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[0:00] We turn to Genesis chapter 2, and we will just read together the first three verses. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work, which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all of his work, which he had made.

[0:18] And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work, which God created and made. Let's pray.

[0:29] Father, thank you so much, Lord, for this word of yours. And Lord, I thank you that you are present with us, Lord. I thank you for the faithfulness that you always display toward us, Lord. That, Lord, you are never distant, you're never too busy for us, Lord.

[0:43] Thank you that you've given us, Lord, the means within our own hands, within our own hearts, Lord, our own will, to choose to come aside to you, Lord. Lord, you've told us to lay aside every weight in the sin that does so easily be set, and to run with patience the race that is set before us.

[0:59] Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy before him endured the cross. And so, Lord, we look to you now. You're the one who began this work.

[1:10] You're the one who's going to finish this work. And everything in between, Lord, it's all yours and all for you. So, Lord, we want to meet with you this morning. We want to hear from you. Lord, we want to be edified and filled.

[1:21] And, Lord, we want to live lives that reflect your glory. But, Lord, that have a sense of peace about them. That the world would look at and say, I don't understand what this is.

[1:32] That, Lord, we ourselves would look at in the midst of trials and tribulations and not understand it. Because you said we wouldn't. The peace that passes understanding. But, Lord, that we would own it. That we receive it.

[1:43] That we'd live in that. Just thank you, Lord. And I thank you how this silly idea, or it's your idea, just gathering together and reading from this book, that you said you would be there in the midst.

[1:54] And you would give it life. And you'd give us life through it. You'd give us fellowship. You'd give us oneness and unity and all of that. It's just crazy. Thank you for that, Lord. And in Jesus' name, amen. Cool.

[2:06] So, we made it through Genesis 1. We made it through the creation account. And now in chapter 2, it's day 7. We've done six days. And we're not going to review what those six days were right now.

[2:20] And so, we're up to day 7. We just read that section. And today being Resurrection Sunday. I love Resurrection Sunday. Easter's always been my favorite holiday. Even more than Christmas.

[2:31] Thanksgiving's starting to creep up on it. But I just love the thought that, like, man, he's risen. And I am risen because of that. And I have life because of that. So, we're going to look at that. This ties in so cool.

[2:42] I've got some cross-references. But you can put your fingers. We're actually going to turn eventually to 1 Corinthians 15, Hebrews 4, and Hebrews 10. 1 Corinthians 15, Hebrews 4, and Hebrews 10.

[2:57] Those are the other places we're going to kind of camp a little bit as we kind of jump from these verses in Genesis. So, but to begin with, as we break down the scripture here, it says, Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

[3:12] And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made. And he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. There's a repetition there a few different times that the work that God had made, the work that God had made, that he was done, that he was finished, that it ended.

[3:29] If you look there where it says, Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, well, in the Hebrew, a lot of times the way it's structured to, you'll have a word that will couch another word as each word bookends, a word in the middle, it kind of points back at it.

[3:44] So, the word thus is actually in the Hebrew, before heavens and earth. The same word for finished is placed before heavens and earth as it is after. So, it's kind of like emphasizing and pointing.

[3:55] And you can almost say finished. The heavens and the earth finished is kind of how it reads. Emphatically, it is finished. It is finished. And the word finished means to consume, to accomplish, nothing left.

[4:11] And so God has finished his work. There's nothing left. And whatever God sets out to accomplish, God finishes. There's nothing he's ever left undone. That means it's either, if it looks undone, it means it's in the process of being done, or perhaps it may be done and I just can't see it.

[4:30] But God never, he never leaves anything undone. He accomplishes everything he finishes. And so God, here, he's finished it. It's done. There's nothing he's created. Has God created anything since day seven when he rested?

[4:44] Six thousand plus years, has anything been created? No. Nobody's been like, well, there's a brand new thing. You can't even think of a new thing being created.

[4:54] It's not even possible. It doesn't even enter our minds. Well, there's a new type of tree. Well, it's still a tree. But God hasn't created anything new. There's nothing new in creation, the physical creation as we think of it.

[5:07] Since this day, he's done. It's accomplished. It's finished. But you look further down in verse two. On the seventh day, God ended his work. That's the same word again. Finished.

[5:19] Which he had made. And he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had made. It's the first time we see the word work in the Bible.

[5:30] I think this is my favorite part about doing Genesis. That we get to see first words. And then just getting to run with them through the rest of scripture. Like, where do they show up? Where do they show up? And short of having a hundred cross-references, I can't bring all of those places, get your blue letter Bibles out and just tap on the word and then just watch where all the places it shows up.

