Rest for the Restless

Well this morning we complete chapter 16 in the book of Exodus and We are gonna sort of begin at the end we have a general summary just in the structure of Chapter 16 when we begin in verse 31 to the end

We we have sort of a general summary first a basic description of what the manna Looked like and tasted like and then also

God's instructions for the Israelites According to their generations of how they were to preserve manna and therefore generationally they would have this living testimony as it were kept in the the

Ark of the Covenant put before God and his dwelling place in the tabernacle and then the temple

And so we'll begin there and then we'll move more to the core the focus of the sermon Beginning in verses 16 through 30.

So let's begin in verse 31 and the house of Israel called its name manna and it was like white

Coriander seed and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey actually sounds pretty good

Then Moses said this is the thing which the Lord has commanded Fill an omer with it to be kept for your generations.

Remember an omer is the daily allotment at least for the first five days The daily allotment would have been an omer

To be kept for your generations that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness when

I brought you out of the land of Egypt and Moses said to Aaron take a pot and put an omer of manna in it and lay it up before the

Lord to be Kept for your generations as the Lord commanded Moses So Aaron laid it up before the testimony to be kept and the children of Israel ate manna 40 years

Until they came to an inhabited land. They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan Now an omer is one -tenth of an ephah

Very vital statistic there at the end. So we have this description of manna. It's like coriander seed

Roughly three to five millimeters from what I looked up of coriander seeds I wonder if some of you in your spice rack or your drawer have coriander seed all ground up It would have been like airsoft

BBs nice bright and white covering the field like snow Also numbers 11 verse 7 describes it as having an appearance of bdellium

Significant when we talk about the the priestly vestments that the high priest wore and that appears again later on in Revelation But we'll save that for another time.

But bdellium was this translucent Yellowish gum resin a sort of sap and apparently the manna had this characteristic as well.

So something translucent Bright white it looked like frost like snow covering the ground and every morning

The Israelites would go forth and gather it up and they could gather the equivalent of an omer enough for the household each

According to their need we have that measure stated. We have the omer and then we have this

Ratio given an omer is one -tenth of an ephah. We don't know exactly How much an ephah?

Contained there's good reason to think and the standard answer was it's five gallons five of our gallons some scholars debate

I have no interest in spending too much time in this debate, but some would double that and say it was more likely ten gallons

I think it's safe to go with the majority here five gallons On that basis we have about a quart

So an omer is taken to be about a quart if it's ten gallons then two quarts

Manna was to be preserved however Anything that wasn't consumed within the day the next day as we'll read

Began to breed worms and it would smell would have this stench about it and would not be something anyone would want to eat however, apparently in a miraculous way that which

Aaron took up and put in the Testimony would have been preserved because all of the generations of the

Israelites were to behold it now in second Kings We read that the manna is not present.

So I don't know how that got misplaced It seems like a lot of things get misplaced or easily forgotten in the temple of God But nevertheless you have this instruction here

The manna was to be taken one omer a daily ration and this was to be a visible testimony for the future

Israelites that they could look back and see in the wilderness of their Ancestors in the wandering of their fathers.

God had faithfully provided bread from heaven Now importantly we have that emphasis on later generations

And in fact this whole summary reads as something that was written at the very end of the Pentateuch We have a summary that could not have been known at this juncture that they ate manna for 40 years

Until they came to the border of Canaan They did not know at this point in the unfolding history that they had another 40 years to go

To make it into the land of Canaan So we have a sort of summary of this larger contours of how

God instructed his people concerning manna. I think it's significant that God Instructed his people to preserve a ration to be held forth apparently priests would have on occasion taken this out of the

Ark of the Covenant and Shown it and that's what the Lord commands, right as a Testimony, this is something that they are to see right?

Take a pot put an omer of manna in it lay it up before the Lord to be kept for your generations

That's the concern and what does he want them to do that? They may see the bread with which I fed you

So our faith is not some abstract philosophy of life It's something deeply rooted in history

Our faith is a historical faith And if it's not historical then we're fools and we're wasting our time to be here on a rainy

Sunday morning together Our faith is rooted in history and God wanted to ensure that The manna that was fed in the wilderness wasn't viewed as an allegory or a fable

Or just something that moms and moms and dads told their little children. This was something they could go and see

This is what it was like. This is what they ate. This was what was gathered by Aaron the high priest

This is what was put in the Ark of our Covenant Now we go to verse 16 and Are gonna change directions a little bit and focus more on the manna and then this command regarding this

Sabbath So let's begin in verse 16 This is the thing which the Lord has commanded

Let every man gather according to each one's need one omer for each person

According to the number of persons let every man take for those who are in his tent Then the children of Israel did so and gathered some more some less

So when they measured it by Omer's he who gathered much had nothing left over and he who gathered little had no lack

Every man had gathered according to each one's need and Moses said let no one leave any of it till morning

Not withstanding they did not heed Moses get ready to continually encounter this refrain.

They did not heed Moses some of them left part of it until morning and it bred worms and it stank and Moses was angry with them

So they gathered it every morning every man according to his need and when the Sun became hot it melted

And so it was on the sixth day that they gathered twice as much bread to Omer's for each one

And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses we'll pause there Notice this opening command.

Let every man gather it according to each one's need It sounds vaguely like marks at least toward the end from each according to his ability to each according to his need

Never quite worked out for the Marxist revolutions That's what happens when you deny the depravity of man

It ends up not being according to one's ability and certainly not according to one's need But here you notice we're far from Marxism in God's economy.

It's each gathering For themselves and their own so each must gather and yet it is according to need in other words

There's no place for hoarding here Each one gathers according to their need as an old southern preacher said not according to his greed

All right, God provides according to needs not according to greed So here the men are the gatherers in that whole hunter -gatherer debate here.

The men are the gatherers They're going out into the fields to gather up the manna Paul takes this and quotes this in 2nd

Corinthians 8 when he speaks about giving in general It's one of the ways that we understand how Paul understood to apply the

Old Testament to the life of the church and here he takes this principle of the manner of giving the manner of providing and he applies it to the church at Corinth in terms of this collection for the relief of the poor in Judea And he says this 2nd

Corinthians 8 for I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened All right This is something that's going out to all of the churches and he's completely refreshed by the

Corinthians desire And he's putting before them the example of the Macedonian believers who have excelled above all

He says I don't mean that others should be eased and you be burdened But by inequality that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack that their abundance also may supply your lack that there may

Be a quality as it is written he who gathered much had nothing left over he who gathered little had no lack

You see Paul is taking this instance of Exodus 16 Quoting it in terms of how the church should consider giving to those in need

Giving in a liberal free way as God's good provision and you simply meet the need

There doesn't need to be something excessive and there shouldn't be any lack there's this freedom because it's

God who has provided as God freely and richly provides for his people so his people can

Freely and richly provide for others in need and yet each one that's incumbent upon themselves

Each one must gather for themselves and their own that's the principle comes up again in the pastoral epistles

The Lord ensures that there's no place for hoarding not just by instruction but by transformation

Something happens overnight to that bread that would turn your stomach. I found when

I was in Texas, I I took home some some treats for the girls, so I went to this little candy store and They had a jelly belly bean boozled.

