The Seventh Day

WELCOME:

SCRIPTURE READING:

Hebrews 4:1–7 “Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.

For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; and again in this passage, “They shall not enter My rest.” Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.”

LET US STAND AND WORSHIP!

“The Goodness of God”

Words and Music by Hillsong’

PRAYER OF PRAISE FOR WHO GOD IS

Lord, thank you for your constancy. For never turning Your back on us, for never getting frustrated with us, for forgiving our sins, for allowing us to be part of Your plan. We ask that You would look down upon this gathering of people and fill our hearts with great joy today as we focus on You. Amen!

“What a beautiful Name”

Words and Music by Hillsong

“What a beautiful Name”

Words and Music by Hillsong

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION TO OPEN OUR HEARTS

Lord, give us ears to hear Your voice and eyes to see Your glory. Would you this morning illuminate Your Word and make it known to us? Help us no to make application to others peoples’ lives, but to apply every Word to our own lives. Amen

SERMON

INTRODUCTION:

We will be in Gen 2:1-3. I know it seems like we are crawling along, but things will pick up some as we go along.

Today we are going to look at the seventh day of creation, the Day when nothing was created at all but yet still has great significance for the world. On the seventh Day, God rested from His work.

Genesis 2:1–3 NASB95

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

Now we are all familiar with the Sabbath from the OT and the Sabbath regulations and there are people all over the place when it comes to the seventh day. Do we still observe the Sabbath? What day is the Sabbath? Can I mow my yard on Sunday? Is it wrong to go out to eat, or to cook? Does this mean anything to us today?

Well it is my hope that some of these will be answered in the sermon today and we will gain a better understanding of the seventh day and what it means for us.

~PRAYER~

1) THE PATTERN GOD SET FOR US CREATION

Here’s an important question that comes from these verses: Did God work up such a sweat from creating that He needed rest? Thats what these verses say: He rested from His work. Does God get tired? Doesn’t this imply that God has some weaknesses?

Isaiah 40:28 “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired”

So if God does not become weary, then why did He rest? Well, rest here does not mean that God needed a break, but that He He ceased from His work His work or abstained from working on the 7th day.

And if God did not need to rest, what is the point of putting this in the creation account? The point is that what we see here in the first week of creation becomes a pattern for all of God’s creation.

This becomes clear first in Israel:

Exodus 20:8–11 “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”

God made creation in such a way, that it was designed to rest.

Israel was to rest from work

Israels children were to rest from work

Their servants were to rest from work

And anyone who came to visit them was to rest from work on the seventh day

Even the ground was to rest from work every seven years

That’s the way God designed this world. Work and then take a day of rest.

Now thats not just an OT thing, Jesus also affirms this in the NT

Mark 2:27 “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”

The Pharisees were legalistic and trying to get some dirt on Jesus because His disciples had walked through a field and picked some grain to eat and the Pharisees who were spying on them saw them and claimed they were breaking the Sabbath

And Jesus tells them, the Sabbath is not there so that people can be punished for breaking it…The Sabbath was made for man as a blessing, as a day of rest, as something needed for man’s well being!

So back to Genesis, when God ceases His work, its not because God needs to rest, but God is setting a pattern for His creation to follow.

Have you ever wondered where weeks come from?

We have Days because it takes the earth 24 hours to make a full rotation on its axis and that makes a day (morning and evening).

We have months because they are gauged from the lunar cycle of the moon. A full cycle of the moon takes about 29.5 days, therefore we separate time into months.

We have years because it takes roughly 365 days for the earth to make a full orbit all the way around the sun. Therefore we keep up with time by years.

BUT there is no scientific reason for weeks. There is nothing in our solar system that gives us some kind of repeating pattern to live our lives by, and YET the entire world breaks up their months and years into weeks.

WHY??? Because this is the pattern that God set for us in the first two chapters of Genesis. And in that pattern God set in a day at the end of His work, when work ceased and His creation could rest!

And if God who needs no rest created a day of rest, then it seems very clear to me that this is also the pattern mankind should follow as well.

What I am saying church, is that this rest principle is something we need in our lives and for our wellbeing. We do need rest. And to the person who thinks they get more done working 7 days a week is mistaken because God did not create us as machines who never need time to rest! And I know from my own life that I can get more done in 6 days with a rest day than I can in 7 days! Let alone when i follow God’s pattern I also receive God’s blessing!

