Rest [Part 2]

Pastor author and Bible teacher Alan Wright is one thing that you want to engage in this spiritual warfare is one thing that you want to exert with every fiber of your being not live a life of strife under the law, but strive to this to get into the grace of God and stay there in the rest of your Alan Wright to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light.

I been diverted excited for you to hear the teaching today. In the series. We called saver has presented brindled a church in North Carolina are not able to stay with us throughout the entire program to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now and audio album called saver can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries either a CV album or digital download of these audio messages so as you listen to today's messages go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us@pastorout.org that's pastor out in.O RG or call 877-544-4860 877-544-4860 moral all of this later in the program but now let's get started with today's teaching here is Alan Wright in God's eyes make in the giant canis majoris*are creating 100 billion galaxies are inventing the human genome and weaving together strands of DNA and the most complex thing imaginable to the human mind is glorious as all that was he blessed the seventh day is and this is what it's all about is on that day and which were not being productive that we're relating to God and relating to one another. That relationship is the most everything, it's the most glorious, simple idea of a family band together the father blessing as child on the Sabbath day was all beautiful and God's eyes than anything else of the night. Charles Francis Adams, grandson of John Adams and son of John Quincy Adams served as a Massachusetts state senator, US Congressman and ambassador to Great Britain under Abraham Lincoln was a very conscientious about keeping a daily journal and incurs his children to keep a journal. Henry Brooks the fourth of seven children followed his advice and began journaling at a very young age in a particular entry that was written when Brooks was eight years old and has particular fascination to it because the little eight-year-old boy wrote following a day that he spent with his father. He wrote went fishing with my father. Today, the most glorious day of my life that I was so glorious that Brooks continue to talk and write about that particular day for the next 30 years and it was then much later that Brooks decided that having remembered how his father was such a meticulous Journal people keep her as well that he would consult his father's journal and see what he'd written on that same day, and for that day's entry father had written went fishing with my son a day wasted.

It's about your definition of what is glorious Abraham casual Jewish author said that the Sabbath is a palace in time. The Sabbath are great cathedrals are holy of holies is a shrine that neither the Romans nor the Germans were able to burn a shrine that even apostasy cannot obliterate the day of atonement. There's something about the sacredness of time that God blessed no one can take away. It's not saying there is no Hebrew word for thing doesn't exist versus two and three of Genesis chapter do contain four Hebrew lines. The first three lines are parallel in each contain seven words and with the midpoint of each line comes a phrase, the seventh day, 777 and was interesting is the cycle of seven days was not something that was known to any other Asian culture in many ways it's not intuitive because the lunar calendar would lead you towards 30 or 31 days of a month, which is not divisible by seven God just established this and God's rest. The last day of creation is humanity's first day we were created and released into the world on the day of God's rest. In other words, God rested and thus we can work God was finished, and therefore we can subdue the earth. That's important when we come to Hebrews 4 and a little notice that God didn't rest because he was weary. God does not grow tired he rested because he was finished and Jesus didn't sit down at the right hand of the father because his tire symbolically. He seated at the right hand of the father, but his work of salvation is finished, and all of creation so marvelous, but the rhythm of life God is saying is not measured by how much you get done.

It is measured by the rhythm of the Sabbath, the whole life of Israel revolved around Sabbath. It wasn't of the time and no work. It was so much better than that.

It was a time that nobody else worked so nobody would bother you with want you to work as the problem is not that I have a problem taken some Sabbath visit nobody else is taken and so they all want to make it work right.

It's the expectation of the culture around you that you're going to be busy and yet in the life of Israel. The Sabbath was every single week the most delicious thing imaginable. Children knew that they had their parents without their parents being distracted and they could is enjoy being a family. I knew this would be the day that we are going to have some good food. You might be poor in a very scrawny stuff the week, but you don't find yourself a plump chicken for Sabbath one way or another.

It was understood in the Hebrew families. We don't foster final Sabbath day you don't have an argument with your spouse owns phone Sabbath is someone raise is that we're going to talk about that today so you will do that tomorrow is not a day that you get on your children about their poor grades and try to fix it is just a day in which you enjoy and revel in last send enjoy being together in the end for the fellowship and spend time with each other and spend time with God and just enjoyed and fathers would bless their children every Sabbath day, lay their hands on their children that speak a positive future over their children and I had this every single week every other day of creation.

Our text says there was morning and evening and I was the day the no mention of this on the seventh day.

It is as if God is saying here it is. I'm resting and it is perpetual.