Has anyone heard of this? So jelly belly makes this little game you can buy It's a box of jelly beans and and there's there's two in there one of their normal Very good flavor and one that looks exactly alike and it's a disgusting flavor

The mild the mild one would be like toothpaste, but then you get dirty dishwater rotten eggs stink bug

I mean it gets pretty bad. So I took this to my parents house We're all sitting around and Thanksgiving and after in between dessert

We're all doling out jelly beans, you know and seeing who got what of course my first spin

I got rotten egg and that pretty much put a damper on the rest of the evening for me So I couldn't help but taste that in the back of my mind when

I think I thought about you know Someone waking up in the morning not really having their eyes open, you know

Pulling out the pot of coffee grabbing some of that manna and they put in their mouth and as they begin to chew

Things aren't looking so well What a revolting picture is that the Lord ensures that there'll be no hoarding the

Lord ensures that you won't be out in the middle Of the night gathering more than anyone else There won't be a run at the supermarket when it comes to this manna.

This will just be a daily bread a daily allotment What a revolting picture.

I remember I used to get One of my good friends. We've been praying for him dawn

He used to faithfully Every morning go and get me a cup of coffee It was part of his morning routine.

And so he just made it a blessing for me. And so every morning I'd get This is like probably why

I'm gonna lose my feet in ten years But every morning I'd get two doughnuts and a coffee and so it's just the highlight of my morning that morning break came

There was nothing like it But there was this bin off to the side in the back of the warehouse and would throw Discarded scraps and every now and then

I was too busy to finish that last jelly donut So everything got kind of stuffed in that bin and I remember one day

We went over to empty out that bin and there was all manner of Maggots and it was

I couldn't eat doughnuts for like a month after that whenever I saw it I don't know how these Israelites put up with seeing the worms and and the stench but somehow

They understood we have to consume everything and the next day the Lord will provide

And I see this as a larger principle in in the way God providentially provides for us

He's faithful to put worms Into those things that would cause us not to trust him not to lean on him or would otherwise lead us astray

It's what we saw in hang I to a few weeks ago, right you sought after much but it came to nothing

Why because I blew it away because my house lies in disrepair So God's faithful to frustrate

To collapse to put worms to make something obnoxious to give something a stench When it's not toward him for him from him by him

When it doesn't have an eye to his priorities for your life What he calls to be a blessing when it's the kind of pursuit that would lead you away from him away from the faith

Away from the things that he says are worth your effort worth your energy worth your concern

Some of us have had to learn the hard lesson of finding worms in the bread Because our our flesh was involved we were hoarding we were seeking we were ambitious we weren't wise weren't thoughtful we weren't putting the kingdom and the righteousness first and trusting that all the other things would be provided and God puts worms in All those things that otherwise would be food would be bread to us

So I take that as a principle as J. R. Miller says we cannot get grace today for tomorrow's duty

And if we try to bear tomorrow's burdens today, we'll break down in the attempt

God loves daily provision He says don't ask for me to provide tomorrow

Just trust that I will provide for tomorrow and ask me to provide for you today Don't pray for tomorrow's bread pray for the bread today.

He's all about grace in the moments mercy renewed in the morning Don't wait for mercy in the next season today's the day of salvation

God loves moving Not in necessarily a spawn spawn spontaneous way but in a way of urgent Inculcation he loves growing his people's trust independence upon him hour by hour moment by moment

And that's what we see him doing with the Israelites here He's fitting them for an inheritance

Verse 23 another step forward and how God will fit and prepare his people Then he said to them.

This is what the Lord has said. Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest a Holy Sabbath to the Lord Clearly we have something of the

Sabbath contained in Genesis 2 7 and 13 however

Formally speaking. This is the first description the first mention of what we understand to be

Sabbath proper in the Pentateuch. This is the first time as we've begun reading scripture that we come across something

Identifiably recognizable as the Holy Sabbath unto the Lord Clearly we have it contained within Genesis 2 this gives us a lens to look back toward that there's debate over whether The forbearers kept this

I think there's good reason to think that they did But here we have the formal instruction given to the Israelites who as slaves most certainly did not keep the

Sabbath How could they have kept the Sabbath under the demand of the taskmasters under the direction of the serpentine ruler

Pharaoh? So this is what the Lord says tomorrow is a Sabbath rest a holy

Sabbath to the Lord Bake what you will bake boil what you will boil lay up for yourselves all that remains to be kept into the morning

So they laid it up till morning as Moses commanded and it did not stink nor were there any worms in it?

So miraculously just as God could preserve that jarred Omer in the

Ark of the Covenant For the future generations of his people. He can also preserve it for the night You see God's providential control in a way that blesses rather than hinders his people's faith in him

He can preserve by the way brothers and sisters He can preserve your pursuits your endeavors your labors your toils your cares

He can make sure there's no worms in it If you have the right priority if it will be a genuine blessing to you and not something that will cause you to stumble

Our God is able to preserve it unto you and here the Israelites experience that It's not something to do with the manna itself, but rather God's providential and sovereign control over the manna

He can preserve it an extra night in order to give his people a rest Moses said eat that today for today is a

Sabbath to the Lord today. You will not find it in the field Not only is it preserved in the household during the night

But it's also not spread on the Sabbath day as they go out. There's nothing to gather six days

You shall gather it but on the seventh day the Sabbath there will be none First thing to notice about this is the

Sabbath as the fourth commandment has not yet been given But here we have the instruction of observing the

Sabbath And so if there's an argument that somehow it's a ceremonial commandment Would have to wrestle with why it appears here.

Why does God already begin to set this before his people? We have a lot more to say on this

Then we'll say today when we get to the fourth commandment a lot more to say about how to understand the nature of the ceremonial aspects of the

Sabbath and Sabbath keeping for the Israelites and what it means for us to have a rest that remains so I've spoken of this in the past in mark 2 in Genesis 2

I'm not gonna spend too much time laying out the big picture of the Sabbath or the building blocks of the Sabbath Maybe we'll rehearse that when we get to Exodus 20 here

I want to move on a little bit But again, there's much to say about this appearing even prior to the Sinai Covenant though at Sinai It becomes a sign of the

Sinai Covenant according to Exodus 31 And attempting to save themselves from the toil which

God commanded the Israelites Kept the manna in Defiance That's something that we saw that they kept the manna and it was this willful defiance against God's provision and yet when

God Instructed them to keep it and they kept it It preserved them and gave them a day of rest without the need to gather and their stomachs were full at the end of the

Sabbath Day, and that to me is this picture of our unbelief Fear not little flock.

It's the father's goodwill to provide for you But there's a willfulness in our unbelief

This frenzy that makes us hoard to gather up to go out into the field even when there's nothing to gather and to run our hands through thorns and thistles and Try to provide something for ourselves whether that's a covering or a provision or a direction or some motivation

We go forth and we're refusing God's commands to rest. I Provide the bread he's saying when

I tell you to gather and keep you gather and keep when I tell you to stay in and Rest you stay in and rest. I will meet your needs, but there's a willfulness on a part of the people of God When they're commanded to rest they want to labor and when they're commanded to labor they want to rest

This is a problem with the people of God We're passive and lazy and the things that we should be active and zealous about and we're active and zealous in all the ways that We should be careful thoughtful and resting

This is an example of living by sight rather than living by faith an example of going out with a dependence upon their arm rather than on the hand of God a dependence upon themselves their

Their efforts their labors rather than a dependence upon God and why is God doing this?

