Why Would God Rest - Genesis 2:1-3

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Why would the omnipotent God need to rest?

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Well, I've been anxiously awaiting preaching this message since we first began looking at Genesis back in September of last year.
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And the reason why is not just because I was excited to actually get to another chapter.
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We've been in the first chapter all this time.
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But because, as some of you may remember, last year we hosted a theological debate where I, along with Pastor Rob Hamm of the Keystone Presbyterian Church, came here on the chancel.
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And I was on one side and he was on the other.
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And we debated the theological topic of, is Sunday the Christian Sabbath? Pastor Hamm took the positive position.
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He said yes.
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He believed that Sunday does constitute a Christian Sabbath.
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And I took the position that no, I do not believe that Sunday is meant to be understood as the Christian Sabbath.
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One of the main texts that arose in that debate was Genesis chapter 2, verses 1 through 3.
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And the reason why this passage is part of that conversation, the reason why this passage is part of that debate, is because those who believe that Sunday is a Christian Sabbath believe that Genesis chapter 2, verses 1 through 3 constitutes a creation ordinance.
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Now what does the word ordinance mean? It means a command or a law.
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You talk about like a local ordinance.
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That's a local rule or a local law.
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We have in the church how many ordinances? Two.
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Baptism is the first ordinance that we receive when we become Christians.
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It's a demand of Christ.
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It's not optional.
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Now it doesn't save us, but it's certainly not something that we can put up as an option because Jesus says to do it, you know.
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Go and baptize disciples, and that's what we're supposed to do.
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So the first ordinance of the church is baptism.
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The second ordinance of the church is the Lord's Supper.
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Jesus said as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me.
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And so there are two ordinances in the Christian church.
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And what happens when you begin to talk about Sunday as Sabbath, and then you go back and you say creation gives us a creation ordinance, what you end up with is an additional law.
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You end up with an additional ordinance based upon creation.
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And that was the debate that Rob and I had on this subject.
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As I said, he believed that it does, and I believe that it doesn't.
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Now if you came to the debate, some of you probably were here, you probably, and some even came to me after, they said, you know what, you and Pastor Rob are so close on this.
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You're so close.
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Why did you even debate? It's almost like you're just arguing over the smallest minutia.
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Because Pastor Rob and I am very close theologically.
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And I said, yes, but there's still precision in theological teaching that we need to seek to have.
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And even if it's only a small difference between us, we need to be able to identify what that difference is.
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And as iron sharpens iron, so does one man sharpen another, as the Proverbs say.
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So yes, I'm going to say some things in this message and next week's message, because this is a two-part lesson, about the fact that yes, I do believe Sunday is a special day.
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I do believe Sunday is the Lord's day.
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I don't think it's the Lord's morning.
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I think the whole day belongs to Him.
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And I think that this is the day that we should worship, and I think this is the day that we're supposed to come together for the purpose of worship.
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But I don't believe that it's the Sabbath, because I believe the Sabbath had a purpose that was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
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And so that's going to be part of this lesson that we go through today and next week.
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So all that was simply introduction.
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I want to now read verses one through three, and I'm going to give an exposition of it this morning.
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And that's going to be our introduction to this topic.
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So let's stand together.
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And I hope that the studies that I've done on this will become fruitful for us as we look at this topic.
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So the subject is, why would God rest? I'm going to read verses one to three.
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Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
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And on the seventh day, God finished His work that He had done.
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And He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done.
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So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all His work that He had done in creation.
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May God add His blessing to the reading of His word.
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May He write its eternal truths upon our heart.
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May He keep me from error as I preach.
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Amen.
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You may be seated.
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Sometimes the location of chapter divisions in the Bible are very unfortunate.
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Just in case you didn't know, and I think most of you do, but some people don't realize this, the Bible was not written with chapter divisions.
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It was not written with verse divisions.
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The chapter divisions didn't come in until about the 1300s.
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And the verse divisions didn't come in until about the 1500s.
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And so when we are reading the Bible, oftentimes we have these artificial divisions that weren't in the original text.
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So if you were reading Genesis as Moses wrote it, you wouldn't stop at the end of chapter one and say, and there was mourning the sixth day, and be like, whoo, that's the end of that story.
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Now we're going to start chapter two, which starts a new story.
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No, chapter two, in our mind, really shouldn't be there because this is the continuation of the narrative that we have, which began back in Genesis chapter one and verse one.
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In Genesis chapter one, we have the six days of creation, but really there are seven days in view.
