Week 35– 27 October 2013

Rest in God

Genesis 1:27-2:3

1. Rest is God’s pattern

  • Genesis 2:1-3 – Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
  • Hebrews 4:3 – Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, “They shall never enter my rest.'” And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world.

2. Rest is Holy to God

  • Exodus 20:8-11 – “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
  • Stop
  • Rest
  • Delight

3. Rest will bring blessing

  • Leviticus 25:3-5  – For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a Sabbath of rest, a Sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest.
  • Leviticus 利未记 25:20-21 – You may ask, “What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops? ” I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years.
  • Matthew 11:28-30 – “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”