Is this the only way to feed the Israelites? He chose to feed them in this way so that he could

Continually teach them not only his ability to provide But his desire to provide

I have a care for you. He says cast your burdens on me. I Know that you're hungry.

I know that you're weary. I know that you're tired Let me give you rest and let me give you food.

It's not just that I can it's that I want to it's not just that I'm able it's that I will

I promise to and So God is teaching this lesson to his people Calling them to be not anxious or distrustful, but to be faithful Independent upon him

Jesus taught us to pray give us this day our daily bread and If you're

I'm sure like many of us you you you're thinking give us this week or this bi -weekly budget

You know give us our groceries for the week and we tend to forget the daily provision the constant

Compassion of our God. There's a reason Jesus taught us to pray. Give us this day The same thing

James warns against don't have this this sense that everything's gonna work out We're gonna go to such -and -such a city at such -and -such in time.

And this is how everything's gonna go Don't be presumptuous. Give us this day our daily bread Tomorrow, we'll we'll do that prayer.

We'll do the George Mueller prayer tomorrow Give us today our daily bread and if our cupboards are full and our refrigerators are full

And our basement freezers haven't, you know shorted or been left open then we ought to be very thankful for God's provision each day

Verse 27 Here we see this willful disobedience Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day together, but they found none big surprise

What did they expect? Moses had said from the Lord's own revelation when you go out on that seventh day, there'll be nothing to gather

But they go out on the seventh day and lo and behold, there's nothing to gather. Why is it that we test the Lord God?

We don't believe him at his word The Lord said to Moses how long do you refuse to keep my commandments in my laws?

see For the Lord has given you the Sabbath. Please notice the emphasis there doesn't say the

Lord has required of you this Sabbath The Lord has given you this

Sabbath To remember the toil that caused you to cry out at the beginning of Exodus To remember the whiplash is on your back and the restlessness that took all your strength and vitality

Do you remember the the tragedy of lamenting that your children and your children's children would be enslaved their whole lives?

Because of what was exacted upon you by your taskmasters that endless labor

But lo I give you rest. He said I'm giving you a Sabbath Not only will

I not whip your back Not only will I not In a cruel way force you to produce

I'll give you bread open the door flap of your tent and scoop up what you need for the day and on top of that I give you rest

Look at this gracious provision see for the Lord has given you the Sabbath and Therefore he gives you on the sixth day bread for two days.

Let every man remain in his place Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day Finally one of these rare gems in the midst of these chapters the people actually obey

So the people rested on the seventh day music to our ears. They actually followed through at least some of them as we'll see

In total disregard of what Moses had said some go out on the seventh day to gather And again, you remember this picture remember verse 4 the

Lord said to Moses behold I will rain bread from heaven for you and the people will go out and gather a certain quota every day.

Why? Not only to show his ability not only to show his care but also verse 4

That I may test them to see whether they'll walk in my law or not

So not only do we see God's sovereign provision Not only do we see God's fatherly care, but also we see a

God who wants to test the faith of his people He wants to prove the work of grace that redemption has wrought a certain quota is allotted every day

He's showing that he can make it rain from the heavens and why so that he can test them to see whether they'll walk according to his law

So here we see that even the gracious provision of God is meant to be something that tests and proves our faith

As one said joy tests us just as well as sorrows

It's not just through deprivation that the people of God are tested. It's through provision that the people of God are tested think of Daniel coming in to the the

Babylonian gore man's dream all the delicacies and delights

Something that Food Network couldn't even dream of this endless feast spread before him and Daniel and his compatriots recognize

We're gonna sell our souls if we give ourselves over to that kind of luxury I'm not only tested when

I'm deprived I'm tested when I'm blessed when there's this kind of luxury spread before me.

I need to be mindful and guarded over my soul It's not just the loss that will prove me but also the gain that will prove my faith

Will I lose my sense of dependence upon God? Will I forget all his benefits? Will I fail to bless his name?

Will I not have thankfulness in my heart? Do we remember always that God is the giver of blessing?

We're now what a week a week in some days past Thanksgiving Have we maintained that Thanksgiving spirit?

It seems like Thanksgiving comes and goes in a shorter and shorter breath the shorter span Are we grateful for him to what we receive?

This is one of the ways the people would have been equipped to rest on that that glorious seventh day

They would have rested in the goodness of God They would have looked back with Thanksgiving to all that he had provided and say we don't need to provide tomorrow

He's given us the Sabbath another reason to bless his name another reason to be thankful Do we obey

God as carefully and follow him as closely when our tables are full as when they're empty

We all are driven to trust and depend upon God when there's a pressing need But do we trust and depend on God when we don't have that pinch of a need?

I? Fear that in our flesh and in our sort of manner of provision that we're not prone to depend on God in ways that we should and for that reason

The tables being full the manna being showered from heaven the disobedience of the people here is almost more shameful

You can never give them a pass, but you could certainly be more sympathetic if they were starving and They go out on the seventh day, and they're just scraping through the dirt trying to find something to put in their mouth

You could say I even then you're disobeying the command, but I sympathize with you you were desperate

All right, we don't give Jesus doesn't say well, I'm starving so I guess I'm gonna make these stones bread

So so if Jesus recognized even that desperate plight would be sinful would be disobedient to God Then we would say it's the same for the

Israelite But we would certainly sympathize with them out of their great need they were driven to disobey

The tragedy of Exodus 16 is that it's not out of need They have that allotment which is more than enough.

They're always satisfied There's there's never anything left over and there's never

I wish I just had a little bit more they're always perfectly content and Yet though their table is full though.

They're perfectly satisfied with what God has provided They willfully disobey him not out of need not out of hunger not out of the pinch of desperation but just out of willful

Disobedience a willful distrust of God and it's shameful There's an indifference to God's command that we see here developing in some of the

Israelites in indifference We'll decide what's best for us We'll do what we see as necessary We won't as Jesus Fulfilled we won't know how to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God We'll live by bread alone the bread that we'll seek to gather in our own way

Of course, this wasn't done by all apparently there was only a few that did this but it was enough to warrant God's rebuke

And that is also something that as a people as a church we need to take into account

There doesn't have to be some 90 % majority for God's rebuke or God's chastisement to fall we're all interwoven as stones being chiseled into this glorious temple this abode of the

Spirit and Because we're all this royal priesthood. Even if some of us are Giving ourselves over to Murmuring or groaning if some of us are indifferent to God's commands

If some of us are thoughtless about what God has required we can expect that the rebuke may come to all Notice that God rebukes

Moses and it's a rebuke that's given to all of Israel Even though only some of the Israelites went forth and the idea here is at least some of the

Israelites are going What is he doing? Why is he out in the field? Doesn't he not know what Moses said?

There wasn't a watchfulness. There wasn't a guardedness And the Christian Church John Urquhart says which does not mourn the sin in its midst has no living trust in God Again, they're living by sight.

