Genesis chapter 2, and let's
begin reading here in verse 1. Thus the heavens and the earth
were finished, and all the host of them. And 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 had created and made. Verse 1 tells us here
that God finished the heavens and
the earth. He finished his creation. He
began on the first day when darkness was upon the face of his earth
that he had just created, and he never ceased until the work
was finished. Now, I have no idea how things
have changed since this time. Sin has entered. God's awful
judgment has been upon this world. It's aging. We've lost probably
many, many species of plants and animals. How things have
changed, I don't know. But in the beginning, when God had finished with His
creation, it came from His hand and from His breath. It was complete. It was finished. Now, I'm satisfied
with that. I'm at rest with that. I don't
desire any greater detail than what
God has been pleased to give us. We have one chapter that
tells us mainly not so much as how God created the heavens and
the earth, but that He did it. And if He gave us much more,
we'd just have that much more to fuss about. I appreciate science. I wish them well in their studies
and their endeavors. I really do. And what little
bit I can with my limited intellect, I'll glean from what they study
and what they write. But I have a word of warning
from them as same as I do from everybody for everybody else.
They need to beware and take heed to the methods they use. to be honest, because they must
give account of their study just like I will. But there's one thing about science
that I guess is the nature of it. It never reaches conclusions. That's why we read this could
have happened, or maybe, or perhaps. But when you and I read the account,
God created the heavens and the earth, we can conclude that He
finished it. It's a finished work. I don't
understand how He did it all, the details, but I'm satisfied
that He did it. If science tries to disprove
that, it doesn't bother me. If science comes up with some
proof that He did it, that won't give me any more assurance than
I've got now. In the beginning, God finished his work of heaven
and earth. And what the Holy Spirit seems
to be implying here to us, that when God begins a work, he never
ceases until he finishes. And when God finishes a work,
there's nothing that's needful to be done. There's nothing that
can be done. It's finished. He said here,
and he seems to repeat himself, thus the heavens and the earth
were finished, and all the host of them on the seventh day God
ended his work. I'm amazed sometimes how we find
definitions of words in the Scripture. You don't have to go to a dictionary
to look them up. What's the definition of finish?
To end. The Holy Spirit defined that
word, didn't He? He finished, and what does that
mean? He ended the work. And he further tells us here
that the work was finished because God rested on the seventh day. He never would have rested if
the work had not been completed. He finished creation. Now it
doesn't mean he's not working. It just simply means he finished
creation. God is still working. He works in you to will and to
do. You're his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus. But he finished the work of creation. It was complete. And the scripture
says here that he blessed the Sabbath day and he sanctified
it. Pronounced a special blessing
upon it. Exalted that day. Set it aside. Set it above all other days.
And he tells us why he did that, because in it he rested from
all his works. Now that represents something
to you now. The Sabbath day represents to
us rest from a finished work. But it's not so much as what
it represents to us, it's what it really meant to God. What
did this day mean to God? It meant something in His heart.
He had finished the work, so He rested. He blessed the seventh
day. He rested Himself. And I want
to dwell on this just for a few minutes. And I want to give you
two proofs quickly why I believe the Lord blessed this day. It says here that He blessed
it, but I think He gives us proof how He blessed this seventh day. all through the book of Genesis.
We never read about this seventh day again. God rested, He blessed
this seventh day, and as though He said, this day is so precious,
I'm going to hide it in my heart. I ain't going to tell anybody
about it. And He didn't. Nobody knew about it. We read
that Cain brought an offering to the Lord. Ain't it wont with
God? Abraham was a friend of God,
built an altar to the Lord and called upon Him. Men worshiped
all through the book of Genesis, but we never tell on what day.
Nothing is ever said of what day they gathered to worship
the Lord, because they never did it. They never knew it. I was reading a commentary a few
days ago, and one of these commentaries, he said, He said, well, the old
history tells us that the old patriarchs in the book of Genesis
honored the Sabbath day. They kept the Sabbath day. When did we start establishing
truth on the word of historians? It doesn't matter what historians
say, does it? You and I read the book of Genesis, we never
find one day where the Sabbath is mentioned. One day where the
Sabbath day is mentioned. It's not fair. And you never
find it until you go over to Exodus chapter 16 and when the
children of Israel were in the wilderness and they were hungry.
And the Lord sent them manna from heaven. Remember that? And
they were out gathering the manna. And they gathered too much one
day. They brought it in and they gathered more than they needed.
