This last weekend being the end of daylight savings time, you might find your internal clock has been messed up a little bit this week as you adjust to the hour change. I find generally the fall one's not quite as hard as the spring one, in which you lose the hour of sleep. But it is amazing how just one hour difference can mess us up and can cause us to struggle with rest and being tired and not having enough energy and those kinds of things. And what we're gonna look at this evening, I think in many ways, helps us to see what our need for rest reminds us of. If you look at Genesis chapter two and verses one to three, we find the conclusion of the creation week. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed and all their hosts. By the seventh day, God completed his work, which we had done, 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 then he rested from all his work, which God had created and made. Now, this is the end of the creation week, and yet we're now in Genesis chapter two. Why is that the case? Well, one answer is whoever made this chapter two messed up. Because you may not realize this, if not, just be aware. Moses didn't put chapter one and chapter two in Genesis. When he wrote, he didn't put verse one and two and so on. Those were put in place to make it easier for me to say, open up to Genesis chapter two, rather than open up to Genesis and go down a little bit until you find this word. And so it could be someone just messed it up. And I think there's a good case to be said that they shouldn't have put chapter two here. But if they did do it for a reason, I think potentially they did it because the seventh day does seem to be different from the other days. It's kind of set apart. And so maybe the person who put the chapter in said, I want to make sure they understand that the seventh day is kind of different. And we can see it's different in a few different ways. There's not really an emphasis on God doing anything. And every other day, it says God said, and then this happened, and there's a pattern all these days. We don't see this on the seventh day. The seventh day itself is repeated three different times in this section. And so it seems to be this day itself is highlighted more than the other days. And we've mentioned this before, but there is no mention of evening and morning on the seventh day. I think the reason is because if you remember the evening and morning is a transitional statement, basically going from the evening of day one to the morning of day two. And we don't have that in day seven because we're not going on to day eight. And yet all of these things help to make this kind of stand apart. What do we find described here in these verses? In verse one, thus the heavens and the earth were completed and all their hosts. Their hosts, I think, is probably just a reference to the sun, the moon, and the stars, as well as, I think, all the other created beings that, in a sense, were created in days four to six. You may remember in the creation week, in days one to three, we have God forming the earth and making it inhabitable. In days four to six, he is filling the earth and making it inhabited. And I think since all the stuff on four to six is what's being described here, seven earth and everything in it is now done. God has finished his created work. It is now completed. There is no more creative work that needs to be done. Now it's the work of continuing to sustain the world that has been made. So in verse two, we find the beginning description of the seventh day. If you have the NASB, you'll see the translation, by the seventh day, God completed his work. You might have another translation that says, on the seventh day, God completed his work. And I think the NASB did a good job of translating this, because if you translate it on the seventh day, it kind of sounds like his work continued into the seventh day and then he stopped. But I think the best way to understand it is basically the way the Nazby translated it. Once the seventh day was here, God was already done. He finished it. And so now that we've come to the seventh day, his work is complete. There is an emphasis on his work. It's listed twice here in verse two. By the seventh day, God completed his work. And he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had made. And again in verse three, because in it he rested from all his work. I think it probably is emphasizing the fact that God's the one who did all of this. God was the creator. It probably also is emphasizing his skill. The word is used of skilled artisans, someone who carefully craft and create something. And potentially as well, it emphasizes the beauty and value of work. We touched on this last week with the dominion mandate. I think here again, we see reality that work is not a part of the curse. Work is something that demonstrates the fact that we're made in his image. He's a God who worked and therefore we follow in his footsteps in that way. And yet the emphasis is less on the fact that he worked and more on the fact that he was done at this point in time. He completed his work, which he had done. And so he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had done. And I think the repetition of he had done is probably again, helping to see he didn't stop because he needed a break. It wasn't as if, boy, you know, I could go use a rest. Let me take some time aside and then I'll come back and finish. The point was, it's finished. It's completely done. Everything that I wanted to see happen has happened. I have made this world exactly what I want it to be in order for mankind to rule as my vice regents. Everything's in place. It's a perfect environment for Adam and Eve. And so, verse three, God does something about specifically the seventh day. Mentions two things. He blessed it and he sanctified it. He blessed it, I think, pointing to the fact that it's viewed as something that is positive and good. There's a kind of joy and satisfaction that is meant to be seen as part of the seventh day. And then it's also sanctified. It has been set apart. And in Old Testament, really, I