In the sermon titled 'A Special Day To Cease Working - Genesis 2:1-3' by Jason Dohm, the focus is on the seventh day of Creation as described in Genesis 2:1-3. The sermon highlights the completion of creation and God's decision to rest on this day, marking it as special and blessed. The Hebrew word for 'rest' is examined, revealing its root in 'Sabbath', meaning to cease or desist rather than rest due to exhaustion. The sermon argues that God's rest was a celebration of His work, not due to fatigue, and serves as a pattern for humanity. This concept is linked to the Fourth Commandment in Exodus 20:8-11, where the Sabbath is a day of ceasing from work to reflect on God's creation and salvation. The sermon emphasizes the importance of not cheating oneself out of the blessings of this day, which is a foretaste of the ultimate rest found in Jesus Christ. The sermon concludes with applications encouraging believers to embrace the Sabbath as a day of delight, reflection, and spiritual satisfaction, while also pointing to the eternal rest in Christ.

Genesis 1 covered the first six days of Creation Week and those are the days when God is actively working to create and then fashion the heavens and the earth. And now we're beginning chapter 2 which starts with day 7 of creation week. So for some reason the chapter dividing people, whoever they were, decided to put day 7 in chapter 2. Chapter 2 begins that way with the day that God rested, day seven. God actually singles out this day as separate and special.

This day enjoys God's blessing in a special way. So do they all belong to God? Of course they all belong to God, but somehow this day God marks out as special and says that it enjoys his blessing in a special way. God, I thank you for this text. Thank you for your Word, how you are revealing yourself to us, and how you're revealing truth to us.

And I pray that week after week these truths would really land. We wouldn't come and go from them and forget them quickly or be unmoved by them, but we would remember them and we would make progress from the things that we're learning. Please help us God. Please let your Spirit come work mightily among us as your Word is read and then preached week by week. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

So let's go verse by verse. Hopefully your Bibles are still open to Genesis chapter 2. Follow along as I reread verse 1. Genesis chapter 2 verse 1. Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished." Here in this verse the creation is complete.

So if you're taking notes on the handout filling in the blanks, there's one blank and complete fills it in. The creation is complete. In the last verse of chapter 1, I'm glad that was in the sermon text, by the way I often walk up here not knowing what sermon text is going to be read because I haven't paid attention to the email And James always specs out the sermon text. But I was glad you appended, added on the last chapter, verse 1, where Moses records God looking out on everything that he had made and seeing the whole week's worth of work and observing that taken all together it was very good. So every day it's good, it's good, it's good, it's good.

Then he sees it all and how it works together and he says it's very good. So the totality of creation, everything was spoken into existence by God on the first six days of creation week, as we repeatedly read, Then God said, and it was so. So day after day, this is what's happening. God is speaking, and things that weren't, had never been in being become the reality that day and going forward. God spoke, and it was so day by day.

So look at these bookends. Go back to the very beginning of chapter 1. We read this in chapter 1 verse 1 and into verse 2. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep.

So God had created the earth, but it was uninhabitable and empty. It was without form and void. And God had created the heavens, but as yet there was no light, and it was all darkness. The Spirit of God is hovering over the waters and it is in darkness. Then in the first six days of creation week, God created things to fill the earth and make it inhabitable, especially for his image bearers, but to make it inhabitable overall for many living things and especially his image bearers and he created the sun moon and stars and the solar systems and the galaxies to populate the sky.

And now, he's finished. Creation is complete. The heavens are complete. The earth is complete. Here's what John Calvin says in considering this verse.

The heaven without the sun, the moon, and stars would be an empty and dismantled palace. If the earth were destitute of animals, trees, and plants, that barren waste would have the appearance of a poor and deserted house. God, therefore, did not cease from the work of the creation of the world till he had completed it in every part, so that nothing should be wanting to its suitable abundance." So that's what we've witnessed in days one through six, is God taking this earth without form and void, darkness, and he's filled both earth and sky with everything for its suitable abundance. Isn't that what we see on the earth and the sky? Suitable abundance, just abundance in every direction.

Well done God. And so this brings us to day seven. Verse two, Genesis chapter two, verse two. Verse 2, Genesis chapter 2 verse 2, and on the seventh day God ended his work which he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had done. Here in verse two, we have what God did and didn't do on day seven of creation week.

So if you're taking notes on the handout, there are two blanks and did and didn't fill in those blanks. What God did and didn't do on day seven of creation week. What did God do? God did rest. What didn't God do?

