back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service
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♪ Father of kindness, you have poured out grace ♪ 00:01:05.680 |
♪ Giver of mercy, you're my help in time of need ♪ 00:01:58.440 |
♪ Beautiful savior, you have brought me near ♪ 00:02:18.260 |
♪ Blessed redeemer, you have set this captive free ♪ 00:20:21.400 |
We are a little bit more cozy and intimate today 00:20:24.040 |
'cause we do have 800 of us out in the desert. 00:20:36.720 |
And I wanna just read a passage of scripture, 00:20:50.520 |
My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast. 00:21:06.860 |
I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples. 00:21:10.260 |
I will sing praises to you among the nations, 00:21:13.180 |
for your loving kindness is great to the heavens 00:21:24.960 |
This passage is in the context of a lot of wrestling 00:21:30.540 |
And situationally, this is not a good time for him, 00:21:44.660 |
like, Lord, I know theologically you are so good, 00:25:22.780 |
♪ And my heart will sing how great is our God ♪ 00:25:46.940 |
♪ And my heart will sing how great is our God ♪ 00:26:47.220 |
- Let's begin with a couple of announcements. 00:26:57.940 |
it's a little bit of a sparser gathering this morning. 00:27:01.940 |
As I mentioned at the beginning, the retreat is going on 00:27:09.540 |
And so because most of our people are at Palm Desert, 00:27:19.260 |
I would assume parking was pretty easy this morning, right? 00:27:24.860 |
outside of just a time of just feeding of the word 00:27:50.140 |
you might be in a group of 50 year old women, all right? 00:27:56.700 |
because the groups are still being finalized. 00:28:00.660 |
then you're gonna be in some kind of a hodgepodge group 00:28:25.860 |
If you are a parent of a child in the elementary department, 00:28:32.820 |
there will be just a parents meeting on September 10th. 00:28:38.060 |
And there are some, if you're a family member, 00:28:42.060 |
there are some announcements that pertain to you 00:28:50.700 |
Right now we're gonna take a time of offering. 00:28:59.300 |
and whenever your heart feels ready to do that. 00:29:01.260 |
Otherwise, we encourage you to give your offering 00:29:11.300 |
We don't have any baptisms or anything today, 00:29:15.700 |
give you a little bit of time to just prepare your hearts 00:29:18.780 |
and then we'll continue with our time of praise. 00:29:23.380 |
Father, we're so thankful to be gathered here this morning. 00:29:27.580 |
And Lord, we pray for your word to be proclaimed 00:29:38.660 |
to our church family that is here this morning 00:29:41.020 |
and those that have started worship up in Palm Desert. 00:29:48.280 |
not for the sake of us just growing in knowledge, 00:29:56.820 |
and wholly living in love for our brothers and sisters 00:30:01.620 |
Lord, ultimately so that you would receive glory 00:30:09.940 |
Lord, it's a sign of just our response to say, 00:30:24.500 |
Help us to steward those well in faith and in worship. 00:30:29.100 |
So we thank you, God, for just being so kind to us. 00:30:32.820 |
And we pray that this morning that you would be honored. 00:31:25.040 |
just as a reminder of who it is that we serve. 00:35:07.120 |
♪ Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ 00:35:13.920 |
♪ Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ 00:35:20.000 |
♪ Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ 00:35:26.080 |
♪ Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ 00:40:50.180 |
It really is a joy for us to be able to hear the word of God 00:41:06.260 |
A lot of you guys know who Pastor James Lee is. 00:41:09.300 |
He is the senior pastor at Cross Life Bible Church, 00:41:19.260 |
we've been right there alongside with Pastor James, 00:41:29.220 |
And today he's gonna be speaking the word of God for us. 00:41:36.180 |
just give him a big warm applause and a thank you in advance. 00:41:46.700 |
- All right, well, it's good to see everyone. 00:41:54.580 |
It's much more filled than I thought it would be. 00:42:30.500 |
And your pastor, Pastor Peter, he's a mentor to me. 00:42:47.080 |