think anything that's sanctified and when it's set apart, it's set apart for God. It's now meant to be something that is different. from what's around it, because it has a special relationship or devotion to God. And so in Genesis 1, and spilling into chapter 2, we find the first week, seven days. And this is what God set up, I think, for humans to live and function. As we think about time, We mentioned this when we talked about the fact that God made the sun, moon, and stars. He said he made them for days and seasons and years. And we still mark our calendars by those things. We still mark seasons by where the earth is in relationship to the sun and the year by its rotation around the earth. But weeks aren't marked that way. Why seven days? And the answer is God gave us this pattern. He gave us a pattern, seven days. And people have pointed to two times in history in which people said, well, let's see if we can change this. You may be aware of this in the French Revolution. After the French Revolution occurred, you had people who began to say, look, let's get rid of some of this religious kind of ideas. Let's throw off some of those thinking, and let's find a more rational way to go about these things. So they actually changed the length of hours. They made 100 minutes in an hour, 10 hours in a day, and then they did 10 days in a week. And so they changed all of these things. And after about, I think it was about 20 years or so, they went back. Because it just didn't seem to really work. The Soviet Union, when Stalin was around, said, hey, let's see if we can make it so that people are a little bit more productive in their work. And so they decided to do a five-day week and get rid of the weekend. And so they had a five-day week in which people rotated working those five days. And so every day, 80% of the workforce was working and 20% was off. And eventually people started realizing that we're actually not, we're getting as much done as we used to in the old way. So then they added a sixth day, and eventually they said, let's just go back to the seventh day week, because that seemed to work a lot better. And I think there's a reason it worked better, because it's the pattern that God set out. And so we have this pattern that he laid out for us. Now, you may have noticed, and maybe you didn't, But in these three verses, there is no mention of the Sabbath. There's a related word and it talks about God resting or ceasing. And yet the Sabbath is not mentioned here. And I think there's a reason it's not mentioned here. It's not mentioned because actually the Sabbath is not a creation ordinance. It's not a creation law. The Sabbath is actually part of the Mosaic covenant that God made specifically with the nation of Israel. To see this, I want you to turn to Exodus chapter 31. Exodus chapter 31. And verse 13. And from here on out, we are gonna be turning a little bit. So keep your Bibles out and open and ready to move. Exodus 31 and verse 13. We won't look at this, but you probably are aware that the Sabbath is mentioned as part of the Ten Commandments. And this is a bigger discussion than we can have this evening. I'll just briefly tell you, the Ten Commandments are not God's moral law for us for all time. The Ten Commandments were the initial part of God's law for the nation of Israel. So that's when the Sabbath is really first laid down as a requirement for mankind. And it's that way because God set it up specifically as the sign of the Mosaic covenant. Exodus 31, 13, but as for you, speak to the sons of Israel saying, you shall surely observe my Sabbaths for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I'm the Lord who sanctifies you. Go down to verse 17. It is a sign between me and the sons of Israel forever. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh he ceased from labor and was refreshed." Now both in the Ten Commandments and here, the author points back to the Sabbath as a base, or back to the seventh day of creation as a basis for the Sabbath. But here it's specifically noted as a sign of the Mosaic Covenant. The Abrahamic Covenant had a sign as well, a sign of circumcision. The Mosaic Covenant had a sign. The sign of the covenant was essentially to say, this is how you demonstrate that you are in covenant with me, that you are committed to this covenant. You demonstrate it by keeping the Sabbath. And it was so central to the Mosaic covenant, again, we won't look there, but when the nation is put into exile, God says, one of the reasons I'm doing this is because you did not observe my Sabbaths. So I'm going to make sure that the land gets the Sabbaths that you were supposed to get. Because in the Mosaic Covenant, the Sabbath was not just the seventh day of the week. The Sabbath was also every seventh year and every 50th year, there was a special Jubilee Sabbath. And there were other days of Sabbaths connected in the Mosaic Covenant. And so is the Sabbath a principle that is a command for us today? I think the answer is no. Because I don't think it was a command even before the Mosaic Covenant. You don't actually ever see Adam observing the Sabbath or Abraham observing the Sabbath. Now, we'll talk a little bit later. I think they probably observed the seven-day principle that God laid out, but it doesn't really mention them observing the Sabbath. And in the New Testament, there is no command for us to observe the Sabbath. In fact, We see explicitly in the new Testament, we are not required to observe the Sabbath. I want to show you two passages where that's the case. The first is in Colossians chapter two, Colossians chapter two and verse 16. In Colossians 2, Paul is dealing with some false teaching. In particular, it seemed that you had some people who, maybe a mix of a kind of Gnosticism and Judaism. Gnosticism meaning that physical things are inherently evil. And so there was kind of an asceticism. There was also a Jewish flavor to it because it specifically mentioned Sabbaths. So if people coming along and saying, if you really want to live for God and you really want to do what's right and you really want to serve him, you