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Why We Can’t Rest.

 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Exodus 20:8-11.


While there is no law in the New Testament to keep the Sabbath day, the principal is still a teaching of the New Testament. Hebrews 4:11-13 reads:   


11 “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” The rest we are to enter into in the New Testament is the rest of faith. The Israelites failed to enter into the rest of God because of their unbelief, and many perished because of that sin. The Sabbath day represents the rest of God, and although we are not under the law, there is nothing that says we can’t obey it. 


God wants us to live a life of faith, and part of living a life of faith means that we actually have faith, and believe God’s promises. The reason why we can’t rest is because of unbelief. People don’t take seriously the Bible anymore and see a relationship with God as something else they must master and control in their lives. There is very little experience of God in our society these days, and that is a sin. We have become independent of our Lord, and it is causing all kinds of anxieties and restlessness. 


Jesus said if you had faith as little as a mustard seed you could do great things. Every day, we are learning little and little about faith, and less people actually have faith, as compared to previous generations. Society has progressed beyond the need for faith, and some question the reality of it. We can’t make it to heaven without it, but some don’t even know what it is anymore, let alone live by it. 


We can’t please God without it (Hebrews 11:6). So please rest one day a week if you can, and begin putting into practice what the Bible says about faith! This is Mike.


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