1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:29,000 We've got a lot of notes to get through this morning, but we're going to make an effort. We're going to be in Exodus, the 31st chapter, in just a minute beginning our series as we consider rest and what God has called us to, specifically how he refreshes. 2 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:40,000 We'll, as we move through, talk about how he restores and ultimately renews. So before we dive into the 31st chapter of the book of Exodus, let's go ahead and have a word of prayer. 3 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:48,000 Father in heaven, we thank you for your people. We thank you that we can sing together, that we can pray together. 4 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:58,000 We thank you that we can open your word and study it together. We thank you for how you encourage us, and thank you for the encouragement that we are to one 5 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:17,000 another. Be with us this morning as we look at your word, that you would help us to see our need, that you would help us to see how you provide for us, and that you would lead us to rest. 6 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:21,000 It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 7 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:34,000 So before we dive into the 31st chapter of the book of Exodus, I want to sort of set three foundational truths for us. 8 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:45,000 Because where this text is, it's strange. The content, especially to us, far removed from Israel in the wilderness, might seem a little strange. 9 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:51,000 And so here's sort of three foundational truths from Scripture that I want us to consider. 10 00:01:51,000 --> 00:02:01,000 That first, that Scripture is not just simply something that is interesting, that it's full of trivia, has good stories, that captivates our attention. 11 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:11,000 But the reality is that Scripture has an impact on our life. That's what Paul means when he says the source of the Scripture is God. 12 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:21,000 And that source of Scripture, God, has an impact when he speaks to us, when he says all Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable. 13 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:35,000 And that Scripture, in its impact, first of all, it reveals to us what truth is, and then it shines a light into our lives in those areas where we are not walking in the truth. 14 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:42,000 And then it brings us back to where we should be in the truth. That's the correction part of what Paul says. 15 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:48,000 And it continues that work in sort of an ongoing process, Paul says, is training. 16 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:56,000 The second truth about Scripture that I want us to see, and we start by saying that Paul says in Romans chapter 15, 17 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:03,000 "For whatever was written in the former days," that includes Exodus chapter 31, "was written for our instruction, 18 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:10,000 so that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." 19 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:17,000 And so notice that there's a component of instruction, but that's not just a list of things to do, 20 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:22,000 but rather it is an encouragement that ultimately leads us to hope. 21 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:27,000 And most of all, and I think this might be the biggest truth that is for us, 22 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:33,000 is that all Scripture ultimately points and directs us to Jesus. 23 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,000 So Jesus says twice in Luke chapter 24, 24 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:44,000 "That everything that was written about me in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled." 25 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:48,000 Now all that to say that our text this morning is strange, 26 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:50,000 and so I want to go ahead and read it together. 27 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:53,000 Unfortunately, I forgot to put a page break in the slide, 28 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:57,000 so it's going to be really, really small here. 29 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:59,000 So I'm just going to go ahead and read it. 30 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:02,000 You can follow along in your Bibles if you would like to sort of read along. 31 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:05,000 "And the Lord said to Moses, 32 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:07,000 "You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, 33 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,000 "Above all, you shall keep my Sabbaths. 34 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:15,000 "For this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, 35 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:19,000 "that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. 36 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:22,000 "You shall keep the Sabbath because it is holy for you. 37 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:24,000 "Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. 38 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:29,000 "Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 39 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:33,000 "Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh is the Sabbath of solemn rest. 40 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:35,000 "Holy to the Lord. 41 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:37,000 "Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. 42 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:40,000 "Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, 43 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:44,000 "observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a covenant forever. 44 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:48,000 "It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel, 45 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,000 "that in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, 46 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:55,000 "and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed." 47 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:59,000 We're going to zoom in on verse 17 in just a minute. 48 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:04,000 But for us, I think culturally, the idea of Sabbath might seem strange, 49 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:09,000 but as Bible verses go, these seem pretty normal, 50 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:15,000 especially from the part of the Bible that's considered the law of Moses. 