have to do these certain things and you can't eat these certain things or touch these certain things. And Paul says, that's not how you're made right with God. And these things can't actually help you to overcome sin. And so in Colossians 2 in verse 16, he says, 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. And here Paul says, you don't have to observe the Sabbaths. The Sabbaths as part of the law were ultimately, one aspect of them was to point to Jesus Christ and what he would accomplish. So the Sabbaths were a point to the kind of rest that Jesus offers his people. Then go over to Romans chapter 14. Romans chapter 14 in verse 5. In Romans 14, I believe you have two groups within the church at Rome. who were struggling with each other. One seemed to be a Jewish group, the other likely a Gentile group, and the problem was certain Jews were saying, we think that we need to observe certain aspects of the Mosaic law in order to please the Lord, and certain Gentiles were rightly, Paul says, recognizing we don't need to do that, and yet Looking down on the Jews while the Jews were judging others. And so there's this back and forth. But one of the things that Paul points to is specifically the observance of days. Romans 14 and verse five. One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord. And he who eats does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks. And he who eats not for the Lord, he does not eat and give thanks to God. So Paul seems to say here, if you want to say, I'm going to observe the Sabbath, you're welcome to do that. As long as you understand that your brother doesn't have to. You're welcome to say, I think this would be pleasing for me to observe this, especially Jews in this day. Say, I think I would like to do this and to honor the Lord. And Paul says, great. But other people don't observe it and they're honoring the Lord too, which means it cannot be a requirement for us. So anyone today who tells you true Christians observe the Sabbath has not read the New Testament. There is no requirement for Christians in the New Testament to observe the Sabbath. Now, there are some who would say there is still a Sabbath principle in play. And I think there's some truth to what they're saying. In that, in the creation week, we have God specifically saying the seventh day is blessed and sanctified, and giving an example of rest. And so it seems that there is perhaps some value In people recognizing I can't just work all the time. I need time to rest. And perhaps there's value in saying one day a week, at least. And there's also probably some value in saying on this day, it's not just, I'm not going to work, but perhaps in some way, I want to think about God and commit myself and devote myself to God in ways that are different from the rest of the week. I want to be very careful because I think we can easily go past what Paul just pointed out. They don't think we can say, hey, you don't deserve the Sabbath, but really if you love the Lord, you're going to make one day of the week different for everything else. That seems to be the exact opposite of what Paul just said in Romans 14. And yet in the New Testament, we do see a pattern in which not the seventh day of the week, but the first day of the week is something that Christians focus on gathering together to worship the Lord. So I wanted to tease some of this out as to why that is the case. And part of it is because that's the day in which Jesus rose from the dead. Go to John chapter 20. John chapter 20 and verse one. Now, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb while it was still dark and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. And so when did Jesus rise from the dead? The first day of the week. Later in this chapter, in verse 19, so when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, peace be with you. So Jesus rose in the first day of the week, and he appears to the 11 disciples on the first day of the week. And we find in Acts chapter 20 that it seems that the believers started gathering on the first day of the week. Go to Acts chapter 20 in verse 6. We sailed from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came to them at Troas within five days, and there we stayed seven days. 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." Now, one of the reasons I wanted to read that is just to remind you how thankful you should be that we don't go that late. But also to kind of see, it seems that there's a pattern here. The pattern is you gather on the first day of the week to break bread and to hear God's word taught. And so it seems that the early believers started doing this because that's the day that Jesus rose from the dead and that's the day he appeared to them. And so I won't ask you to turn there, but in 1 Corinthians 16, Paul tells the Corinthians to take up a collection for the saints on the first day of every week. Each of you is to put aside and save as he may prosper so that no collections need to be made when I come. I think that phrase at the end, no collections need to be made is in part saying you're already making this collection when you're setting aside on the first day of the week. So again, it seems as if there's this pattern that we see developing, which believers meet on the first day of the week. In Revelation chapter one in verse 10, John says, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. And I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet. Now he doesn't say what day of the week it is. But the language seems to kind of indicate, everyone knows he's talking about a certain day. It's the Lord's day. And so I think we can kind of see there, there seems to be a pattern in the New Testament in which the first day of the week was recognized as a day for believers to gather together and to remember the Lord's resurrection and to celebrate it and to worship. And certainly we see in the early church, that's what believers did as well. historically, this is when Christians have gathered to worship. So, can the church meet on another day to worship? And I think from the New Testament, I don't