God didn't work. He ended His work, which he had done. He rested from all his work. Now let's look at the word rest. God rested from all his work which he had done.

When you look at the transliteration of the Hebrew word, it looks like the root of our word Sabbath. So we're not reading it in Hebrew, we're reading it in English. All we have is this word rest, but if you look at the transliteration of the Hebrew word, you see a word that looks like Sabbath. It's the root of our word Sabbath, because it is a form of that word. And the Hebrew lexicon says this, to cease, to desist, to rest.

So rest is a fine translation. But at the heart of the word is to cease and to desist. To cease and desist. It is to leave off what you were doing. To stop.

Listen to Alan Ross from his commentary creation and blessing. Alan Ross says this, the key word here is the well-known rest. Sabat, to rest. Sabat, the Sabbath. So he's talking about this word group now and I've mispronounced it I'm just saying it phonetically because hooked on phonics work for me and And I listened to it in Hebrew, and I can't do it justice.

So I thought, I'm not even going to try and make a fool of myself. I'm just going to say it phonetically. But he's talking about this Hebrew word group that if you saw it spelled, you would say, Oh, Sabbath. The key word here is the well-known rest, sabat, to rest, sabat, the Sabbath. The word actually means cease more than rest, as understood today.

It is not a word that refers to remedying exhaustion after a tiring week of work. Rather, it describes the enjoyment of accomplishment, the celebration of completion. Or listen to Matthew Henry. Matthew Henry says this. The eternal God, though infinitely happy in the enjoyment of himself, yet took satisfaction in the work of his own hands.

He did not rest as one weary, but as one well pleased with the instances of his own goodness and the manifestations of his own glory. Let me just reread that last sentence again because I think it sums up where we are in the text. He did not rest as one weary. Wow, what a week! I need a day off.

He did not rest as one weary. But as one well pleased with the instances of his own goodness and the manifestations of his own glory. He took a day to enjoy these demonstrations of his own goodness. It's good, it's good, it's good, it's good, it's good, it's good, it's good, it's very good. And these displays of his own glory, these things reflect my own glory.

He's taking time over this. So This is the sense of what is being said in verse 2. And it fits perfectly with the very end of day 6 of creation, where God looked out over everything that He had made. And indeed, it was very good. Now He pauses and takes satisfaction in it.

That's really the sense of this text. God pausing to take satisfaction in these demonstrations of His goodness and His glory. God isn't taking a load off at the end of a hard week. No sore muscles for God. No ibuprofen needed for God.

That blessed vitamin I. Let me ask you. As we work through creation week, the scope sounds incredibly hard to us, but in the text itself. So, I grant that. I concede that point.

When we look at day one, day two, day three, day four, day five, day six, and we consider the scope of all that, it seems incredibly hard to us. But that's not my question. My question is, in the text, did it sound hard to God? So come out of the human perspective where we say, what kind of being could do all this in six days? And just look at the text itself, how it's stated, the words that were chosen, and say, does that sound hard to God?

Then God said, and it was so. Then God said, and it was so. How hard do you find it to say things? Isaiah 40, verse 28 says this. Let's listen to Isaiah 40, verse 28.

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. Then you know, The God who made all of this, the ends of the earth, he doesn't faint, he doesn't get tired. Oh, I made the universe and then he faints.

Nope. Then he gets tired. Nope. Not according to Isaiah 40, verse 28. He isn't exhausted.

Here on day seven of creation week, God stops working and takes time to enjoy the satisfaction of the great things that he's done. He's done great things. Now he takes time to enjoy the satisfaction of having done great things. Haven't you ever done that? You accomplish something, and you've been working hard at it, and you just take it.

At the end, it's so satisfying to have accomplished that you just take a minute you just take a moment God stops working and takes time to enjoy the satisfaction of the great things he has done. They're too great to just move on to the next thing. That's what's before us in our text today. All what have his hands wrought? Well, they're too great to just move on to the next thing God pauses to take satisfaction in that verse 3 verse 3 then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made.

I'll read it again, Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made. In verse 3 we have a day that God blessed and set apart. We're filling in blanks, set fills in the first blank, apart sets in the second. God, a day that God blessed and set apart. In Genesis 1 22, day 5, God made aquatic life and birds, essentially fish and birds, and he blessed them, saying, be fruitful and multiply.

That's the first of God's blessings in creation week. In Genesis 1-28, day 6, God made mankind in his own image, and he blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. That's the second time God blessed something in creation week. Now here in chapter 2 verse 3, God is blessing this day, the seventh day of creation week. God's favor and goodwill rests on this day in a special way.