51 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:20,000 And what's surprising about this text isn't necessarily the content, right? 52 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:24,000 We've heard about the Sabbath and God's instruction to the Israelites to keep the Sabbath, 53 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:28,000 and that is, for many of us, pretty familiar. 54 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:33,000 It's not the content that is very strange, it's the context. 55 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,000 And not just sort of in a general way. 56 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:42,000 So this passage in Exodus chapter 31 is at the end of a very long section, 57 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:45,000 beginning back in Exodus 25. 58 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:48,000 And if you've read through the book of Exodus, 59 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:54,000 chapter 25 through this section in 31 is very, very hard to get to, 60 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:59,000 because it is essentially God's engineering plans, blueprints, designs, 61 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:06,000 measurements for the tabernacle that they were about to construct. 62 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:10,000 Seven chapters of plans and instructions for the tabernacle. 63 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:14,000 There's around 30 distinct objects mentioned in these chapters. 64 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:18,000 Everything from garments and furnishings to the systems that hold it all together, 65 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:20,000 covers for the tent of meeting. 66 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:23,000 Let me just give you just sort of a very quick list. 67 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:27,000 The Ark of the Covenant, furnishings, the mercy seat, the table of the bread of the presence, 68 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:30,000 the golden lampstand, the inner and outer curtain system, 69 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:35,000 four separate covering layers, 48 acacia wood frames, 96 silver bases, 70 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:39,000 multiple crossbars, the inner veil, the entrance curtain, the bronze altar, 71 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:44,000 the full courtyard enclosure on all four sides, the incense altar, 72 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:48,000 the bronze basin, the ephod, the breast piece with 12 gemstones and four robes, 73 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:51,000 the robe, the tunic, the turban, the gold medallion, the anointing oil, 74 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:56,000 and the fragrant incense. In addition to that, all the measurements. 75 00:06:56,000 --> 00:07:00,000 Right? More than like 70 different numbers, and it's all in cubits, right? 76 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:03,000 So two and a half by one and a half by one and a half cubits, 77 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:07,000 and it's just page after page, chapter after chapter, 78 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:12,000 chapter of here's a bunch of stuff, here's the materials that I want you to use to make it, 79 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:17,000 and here's how big it needs to be. Now, get to work. 80 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:23,000 And unless you're really, really, really, really into tabernacle design, 81 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:28,000 it's a bit of a struggle to get through these. 82 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:32,000 Now, what's interesting is not just what comes before this, 83 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:36,000 but what comes after this in chapter 32. 84 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:43,000 The very next words in chapter 32 is Moses goes up on to Mount Sinai to speak to God, 85 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:46,000 and almost immediately the people get tired of waiting, 86 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,000 so they throw their jewelry in the furnace, out comes a golden calf, 87 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:53,000 that's Aaron's excuse, and they begin to party, 88 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:58,000 so much so that by the time Moses comes down, they're still partying, 89 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:04,000 and there is wrath, and there is judgment, and there is idolatry. 90 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:12,000 And it seems really, really out of place to have this set of verses about the seriousness of rest, 91 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:16,000 and the importance of rest, and God's command to rest in between, 92 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:24,000 like multiple pages of an engineering document designed to build the tent of meeting for God to meet with his people, 93 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:32,000 and God's judgment on their rebellion and their idolatry. 94 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:38,000 Our purpose this morning, I don't think, is to say, "Oh, does this text belong here?" 95 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:45,000 But rather, what is God trying to teach us, and correct us, and train us, and to help us to see how is he encouraging us? 96 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:49,000 How is he bringing us to hope? How does this ultimately point to Jesus 97 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:55,000 by putting it in the middle of the architectural description of the tabernacle 98 00:08:55,000 --> 00:09:03,000 and one of the Israelites' greatest moments of idolatry in the wilderness? 99 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:10,000 In order to understand what this text is doing here, I think we have to understand the problem 100 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:15,000 that faces not just Israel, but faces us as well. 101 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:21,000 And so we go all the way back to the book of Genesis, and in Genesis chapter 1, you have this picture of creation, right? 102 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:29,000 Genesis chapter 1 just records God's creation, culminating on day 6 with his creation of man. 103 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:38,000 And then Genesis chapter 2 sort of zooms into that and gives us a closer look into the details of creation. 104 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:43,000 And in fact, verse 2 of chapter 2 says that God rested. 