[5:48] It's amazing. But this is the first place we see the word work. And what's it associated with? Day. God works during the day. He created at the end of every day of creation.

[6:00] He said the evening and the morning were the first day. Not night. Day. Day. And here we see that God ended his work. And his work was on the day.

[6:11] Jesus tells us in John 9, verse 4, I must work the works of him that sent me. It was a work that Jesus had to do. And he does it when?

[6:22] Well, it's day. The night comes when no man works. Now, yes, some people work at night. There's the night shift. But primarily, as a species, as a creation, as humanity, we work during the day and we sleep at night.

[6:32] That's how God designed it. And so here's Jesus saying there is a work for him that he was sent to do during the day. On his night, no man can work. And the idea at night that work is either accomplished or suspended.

[6:47] And then you begin work the next day. So this is the first time we see the word work here. And so on the seventh day, God ended. He finished this work that he had done. And he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

[7:01] And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. So he has ended this. And again, the word work, the meaning means occupation.

[7:13] Something that you are occupied with. We know that. We go to work. Get up and go to work. It's my occupation. We use that word all the time. So this is saying that God has finished the occupation of creation.

[7:26] He is no longer occupied with creation and creating the world. It's done. It's finished. It's complete. It's accomplished. The word can also mean finished like to consume. Nothing left.

[7:37] There is nothing left for God to create. He says, I'm done with that. What is the result? The result of God being finished was, well, he rested.

[7:49] God rested on the seventh day. Word rest. To cease. To desist. What you're doing. To sit down. We're talking about this Sunday afternoon is usually our day.

[8:02] We just, we like guard that afternoon. That is our day that we just crash. You know, if we do lunch or something like that, great. Then we come home and it's, we just sit on the couch.

[8:13] It's the couch day. And when you sit down on the weekend, it's like you sit, ugh. Well, why? Because you can't, you can't affect that week anymore. It's accomplished. It's done. You can't do anything about it.

[8:25] And your next week hasn't started yet. There's nothing you can do with it. So the work is finished. It's accomplished. And you can be at rest. You cease and you desist. That's what God's done. He's telling us.

[8:35] There's a picture here of God saying, I've accomplished it all. There's nothing left to do. And now I'm giving this picture of where I have ceased. I've desisted. I'm at rest. What does that look like to be at rest?

[8:52] Well, he shows us a picture of that in Exodus. Exodus chapter 31, verse 17. God says this to Moses and to the people of Israel. He says, it is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever.

[9:06] Speaking of the Sabbath. For in six days, the Lord made heaven and earth. For six days, he was occupied with making, with forming. And we looked before.

[9:16] That word can kind of mean like to labor. Not that God was laboring like it was hard for him. But that's where his attention was. God made heaven and earth. And on the seventh day, he rested and was what? Refreshed.

[9:27] He was refreshed. So what does rest mean? To cease, to desist from your work. Okay, but there's also the idea that there's meant to be a refreshing in it. And it says God was refreshed. Well, it tells us in Exodus 23, 12, again, still speaking about the six days and the Sabbath.

[9:44] God said that not only was he refreshed, but he said that this day was so that your donkey, your ox may rest, son of your handmaid and your strangers may be refreshed.

[9:58] So it's for us to be refreshed, too. So the rest that God had on the first day of creation, or seventh day of creation, I'm sorry, where he entered into rest, well, that's what it looks like.

[10:09] It's a refreshing. It's ceasing from work. That was the result of him finishing creation. The result was rest. Well, what does that look like?

[10:20] Well, it looks like it's refreshing. But God tells us in verse 3, it said God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. What does it look like to enter into rest?

[10:31] What does it look like when the work's accomplished? It looks like a blessing. It looks like sanctification. And we know from before what blessing means. We looked at that a bunch. It means to be fruitful and multiply and fill.

[10:41] So you're fruitful, that God wants there to be bounty. Multiply, that there's this continuance, and then to fill, that you're not empty. And so God's desire here is that this rest results in blessing.

[10:57] What about sanctification? What does that mean? To sanctify means to consecrate, to set apart. And so God says that he blessed the seventh day, that in the seventh day of rest, there's fruitfulness, there's multiplication, there's abundance.

[11:11] You say, wait a minute, but I'm not working. How am I going to, I'm not making any money. There's not any multiplication happening when I'm just like done with an occupation. I'm at rest. There's not any fruitfulness coming in.