and I'm thankful for Pastor Peter Chung, Pastor Mark. 00:42:50.280 |
Pastor Mark was a classmate of mine in seminary, 00:42:57.160 |
And I hope, coming in and out of a church like this, 00:43:04.880 |
you know, when you're eating steak every day, 00:43:15.200 |
you eat porridge, and you're like, man, I had a good. 00:43:17.120 |
You guys are eating, you guys are eating well here. 00:43:24.840 |
they're doing it with much prayer, with much love. 00:43:27.840 |
And I want you guys to never take that for granted. 00:43:31.160 |
And even Pastor Peter Chung, he was at the retreat. 00:43:34.680 |
He could have just told me to come and just, you know, 00:43:39.120 |
But he came all the way here, drove back here 00:43:41.360 |
to minister to all of you and to care for you. 00:43:52.700 |
You're at a wonderful place, and you are truly blessed. 00:44:02.640 |
When the other pastors come, be sure to appreciate them 00:44:09.860 |
Well, today, I was thinking about what to preach on, 00:44:16.660 |
to go over a subject that is relatively new to me 00:44:27.800 |
that the people who might attend service today 00:44:52.660 |
Now, the Bible talks about the pure milk of God's word. 00:44:56.760 |
It talks about milk being given to spiritual infants. 00:45:01.500 |
I realize that today's study is just gonna be tough steak. 00:45:08.740 |
and if there are any questions about the study today, 00:45:13.740 |
Pastor Peter and I, we would love to just stay behind 00:45:21.240 |
And so, again, the subject I wanted to talk about 00:45:32.420 |
we normally think about things like justification, 00:45:41.560 |
But a term that may not come to our minds very often 00:45:52.280 |
between the kingdom of God and the concept of rest. 00:45:57.880 |
it says the following in 2 Samuel 7, verse 10 to 13. 00:46:01.240 |
If you will take your Bibles and turn with me 00:46:05.360 |
we're gonna do a lot of Bible flipping today. 00:46:11.060 |
So this is the promise of the Davidic covenant. 00:46:27.680 |
It says, "And I will appoint a place for my people Israel 00:46:33.140 |
"in their own place and be disturbed no more. 00:46:38.800 |
"as formerly from the time that I appointed judges 00:46:43.100 |
"And I will give you rest from all your enemies. 00:47:00.000 |
"and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever." 00:47:09.820 |
The chronicler extends the attribute of rest in the kingdom 00:47:15.440 |
to the king himself, to a son of David, a son of David. 00:47:20.080 |
So 1 Chronicles, chapter 22, verse seven through 10. 00:47:35.520 |
David said to Solomon, "My son, I had it in my heart 00:47:40.380 |
"to build a house to the name of the Lord my God." 00:48:01.800 |
"'I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies, 00:48:06.500 |
"'and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. 00:48:11.960 |
"'he shall be my son, and I will be his father, 00:48:15.080 |
"'and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever.'" 00:48:19.980 |
And so a promise is given that David will have a child, 00:48:25.820 |
extends beyond Solomon to the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:48:33.920 |
"at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, 00:48:39.660 |
"and behold, something greater than Solomon is here." 00:48:47.180 |
Jesus brings a rest that is much more profound 00:48:54.640 |
Take your Bibles and turn with me to Hebrews chapter four. 00:49:11.320 |
"Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest 00:49:24.360 |
"but the message they heard did not benefit them, 00:49:41.140 |
"For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day 00:49:43.540 |
"in this way, and God rested on the seventh day 00:49:51.100 |
"since therefore it remains for some to enter it, 00:49:53.960 |
"and those who formerly received the good news 00:49:58.200 |
Again, he appoints a certain day today, saying, 00:50:04.520 |
"If you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. 00:50:10.040 |
"God would not have spoken of another day later on." 00:50:18.340 |
has also rested from his works as God did from his. 00:50:26.820 |
but to enter that rest, we must find our rest in Christ. 00:50:31.740 |