105 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:49,000 And right at the beginning of chapter 2, one chapter into the Bible, we see that there is a rhythm that is present 106 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:59,000 that's also present in Genesis chapter 1, that there is a rhythm of work and of rest or of rest and of work that God has designed. 107 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:08,000 And don't miss the fact that man created on day 6, their first full day on earth was a Sabbath day. 108 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:15,000 There's an interesting pattern throughout evening and morning. We tend to think of morning and night. 109 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:22,000 But Genesis chapter 1 is there is evening, and then there was morning, and it was the next day. 110 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:26,000 There's also a picture of God giving man responsibility. 111 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:34,000 He places him in the garden to work and to keep it. He gives him the responsibility of naming the animals of tending to it. 112 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:41,000 And what we see in Genesis 1 and 2 is that God has described both work and rest. 113 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:50,000 That God gives us a mission and a purpose to keep, and to care for, and to follow his instruction. 114 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:57,000 But also, in the midst of that, there is a pattern of rest. 115 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:05,000 For many of us, we tend to think work is the problem. But notice that God gives work before sin ever enters the world. 116 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:12,000 We need a mission. God gives it to us. Mission, purpose, labor, creativity, it's all good. 117 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:18,000 And we also need rest to restore and to refresh us, and God gives us that as well, and it's all good. 118 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:23,000 Right, before Moses, before the law, you see work and rest. 119 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:30,000 But then in Genesis chapter 3, everything breaks, and here's where we begin to struggle with the distortion. 120 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:36,000 Right, the fall doesn't create work. Right, it begins to break it and to destroy it. 121 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:41,000 And ever since Genesis chapter 3, we have struggled with both work and with rest. 122 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:51,000 And so sometimes we elevate work and we minimize rest. Right, rest might feel like weakness or a waste. 123 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:56,000 Or man, by resting, I'm just getting further behind. It can become our complete identity. 124 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:01,000 I've got to accomplish this. I've got to do this. It can even become a badge of our holiness, 125 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:08,000 which Martha finds as she is confronting Jesus about the fact that Mary is sitting instead of working. 126 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:13,000 And so sometimes we can lift up work while putting down rest. And the same is true the opposite direction. 127 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:19,000 We can lift up rest while putting down work, right? Work is an enemy. It's the necessary evil. 128 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:26,000 We've got to figure out a way to escape it. We've got to endure it. Work is the curse and rest is the goal. 129 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:32,000 And the reality is that neither side of the struggle truly represents God's design for his people. 130 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:44,000 Because God has designed you to both work and to rest. And when we begin to lift one above the other, we just simply encounter brokenness. 131 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:55,000 And that brokenness occurs when things begin to disconnect from God's design and from God himself. 132 00:12:55,000 --> 00:13:04,000 And so what we find when work and rest become separated from our Creator, we find ourselves elevating one above the other. 133 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:09,000 And our emphasis is to try to use one to fix the other. "Well, I've worked so hard. Well, now I've got to rest even harder. 134 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:15,000 Now I've rested too much and I've got to work hard." And we go back and forth. 135 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:24,000 And so with this problem in mind, that we sometimes elevate work, sometimes we elevate rest, while ignoring God's pattern, 136 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:28,000 let's take a look at our text in Exodus chapter 31. 137 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:34,000 And right before our text, we have craftsmen filled with the Spirit, doing God's work for God's dwelling. 138 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:42,000 And if there was ever an important mission that needs to take priority over all of your rest, this would be the mission. 139 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:46,000 But God doesn't do that. He commands them to rest. 140 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:53,000 And then after our text, we have people who will seek to create a God that will allow them to follow their own. 141 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:57,000 desires. 142 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:01,000 In fact, look at what you find them saying. 143 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:07,000 They rose up early the next day, offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. 144 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:09,000 This is in chapter 32. 145 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:14,000 And the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play. 146 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:18,000 And in verse 18, the party is still going on. 147 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:32,000 And so on one hand, rest in God's mission for us allows us to recharge, but also what you find in chapter 32 is that rest keeps us from idolatry. 148 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:35,000 It doesn't just solve the problem of putting work in its proper place. 149 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:38,000 It trains us to wait and to trust in God. 150 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:45,000 And the problem in Exodus 32 is that nobody wants to wait and nobody wants to trust the provision of God. 151 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:55,000 And Exodus 32 is what it looks like when people lose the rhythm of resting in God's promises. 