[11:22] There's no multiplication. There's no abundance. Well, there is because that's only the material that we're looking at. But God says, no, no, no, no. I've designed rest to do something in you, to have a refreshing that you can't get if you're working, if you're still occupied with something.

[11:38] And then he says, there's this consecration. On the seventh day, God sanctified it. He set it apart. And we see a picture of that in Exodus again. And chapter 13, verse 2, God said, sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whosoever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast, it is mine.

[11:58] And we see the same word that God uses for the seventh day. He says, I've sanctified it. I've set it apart. I've consecrated this day. In the same way, when we get to Exodus, we can see, oh, so that's what that looks like, to sanctify the firstborn, to set him apart, to consecrate that firstborn, looks like what God did on the seventh day.

[12:20] He set it apart from all the rest. It was still a day, but it was different from all the rest and had a totally different purpose. Exodus 31, 13. Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, verily my Sabbaths, speaking of that seventh day, and tying these things of the seventh day, the rest, and the consecration.

[12:40] My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it's a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I'm the Lord that does sanctify you. There he's tying together the Sabbath, the sanctification.

[12:53] And lastly, he brings in one other piece into this. Numbers 18, 15. It says that everything that opens the womb, just as we looked at in Exodus, it says, shall be mine, the firstborn.

[13:04] But then he tags this on at the end of that. He says, nevertheless, the firstborn of man thou shalt surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts thou shalt redeem.

[13:16] The idea being that you're not going to, if it was a clean beast, it was the Lord. So your firstling of like your flock of your lambs, you would sacrifice that to the Lord. You're not going to sacrifice a man.

[13:26] But God's like, he's mine still. So you need to buy him back from me. You need to redeem that firstborn. So here God's tying together the Sabbath day of rest with sanctification, the firstborn, and redemption.

[13:40] So, as we look down through this, we see what? We see the work's finished. It's accomplished. We see rest. That God has rested. And then we see that from that has come a blessing.

[13:54] Well, on this day, Resurrection Sunday, our work's finished too, isn't it? We look at John 19.30. The scripture says, when therefore Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished.

[14:07] And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. It's finished. It's accomplished. It's done. It's done. Paid in full. Jesus was done. The work, the occupation of sin and salvation had been accomplished.

[14:19] It was over. There was no more that needed to be done. From that point till now, Jesus has never again been occupied with the work of salvation for men. Now, yes, I mean, you say, well, wait, I thought he was trying to save people.

[14:31] Well, yes, that's the work of the Holy Spirit now going out to bring people into the salvation that Jesus has effected for them. But the work's over. Never again will God be taken up with the occupation of bringing about salvation.

[14:46] If we turn over to Hebrews chapter 10, we say, well, fantastic. What'd that look like? What was that? This work that Jesus has accomplished, what does it look like?

[14:59] Well, that's what Hebrews tells us in chapter 10 here. If we look a little way down into the chapter, we find that Jesus uses this word in verse 5.

[15:12] He says, Wherefore, when he comes into the world, well, I guess Jesus, it's used to describe Jesus. I'm sorry. Wherefore, when he comes into the world, he saith, sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared for me.

[15:27] So this is the Son of God, the Messiah, Jesus speaking, and essentially responding to God the Father and saying, sacrifice an offering was not what you were looking for from me. You didn't send me into this world to make a bunch of sacrifices for man.

[15:41] You prepared. It's the same idea of that word we've been looking at, that God set apart, God consecrated, he prepared the seventh day. It was set apart. It was sanctified. Well, there was a body that was prepared that was set apart for Jesus.

[15:53] Essentially, God had a body prepared for him, ready and set apart for a purpose. And he says, In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou had no pleasure.

[16:04] Then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book, it is written of me to do thy will, O God. We jump down to verse 10. By the which will, in other words, the will of God, by the will of God, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

[16:21] And every priest stands daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God.

[16:38] And then verse 14. For by one offering, he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. And we say yes and amen. And we look at the cross and we say we are washed by the blood.

[16:49] And we say, well, how did that work? Well, Jesus, the perfect lamb of God, who's never sinned, fully God, fully man. He went to the cross on our behalf. I can't die for you. Why not? Because I have sin.

[17:00] My own sin requires a payment for death. But Jesus, we say, well, he was the perfect sacrifice. He was the perfect man. He went down into death and he took our sins on him. And then he died and was an accepted sacrifice.

[17:14] Well, okay. But why didn't all those lambs and sheep work? What's the difference? They didn't do anything wrong. They had no sin. We looked at that. My cat has no morality and neither did the sheep.