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The six days of creation, the first three, God is forming the world.
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The first day He separates light from darkness and He makes day and He makes night.
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On the second day, He separates the sky above from the waters below.
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He makes an atmosphere and He makes a sea.
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And on day three, He separates the water from the land and He makes dry land so that you and I wouldn't have to live our whole lives with swimming.
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We have land that we can live on.
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And so that's the first three days, is the forming of the world.
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And then the next three days are the filling of that world.
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On day four, He fills the sky.
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Remember, He separated light from darkness.
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He fills the heavens with the sun and the moon and the stars to govern the day and the night, to govern the light and the darkness.
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On day five, He creates the birds of the air and the fish of the sea because it was on day two that He made the sky and the sea.
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And so on day five, that corresponds.
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He makes the birds of the heaven and the fish of the sea.
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And then on day six, He creates the dry land animals.
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First beginning with the beasts of the field.
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He says He created the beasts.
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He created the livestock and He created the creeping things.
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And then on day six, He creates His crowning achievement, that which He had set out from the beginning, the purpose for which all this was made.
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He created man.
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And we know that this was the purpose for which it was made because it says that He created man in His image and in His likeness to be His vice regent, to be the one who would take dominion over that world that He had created.
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God created man to image Him in that world, to represent Him and His goodness and His glorious rule over the world that He had created.
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And you would think, well, that's the end.
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God has reached the zenith.
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God has reached the high point of creation and it's over and it's done.
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But then no, we get to chapter two, which really is just a continuation of chapter one.
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And we see God adds a seventh day.
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But it is not a seventh day for work.
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He adds a seventh day for the purpose of rest.
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In six days, He had worked, He had labored in the process of creation.
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And now on the seventh day, He ceases from that work.
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And that's the real focus.
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If you have a word, like if you want to think of a topical word or a thought for the day, the word that you should put in your mind is the word to cease, to cease.
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God is ceasing from the work of creation.
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So let's begin with verse one and I'm going to just give an exposition as I often do, just walk through the text.
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It says, Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all of the hosts of them.
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At this point, everything is done in regard to creation.
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Remember, it was only six days earlier that there was nothing.
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God did not take pre-existing materials and form them into something.
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God didn't, as it were, like with my children, take a box of Legos and pull them out and pour them out and put all the colors together and say, okay, we're going to have this and we're going to have that and I'm going to form it.
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No, He spoke the very elements into existence.
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When there was nothing, God spoke and there was something.
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Science cannot account for this.
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Science cannot account for the idea that nothing produces something.
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And this is one of the reasons why we believe that God does exist.
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Because if there ever was a time where there was nothing, no God, no anything, there would still be nothing.
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But God exists and therefore He can take the nothing and make it something because He has the power to do so.
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And God's power is amazing because it doesn't come from His fashionability with His hands, but it's from the word of His mouth.
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He speaks and the world is.
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John Calvin, in his commentary on Genesis 2, says this, Moses declares that this world was in every sense completed, as if the whole house were well supplied and filled with its furniture.
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The heavens without sun, moon, and stars would be an empty palace.
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If the earth were destitute of animals, trees, plants, and barren waste, would have been the appearance of a poor and deserted house.
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God, therefore, did not cease from the work of creation until He had completed it, every part of it, so that nothing should be lacking.
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Back when I was in Genesis 1 several months ago, I talked about the fact that if you follow the Genesis narrative in Genesis 1, it's almost as if God is like a master builder.
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God is an architect who is establishing, okay, what's going to be necessary, what's going to be needed, we know we need this because this is what's coming and we know we need that because that's what's going to follow.
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And we said this earth that we live in is not just, it's not just habitable, but it's hospitable.
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You know, oftentimes science will say, we're trying to look for a planet that's habitable.
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Trying to find some planet that has liquid water because that's often what they say is the definition of a habitable planet.
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Our earth is not habitable, it's hospitable.
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If you were walking along in a forest and you found a cave, you might say, well, that's habitable.
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That'll keep the elements off of me for the night and go in.
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But if you were walking in a forest and you found a cabin that had an air conditioner and a heater and a refrigerator full of food, you would say, that's hospitable.
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And that's what God created.
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He creates a hospitable world.
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One that's not, our world produces food, it produces medicine.
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It's perfectly conditioned to where we don't overpressurize and crush or underpressurize and expand to the point where we would fall apart.
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This world is perfectly designed and situated for us.
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And this is the way God had it.
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And let me just say this, we live in a broken, fallen world.
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Imagine what it was before the flood.