152 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:58,000 And they're saying it's too long. 153 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:03,000 And in Exodus 32 you see the fruit of the people who lose the rhythm of resting in God's provision. 154 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:08,000 So I want us to take a look at the instructions here in Exodus 31. 155 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:15,000 And I want us to see, first of all, that this is not just God sort of saying, "Hey, one more thing," right? 156 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:20,000 A stream of consciousness. That God is very intentional about what he is saying. 157 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:22,000 Look at verses 12 and 13. 158 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:28,000 "The Lord said to Moses, 'You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, 'Above all you shall keep my Sabbath, 159 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:34,000 for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.'" 160 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:39,000 Right? So first of all, it's important because God specifically has said it, right? 161 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:44,000 The people outside don't have to guess. They don't have to say, "Will God like it if we do this? 162 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:47,000 What does God really want from us? God has said it." 163 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:52,000 And then look at what God says at the beginning of verse 13. 164 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:59,000 English is two words. It just says this in the ESV. "Above all." 165 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:03,000 What has God just got done doing? A whole bunch of chapters. 166 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:21,000 Build this, make this, sew this, smelt this, mold this, put this together, and above all, you shall keep my Sabbaths. 167 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:32,000 Above every piece of furniture, every feature of design, every material, every measurement, and every worker who has been gifted in the Spirit, God says above all of that, 168 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:42,000 keep my Sabbath. It's the thing that sits over their work as they seek to build the tabernacle. 169 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:49,000 Let's take a look at verse 17. 170 00:16:49,000 --> 00:17:01,000 "It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel. In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he was rested and refreshed." 171 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:10,000 So there is this declaration that God has made, that above all things. 172 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:16,000 And in verse 17 you have this, that there is a sign that has been given to God's people. 173 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:20,000 And so far in Genesis and Exodus there's been three signs, right? 174 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:24,000 The rainbow after the flood as a sign that God will never flood the earth. 175 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:27,000 Circumcision as a sign given to Abraham. 176 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:31,000 Exodus 12, the Passover blood on the doorpost. 177 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:40,000 When God gives a sign, it is a declaration of a relationship with Him, and designed to preserve that relationship. 178 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:48,000 A sign given by God is not to bring you in, but to declare what is already true of what is happening. 179 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:51,000 And so the rainbow is declaring God's truth. 180 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:55,000 Circumcision to Abraham and to his children is a sign declaring God's truth. 181 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:59,000 The blood on the doorpost is a sign declaring God's truth. 182 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:06,000 And God will say to his people in the wilderness that this is a sign declaring my truth. 183 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:11,000 That you are declaring your trust in God. 184 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:17,000 Then notice how God emphasizes to his people the important people. 185 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:23,000 "Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of solemn rest. Holy to the Lord. 186 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:28,000 Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death." 187 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:31,000 Why is God so emphatic? 188 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:35,000 Because his people need to see that it's not optional. 189 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:41,000 The rest is not just something we do, but it's a theological statement about what we believe. 190 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:49,000 When we refuse to stop, we are saying, "I can provide for myself. I can sustain myself." 191 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:57,000 And notice what he says, that God ultimately is using this to protect us. We'll see this in the verses that come. 192 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:03,000 And then here's what God does. Some of us learn differently, right? Some of us have to hear things. 193 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:08,000 Some of us like to see things. Some of us like to participate in things in order to learn. 194 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:17,000 I learn, I think it's a very specific way, it's called the hard way, right? That's how I learn in almost every situation. 195 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:22,000 Look what God does. He doesn't just give them the instructions. He doesn't just emphasize it. 196 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:30,000 He gives an example. Therefore, the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath. Observing the Sabbath throughout their generations is a covenant forever. 197 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:42,000 It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. 198 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:49,000 So when he rested, it's the word that comes from Hebrew into English as Sabbath. It just means to stop. 199 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:56,000 God stopped, not because he's tired or worn out, but because he was done. It was finished. 200 00:19:56,000 --> 00:20:01,000 This also points forward to a Sabbath day's rest for the people of God. 201 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:07,000 But the word that I want us to zoom in here is the very end, and was refreshed. 202 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:16,000 It's only used three times in the entirety of the Old Testament, this word here that is translated "refreshed." 