[17:26] They didn't sin. They were a perfect, innocent sacrifice. Why didn't they work? Well, I think we see here at the end of verse 12, what does it say? This man, after he'd offered one sacrifice for sins forever, he sat down at the right hand of God.

[17:43] That means two things. He's not dead because he sat down and he's at rest. He's done. It's finished. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 15.

[17:54] Sorry, guys. This is where we're jumping a little, but it's way too many to try and put into slides. So you get to jump with me today. We're going to get a picture. So what? What's the big deal about death?

[18:05] Okay. Why didn't the animals work? Why did Jesus have to? And why did Jesus have to rise again? He paid the price. We talk about the cross all the time, that we go to the cross where my sins are forgiven, my burdens released.

[18:17] Okay. Great. The cross. At the end of 1 Corinthians 15, we know in the beginning, Paul lays out the gospel. We go here all the time, right? We want to know what the gospel is. And then at the end, he has the wonderful section and there's songs we sing about it.

[18:32] Oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, grave, where is your victory? But before we look into the outcome of all that, there's a picture here that we can see of what death and the grave and sin actually do and how they operate.

[18:49] In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 55, Paul writes this. Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law.

[19:02] So poetic. Makes for good songs. So what does it mean? What does that mean? Death has a sting and grave has a victory is what it's telling us. It tells us the sting of death is sin.

[19:14] And it also tells us that sin is strengthened by the law. Well, we know Paul says in Romans 7, verse 7, I had not yet known sin, you know, except the law came and told me I have sin.

[19:26] Once the law reveals sin to you, it can never be undone. You can never undo that. When someone tells you, hey, if you slap your sibling, that's sin. You can never again slap them and be like, I didn't know.

[19:38] How did I know? You do know. You can never forget that. It's there. It's been a standard now that whether you acknowledge it or not, it's now there. And so sin is strengthened in the sense that you can't break those bonds.

[19:51] I can't get outside that now. Once the law comes in and points out sin, I'm stuck. I can't get outside of sin. How do I get out of that? Well, I don't want it to be sin anymore. It won't be. I didn't make the law. And I'm not the one who keeps the law.

[20:03] I'm just the one who breaks the law. So I don't have an option. And there's a strength that the law brings. And it holds us in that. And this is death. Where is your sting? Well, the sting of death is sin.

[20:14] How? Well, Romans 6, 23. The wages of sin is death. So when we sin, it incurs a result, right? We sin and it incurs death.

[20:25] By death, one man entered the world through Adam. And upon all came death. So we die. Well, sin is the sting because the wages of sin is death.

[20:37] So when we enter down into death, we are stuck there because we now have sin. Sin brings separation. Separate us from God, which is ultimately what death is. Death is just separation. It's either separation physically from a loved one because they died.

[20:50] It's forever separation. But ultimately, it's separation from God. We've been separated from him. And so sin, then, when we die, there's no getting out of that. The grave has a victory.

[21:00] Nobody's ever overcome the grave. Nobody's beat the grave. You know, it's like, yeah, I'm going to overcome death. Nope. It's got a 100% track record. Even the people that have come back to life die again.

[21:13] They've also died. So what is the sting? It's sin. It holds us in the grave. Nobody beats the grave. So when Jesus took upon him our sin and he went to the cross and he died, his death was effective.

[21:27] Not because he died. Many people have died. Many good people have died. Many sheep and goats have died for the sin. But they could not affect what Jesus did.

[21:38] Why? We're going to back up in chapter 15 a little bit here. We're going to look at verse 16. Paul is discussing this whole idea of death and sin and the grave and resurrection with the Corinthians.

[21:53] Because there are those who are like, well, there's no resurrection from the dead. We don't need it. We've got Jesus. We've got the cross. It's paid for. We don't need a resurrection. And Paul says in chapter 15 here in verse 16, he said, For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised.

[22:11] And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, empty and pointless. You are yet in your sins. Why? Because death is the ultimate earmark of sin.

[22:22] If you die, it means sin still has its sting. It means sin is still giving victory to the grave. Because death is a result of sin. So if Christ went into the grave on that day that he died, over 2,000 years ago, on a good Thursday, when he was put to death, when he was crucified, it was the biggest failure ever.

[22:45] He was dead. It didn't work. Christ died. That means he was trapped in death just like we would be. That means sin still had the victory. That means the sting was still there.

[22:57] What a bummer. If any of the disciples and apostles and any of these people, kind of Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, any of them grasped a little of that, they would have realized, Oh, it's over.