And the next morning it had bred worms and began to stink. And
the Lord said, Don't do that. Don't do that. Gather each morning
what you need, and gather every morning for that day. But then
there come a day, the sixth day, they gather twice as much as
they needed. The elders come to Moses and said, they've done
it again. They've got enough for two days. And you know what
Moses said next to the sixth day? He said, the Lord's made
known something to me. The Lord's made known something
to me. This is what the Lord said. This is the sixth day,
and you gather up enough today, for the Sabbath day. Because
tomorrow, the Sabbath day, is the day of rest. It's a holy
Sabbath unto the Lord. And that's the first thing we
read about that from Genesis 2-2 to Exodus chapter 16. It's
almost that God had found this treasure, like that man said
He had in the field, and He hid it in His heart. It's precious
to Him. So they got enough on the sixth
day and they rested the Sabbath day. That's what the Scripture
says. On the seventh day they rested. Nobody rested on the
seventh day up until then. God kept it a secret in his heart.
That's the first proof that shows us there's something about this
seventh day that God had done. Just three chapters later, four
chapters later, Exodus chapter 20, God came down upon Mount
Sinai. He wrote ten commandments on
stones and gave them to Moses. And Moses fell back down and
read them to the children of Israel. And you remember, honoring the Lord, not making
any idols, not taking the Lord's name in vain. Remember what the
fourth one was. Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy. The Lord made a covenant with
the children of Israel, and right in the midst of that moral law,
He inserts remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And you
know how much he valued that day? He said, if you break this
day, if you disarm this day, I'll kill you. I'll kill you. They caught a man picking up
sticks just a few days after this. Caught him picking up sticks
one morning, the Sabbath day. And they put him in jail. Said,
what are we going to do with him? We have no idea. We don't
know what breaking the Sabbath means. We never had it before.
So they put him in jail. And Moses went and said, Lord,
what do you want us to do with this man? He's dishonored this
day. And the Lord said, kill him.
Stone him to death. That's how the Lord valued this
Sabbath day. He kept it in his heart until
he revealed it to the children of Israel. And then he made a
covenant with them concerning this day. Remember the Sabbath
day. Don't you work on that day. Don't
let your men's servants work. Don't let your women's servants
work. Don't let your auctions work. You rest on that day. Now, I've said all that just
to say this. There come a time, there come a time that this day
lost its glory. In the heart of God, it come
to mean nothing. He had killed men over breaking
this day. But there come a time when it meant nothing. And he
ceased to command his people to honor this Sabbath day. And
even moved upon his apostles to speak base things of it. And
called it beggarly things. Weak things. Things that are
perishing. Things that have waxed old. Ain't
that what he said about it? The Sabbath day. Now what happened? Why did the Lord cease to bless
this seventh day and bestow such honor upon it? For this reason. There was a greater work accomplished.
There was a greater rest that was entered into. And there was
a covenant established upon better promises. And the surety of that
covenant was Jesus Christ himself and not the obedience of a fallen
sinner. Now look with me in a couple
of places. Look over in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Let me read this to you. 2 Corinthians
chapter 3. Look here in verse 6. 2 Corinthians
chapter 3 and verse 6. The apostle is talking about
the ministry. Verse 6 in 2 Corinthians chapter
3, God hath made us able ministers of the New Covenant, New Testament. Not of the letter, but of the
Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the
Spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death,
written and graven in stones, you remember what that was, don't
you? We understand what that is, don't we? That's the Ten
Commandments. The Lord wrote them with His
own finger. And right in the midst of them was that Remember
the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. And here He calls it the ministration
of death. If that was glorious, so that the children of Israel
could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory
of his countenance, which glory was to be done away. That's God's purpose all along. How shall not the ministration
of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation
be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness
exceed in glory. For even that which was made
glorious hath no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory
that excelleth. For if that which is done away
was glorious, Much more, that which remaineth is glory. Now what is this glory that exceedeth? What is this glory that remaineth? Well, turn to another place with
me. Turn to Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4. If you've ever read Hebrews chapter
3, beginning around verse 7 or so
down through most of chapter 4, and you've been a little bit
confused as to what it teaches and how to rightly divide that,
then you've got plenty of company. If you read five commentaries,
you'll probably get five different opinions. And I don't understand
much of it either. It's very difficult to understand
the wording of this to me, but here's what I know about this
chapter here. From chapter 3 and verse 7 on
down to chapter 4 and verse 11, it's speaking here of rest. Of
rest. And when it mentions this rest
six times, it mentions the Lord's rest. It's the Lord resting.
