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It is possible to lie on a beach in the sunshine with a good book and a cool drink and a dreadfully

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troubled mind. A soul in turmoil. What does it mean to rest, and what do you know of it

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in your own life?

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Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick. Colin, this is a great

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question. What does it mean to rest?

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I’m thinking about someone just the other day who said to me I need to learn how to

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rest. He said, you know, I watched television for four hours and I feel exhausted at the

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end of it. What is all that about? And I think we all know what it is to actually be in a

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restful environment even when you have some days off, if you don’t have rest in your own

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soul, in your own mind, in your own heart, then all you’re doing is kind of worrying

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on a beach or whatever. And, so what is rest? And the Bible speaks to this. There is no

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rest for the wicked. But Jesus says come to me and I will give you rest. And right at

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the beginning of the Bible we’re gonna be looking in the book of Genesis as to how God

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himself rested from his labors having completed his work. So, the Bible has so much to say

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about this. I need to keep learning about it in my own life and what better place to

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come than to the scriptures. So it sounds as if when Jesus talks about

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rest, he’s talking about a different kind of rest than we would think?

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Yeah, I think he’s talking about rest for your soul, and there isn’t really rest for

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the body apart from rest for the soul. God’s made us a body-soul unity. I need to sleep

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but I’m only going to be able to sleep really well if there’s peace in my mind and in my

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heart. And that comes out of the whole dynamic of our relationship with God and rolling our

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anxieties on to him. It’s a really important subject.

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So if you can, join us in Genesis and Chapter 2 as we begin the message The Climax of Living.

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Here’s Colin.

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I wonder if you’ve ever asked the question, what does it mean to rest? Is this flopping

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down in front of a television with a remote control to exercise your thumb? If so, why

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is it that it is possible to sit in front of a television for an hour, two hours or

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three hours and at the end to feel more frustrated than you feel rested? Ever experienced that?

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Is it going to sleep? Is it taking a vacation or lying on a beach with a good book in the

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sunshine and a cool drink? Yes, but it is possible to lie on a beach in the sunshine

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with a good book and a cool drink and a dreadfully troubled mind? A solen termite.

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What does it mean to rest? And what do you know of it in your own life? Well, I reached

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for the trusted, concise Oxford Dictionary and found these two definitions. Here’s the

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first. Rest to repose or sleep, the Oxford Dictionary says, especially in bed at night.

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Isn’t that very profound? Now, I want to suggest to you that that is not what the Bible means

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by the word rest. It cannot mean going to sleep especially in bed at night for the simple

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reason that the Bible tells us God rested and God does not need to sleep. In fact, the

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Psalms tells us, very specifically, that God never slumbers nor sleeps. The reason that

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God rested on the seventh day after creation was not that he was exhausted and didn’t have

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energy for anything else until he had time to catch up. God is never exhausted. God is

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never tired. He is never worn out, but he does rest. And he tells us, specifically,

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that he wants us to enter into his rest. So whatever that rest is, it’s not lying in bed

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at sleep at night. So I plowed on and found this definition in the dictionary. To be relieved

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from exertion or action or movement or employment. And again, I want to suggest to you that that

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cannot be what the Bible means when it talks about rest for the simple reason that if you

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look in Isaiah chapter 57, which will be our focus next week, the Bible makes it very clear

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that there is no rest for the wicked, that the wicked are like the troubled sea that

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cannot rest. In other words, the rest that God talks about and that he wants you to know

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is something that, by definition, the wicked cannot experience.

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Now, it is perfectly obvious to us all, surely, that wicked people do go on vacation. It is

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perfectly possible for a wicked person to read a good book on a warm sunny day on the

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beach with a cool drink, is it not. So, whatever this rest is that God is talking about, it

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is something more and something other than this definition of ceasing from activity or

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from employment. So, I want to offer a working definition that

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we will use over these next three weeks, that you can explore as we go through the Scriptures

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together and it’s simply this. That at its root, the biblical concept of rest is all

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about a purpose fulfilled or a project completed. A purpose fulfilled or a project completed.

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We find the root of that in Genesis, in chapter three, when God had finished his work of creation.

