Rest III - The Sabbath Rest:

 

We have worked to learn the definition of REST – as ceasing from our own efforts to do 3 things:

      1. To gain God’s approval

      2. To maintain God’s approval

A word on “maintaining God’s approval”:  many of us wonder about that statement.  Last Sunday night we got to discuss some of what that means. 

 

Let us equate that to marriage.  Once married, you don’t go to your spouse and say, “Oh, please be in love with me today…I’ll do anything to have to love me.  I will wash your car and your clothes, just don’t stop loving me…okay?”  That wouldn’t be a marriage.  That would be slavery. 

 

In a marriage, we do things not to try to earn or keep our spouse’s love, we do them BECAUSE we love them and these actions are expressions of our love for them. 

 

And just like in marriage, it is the RELATIONSHIP that we work to maintain, not the approval of the other person.  I spend time with my wife because I love her and I know it makes her happy.  I work at the relationship.  She does too.  We don’t do it to try to earn the love of the other.  We do it because we VALUE the relationship, and one another, so that we are willing to sacrifice so that the other will be happy. 

 

Similarly with God, we cannot and shouldn’t be doing things to try to win God’s approval or somehow prevent Him from taking it away from us.  We do things, obey…as responses to His love for us…not to try to manipulate something from Him. 

 

      3. To meet our own needs.

And until we learn to cease from our own efforts to do these three things, we will never really know rest. 

We will always be concerned with

how much we need to make,

how we are going to plan out the next week or month or year of our lives,

how we will figure a way out of our problems

how we will find enough money to put our next meal on the table or clothing on our backs

how we will find the right spouse.  Etc.

 

 

 

 


 

I.                    The Sabbath Day (Ex 31:12-17)  (Ex. 23:10-12)

a.       To the Christian, the Sabbath is no longer a day of the week.

                                                               i.      It is not one day out of seven.

                                                             ii.      The Sabbath Rest is the entire sum of a believer’s life in Christ, forever.

                                                            iii.      The bible calls us to enter into God’s never ending rest.

1.      Hebrews 4:9-11 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest eHebH

                                                           iv.      While the original Sabbath was important, and it had its place in time, it was not designed to be a legal day.

1.      This is because the Sabbath Day was a precursor or a shadow of the real thing.

2.      Colossians 2:16-17

a.       “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-- things which are a {mere} shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.”    

                                                             v.      God doesn’t want us to be content with a mere precursor, a shadow, or a legalistic observation of a day of the week.  He desires that we experience the real thing.  Jesus.

1.      My father-in-law’s dog chases shadows.  It chases the shadows of gulls down the beach.  The only way you get her back is to toss some bread in the air to attract the gulls back.  They come and here she comes, chasing the shadows.

2.      But the shadow is not the real thing.  This dog will never catch the real thing by chasing the shadows.  The closest she will ever get is a distant following.

3.      You and I will never experience what God wants for us by pursuing the shadow.

b.      The 4th Chapter of the book of Hebrews (which we will look at next week) which speaks about “entering God’s rest”, contrasts our experience with that of the Jews in the wilderness during the Exodus. 

                                                               i.      So in order to understand the present, we should look at the past: 

                                                             ii.      For us to understand the reality, we will need to understand the symbol or the shadow.

                                                            iii.      What does the Old Testament say about the 7th Day while the Jews were wandering in the desert?

 

II.                The Shadow: The Sabbath.

a.       Exodus 31:12-17   Instructions for the Sabbath

b.      The LORD then gave these further instructions to Moses: "Tell the people of Israel to keep my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between me and you forever. It helps you to remember that I am the LORD, who makes you holy. Yes, keep the Sabbath day, for it is holy. Anyone who desecrates it must die; anyone who works on that day will be cut off from the community. Work six days only, but the seventh day must be a day of total rest. I repeat: Because the LORD considers it a holy day, anyone who works on the Sabbath must be put to death. The people of Israel must keep the Sabbath day forever. It is a permanent sign of my covenant with them. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but he rested on the seventh day and was refreshed."

                                                               i.      This sounds very severe.  But there are several principles in this passage that we need to notice.

1.      The Sabbath is a permanent sign of the covenant between God and Israel forever.

2.      It helps Israel to remember that God is the Lord, who makes them HOLY.

                                                             ii.      Did you see it?  The Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between the Jews and God…forever….because it reminds them that God is the Lord who makes them Holy (or separateness, different, from other nations). 

c.         Every Seventh Day.

                                                               i.      The people were to “rest” from physical labor as a sign of their separateness.

                                                             ii.      They would “remember” that God had made everything and that there was once a time when humans were at rest with God and His creation.

                                                            iii.      They would remember that they had rejected God’s reign over them and had become alienated from Him.

                                                           iv.      They would also remember that they were once slaves in Egypt (Dt. 5:15)

1.      Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out with amazing power and mighty deeds. That is why the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day

d.      By resting on the 7th day, they would have a “taste” of the heavenly rest that was their original, created destiny.