When the Lord is speaking in these verses, He says, it's My
rest. My rest. My rest. And when the writer is speaking
of the Lord, he says it's His rest. It's His rest. His rest. So that's what this
is talking about here. His rest. Look here in verse
1. Let us therefore fear, lest a
promise be left to us of entering into His rest, any of you should
seem to come short of it. Now what is this? What is this
rest? It's a gospel rest. Look what
he said in verse 2. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them. If you study the context, what
you'll find out, the gospel was preached to Israel, natural Israel. But it did not profit them. You
mean the gospel was preached to Israel? Back in the Old Testament?
Brothers and sisters, I earnestly believe that in a way they have
the advantage over us. Can you imagine being of a tribe
of Israel and standing there next to the tabernacle and watching
a man bring an animal up there as a sacrifice for sin, knowing
that God had given Moses this pattern? This was from God. This was God's instruction to
show them how He was going to redeem sinners. And to watch
that priest stand there and put his hand upon the head of that
sacrifice, knowing that when he did that, he was transferring
his sins and the sins of the children of Israel from himself
onto that animal. Can you imagine what a blessing
that would be? To see that take place. And then to have that
same priest to say, now I'm going into the most holy place with
this vessel of blood. And God tells me to go in there
and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat. And if I come back out
of there, you know that blood has made an atonement for your
soul. And you stand there and anxiously
wait and watch. And then the priest comes back
out and he lifts up his hands and says, God bless you. God
bless you. God keep you. God lift up the
light of His countenance upon thee. and be gracious to thee. He's accepted the blood. When
I see the blood, you know what the gospel is. You know what
the gospel is. When we talk about the gospel
rest, you know what the gospel is. It's a declaration of a work
that has been finished. That's what he said in chapter
3. Look here in chapter 3. In verse 1, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of
our profession who was faithful to Him that appointed him." Christ
was faithful to His Father. Faithful to do what? Well, He
said Himself, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me
and finish His work. He was faithful to the work that
the Father gave Him to do. And in John chapter 17 verse
4, he said, Father, I've finished the work. What work had he finished? He hadn't gone to the cross yet.
His work was in two parts. One was in living. One was in
glorifying his Father with every breath he breathed. Look at this. The apostle said
he's faithful in verse 17, wherefore in all things it behooved him
to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people." See what he did? You know reconciliation
has already been accomplished. When we forget enemies, Christ
reconciled us to God by His own death. It's already accomplished. Did you know that sin has already
been put away? He entered into the presence
of God with our sins, and by the sacrifice of Himself, He
put them away. Now, if you want to see where
there is no sin, then look to Christ. Is there any sin in Him? He put it away. It's finished.
And he says he entered once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. That's the gospel, isn't it? It's done been done. Christ is
dead. This writer began chapter 1,
and he talked about these two things, and I love this. He said
the Lord Jesus, by Himself purged our sins. He purged our sins. And when He did that, He set
out. See there? The finished work and the rest.
That's gospel rest. And in that same chapter 1, the
Father said to him, My son, sit here on My right hand. Sit here
and rest. Now you'd think the Father would
have invited him to sit there if the work had not have been
done. And it's as though the Father said, You know what I
think about that seventh day when I finish creation. That
don't mean anything to me anymore. That don't mean nothing to me.
Oh, I knew what it showed my wisdom. It showed my power in
creating everything, but oh, that's nothing compared to what
my son's done. He's magnified all my attributes. My justice, my love, my grace,
boy, my wrath. And that thing that I hate more
than anything in this world, sin, He put it away. It's finished. It's finished. This is gospel
rest. This is gospel rest. And He tells
us here in the fourth chapter of Hebrews what this rest is
not. He says it's not that rest, he
tells in verse 4. He spake in a certain place of
the seventh day on this wise. God did rest the seventh day
from all his work. He said that's not the rest I'm
talking about. Nobody rested that day but God anyway. And then he goes on to say that
if Joshua in verse 8, if Jesus, that is Joshua, had given them
rest when he went into the land of Canaan with them, he said
in verse 7, why would David have spoken of another day. It wasn't the rest that God entered
into in the finished creation. It wasn't that covenant of works
that God gave the children of Israel out in the land of the
wilderness. Most of them died. Lost. And it wasn't the rest that He
gave the children of Israel when they went into the land of Canaan.
