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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 You are listening to Waters Church podcast. Waters Church is a multisite, multigeneration community of faith on the East Coast of America. Now for a message from our pastor.0:13 Today, we wanna talk to you on this topic of finding rest in a restless world. 1 of the things that you absolutely need in your life is rest. Somebody say rest. Rest. Now this topic does not sound controversial.0:25 And believe it or not, this is 1 of the few remaining topics that does not divide us politically. How about that? We can all come together around a good nap. Amen, somebody. Of course,0:37 if Donald Trump comes out and says Americans should be sleeping more, the other side's gonna say, Nazi. Anyway, rest is not exactly a hot topic issue.0:49 I wanna tell you though, as Jesus says in Matthew 11, it's a soul issue. It's a central issue to your health and well-being.1:01 And it's ignored, unfortunately, by way too many, particularly Americans. We're a busy culture. Even after our first service here in North Thadabra, come somebody come up and say, you know, that that mess I1:13 needed that. Every night, go to bed feeling I haven't done enough. No. You need to rest in God. So 4 points to start and build the case for what we're gonna get to here in Hebrews chapter 4 or1:25 4 facts about rest. Write these down. Number 1, rest is biblical. Rest is a bible concept. And listen, you know it's important in the bible if it's on the first page. And1:37 it is on the first page. After God spends 6 days creating the heavens and the earth and all that we know and see and then creates man in his own image, Genesis chapter 2 verse 3 says, God blessed the seventh day, made it1:49 holy, and on it, he rested from all his work that he had done in creation. Not only is it mentioned in the first page of the Bible, it's mentioned throughout the Bible. It becomes a law in Exodus. It's2:00 repeated again in Deuteronomy. And then do you know that the prophets excoriated Israel for forgetting the Sabbath day? Almost every single prophet does this. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, the Sabbath day,2:12 holy, rest, take a day off. And then in the book of Psalms, Psalms says this, Psalm 4 8, I love this. I will, in peace, I will lie down and sleep, for you Lord make me to dwell in safety. By the way, that's2:24 the Bible's permission for you to take a nap. Amen. How many of you ever seen those memes? I love that meme that says, dear naps, I'm sorry for treating you like a jerk when I was a kid.2:36 There's nothing better than having a good nap. 15 minute power nap. Ronald Reagan was on to something. Amen, somebody. Psalm 1 27 verse 22:48 says, he gives his beloved sleep. He gives his beloved rest. Here's another fact about rest. Rest is broken. We've got a problem with rest in this culture of go get it.3:00 Go accomplish it. Make something of yourself. You know, become somebody or gain a following. And so because of this, we are exhausting ourselves in3:12 the pursuit of self sufficiency. As a culture, we are exhausting our resources. We are depleting our immune system. We are robbing ourselves of the health that3:24 should be ours in in God, but most importantly, in our physical body, we just don't have rest. And as a result, we're feeling it. 1 third of Americans sleep3:35 less than 7 hours. 7 hours is the recommend recommended number of hours for adults. If after you're 18, it goes down to 7 to 9, and it stays by, you know, 7 to 9 hours recommended after 18. Infants should3:47 be getting 14 to 17 hours of sleep. And everybody with a new baby said, amen for that. Praise God. Toddlers, you know, goes like 12 to 14. Let me just give parents3:59 some permission here. Parents, my hope is my pastoring empowers you to be parents in a culture that enter unfortunately undermines parent and parenthood authority.4:11 You absolutely should be putting your toddler down for a nap. And listen to me, you should be putting them to bed way before you. Your4:23 kids need a bedtime. I I talk to parents all the time and tell me that4:46 not for inviting them in. Like these people that sleep with their dogs, you people really need Jesus. Full disclosure, I have asked Cheryl if we could sleep with our dogs, and she's like, no way.4:58 And that's because she can't keep her hands off me. Praise the lord. Amen. Jesus. Rest is broken. She's gonna kill me for that 15:10 anyway. 50 percent of American workers feel tired during the day because of insufficient sleep. 