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He saw that everything was good and because that project was completed, because that purpose

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was fulfilled he entered into rest. All that God had purposed to do with regards to the

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creation of the world was accomplished and so he entered into rest. You find that also

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as we think about this experience of the wicked never resting. Why is it that the wicked never

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rest? Because the wicked have decided to pick a fight with God and if you decide to pick

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a fight with God to resist the claims of God on your life then your purpose will never

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be fulfilled, your project will never be accomplished. The wicked are engaged in a struggle they

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can never by definition win, because to be wicked is to oppose yourself to God. That

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is why by definition all of their lives and for all eternity the wicked are restless,

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the wicked cannot escape from God the problem is there is simply no place for them to go.

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David says in the Psalms, where can I go from your Spirit? Where could I flee from your

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presence? If I go up into the heavens you are there, if I make my bed in the depths

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you are there. Now if you love God that is something wonderful and no place in the world

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where I will be outside of the reach of his loving care but if you are the wicked and

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you have set yourself against God that is absolutely terrifying, there’s no place in

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the world or in eternity you can ever get away from him. Even death if you choose it

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would only be a corridor that brings you immediately into his visible presence, so the wicked can

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never rest, their purpose in life of resisting God can never be fulfilled, their objective

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of avoiding him can never be completed. Then if we think on into the New Testament,

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when Jesus speaks about rest remember he said, come to me all you who are weary and heavy

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laid, we’re going to think about this in two weeks time and Jesus said I will give you

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rest, what did he mean? He’s telling you this, your life has a God-given purpose, and if

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Jesus says you come to me I will lead you into that purpose for which God has created

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you, follow me and take my yoke upon you, become my disciple and everything that God

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has to do in you and through you will be fulfilled. Come to me and I will give you rest. Or if

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we look back in psalm 37 and verse 7, I’m quoting from the authorized version particularly

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here though the meaning in other translations is the same.

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We find one of the great secrets of the Christian lives, Psalm 37, which we quoted in prayer

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earlier. The wicked, we see this in our newspapers are fronetic in their activity. And sometimes

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they seem to be very successful. The Bible says to us don’t fret because of the wicked.

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Don’t worry about them. Instead trust in the Lord and do good. And then David says, Psalm

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37 and verse 7, rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. So beautifully put to music

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by Mendelssohn. Rest in the Lord, wait patiently for him. What does that mean to rest in the

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Lord? To rest in the Lord means to live in the anticipation of the completion of all

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things. To know deeply within your soul that whatever is going on in this troubled world,

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God will fulfill everyone of his purposes. Everyone of his projects will be complete.

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When Jesus Christ returns in glory there will be no loose ends. There will be no unfinished

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business, not in your life, not in the life of his people, not in the whole creation.

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When we see him we will be like him and so in the middle of all of your struggles and

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all of your disappointments, hold onto this. Every one of God’s purposes will be fulfilled,

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all of God’s projects will be completed as you struggle with anxieties and fears over

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money and career and children and grandchildren and health.

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Rest in the Lord.

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You are listening to Pastor Colin Smith on Open the Bible and a message called The Climax

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of Living. All this one month we’ve been looking at a book called The Enemy within, straight

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talk for the power and defeat of sin. And this is the last week we are able to offer

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this book as a free gift if you are able to set up a new donation to the work of Open

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the Bible of at least £5 per month or more. Full details on our website. Openthebible.org.uk.

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Back to the message now here’s Colin.

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Now the question before us then is how are you going to enjoy God’s gift of rest?

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We’re going to start today by exploring God’s model of rest right at the very beginning

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of the Bible in Genesis Chapter Two when on the seventh day after his work of creation

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God rested and thereby introduced the principle of Sabbath, which is one of the very important

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and much neglected themes that runs right the way through the whole of the Bible. So

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hope you will open your Bible with me Genesis Chapter Two and verses two and three. Let’s

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just focus in on what the word of God says. By the seventh day, God had finished the work

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he had been doing, so on the seventh day He rested from all his work. And God blessed

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the seventh day and he made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating

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that he had done. So notice that God makes for his people a special day. And on the special

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day He does three things. Number one, God rested on this day. Number two, God blessed

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this day, and number three, God made this day holy. Now, of course, this theme is taken

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up in the fourth commandment, remember, the Sabbath day, we read in the ten commandments,