His favor and goodwill rests on this one day more than the other days. And God sanctified it, which means that he set it apart to himself and for himself. God laid claim to this particular day for his own purposes. In essence he says, this day is mine. My day.

For my purposes. I have things in store for this day. It's my, my day. Why did God do that? Thankfully the text doesn't leave us wondering.

I can't use my favorite phrase, the text doesn't say, because the text does say. God blessed and set apart this day because in it, he rested from all his work which God had created and made. It tells us exactly why he did this. Because In that day, on that day, he rested from all his work. So he set it apart to himself and for himself.

God spoke the lump of clay into existence and then he went to work shaping and fashioning it into all sorts of wonderful things including his image bearers and at the end of all these marvelous works he himself ceased from the work. The day is special because God is special beyond compare. And what he has done is special beyond compare. What's more special than God? What's more special than the works of God's hands?

So it's right that this day be a special day. It's wrapped up in the specialness, is that a word? The specialness of God. Please turn to Exodus 20 verses 8 through 11. Exodus 20 is the Ten Commandments, verses 8 through 11 is the fourth commandment.

We're going there because it quotes our text. So we'll have our text quoted in the fourth commandment. Exodus 20 verses 8 through 11. Verses 8 through 11. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work, you nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth the sea and all that is in them and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." So there's our text in the fourth commandment. Verse 8 we see the Sabbath day.

This is that same Hebrew word group. We could call it the day of ceasing. So we have a transliteration. But just know, for the Hebrews, Sabbath isn't a transliteration. It's actually a word with meaning.

And it means to cease, to desist, to rest. So we could call it the day of ceasing or the day of rest. The command is to remember this day, keep this day top of mind or to come at it from the other direction. Don't forget this day and keep it holy. The Hebrew word translated as holy here is the exact same Hebrew word from our text, then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.

So it's translated one way in our text and one way here. That's not all that helpful, but that is what it is. They do mean the same thing if you get to the bottom of the English of it, but it's legitimate because it's the same Hebrew word to pick one of the two and translate it the same way in both spots. So the point is, God sanctified this day that's in our text. God set it apart to Himself and for Himself.

Now keep it sanctified. That's all that the Fourth Commandment is saying. It's drawing on the exact same words from our text in Genesis 2 and saying, God sanctify it, keep it sanctified. Remember it, that God set it apart to himself. Keep it set apart.

If we need additional clarity, look again at verse 11. For, okay, so this is the bedrock of the fourth commandment. For, In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth the sea and all that is in them and rested the seventh day therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and Hallowed it he sanctified it he set it apart to himself So we work for six days and then rest and secure rest for those around us for one day, because God established that as a pattern for us in Creation week. That's what is being said in Exodus 20. God did it as a pattern for us in creation week.

Jesus said this in Mark 2.27. It's some of the sweetest words in this category. Mark 2.27. We should all know it. The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.

Meaning the Sabbath is our servant, not our master. The Sabbath serves us, is a blessing for us, It was made for us. As the image bearers of God, we follow the pattern that God established for us in creation week. So you've got to have to see the connection between the image bearers. We're made as a reflection of God.

He did this, establishing a pattern for his image bearers to do this. We follow the pattern that God established for us in Creation Week and enter into the blessings of the blessed day. It was made for us. So the exhortation is, enter into the blessings of the blessed day. This is a day that enjoys God's favor like no other day.

His good will like no other day. There are blessings in the day. Enter into those blessings of the Set-apart Day. It was made for us. It's your birthright.

It is a day for ceasing from work in order to enter into satisfaction in the great works of God. Are you tracking with me? You're with me. It is a day for ceasing from our work. Stop working on purpose in order to enter into satisfaction in the great works of God, like God did.

Yes, in the great works of creation, but also in the great work of salvation. So if you go to the second giving of the Ten Commandments, the Ten Commandments are the same except the foundation stone in Deuteronomy 5 for this commandment isn't creation week. It drops off that and instead installs the salvation of people, the liberation from people, from their bondage in Egypt as the foundation stone. That's the difference in the two giving of the Ten Commandments. Listen to Deuteronomy 515.

It's the same words up to this point about observing the Sabbath and keeping it holy. You don't work, the members of your household don't work, your animals don't work. And then it says this in Deuteronomy 5.15. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day, to keep the day of ceasing.