Humanity is released into the world out of the finished work of God. The rest of God which leads us to Hebrews chapter 4 Hebrews chapter 4 writer draws upon the image of Sabbath, not just from Genesis though that background is there, but the picture of the place of rest which was the promised land God had promised his people that they would take this land of Canaan, the promised land, and therefore they would enter into his rest and using this image of the people who disobeyed God, did not believe that they could take the land and so they turned back and wandered in the wilderness for 40 years until generation died off and then Joshua led them into the land, but what he saying is that that was just a shadow.

It wasn't the real rest of which God is talking Hebrews 4 verse six. Since therefore, it remains for some to enter it. Speaking of that rest, and those who formally receive the good news failed to enter because of disobedience. Again, he appoints a certain day today. What is saying here is that the rest of God the place of rest, the real Sabbath is today. Verse eight. If Joshua had given them rest, not a spoken of another day. Later on he said even though Joshua led them into the promised land that wasn't ultimately that was just a shadow that was just pointing to this day. So verse nine so then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God for whoever is entered into God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. When you enter into faith in Jesus Christ. What you enter into is the rest of God our life. Instead of striving to measure up a life instead of trying to perform in order to be loved instead of working in order to be accepted when you come through faith in Christ to God.

You are made his air of the promise that is yours. You are accepted in the beloved and nothing can ever change that. And once you really see that the strife in your life begins to live talent right will have more teaching moment. Today's important series so much worry about yesterday's failures cemetery getting ready for tonight is hard to focus on the moment that matters most.

Right now very boring season and even to my coaches, and mindfulness psychological program rated in Eastern religion. Mindfulness living in the present is the way life each day to get messages in an attractive with your digital way of saying your partnership. Make a gift to the textures and levers of God's grace. Each moment to moment every day of your life. The gospel is shared when you get to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you get today. We will send you a special offer.

We are happy to send this to you as I banks from Alan Wright Ministries, seven 877-544-4860 877-544-4861 come to our website pastor at Gatwick today's teaching now continues once again is it is interesting that verse 11. The writer of Hebrews says let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience isn't wonderfully odd that we are exhorted to strive toward rest. Isn't that an oxymoron is say if there's one thing that's worth working for. If there's one thing that's worth fighting for its Sabbath. If there's one thing that you want to engage in this spiritual warfare is one thing that you want to exert with fiber you're being. It is to not live a life of strife under the law, but strive to this to get into the grace of God and stay there in the rest of God's odd to think of it, but in the Old Testament the shadow of the Sabbath by Carter Shattuck of the Sabbath is a very real and a very good idea to have a day off but it was a shadow but it is actually pointing to Jesus of something richer and deeper than any kind of legalistic type of taken a Sabbath day in the life of Israel as it is pictured for us. There was harsh punishment for those that would disobey the Sabbath.

Isn't that odd. What kind of culture is that where people are discipline and punish from working too much, that would be our time getting the imagine that a teacher saying that students are invited made 100 on this test so obviously you've been studying far too much all of your suspended efforts working too much, go to the weight room to 300 pound offensive lineman lifting weights as a listen quit all those bench press and I'm tired of all this work you take more time. That's not the way of our culture. But in the Old Testament, and this was the picture of the rhythm of life.

It was so important and then God said, this is this is this is a key keep the Sabbath in all of this is expressing both the importance and urgency of what would come to pass in Christ Jesus. And that is don't let your life get over into the flesh. Don't let your life get over into law based living.

Don't let your life get over into strife because you've been given.

The rest of Jesus Christ and you can walk in it and becomes a rhythm of your life. The interesting thing was in the Old Testament the promised land was called the place of rest and yet it was the place for all the battles were fought. Isn't that interesting the land of rest was a battleground and is it is true that when the people turned back and wandered in the wilderness. They had plenty of leisure but they didn't have rest you can have leisure and have complete unrest. You could sit right there on the beach and worry about everything in your life, you're better off to be in the empowered life of the Holy Spirit in a promised land where you have to take down Jericho and the Philistines then you are just wandering about will leisure on your hands and no empowerment from the Holy Spirit is is why there have been too many people that it seemed I had everything in the world at their disposal. Been utterly unhappy but people didn't enter the promised land because they doubted God's promise.

God said the land is yours and they doubted that they would like. There were giants in the land. So instead of promised based living.

They retreated and wandered promised based living is grace based living.