What was it? Gospel rest. Gospel rest. And look in verse 10. For he
that hath entered unto his rest," who is that? Well, some say this,
some say that, but I think that's Christ. He's entered into his
rest. If that's the believer that he's
talking about, then he's entered into Christ's rest, but that's
the rest he's talking about. He also hath ceased from his
own works, even as God did from his. Christ has ceased from his
works. Now look what he said in verse
11. Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest. What
rest? His rest. His rest of the finished
work. You know what the old prophet,
I think it was Isaiah, said? That Christ shall stand as an
ensign, unto him shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious. What would it mean for you this
evening with your guilty conscience and fear burned over your sins,
afraid to face God where you're at now? What would it mean for
you to leave here this evening knowing that all your sins have
been put away, that God will never charge you with one single
sin, not in this life, not at death, not in that world to come?
What would that mean to you? Oh, you'd say, Bruce, that would
give me rest in my soul that I could not describe. Well, you
know how you find that rest? By believing Him. Ain't that
what He said? Verse 3, For we which have believed
do enter into rest. I believe that when God finished
His work with creation, He rested because it was actually finished.
I believe the Lord Jesus Christ is seated right now on the right
hand of the majesty on high because he finished the work of redemption.
Everything that God requires to save you and to save me, everything
that justice demanded has been accomplished already. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and enter unto his rest. And when
you enter into that rest, seek to maintain that. Don't let no works in there.
Don't let Moses up in your conscience. Don't let John the Baptist in
there. That's Christ's throne room. If you want to maintain
this rest, rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. As you have received
Him, walk in Him. He's finished the work. Rest
in Him. Rest in His rest. And you know
something? Not only is that 07th day gone,
We have a large denomination in this nation that say they
have to keep the Sabbath day. A large denomination. You know something? God has completely
changed days. He threw out the Sabbath day,
and now He's got a day we call the Lord's day. He named it after
His Son. I was in the Spirit, John said,
on the Lord's Day. On the first day of the week
is when God raised his Son from the dead. And I tell you what, he just
went around blessing all that day. The ladies came there just
after sunrise. He revealed himself to Mary,
Mary Magdalene, and to those other ladies, and blessed them,
and they grabbed his feet and worshipped Went over there on
the road to Emmaus and was walking with two of those sad disciples
on the Lord's Day now. And they were so sad. And he
said, why are you so sad? And they said, well, haven't
you been around here and heard what's going on? We thought sure
this Jesus of Nazareth had come to do something for us. But they've
killed him now. He said, oh, you fools. Foolish,
foolish children. And he opened the Scriptures
up to them, beginning from the seventh day. And preached himself all through
the law and the Psalms. And they said, it's getting late.
Why don't you come and sit down and eat with us? And he came
and sat down there at the table and great bread. And when he
handed them a piece of bread, he opened their eyes and they
knew him. And he vanished out of their
sight. And one of them looked at the other one and said, Did
your heart burn in you like mine did when He opened the Scriptures
to our hearts? And then He left there and went
back over there where His other disciples were gathered in the
upper room. All this taking place on the Lord's Day, the seventh
day. This blessing everybody. And He went in where His disciples
were so afraid and so guilty. They had all forsook Him. Peter
denied Him. I don't know Him. I swear I don't
know Him. cried and wept and they were
so sad. And the first thing he said to
them was, Peace. Peace. Peace to you. Peace to you. Behold my hands. It's I. It's I. All this took place on this new
day. The Lord's Day. And then in Acts chapter 2, fifty
days later, after this seventh day, The Holy Spirit came as a rushing,
mighty wind. On the first day of the week,
He came. And fill the place and fill them. And there's where the church
had her beginning, the New Testament church. The Lord's Day. I had a fellow call me the other
day and say, I want to send you some literature to show you that
it's a sin for you to be a gatherer with the Lord's people. A sin
together with the Lord's people? And he sent me a bunch of material
trying to prove that. You better be careful what you say about
the Lord's Day. There's probably been more people
had the Lord Jesus Christ revealed to them on that day than any
other day of the week. Remember what happened the first
day of creation? That blessing that was crouched in that? Darkness
was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit moved upon the
face of the water. That took place on the first
day of creation. I wonder how many times this took place on
the first day of the week. The Lord's Day. The Lord's Day. The Gospel. God bless you. God bless you.