True Rest

Exodus 20:8-11

By Pastor Craig Phelps, February 24, 2024

Introduction – In our text today we look at the 4th command which we skipped previously. It is imperative that we understand what this command means and why God gave it to us if we want to find true rest.

Exodus 20 8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

The Specific Meaning

• The Sabbath was not just a holiday but a day, meaning that it was set apart, not just for the Jews but for the Lord.

• It was for them because their fallen bodies rest.

• It was for God because they were reminded that He created everything in six days and is deserving of which they could do when they rested.

• It connected God and man because in order for Man to rest he had to God.

The Broader Meaning

• We desire and need rest from more than just work.

• The cycle of work and rest was a constant reminder of our need for deliverance or rest from this fallen cursed world.

• Hebrews 4 speaks of a rest so that we can stop striving and rest completely in what God has already accomplished for us.

• We enter this rest by in the God who has already taken care of everything.

• The sabbath was a of the rest that we have in Christ (Col 2:17).

• Now we rest not because we but because we by faith in the Lord Jesus.

Matt 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”