Genesis 2:2

0:00 In our household, my wife has introduced a time every afternoon that we call quiet rest time. And even though it's a requirement of every member of our family to engage in quiet rest time, the definition of success varies based on the child. So my two-year-old son, Ezra, the other day when he was finishing his lunch, told me, Daddy, I want nap. And so he went and napped and he does every afternoon with multiple ream cycles. It's amazing in an hour. For my daughter, however, quiet rest time is not very quiet and it is certainly not very restful.

0:39 However, she can succeed every afternoon with quiet rest time if she succeeds in not waking up mommy, which she does with varying degrees of success. Today, we're going to think about rest when we think about God's rest. And that silly example is just to remind us that I think God's definition of rest is a little bit different than what we would think of. So let's think about that tonight. Our text is Genesis chapter two, verse two.

1:13 You can find it on the front of your bulletin or on page two of the Pew Bible. 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. I think the main idea of our text tonight is this. God's work is finished, and we are invited to rest in it. God's work is finished, and we are invited to rest in it. We're going to think about that main idea by asking three questions and attempting to answer them. So question one, what is God's rest? Question two, how do we reject God's rest? So how as humans do we reject God's rest? And then question three, how do we accept God's rest? How do we accept God's rest? Before we get started, I have to

2:13 confess to you all that I've had a lot of help in my preparation for this devotional. So there's been times when I've gotten up here to preach a text, and Greg has already preached it in the morning service, and I come up here and just reiterate points that he's already done, but today I'm actually preaching a text that has been exposited by not just King David in Psalm 95, but also by the author of Hebrews in chapters 3 and for. So if you tune out, you get bored, or you just want to be edified, spend some time, read those this week. I think you'll be encouraged. So that being said, let's start with question one.

2:54 What is God's rest? What is God's rest, and how should we define it from what we see in the Bible? Now, I think it would be easy for us to take a good-hearted look at this verse and say that it means something like this. God rests, so we should rest. I don't think that's the point of this text, but part of the reason it would be easy for us to do is because that it's not completely wrong. And actually, it might be a really good application of Genesis 2, verse 3.

3:27 But we shouldn't jump there because if we do, we risk missing learning about something about God himself. God's rest is not like our rest. So brothers and sisters, like I mentioned, I have little kids. I have three of them. I'm always tired. I'm sleepy right now. If you gave me two minutes on one of these pews, I guarantee you I could be completely out. I need rest. We need rest.

3:58 Because we're weak. We have a day built into our calendars. every seven days to meditate on the truths of scripture because if we don't do that we will forget that is not true with god god is not taking a self-care or mental health day he's not tuckered out after six days of creating the entire universe and everything in it psalm 121 says behold he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. God is not resting because he is tired.

4:33 My granddad is an amazing man, and he was really good at working with his hands. He was an orthopedic surgeon and a carpenter. There's an amazing amount of overlap between those two professions. He could not stand the thought of something being unfinished. If there's an unfinished room in his house, it would bother him and it wouldn't last. He would go and finish it and he would make it beautiful. But something my grandmother could tell you was that there was always another project. There was always something new for him to work on or something old for him to fix. Like I said, God isn't resting on the seventh day because he's weary. He's resting because his work in creation is finished. It is complete. All of it. There are no more projects. Nothing needs to be added. Nothing needs to be taken away. Nothing needs to be fixed. Creation fully demonstrates his goodness and his character and shows how glorious he is. Every bit of creation

5:40 is ordered and governed by his sovereign power. He actively sustains it. He overrules it through miracles, but he does not add or take away from it. God is experiencing something in the seventh day that we will not experience in this lifetime. The perfect completion of his work, his rest, God's rest. Like I said, God resting, as described in the Bible, signifies the completion of his work.

6:12 He doesn't rest because he's tired. He rests because nothing else needs to be done. that brings me to my second question how do we reject god's rest our ancestors adam and eve were there in genesis 2 2 they were perfectly created by god they needed nothing else and yet they sought more they wanted to become like god that's the definition of sin and it holds true for us even though we were perfectly made in god's image, we have chosen to reject him as the rightful ruler of the universe and put ourselves in his place. What that looks like practically in all of us, in our own way, we don't want to do what God has said is right, and we want to do the things that God has said is wrong. In short, we don't want him or anyone else to tell us what to do or how to live our lives, even when doing that would be the best thing for us because we would rather put our trust

7:14 in ourselves rather than in him. I think rejection of God can look different and it does look different, I think, almost in every person, but it is ultimately all the same. So some people, maybe you're here today, question whether God even exists or if he does, you doubt that he can be trusted. If that's you, we're really glad that you're here. I mean that sincerely. You're always welcome here. I would encourage you to seriously consider or even reconsider those questions.