50 to 70000000 Americans suffer from an active sleep disorder. All you need to do is go to your5:22 local pharmacy and look at the sleep aid section. It's taken over the pharmacy. It's like a whole gondola of all kinds of op options for you to put yourself to5:33 sleep. There is a particular subcategory of the demographic that's struggling to sleep. Young women aged 18 to 49 are especially susceptible to sleep5:45 disorders in our culture. Now I don't I I have an idea of why that is, and I think, that's probably a social media symptom5:56 because guys don't really do this. Guys don't look at other dudes and then compare their pectoral muscles to that dude. But you ladies, I think you are more susceptible to the comparison trap of social media,6:08 and I think that's keeping you awake at night. And maybe it's not the case, and forgive me for speaking out of turn here, but I think that is a big part of it. And so there's this this social contagion of comparison6:20 through the 24 hour window we call our phones by which we can measure our bodies, our hair, you know, our family against somebody else's, and it's just it's it's6:31 sickening to the soul. I think it disturbs your sleep. Then there's all kinds of worry. 24 hour news is not helping. And, this is a serious problem particularly for young women. Okay.6:43 Now here's the thing. When you don't get sleep, every other system is disabled. Neuroscientists are doing a whole bunch of research about this. A lack of sleep, weakens your immune6:55 system. It leads to inflammation. Again, this is a common problem in our bodies is inflammation. How we're eating and how we're sleeping, and everything that is wrong for our bodies leads to inflammation. Inflammation7:05 creates chronic illness and chronic brain and mental disorders. Some of you gotta get a hold of that. And it's also affecting your it's to stable it's destabilizing your emotions. It7:17 impairs your brain. There's been studies done that say that a lack of sleep, your brain becomes functionally that of an alcoholic. It disorients you. It destabilizes7:29 your balance and equilibrium. A lack of sleep. It also there's another study that said it's like the concussed symptoms of a brain are yours when you don't get enough sleep.7:41 Also, you've got something in your body called killer cells. Killer cells are the cells that go to work when a virus tries to invade your body Or when a cancer cell tries to multiply in your body, the answer to those7:52 cancers and viruses is killer cells. When you lack a good night's sleep, the next day, your body has a 70 percent deficiency in killer cell activity.8:04 70 percent deficiency. This is this is important. I know it's summer right now, but we're right around the corner from, you know, the kids going back to school, and they're gonna go and intermingle all their viruses with8:15 everybody else's kids' virus, and they're gonna bring it home to you. And then there's November, and then there's, you know, the all that, the cold, and it's gonna just here it comes. So get a good night sleep. You say,8:26 well, how do I do that? I got some suggestions. We're gonna do some physical suggestions, very short time here, and then we're gonna get into some spiritual realities that we need to embody if we're gonna be God's8:35 people, and we get what God wants us to give have, which is a good night's sleep. Physically, here's some suggestions. Okay? You can write these down underneath thrust is broken there in those notes. Set a regular8:47 bedtime. Go to bed as often as you can at the same time and wake up as often as you can at the same time. You know, resist the need to watch another episode.9:00 Come on. That that's universal. Go to bed. By the way, the scripture talks about the people who get drunk get drunk at night. The people who sin, sin at night. Demons come out at night.9:13 Don't stay up for demons. Go to bed. Darken the room completely. People have made fun of me about this, but I darken everything. Even the little notification light,9:25 you know, on the on the, fire alarm in my bedroom, a little piece of tape over it. I just can't have light. And this is actually true. It it you've got to cut out any and9:37 all kinds of light from your room. There's a a pattern of breathing that can help you sleep. I've been doing this myself for the past about 6 months. Breathe in slowly for 4 seconds. Hold it for 49:48 seconds. Press your tongue to the back of your teeth, and then breathe out for 8 seconds. It actually slows your heartbeat. It brings it to resting stage. You do it about 6 to10:00 7 times, you'll be out. It's an amazing reality. It's not science. It's not it's not rocket science. It's just simple breathing techniques that teach your heart it's time to settle in for the10:12 night. Okay. Here's a big 1. Don't use your phone 30 minutes before bed. That's the tough 1. Okay? So on top of all the social comparison, you're also putting blue light into your retina, and10:24 that's gonna cause brain activity. Brain waves are gonna get heightened. And no matter what Apple or Samsung is telling you, they're not cutting all the blue light out. You need to put the phone down. Dare I say, put the10:34 phone in another room. And I've been doing this, put my