They're not living by faith And without faith, it's impossible to please him Because he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him

Manna is given every day even to these faithless Disobedient rebels manna is there

God rebukes them and yet provides for them How many times have we seen that lesson in our own lives

God rebukes us and yet he still provides for us But woe to us if from those very examples we don't learn how to live by faith and not by sight

Learn how to diligently seek him because he's a rewarder of those who seek him. Well, the biggest command here is

More a gift than a command, right? There's a command that comes with the Sabbath But to make it like it's some harsh

Unfair requirement of God is to mischaracterize what the Sabbath is and I emphasize again

He has given you the Sabbath He has not burdened you with the

Sabbath he's given you the Sabbath so that you would not be burdened And so we look at this larger picture of rest and we look at this

Sabbath command And I want to in our application now, I want to look at that through three different angles in some ways they all overlap, but I Want to try to divide them into three different angles three lenses at which we can look at this larger picture of rest

Not necessarily the Sabbath proper but this larger picture of rest and how that fits together with the

Sabbath Again, there's a lot more to say when we get to Exodus 20 if I had a whole whole

Separate sermon this morning. We would just look at John's Gospel and see how John employs the first day in the seventh day and that glorious eighth day which is the new first day the new creation all these beautiful themes of this number six of incompletion and lack of fulfillment and the glorious fulfillment and John is

Structuring in a very Sabbatarian way his theology of Jesus work his his redemption

So that that'll we'll get there in due time, but for now just maybe more practically. How are we to understand rest?

How are we to understand rest? specifically rest for the workmen rest for the worker those who labor those who toil rest for the workmen rest for the warrior and finally rest for the weary So rest for the workmen the warrior and the weary First for the workmen.

We're in the context of Exodus and all these once enslaved Israelites had been workmen slaves toilers laborers

By doubling the manna on the sixth day The Lord makes it possible for his people to cease gathering food on the seventh day

So not only does he provide daily bread, but he gives them an opportunity to rest from their labor again

This is not something they had experienced as slaves Remember Exodus chapter 5 beginning in verse 4 the king of Egypt said to them

Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work? Get back to your labor

And Pharaoh said look the people of the land are many and you make them rest from their labor

Pharaoh's saying how dare you give these people rest from their labor You've taken them from that enslaved toil from what they produce all that I need for my

Empire How dare you release even the slightest chain of their bondage?

How dare you give them even a day of rest? You take the people from their work you make them rest from their labor.

And so what does he do as a result of that? He commands his taskmaster saying no longer.

Shall you give the people straw to make brick? Let them go now and gather straw for themselves So not only does he say

I don't want them to have rest now. He increases the toil He increases the pain of the labor no longer straw to make brick

But rather gather your own straw to make brick the same quota as before So this is the beginning of this contrast

The serpentine ruler the one who loves to see the image of God and bondage. What does he do?

He refuses to give the people rest. He doubles down on their enslavement He makes their toil even more soul -crushing.

It causes them to lash out against Moses Look at the trouble you've inflicted us with so here there's no rest

No, no relief whatsoever. And then God by contrast says I'm giving you rest from your labor

I'm giving you a day where you don't have to go forth and gather where you can simply arrest and enjoy all that I've provided every need has been met you can depend on me and trust me

But often we want to work or spend ourselves out of this restless spirit

Which denies the gracious provision of God right at root is our pride

This is something that we'll see next week in SLBC. Not tonight

We'll get there next week with some readings from William Grinnell, which I'm very excited about At root it lays into why we we don't want to rest in God's grace we want to work

We want to earn we want to merit. There's this pride There's this sense of control the sense of of what we can establish for ourselves

It's it's Adam and Eve adorning themselves with leaves and thinking this will do that same fallen spirit that same fallen

Instinct we don't know how to rest Augustine had the famous prayer. I'm restless until I find my rest in you

All the things that seem to offer rest just end up becoming things that make us restless Hobbies that are ways that we relax end up being all -consuming and we become restless that we become devoted to them fixated upon them

They end up robbing us of all the things that we once found leisure and enjoyment in Only rest is found from the

Lord the world under the sway of Pharaoh only knows how to enslave with forms of labor and Sadly the people become trained

They become trained in a way that that is all they know It's all they know and God is now doing his own training

He's seeking to undo the training of centuries of slavery of a lifetime of bondage a lifetime of toil

And he's saying now I will train you and teach you to rest by trusting in me You will now rest

Enjoy the gift of rest because of who I am and what I have done in Faith and dependence upon me you will have rest

Insofar as you do not depend on me or have faith in me. All there is is restless toil endless labor

Gathering in the field with nothing to put into your stomach Now part of this rest as we said is a recognition that God is able and God cares and God is testing all these things are at play when it comes to our

Christian rest our keeping of the Lord's Day The Lord on the

Lord's Day is confronting our distrustful care He's forcibly freezing our frenzied pace of life

He's testing us to see how much of our heart begins to flood our minds and our thoughts with what

I have to do tomorrow In this week how much I have to get done. How am I gonna pull that off? There's no way

I can make this kind of time. There's no way I can make these kinds of priorities the

Lord says Is it you that is providing or is it me? Is it you they're able to fill your stomach or is it me?

Is it you they're able to work and earn your own rest or is it me that freely gives you rest

In other words, the Lord is confronting all those

Faithless aspects of our time our resources our pursuits when it comes to keeping the

Lord's Day There's perhaps no greater means of grace in the Christians life to reveal the hold of the flesh than sanctifying the

Sabbath There's perhaps no greater means to put the magnifying glass of your maturity and your spiritual discernment upon your practice than sanctifying the day of the

Lord So not only is he giving it to show our need for faith our ability to trust him his gracious provision

But it's also to test whether we're actually trusting in him or trusting in ourselves whether we're actually

Prioritizing his commands his way his will or our own now part of this part of sanctifying the

Sabbath part of understanding the Lord is Confronting us and and wanting to actually grow in faith in trust independence upon him is preparing for the

Sabbath right part of partaking rightly is preparing rightly and So just as we see among the

Israelites there had to be forethought There had to be a little extra effort The day before that day of rest came to gather up not one omer for each member of the household, but two owners

So it required a little more practice a little more thought a little more time out in the field It was a little bit harder to get everything to fit together in the course of the day

But it was so that you could set apart this day of rest so that you could fully enjoy all the contours of this day of rest that you would wake up with all the

Excitement and delight of being able to rest and chase away all the thoughts that would intrude like dark clouds on that clear sky

We see it even the Lord's command tomorrow. It's a Sabbath rest Bake what you will bake today boil what you will boil today lay up for yourself all that remains, right?

Today is the day of preparation God is saying Because tomorrow is the day of rest

So there's forethought There's planning there's determination

There's not this sort of Absent -mindedness that goes. Oh, I can't believe what time it is and then you just wake up and you sort of You know haggardly go about the day and then as soon as you leave lunch fellowship

You might as well be in Monday. You're already in the mode of Monday. You haven't actually set apart this day to the

Lord and therefore This means of grace is not really a very powerful means of grace in your life

It's not exposing the will in the way of the flesh. It's not exposing the pull of the world It's not exposing your dependence upon yourself rather than on God It's also not training you away from this frenzied labor this

Mindset that belongs to a slave rather than a child of the king this mindset of all will be provided I simply must align myself to his kingdom his righteousness.

I Sanctify this day that I might sanctify myself my life So part of rightly partaking is rightly preparing

J. R. Miller in his sermon Some of you have read of J. R. Miller perhaps is more famous daughter

There would seem to be in this provision and preparation in advance a suggestion of the way we would best observe our

Sabbath Some of us now he's writing about I don't know a century or more ago. I Think that's right.