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Imagine what it was before Adam and Eve chose to disobey God.
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So what we have now is the remnants of a broken world and it's still great.
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What would it have been at this moment when God said it was very good? Can't even really fathom what it would have, what it would mean to have a very good world.
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And it's at that moment that it says it was finished.
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It was done.
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It was completed.
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That's what the word finished means.
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It means it was completely done.
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And I want to notice one other word here.
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And follow me on this because I'm going to take a little bit of a left turn but I promise I won't stay gone long.
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Sometimes we can take an avenue, turn around and come back and that's what we're just about to do.
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Because it says, Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them.
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The word host is a very important word and it's used in the Hebrew often time to refer to armies.
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Talk about the hosts of the Lord.
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The Lord and his hosts, right? God is the God of hosts, right? So when this text says that all the hosts were finished, it got me to thinking this week as I was preparing the sermon, okay, I know what the primary meaning of that is.
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And it's referring to all of the things that God created.
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The sun, the moon, the stars, the animals, the creepy crawlies, the cattle.
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That's the hosts because those are the things that were filling the creation.
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But this word host is also used throughout the Bible to refer to the angelic realm.
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Think about when Jesus was born.
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What does it say? It says that the heavenly hosts announced his birth.
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And so I do think there's at least an implicit statement that what is being said here is not only has God created all the things that are in creation but everything is created at this point, including the angelic realm.
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And you say, well, pastor, why would you come to that conclusion? Because in a chapter later, we're going to see the devil.
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And we know that the devil is part of that angelic realm.
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And we don't know when the devil falls.
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But I have an opinion, and again, an opinion is worth what you pay for it.
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But it is what it is.
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I'm going to tell you my opinion is the devil falls from between this point and somewhere in the beginning of chapter 3.
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And the reason why is because at this point, everything is very good.
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And everything is finished and completed.
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And I believe that the heavenly hosts, including the devil and what would eventually be his angels, are part of this created world.
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Here's the reason why I bring this up.
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Angels are not eternal beings.
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The only eternal being is God.
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God is one in essence and three in persons.
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The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
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The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have always been.
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But angels have not always been.
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There was a time when angels did not exist.
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And God created them.
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Now you say, well, when did God create them? I don't know.
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But I believe this.
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At the end of chapter 1, the beginning of chapter 2, they were created at that point.
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I'm not saying this is when they were created.
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I'm saying they had been created before that and they're in the created order now.
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Because we're going to see Satan in a little while so we know he's already on the scene.
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There is a verse that I would just share with you and it's in the book of Job.
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Job 38, verses 4 to 7.
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God is speaking and He's asking Job the question, Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? And He says this, He says, Tell me if you have understanding.
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Who determined its measurements? Surely you know.
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Or who stretched a line upon it? Or what were its bases sunk? And who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? You say, well, what does that mean? When God is speaking to Job, He's saying this.
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He's saying, who are you to question me? Were you there when I created the earth? Were you there? Do you know who laid the line and who measured everything out? That was me, by the way.
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I'm the one who did that.
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When all the angels were crying out for joy for what I was doing.
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And apparently what God is saying to Job is that the angels were witnesses of the creation that God had made.
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And so the angels are present but they're not participating.
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God doesn't need angelic workmen.
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Like, you know, sometimes we have jobs and we hire people to help us do those jobs.
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God didn't go out and say, OK, you angels are going to...
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No, God spoke the world into existence and the angels saw it and said, Wow! They praised God in His amazing might.
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He doesn't need my help.
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All He needs is to speak and the world is.
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So I believe at the beginning of chapter 2 everything is in its created order including the angelic realm.
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Now, when will Satan fall? Again, I believe it's after this but sometime before chapter 3.
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We see in Isaiah and Ezekiel they talk about the fall of Satan and how he was a prideful cherub.
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Cherub is an angel.
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And that he fell from his high position and he fell into a state of rebellion.
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He was the first one to rebel and he took Eve and Eve took her husband and they all rebelled against God.
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But at this point, chapter 1 of verse 2, I believe it's all good.
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All the hosts have been created and God has finished His work and God is resting.
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Does that make sense? Can I move on now? That word host, I believe it's speaking to everything including the spiritual realm.
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It's all made at this point.
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Now in verse 2, it moves into the main subject of today's message and that is the subject of rest.
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It says, And on the seventh day God finished His work that He had done and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done.
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Now, I want to say right away that this passage has perplexed Bible students throughout the ages.