watch and my phone in another room to charge, and I let it go. It's not near my bed. Go get yourself an old fashioned alarm clock. Of course, you get to this a10:46 certain stage, and you can wake up at the same time on your own after a certain age. I'd I'd think that's happening in my life anyway. Here's a big 1. Stop eating 3 hours before bed. Most foods10:57 contain some form of sugar, either natural or processed sugar. When you put that into your stomach, It takes a good hour or so to process, get into your bloodstream. Sugar in your bloodstream will keep you awake.11:09 So you're going to have energy come surging into your body. This is why some of you eat late, then you try to and then immediately your stomach is full, and that requires energy, so then you feel tired. And so then you11:21 go to bed, and then before you know it, you wake up an hour later, and you're suddenly bright eyed and bushy tailed. And now you're stressed because you're not sleeping. And 1 thing compounds upon another. Well, that's11:30 because you just fed your body at the wrong time. Cut your your your stomach off at least 3 hours before bed. 2 things are gonna bring natural bodily healing to your life.11:42 2 things. Govern what goes into your mouth and govern what goes into your eyes. I'm telling you, it's not it's not that difficult. It's just willpower, and it's just getting into these habits11:54 that bring about healthy living. Now, we Christians, those of you who love the Lord, you've got 2 secret superpowers for getting good sleep. 2 secret superpowers. They're not that12:06 secret, but they're superpowers. Number 1, you've got the word of God. The word of God can and will put you to sleep.12:18 I'm a preacher. I speak from experience. Amen. That's why I preach so loud. I don't want you to sleep on me. Okay? But here's what you do. You take out your old fashioned paper bible,12:30 and I can't tell you. I I went through a season last year. I woke up at 3 AM almost every single night with dread hanging over my head. This is a fact. Just12:41 dread. Worried about what's gonna happen to my children, what's gonna happen to my family, what's gonna happen to my church, what about you, and all these stresses, and what could happen. And I would wake up every day12:52 every night at 3 AM. Well, the devil thought he had me. Then I got a hold of this, and I picked it up at night. It only took a few nights, and I and I13:04 taught the devil a lesson. You know, you can teach him a lesson. And I'm not talking about Nate necessarily the Satan, but the demons that are trying to attack you. You can teach him a lesson. Every time you wake me up13:14 at night, I'm gonna open this. Deal? And he's like, well, alright. Again, I guess I'll give that up. That didn't work. Don't what I'm saying is don't open your phone.13:25 That's that's counter counterproductive. Open your old fashioned paper bible. And then here's our second secret weapon, pray. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and13:37 supplication, with thanksgiving, make your request known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Okay. Here's number 3. Rest is a broad concept.13:48 And what I wanna talk to you today is about physical, mental, and emotional rest. It's not just physical rest. You need emotional and mental rest. You need to stop obsessing14:01 about every nuance of your I think this is part of the reason why women have a hard time sleeping because you you guys got those wired brains. Everything is wired together. This is a gift God's given you. You can think14:12 you can think about 4 things at once. Us men have no clue how you do it. We think about usually 1 thing at once, and most times we14:24 think about nothing. And that's why when you ask us what's wrong, we say nothing. What do you think about nothing? That is our favorite topic. Nothing. It's a wonderful14:36 topic. It's a wonderful happy place for us men. Anyway, you women, can wire everything's all together. Everything's connected to everything else. Okay. So that's called mental rest. Now listen to me.14:47 If you are in Christ Jesus, you have authority over your thoughts. The bible says that we take every thought captive to the14:59 obedience of Christ. This is an active participation in inducing spiritual, soulful15:11 rest that God has given you is a gift. Contrary to popular belief, you are not what you think. You are what you allow yourself to think. You15:24 don't have to think that way. I don't care what psychologists have told you. I don't care what the therapist has told you.15:35 This book trumps psychology and therapy every single time. We have authority in Christ Jesus over our thoughts.15:48 My youth pastor would, illustrate it like this. He would say, Tim, you can't stop a bird from landing on your head, but you can stop it from making a nest.16:01 That's your thoughts. You can't you can't and I can't stop the thought