He says some of us remember Certain old -fashioned times in the country when on Saturday evening

Careful preparations were made for the Sabbath So there would be no needless work done on the day of the

Lord Wood was cut carried in all the implements of worldly labor were put away boots and shoes were cleaned and blackened

That's interesting coffee was ground. Hey, hey food cooked as far as possible in a word

Everything was done that could be done beforehand to enjoy the most restful

Sabbath possible This old -fashioned custom is a good one to keep always Very much of Sabbath enjoyment and profit will always depend upon the measure of preparation.

We make for it in advance You see he's saying even in his time They had fallen away from former practices

Now if that was a century or more ago, what would he say about our time some of us in this room?

remember blue laws All right, you wanted to go out and do everything. It's just that in the civil sphere in the market square

They're really nothing you could do. You couldn't go shop. You couldn't go do the the worldly employments and entertainments

The blue laws kept everything closed And so a lot of people grew up and they had memories of the great feast day

The day that all the relatives and friends have you had the biggest lunch imaginable or the big early dinner?

It was a big feast day. And this is the the long luminous afterglow of what the Sabbath used to mean for Protestants And now what does it mean for the typical

Protestants in our land? We need to leave quick because kickoff is starting at one

Right and there's more excitement in anticipation frankly, there's more preparation. I Was gonna say for the

Patriots, but they're still Who's watching them? They're horrible But there's generally more anticipation

For the freedom and the amusement of the afternoon than there was for the worship of the Living God in the morning not only

Was that day done with distraction and a lack of insight interest or thought for the the demand of the day and the focus of The day and all that that means for our own sanctification, but there wasn't any forethought of preparation and So nothing was done a forehand to say how can we maximize the benefit of what

God has given us? He's given us rest. He's given us a day to train us and prepare us for that greater rest yet to come

Let us be very clear about this the Sabbath is to be our blessing It's one of the great rebukes that comes forth in Isaiah 58

Call this a day of delight Call the Sabbath at the light. Why do you make it something obnoxious?

Why do you make it burdensome? Why would you rather be out in the field scraping the mud? Why won't you rest?

Why won't you delight? Why won't you see my goodness? Why do you always want to cloak yourself with fig leaves?

The Sabbath is to be the most blessed day of the week the crown of the week the jewel of the week

Every week God gives us this day. It's a day of fellowship. It's a day of communion. It's a day of worship

It's a day of rest and reflection. It's a day of sanctification. It's a day of preparation. It's a day of anticipation

It should be the most blessed day of the week Friday is not the most blessed day of the week

Friday nights not the best time Saturday is not finally I can do all the things.

I couldn't do Monday through Friday Saturday is the best day of the week And you betray your spiritual immaturity the

Sabbath is a blessing God gives it to be a blessing. We'll be to us if we treat it like a burden

Lord I don't want your gift. I want to work Lord, I don't want your provision. I want to provide let us be clear

We are commanded and this will be carried over in Exodus 20 We're commanded to keep the

Sabbath holy that is the fourth commandment. Is it not? Keeping the

Lord's Day. Holy is part of what it means to live a godly life this was beyond dispute for centuries of Christian praxis and only in in our modern times of shallow belief and complete worldliness

Run amok in the church Do we somehow separate this as a means of grace as a sanctifying influence as a day made holy by God for God and for?

his people part of what it means to obey the fourth commandment is to keep this day holy because it's so central to how we must live and How we will live a godly life

Part of what it means to trust God is contained within the Sabbath Part of it what means to bless

God and be thankful to God and therefore worship him rightly is contained within the Sabbath Part of acknowledging and seeing and finding blessing in your life is bound up with the

Sabbath part of how you will learn to trust And obey is bound up to the Sabbath Spurgeon says

Like the Israelites, sometimes we get double supply But there's a difference between us and the children of Israel because we get a double supply on the

Sabbath Alright, we don't get a double supply before we get it on the day. Oh We ought to thank

God for our Sabbaths when the Lord is with us When he makes the man a lie before us like do when we come to his house and our homers are full happy Sabbath These days become the market day of the week

That's what the Puritans use as a caricature the market day of the soul you know that day of the week where you go and you know, you you're hungry you're

You're down to the last few creative meals. You can put together from the cupboard, you know, like, you know

You think raisins would go with that dish, you know, you're trying to scrape up You know remnants of cereal boxes and all that you're down to bare minimum, you know plain boiled pasta again

But the next day is market day The next day you fill up. I remember as a boy when my mom would come home from that weekly trip

She always have a box of Drake's coffee cakes. They didn't last the night Those were like we were like piranha as soon as that bag that was gone first day

And it was almost a joy the anticipation of market day, you know grocery trip

All the good things in front of us that will carry us through to the end before the next market day

And that's what the Lord is doing. Here's this market day for the soul. Here's all this abundance eat

Breathe enjoy delight. Let this sustain and nourish and carry you through until the next market day

And yeah come Friday come Saturday. You're beleaguered and you're weary and you're about to be filled and refreshed

So sanctify the Sabbath day Prepare wisely for it The Lord confronts our distrustful care.

I asked the question. Are we choosing the better parts? Are we choosing the better parts in Luke 10?

We have Jesus entering a certain village and a certain woman named Martha And she has a sister certain woman named

Mary I can't wait to meet Martha and Mary What an interesting relationship these siblings have

Seems like they had the typical sibling intrigue throughout their life and here

Jesus comes upon the scene and here's this Classic sibling rivalry and sort of a bone of contention between these two sisters

Isn't that encouraging that Jesus comes into your family dysfunction? You know you think you know, can you just control yourself?

The master is here, you know control myself Can you just be civil for once Mary? Can you just help?

So you have this picture of Jesus coming in and now he's going to address this little spat between these sisters

And this is the the scene that Luke sets for us She had a sister called

Mary who sat at Jesus feet and heard his word that's a picture of rest right sitting reclining and Listening to the word listening to Jesus teach and in contrast to that is

Martha Martha was distracted with much serving. So she's distracted.

She's getting a few words. Oh, that's interesting I'll have to double I'll have to ask a question about that later But you know, this is burning that has to get done.

The tables not set that just spilled She's distracted by much serving. So you have a sister that seems to be lazy

Passive unproductive not laboring not meeting the demands of the day. There's things that we can do and we should do

That's Martha you have Mary She's not doing any of those things. She's not distracted.

She's not frenzied. She's not consumed by much serving She simply sits so that she can hear the word.

She's resting at the feet of Jesus so Martha approaches

Jesus and says Lord Don't you care that my sister has left me to serve alone.

It's the same Groaning and complaints that the disciples said don't you care that we're drowning?

Well Martha is drowning in busyness She's drowning in labor, don't you care that I'm drowning there's so much to do and no one's helping me

And what does Martha expect? What is Jesus going to say to that? What? How dare you get up you help your sister

Give her a break. You need to go and work and toil. Is that what Jesus instructs? He actually rebukes

Martha thinks I'm about to get vindicated Jesus let's go. We'll confront her together That's what she thinks is gonna happen

She's surprised that Jesus is actually about to rebuke her Martha Martha Martha Martha Martha You're worried and troubled about many things

That great book tie one of the best book titles, I don't know if it's a good book. It's a great title Having a merry spirit in a

Martha world. What a great title You're troubled by many things you have many pressures many concerns

Many things that are consuming you many frets and fears that are troubling you you're worried about a lot

But one thing is needed one thing is needed

Mary has chosen the good part. Mary has chosen the one thing needed

Mary has rested and received my word You're troubled you're toiling you're worried.