[23:10] It's over. We thought he was going to be the one. Forget Rome. Man, we thought he'd lift the curse. But he's dead. He failed. So if Christ does not rise, then that means Christ, too, has been overcome by death, which means he's been overcome by sin, because death only has power because of sin.

[23:31] But, verse 20, Now is Christ risen from the dead. And become the first fruits of them that sleep. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

[23:46] For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. And we look again at the end of 1 Corinthians 15. And we see that wonderful hope that we shall be raised to.

[24:00] Verse 51, But I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. We shall not all pass through death. Death. What is death now to us? Death has lost its sting. Death is just a doorway.

[24:12] It can't keep us any more than it kept Jesus. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible.

[24:24] We shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that's written, death is consumed, is finished, is swallowed up in victory.

[24:46] Because Jesus rose victorious over death. Death had a victory. Nobody ever beat it. But Jesus broke it. Jesus went down into death, but death's only hold on people was sin.

[24:59] Satan must have thought, I think he reads his own press too much. And I don't think, you know, Jesus said that he was a liar from the beginning. That means he's constantly speaking lies.

[25:10] His kingdom's built on lies. What does scripture say? If a house be divided, it cannot stand. If a kingdom be divided, it'll fall. I don't think Satan's nearly as organized as we give him credit for. I think it's just a mess.

[25:21] It's a hot mess of hate and lies. You see that in the New Testament with Jesus. There's no organized anything with the demons that Jesus deals with, the possessed, whoever. It's just like chaos.

[25:32] So Satan, I think he thought, I got him. I got him. I've got him locked in death. He went into death and I've got him. It's done.

[25:43] Because I can hold him there. Except he forgot how it worked. That death only worked by sin. And Jesus had no sin. Jesus took upon him our sin. And he left that there in death.

[25:55] But death couldn't hold Jesus. Because he didn't, he had to play according to the rules. Satan did. Jesus did. You know, in our near quote, the deep magic that's written on the scepter of the king over the sea.

[26:06] That couldn't, it couldn't hold him. And so death turned backwards on itself. And Jesus rose victorious. Conquered sin. Broke death. And then raised to life.

[26:18] Resurrection is now what we have. What does resurrection afford us? Well, let's finish reading out verse, these few verses here, just because they're so good. And now we can read, O death, where is thy sting?

[26:29] O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[26:40] Therefore, my beloved brethren, be you steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain, it is not in vain.

[26:52] We are not among men most miserable. Christ did rise. Our faith is not vain. And faith is meant to produce works. The blessing that's on that seventh day comes by way of faith.

[27:06] Hebrews 4. Resurrection. As we saw in Genesis chapter 2, the seventh day. God finished his work.

[27:17] The result was rest. Rest created a blessing. Adam was created into rest. What was the first day Adam knew? He was created on day six.

[27:29] But the first day he knew was seven. It was all done. It was finished. God created Adam into rest. The life that Adam knew was a life of rest. I was thinking, I wonder what time he created him.

[27:41] Because God always, like, you know, lines these things up and has meaning and significance. I don't think it was like, oh, it's 1045 in the morning. I'm not doing anything. Let's create Adam. You know, Jesus was crucified at the ninth hour, 3 p.m.

[27:55] He rose, you know, early in the morning. I think, I wonder which one of those it was. Because I bet God created him to line up with one of those. It was probably later than earlier.

[28:06] Because the creation was finished and Adam was the cherry on top, the last of his creation. Because we saw how the animals were created and then Adam. So Adam's created into rest. Can Adam do anything to add to creation?

[28:20] He can build the biggest, best sandcastle you've ever seen. But that didn't add to creation, did it? Right? He could chop down a tree. Like, come on, Eve. Let's go build a house.

[28:31] What's a house? Don't know. Let's go do it. Right? But he can't add to creation. He can't add anything to creation. He was born into rest. What are we born into?

[28:43] Well, Hebrews chapter 4, verse 9, tells us, There remains, therefore, a rest to the people of God. Now, I know I'm totally like just cherry-picking some scriptures, because we don't have time to just lay a lot of groundwork in context.

[28:58] But as he's going through Hebrews 4 here, he's talking about how Israel, they had all passed through the Red Sea and into the wilderness. They'd all gone across, essentially through baptism, but not all believed.

[29:11] They did not all enter in because they lacked faith. They didn't enter into the rest. And then he talks about even those that did go into the promised land with Joshua. He said, well, wait, because David writes long after Joshua. He says, today, after so long a time, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, because there remains a rest.