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by keeping it holy. Six days you shall do your labor and do all your work, but the seventh

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day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. Now, before we get into this further, I think it’s

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important and helpful to acknowledge that Christians have disagreed for centuries over

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the way in which we should understand this Sabbath principle, and the fourth commandment,

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and all kinds of debates about how we relate it to Sunday in our culture. Let me just by

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way of perspective, very briefly, say that there are three ways in which you can go on

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this issue. Three paths, and I’m going to indicate which one we’re choosing as we press

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forward. The first I’d have to describe is the dead end of legalism. I have to say I

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think I know about this because the culture I was raised in was full of it. If you were

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a good Christian in Scotland in the years that I was growing up you certainly would

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never have a Sunday paper, which always struck me as illogical because people were working

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to produce it on Saturday night, but that’s another point. You wouldn’t have gone to a

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restaurant on a Sunday. There were a whole list of what you would do and what you wouldn’t

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do and the culture enforced it with a kind of rigidity that is still found in many, many

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places. That’s one way you can go. It’s not where I’m heading and not I think where

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Scriptures would lead us. Many Christians have taken everything that is said in the

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Old Testament about the Sabbath and just made a straight transfer of all of that onto Sunday.

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Others have gone even further and said, well you can’t even do that. Christians have

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no right to change the day and Christians are under the same Old Testament obligations

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to observe a day on the week, but it must be the 7th day and you folks have no right

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changing it to the first day. The problem with all this kind of approach that comes

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to me from a fundamentally legalist mindset is that it looks remarkably like the mindset

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of the Pharisees, who went to such length to co-defy exactly what could and could not

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be done on the Sabbath and Jesus gave absolutely no support whatsoever to their position.

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And in the New Testament the Apostle Paul warns us very severely, and we have to be

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careful about this, recognising that there will be different views even within this community

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on these issues. We have to be very careful about judging one another on the decisions

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that are made with regards to these issues, in which I’m going to argue that God has given

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us liberty.

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Do not let anyone judge you, he says in Colossians, with regard to a Sabbath day.

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A second path that many people have taken, and perhaps in reaction to those who have

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become more legalistic in their approach, I’m going to call the quagmire of antinomianism

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And I apologize for long words

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But antinomianism, nomos means law. So antinomos, against the law, antinomianism

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it is a word worth knowing because it is the whole mindset of people who don’t see a place

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for law in the Christian life at all. And I’m suggesting to you that just as legalism

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is a dead end, that antinomianism is a quagmire.

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Now, there are those within the family of God who are deeply convinced that the Old

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Testament, has nothing to do with us in the New Testament. I hope after our journey through

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the Bible that we think very differently about that. That the New Testament they say gives

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us liberty to do whatever we want to do with regard to the Sabbath and therefore we are

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free to do whatever we like and will do so. The problem with that and if that is your

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mindset I would like you to think about this. The problem with that is that we quickly

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lose the value of a gift that God built not even just into the Ten Commandments but into

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the very shape of creation itself. And so I want to suggest that avoiding these two

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routes the dead end of legalism and the quagmire of antinomianism that we pursue

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a third path which I’d like to describe as the responsible use of Christian

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liberty. God gives us in Jesus Christ wonderful liberty. That’s why we’re not

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to judge one another. The question is are you going to make responsible use of

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that liberty that he’s given to you? Now I want to suggest three ways in which

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you might do that, make responsible use of the liberty that He’s given to you

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with regards this particular gift of a special day that is so clearly outlined

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right on the very first page of the Bible. Three ways in which you might

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pursue this, number one, finish your work. Genesis 2 verse 2

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By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing, so, do you see

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that, so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. God had finished his

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work, his purpose and creation was fulfilled, his project was complete and

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was the foundation of his rest, so here’s the first principle of enjoying God’s

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gift of rest and it’s very obvious when you stated, but we miss it in

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practicality so often, if you are going to enter into God’s rest, if you’re going

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to experience it, you have to get your work done. Now someone will probably say

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immediately, uh, that’s my problem right there. My work is never done. That’s why I never

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enjoy a proper rest. I am absolutely overwhelmed by my work. My work is never done.