                                                               i.      They would experience for a single day out of 7, what it would be like if humans were to believe God and trust Him for everything.

e.       The Sabbath wasn’t given just so that the people of God could have time to enjoy their hobbies, mow their lawns, and do their own thing.

                                                               i.      It was not given for self-indulgence.

                                                             ii.      The primary reason for the Sabbath was so that the Israelites would have a time when they would not worry about their survival.

1.      As a result, they would have the freedom to worship their creator and redeemer.

2.      They were to fellowship with God on the Sabbath in the same manner that Adam had been free to.

3.      Lv. 16:29-31) “You shall afflict your souls and do no work at all, it shall be a Sabbath of rest unto you.”

4.      They would experience for a single day, what the entire Christian life is designed to be. 

 

III.               Let’s look at the progression of the Sabbath for the Israelites and how it developed.

a.       The Sinai wilderness (Ex. 16:13-30)

                                                  i.      The next morning the desert all around the camp was wet with dew. When the dew disappeared later in the morning, thin flakes, white like frost, covered the ground. The Israelites were puzzled when they saw it. "What is it?" they asked. And Moses told them, "It is the food the LORD has given you. The LORD says that each household should gather as much as it needs. Pick up two quarts for each person."  So the people of Israel went out and gathered this food—some getting more, and some getting less. By gathering two quarts for each person, everyone had just enough. Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough. Each family had just what it needed.

                                                ii.      Then Moses told them, "Do not keep any of it overnight." But, of course, some of them didn't listen and kept some of it until morning. By then it was full of maggots and had a terrible smell. And Moses was very angry with them.

                                              iii.      The people gathered the food morning by morning, each family according to its need. And as the sun became hot, the food they had not picked up melted and disappeared. On the sixth day, there was twice as much as usual on the ground—four quarts for each person instead of two. The leaders of the people came and asked Moses why this had happened. He replied, "The LORD has appointed tomorrow as a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. On this day we will rest from our normal daily tasks. So bake or boil as much as you want today, and set aside what is left for tomorrow."

                                              iv.      The next morning the leftover food was wholesome and good, without maggots or odor. Moses said, "This is your food for today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD. There will be no food on the ground today. Gather the food for six days, but the seventh day is a Sabbath. There will be no food on the ground for you on that day."

                                                v.      Some of the people went out anyway to gather food, even though it was the Sabbath day. But there was none to be found. "How long will these people refuse to obey my commands and instructions?" the LORD asked Moses. "Do they not realize that I have given them the seventh day, the Sabbath, as a day of rest? That is why I give you twice as much food on the sixth day, so there will be enough for two days. On the Sabbath day you must stay in your places. Do not pick up food from the ground on that day." So the people rested on the seventh day.

                                               vi.      Think about this…They had to collect 2x as much manna, save it for the next day, which they were prohibited from doing on other days because it would go bad, yet on the Sabbath, it didn’t go sour. 

                                              vii.      The Sabbath Rest means entering into God's divine provision for us

b.      In Exodus 23:10-12, the Jews were required to let the ground go fallow…that is, they were not to plant it on the 7th year, in order to allow the ground to rest. 

                                                   i.      This required trusting God to provide enough on the other 6 years so that on the 7th the land itself could “rest.”

1.      The Sabbath is about learning not to meet your own needs, but learning to let God meet them for you. 

a.       Observing The Sabbath required trust in God, that God would meet your needs for food.;

                                                                                                                           i.      It required experiential and experimental faith.

                                                                                                                         ii.      It was a test and a proof of God’s provision.

b.      The Sabbath began with the Exodus, a 40 year journey of depending upon God.

2.      No other people group had such a provision in their calendar.

3.      No other religion had such a belief, that 1 day in 7 could be ceased from…in an agrarian or a nomadic society, it would be suicide!  If you didn’t work 1 in 7, you would cut your calories by 12%, your income by 12%, and you’d be 12% hungrier, poorer and needier.

4.      Not only that, but the land was even to “cease” for 1 in 7 years.

c.       I need to share a few insights that aren’t obvious. 

                                                   i.      Last week we talked about the nature of labor…that we were designed in the beginning to labor, but that sin had led that labor to become unproductive, so that we end up despising our labor. 

                                                 ii.      You may have noticed, that even though God provided for the Jews, they still had to pick up the manna.  He didn’t just drop it in their mouths.  Labor was still required.  The miracle that is most notable is that there was 2x as much picked up before the Sabbath and that it didn’t become sour when it was saved for that 7th day. 

IV.              When God gave the fourth commandment to Israel, “Keep the Sabbath” it was not an arbitrary demand simply to remind them he created them.

                                                   i.      The seventh-day Sabbath was about salvation.

                                                 ii.      The seventh day was a way of saying to Israel,

1.      "The pagans around you work unceasingly to please their gods. You will take one day off per week, whether you're in the middle of harvest or lambing season, and you will be successful beyond anything you can imagine.