[29:29] So, it's not, Joshua then couldn't have given them rest. Couldn't have been referring to the promised land, because David's speaking about a rest that remains. What is this rest? And so he says, What did it look like when God ceased from his works?

[29:51] Well, wonderful. We have Genesis chapter 2, verse 3, 1 through 3, to show us what it looks like when God ceases from his works. And then he says, When we enter into God's rest, well, it's the same way we cease from works.

[30:06] Jesus, how did Jesus cease from his works? Jesus completely eradicated, once and for all, the occupation of bringing about salvation for man, the sin question.

[30:20] And then he rose again with new life, with resurrection, to give rest. It's rested. There's nothing you can do when you are born again, when God creates a brand new creation.

[30:31] So, God has been creating new things, hasn't he? Just not new things as we think of in the created world, but he creates a new creature. Because if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things are passed away.

[30:43] All things have become new. And so he's created us new, born into rest. We come into being into rest. There's nothing we need to do. In fact, that creates a problem when we move from rest, and we try to earn something that can only be given freely.

[31:00] Because if it's a free gift, if it's grace, I can't earn it. And as soon as I try to earn it, I'm stepping outside of that rest and that grace. And so there remains a rest for us.

[31:13] Great. Wonderful. What's the point? So we tied all that together. Pretty neat. It's so neat to see how that which is in the beginning was just kind of this setup that Jesus separated, prepared, and sanctified, set apart a body to create a sacrifice for us, the firstborn, to redeem us to God so that we could enter into his rest through resurrection.

[31:36] Remember how when we said that when creation was finished, except for man being created, what was the point? Well, without relationship with God, what is the point of man's creation?

[31:48] Man was created for fellowship with God. As soon as you remove that, let's say God creates the world. He creates man. He steps back and just says, Well, just run yourself.

[32:00] I'm just going to step back and start to watch the clock, step back and let it tick and not do anything. Well, then I think we'd ask the same thing. What's the point? What's the point for a generation to live and die and live and die and live and die?

[32:11] What does it matter that there are millions of people that have died and lived? Who cares? Who really cares? Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die. Who cares? Because God desired fellowship with us.

[32:24] God created Adam for fellowship. But he wanted that fellowship in a very specific way. God is love. And the love that God wanted to display to Adam could only be displayed through sacrifice and redemption.

[32:38] We think of love and we think like, Oh, I want to give you lollipops and candy and make you happy and have fun and a good time. And that's kind of what we think of God with doing with Adam and Eve.

[32:48] He put them in the garden and like, Oh, go play with that toy. And I gave you this. And he loves them. And they're so happy. Right. God, definitely. That's true. But there's a depth of love that they could not know yet.

[32:59] Because God's love is agape. Because God is love. And it's not like, Oh, oops, sin happened and now God chose to fix it this way and it's so good of him. This was his plan from the beginning. That love would be displayed through sacrifice and through redemption.

[33:12] And so as God is displaying this love, the point is he wants fellowship with us. He wants to express his love to us so that we can experience, not because he's so self-centered.

[33:24] And he's like, I need someone to come love me. But because his nature is to give and his nature is to sacrifice. And we needed to experience that love. And so God allowed sin. And then God came and he did the one thing that needed to be done.

[33:38] Just like when creation, where he said he rested and there's no more occupation given to creation. It was complete, fulfilled, and accomplished. There is nothing more, nothing greater that he could do for salvation.

[33:49] We think sometimes, well, if God wanted to, I mean, he kind of plays a little hard to get. Because, you know, he's trying to get us to like seek for him. But if he really wanted to, he could just kind of come in and be like, Hey, I'm God. Get saved.

[34:00] Oh, okay, I will. That's not true at all. God has done the max of what could have been done. He has done to eternity. I can't even express it in words.

[34:12] There's nothing more that could be added to reaching out to people, to salvation. Everybody who rejects that, which is insane. It's insane that a God who is infinite, who created all this, would allow his creation to thwart him in his love.

[34:28] And yet that's what he allows over and over again. He extends love and he's thwarted in that. And he lets us. It's crazy. But the desire is fellowship.

[34:41] Genesis 3, verse 8. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.

[34:53] Not focusing on that they hid and the sin. We're focusing on the fact that they heard the voice of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day. God would come down to fellowship.

[35:04] What was he doing there? We looked at this verse before. Proverbs 8, 31. It's talking of wisdom and is a picture of Jesus at the beginning of creation. It says that wisdom was always rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth.