You're distracted, but only one thing is needed That you would rest and receive his word and he says not only am

I not gonna rebuke her Not only are you not gonna get help from her? I'm not taking that away from her, but you should learn how to sit next to her

I had thankfully a few examples in my life because I grew up without any real exposure to This historic practice or the implication of the

Fourth Commandment or what this even looks like I had no visible patterns in front of me until an elder Took me aside.

It was one of the things that he began talking to me about Wasn't sure I where I was on it. I was sort of a

Feisty, you know keyboard warrior at that point in time a cage stage Calvinist And I had all sorts of responses prepared for that because I at the time

I hadn't quite quite clarified things Maybe that's where you are and that's okay. You're in you're in the right place for us to grow and work these things out

But I remember him in a very sort of gentle Admonishment saying you really need to be preparing and you need to be resting on this day

You know, what? What could you do to make that day a gift a blessing? I remember going over I used to do a lot of pulpit supply for Marc Marquis and He only did it once that's okay

He invited me back to the his home which is behind the church building the parsonage

And he had a I think it's because he had a friend there who was a pastor down in the south

And so they were gonna spend some time flesh means. Hey, if you don't have to leave right away Why don't you and Alicia come this was years ago?

And so you could tell it was it was unplanned It was unanticipated and it was you know, we we hadn't eaten anything and we went and God bless his wife.

She wasn't gonna run around. She wasn't gonna bust out and start cooking and making on the Lord's Day She said yeah,

I might have a bag of popcorn and maybe some peanuts She just grabbed what was available and she put it in because it was a day of rest

She wasn't distracted. She wasn't worried. She wasn't in a frenzy He wasn't like let me go clean and let me whip all these things up.

And can I start baking this? Can I make you that she you know, it's just like here's a bottle of water. I can give you some peanuts

It was like prison rations It was it was glory. I remember being so struck by that. I was like, wow

What a blessing and the fellowship was almost sweeter for that reason It wasn't in the airs or any drives.

It was just enjoying discussing things in a spiritual way So I asked a question even in something as simple as that.

Do you choose the good part? You choose the better part. Do you choose the thing that Jesus says it won't be taken from you

And the implication of that is anything else will be taken from you Anything else that you think is so vital so worthwhile so necessary So consuming the things that cause you worry and toil in the end.

Those things are taken from you The one thing that will never be taken from you is the one thing you need

Which is to know how to rest at the feet of Jesus and listen to his word and to help you do that He's given you a day of rest a day of rest.

So that's rest for the workman Secondly and this is a little more brief rest for the warrior

It's not only the the laborer that had to learn how to rest But think of where the story is going when the 40 years of wandering have passed and now

Joshua is about to lead that emergent generation into Canaan and he's leading them into Canaan as what as warriors as an invading force as the armies of the

Lord as the hosts of the Almighty and So the warriors need to go and they need to toil in the conquering of the land

They need to work hard at the combat that God has put before them they need to extend his kingdom to overtake all that he has assured them and Only to them in that warrior way.

Will that victory bring rest? In other words, there'll be no rest in that land No enjoyment of that land until that victory is complete think of any soldier going off to war

It's endless toil endless toil endless toil Until the hard hard fought battles lead to the hard -won victory and then the rest has come

It's nothing that a week of R &R or a little relocation or a little downtime in between the great

Fights could ever bring about there's there's never that sense of rest until the war is over The victory is complete now.

We hang up our arrow and our bow now We put aside our spear in our shield Now we rest and I love this picture for the

Christian life as the hymn captures it soon Soon to faithful warriors comes their rest soon soon

To faithful warriors comes their arrest Well, what if you're not faithful?

What if you're not a warrior? Well, you don't even enter the land You don't even enter the land and that's we'll get there from Hebrews 4

They didn't believe they were disqualified. They didn't enter into the rest Only warriors end up resting and to the warriors that are faithful in the combat are faithful to engage in the war war

Against the flesh and the world and the devil war for the sake of the kingdom only to those faithful warriors

Will the rest finally come? Now some of you you've pressed on in the

Christian life and you know exactly what I'm describing you've you've been in a war Against certain lusts of the flesh

You've been in a war against certain things that once had power over you and now they have this

Remnant presence and you're mortifying and you're purging you're fighting. We call it a fight of faith for this reason

You're working these things out like a good soldier in Christ Jesus You're putting on that Ephesians 6 armor because you're fighting and this whole life is characterized by this combat

You might have that weekly R &R, but you won't have the rest until the victory is won Soon soon to faithful warriors comes their rest.

I Know something of fatigue I know some of you do but I don't I can't imagine the fatigue that comes toward the end of one's life toward the sunset of one's health

I Remember my grandfather when he was in his late 80s And if you if you asked him in a way that he had time to actually talk, you know

It wasn't just sort of a passing nicety, you know, how are you? You know, how are you doing? How are you? He would just say with this

Body language and expression that I couldn't replicate if I tried but it's it's burned into my memory

He'd just say I'm tired All right, he doesn't mean oh I need a nap or I didn't sleep well last night he's just like I'm tired

I'm tired of living And you've met people their 80s and their 90s people

Going, you know fighting the fight. Why do we call like diseases like cancer a battle? We say they lost their battle to cancer, right?

There's a weariness. There's a fatigue that comes It's a profound Exhaustion and no nap no 1012 hours of sleep every night could touch it melatonin can't touch it.

It's a it's a fatigue that is bound up with life itself I'm tired I'm tired of fighting

I'm tired of constraining. I'm tired of laboring soon soon to faithful warriors comes their rest and So death is even pictured in this metaphorical way as sleeping.

All right, we fall asleep. It's we finally rest Blessed are those who rest in the

Lord Revelation 14 says as much blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on Yes says the

Spirit That they may rest from their labors It's a blessing to fall asleep

When your life has been characterized by labor so that the Sabbath that crowning day of rest

After six days of labor is a microcosm for your whole life Your whole life as a believer is taken up with the labor and the toil

Six long days of this labor as you finally prepare for that day of rest to come

And in that rest you have the presence of God and the communion of God's people

The Sabbath week is a microcosm of the Christians life and no rest is more precious

Than rest to someone who had long toiled for six days had broken their back in labor How much sweeter rest is to that than a sluggered?

How sweet rest is to a soldier that has lost casualties limbs as it were

How sweet is that rest when he survives and he makes it to the end when he made it into the kingdom though He had to take off an arm and gouge out an eye

He fought the good fight to the end and now he enters his rest and his reward.

There's no rest. So sweet as that Now brother and sister if I could venture to say if that is meant to be the picture for your life

What would your week look like if you could somehow constrain your week to look like toil and labor for the

Lord? Not just the bare minimum to provide but labor labor for the

Lord So that you could find that rest at the end to be sweeter than anyone else could ever imagine

Well done Good and faithful servant injustice servant servant with integrity with zeal

Burning himself out as it were for the Lord How sweet in a week of that kind of labor would the day of rest be to you?

How sweet in a life of that kind of labor would that final rest be to you soon?

Soon to faithful warriors comes their rest, you know, you catch a squirrel

Or any rodent you make any trap? I See these traps, you know all the time advertised and all you need to do is create a sort of ramp

All you need is the easiest access point to the trap and they'll they'll find the easiest way, right?