I wanna develop the biblical theology of rest, 00:50:37.780 |
But before we do that, join me in a time of prayer. 00:50:44.980 |
Father, how good it is to come before your word. 00:50:53.620 |
It is ultimately the words of God, pen through men. 00:51:08.520 |
would impress itself upon our hearts, it would convict us. 00:51:17.580 |
take a step back from the busyness and the chaos of life, 00:51:35.660 |
And Lord, we know that we will find our rest in you. 00:51:47.200 |
in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter four, 00:51:49.040 |
is that the author seems to talk about three kinds of rest. 00:51:56.720 |
So let's look at verse four, look at verse four. 00:51:59.120 |
For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way, 00:52:02.520 |
and God rested on the seventh day from all of his works. 00:52:09.840 |
is a land rest, that is rest in the land of Canaan. 00:52:13.800 |
You look at verse five, chapter four, verse five, 00:52:19.720 |
Verse eight, he says, "For if Joshua had given them rest, 00:52:22.760 |
"God would not have spoken of another day later on." 00:52:27.240 |
was redeemed from Egypt during the days of the Exodus, 00:52:31.420 |
led the people of God into the promised land, 00:52:37.440 |
that the two types of rest are very different. 00:52:48.020 |
was called the place of rest, the land of promise. 00:52:50.520 |
Now the last reference to rest, the third reference, 00:52:57.880 |
And like the second type of rest, it's a place, 00:53:03.200 |
So if you look at chapter four, verse one, it says, 00:53:05.040 |
"Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest 00:53:09.500 |
"lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it." 00:53:11.960 |
And verse nine says, "So then, there remains a Sabbath rest 00:53:18.000 |
Now the question is, how do all of these references to rest 00:53:31.480 |
we're gonna dive into each one of these types of rest, 00:53:42.240 |
Creation rest, creation rest, let's talk about that. 00:53:45.940 |
Genesis chapter two, verse one through three. 00:53:52.620 |
"Thus, the heavens and the earth were finished, 00:53:55.120 |
"And on the seventh day, God finished his work 00:53:57.820 |
"that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day 00:54:02.240 |
"So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, 00:54:08.480 |
"And the Lord made the world, he rested on the seventh day." 00:54:21.940 |
where mankind communed with God in the Garden of Eden. 00:54:31.680 |
why it's significant that God rested on the seventh day 00:54:40.660 |
where mankind communed with God in the Garden of Eden. 00:54:44.260 |
So the biblical idea of rest includes two elements, 00:54:52.580 |
So if you're taking notes, this is two things to jot down. 00:55:05.780 |
These are the kind of details you might just overlook 00:55:07.660 |
when you're reading the story, but they're very significant. 00:55:10.540 |
And the reason why it's important to single these things out 00:55:17.220 |
when you look at the allusions later on in scripture 00:55:27.640 |
So let's look at Genesis chapter two, verse nine through 12. 00:55:45.860 |
to spring up every tree that is pleasant to sight 00:55:50.660 |
The tree of life was in the midst of the garden 00:55:55.540 |
A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, 00:56:03.060 |
It is the one that flowed around the whole land Havilah 00:56:05.840 |
where there is gold, and the gold of that land is good. 00:56:15.660 |
now even though God created the world in perfection, 00:56:17.600 |
we know what happens in Genesis chapter three. 00:56:19.260 |
Mankind sins against God, and all of creation is cursed. 00:56:29.560 |
because you have listened to the voice of your wife 00:56:31.420 |
and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 00:56:37.840 |
In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. 00:56:40.100 |
Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, 00:56:44.740 |
By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread 00:56:48.460 |
for out of it you were taken, for you are dust, 00:56:55.620 |
therefore just as sin came into the world through one man 00:57:10.240 |