2.      Neither you nor the pagans around you will be able to say you are successful because you work hard.

3.      Your success will be entirely because of Me.

4.      I will make you successful.

5.      Your own work will never be your ticket to success.

6.      Your success will always be a gift from Me."

                                                            iii.      Can you see that?  God is our provider, our success comes from Him.  If our own efforts produce it, then we will take credit for it; but if God produces it…He gets the credit.

b.      It is the same way with us.  You see, we choose whether or not to live lives dependent or independent from God. 

                                                               i.      If we think we can “do it ourselves” then there is no need to rest.  We make our own agenda.  We live our lives under our control.  We don’t bother to listen to God or to hear what He says.  We know better!

                                                             ii.      We can make it…we can become successful.  With just enough hard work, I can do it.

1.      I know too many lives that are shipwrecked, too many dreams that are shattered, too many broken homes that were built upon  beliefs like that.

2.      Even Christians think they can do it on their own.

3.      There is only one way to find the rest-filled, tension relieved, hope enriched, dream fulfilling life. 

4.      That is to come to the end of yourself and come to Jesus.

a.       Until you discover that you aren’t God…you will continue to act like you are and you will find out someday, in the collapse of your dreams that you aren’t.

 

c.       When God promised Israel rest,  he was not simply referring to escaping Egypt and living without wars in the land of Canaan, any more than the rest He calls you too means escaping Hell and living here without troubles.

                                                               i.      He was giving them a living metaphor of their salvation.

1.      The Canaan rest, the “promised land” that he promised them was actually a picture of their salvation from sin.

2.      Israel failed to enter God’s rest because they failed to leave behind their own works and enter the rest of God.

3.      The Sabbath was a glimpse into the kind of rest that God would one day make available through the Messiah. 

4.      To the Christian, the Sabbath is not the ceasing of all physical work that the rest of the O.T. illustrates.

5.      What the believer in Jesus has ceased from are the FUTILE WORKS through which mankind tries to ESTABLISH a relationship with God.

a.       It is the believer’s concern and quest for his eternal survival that has ended.

b.      The fear of death rules mankind.

c.       It is this fear that leads to the bondage of religious works and rituals. (Heb 2:14-15).

                                                             ii.      Christians learn that it is through the Finished work Jesus Christ that they enter into His rest.

1.      It's interesting to note that God refers throughout the Bible to his people entering His rest, not to his people entering their own rest.

a.       For people to enter their own rest would be pointless.

b.      Their own works and rest cannot accomplish salvation.

c.        No matter what we do or don't do, we will not find rest.

2.      It's only when by faith we enter God's rest and submit ourselves to his finished work of salvation that we finally find rest.

a.       Only by entering the rest God established at creation-our completed salvation-are we able finally to rest from our own works.

b.      Our natural sinful condition demands that we control our lives.

                                                                                                                                      i.      Sin is rebellion against our dependence on God and a demand to be dependent only on self (see Romans 1:21; Philippians 2:21).

                                                                                                                                    ii.      As long as we try to remain in charge, a joyful life, the life God planned for us will elude us. 

d.      Only in Christ's rest are we able to find peace and to cease from our works.

                                                               i.      But we can’t make it to heaven either on our own.  All of our efforts to make God love us are useless. 

                                                             ii.      He has made it clear that “all have sinned and fallen short of His glory.”  No one can win his approval, or be good enough.  We need Him to provide a way for us to be able to stand clean before Him.  You and I cannot wash the sin off ourselves.  It doesn’t work. 

1.      That is why He sent Jesus.  To pay the price for our sin and to take the penalty.  That is what He did.  He bore your sin and mine. 

2.      He knew your name when He did it.  He saw your face.  

3.      He is waiting today for you to receive His forgiveness and to stand right before God and allow God to rule your life.

 

e.       Through faith in Christ we enter the divine rest. (Heb. 4:3).

                                                               i.      Just as Christ finished creation at the end of the sixth day and rested the seventh, so He also finished redemption on the cross on the sixth day and rested in the tomb the seventh day (see John 17:4; 19:30).

                                                             ii.      When sin entered the world, however, it destroyed God's original significance for rest.

                                                            iii.      Two kinds of Rest:

1.      You rest because of your work. 

a.       You are tired. 

b.      You rest so that you may rebuilt your energy so that you can continue to work.

2.      You rest from your work when the job is finished.

a.       Because the work is done, you rest in contentment.

b.      This is what God is saying.  Jesus’ last words on the cross are telling: 

c.       IT IS FINISHED. 

d.      Tell the story about the cabinet maker who gave the gift of a beautiful mahogany coffee table to a friend.  Months of carving, weeks of sanding, days of putting coat after coat of finish on it.  Then what is the first thing you do? 

3.      God asks us to enter his rest.

4.      To enter God’s rest requires that we receive the “gift” that comes through His son, Jesus.  It is the free gift of forgiveness.  God offers it to you. 

5.      Will you stand a far off and say, “later?” when God says, “enter today?”

6.      Will you continue to live according to your own rules, and try to control your own life…or will you surrender today?  Will you give in and give up, and allow Jesus to take control? 

7.      What He controls He provides for.  Surrender today and enter His Rest.