It doesn't though a squirrel can go from the horizontal ground to the vertical tree

They're made to do that. They do it very well. If there is a leaning branch at a 45 degree angle They'll just go to that branch ten times out of ten.

It's just the easier path I don't have to go as vertical I can just go up the branch and then they hit the snare and They're caught why people catch squirrels.

I don't I don't know I hope that we're not that naive as Christians to think the path of least resistance

The easiest way forward is the blessed way forward did not Jesus warn us to not live by sight

To not be like pilgrim on the progress to see the way that looks like it's a shortcut and it will meet up in the end

And then end up in Doubting Castle with giant despair saying I'm gonna rip you to pieces

I'm gonna consume you There's no escape and it all began by saying this is the path of least resistance

Maybe there is a broad and wide path that I can go on and it won't cost me as much as it cost other

Believers and it won't require of me the things that it seems to require all these strange people at GRBC Maybe I can go down this easy broad path get what

I want from this world for myself and my flesh and then Straddle my leg in the kingdom and find myself safe and happy at the end

No, only two faithful warriors comes the rest Only to those who put to death the deeds of the flesh

Only to those who live by the Spirit Live unto Christ by the power of the

Spirit only to them comes the rest So there's rest for the workmen, but there's also rest for the warrior and If you're not working toward that rest

Then most likely you're not at war and if you're not at war Are you even a believer?

Are you even a believer? If there's not some angst some pressure some need to take every thought captive some need to take control and use the power of the

Spirit by the risen arrested resurrected Christ to Constrain your life into conformity to his image if there's not that battle being waged in your life

Are you even a believer? What would rest be to you a lazy man's reward?

No soon soon to faithful warriors comes the rest And then

I think I'm gonna pass by Hebrews 4 and close with this rest for the weary Rest for the weary.

This is where all roads lead to Rome a rest for the weary of course, the gospel has been presented to us as living water as Living bread and here we have it as rest.

It's another picture of the gospel The Israelites were meant to understand something of the salvation of God according to this

Sabbath You were in bondage forced to provide in ways that you couldn't even provide. I Freed you and I provide for you.

That's a picture of the gospel And so Jesus unsurprisingly in Matthew 11 points to himself as the one who can give rest and this is again a presentation of the gospel

At that time we read in Matthew 11 25 Jesus answered. Now. What time was it in Matthew 11 at that time?

That's significant right Matthew saying pay attention to the context. It's at this time that he says this so the context matters

Right at that time Jesus answered and said and the time is he's he's just rebuked all the cities

He's preached woe upon the cities for their unbelief They don't know who he is. They don't believe him.

They will not follow him and he preaches woe Against them in verse 19 prior to that This was the charge the mockery of Jesus the

Son of Man came eating and drinking and they say look a glutton a wine -bibber A friend of tax collectors and sinners.

They're mocking Jesus They're rejecting Jesus Jesus rebukes them and then it leads to this at that time

Jesus answered and said I thank you father Lord of heaven and earth you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent you've revealed them to babes even so father

It seemed good in your sight All things have been delivered to me by my father.

No one knows the Son except the father So here you see part of that context, right? They don't know who he is

You don't understand who he is. So they reject him and he preaches judgment to them They mock him And he says in light of all of that rejection cities rejecting him

All right that the scribes and the priests rejecting him and he says Truly only the father knows who the son is

Truly only my father knows who I am as I walk veiled in their midst Nor does anyone know the father except the son, it's not a beautiful exchange

Out of the whole world that is witnessing the incarnate Son of God only the father truly knows

Truly understands the glory and the power and the majesty of the Son and out of that entire world only the son truly knows the father

The only access point is the son From the father through the son to the world of the world through the son to the father

This mutual relationship this reciprocal knowledge that comes between the father and son by the

Spirit And then Jesus says And the one to whom the son wills to reveal him and the one to whom the son wills to reveal him

So the son having a desire to reveal the father to reveal the Godhead to believers

And then he Basically says this is how he reveals Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest

No one knows knows who I am why I've came what I must do No one even knows the one who sent me except me and who

I reveal it to and this is how I reveal it This is how I know This is how

I gather those who will come who are meant to come to me. I say to them. Are you weary? Do you labor?

Come to me and rest Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden

I will give you rest take my yoke upon you learn from me I'm gentle and lowly in heart you will find rest for your souls

So how does Jesus at least in Matthew 11 preach the gospel to those that he wants to reveal the

Godhead to? He reveals it in terms of rest He says put off your labor the slave labor of the

Israelites and come into the freedom and the redemption Come into the rest that only

I can give that I will give when you come to me So the gospel is shown forth as this promise rest

Captured by Joseph Hart so well come ye weary heavy laden lost and ruined by the fall

If you tarry till you're better if you go out to the fields to gather if you try to earn for yourself

You'll never come at all The gospel as rest is that something that we often think about if we're not thinking about the gospel as rest

No wonder we don't think about the Sabbath as a day to be sanctified and insofar as we don't sanctify the

Sabbath and and call this Sabbath a delight and make it a genuine day of rest of restoration of worship of Sanctification If we don't make it that day of rest

No wonder that the gospel is not a picture of rest to us, but actually a picture of something we work and we earn

These things are interconnected It's beautiful picture in Ezekiel 37.

You remember he's just given the promise of the new covenant I will put my law in your heart. I will pour out my spirit upon you

Ezekiel 36 This great a forth telling of the new covenant that we have in Christ and then 37 is almost the illustration of that very thing

Here's what this new covenant will accomplish. Here's what it will do like in an illustration We have the valley of dry bones

Can these bones live, you know this army? and they're all emaciated and Decomposed dry bones in this valley.

Can they live? You know Lord We have the Ruach the spirit the breath of God blowing upon them and they clamber together and are resurrected

And this is what is said verse 11 son of man. These bones are the people of Israel They have said our bones are dried up.

Our hope is gone. We're cut off But prophesy and say to them. This is what the Sovereign Lord says my people

I'm going to open your graves and bring you up from them I will bring you back to the land Then you my people will know that I am the

Lord when I open your graves and bring you up from them right when I bring new life out of death when you had been dead and trespass and sin and I pour my spirit upon you and Give you new life and you break forth from your grave and and your your bondage your chains break forth and he says this

I will put my spirit in you and you will live and I will

Settle you in your land Settle you the word settle there.

It's a fine translation, but it's It's the same word. It's the root for rest.

I will give you rest in the land. I will rest you in the land So here's this picture of the gospel.

It's all contained around this picture of rest, right the result of God Resurrecting his people through a new birth pouring his spirit upon them is that they live and they're given rest unto the land

They're given rest. That's a picture of the gospel The Lord forms the body of his people and Then in restoring them.

He gives them rest in a land and we're right back to Genesis This is Adam forming the body being put in the land given rest

Noah we had it in Genesis 5 we think I think we read right past it Noah's name that's where we get the word rest from Newark Heading back to Genesis 5 you have

Noah's name given in this way. This one will comfort us. This one will give us rest Concerning our work and the toil of our hands because of the ground the

Lord is cursed you see again These images from Genesis to Exodus on to Ezekiel and beyond This picture of rest.