from coming in. I mean, I will, as your pastor, have some thoughts and I'm like, woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. And my brain will carry that16:12 thought. And and here's what you have to understand. Thoughts become emotions. Emotions become impulses. Impulses become behavior.16:24 Behavior becomes habit. Habit becomes character. Character becomes legacy. So back the train all the way up, thought. As a man16:36 thinketh in his heart, is he, the scripture says. You have authority. So here's what I do. And I and I wish I did this all the time. I'm not a superhero. I'm just like you. I wrestle as well.16:49 The thought comes in. Before I know it, I'm ruminating on that thought. It's an evil thought. It goes on for about 10, 15 seconds, and then suddenly I say, wait a second. Don't have to think about this. And I say these16:57 words out loud. In the name of Jesus, I take that thought captive to the obedience of Christ right now. Friends, I can't tell you. Every single time17:09 I do that, the thought's gone. Every single time. And it is a it's a foolproof because the name of Jesus has authority. Praise the17:21 lord. Jesus, I've given you authority over every serpent and every scorpion and every snake. Nothing on this earth shall be able to harm that doesn't mean that we go pick up snakes.17:33 These are you understand, you know, illustration, and Jesus is a serpent. That's the old ancient illustration of this of of Satan. Scorpions, demons, these undermining17:45 influences that sting and bite and slither in. You have authority over them in Jesus name. Hallelujah. Once you got the mental health, mental17:56 peace, mental rest, then you enter into emotional rest. And then your physical activity is the fruit of a18:08 right relationship with God because you're thinking the right way. It's all intertwined. Okay? So this is a very important you're not what you think, you're you are what you allow yourself to think.18:20 Okay? Now number 4 0, no. Before we get to number 4, I almost forgot this again. There are 3 categories of thought. There is the past, the present, the future. A lot of our unrest in our thoughts comes from regret18:32 over the past. I wish I did that and not this. I wish I didn't do that and I did again, the past is forgiven in Jesus' name. He has forgiven18:44 you. He has justified you. He has accepted you through his blood. That's why this wonderful song we just sang just before this message, perfect timing. But then there's the future, which I call dread.18:55 So regret, dread. What if? What might happen? What if they fire me? What if the report comes back negative? What if I don't get the grades and don't get in the college and don't get in the job? All these what19:07 ifs. And your mind will go there if you allow it. Here's the present 1. I'm not enough. Here's another way we say it. If people knew the real19:19 me, and who we'll ruminate on that, and we'll allow our present condition to shape our spiritual environment, our mental and emotional environment. The Lord19:31 Jesus wants you to take authority over it. There's no answer to this outside of Jesus. There's no answer to this outside of Jesus. The scripture talks about the darkened mind of the unbeliever. It's19:42 foolish. It's bent on evil. It's callous. It's hardened. It's in all in, Ephesians chapter 4. I don't know if you ever heard the song by Wayne Newton called The Letter.19:54 Wayne Newton. And it's called The Letter, and he and he wrote it based on a piece of paper that he bought at a Sothers Sotheby's auction in 19 91 for 1300020:06 dollars. Now who would pay that for that kinda for a piece of paper? Well, here here's here's what the piece of paper was. It was a piece of hotel stationery, which on20:17 written on it were the final words many people believe that Elvis Presley ever wrote down. It was discovered in a trash can in his hotel room in Las Vegas in 19 76.20:31 Possibly the last words he ever wrote. And here's the words of that letter on which Wayne Newton wrote a song and, based the lyrics of that song on this letter. Here's what here's the final20:42 writings of Elvis Presley. I feel so alone sometimes. The night is quiet for me. I'd love to be able to sleep. I'm glad everyone is gone20:54 now. I'll probably not rest tonight. I have no need for all of this. Help me, Lord. Man, I hope he's justified by grace21:06 through faith. I really do. But those were the final words. And listen to me. He was at the top, and he still didn't have rest. You could have21:17 everything this world can give you and still not have rest. What Jesus says in Matthew 11, rest for your souls. So that brings me to point number 4, this is the basis of the21:28 message. Rest is the blessing of salvation in Christ. You can't have rest until you're saved, my friend. You can't have rest in your soul21:40 until you are saved by grace in Jesus Christ. And so to that end, we