Creation was corrupted, man was kicked out of Eden, 00:57:18.220 |
Life itself will be wrought with sweat, blood, and tears. 00:57:21.360 |
Nature would attack man in the form of natural disasters, 00:57:24.140 |
including earthquakes, tsunamis, droughts, and floods. 00:57:29.500 |
And again, this is not something that is just theoretical, 00:57:31.580 |
but something that all of us have felt, right? 00:57:39.720 |
It's just the struggle, the pain that it caused. 00:57:42.660 |
The thorns and thistles of your daily grind at work, 00:57:47.940 |
there's vacation time, there's maybe an escape to retreat, 00:57:51.420 |
we will never be able to escape the pains of sin. 00:57:55.340 |
We can never restore the alienation from God, 00:58:00.940 |
And so generally, we can't say that we are at rest. 00:58:03.500 |
No matter how good things might be on this earth, 00:58:09.340 |
At least we can't say it permanently, finally, ultimately. 00:58:20.180 |
therefore, includes his return from chaos and unrest 00:58:25.780 |
where he can once again rest with his creator. 00:58:36.940 |
of understanding the concept of rest, creation rest. 00:58:41.420 |
that the author of Hebrews mentions is the land rest. 00:58:45.380 |
I'm referring to the promised land of Canaan. 00:58:51.380 |
For 40 years, I loathed the generation and said, 00:58:53.900 |
"They are a people who go astray in their hearts, 00:59:05.100 |
The rest here is a reference to the land of Canaan. 00:59:28.220 |
from their bondage by pouring out various plagues. 00:59:32.780 |
And the last judgment that was finally released 00:59:37.340 |
was the death of the firstborn, the last plague. 00:59:39.940 |
In Exodus chapter 11, verse four through six, 00:59:46.940 |
"'and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die. 00:59:50.180 |
"'The firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, 00:59:57.100 |
"'There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt 00:59:59.820 |
"'such as there has never been nor ever will be again.'" 01:00:04.340 |
So death of the firstborn, a horrific judgment, 01:00:09.940 |
"But the nation of Israel will be spared from that judgment 01:00:13.620 |
"they'll take the blood and spread it across a doorpost. 01:00:25.420 |
took the place of the life of the firstborn child. 01:00:28.820 |
Now, of course, in fulfillment of God's word, 01:00:30.220 |
all the families of Egypt lost their firstborn, 01:00:35.500 |
so that the king finally let the people of Israel go. 01:00:39.940 |
What we see is that through the blood of a Passover lamb, 01:00:45.140 |
they were delivered, they were ransomed from slavery 01:00:48.140 |
and brought into the promised land of Canaan, 01:00:58.700 |
why was the land of Canaan called the resting place of God? 01:01:03.700 |
Why was the land of Canaan called the resting place of God? 01:01:07.820 |
And the answer is because, this is cool, okay? 01:01:12.740 |
The land of Canaan was supposed to be symbolic 01:01:21.460 |
Listen to the language that is used to describe Canaan. 01:01:37.420 |
"to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, 01:01:41.740 |
Deuteronomy chapter six, verse 10 through 11, it says, 01:01:43.940 |
"And when the Lord your God brings you into the land 01:01:52.220 |
"and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, 01:01:57.180 |
"and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, 01:02:02.940 |
And then it says in Deuteronomy chapter eight, 01:02:06.300 |
"For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, 01:02:11.380 |
"and springs flowing out in the valley and the hills, 01:02:14.060 |
"the land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees, 01:02:16.660 |
"and pomegranates, and land of olive trees and honey." 01:02:24.540 |
including a reference to rivers and fruit trees. 01:02:27.780 |
And initially when you read something like this, 01:02:35.380 |
But the Edenic reference does become much more obvious 01:02:41.340 |
which was constructed in the heart of the promised land 01:03:05.820 |
and all the veils and stuff, you just go, ah. 01:03:08.820 |