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Let’s try and think biblically about that claim because it’s very often heard among

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us. We often feel the weight of that. Work is a wonderful gift from God. The Bible begins

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with God working. Think about that. He gives us the pattern. The mandate to work is as

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important as the invitation to rest. His work is creative, fulfilling, enterprising, and

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beautiful and we are to follow after that pattern. God gives Adam work to do, but when

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Adam was working in the garden, he was never overwhelmed by his work. Being in the garden

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being overwhelmed by your work is something that was only experienced after the fall.

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Work is good and it is a gift from God. Adam enjoyed it, but being overwhelmed by work

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is something introduced as an effect of and consequent to the fall. Therefore, being overwhelmed

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by work is something you and I need saved from, right? If it’s something that came in

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after the fall. I don’t need saved from work, but I do need saved from being overwhelmed

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by it. And God’s saving purpose is to restore to you and me everything that Adam lost through

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the fall, including being in a position of superiority over his work. God said rule.

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We find ourselves under. God says when you come into the new heaven and into the new

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earth, you will reign. You see, you’ll be brought back to that position in which you’re

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restored, not under but over. That’s what his saving work in eternity will ultimately

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look like and that saving work is begun in you now.

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Now, I have to face my wife after this sermon. So I’m gonna be honest and say I’m

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a fellow struggler. We all struggle with all of the effects of the fall, don’t we?

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But when we realise that this is a spiritual issue, that this is actually a

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dimension of God’s plan for your life that it is actually part of his

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salvation, that a man or a woman be brought from the position of being

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overwhelmed by work to a position of being in control of work. That will

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greatly help you because at least you will begin to pray about it. At least you

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will begin to see that it is something that is not arbitrary but something in

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To reflect your character, oh God, I must gain control of my work. As you are in

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control of your work I cannot live with my work controlling me. It could change a

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lot of homes that couldn’t it? Well that might be a rhetorical question but it’s

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a powerful one nonetheless. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor

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Colin Smith and our message The Climax of Living. It’s part of a series called

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Give Yourself a Break, How to Enjoy God’s Gift of Rest and many

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of us live pretty busy lives so perhaps we need to rediscover that gift of rest

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which God gives us if we want to take it. If you miss any of the series at anytime

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or if you want to go back and listen again, don’t forget you can do that by

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coming online to our website openthebible.org.uk or looking us up

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as a podcast on your favorite podcast site just search for open the Bible UK

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also on our website and available as a podcast you can find Open the Bible

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daily and that’s a series of short two to three-minute daily reflections based

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on Pastor Colin’s teaching and read in the UK by Sue McLeish so that’s on our

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website openthebible.org.uk also on your favorite podcast site search for

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and subscribe to Open the Bible Daily to receive regular updates

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Open the Bible depends on your generosity to keep Pastor Colin’s

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teaching on this station and online and as you set up a new monthly gift to the

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work of Open the Bible this month we want to thank you by sending you a free

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copy of Chris Lungard’s book The Enemy Within straight talk about the power and

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defeat of sin Colin who would you say this book is

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for? Well first is for anyone who is a

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Christian by definition a Christian is a person in whom the Holy Spirit dwells

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and also by definition a Christian is a person who is engaged in a serious

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battle against sin. The Apostle Paul says we’ve got to put to death the

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misdeeds of the body by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within you and

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here’s the thing as you grow in the Christian life you actually become more

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more aware of the sins that you need to fight against in your life not less

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aware of them. So there’s an increasing sense of battle that a Christian

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experiences and this book by Chris Lingard The Enemy Within is one of the

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most helpful books I have ever found on the subject of the battle of the

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Christian life. It is really encouraging, I’ve found it helpful and I think that

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everyone who reads it will find it helpful too. Well we want to send you a

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copy of this book Chris Lingard The Enemy Within straight talk about the

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power and defeat of sin and it’s our thank-you gift to you if you’re able to

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set up a new donation to the work of Open the Bible this month in the amount

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of five pounds per month or more. Full details on our website Open the Bible

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dot org dot UK. For Open the Bible and for Pastor Collin Smith,

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I’m David Pick and I hope you’ll be able to join us again next time on Open the Bible.

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Is the burden of what you still have to do stealing the joy of what God has

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already enabled you to do? Discover the blessings of God’s rest next time on

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Open the Bible