It is the faith life life of faith is simply this, to believe the promises of God and if you believe the promises of God then you act on those promises. They had been delivered out of their bondage by grace the blood of the Lamb over the door that was in their own blood of the blood of the Lamb. When they came to an impassable Red Sea, God miraculously open up the Red Sea. They didn't open up Their Own Way, God opened up the way they got swallowed up their enemy as well and every step of the way has been God's grace, showing them fulfillment for fulfillment of promise after promise, and that's what he wanted them to know. So when they came to the promised land. They would believe and trust him and take the promised land, but instead they became fearful and in their flesh. They said what if we fail, and so they retreated.

So where there is grace there is faith and instead their faith became unbelief and next thing you know they had unrest though they had leisure all of this is the point to this is the beautiful picture of the Scripture in Genesis God finished the work of creation and he blessed the rest of the seventh day, and in that rest, he released the man a woman to enjoy life together and to take delight in filling the earth and to live as his image bearers on the earth and what it means in Christ. Is it when you see the gospel and you understand that God has come in the person of Jesus to pay the penalty for our sin. Anybody the trust in Jesus, so that your sin is removed from you and you are guiltless in the eyes of God and therefore have no more shame about all the ways you don't measure up.

Then you are able to enter into the rest of God, the Sabbath that is in Christ. In other words, it was all pointing to Jesus. It's a very good idea to correct the busyness of life by rethinking the way we consider time and what's most important is very important to have a natural rhythm but always from Genesis chapter 2 all the way through the Scripture was pointing to this person, Jesus, he is our Sabbath, in whom we have rest in Mark chapter 2 Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, and then he added this shocking statement for the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath he just announced right there. Mark chapter 2 he is the Lord, he announced in Luke chapter 4 is he read Isaiah scroll that part of it was to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, which was Jubilee and he rolled up the scroll and give it back to the tenant sat down lives of all the synagogue were fixed on them, and he began to say to them today. The Scriptures been fulfilled in your hearing.

Jubilee is the 49th year.

It is 7×7 years. It is 7×7×7.

It is the Sabbath of Sabbath of Sabbath is when all the debts were canceled. The slaves are set free and all property goes back to its original owner is Jubilee said in Matthew 11 come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, take the yoke of grace rather than law and learn from me from gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls and all of this is possible because when Jesus hung on the cross. John chapter 19 verse 30 we read when Jesus had received the sour wine he said it is finished and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

This is chapter 2 God said my creative work is finished and he rested knowing that one day his only begotten son would suffocate on the cross bearing the weight of the sin of the world and say it is finished.

And because it's finished. We can do one single thing to save ourselves to put ourselves in better standing with God. What's left for us to do is to rest in his grace and live our lives empowered by the Holy Spirit. And that's the gospel. Allen right leg is taking a deep breath here with the message of rest, relax in the finished work of Christ as we continue in our series saver balance back with us in the studio here in a moment sharing a parting good news thought for the day.

We stay with us so much worry about yesterday's failures cemetery getting ready for tonight is hard to focus on the moment that matters most. Wearing season and seem to affect my life coaches, psychological program rated in Eastern religion. Mindfulness living in the present is the way Allen right to life each day to get messages with your digital Dharma is our way of saying your partnership. Make a gift to the textures and flavors of God's grace. Each moment moment every day of your life gospel is shared when you get to Allen right ministries.

This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you get today. We will send you a special offer. We are happy to send this to you as I banks from Allen right ministries, seven 877-544-4860 877-544-4861 come to our website pastor at Gatwick and I don't know if you're like me, but the thought of this teaching on rest and relax in the finished work of Christ. Sometimes I feel like were so overworked and still doing it is still built into our society.

It is like yeah I need to rest, but I gotta get some things done before I can guide you was always lab with about why because you know in ancient Israel. They call the day before Sabbath day preparation and the reason is that they they would work hard to get all the food ready and everything Emmy because it actually takes some work to rest. Well, what, where discovering is that there's an even greater spiritual principle when the writer of Hebrews talks about strive to enter the rest was an oxymoron but what what I think were being told is that there is a spiritual battle and it is for law and strife to dominate our lives rather than the acknowledgment that Jesus is work is finished and we can really truly rest and it so I think in the middle of this busy wonderful season where we get about this time I hear Daniel. We did so so caught up in the rush and there's a lot on the plate to just stop his fine moments think much of what Jesus did for you think of his finish work and hear him say it is finished and that's where I get little moments of Sabbath limits. If you only caught part of today's teaching. Not only can you listen again online but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources@pastorout.org that's pastor out.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production Allen right ministries