He said, come to me and rest. I finished the work, come to me and rest. Take my yoke upon you, learn of me. I'm meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your soul. My yoke is easy, my burden is light. Rest in Christ to finish salvation for us. So, back to the text.

Genesis chapter two. Verse two, on the seventh day, God ended his work, which he had made, and he rested the seventh day from all his work, which he had made. Verse three, and God blessed the seventh day. God sanctified that day, because that in it, he had rested from all his works, which God had created.

Now Christ is our Sabbath rest, and Christ is our sanctification. Christ is our sanctification. We rest in him, but he's also our sanctification. Christ is our holiness. Christ is our salvation. He is our savior. Believers are made holy only in the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, every believer, every believer would confess he's a sinner, right? Isn't that your story? We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Every believer can also confess that he's a saint. You mean you're a sinner and you're a saint?

Absolutely. Absolutely. Because Christ is our sanctification. We are called In the Word of God, I looked this up, how many times when Paul writes there in Romans, he said he's writing to those who are called saints. Saints. I looked that word up. It means sanctified, set apart and made holy by God's eternal purpose. And that word saint is used 95 times in regard to what God considers us in the Lord Jesus Christ. God considers us in Christ as holy as His Son. Get a hold of that. We're accepted in the Beloved.

So we read, can I show you that in Scripture? I told you we were going to school. Turn to, in your textbook, turn to 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30. We have a textbook here that's God given to us, and we use it, don't we? We use it. It's the only of, the word of God is given unto us. Now look at 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30. Now most of you can quote this verse. But of him are you in Christ.

Christ Jesus, who of God, is made unto us. He's our wisdom. He gives us wisdom to know who he is. He's made unto us wisdom. He's made unto us righteousness. We're justified by his blood. He's made unto us sanctification. Christ is our Sabbath rest. We are sanctified in Him. And He's our redemption, our righteousness, our sanctification, and redemption.

Do you need anything else? Nope, I have the whole package. Christ is all and in all. That according as it is written, and this is what I quoted from Jeremiah 23, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. So we do glory, and we do boast, but in the Lord. in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. So believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, turn over to the book of Colossians. A few books over from the book of Colossians. Chapter one, Colossians chapter one.

He's before all things and by him all things consist, verse 17. He is the head of the body. The church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he must have the preeminence, the glory. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell, having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself. By him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes alienated, enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy, Unblameable, unreprovable in His sight, seeing you continue in the faith.

We continue in the faith. Christ is our Sabbath rest. Christ is our sanctification. We studied recently in the book of Jude, that little book right before the Revelation, just one chapter, but in verse 24 and 25 where it said, He's able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of God's glory with exceeding joy to the only wise God, the honor, glory, blessing forever and ever."

And then again he said, Amen. Amen. Everything God does, he puts an Amen to it, doesn't he? Believers had ceased from trying to work up a righteousness and the resting in Christ himself who is our righteousness alone. Christ alone is all our righteousness before God. We are not like those ignorant Jews who are going about to establish the righteousness of our own. We're resting in Christ who is our righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it, to the Jew and also to the Gentile.

Now, if I wore you out Turn back to Genesis 2 again. I'm almost done. God blessed the seventh day, verse 3, and He sanctified it, made it holy, regarded it as holy, and that the type and picture, that day is the type and picture of our salvation in Christ. Because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made, These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven. Believers have ceased from trying to work out a righteousness of their own. But they're looking to Christ to provide all things for us. The Lord Jesus Christ alone is all our sanctification.

He is Jehovah. He's our Jehovah. In verse 4, He's our Lord God. He's Jehovah and He's Elohim. That means that He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our one Jehovah is the triune God. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Now the whole Godhead is involved in our salvation, right? The whole Godhead, the Father choosing a people unto salvation, Christ dying for those people by His blood, purchasing their salvation, and God the Holy Spirit calling and regenerating and quickening those. So we see in sanctification, we see the whole work of Jehovah Elohim. That is, the Lord our God.

I want to show you that through the book of Jude, chapter 1. I'm almost through. The book of Jude, chapter 1. Just one, right before the revelation, the book of Jude. Sanctified by God the Father. You remember this from my Bible study. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, brother of Jane, to them that are sanctified You got it, Jude 1, 1. They're sanctified by God the Father, preserved in Christ Jesus, and called. So we're sanctified by what? By what God the Father has done for us. And then turn to 1 Corinthians again. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 again. We're sanctified not only by the Father, but we're sanctified by the Son. 1 Corinthians chapter 1.

Verse one, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, through the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother, unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called saints, with all that in every place, call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, though theirs and ours grace be unto you, peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, lastly, Let's turn to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. So we're sanctified by God the Father. He chose us unto salvation. Sanctified by the Lord Jesus Christ. He bought us with His own blood. Redeemed us from all our sin. Made us holy in Christ Jesus. And then we're sanctified by God the Holy Spirit. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. You with me? 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through, what's that word?

Sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth were until he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ." That sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit is regeneration. It's making us new creatures in Christ. It's being born from above. And the effect of that sanctification of the Spirit is what? It leads us to believing the truth. You see that? "...were until he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Believers are blessed. Turn back to the text. Genesis chapter 2, verse 3, and God bless the seventh day. Believers are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now on the back of the bulletin, don't look at it now, but I'll point this out to you. And I tended to go over that article on the back of the bulletin, where it says here in Artec that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

That word Lord there, as I pointed out, is Jehovah. Jehovah, and that means Jehovah is the expressed being of perfection, particularly his eternality, his immutability, being everlasting, Unchangeable I am which is and was and is to come from everlasting to everlasting thou art God So he is our and you can look at those seven names on the back of the bulletin. That's an article I wrote several years ago The Lord Jesus Christ is Jehovah our Savior He's Jehovah our righteousness. He's Jehovah Sid Canoe. He's Jehovah everything to the believer so My question in closing is this.

Is the Lord Jesus Christ all your rest before God? Are you looking anywhere else? I hope not. Is the Lord Jesus Christ alone all your sanctification and righteousness before God? I fear not. I fear to look anywhere else but to Christ. Christ is all and in all. So He is our Sabbath rest. He is our sanctification. I'm a sinner. You are too. But every believer can say, I'm a saint. You're looking at Saint Thomas here. You didn't know that, did you? In Christ, we're sanctified. And you know what we do?

Christ Our Sabbath Rest

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