203 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:19,000 It's used a few chapters earlier in Exodus chapter 23. 204 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:30,000 "Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox, your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman and the alien may be refreshed." 205 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:41,000 In part, God says, "I'm commanding you to take a Sabbath so that those who work for you in your household and in your field and in your businesses may be refreshed." 206 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:45,000 Now zoom forward to David being pursued by Absalom. 207 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:50,000 "And the king and all the people who were with him arrived weary." 208 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:55,000 They're running for their lives. It's a different kind of tired. 209 00:20:55,000 --> 00:21:00,000 They arrived at the Jordan, and there David refreshed himself. 210 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:05,000 And then in between these two, you have this: 211 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:12,000 "That the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed." 212 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:18,000 The picture here is of breath, of stopping and taking a breath. 213 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:22,000 And in the middle, between the highest place you can be as king, 214 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:26,000 but also the lowest because you're on the run from your son and everything's broken. 215 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:30,000 And then on the other side, where you're lowly and you're a servant, 216 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:36,000 in the middle of those two, God says, "By example, stop and take a breath." 217 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:41,000 And what God is doing here, not because he gets tired, not because he's worn out, 218 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:45,000 not because he needs refreshed, but because we need to be refreshed, 219 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:57,000 he says the external action, the stopping, leads to an internal result, refreshment that comes from rest. 220 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:03,000 And why does it happen here in the book of Exodus, right? 221 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:11,000 Laboring, working people need to be reminded that God stopped too, that rest is a gift. 222 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:17,000 So with that in mind, three things that I think are important for us in regards to God's glory. 223 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:22,000 The first is this, that God's glory refreshes our strength. 224 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:28,000 Immediately before these words, commanding rest are the commands to work, empowered by the Spirit of God. 225 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:35,000 That's the beginning of Exodus chapter 31. God's project, God's plan, God's Spirit, and God's strength. 226 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:42,000 And rest reminds us that ultimately the strength to be able to do and to accomplish and to be creative 227 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:50,000 and to do the things we need to do doesn't come from within us, but it comes from the God who provides for us. 228 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:57,000 And when we see God's glory, it refreshes our strength. 229 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:02,000 Have you not heard everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth? 230 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:07,000 He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 231 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:15,000 And so it begins in Isaiah chapter 40 with this picture of God's glory, that he's everlasting, that he's the creator, and he never gets tired. 232 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:23,000 He never wears out. And then here's the implication. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength. 233 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:31,000 Even young men are going to get tired, and they shall fall exhausted, but he who waits for the Lord shall renew their strength. 234 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:39,000 They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary, shall walk and not faint. 235 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:44,000 The second thing is that God's glory refreshes our minds. 236 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:51,000 Growing up, when I would ride in the big truck with Dad to go pick up a trailer load of groceries for the store, 237 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:57,000 there's a place where we go down through the mountain, maybe like the only runaway truck ramp in Vermont, and it always fascinated me. 238 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:03,000 Right, because you're going down this mountain, and there's, you know, warning signs, you know, runaway truck ramp a mile from here, 239 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:10,000 runaway truck ramp half a mile, runaway truck ramp, you know, it's right here, and there's this ramp going uphill. 240 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:16,000 And I was fascinated. How does it work? Because it just kind of looks like a ramp. We're going to launch that tractor-trailer truck off the side of the mountain. 241 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:26,000 But that runaway truck ramp, what it does is it contains sand and gravel, and so when that truck hits it at speed, instead of just stopping, 242 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:36,000 right, it begins to slow it down, and the hill slows it down, and you end up safely. How many times in our lives is that what our minds need? 243 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:44,000 Right, we're racing. If I were to stop, everything's going to fall apart. Elijah goes into this spiral we'll see next week that 244 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:51,000 I've done this, and I've done this, and I've done this, and everybody hates me. There's nobody left, and his mind's just running away. 245 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:58,000 And in rest, God is providing for us that runaway truck ramp. And he does that for Elijah, where he says, 246 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:05,000 "Here's some food. Take a nap, and remember that I'm in control." 247 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:11,000 Listen to this, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, 248 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:16,000 let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, 249 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:20,000 will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Sometimes on Wednesday night, 250 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:25,000 I'll take a pen and kind of mark up, so you can see how it all fits together. 