go to Hebrews chapter 4 and we and we are introduced to the wide open door of21:52 God's mercy to walk into his rest. Ephesians 4 verse 1, therefore, while the promise of entering If you've got22:04 your notes out, please underline his. This is so important. It is not my rest, it's his rest. I, through22:16 Christ, get to enter into a spiritual condition by which I have rest in the father. His22:27 rest becomes my rest. Now let me ask you a question. Is the father ever worried about what people think about him?22:40 Is the father ever stressed about what he's gotta do? Does the father live with any kind of regrets about his past? Does the father ever feel that he's not good enough? No.22:52 That's why you can't enter into your rest, you are gotta enter into his rest. His rest becomes your rest through Christ Jesus. Now,23:04 notice how Hebrews is a warning by the way, Hebrews is a sermon. We we were in Hebrews last week, and it's a sermon that was written to or preached to possibly, again, Jewish Christians who were23:16 tempted to go back to Judaism, back to the law, back to the religious statutes of the Levitical code in order to be accepted by God. And Hebrews is say Hebrews is consistently23:28 saying, don't go back. Don't go back to religion. Hear me 20 first century Christians. Don't go back to religion. Don't go back to23:40 you trying to base your worth and your acceptance to the father on what you've done. That's religion. You can name it whatever you want. You can name23:52 it good works. You can name it I'm a good personism. You can name it Judaism. You can may name it Islam, Hinduism. All religions of the world, same thing. What you do24:03 makes you right with God. No. The God the gospel of God's race is is not what you do, it's what Jesus did for you that makes you right with God. So24:15 here's point number 1. And and he says he says, let us fear that we haven't failed that we failed to reach that. Let us fear. That's the thing I don't wanna lose. I don't want you to miss out on the entrance to God's24:26 rest through faith in Christ Jesus. Here's point number 1. We find true rest through faith in Christ. It's an entrance into God's rest, the father's rest. How do we get their faith24:38 in Christ? Faith that Christ has forgiven me of my sins in the past. Listen to me very carefully. He has forgiven me and covered me24:50 for the sins of my future, and he accepts me now by faith. I am enough in Christ. Now look at what25:02 he says in verse 3. For we who have, what? We who have not performed, not we who have dotted every I and crossed every25:13 t, not we who have measured up to some standard of righteousness, according to the culture, according to my family's expectations, according to my neighborhood, according to my best friends, according to my community25:24 group. No. We who have believed enter that rest. If you're in Christ, you are at rest. It just might be you've forgotten about it.25:36 And he says, as I sworn my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. We're gonna talk about who that person, who that group is. Although his works were finished from the foundation of world. Again, this is God's rest, God's25:45 Sabbath rest at the time of creation, Genesis chapter 2. So let's go on in the text. Verse 4, he says, for he has somewhere spoken on the Sabbath day in this way, God rested on the seventh day from his25:57 work. So the Hebrew writer wants us to think back to the creation account. God works. Now listen to me. What was the point of creation? What what was the point?26:09 God says, let there be light. There's light. God says, let the seas divide and there's land. And God says, let, you know, vegetation come from the ground and let beasts come from the earth and then let's make man in our26:19 image. And then it says this, and God rested. And there is a here's here's the point of creation. Here's what God did. He created a perfect, peaceful26:30 atmosphere for him to dwell with man forever. In fact, if you read the first 7 days of creation, there's a little interesting tidbit I want to give you.26:42 Every day of creation has a night except day 7. There's no night on the seventh day. At the end of every day, it says, and there was evening and there was26:54 morning, the first day. Evening and morning, the second day. Evening and morning, the third day. On and on it goes. When the seventh day comes and God rests, there's no evening. God originally intended, listen to this,27:06 that we live in the light of perfect harmony with him and with each other for all eternity and never experience night.27:19 Now you say, well, what happened? Well, sin happened. And then the night started to come. This is important for us to understand because if you fast forward to the book of Revelation, in the new27:30 heavens and the new earth, guess what's missing? Night. It says there will be no more night. In other words, creation