You know, people try to finish the Bible in a year, 01:03:11.700 |
Genesis to Revelation, and then they're good for Genesis 01:03:16.300 |
then they die in the wilderness with the Israelites, 01:03:20.860 |
You know, and then Levites in the book of Leviticus, 01:03:40.260 |
But those details have been given to us from God 01:03:43.340 |
and are meant to be read carefully, intentionally, 01:03:46.140 |
for they have been given to you for a purpose. 01:03:48.440 |
Take your Bibles and turn with me to 1 Kings chapter six. 01:04:11.120 |
I was talking about the temple, so check this out, okay? 01:04:19.780 |
The cedar within the house was carved in the form of gourds 01:04:38.580 |
he carved engraved figures of cherubim and palm trees 01:04:42.220 |
and opened flowers in the inner and outer rooms. 01:04:49.540 |
with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and opened flowers. 01:05:03.740 |
were meant to convey images of fruits, plants, and angels. 01:05:08.640 |
Now listen to the description of the lampstand 01:05:14.360 |
Take your Bibles, turn with me to Exodus chapter 25. 01:05:40.520 |
"The lampstand shall be made of hammered works. 01:05:46.200 |
"and its flowers shall be of one piece with it. 01:05:50.340 |
"And there shall be six branches going out of its side, 01:05:53.500 |
"and three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it, 01:06:09.120 |
"each with calyx and flower on the other branch, 01:06:11.360 |
"so for the six branches going out of the lampstand." 01:06:23.760 |
I believe it's a direct reference to the tree of life. 01:06:39.520 |
"that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life." 01:06:47.100 |
"And for the breadth of the court on the west side, 01:06:53.740 |
"The breadth of the court on the front to the east 01:07:02.040 |
And then we get the same detail in the Millennial Temple 01:07:06.760 |
"Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, 01:07:17.820 |
"and the threshold of the temple toward the east, 01:07:25.240 |
that is shared between the temple and the garden 01:07:29.440 |
First Kings chapter eight, verse 10 through 11, 01:07:31.680 |
it says, "And when the priest came out of the holy place, 01:07:38.260 |
"for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord." 01:07:41.960 |
Now, if you remember from what I said before, 01:07:43.200 |
the biblical idea of rest includes two elements, 01:07:45.300 |
a perfect creation epitomized in the garden of Eden, 01:07:50.720 |
The land of Canaan, with all its fertility and fruitfulness, 01:07:57.600 |
where God manifested his presence before the people 01:08:05.080 |
And so the reason why God calls the land of Canaan 01:08:07.360 |
his place of rest is because it is a faint shadow 01:08:11.160 |
and an image of paradise lost, a picture of Eden. 01:08:26.040 |
"Arise, O Lord, and go to your resting place, 01:08:34.480 |
is a story that connects the idea of national redemption 01:08:40.960 |
The nation of Israel was redeemed by a blood of a lamb 01:08:52.240 |
And this isn't just some fanciful stuff I'm making up. 01:08:58.040 |
Take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Exodus. 01:09:05.680 |
This is with the giving of the 10 commandments from Moses. 01:09:24.940 |
Verse eight, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 01:09:27.160 |
"Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 01:09:29.100 |
"but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. 01:09:40.680 |
"For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, 01:09:51.700 |
The reason why the ark should rest on the seventh day 01:09:57.380 |
Take your Bibles, turn with me to the book of Deuteronomy. 01:10:33.140 |
"Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 01:10:35.780 |
"but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. 01:10:41.960 |
"or your male servants or your female servants 01:10:44.060 |
"or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock 01:10:49.680 |
"that your male servants and your female servants 01:10:58.280 |
"and the Lord your God brought you out from there 01:11:05.720 |
Why are they to keep the Sabbath day in Deuteronomy? 01:11:09.800 |