Now does it matter what day you rest on? Sunday is no rest day for me. I work about a full day on Sunday. So I take my rest day on Monday.

Most people work a five day work week. And there you have two days of rest.

But then other people think they must work seven days a week, and never take any rest and that goes against God’s created order.

Rest replenishes the mind. It gives us time to get our minds off of our labor, off of the grind of this world, and to rest.

It also replenishes the body. It gives our bodies a day to recuperate, and rest and refresh for the upcoming week.

THE TRUST REQUIRED TO REST

Do you know what it takes to rest? It takes faith. It takes trusting in God who is the true Sustainer and One who can meet all of our needs

One of the reasons people do not take a day of rest is because they think they have to work 7 days a week to make ends meet as if they are in this world all alone and God is not going to do a thing for them.

This is especially true if you work for yourself or at a job that operates every day of the week.

In order for us to truly rest, we must also trust that God will give us what we need:

And God taught Israel a lesson on trust in this matter in the wilderness.

God sent Israel into the wilderness and gave them manna each day. Now this manna would appear in the morning and they would have to go and gather enough for that day. And the next day the same thing, the manna would appear, and they would gather enough for a day

Now on the sixth day, they were told to gather twice as much as the other days so they would have enough to sustain them on the seventh day of rest. And when they obeyed God in this, He would keep the manna fresh and edible on the Sabbath.

Now do you know what happened when some of the children of Israel ditched God’s program and went out collecting manna on the Sabbath? They found nothing at all! THEY CAME BACK EMPTY HANDED

When we live the way our Creator designed life to be, He helps. He does things that we cannot do on our own. He can bring money that we could not make on Sunday. He can make things last much longer or cause things to break down. He can make plants and animals fruitful and he can make them barren.

When we learn to trust Him in this, God works out the needs in His own divine ways.

We can truly trust Him, to take a days rest

2) THE UNIQUENESS OF THE SEVENTH DAY

Genesis 2:3 NASB95

Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

Now on every other days of the week, God created each day and saw that it was good. But on the seventh day, it says “He sanctified it”.

Sanctified is a word that means to set something apart. When we are sanctified, we are set apart from the world or made holy. Israel was to be a holy nation, set apart from world in the way they lived their life.

That’s what God did with the seventh day. He made it unique, He set it apart from all the other days of the week and added His blessing to it. And Israel was to observe it as a unique day in their relation ship to the Lord.

Exodus 31:13–16 “For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death. ‘So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.’

Notice that this day was not just about rest, but it was also about their relationship with the Lord. As they observed this day, it was a sign to the world that they belonged to God. And i could imagine the rest of the world worked every day, treated every day as the same, BUT ISRAEL would only work 6 days and on that seventh day they would cease from their labor as God did in Creation.

This day was set apart from all the rest!

We also see this “one day that is unique” also observed in the NT

Acts 20:7 “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.”

The first day of the week is a Sunday, and they gathered together to Eat and likely take the Lord’s Supper, and here they listed to Paul preach to them and sang Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Eph 5:19).

1 Corinthians 16:1–2 “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.”

Again their is emphasis on this one unique day, which was Sunday, and the churches would gather together and when they gathered they were instructed to take up money for the struggling church in Jerusalem.

Revelation 1:10 “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet,”

John speaks of the Lord’s Day which is also referring to Sunday.

It seems to me that the early church replaced the Sabbath rituals with the Lord’s day worship and so should we!

B.B. Warfield said, “Christ took the Sabbath into the grave and brought the Lord’s Day out of the grave with him on the resurrection morning.”

Here’s the principle: God established one day a week to be set aside as unique and different from all the rest. And this is not a day that just go out and do what we want. Its not as day just to rest and sit on the couch and watch online church and call it good!

This is a day that we consecrate unto the Lord. And the pattern we find in the NT is the gathering together of the church, worshiping together, preaching the Word of God, taking meals together, taking the Lord’s Supper together.

We are not under the OT Sabbath regulations. If you mow your yard on Sunday, then thats sinful and your going to hell….if you want to mow on Sunday that is your business. We are not to condemn others for things that the Law condemned because we are not under the Law.

But, I think it’s clear that from the very beginning, God designated one day to be set aside as unique from all the others, and the pattern is Scripture is that it is to be about HIM!