[35:19] And my delights were with the sons of men. And so we see when Jesus would come down, when God would come down in that pre-incarnate meeting with Adam and Eve, and he would walk in the cool of the day, he would rejoice with them.

[35:34] His delights were with the sons of men. He loved that fellowship. He wants fellowship. Jesus told his disciples before the cross in John 15.

[35:45] John 15 is all about fellowship. Abiding in the vine. Receiving from him. He said, As the fathers loved me, in verse 9, So have I loved you.

[35:55] Continue in my love. This idea that in the same type of fellowship that God and the Son have, the Father and Son have, Jesus' desire is the same for us. Verse 15, Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knows not what his Lord does, but I've called you friends.

[36:11] For all things that I've heard of my Father I have made known unto you. And so here Jesus is saying the relationship is that of friends. Fellowship. We have fellowship with our friends.

[36:22] We have interaction. What sets us apart as people? Well, it's that we have communication. That we can communicate and fellowship with one another. Animals don't do that. But there's this idea that in the image of God, as God fellowships and desires fellowship, we have the same blessing and benefit.

[36:42] And John tells us in 1 John 1.3, That which you've seen and heard, declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

[36:56] That you may also have fellowship with us. And truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. So God finishes his work. It's finished on the cross. God goes down into death, conquering death.

[37:09] Jesus rises again. And resurrection always comes before rest. And then as we enter into the rest and the resurrection, we obtain fellowship. And we now have life with God.

[37:20] Problem is, how does fellowship get broken? We sin. What did we look at was the problem with sin. Sin means I'm not in rest.

[37:31] Remember in Hebrews where we looked at it said, Jesus then sat down. Jesus is at rest. God is at rest. You can be at rest. God is completely at rest over your sin.

[37:41] Over my sin. I can be at rest. God is at rest over all of our problems. Over all of our trials and tribulations. Over all of our problems with friends, with families, with co-workers, with the world.

[37:54] He's at rest. He's completely at rest. He has finished all his works. So we can be at rest. When we sin, we step outside of that. Because now we're saying, God, I don't want to stay in rest.

[38:07] I'm either going to, A, go off on my own and choose to sin, or I'm going to fall into sin, and I'm going to attempt on my own to work for something that's freely given.

[38:18] And so now I'm back into a works-based system. And it breaks that fellowship. Because fellowship can only happen in rest. Rest is only derived from the finished work of Jesus.

[38:30] The finished work of Jesus is only a finished work because of the stamp of approval that resurrection puts on it. And so through that, then we obtain rest. We can only fellowship with God from a place of rest.

[38:42] Just like Adam. Adam had fellowship with God until he broke that fellowship by sin. Then he was no longer able to fellowship with God. How did God restore the fellowship?

[38:53] Well, he taught Adam how to do a sacrifice. Look forward to the sacrifice that Jesus made. So when we sin, we need to come back into fellowship. And we know that 1 John 1.7 says, But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.

[39:10] And the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. That blood is super effective because it didn't just stay in death. That overcame death. And then we can have fellowship as we walk in the light.

[39:23] And then we're restored to the place of rest. What does it do to cleanse us from our sins? 1 John 1.9, if we confess our sins, he's faithful. He's just to forgive us our sins to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

[39:36] Great. Could I feel better? So I can get into heaven? Well, no. The sin problem is already taken care of at the cross. So I already have salvation. So when I sin now, it breaks fellowship.

[39:47] The point of coming and confessing is to receive a renewal of fellowship, to get back to the place of rest. And so Jesus, our rest, the Sabbath, that perfect picture, who had accomplished the work, in Matthew 28, verse 5, And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear you not, for I know that you seek Jesus, which was crucified.

[40:19] He is not here, for he is risen. As he said, come and see the place where the Lord lay. At that moment, it's so exciting because you think, He's back, and I love Jesus, and I want to be with Jesus.

[40:35] And that's really exciting. And I can be with him, and he can be my friend, and I can have fellowship, and he's my God and my Father. But the implications are so much greater than that. Because the fact that Jesus was alive again meant the sting was just taken out of death.

[40:50] It meant death broke. It meant God's at rest. It meant that the sin problem is completely and utterly forever, no longer occupying God's mind. And it means now we don't have to fear death.

[41:02] We only have to look forward to resurrection. Whether living or dying, as Paul said, we shall all be changed. We're all going in the rapture. We were talking about this a little bit the other day in our house, that we won't die.

[41:15] You'll breathe out, breathe in, and there's Jesus. There he is. It's just a pathway. There's no more sting. It's our entrance into rest, that final rest.