In order to remember the redemption from captivity. 01:11:17.940 |
Why was Moses giving two completely different reasons 01:11:20.540 |
for why the Israelites had to observe the Sabbath? 01:11:22.600 |
The book of Exodus, they had to rest on the Sabbath day 01:11:38.300 |
it might seem like Moses is giving two unrelated reasons 01:11:47.500 |
Remember, he's a prophet, but he is also a theologian. 01:11:52.880 |
the reason that he gave in the book of Exodus, 01:11:55.220 |
and the reason that he gives in the book of Deuteronomy, 01:11:59.500 |
Namely, that God had redeemed the nation of Israel 01:12:14.180 |
That's the relationship between Exodus and Deuteronomy. 01:12:17.620 |
The authors of both the Old and New Testament 01:12:20.660 |
take and develop the relationship of redemption and rest, 01:12:22.860 |
and they then apply this to our lives in the New Testament. 01:12:26.060 |
And we come to our last point, heavenly rest. 01:12:36.260 |
of thoughts together just because they share the same word. 01:12:39.500 |
It's a theological truth he is weaving together 01:12:42.740 |
from Genesis to Revelation with this concept of rest. 01:12:46.140 |
In Hebrews chapter four, verse eight through 10, 01:12:52.540 |
"God would not have spoken of another day later on. 01:13:01.260 |
"has also rested from his works as God did from his." 01:13:04.500 |
Israel's redemption from Egypt to the promised land of Canaan 01:13:46.260 |
"For you did not receive the spirit of slavery 01:13:48.780 |
"but you have received the spirit of adoptions as sons, 01:13:54.300 |
"The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit 01:14:01.900 |
"in order that we may also be glorified with him." 01:14:16.620 |
This is a common observation among commentators. 01:14:19.500 |
Just as Israel was called the national son of God, 01:14:32.660 |
Just as they were brought into the inheritance of Abraham, 01:15:01.520 |
not willingly, but because of him who subjected it 01:15:06.340 |
will be set free from its bondage to corruption 01:15:18.120 |
but we ourselves who are the first fruits of the Spirit 01:15:20.500 |
groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoptions as sons, 01:15:29.320 |
right after Paul talks about the spiritual exodus, 01:15:31.400 |
he's talking about the restoration of creation. 01:15:34.040 |
And he's not randomly changing subjects here. 01:15:50.280 |
so we who have been redeemed from captivity to sin 01:15:56.860 |
and enter into a creation that will be restored 01:16:05.300 |
from our former days of bondage to the lands of rest 01:16:11.220 |
And the scripture teaches that the final state of land 01:16:20.960 |
where the whole world will in fact be Edenic. 01:16:29.280 |
"from the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, 01:16:34.120 |
In chapter 22 of Revelation verse one through two, 01:16:41.280 |
"flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 01:16:44.220 |
"through the middle of the street of the city, 01:16:48.640 |
"the tree of life with its 12 kinds of fruits 01:16:53.260 |
"The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 01:16:56.180 |
"Just as rivers and waters nourish the land of fertility 01:17:01.280 |
"from the throne of God to give life in the new creation. 01:17:25.660 |
Revelation chapter 21, verse two to three says, 01:17:32.500 |
"prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 01:17:34.660 |
"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 01:17:36.240 |
"Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. 01:17:40.660 |
"He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, 01:17:43.080 |
"and God himself will be with them as their God." 01:17:49.540 |
the rest after our wilderness journey in this world. 01:18:03.580 |
even though as Christians we should be looking forward 01:18:22.060 |
it's the bondage of sin, the oppression of sin, 01:18:26.540 |
death wrought by sin, damnation wrought by sin. 01:18:38.420 |
to lead us in a second exodus to the land of promise, 01:18:42.260 |
because Christ will be the one who bears our transgressions. 01:18:45.180 |
He upon the cross will be slaughtered as the Passover lamb 01:18:56.980 |