It's a gospel picture Noah Comes as the sort of next Adam But the next chance for humanity after this devastating judgment over the face of the earth

And Lamech gives a sort of prophetic name as we've seen throughout Genesis and these prophetic names.

This one will give us rest This one will give us rest Give us rest in what way concerning our toil concerning our labor concerning the curse of the ground

It's the very things we saw in Genesis 2 in Genesis 3 last week Right the curse on the ground that makes us have to labor and toil and Jesus says no

I'm the bread and now Jesus says no, I'm the rest Jesus is the greater Noah yet to come

He's the one who gives them rest comfort comfort. He my people Same same verbal root root of a noun comfort comfort my people rest rest my people

Speak rest to Jerusalem cry out to her her warfare has ended her iniquity is pardoned

She's received from the Lord's hand double for all of her sins The Lord will Isaiah 51 the Lord will rest

Zion He will rest all of her waste places He'll give as it were a

Sabbath to the wilderness so that it can recover Desert like the

Garden of the Lord joy and gladness found in it Thanksgiving are you not the one who dried up to see the waters of the great deep that made the depths of the sea a

Road for the redeemed you see Genesis is now Exodus The great global flood of Genesis 5 is now the

Red Sea of Exodus So we have this glorious picture and what's the result of this just like Noah?

Rest just like in Exodus. God gives rest It's not easy for us to walk by faith among thorns and thistles

It's not easy for us to go down the narrow path and to try to gather faithfully labor toil fight

Run the race as to win. It's not easy to live and resist ungodliness and worldly lust

It's not easy to find God's favor and what he takes as much as what he gives So what a glorious picture of the gospel we have in rest

It's tiresome it's painful it's weary It's numbing

We're tired and we're reminded that the gospel is rest

Jesus is our rest. Jesus is the one greater than Noah who promises to give us rest. Are you weary?

I That rest arrives fully in the person and work of the

Savior come all you who are weary and heavy laden I will give you a rest. He says to Moses in Exodus 33.

My presence goes with you. I will give you rest So the Sabbath is the chief way we show forth we display we take into ourselves

The rest that is proclaimed to us promised to us in the gospel The Sabbath is for us a way we trust in the

Lord a way We delight in the Lord a way we commit ourselves to the Lord a way we rest in the

Lord and that rest is also in Anticipation the rest becomes waiting So we trust we delight we commit we rest we wait

Now all of that. I'm getting to the end here. All of that is held together for us in Psalm 37

Psalm 37 this beautiful picture. I think of one of the ways the gospel the presentation of the

Sabbath Shows us what it means for us to sanctify the Sabbath this rest that actually characterizes our life

It causes us to trust and delight and commit and rest and wait in hope Psalm 37 beginning in verse 3 trust in the

Lord and do good Dwell in the land feed on his faithfulness What a what a picture right out of Exodus 16

Rest eat look at what I've provided. I'm good Delight yourself in the

Lord and he shall give you the desires of your heart When the Lord is the desire of your heart, your heart will be delighted in the

Lord Sanctify the Sabbath it's a way you not only trust but you learn how to delight in his goodness

You know more of what he's done more of how he is And that leads you to what commit your way to the

Lord trust also in him. He'll bring it to pass

He'll bring forth your righteousness as the light your justice as a noonday rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him

Don't look around you and become restless like everyone else Don't be a Mary and start to think maybe

I should be more like Martha No, don't fret because of him who prospers in his way Because of a man who brings wicked schemes to pass cease from anger forsake wrath

Right anger and wrath would make it quite hard to rest on The Sabbath wouldn't it?

We're not told who these Israelites were that went on the seventh day to gather in defiance against God But my guess is they were angry bitter men

Complaining murmuring grumbling all the things we've seen characterized the corporate life of Israel up to this point. They're just frustrated

Moses doesn't even know what he's doing. If I was in charge, we would already been at the border of Canaan This is you know what?

I'm just going out there you guys coming with you know, this wrath this anger this clamor It's the opposite of resting in the

Lord and waiting patiently for him It what it's what Rob's trust what Rob's delight what Rob's commitment rather than commitment to the

Lord and his people you end up Buffering and pushing against the Lord and his people Cease from anger forsake wrath and don't fret it only causes harm

What would an Israelite gain from worrying and not getting sleep the whole night that the food was gonna spoil what would it gain

Trusting in the Lord Evil doers will be cut off but those who wait on the Lord they will inherit the earth

We already have that shadow of the beatitude in there Do you notice this last little piece here rest in the

Lord right trusting delighting committing? resting and Waiting and here those two things are put together rest in the

Lord and wait patiently for him You cannot rest if you are impatient

Impatience is the oil to the water of rest You cannot rest if you're impatient

Rest in the Lord wait patiently for him You have to wait patiently if you're resting you're not laboring.

You're not toil you're resting in him You're trusting in him. You're depending on him. You're living by his promise.

You're walking by faith not by sight You're resting in the Lord waiting patiently for him. You notice the rest is waiting and So for all of the other things that this day ought to mean and can mean and will mean for us as we grow

It's not a day that ever fully satisfies We get two

Omer's We're content. It gets us through to the next market day But we're waiting for that wedding feast.

We're waiting for the Warriors rest. We're waiting for the victory rest And so this rest that causes us to wait patiently it

It's a West it's a rest that builds anticipation there there yet remains a rest for the people of God Let me close with these words from Philip Doddridge a beautiful hymn

He captures this so well and ask yourself if this day if today this day is having this kind of Anticipating effect is this day this time causing you to long for what

Doddridge is describing By an earthly Sabbath's Lord, we love that's the first thing do you even love this day?

Do you love it? Are you just like an Israelite? You're waiting to get back in the fields

Monday can't come quick enough You say oh, I hate Monday, but looking at your life you love

Monday It's Sunday that you don't like You love

Monday by an earthly Sabbath's Lord. We love but there's a nobler rest above Thy servants to that rest aspire with ardent hope strong desire.

No more fatigue No more distress. No sin. No death shall reach that place

No groans mingle with the songs that dwell upon a mortal tongues, right? We we worship on this day of rest with some groaning in our voices

When we worship on that final rest, there's no groaning. No fatigue. No sorrow No rude alarms of raging foes no cares to break our long repose no midnight shade

No clouded Sun, but sacred high eternal moon

Oh Long expected day begin. Is there even something remotely similar about this day?

That would cause you to long for that greater day yet to come Is there any aspect of your preparation or your

Participation in this day that would cause you to say Oh Long expected day begin. Oh, I can't wait for this to be perfected for this to be consummated

If you don't love the earthly Sabbath now How could you possibly love that heavenly

Sabbath yet to come if you don't love the rest that God has given you now? How could you love the rest that remains for the people of God if you don't love this?

I've got bad news for you If you love Mondays more than this if you love toil more than rest.

I've got bad news for you. Oh Long expected day begin dawn on these realms of woe and sin

Fain would we leave this weary road sleep and death to rest with God Let's pray father.

Thank you for your word. Thank you for this day. You've given us Lord Forgive me

Lord. I have not sanctified this day as I am and I forfeited the blessings of it

I forfeited the growth and the grace I would have received from it Help us

Lord as a church to Understand why you've given not exacted not burdened but given this day of rest

Out of your goodness out of this desire to display your gospel May we live up to that great picture

Of resting in you trusting in you being satisfied by you in a way that we're longing for the greater rest yet to come