[41:26] And someday when we're there in heaven, and we're there with Jesus, and it's all rest and all the time and always good, there'll be no more having to lose fellowship with him.

[41:38] We'll always be in fellowship. So, when we do not have rest, how do we get it back? Well, we go and we confess. We go to the light. We say, Lord, restore the fellowship.

[41:50] You paid that price. My sin's taken care of. Resurrection, God's stamp of approval. Yes, sin's broken. Death has no more victory. There's rest.

[42:02] Jesus is seated. That scripture I quoted when we were praying. To lay aside every weight and the sin that does so easily beset, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross.

[42:15] What was the joy? It was the joy for afterwards. And is sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. He's like, yes. It's his Sunday afternoon and he's just kicking it back.

[42:29] And that's all he has for us at all times. That we are to live in rest. When we lose it, Matthew 11, 28 to 29. Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

[42:42] Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. Turn back and we end in Genesis where we began.

[42:54] Now on the seventh day, God ended his work, which he had made. And he rested on the seventh day. From what? All. His work, which he had made.

[43:07] It was all done. It was all finished. And we didn't look at it, but Hebrews 4 tells us this. That from the beginning, it says that God rested in his work. Before this creation ever came about, God was at rest.

[43:21] God was completely at rest about the situation that was going to happen. God's completely at rest over every one of our lives and situations. And he says to us, Hey, why don't you come and get some rest from me?

[43:34] Oh yeah, Lord, but I've been stressed out because I'm not stressed out about that. I'm at rest about that. I have peace about that. In fact, I want to give you that peace.

[43:47] But Lord, I don't know how it's going to turn out. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. Remember, I'm alive. You know how it's going to turn out. I'm seated on the throne. You do know how it's going to turn out. It's all going to be good.

[43:58] We know that all things work together for good, for our benefit. Everything he made works together for our good. So don't look at the circumstances which seem terrible. Because God looks at those circumstances and says, Oh, they're so good.

[44:11] That's going to turn to your good. It cannot turn against you. Nothing in this life can work out against you. It will always work for you. And so God's at rest. And he wants us to come into that rest as well.

[44:24] And so Jesus, our firstborn, our Redeemer, has paid the price. God is at rest. I can be at rest. God is at rest.

[44:36] You can be at rest. God is at peace. I can be at peace. God's never stressed or worried. So Father, as we, Lord, prepare our hearts to come into rest, Lord, just thank you for your word.

[44:54] Thank you for this short message, Lord. And Resurrection Sunday. Lord, how you took the sting out of death. And you've turned around. And with that resurrection life, the life that couldn't stay in the grave.

[45:08] You turned and you handed it to us. And you said, hey, check this out. This will give you rest. I've completely finished the work. Just as I've never seen a new creation or never heard of one ever coming into existence.

[45:22] There's no record in the annals of history of some new being popping into creation. There will never be another thing that needs to be accomplished for salvation. The sin issue is finished.

[45:35] Complete. And Lord, we love the cross. And we thank you for the cross. But the cross is only effective because of resurrection. Because you're not dead, Lord. You didn't stay dead. You arose and you arose to die no more.

[45:48] And Lord, that is our hope. That like Paul said, we don't have a vain hope or a vain faith anymore. Jesus lives. So I can live. And Jesus is also at rest.

[45:59] So I can be at rest. And so, Lord, on this Resurrection Sunday, we don't want to just enter into your life. Thank you for that, Lord. We want to enter into rest. Because, Lord, it's from the place of rest we get the best thing ever.

[46:12] We get fellowship. And, Lord, for all of eternity, we will be at rest and in fellowship with you because of the price you paid for us.

[46:22] And that's the love you want us to know, Lord. The love that Adam could not know in the garden. But, Lord, I think of him bringing that sacrifice, bringing the lamb to the altar, and thinking of how much you love him, Lord.

[46:34] Lord, I've sinned. And, Lord, the guilt of that at times is overwhelming. But I never lived a perfect life. Adam lived a perfect life and then lost it. I can't imagine the weight of that guilt and shame.

[46:49] But then coming to the altar, bringing a lamb, as the smoke ascended into heaven, Lord. And just the peace and the fellowship and recognizing how much you loved him.

[47:00] Thank you for that love, Lord. Just put in our hearts that which needs to be spoken back to you, Lord. The thing that you spoke to us, we want to say yes and amen.

[47:10] We want you to ratify that in our lives, Lord. And I think collectively and together, we want to say yes, Lord. We want to enter your rest and fellowship with you. And in Jesus' name, amen.