we might be brought into the land of promise, 01:19:00.500 |
but to a place of communion in this present time. 01:19:15.160 |
The power of the gospel brings future promises and realities 01:19:20.480 |
that we might have a foretaste of it now in the present. 01:19:23.380 |
God, by uniting us with his resurrected life, 01:19:36.000 |
something that happens when the Son of God comes back. 01:19:39.760 |
But by the grace of God in union with the Son of God, 01:19:42.160 |
we are made to experience that new creation in ourselves. 01:19:46.080 |
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 01:19:48.400 |
"The old has passed, behold, the new has come." 01:19:54.660 |
the tabernacle of God was made to be a picture 01:19:56.820 |
of the first creation, to capture the beauty of Eden. 01:20:10.560 |
"in the garden of Eden, and just as the high priest 01:20:12.360 |
"in the temple saw the glory of God in the holy of holies, 01:20:14.580 |
"we see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ 01:20:19.680 |
"For God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' 01:20:21.500 |
"has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge 01:20:23.560 |
"of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 01:20:30.040 |
but in Christ we have already experienced that rest in him, 01:20:37.280 |
And so our Lord says in Matthew chapter 11 verse 28, 01:20:41.780 |
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, 01:21:01.040 |
He says, "Come to me, and I will give you rest." 01:21:23.420 |
"Come to me, for I will reconcile you to the God 01:21:27.920 |
"with whose relationship you have been severed. 01:21:42.320 |
this teaching of rest especially pressed itself 01:21:52.720 |
Sometimes I still can't believe that it actually happened. 01:22:12.140 |
the debate of BLM, the defund of police in 2020 elections. 01:22:21.500 |
They became divided over issues of mass COVID policies 01:22:27.440 |
Then being, all of this was happening outside, 01:22:33.020 |
Couldn't go out, and I'm sure like many of you, 01:22:54.880 |
I feel like things more or less came back to normal. 01:23:01.200 |
old problems resurfaced and new problems rose up. 01:23:03.840 |
Like traffic just coming back on the five in the 405. 01:23:07.600 |
Stress at work ramps up, student loans resume. 01:23:12.680 |
Some of you may have been hit with financial difficulties, 01:23:21.640 |
Then there's the relational issues that are independent, 01:23:26.760 |
the personal problems through which we struggle. 01:23:29.920 |
And you realize that even though things go back to normal, 01:23:38.560 |
you get on Earth, it's never gonna be enough. 01:23:40.920 |
Summer after finals might seem like a time of rest, 01:24:12.180 |
You're meant to find your home and your rest in heaven. 01:24:44.080 |
Christ is the one who says, "I will give you rest. 01:25:02.880 |
"you will know a peace that transcends all understanding, 01:25:13.380 |
For our Lord Jesus Christ is the place of rest. 01:25:52.560 |
Even in times of vacations, we can be exhausted. 01:26:05.220 |
feels like it's in a state of tumult, of chaos. 01:26:10.960 |
But Jesus, it's for that very reason you came to save us. 01:26:17.200 |
You came into this wilderness of fallen creation, 01:26:25.600 |
And you, Lord Jesus Christ, subjected yourself 01:26:38.520 |
from the present age of darkness to the kingdom of light, 01:26:44.920 |
to give us rest in the presence of God Almighty. 01:26:53.120 |
Again, I pray for my brothers and sisters here 01:26:58.160 |
Lord, they can be content, they can do all things. 01:27:10.360 |
that surpasses the hopelessness in this world, 01:27:15.640 |
And God, I pray for those who do not know you, 01:27:17.920 |
that the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ 01:27:30.200 |
- I invite you guys to stand for our closing praise. 01:32:38.280 |
- Please bow your head to receive the benediction. 01:32:44.880 |
I made the grace and peace of God, the Father, 01:34:41.740 |
but at about one o'clock, we're gonna lock up everything 01:34:47.640 |
so if you have an opportunity, please come up.