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And the reason why it's perplexing is because if we know anything about God from the rest of the Bible and even from chapter 1, it's that God is omnipotent.
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The word omnipotent, you know the three omnis, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent.
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Those three things mean all, all, all.
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He's all-present, He's all-powerful, He's all-knowing.
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And so we believe God is the infinite God.
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That He does not have limitations on His being, He does not have limitations on His knowledge, and He certainly does not have limitations on His power.
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He is the all-powerful God.
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Therefore, the question is, is He tired? It says here that He rested.
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Does that mean that He needed a nap? Because I've got to tell you, I need a nap often.
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Sunday afternoon is nap time.
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I go home, I'm tired.
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You know, I come and I preach and I thank God for His energy that He gives me to preach, but then I go home and I'm beat.
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You know, 45 minutes up here, it's like a marathon.
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And I go home and I'm tired.
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And the question that people have is does God get tired? And there are people who believe in a limited view of God.
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Open theists believe God doesn't know the future.
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They believe the future is open, therefore God doesn't know for sure what's going to happen, how men are going to behave.
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Open theism is a dangerous heresy.
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And there are some people who believe God is limited in His power, and therefore it would make sense to them, well yeah, God, six days of work, He made the whole universe, the sun, moon, stars, Mercury, Venus, all that stuff.
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I mean, it's a lot of work.
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So at the end of six days, he got a glass of sweet tea and took a nap.
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But that's not the way the Bible describes God to us.
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Isaiah 40 says this, it's 40-28 by the way, Isaiah 40-28.
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Have you not known, have you not heard, the Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth.
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He does not faint, He does not grow weary, and His understanding is unsearchable.
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We sang that this morning.
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You are the everlasting God, you do not faint, you don't grow weary.
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That's Isaiah 40-28, that's what we were singing.
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Psalm 121, verse 3, He will not let your foot be moved, He who keeps you will not slumber.
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So not only does He not grow weary, but He never slumbers.
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He's always keeping His people and protecting His people and being the God of His people.
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Remember Jesus said, My Father works until now.
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When He was talking about the subject of the Sabbath, He said, My Father is always working, because it's My Father who's holding the world together.
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It's My Father who's keeping everything from spinning out of the universe.
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And I've told you guys this story before, but I remember where I was the moment I had this realization.
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I was right down the end of the hallway, my office used to be down the end of the building, and I was walking down there, and I stopped and for a moment I said to myself, I said, If God were to simply choose to lift His hand from my being, I wouldn't just fall apart, but I would cease to exist.
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My mortality is not unconditional.
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And my immortality is not unconditional.
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When I die, and I go to be with the Lord, my being will continue to be conditioned upon Him forever.
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I will always be held together by Him.
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Forever and ever.
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There will never be a moment that I can say I'm independent of the sovereign activity of God simply holding my being together.
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And so, when you say God rested, please don't think that what that means is that God somehow took His hands off the wheel, put His head back onto His pillow, and took a nap.
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That's not what this word means, and it's not the intention that it's trying to convey.
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The word rest, Hebrew Shabbat, it's where later the word Sabbath would derive, it simply means to cease from labor.
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To cease from work.
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Why did God cease from work on the seventh day? Was He tired? No, He was done.
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Come on, that's important.
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It's not a matter of, OK, it's the seventh day, and I need a nap.
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It's the seventh day, and I need a slumber.
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It's the seventh day, and I'm overworked, and underpaid.
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Sorry, that took me a little...
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But you understand, this is not that.
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It's God saying, I'm finished! I can rest because I don't need to continue.
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I've done what I set out to do.
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144 hours ago, there was nothing.
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144 hours later, there's everything, and God can look and He says it's very good, and now I am done! You know, we're renovating the church little by little.
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We started this project several months ago, and we have a new chancel here with new cables and stuff that ran underneath it, and we have the new baptistry and the cross.
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Eventually, we're going to have new lighting, new ceiling tiles.
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We're doing just a few things.
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It's been 20-something years since we've done renovations, so we're in this project of renovating the sanctuary, renovating the narthex, and a few other areas of the church are getting some renovations.
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I'm looking forward to when that's done because it's a lot of work, but it's also going to be great when it's done because it'll be complete.
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We'll be able to look at it and say this is now complete.
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This is now finished, and in regard to that labor, we will get to say we have come to a point of rest.
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We no longer have to continue.
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Now there will be maintenance work that has to be done, and maybe in the future we'll start a new project, but when that project is done, we'll have a day where the elders will get together, we'll high-five each other, we'll praise God, and we'll go home and say it's done! We no longer have to have another meeting about this project because it'll be done.