restored to God's original intention.27:42 Mankind living in peaceful harmony with each other and with God the father for all eternity and never ever experiencing darkness again. That's27:54 what God created the earth for. That's why by the way, that's why you are here. You are here at Waters Church for me, pastor Tim, to yell at you28:06 and remind you that God the father wants you. He wants you. You're not here by half of his. You're not here by chance. The fact28:18 that somebody begs you and pleads you to come is God's love for you. He wants to he wants you to hear this. I have made it possible for you to enter my rest.28:30 Come and do life forever with me. That's his heart for you. Now, in the law, Israel is given a stipulation. 1 of the 4 the28:41 fourth of the 10 commandments is in his top 10. Guess what it's about? Rest. What do think about God's laws keeping us from the fun stuff? Well, anybody28:53 who's ever loved going to sleep. Look at number 4. He says this, remember the Sabbath day, keep it holy. God says take a day off. 6 days you work, 1 day you rest29:05 to the lord your god. Don't do any work. Let me say it in modern vernacular. 1 day a week, take a day off. 1 day a week, go fishing. Unless fishing is your work, then29:17 don't go fishing. 1 day a week, go golfing. Unless golfing is your work. Alright? But 1 day a week, don't do what provides for your income.29:28 Detach. This is so healthy for you. It is written into the genetic code of the universe. Do you know that Stalin in the Soviet Union tried to come up with a 10 day29:40 work week 5 day work week wherein workers were, rotated through a 5 day work week. It failed miserably. In post revolution France, they tried to come up with a 1029:52 day work week because they wanted to scrub any vestige of Judeo Christianity from their history. It failed miserably. This 7 day deal,30:04 it ain't going anywhere. Because God has written it into the code of the universe. I believe you should rest 1 day a week. And here's why it says here's why it says it to the Israelites. It says, cause in 6 days, verse30:16 11, the Lord did this, he made the heaven and the earth. And on the seventh day, he rested and he blessed it. By the way, the word for blessed in Hebrew also means he strengthened it. There's strength to be found in a30:25 day of rest. Maybe Sunday can be your day of rest, and I pray that it is. But if it's not, I got good news for you. It doesn't have to be Sunday by the law. We are freed from the law. Now there is a group of Christians30:37 that call 7 day Adventist, and they believe that unless you rest on the Sabbath Saturday, you are not accepted by God. You're you're out of the kingdom. That's not true. They they don't teach the scriptures30:48 properly. Okay? Romans 10 verse 4. Let me give you some some proof from the bible. Romans 10 verse 4 says, Christ is the end of the law. For what? Christ31:01 is the end of the law for right in other words, you cannot get righteous from the law. You're not made righteous because you rest on Saturday. You're not righteous because you don't murder. You're not righteous because31:12 you don't commit adulthood. No. You're righteous because of faith in Christ Jesus. You get righteousness, it says this, to everyone who believes. And another passage of scripture shows us, we don't hold to this31:24 legalistic standard of Saturday rest. Here here it is, Colossians 2 verse 16. Let no 1 pass judgment on you in questions of food or drink or regard to a festival,31:36 new moon, or what? Sabbath. Sabbath. There's no rules about this. In another passage, Paul says that some people hold 1 day as distinct and and other people hold all days31:48 as the same. I I do, however, believe that you should put 1 day aside where you just take it off and don't feel the need to provide for yourself. You rest in the finished work of32:00 Jesus. You you say, Lord, I resign from being Lord over my universe. You are in charge. Have your way. I trust you with the fruit of my 6 days, and I believe I can do32:11 more with 6 days with you, God, than I could ever do with 7 days on my own. So now this also says in verse 17, these are shadow, somebody say shadow,32:23 of the things that come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Now listen, this verse is so key. It is teaching you how to read the Old Testament. The Old Testament, festivals, new32:35 moon fell celebrations, the Sabbath itself, they're all shadows. If you have a light and it shines on you and you cast a shadow, the shadow can give you kind of like the general idea of what you look like, but it's not32:46 really what you look like. Amen? Well, the Old Testament is a shadow of who? Jesus. It's a shadow. It gives you a general idea of what he looks like, but the substance, what he32:58 really looks like, is expressed in the gospels. So all the old covenant, all the old testament passages are pointing us to