Practical Application:

Take this day seriously! It is the one day God gave us to attend to the needs of our soul! Go to church, read a Christian book, spend time with your family, read the Bible, think about the sermon that was preached, talk about at the dinner table, enjoy your family, spend time in prayer. Take this day seriously.

It is becoming more and more common to make Sunday the least serious of all our days. People stay up late at night, running around and wore out, and then show up at church (if they do show up at all) looking like they just got hit by a freight train. They doze off during the sermon, can’t sing because their head hurts, and wonder why they feel so empty spiritually.

How we treat Sunday, speaks volumes to a lost and dying world: God told Israel observing that day will be a sign of the covenant they have together. In other words, it was a mark fo a true Israelite.

And then we say, yeah that’s part of the Law but that doesn’t apply to us!

Oh??

Listen this verse:

1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”

Just like the OT, the NT also declare that a mark fo te true believer is one who gathers with the saints! It’s one who observes this unique day!

When we were deciding whether or not to come here, there was someone who asked me my views on church membership. And her question was somewhere along the lines of, “if someone works every Sunday and cannot come to service, can they still be a member.”

And I told her, to a new believer that is understandable, but I would council them to find a new career. Its hardly Christianity to say that my job is more important than gathering with the church.

3) THE SPIRITUAL REST BELIEVERS HAVE IN JESUS

See the book of Genesis is not just about beginnings, but it is also about the ending. It is the seedbed of prophecy. The seventh day of rest that began at creation, that became the Sabbath day observance in Israel, was all pointing forward to a Spiritual rest for Christians in Jesus.

Hebrews 4:1–3 “Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.”

The author of Hebrews is talking about a Spiritual rest that is to be had in Christ. And he is using the Israelites as an example of what how we can come short of entering that rest. Notice at the end of these verses, God is quoted saying that “Israel will not enter My rest” and that is because even though they heard from God, they did not respond in faith. In other words, they would not trust Him.

What that rest was back then:

God promised the Children of Israel a land flowing with milk and honey in the land of Canaan. They set out on a jouney from Egypt to enter this land where there were houses already built, and wells already dug, and fruit unlike anything they had already seen. They would have rest from their enemies, they would have rest from wandering around in that wilderness. The Land of Canaan was a glorious promise of a wonderful land of rest.

But, the Children of Israel had difficulty trusting in God. They set out on this journey and immediately started grumbling. They did not like the manna, they wanted meat. When they arrived at the edge of Canaan, they sent spies in and they came back with a report of giants and planned then said forget let’s head back to Egypt and back into slavery, even though God had already promised them victory. There were only two out of that entire generation who believed God’s promises: Joshua and Caleb.

Then we come to Jesus

And Jesus said this in Matt 11:28-30

Matthew 11:28–30 NASB95

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

The rest Jesus is talking about, is a rest for our souls. Our souls are restless, they are in constant turmoil until we find rest for them in Jesus.

We carry this burden of sin, we carry the burden of unforgiveness, we carry the burden of trying to earn God’s favor! Most people try to find rest for their souls by doing things for God: good works, good deeds trying to follow His Law, Comign to church, giving money…BUT we do not find rest for our souls by working for it. That never brings peace! We cannot earn God’s favor no matter what we do, the only way we can find rest for our souls is by trusting God.

Just like the Israelites were called to trust God that He would bring them into the Promise Land. And even thought things looked impossible, there were giants there, they were called to trust God that He would bring them victory and do what He says.

And the same way, we are called to trust in Christ

To take His yoke, is like an animal having a harness placed on it and submitting to its owner or master. If the master hooks him to allow then he does it. If the master hooks him to fence to keep him safe, he sands there.

To take the yoke of Jesus, is to submit ourselves to Him completely. We are no longer leading our lives, but we go and do whatever He says and where ever He leads.

And that requires faith.

In the OT, they would work 6 days, and then rest. In the NT, we believe in Christ and rest, and then we work.

Closing:

Have you entered God’s rest?

Hebrews 4:1–2 NASB95

Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.

The only way to enter is through faith.

~PRAYER~

Members Meeting

Opening Prayer

Reading of last months minutes

Any Questions?

Vote to approve last months minutes

Treasurers Report

Any Questions?

Vote to approve the treasurers report

Unfinished Business

New Business

Any other new business?

Meeting adjourned