251 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:30,000 I'm not going to do that now, but I will give you sort of this picture, maybe. 252 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:35,000 Ah, there it is, right? So do not be anxious, right? Our minds are running away. 253 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:42,000 But in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, so pray. 254 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:49,000 Let your requests be made known to God. Here's the result of, in that anxious moment, praying, 255 00:25:49,000 --> 00:26:00,000 bringing our supplication, with thanksgiving to God. The peace of God, which surpasses all your understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 256 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:12,000 Third, God's glory refreshes our hearts, right? The inner part of that being, because we've spent so much time chasing things that doesn't actually keep us refreshed. 257 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:18,000 Jeremiah 2 gives us this picture, "My people have committed two evils. Number one, they've forsaken me. 258 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:22,000 The fountain of living waters, they've left the water that God has given them to refresh them. 259 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:28,000 And what have they done? They've hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can no longer hold water. 260 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:33,000 And I don't just think it's the audience that Jeremiah is writing to. 261 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:41,000 Here is living water, and so often our hearts will pursue and chase and dig out and put our hope in something else. 262 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:50,000 And when we stop, when we rest, God refreshes our hearts. 263 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:57,000 So one of the questions we want to answer just very, very briefly, how do we rest? 264 00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:02,000 This is a question that has been going on since that time, right? 265 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:05,000 In Jesus' day, it was answered by a whole bunch of rules. 266 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:12,000 In the early days of the church, up until about the 300s, most people didn't have Sunday off. 267 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:19,000 The church is made up in a lot of cases of slaves who were not ethnically Jewish. 268 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:23,000 And so they rested simply by when they were done with work or before work. 269 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:31,000 They've gathered together and find refreshment in the good news of God's word, of God's people gathering together. 270 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:34,000 We'll talk about that in a couple of weeks, about how God's people refresh us. 271 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:37,000 They just gathered together, and they were refreshed by worship. 272 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:43,000 In 321, Constantine sort of formalizes a picture of rest. 273 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:46,000 And so he says, "By edict, here's a bunch of businesses that need to close. 274 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:49,000 If you're a magistrate, you close. If you're in the city, you close. 275 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:54,000 If you're a farmer, you can keep working, because I'm hungry, and I need food." 276 00:27:54,000 --> 00:28:03,000 Then you go a little further forward, about 1300 years, and the Puritans will say, 277 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:08,000 "We're going to take an entire day devoted to God. No recreation. No labor. We're going to get up. 278 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:12,000 We're going to pray. We're going to go to church. We're going to study Scripture. 279 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:15,000 We're going to involve the ministry to the poor." Right? 280 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:20,000 Not just passive, but actively seeking to strength minds and hearts focused on God. 281 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:23,000 Not a bad thing, just different than maybe what we're used to. 282 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:31,000 And in the middle of that, there's tension, because King James I will release an edict called his Book of Sports 283 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:38,000 He contradicts what the Puritans have said about rest, and King James goes, "Well, as long as you go to church in the morning, 284 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:44,000 you can go play some sports in the afternoon, with the exception of bowling, because that's for degenerates." 285 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:52,000 He's very specific about that. And then you move forward, even in the next couple hundred years, 286 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:59,000 and rest becomes sort of a way of proclaiming our righteousness. So we ban certain activities on Sunday. 287 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:07,000 Remember blue laws? And it's a way of saying, "Well, we don't do that on the Lord's Day." 288 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:14,000 And so what you find is that almost every part of human history has tried to answer this question differently. 289 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:24,000 Everybody knows that we need rest. And the question is not, "Do we need it?" And the question isn't the theology underneath it. 290 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:35,000 The question is, what does it look like for me right here to stop, intentionally stop, and reorient my life toward God's greatness and trust Him with all those things that I'm setting down? 291 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:42,000 I think three things. First of all, rest must be intentional. Nobody ever accidentally, truly rests. 292 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:49,000 Like we might fall asleep, we might take a nap, we might not do what we're supposed to do, but true rest is intentional. 293 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:56,000 Right? Rest is going to be different because we're different. What I find oftentimes is restful for me, and I'll be restful for you. 294 00:29:56,000 --> 00:30:04,000 So when I'm studying and working with my mind and trying to figure things out, spending time with the heart and the mind aspect of ministry, 295 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:07,000 what's restful for me is doing something physical with my hands. 