Stop working and think about how you used to be a slave. God didn't leave you a slave. He came and got you out of slavery. Now, think about this for the Christian. It's even sweeter and richer for the Christian than it ever was for an Israelite.

His descendants had been delivered from physical bondage. We've been in spiritual bondage with the debt that we had no way to pay, but God came and got us and now God has given us a day to just take satisfaction in the great works of God. Yes in creation, but even more in the salvation of a sinner. This day buys us the ability to do this. It gives you, it affords you the ability to slow down and to think about the great works of God.

Especially in salvation. These works are too great to just move on to the next thing. God didn't do that. He didn't just move on to the next thing. He took time to relish what he had done, his great works.

He didn't just move on to the next thing. We shouldn't just move on to the next thing. We should stop and think on the great works of God. John Calvin says this, God cannot either more gently allure or more effectively incite us to obedience than by inviting and exhorting us to the imitation of himself. This is to be the common employment, not of one age or people only, but of the whole human race.

Calvin's wanting you to consider, what better could he do to entice you to spend a day a week considering his great deeds than to do it himself. What sweeter bait could he put on the hook than to do these things and then his own self take a day to just marvel over these great works. Well, what sweeter bait could he put on the hook? Applications, give you two. So, last week was a short sermon, this week is a short sermon, next week will probably be a short sermon and then we'll probably end for some long ones so I'm giving you a runway.

I'm banking time. Is that how it works? No booing. Stop that. Application number one.

Don't cheat yourself, image bearer. Don't cheat yourself. It's hard. It's hard for a preacher who's so convinced of the confessional position on the Lord's Day to not go into finger wagging mode. But I'm going to resist the temptation.

I'm not taking that bait. Talk about things I don't like when I see them. I'm going to come at it from the opposite side and say, don't cheat yourself. It's possible you've been cheating yourself of something so good, something so sweet, and it's yours for the taking, and you've been cheating yourself. You bear the image of God, you won't walk in his pattern, and actually it was made for you and the jokes on you it's a day of blessings and they're yours for that for that taking God has given us a weekly pattern for our blessing and our benefit.

The Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath. It's our servant, not our master. Take every day, take a day, every week, a whole day. All day? Yeah, the whole day.

Stop working in order to enter into satisfaction in the great works of God. Creation, works in His hands, and especially Jesus going to the cross for sinners. It's a day of delight. It should be the day for the best food and the best thoughts. Rich things, not trivial things, rich things.

Stretch your capacity for the delights of God by how you use this day. We all have shriveled up capacity for these things, but we need to grow them because heaven's coming. We have our appetites calibrated, stretched for all the best things. Don't cheat yourself image bearer. Two, Past is prologue.

What does that mean? William Shakespeare, that's actually a quote from a Shakespeare play. Past is prologue. It means this day is a foreshadowing, a picture of something greater to come. So in the seventh day rest that God did setting it as a pattern for us, he's actually just putting something in place as a placeholder for something greater to come.

It's a foreshadowing, a picture of something greater to come. The author of Hebrews, Hebrews 4, what Connor read, quotes today's text. And it connects it, today's text, with rest in our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, saying, for he who has entered his rest, God's rest, has His rest, God's rest, has himself also ceased from his works as God did from his. So this past, this day at the end of creation week, the first week of Earth history, the past, a blessed day, a set apart day, a day to cease from work and to rest with the great works of God in view is prologue. It's a placeholder, it's a foreshadowing and a picture of a greater thing to come, the finished work of Jesus Christ.

All the work's done, let's rest. And then of our eternal rest in heaven, which is purchased by this work of Christ. Friends, there is rest in Jesus Christ in an ultimate sense, and there's only rest in Jesus Christ. People love leisure, What we need is rest. We have peace with God in Jesus Christ.

Rest in Jesus Christ. Use the day for this. Jesus is the fulfillment of all the law. Jesus is the fulfillment of this. I don't think that means that now there's nothing expected by us on this day.

I don't think I'm speaking out of both sides of my mouth at all to say both of these things. It is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and the Lord still has a day. I think both of those things are true. God, thank you. Thank you.

Your goodness is before us on this day. Thank you that you stopped to take time to enjoy satisfaction in these displays of your goodness and glory. And I pray that you would help us to expand our appetite for all the best things by learning to engage these things wholeheartedly. God, the self-revelation here is breathtaking. We see you revealing yourself and we're caught short just in awe of who you are, who you have revealed yourself to be.

Thank you God for not keeping this hidden, but showing us your goodness and your glory in Jesus' name, Amen.