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So on the seventh day, God declares it's done.
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That's what the word rest means.
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He ceased from his labor.
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Again, quoting Calvin, he says this, he says, We must not improperly ask what kind of rest this was, for it is certain that since God sustains the world by His power, governs it by His providence, and cherishes and even propagates all creatures, He is constantly at work.
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That goes back to what Jesus said, My Father works until now.
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So there's a sense in which God is always working to simply keep us in existence.
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If God should withdraw His hand even a little, Calvin says, all things would immediately perish and dissolve into nothing.
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So Jim Boyce asked this question, he says, What does it mean then that God rested on the seventh day? It does not mean that God closed His eyes and went to sleep.
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He did not take a nap.
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It does not mean that God rested in the sense that He became indifferent to what man and woman were doing.
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So what did it mean? It means that He was finished.
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So we see verse 3.
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It says this, So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested, we can say God ceased from all His work that He had done in creation.
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He's created the world, He ceased from that work in creation, and now He takes this day, this seventh day, which in case you're unfamiliar with this, that's Saturday on our calendar.
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The first day of the week is not Monday, it's Sunday.
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The first day of the week is Sunday and the seventh day is Saturday, and God blessed Saturday, the seventh day, and He made it holy.
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Now, notice the repetition in language, which in Hebrew is always important.
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Anytime you see repetition in Hebrew, it means to focus on what is being said and pay attention to it.
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Notice it says, verse 2, On the seventh day God finished the work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all the work that He had done, so God blessed the seventh day.
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He's over and over, He's repeating that word, seventh, seventh, seventh.
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He's repeating it to emphasize the fact that this day is going to have special significance, that this week is actually going to have special significance.
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This day is not going to be like other days.
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This day is going to be a day that is going to be unique among all of the rest of the days.
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Now, this is the first time in the Bible where the word holy is used.
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You've heard me preach, some of you have heard me preach on the holiness of God.
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A book that I keep, I keep copies of this book to give out.
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It's called The Holiness of God by R.C.
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Sproul.
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Along with Bibles, if people don't have Bibles, if you're a new visitor and you don't have that book, The Holiness of God, I'll give you a copy.
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Just come and see me.
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Because that book is one of the most precious books outside of Holy Scripture and I just buy it by the case and I give it away.
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Because The Holiness of God is what I consider to be one of the most misunderstood of God's attributes.
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And what's amazing to me is I believe it is the most powerful and the most unique of His attributes in this way is that His holiness is what establishes His other attributes.
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When we talk about God's love, God's love is very important.
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But you know the Bible never says God is love, love, love.
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But the angels who surround the throne of God all day say, holy, holy, holy.
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The attribute of God that is more important and more foundational than any of His other attributes is the fact that He is holy.
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And you say, well what does the word holy mean? The word holy means to be separated.
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It means to be different.
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And when it refers to God, it refers to Him being absolutely, and the word that we use is other.
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God is unlike any other being in the universe.
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Think about the Trinity.
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People are always trying to come up with an analogy for the Trinity.
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Don't! There is no analogy for the Trinity.
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There is no other thing in the world that is one in essence and three in person.
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There is no other being in the world that has that quality because God is holy.
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He is other than.
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And therefore when we describe God, we describe Him as holy.
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He is other.
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He is sacred.
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He is distinct.
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He is separate.
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He is absolutely the only being that is independent and has the power of being in Himself.
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He is holy.
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God has the power to separate things and make them holy.
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Aren't you glad? Because you are one of those things.
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Do you know what believers are called in the New Testament? Hagiosmos.
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Greek means holy ones.
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Hagios is the word for holy in Greek.
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Hagiosmos, the holy one.
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You, Dale, you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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You are made holy.
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God separates you from the world and He puts His stamp upon you and your name is written on His hand.
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So God who is holy, now let me clarify, He is not making you holy like Him.
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But what He is doing, He is setting you apart and separating you from the world and saying, this is mine.
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This is uniquely mine.
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This person.
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The table, what do we call it? Holy Communion.
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Because you might eat all kinds of other food during the week and you might have some very good meals but only one meal do we dedicate and we say, this bread represents Jesus Christ's body.
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This cup represents His blood.
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And I'll never forget R.C.
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Sproul one time, he was in a class and someone asked him, they said, they said, Mr.
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Sproul, Dr.