know that I can definitively say no, because of Colossians 2 and Romans 14. And yet, I think I would also say Well, there seems to be a pattern and good reason to say the first day of the week is a good day to set aside to worship the Lord together. And so why would you want to change that? Is there any kind of reason not to follow this historic pattern that we see? And that certainly then would be reflected to what I said. It does seem in the creation week, there is a kind of principle of saying there's value in having one day that's a little different from the rest. It's consecrated. It's set apart. As if perhaps there is some value in saying, this is a day in which I'm getting away from the normal routine. I'm stepping out of what I, my normal activities and a time for me to rest and to reflect on God and who he is. So I want to close by considering three points of application and exhortation. The first is that the seventh day, I think is a reminder to us that we are weak and we need rest. That when God rested on the seventh day, he was not doing that because he needed rest. He was doing that because he knew we needed rest. That we don't have the capability to just go on forever without getting tired. And so if we don't take times to actually stop working, to give ourselves rest, to give ourselves a time of refreshment and a time of renewal, that we will not be able to make it. And this, again, is one of the things that separates God from us. Because when we sleep and when we rest, we're vulnerable. We can't protect ourselves. And that's, again, probably one of the reasons God made us to need to sleep and to rest is to help us to see the world doesn't depend on us. When we sleep, does the world continue on? Yeah. Because we're not crucial to the survival of humanity. But we serve a God. Psalm 121 tells us that our help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth and he will not allow your foot to slip. And he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. Why are we safe when we're asleep? Same reason we're safe when we're awake. God's in charge and he's in control and he's keeping us. Secondly, and again, I want to be careful with this, but it does seem that in the creation week and in the example of the New Testament, that there is value in us making time, special time for what we deem to be important. That if we value God, our time should reflect that. I think there is the principle that the Sabbath points to. That if we think I have to be working all the time, otherwise I won't be able to have what I need. There's seven days, I got to work all seven of them. Because I need to make sure that things are working. I need to make sure I get what I need. I think one of the reasons that God instituted the Sabbath for the nation of Israel was to remind them ultimately, You're not the one who provides for yourself. I am. Think of the picture he gave them with the manna. Each day they were supposed to go and just get enough for that day, except for on the Sabbath, because then God would give them enough for the next day too. What do they have to do? Trust exactly that God would provide exactly the way he said he would. And so I think we need to be reminded that we can stop from our labors. And we don't have to say, I need to work rather than worship God. I wonder even if less than work, perhaps we love entertainment more than we love God. That we would rather take time watching sports or having our children involved in activities that might pull them away from the worship of God on Sunday, instead of saying there's something that matters more than all of those things, that we desperately need time to reflect on and worship God. And just as if for what it's worth, again, this isn't a requirement, but generally I'm thankful we have a Sunday evening service. because it allows more time on that day for me to be able to focus on the Lord and to set it apart, be able to not just say, I'm going to give a little bit of time, but I'm going to give even more time, perhaps begin the day and end the day in some ways, reflecting on who God is and gathering together with God's people to worship him. Because I think the point of the Sabbath and the point of the seventh day of the week was not simply don't work. It was also have renewal as you contemplate God. And that the goal isn't just, boy, I could wish I could just sleep all day, but I need strength in my inner man. So I come and I gather and worship God's people and I find my soul refreshed. Then finally, We saw this, that the Sabbath is a shadow that pointed to Jesus Christ. And the seventh day reminds us of that. If you would, go to Hebrews chapter four. Hebrews chapter four and verse three. 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 some were concerning the seventh day, and God rested on the seventh day from all his work. And again in this passage, they shall not enter my rest. Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, 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 he has been said before, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken up another day after that. 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 work as God did from his. Therefore, Let us be diligent to enter that rest so that no one will fall through following the same example of disobedience. We're reminded as we consider God's arrest on the seventh day, that he has promised us a true rest, a rest when all of his work is done, not just his work of creation, but his work of redemption. And we want to make sure we get into that rest. We will only do so by persevering faith. So let us long for the rest that God provides. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you offer us perfect rest. You pointed to that reality when you finished your work of creation. We long for the day in which your work of redemption is done so that we might be with you for all eternity. We pray that now, the times that we have to move away from our normal routines of life, to reflect on you, to give you praise and worship, and increase our hunger for that coming rest. We pray this in Jesus' name.