7:50 And next week, as I announced earlier, we're going to be starting a six-week study in the book of Mark where we'll try to answer those very questions. I can't think of anything more important for you to consider. Please come. I hope it'll be a fun and encouraging class. That's one form of rejection, but I think maybe the more common form of rejection globally and in this room isn't atheism, but it's a rejection of God's word. And specifically, for our application, his promises.

8:24 So Israel, after being rescued out of Egypt, standing outside the promised land, had a word from God that he would go before them and give them the land. And yet, they allowed their fear to hold more sway than his promise and rejected God's word. Even though they knew God's word and knew he existed, they did not think he would do what he said he would do. And they decided they would rather take matters into their own hands. So at the Erbil International Baptist Church, there was a man who started attending a Bible study led by one of the elders.

9:00 And he knew his Bible really well. He'd grown up with a Christian background. he was excellent at pointing out how others had failed to live up to god's commands and and he was a pretty moral person himself but in one study a brother fed up with this guy yelled at him yes but are you born again and he had to answer no because what he was counting on wasn't god's promise of forgiveness in jesus but in his own performance brothers and sisters counting on our more performance is another form of rejection of god rather than resting and trusting in what he has done for us we would rather take matters into our own hands and work to achieve our own salvation so we don't pray because we don't feel like we have enough standing before god we don't read our bibles because we feel like we until we feel like we can read them without being confronted. We evaluate Christian success based on worldly

10:03 metrics rather than faithful living. We're quick to notice other people's sin, but not our own. We work and we work and we work in order to find fulfillment, or we give up and stop working when we feel inadequate. We can never earn our salvation, and we can't add anything to our salvation because simply everything we need in order to be safe has already been accomplished the answer to our final question is a simple one how do we accept god's rest we go to jesus because he invites us into it jesus was fully man so mark 4 verse 38 says but he was in the stern asleep on the cushion he was also fully god mark 4 39 says and he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea peace be still and the wind ceased and there is a great calm who needs sleep only man who can calm the storm only god jesus is both and as a result he is able to live the life of moral perfection

11:12 that we could not and he could also take the punishment of sin that we would not be able to bear by dying on the cross in our place. But since that judgment was applied to someone who was innocent, death's power was broken, and the way for us to reenter God's rest was opened. Jesus says in Matthew 11, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest.

11:44 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and lowly in heart. And you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Brothers and sisters, I have one point of application for us tonight. Rest in that promise. That promise of Jesus. Think about it and be amazed by it. When Jesus on the cross said, is finished he wasn't just talking about himself god's wrath towards us who have put our faith in jesus has been exhausted there's nothing more for jesus to do and there's nothing more for us to do except to put our faith and trust in him we need to think about the gospel we need to dwell on it we need to remember it because we live by it my parents were recently pulling out of a parking lot

12:46 and they knocked a taillight of a car behind them and my dad put a note on the windshield and got a call a little bit later and the guy said thank you so much for leaving a note my dad said don't thank me thank jesus and that's a silly example but i think the truth is is that when we meditate on the gospel when we apply it to our lives when we seek to adorn it we're called to do hard things i think for a lot of us the last few months have put our ability to live in light of the gospel to the test. We need to fight to know the gospel and to apply it to our lives. We need to be gracious with each other because of the grace that we've received. We should strive to love

13:50 each other with gracious gospel love because we know that for all of us, our salvation is secure in Jesus, and we are nothing more than his handiwork. The gospel will call us all to do hard things, but our standing before God is secure. Remember that promise. Remember that promise of Jesus. When you face suffering, or when you're afraid, or when you feel overwhelmed, or when you feel sick. Remember that promise when you're happy and healthy and things are going well.

14:26 There is no suffering that can take that rest away from you and no happiness that can add to it. Jesus has finished his work of salvation. And if we trust in him, he will bring us into that rest. Let's pray. Lord God, we thank you so much that it isn't up to us to earn our way into the rest that you have promised.

14:58 Lord, we thank you that through your son Jesus you have accomplished that for us. Lord, we pray that we will respond in obedience and in faith. We pray these things in your son's name. Amen.