look for Christ. Let me put it like this. David is33:10 a shadow of Christ. David defeats Goliath. He wins the battle on behalf of the Israelites. It was a 1 1 on 1 showdown in the valley of Allah,33:22 and he comes running into the battle, and he takes off the head of Goliath with Goliath's own sword. He defeats Goliath with his own weapon. And because of that, Israel is suddenly filled with courage and boldness and33:33 they rise up from the caves in which they are hiding and they conquer their enemies. But David led the way. Understand 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ conquered your great33:45 Goliath, Satan, the the devil, and hell. And through Jesus' conquest, he beat death with death's own weapon, and he rose again on the third day. And because he beat33:57 death, we can overcome our spiritual enemies in Christ. He's the champion. We aren't. We're just teammates.34:09 We got churches in New England and Tampa. We all know it was Tom Brady. We all know. Now we all know. Okay? If Tom's on your team,34:21 you got a shot. Alright? You're welcome, Tampa. Anyway, because Jesus is on our team, we don't got a shot. We got victory. That's34:33 our champion. Okay. So all the Old Testament, shadow of Jesus, pointing us to Jesus, even the law, even the Sabbath. Jesus let me say it like this. Jesus is our true34:45 Sabbath rest. Now if you read the bible, you'll notice that the church, the early church, and still to this day, we don't worship on Saturday.34:57 When do we worship? Yeah. That's why you're all here today. Sunday. Well, why? Couple reasons. Jesus rose on Sunday. He35:09 rose on the first day of the week. Remember, they went to go and embalm him, but it was a Sabbath. They set it aside for the next day. They went and showed up the next day, and he was already out of the grave. He woke he35:17 got up early. 49 days later, the day of Pentecost comes. That's also on a Sunday. That's when the church is born. The Holy Spirit comes into the church on a Sunday. And then throughout the book of acts, we see on35:29 the first day of the week, they gathered. On the first day of the week, they broke bread. On the first day of the week. So it became a general standard that we now worship and rest first,35:39 and then we go to work.35:40 Now let me show you this. I want you to write this down. In the old covenant, we work 6 days to get to rest. In the new covenant, now we35:51 rest and we get to work from it. This is a huge and and it all revolves around Christ. The old covenant pointed to him, and in the new covenant, we live36:03 from him. Now you say, well, what36:06 does that matter?36:06 Here here here's how that matters. You are not working to be accepted by God.36:18 You are accepted, and therefore you work for God. You are not working to be loved. No.36:30 No. No. No. You are loved, and you work from that love. You are not working to be saved. You are saved,36:42 and now you live from salvation in Christ Jesus. Which brings me to point number 2. We find true rest having a future in Christ. So I I am36:54 positionally, through Christ right with the father. I enter into his rest. Now, the book of Hebrews chapter 4, he's going to again challenge the Hebrews who wanna go back to Old Testament law.37:05 And here's why, religion doesn't work. Some of you are on the hamster wheel of religion. The hamster wheel of religion. Have I done enough for God to love me this week? Have I done enough? Have I been nice enough? I37:17 didn't swear at the barista this week. I must be accepted by God. I'd oh, but I had that bad thought. Oops. I'm going backwards now. I'm back oh, no. I gotta get back on the road. Oh, I went to church this week. God must37:26 be really happy. No. No. No. You're you're disconnected from the gospel. You're not accepted by what you do. You're accepted by what he has done for you by faith in the37:38 finished work of Jesus. But the past is covered. The future is secured. Walk confidently into your future because God has brought rest through Christ to your soul.37:50 So let's unpack this. Verse 5, it says, again in this passage, he said, they shall not enter by rest. Who is the they? The old the the they here in this passage is the Old Testament wilderness generation. And he's38:01 quoting from Psalm 95 written by David. Psalm 95 verse 10. This is written by David. He says, for 40 years, I load that generation, the wilderness generation. And I said, are people who always go astray38:13 in their heart. They have not known my ways. Therefore, they shall not enter my rest. Now if you don't know the bible narrative, let me give you just a rundown real quick of what happens. This is a picture of your38:22 salvation. These are types and shadows of the reality that we have in Christ. Israel is in slavery in Egypt for 400 years. Egypt is a picture of sin. How do the IsraelitesShow more
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