296 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:16,000 And if you do something physical with your hands all the time, what might be restful for you is sitting down and being refreshed by a book or by quiet. 297 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:23,000 God's people have never successfully legislated rest. 298 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:26,000 I would also add that distraction is different than rest, right? 299 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,000 Scrolling on our phones because we're overwhelmed is not rest. 300 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:34,000 Procrastination because we don't really want to do something is not rest. 301 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:41,000 Here's the beauty of how God works in our lives. He gives us a daily reminder of our dependence upon Him. 302 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:47,000 What's the lie at the beginning? It's that you and I can be like God. 303 00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:54,000 Let me quote Spurgeon loosely, "God gave us sleep to remind us that we are not Him." 304 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:59,000 Satan goes, "You can be like God," and God goes, "No, you can't. Go to sleep." 305 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:07,000 Isn't that beautiful? We don't ever think, I think, about a theology of sleep, but the very act of the fact that you and I have to sleep, 306 00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:16,000 and if we go without sleep for too long, it has massive physical and emotional and mental effects on our life, 307 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:22,000 is God saying, "You're not like I am." 308 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:26,000 Every day God makes us put down our burdens and trust Him. 309 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:32,000 True rest is this. There is God, and I am not Him. 310 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:36,000 I'm not the one who's holding this together. 311 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:38,000 Acts chapter 3. 312 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:44,000 There's this moment where Peter and John are coming into the temple. 313 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:46,000 There's a beggar standing outside. 314 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:48,000 He's asking for money. 315 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:50,000 And they say, "We don't have any money." 316 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:52,000 And the guy's like, "Oh, that's what everybody says." 317 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:54,000 He says, "But what we do have is this. 318 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:57,000 In the name of Jesus, get up and walk." 319 00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:03,000 And they grab his hands, and this guy who has never been able to walk is up, and he's jumping, and he's leaping, and he's praising God. 320 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:08,000 And Peter uses that as a moment to preach to all the people, 321 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:17,000 some of whom who have crucified or sought to crucify and have opposed and disbelieved Jesus. 322 00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:22,000 And there's a word that Peter uses when he calls them to repentance. 323 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:24,000 It goes back into the Old Testament. 324 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:29,000 In fact, when they translated the Greek, or the Hebrew into the Greek in the Septuagint, 325 00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:37,000 they use this to talk about that word "refreshing" that we used earlier, and it's this. 326 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:50,000 "Repent and turn back," Peter says, "that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." 327 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:54,000 The word there means "cool air," just like taking a breath in the Old Testament. 328 00:32:54,000 --> 00:33:00,000 Cool air that's blowing to recover your breath. 329 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:12,000 What God offers Israel in Exodus chapter 31, saying, "Catch your breath," Peter says, "is now available through Jesus." 330 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:19,000 He says, "Repent, turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come." 331 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:25,000 And notice this is not us manufacturing that. 332 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:30,000 It involves us setting aside what it is we're pursuing, what it is we're chasing, 333 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:40,000 and what it is we're hoping and turning specifically back to the presence of the Lord. 334 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:46,000 The refreshing doesn't originate in us. It originates in Him. 335 00:33:46,000 --> 00:34:00,000 In Hebrews 4, starting in verse 9, it says this, "There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God." 336 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:08,000 "For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his." 337 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:14,000 And the writer of Hebrews goes on to say that that rest must be defended. 338 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:18,000 And it's defended by the Word of God, which is a sharp two-edged sword. 339 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:33,000 And then he goes on to say that that rest is reinforced and protected and lifted up in our lives because we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. 340 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:46,000 And he says because of him we can enter that holy place and we can find mercy and grace to help us in our time of need. Let's pray. 341 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:57,000 Father, all of us struggle. Sometimes we struggle to rest. Sometimes we struggle to work. 342 00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:06,000 And so we ask that as we spend time in your word this summer that you would put us where we need to be. 343 00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:13,000 That through your words you would reprove and correct and train and teach and inform us. 344 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:24,000 That you would give us hope. You would instruct us and that ultimately you would point us to Jesus who is the one who truly brings us rest. 345 00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:32,000 Remind us that it is his invitation to come to him, all of us who are weary, all of us who are heavy laden, 346 00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:39,000 and he ultimately gives us the rest that we have tried to counterfeit, manufacture everywhere else. 347 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:45,000 Refresh us, strengthen us, and encourage us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.