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Sproul, could we have Doritos and Diet Coke instead of bread and wine for communion? And he said, I almost lost my sanctification.
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He says, no! He said, because Jesus didn't sanctify Doritos and Diet Coke, He sanctified bread and wine.
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Now we can talk about the whole grape juice thing and maybe we should.
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No.
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Because they didn't have Welch's in the first century.
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It was real wine.
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So that's another question, another conversation for another day.
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But, the point is this meal is separate and it has a purpose and God sanctified it.
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In the Bible, in the Old Testament we see three things that are primarily sanctified.
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The first is people.
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God calls Israel His people and therefore He sanctifies people.
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We also see Him sanctifying places.
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Remember when Moses first meets God in the burning bush? Take thy sandals from upon thy feet, for the ground upon which you stand is holy ground.
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Why is it holy ground? Because God's there.
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It's a sacred place.
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So we have sacred people, we have sacred places, but there's a third thing that we see being made sacred in the Bible.
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It's the third thing that's made holy in the Old Testament.
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Holy time.
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You read through Leviticus and you read through Exodus and you will see God separating time.
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You're going to take this month and this month will be a holy month and you're going to have this feast that you're going to have.
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And during this time you're going to do it this way.
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In a few weeks we're going to celebrate Holy Week.
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What's Holy Week church? It's the week from the time Jesus went into Jerusalem on a donkey and the time that He went to the cross and He was resurrected.
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He went into Jerusalem on a donkey on Sunday.
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We call that Palm Sunday because they raised palms up and they held them up and Jesus came in on a donkey.
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That Friday, Jesus was put on a cross.
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We call that Good Friday.
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And then Sunday morning.
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We call it Resurrection Sunday morning.
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That's a holy time.
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We call it Holy Week.
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It's a separate You know the word holiday comes from the word Holy Day because it's separated.
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The reason why you call it a holiday is because it's not like the rest of the days.
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It's separated.
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It's distinct.
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Well the first holy thing in the Bible outside of God Himself who is the ultimate Holy One who is able to make other things holy.
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The first thing God makes holy is time.
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Not people.
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Not places.
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But time.
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This is the very first time the word is used and He uses the word and He says therefore the seventh day will be holy.
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It will be distinct.
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It will be separate and special.
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And what we're going to see next week is that God will later take His holy people Israel and He will say now that you are a people I'm going to give you a sign to represent you as My people.
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And you say that was circumcision.
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No He gave that to Abraham.
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And yes they had circumcision.
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But the sign that God gave to the nation of Israel to distinguish them from all other nations and it was the sign of the covenant God made with Moses on Mount Sinai was the sign of the Sabbath.
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My people will keep My Sabbath as a sign of My covenant.
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So what God makes holy in creation God gives to His people as a sign of His promise but remember this and we're going to see this next week in its full glory I hope that the promise of that sign was fulfilled in Jesus Christ who is Himself our Sabbath.
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You see right now for the Christian the Sabbath is not a day but it's a person.
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We don't rest just on Saturday but we rest from all of our labors when we come to Jesus Christ who Himself said you who are weak and heavy burdened come to Me and I will give you Sabbath.
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If you are in Christ this morning understand that your life rests in Him.
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He is the fulfillment of this holy promise.
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This holy day that was made finds its fulfillment in Him.
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Next week I want to show you four things.
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I'm going to show you out of this text one, God established a pattern of rest and work and we need to understand that.
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Number two, God gave this day as a sign to Israel.
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Number three it is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
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But the fourth thing and we're going to see this again as I said I'm giving you a preview next week.
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We're going to see that we do have a special day as believers but it's not a Sabbath it's a day of celebration.
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Our day is the Lord's day where we now can look to He who is our rest and come together every Sunday and say blessed is He who was raised from the dead and in Him we have Sabbath all week long.
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Let's pray.
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Father I thank You for this time of study.
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I pray Lord that this would be fruitful in the hearts and minds of Your people and I pray that we would understand that Lord You who are holy are able to make us holy.
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Lord what an amazing thought that we are made holy in Jesus Christ that we have found our forgiveness, our sanctification, our justification, our very lives Lord are found in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Father I know this topic is one that is debated by Christians and brothers and Lord I know there are those who do believe Sunday is a Sabbath and Father I pray that You would help them to understand what the word says about Christ but Lord I would not want to challenge them to violate their conscience in any way.
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Most of all Lord help us to understand that no matter how we see Saturday or Sunday that ultimately our complete and full rest comes in Jesus Christ and it's in His name we pray.
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Amen.